Ya Never Know

I hadn't expected anybody over yesterday, but lo and behold, a customer called right before lunch and asked if she could come get her quilts. Well, of course! 

Good thing I don't dress in my "play" clothes during the week while I'm open.

Wow, am I tired this morning. It's that time of the year. The time when all the rodents think our house is open for their wintering over. I had one scrabbling/chewing in the wall at the foot of my bed since about 4:15 this morning. For some reason they always end up there. 

I mentioned to Jim a few weeks back that traps had probably get set because they were going to start infiltrating the house. See how that went?

I'm going to try to function today. I'm so fuzzy headed and lethargic and I'm not a napper. If I nap, it's going to be for a few hours, not just 10 or 15 minutes or I feel worse. Actually, I feel worse no matter the length of the nap I take. 

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

All straight lines

After I got done working for the day, I headed outside to talk to the neighbors. Joe came down and welded the angle iron back onto the end of the dock to keep those boards in. Wayne came down and visited for a bit while they were working. Jim ended up grinding down the rough spots after a short lesson on how to weld from Joe. They also inserted some weep holes into the two main pipes holding up the dock since ice likes to form in there and push up and then break our dock boards. Which is what started all of this in the first place. 

Once that was finished and we gave generous hugs all around for the efforts, I headed back in to start on my next set of BOM's (month two). Here is the first one. That took a lot longer than I had anticipated. I'll work on the second one maybe tonight. 

OMG, that mouse is in that wall right now just chewing away having his own little party. Meanwhile, he's in there pooping and peeing all over in my house. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Labor Day Weekend

I'll be working on Monday, but I will not be open. I have these two quilts that are taking soooo long to complete and I feel like they need to just get done. I have at least two days worth of work yet to go. The hardest block (the bee) is probably on today's venue which will take an hour or more each because of all the marking that needs to happen to make it come to life. 

Here's some more quilting eye candy...

I don't know what's going on with Blogger, but it decided to place this photo on the left today.

I had not two, but three ladies in yesterday to drop off a total of seven tops. Yup, Seven. Thankfully there's  no hurry to get them done.

While I was working on Marty/Bernie I got the next back on DW frame ironed and this is what is sitting in wait...

I LOVE this quilt!

I would normally do a custom treatment on this, but since I'm giving away all 'under king-sized' quilts, this will now be an E2E. And it's funny how all of a sudden I'm surrounded by pastel colors on all three machines.

Jim and I have no plans this weekend with the exception of going through totes in the garage. 

What Time Alone Can Accomplish

I did not go with Jim down to his class reunion. I had some goals and wanted to accomplish those with my afternoon off.

The morning was spent working and here's what Linda's quilt had put into it...

Dino tracks

When I opened up her stick to pull off this motif (she usually provides the motif she wants), it was not this motif but rather puppy dog tracks. She left a "mock up" sheet with how dense she wanted the quilting and thankfully the information about where she purchased the motif was on the mock up. I purchased it for her on my own stick and got everything straightened out.

Dinosaur quilts need dino tracks, not puppy tracks

Once I had her quilt off, trimmed, billed, and put away, I was able to work on some of my stuff. First. A cow. A thoughtful customer brought me this raw edge appliqué and so I started working on that...

Moo

This will be a Christmas present for my middle son who adores cows.

Next up...

Just some straight lines

I did not blanket stitch this down nor did I do any kind of stitching on the appliqué. I instead opted to leave it kind of raw and just decided to hold it down with some straight line quilting. Both of these are getting bound today, as well as the Gravity quilt that's been sitting in my guest chair for weeks now. 

So today is binding day. Bleh. However, I do have another small top on DW ready to be quilted if I so choose later this afternoon. I don't know that I want to sit around and watch movies all day today; I have too much to do.

I did get this next wall hanging onto DW but haven't a clue how I'm going to quilt it...

A sewing sampler

Oh, and I did work on my Tilda blocks a little bit as I was frame ironing the backs for the wall hangings. I have the top of the pin cushions done and they are all bundled with their counterparts until I can work on those again. 

Chugging Along

The boys are behaving so well. I only had two thread shreds yesterday in total, which is saying something!

Here's some of the quilting going into Judy's quilt...

The log cabin blocks

The bear paw blocks

I'm keeping this pretty loose, because given its size, it's not going to be a wall hanging but rather a bed quilt which we want to keep snuggly.

Here's some of the quilting going into Sue W.'s quilt...

Just getting started in the "big" areas

I'm letting the ProStitcher do the channeling because to run a straight line that far is a certain recipe for disaster. I then free motioned in the feathers myself. 

More of the same today, although Jim mentioned going grocery shopping tonight, so I won't be working as long on both of these. Judy's will be this morning and then Sue's this afternoon. We haven't shopped since before we left two weeks ago and the fridge is looking pretty darn bare. 

Unexpected Day Off

But so worth taking the time to spend with my best friend, Jim. We scooted around to all of the appointments that we were scheduled to deal with. I have PT I need to perform 3x's per day to strengthen the finger, but I'm finding my wrist to be more of a concern.

Typing is much easier, but because my wrist is extremely stiff and sore, I'm still slower than prior to the accident.

Hello!

Since after we got home and put everything away, it was nearly 4:00. I called the day a day off and didn't even work on customer things. Nor am I going to do customer work today. I'm excited to get onto DW because I started into the colors last night...

Aren't all these pretty cool?

I'm trying to not squeal with delight about how these are turning out. Jim is trying to set us up having the grandkids the week after the fourth. The B's said they'd think about how that would work and the logistics of them coming up. Meanwhile, it's kind of cloudy, warm, and very humid outside. A good day to stay inside and play in the studio I think. 

