Small Project Sunday

After haircuts in the morning, the first thing I needed to do was to file all the fabrics away from the last two scrap quilt projects that were sitting on the dresser waiting to go back into their respective drawers.

Once that was done I was able to start one of the grandkids' letters. "E" is for Elijah...

His favorite color is orange. 

Hazel was feeling a little relaxed. Or remose. Or something...

"I'm am justo so...oh I don't know"

More of Joans quilt today. Those pebbles take a while to get in there so I have a feeling today isn't going to be the last day it's being worked on. 

Disappointed

So, APQS machines, so far, aren't impressing me. At all. The two I took for a test drive yesterday, once again, tracked like an anchor was attached to them. Pebbles looked like poo. If I can't make a decent pebble, it's a no-go. 

Back at the studio here's some of what is going into Joans quilt.... 

Speaking of pebbles!

There are some days that just aren't good quilting days Yesterday was one of those. I think I was a little discouraged about the results of our field trip. I moved on to something different. I finished my Puff quilt. Finally! 

Isn't it pretty?

Once I finished that, and while Jim was hunting and then after coming home, to yell at the Spartan football game, I put this together...

Cute baby quilt

Don't know who this will go to, but it's now in the "to quilt" pile. 

Started working on the grandkids' Christmas presents. I got all the backgrounds cut and am waiting for responses from their parents about their favorite colors. Right after I shut down the studio for the night, I did get a response from one set of parents, so I'm going to be chipping away at those throughout the next few weeks.

Field Trip

I'm taking a quick field trip this morning where I'm heading to Cardinal Creations in Lake City. They have become a new APQS dealer and I'm going to test drive one (or more) of their machines.

The new-to-me machine I'm getting in the spring is an APQS Lenni and when I test drove the Millie in Shipshewana I was NOT impressed. Drove like a stone. I called a few techs here in Michigan about this and they feel something was wrong with the drive belts on that particular machine. Before I commit to purchasing this gently used Lenni, I want to make sure I'm spending my money wisely.

When I return this afternoon I'll be working on Joans quilt...

Lots of negative space

She wants this quilted pretty heavily so again with the pebbles. I'm going to be pebbled out by the time I finish this one I think. 

And I have to ask. Is this my responsibility or the quilt-makers? 

Seam threads

Joan's isn't bad but I've had a lot coming through lately that are loaded with seam threads. I can not, as a long armer, just ignore these so they are trimmed as I go. But that all takes A LOT of time, especially if they are still attached somewhere and don't just easily pull out. Stop the machine. Get the scissors and tweezers, pull them tight and then snip. Take care of scissors and then get my head back into the quilting. 

Maybe it's the bane of a long arm quilter, but as I watch fellow long armers on their machines, it doesn't seem like they ever have any of these in their videos. Hmmm?

Pause

When customers come to visit, whether it's dropping off or picking up, it's a delight for me to be able to converse with them and learn about them outside of their quilts. I merely pause the machine(s) and enjoy the moments. I'm so fortunate to have these delightful people in my life. Truly!

But, as much as I relish the visits, it puts me off the machines and works its way into my evening. Then, there's the life stuff that has to be dealt with. Shopping for groceries, cleaning, and, like last night, trying to get Thanksgiving stuff announced and assigned. 

Today, the weather is poopy. Because Jim knows the deer bed down during this type of weather, he's home with me this morning instead of out hunting. Thankfully, he recognized that the girls need grooming and he'll occupy his morning doing that out in the garage instead. 

Here's some of the quilting going into the Santa Face. The customer wanted me to "bring the quilt to life". Here's a before of Santa...

Before

After

Not a great pic, but you can definitely see the difference. And I did something new with Bernie for the first time ever. 

A medium Gray and a Linen 

One needle, two threads

The result...

A beautifully rich looking heavy stitch

And Bernie never balked a second about having me do this with him. I'm loving this machine even more now!

Today this quilt will be finished and on to the next one. 

Deadlines

I have checked my deadlines and thought I was good to meet most of them at a leisurely pace. But then Jim mentioned Thanksgiving is a week from today. WHAT??? Now I'm a little pressed for time. Longer work days for me.

Which is why I'm blogging at 8:40 instead of 10:00. 

I have customers in and out all day today. One to pick up and another to drop off. One in the morning, one in the afternoon. Talk about chunking the day. That's okay. That's why I got up early and am off and running as soon as I'm done here. 

Janice's quilt isn't a holiday need. I'll be chipping away at hers on DW in between frame ironing backs for the other ones. Here's some of the quilting going into it...

I may add some echoing

I'm thinking about whether to echo these two borders. I can think about that while I'm working on Julies Santa face...

Isn't this darling?

I love Christmas quilts. I'd like to display them all year round but alas, summer pushes its way in. 

I've also decided to make name banners for the grandkids for Christmas. The littler ones won't appreciate it, but the older four will. I picked up a book at Shipshewana called Alphabet Soup by Jaybird Quilts. I have all those solids left over from the 100 blocks and thought I'd put them to good use. Here's the first test block (mine of course).

First test block

I'll be using a white background for the kids' and will probably border it a little less. This finished at 10" x 12" so maybe I'll need to rethink this and make only their first letter. Zechariah has a lot of letters as does Penelope, so maybe a banner isn't a good idea? I'll chew on that while I'm working today. 

P.S. Still no deer.

Happy Hunting Day

Jim has taken the next few days off to try to procure a deer or two. He misses his venison meat and last year was an unsuccessful hunting year. In fact, I believe it's been two years in a row he hasn't gotten anything. Doesn't help that now that his land is sold downstate, he's having to hunt on other peoples' land. 

At any rate, he'll be in and out for the remainder of the week. Meanwhile, I've whipped up a pot of chili for him this morning and now I'm heading to the studio. 

Bernadette's quilt is done but still on the frame. Took way longer than I had hoped. Had several phone calls yesterday that needed to be handled. Here's a better pic of the quilting that went into her quilt...

Better Pic

Moving over to Janice's once I get Bernadettes off, billed, recorded, trimmed, and called. I'll be frame ironing the next one on Bernie once I get to that point and while I'm working on Janices. See why I have two long arms?

Good Autumn Morning

The sun is shining and there's a pretty heavy frost all about the land. It's simply beautiful. What's more beautiful is the opportunity to do what I love in a place I love to be. Can life get any better?

Janice's quilt was the first quilt to work yesterday. Here's some of the quilting that went into it...

Spider Webs

Sorry about the cruddy pic but I didn't think to grab one while it was stitching out. 

While DW was doing his thing (I did an E2E on this one), I was working on Bernadettes quilt on Bernie. Here's some of the work going into her Tilda Baskets...

Another not-so-great pic

I have to remember to take advantage of the lighting to get these pics. Did being gone for a week really mess up my photography skills that badly?

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

Janice's Brick Road top

I think I'm going to work Bernadette's quilt some more this morning since I'm getting great lighting thanks to the sunshine and then I'll move over to DW later this afternoon/evening. 

Happy hunting day eve!