Busy But Not In The Studio

Jims birthday was yesterday. The only thing that happened in the studio during the day was wrapping presents. The rest of the day was spent preparing a nice meal for Jim, dealing with the Culligan man, and wrapping more presents. 

I was able to do something in the studio in the evening hours; around 6:30. River Rock is what's on the frame for today.

Moms Birthday/Christmas Present

Not my color way, but mom loves these muted batiks and she picked out the kit at The Hen House when we went down together in the fall. This will get an open E2E on it since it's so busy and most all quilting will disappear if I try to do any custom. And she selected a wool batt so I want it to remain pliable during use. 

And hey, this is not a customer quilt. It's actually one of mine. At this rate, I'll get to do one of my own quilts every three months...or four times a year. Whoo Hooo! 

This will be most of today's project since the wrapping is, well, wrapped up, for now anyway. I have to run to the groomer and then to Pieces of Thyme (which will be closing for three weeks after tomorrow) to drop off brochures and Linda's quilt. 

Computer Updates and All that Happy Crap

Could not blog this morning because Apple decided to launch a new version of Big Sur and it took forever to load. Not to mention, we have some high winds today and I think our internet is being a dork because Netflix would not load during lunch time. 

This is what I've been sweating over the past day.

A decent size to work on

Quilting detail of one of the blocks

This is turning out pretty awesome so I continue on today with this. 

Meanwhile, after working on the above quilt for nine hours yesterday, decided to switch to working on getting the body of the River Rock top done. 

Mom's River Rock Body

There are about 146 3" squares that need to be put together to complete the borders, and if Tina's top is a quilt by days end, perhaps I'll be able to work on those yet tonight. 

Hazel Loves Pillows

Zzzzzz

Of course, who doesn't like a good pillow to take a snooze on?

Tuesday was Deliver Quilt/Vote/Grocery day. In other words, no long arming. Not much sewing either, except I did get moms fifth set of blocks done on her River Rock top. 

I made up for that yesterday. 

It started out with this

When customers provide their own batt, it can sometimes be interesting on what exactly you get. This was discovered after opening the package-a huge bump on the inside of the batt. 

This customer asked that I piece her back. Once that was completed, and we mashed down that bump in the batt, we could finally load.

Penny's Shadow Boxes

Here's some of the quilt detail, but basically, I squiggle quilted squares in the box sections, swirled the sashing pieces, and ribbon candied the black shadows. By 6:10-ish I was finished with the 82" square top. A solid nine hours worth of work since I didn't take a lunch and started earlier than usual (because of the stupid time change). 

Penny's Shadow Box Details

This is a "complete" quilt job meaning this needs to be trimmed/squared and binding made and attached. That's on today's radar. 

Good Snowy Morning

What a wild weather day yesterday. We knew flurries were coming, but with the 30-40 mph winds, we hadn’t a clue a veritable blizzard was to descend upon us throughout the entire day. We received around three inches for our first snow fall of the year. 

I started another new project yesterday. No pics yet, but once I get further along I’ll attach some. 

Here is where I am with moms quilt top.

River Rock

Since the wind was howling and since I don’t long arm on Sunday, today will definitely be a long arming kind of day. Funny how taking just one day off makes me appreciate the studio and my very cool life. 

Monsters, Inc.

Happy Halloween...if you're one of those people who get into it. We used to. We don't anymore simply because we live out here in the boonies and we get zero trick-or-treat traffic. So, what's the point?

Had to call Gall Sewing yesterday morning as I started out long arming. I changed DW's needle and he started being naughty. Jason suggested a few things, but it didn't work. I changed a few things (tightened the tension and moved the needle position back to about 6:29) and he started working just fine. And then the customers starting showing up. In droves. 

I thought picking up completed quilts was all that was happening but five new tops came to join me here by noon. Mom and I had to get pizza in the afternoon so only evening quilting was accomplished, which was minimal. 

Today is the MSU/UofM football game (despite the Covid crap) and I hope to get more done on The Monster during all of that since I was only able to get row two completed before I got too tired (there are eight rows total BTW). 

I did get another River Rock month done last night after long arming.

River Rock Blocks

These are going together easily, yet labor intensive enough. They are pretty, even though this isn't my color palette. Mom and are on the total opposite end of the value spectrum. I like brights and stark contrast. Mom likes these...muted earthy tones done with batiks. 

Yesterday...Seemed So Far Away...

I love that song. But yesterday was a long time ago it seems. Did a lot in and out of the studio.  

But since this is a blog about quilting and golden doodles, I'll stick to that. 

Two of Four

These are Pat P.'s adorable table runners. These weren't completed until late yesterday afternoon since the morning was pretty well shot playing with the neighbor. 

The early evening was spent working on moms River Rock blocks and loading a new 110" square top for Tina at Bittersweet Quilt Shop. Tina's mom usually does her quilting, but mom has a bad shoulder and Tina wants custom into the piece she gave me to do. The backing was very wrinkled so while I would spray, advance, spray, advance, I was cutting out the pieces for the second set of blocks on River Rock.

The evening found me doing something very cathartic and something I've learned, but have completely forgotten how to do. Knit.

I started this about a week ago, so I'm not very far into it. I'm just doing a knit stitch for now and will introduce more stitches as more scarves come into the picture. I love scarves and living within a state that is cold half the year lends itself to having selections.

My evening activity

And, while playing on the iPad is fun, it's not productive. And quite honestly, I'm bored with most of my games and have no desire to look/start any new ones. My time here on earth is limited and I've decided to make the best of it. Why not get a bucket list item learned/tried? Finding something you enjoy more than beating level 10,000 is a bonus!