Mice and Chipmunks

Well, it's that time of year again. Critters are trying to find a place warm to hang out during the winter months. I found acorns in the new studio and knew we had a culprit. The dogs found a chipmunk in the downspout and last night we got a mouse in the trap. 

Meanwhile, here's what's on DW today...

Lois' second quilt top

I fear this one is going to take longer to quilt than yesterdays. It's a bit smaller but there's more ruler work involved. And...every center of every square is going to have something different in it. 

Here's some of the quilting in yesterday's Chopsticks quilt...

Simple and clean

I have two customers coming over today. One to pick up and another to drop off. That too takes time away from the quilting process so I think it's safe to say I'll be working tomorrow all day. Which I kind of knew already but hoped I could beat the odds.

Family Visits

My brother only comes to Michigan about four times a year. This weekend was the weekend he chose to visit. We spent last night and this morning with him and my mom and so am getting a late start to my day. And...I had a customer appointment at 10:30 this morning so there was that too.

Here's a little of what I worked on in between family...

The McKenna Ryan is now quilted

And so is the turtle front and back

Once I got my little things quilted up and pulled off the frame, Jim had to help me load this one onto DW...

A unique situation

This is the second quilt for Margery, but I didn't do the quilting. She had it edge-to-edged somewhere else and had already bound the quilt. She decided later on, to make the Dresdens and then have them attached by me. 

So, I don't have any extra backing to work with, resulting in us having to pin a faux leader onto the quilt. The white clamps in front are giving me some stability on that end of the quilt and then I'll use the side clamps to get it even more stable. The Dresdens are just getting some circles put in to adhere them down and she wants the points to be free, so nothing there either. 

This one should (I'll emphasize should here) only take a day to do, but I'm already an hour and a half behind in my day. Thankfully, it's nice weather so that's making things okay. 

BOM's

Pieces of Thyme is offering a block of the month beginning in March. My Cotton Cuts BOM is already on month seven (out of 10) so I'm thinking the one at Pieces would be fun. 

I opted to not do Build-a-Quilt with Angela Walters this year; I wasn't really all about the color choices this go-around. My Call Me Crazy is on hold and that's a block of the week situation anyway. I don't have a sewing machine permanently set up to work those blocks and quite frankly, I'm really not all that into it now that I've made three. 

Here's some texture candy on Jodie's first finished quilt...

This turned out pretty cool!

I worked on her second quilt for a little while yesterday afternoon, but after putting in five hours total (on what should only be a two hour day) was enough. 

I made a FGV2 block yesterday...

Caawww, caawww

Stupid crows. We have a plethora of them around here, and I've recently learned, they will terrorize our Eagle. Crow season opens in March. 

It's Small Project Sunday and I'm going to work on my Cotton Cuts BOM that arrived in the mail this week. I hope to make a tractor on the FGV2 piece and after those are done, who knows? Jim is leaving this afternoon to work downstate for the week. Maybe I'll put on some soft music, put a 'fake' fire on the TV and just relax and read the rest of the day. Or...sew. 

Happy Friday

Jim is off being on-call. But, he's headed downstate on Sunday afternoon and will be working there for a week. I don't know which is the better of the two. 

I have plenty of things to keep me busy around here. Seven new tops came in yesterday. Four of them are for my hospice girl who are extremely time sensitive. Of course. 

Here's what's on DW today...

A very soothing top for sure

Funny story about the backing for the top above. I started loading it onto Bernie, but then re-read the work order and knew using the channel locks/computer on DW would be easier for the straight lines going into those stacked pieces. Unload. Reload onto DW. Except I reloaded the back 90 degrees the wrong way. Unload again. Reload. Now I think we have it right.

Here's what's on Bernie this morning...

Dragonflies flitting around the studio

I love this top! I was so excited to start working on it and I actually did a little bit last night once I got the backings all frame ironed. Both are basted in and ready for me to tear into this morning, but I have to place a thread order first. 

And that's going up as well. Can't we just skip this upcoming recession and move along onto better things?

Merry Christmas Eve

We did our usual "Sunday" routine yesterday. I think the weather stress weighed on all of us...including the dogs.  

I did get the Needle quilt top onto the long arm and got it quilted before we turned into complete couch potatoes. 

Just need to bind

I have found some leftover fabric from doing this pattern and will make the binding today. I won't get the binding onto the quilt because Mike has been put away for the holidays; he's my go-to binding machine.  

Some more spool top work today and perhaps another one of my quilts will get onto DW. It's Christmas Eve...I can do what I want. Jim will be cooking/baking all day and so why he's in his happy place I'll be in mine. 

Productivity

Making up for lost time seemed to occur yesterday.

Luann's quilt was completed and here is some of the detail free-motioned into the piece...

Luann's Stacked Coins, or Zipper Quilt

After I completed this piece, I was determined to get those Painted Ladies quilted.

Just waiting for binding

The black being used in the last WIP had to wait for cutting for binding on the Painted Ladies. Now that I have a layout for the WIP I can cut for the Painted Ladies. 

And here's the Happy Camper layout

I've decided that unless a pattern comes with the panel, DO NOT BUY! This was the third go-around in trying to make something of the fabrics and panel and I really didn't enjoy the process; and I am only okay with what will be the finished product/project. It'll make a nice utility quilt for the trailer.

I have to drop off some quilts today. I have a customer coming for pick up and possibly a drop off soon, and that will about be the extent of my inside work. We have a sunny-ish day and it's not supposed to be too awful hot. The yard awaits and since I haven't done anything out there since Sunday, it's due.