New Adventure

Have you ever done a whole-cloth quilt? Neither have I. Looks like I'm going to have some fun. 

Blank Canvas

I'm going to use this pic as a basis to get a stream in the meadow...

My inspiration

So, I've been asking myself since I set the first bones into the first pass. Do I just echo each hill? Or, do I give it the "Dream Big" treatment and quilt each one with an individual motif? The thing that separates the Dream Big motifs are the echos in each petal and I'm afraid if I do that with the hills here it'll look not right. 

I'm going to ponder this while I work on Colleens Quilted Witch. Which is coming along slowly. After doing customer stuff yesterday (Linda's quilt is bound and ready for pick up), I loaded the next monster onto Foster...

Leah Day BOM from 2019?

I'm not sure about the year. It may have been 2018. I know it was shortly after we moved in here, but before Bernie joined the family. I'll be working on this for some time I think. 

I did sit-down work after my foot started to protest...

Looks good from here

Ya know, while I'm quilting these, I wonder why I continue to work on this piece because I think they all turn out looking like doody. But ya know, they don't look half bad from a short distance. Maybe it's because I'm like right there in their face when I'm creating them and can see every stinking mistake? 

Nobody expected today unless Linda comes to pick up her quilt. Very hot outside so a good day to play on the boys inside. 

New Internet Provider

We've kicked Spectrum to the curb. We now have a new wireless/internet provider and I must say, things have speeded up! They are coming to relocate our Dish cable later today and that means, Jim's man cave/our new living room will be officially moved!

What a weekend. Saturday was insane. I started with Linda's quilt on DW around 8:30 a.m.. Got the motif all set up and cropped and then hit start...

The motif Linda brought over for me to stitch out

Two thread breaks, one bobbin chicken loss, and one motor error later I was taking the last stitch at 9:30-ish Saturday night. 

While DW was doing his thing, I decided to work on other projects around the studio (I think DW was jealous because every time I would neglect him for a bit I'd have a thread issue). The first project was Diane's embroidered gift blocks. Here it is all together...

Much smaller than I thought it would be

I put that away and got out the flannel Twirly blocks that were made at guild. I trimmed all those down, put those together and then put that aside. 

For Rayola

I fired up Foster and finished quilting, trimming, and then binding the quilt for Charlotte. 

Done!

Now Foster was empty so I got the Twirly quilt back out and found some backing and batting to quilt it out quickly. 

Just some loose swirls were needed

Okay, at this point, DW was still only about two-thirds of the way done and was starting to show me he was being neglected. I had to clean everything up and concentrate on what he was doing from that point on. And as long as you watch him, everything works out beautifully. Which it did. 

Linda's quilt is off the frame and the first round of binding is attached. I'll finish that this morning before doing much of anything else except loading the back for the next quilt going onto DW. 

Oh, here's the new living room too....

New living room

While I was working on DW all day Saturday, Jim got the girls' new pen nearly finished (just a latch is needed for the gate) and they are having fun exploring their new digs. Yesterday we moved the TV, the rest of the furniture and then cleaned all that up (electronics are dust magnets). What a busy weekend!

Three Long Arms

I had an emergent quilt top come in yesterday and today I'll be stitching it out. Why? Because this particular customer also asked me if I would please (please, please) bind this quilt. It's not hers but rather a fabric manufacturer sample. Tomorrow while we're watching movies, instead of eating junk food, I'll be hand binding. Here's the quilt I'll be working on today...

Quick turnaround

While this is stitching out I'll initially be keeping a careful eye on how things are progressing. I'm using a 60 weight thread in both the top and bottom and instead of my usual size 18 needle, I'm using a 16. Let's just see how in time DW really is.

Once I'm convinced he's dealing with all the new changes, I'll be trying to get the Diane blocks finished and get that into a top. I'm going to need the sewing table, where everything is currently hanging out, to attach the binding to the front of the stitched out quilt. 

I did get the first "row" done on the Quilted Witch yesterday, as well as Sandy's quilt off DW with the inclusion of trimming. Although, we need to go over that once the customer comes to pick it up in a couple of weeks because it was a hot mess when I was trimming; triangles too short in places, not square, etc. 

I also worked some more on Charlottes quilt last night. Still have the last 1/4 to go, but it's getting there. All three long arms did something yesterday. Ahhh...my passion hard at work. 

