I'm Back!

What a wonderful week! Well, except for the last afternoon of the last day when a snarky women made an absolutely rude comment, but we'll stay away from her next year. 

Here's a few pics of the week I just came back from...

Our "home" for the week

We love this room

I deleted all other pics or I'd share those as well. I got a lot of shopping done, kits/patterns purchased to entertain me through the winter, the cowboy blocks are assembled into rows, the Pieces BOM blocks are all made, and I did a little baby quilt while at retreat. Meanwhile, as I was taking some time off from work, Jim and the boys were not. Here's the first window in.

The boys being boys

This is the west window. All the others are now in, the bulk of the drywall is on the ceiling and the subfloor material has been transferred from the garage into the new studio. Not bad for a nine hour day. 

Have many phone calls to return that were left on my work phone while away and I have to get back on the big machines. Did I ever miss them. Welcome home!

ON VACATION!

QUILTING AT THE LAKE WILL BE CLOSED FROM MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6 THROUGH SUNDAY NOVEMBER 12TH. 

See you after that!😉

Road Day

We were on the road ALL DAY yesterday and while I wasn't in the studio, I was working. Binding. My nemesis. 

Hand Binding

I have a hole in my middle finger already from pushing the needle through. Today, while the insulation guys are here, and while I'm waiting for the quilting girls to come and fetch me for Shipshewana I'm going to have to put a bandaid on my finger to get the rest of this done.

The insulation guys have the windows all taped up so I can't take a video of them working out there, but it's a big step in our new studio addition since this was the hold-up after the construction inspection. Did I mention I do not like building? 

I Must Be a Slob

I pulled my Sew EZ table out from under the pressing/planning table yesterday to get ready for retreat. OMG, what a dusty, fuzz bunny mess! And the top of my small travel case wasn't much better sitting under DW. 

At any case, I have four projects going to retreat. The cowboy boot blocks are all cut and ready to go. I'm taking a cute kit with me from Pieces I bought a while ago and then the Pieces BOM to work on. While I was scrounging around for things yesterday, I stumbled upon a huge bundle (26) fat quarters and found a pattern to make with those.

I'm still frame ironing the backing for what's headed to Bernie next, but this is going to be what's on him...

Bernadette's Tilda Baskets

I have a nail appointment first thing this morning. It's not supposed to be until next week on Friday, but since I'm not going to be here Shay got me in today to get me through the next almost month.

Once I get back I need to start packing more seriously. I haven't even thought about clothing. Only quilting things.

I'm not sure what Jim will be doing today. Something in the new studio I'm sure. Although, we're kind of waiting for the insulation guys to do their thing on Monday before getting too deep into anything else. 

Phone Call

It's funny how one phone call can change upcoming plans. The ladies I'm traveling with down to Shipshewana are coming from the Alpena area. Further north even than Alpena. They have a good three hour drive just to get to me. And then, we have another two hour drive to Lansing, and then another good two hour drive to Shipshewana. That's seven hours for the northern girls. 

We are leaving Monday instead of Tuesday. That way they aren't "jet lagged" when we arrive and can have a complete day of sewing on Tuesday. 

I completed the quilting on Peggy's quilt. 

Peggy's cute wall hanging

And while I was working on this darling little piece, I frame ironed and loaded the next one for Janice...

A kind-of Halloween themed quilt

Obviously, I didn't get this done by Halloween, but she wasn't adamant about it being done by then. Thank goodness. 

I was just finishing Peggy's quilt when Jim got home from work and said we were going to Home Depot to pick up half the ceiling drywall. Okay, done in the studio for the day. No cowboy boots were cut. Obviously.  

Today is going to be a weird studio day. I have a customer coming to pick up. I have to get Peggy's quilt off the frame and trimmed. Once that's done, and while I'm frame ironing the next backing, I'm building binding, a label, and a hanging sleeve for Peggy's quilt. I don't do binding, sleeving, or labels. BUT I'm making this one exception. Otherwise that thing would have to be shipped back to Grand Rapids for finishing. 

Which is gong to be a problem. I don't have a table that's clear enough in here for me to work on such things. Mike HAS to do the binding work for me but there's no where to put him. The table out back has new bathroom stuff under and on top of it. The bar in the dining room is too high and has no leg space. The table in the living room is too low and provides no quilt support once I get that big machine on it. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm?????????

And the electrician is supposed to come and move ceiling boxes since the furring strips are all in place. Did I mention we passed our rough inspection? Thank goodness it's Friday. I have a lot to do today and tomorrow. Sunday we're heading to Lansing for the day to pick up chickens, deliver a refrigerator, and deliver mail so a chopped up day there with little to no productivity. 

Where is the Week Going?

I thought yesterday was Tuesday. And I still think today is Wednesday. Heavens time is spinning by quickly. Here's where the "boys" are at this morning...

Nearly empty

Bernie has a backing all frame ironed and I need to finish loading. DW has a finished Martha quilt sitting in rest and he needs to be off loaded and reloaded throughout the day. I'll work on the little piece on Bernie most of the day today. Pics to follow once on the frame. 

Meanwhile, while I was working yesterday, I could smell poop. Again! Didn't we just go through this earlier this year? When Jim came home for lunch he pulled the riser lid off. Yep. All backed up. Sludge to the very top of the lid. 

That was a nice unplanned hefty bill we had to shell out to get the pump replaced and the septic tank cleaned out. At least the house quit smelling like an outhouse.

House Cleaning

Every once in a while I need to take a morning out to just clean up the house a bit. Bathrooms, stairs, change out the monthly wall hangings, wash area rugs and seasonal quilts. Since those dreaded chores are now out of the way, the fun part of the day can begin.

Martha's quilt is about 2/3 of the way complete. I have the sashing strips in the third row to do and then will move onto the last row. This quilt has a lot of thread changes, and different quilting areas requiring me to roll back and forth.

Some of the quilting

I discovered yesterday (or actually remembered) that Golden Doodles are like velcro to leaves. The Catalpa tree shed most of its leaves yesterday because it was pretty cold yesterday morning. The girls love to play in the leaves and it was fun watching them romp and wrestle around out there. Until we had to come in.

Yep, all over her body

And you can't just wipe them away like a normal short haired canine. These have to be aggressively brushed out with a wire and then smoothing brush. After I was done quilting for the day and before I lost daylight, I was out in their pen getting rid of all those leaves. And getting dog poo stuck in the lugs of my boots because the leaves were hiding all of that as well.

And I said autumn was my favorite season?

Starting to think about next week. Leaving on Tuesday for retreat down in Shipshewana for the week. My last vacation until the end of January and I'm so excited. I'm pondering which machine to take. I think Lilo (my HQ Stitch 210) because he's small and light to carry and I have an extra Sew EZ table for him to give me some extra sewing space.

I cut some more pieces out for the cowboy boots and I think I have about 35 sets done. I need 68 and I'll cut a few extra for, well, extras. Happy November!