Working Seven Days a Week

I'll be working every day until these deadlines are met. People don't realize that when they stick me with a quick turn-around deadline it puts a lot of pressure on me. I'm not 20 anymore and to work seven days a week takes its toll. I now understand why folks are getting out of this profession.

Even though I'm 'working' seven days a week, some of that work is for my quilts since they are being asked to be put into shows/seminars/workshops. But I still have to stand and hunch and stoop and bend to get my quilts quilted as well. 

Yesterday I unloaded the strip quilt, set it in the guest chair, and loaded the Tilda Make Do and Mend top...

Make Do and Mend

I've already got all the colors quilted in because I knew when I was building this top what I was going to put in there. However, the pattern designers long armer did some really tight matchstick quilting in the background and that's just not what I want to put in. 

I'm going to put squares on point in the border as well as the sashing strips across each row. I think I've settled on a background fill I can live with but as always, once the needle is set in, the decision may change. 

Oh, I have a TV in the studio now. Moms basement flooded with the last heavy rains we received and she had a brand new one in the basement whose box got wet. She asked if I wanted it but couldn't guarantee it would work. 

Well, it's a few years old so the technology isn't up to today's standards. It does indeed work, it's connected to the WIFI but not the cable, and I can stream movies and programs for background noise instead of music all the time. I can't really watch it because it's above the batting closet way up in the air, but that was not its intended purpose anyway.

Not Even 7:00 Yet

And I've already taken my shower, started the laundry, and made coffee. Here I am blogging and then I'll grab some breakfast before heading out to PT. Here's some of the quilting going into Bernadettes Summer quilt...

Swim with the Fishies

You are my sunshine

Howdy!

I'm doing some ghost stitching in the sand and I'll show more pics later on that. Meanwhile, today is a quilting, packing, cleaning day to prepare for reunion. Don't know if I'll be blogging tomorrow because I have guild up in Hale before leaving for the reunion. 

I did get a little work on DW done last night as well as a few more blocks in my Tilda top. 

Long Day

I started out early and worked late. Two unscheduled customers arrived in the afternoon yesterday. Both of them dropped off. The first one only had one quilt top, the other had two. And I'm quilting like a mad woman. 

Here's some more of the quilting going into Anns Tilda Sampler...

The center section

This is one of my favorites

I'll continue on today with this. We had pop-up storms yesterday and wow was it muggy! I had to shut Bernie down for a bit while the storms were overhead but started back as soon as I could again.

After the customers left, and while I was getting back into my [evening] quilting zen place, the new dog sitter came by to meet the girls and get the low down on their routine. Then as soon as I could get Jim engaged in her (he was in the shower when she arrived) I got back onto Bernie for as long as I could. 

My eyes started getting really itchy and tired around 7:00 so that was enough for the day. Interestingly enough, the designer of this Tilda Sampler was one of the customers who stopped by in the afternoon. 

She was interested to know who the maker was (because this was taught in a class ONLY). I said it was Ann N. She looked at me very puzzled so I pulled up my contacts and tried to give her a last name. Yeah, the phone ate her information. Hopefully she's paid in the past with a check so I can find her. Otherwise, I'm going to have to go through my invoices to find any information I can on her to call her when this and her next quilt are done. 

UGH! I'm started to not like technology!

Wide Feet

I'm on my feet. A lot. So finding comfortable shoes to accommodate my very (very) wide feet is tough. I do know that Keen brand shoes fit me the best. They have excellent support and exceptional comfort. The problem is, they are expensive. Having to choose here in my shoe selection is limited. Like to four pair limited.

For a woman to have four pairs of shoes is NOT cool. I do have other shoes. I have other options (like boots or sandals), but those are very limited as well. Honestly, if I went through my shoes and took out all the ones that are uncomfortable or don't fit any more, I'd have less than 12 pair. My DIL would be appalled. Andrew said she has over a 100 pairs of shoes to choose from. 

My husband has three pairs of shoes and two pairs of sandals and calls that extravagant. What my husband doesn't understand is that woman are NOT like that. We like variety and we like to feel good about ourselves. Ignoring that is mold in the cake; it doesn't taste good going down and will affect you later in the bathroom.  

Here's some of the quilting going into Ann's quilt on Bernie...

Just like Bernadettes

Changed up the grey border, but otherwise the same

And same here too

I got a So Fine! thread chart made up somewhere in all of yesterdays stuff and did my own inventory to see what I should not order when the vendors out there have July 4th sales.

I had a new customer come yesterday morning out of the blue who was referred to me. The customer visit yesterday afternoon was very long and while I had three quilts picked up, the intake for this week was four, so I'm still sitting on over 40 jobs.

Since the visit was later in the afternoon, and after the girls left, it was almost closing time. Jim and I headed north to the West Branch Meijer and did our shopping...and other stuff. 

I'll be working on DW today and at some point, need to make a little bag to hold the odds and ends my old purse held. They are currently in a plastic snack bag which is not cool. 

Yay, Apple!

We often get iOs updates preventing hacking and scamming. This was one of those mornings. I'm thankful we are an Apple family because I've heard horror stories from non-Apple users about getting their phones, computers, and identity hacked.

Here's some more eye candy from Bernadettes Tilda Sampler...

Me and my Dog

Do ya think my tractor's sexy?

Fly away

More on this piece today since these are taking a looooonngg time to work. After working well past "quitting" time I tore into the Koalas and we have a top!

Ready to quilt

One customer expected later this afternoon and the sun is shining (for now). I've opened all the blinds to let the beautiful day into the house so working today will be extremely bright. 

I didn't do much on Sunday

We had to run into town and then had a visit with my mom. By the time we returned home it was lunch time. And the rest of the day was relax and movies. 

Here's what I'm working on on Bernie today...

Evelyn's beautiful embroidered top

Remember me mentioning last week about small being more work? Well, this is a perfect example. I worked on this little guy all day yesterday and have just reached the half-way point. Here's some of the quilting going into it...

Lots of thread going in

I debated on whether or not to quilt the blue squares. They are small and to get from one square to the next would be cumbersome. I have chosen to quilt heavily around them and then just let them pop like the butterflies are with the grid work I put behind them.

This will be most of todays work. I've decided I'm liking So Fine! thread (#401 going in here) more and more. Do I have storage room to get all their colors too? Hmmmm????? Happy Tuesday. 

Three More Nutcrackers

Here are the guys who were quilted last night after I got home from work.

Standing at attention

I feel like these guys are judging me while I'm quilting them.

And news flash, I think I'm changing most of my So Fine! thread out to Glide by Fil-tec.

Heres why:

It needles better. There is little (if any really) lint in my bobbin case. It's just a bit finer weight then the So Fine! (So Fine! is a 50 wt. where the Glide is a 60 wt.) DW will needle it through on a size 16 needle and doesn't need an 18 like the So Fine! Because it's a finer weight, you can fit even more on a bobbin. And, quite frankly, I have so many less thread breaks when traveling to the left on the machine with the Glide. Oh, and it's about half as much for about 1,000 yards more per cone.

I think that's plenty of reasons to switch. I would have to say the downside to switching is the Glide is a trilobal poly and gives a sheen, where the So Fine! is a matte finish. Some of these quilts don't need a sheen in them, so I'm not going to be able to switch entirely, but I'm leading myself in that direction for the bulk of my quilting here on in I think.

We'll see when I get my first shipment at weeks end from North Dakota (which, when I talked to them today, were wonderful and very helpful in their service). Jennifer was very prompt when I called and they may have a new permanent customer if everything works out. Oh, I ordered the thread from Kings Men Quilting Supply, in case you were wondering.