Jims going to be working on dog fence while I'm working this morning. It's time to move the girls!

Gut Instinct

Have you ever had a feeling in your tummy about not doing something? I had that yesterday morning. Something told me not to go to Grand Rapids yesterday, which was a bummer, but I heeded the warning. I stayed here instead and worked.

BUT...

I did not turn on my phone and concentrated on finishing Sandy's quilt instead. I have a lot of time sensitive quilts coming/in queue and knew I needed to get some of these "old" ones completed. 

Some of the quilting going in

It's a good thing I "forgot" to turn my phone back on because there were four messages from people. I would have been on the phone all day and would have not gotten this quilt done. As it was, it was well after 5:30 before DW was put to bed. 

This morning will be spent on the phone returning those phone calls while I'm removing Sandy's quilt. Linda was one of the callers and I know her quilts take priority; she'll probably be dropping them off later and who knows who else will be coming by.

Meanwhile...before Linda arrives, I have this one to work on on Bernie...

Wait! I've seen this before

Yep, number two of the Lori Holt Quilted Witch. They take forever to quilt, but are rather fun to do. Lots of pebbles and swirls in the background. Lots of detail in the blocks and accessories. But lots of thread changes too!

I may be working this weekend depending on how the sensitivity of Linda's quilt(s) are. I know we have a lot to do around the outside here, but Jim may be doing a solo. Happy Friday. 

Teaching

It's great to teach if you've been classically trained. Like I have. Yesterday was a great day and while I was nervous going in, I settled right back into teaching mode and had a blast. It doesn't matter what age you teach, whether it's six-year olds or 86-year olds, repetition and availability is key. Having smiles during the process and successes after the lesson is priceless!

Happy faces and lots of progress!

I didn't get home last night until nearly 9:00. It was a long but wonderful day. The weather was gorgeous and here's a view of one of Michigans great lakes...

Lake Huron in the morning

I usually only get to see this lake in the afternoon/evening hours, but the morning views are spectacular.

Two quilt tops were picked up while I was up north and after logging those in and getting them into the queue (another fall finish deadline) I'll be working on Sandy's quilt on DW. But first I have to return phone calls that came in yesterday. 

Tomorrow I'll be out of the studio too. I'm (hopefully) heading to Grand Rapids to the AQS show. I haven't been in two years and it's time to pay vendors and quilt makers a visit. 

Collections

I didn't think I would be blogging today since I did absolutely nothing in the studio yesterday; I wanted to give my foot a rest since I'll be on my feet all day Tuesday and Thursday.  

Do you collect anything? I seemingly collect long arms. 😅 But I also collect (kind of) the letter "C". I had these C's randomly scattered throughout the old studio, yet nobody seemed to notice them. At least, they never commented. Except my mom. Who thought they were stupid. 

When everything was taken down off the wall of the old studio so we could paint (including those elusive C's) I  decided not to put them back in the new studio. I knew it was because they were scattered and not really noticed and instead, yesterday, made a collage of them in our bedroom where "Stitch Happens" was removed. 

A small collection 

Cute, huh? Why the letter C? Because I love my name and it starts with C silly.

I'll be working on/finishing Elleens quilt today on Bernie and starting Sandy's on DW. I'll probably be working late since tomorrow is a bust.

Speaking of. Tomorrow I'm going to be in Oscoda ALL DAY teaching the Radiant Suns class as well as attending the monthly guild meeting. My return home won't be until well after 9:00 tomorrow night. Class starts at 10:00am meaning I have to leave here around 8:00am. I'm so excited about teaching again! I probably won't sleep worth a poop tonight! Ah, well, the fun I'm going to have will be well worth the lack of sleep. Happy Monday!

Rainy Weekend

It's been raining off and on all weekend. It's been warmer-ish so no worries about the rain. A great time for Jim to can peaches and make peach jam while I long arm.

I'm about half-way done with Elleens quilt and after working on that I moved over to the gift blocks Diane left for me. I had to make 11 basket blocks first for the filler. Then cut for the spacing/filler sections. 

Here's the first block... 

Added sashing and a filler set

I'm hoping to work on more of these today, but we have to run to town to get lunch stuff; Sundays are special lunches and Jim wants chicken n' waffles today and we get things fresh for those.