A Snowy Christmas Eve

I had every intention of working today, but after taking stock of what is left to do for Christmas gifts, thought I would reward myself with long arming after Christmas construction ends. 

But, there is a new top on the frame. This is Ila's first of two and am I having an absolute blast on it!

Ila's first top

It's a biggie; 92" x 109", and will take some time to complete since it's all being done with rulers and a little free motion. 

We received about 6-7 inches of new snow last night. It makes everything look so pretty. BUT, alas, it won't last. According to the weather fibber, we're supposed to get above freezing today and then rain behind the rising temps. But we can at least enjoy it for a few hours. 

A snowy looking morning

Merry Christmas Eve Eve

Jim took today off and we ran errands this morning. Hazel went with and enjoyed the truck ride. Not much to report except that I'm still working on Cathie's fourth quilt. I should be able to finish it up this afternoon now that we're home for the day and not expecting any additional visitors or interruptions.

I need to, at some point, start getting ready for the holiday. So. Much. To. Do! Wrapping, baking, cleaning, washing bedding, preparing other foods, making gifts and wrapping them. Sorting what I've been accumulating throughout the year first before wrapping can even begin.

Maybe today, after Cathies quilt is off and I load the next one, I can start working on those pillow covers, which are one of the kids' gifts. The tops are stitched out but need to make the inserts (I'm going to use zippered ones this time so they can be washed too) and need to research on how to do that since "sewing" isn't part of my usual wheelhouse. And the backs aren't on the tops yet. UGH!

Oh, and there's a new wide back fabric out there with kind of a satin feel to it. Mickey purchased some from Pieces and I took a pic of how it looks after stitching it out. 

Stitches sink right down in

I thought the stitches would just sit on top because of the smoothness of the fabric, but with the bamboo batt it really stitched out nicely. Win! 

Another Windy Day

What's with all these really windy days/nights? Must be a weather pattern like La Nina or something. Anyway, a very productive day in here yesterday. Mickey's second quilt was completed and she's coming around noon to fetch both of them.

While I was digging for her quilt tops I found ANOTHER one for Cathie M. OMG! I thought she only brought me three and now I'm working a fourth for her.

Here's what's on the frame this morning...

Cathie's 4th Top

I've actually already started it and here's some of the quilting detail being put into the sheep. Aren't they just the cutest?

Baaaaaa

While I was working Mickey's quilt yesterday, some of the center section was done with the ProStitcher. You have to babysit the PS because if you don't, something inevitably will happen. I was cleaning the floor in the area and found this...

Part of my needle

This was from the break two days ago. I don't think it's supposed to look this short. At any rate, I found the missing section I was unable to locate during the initial break, so I'm relieved it's not floating around inside of the bobbin case or anywhere else it could do damage. 

I have another customer pick up for the three tree skirts completed a few weeks ago and I'll continue with the sheep in between customer visits. I'm hopeful to get that one done today and another loaded before the day ends. I should probably start to wrap presents at some point. Hmmm??

Broken Needles

I seldom break needles on the long arm. I mean, I can count on one hand the amount I've broken in all those stitches on the machine. But, yesterday was needle number three (or four?). It was an old needle and I wanted to get these pillow covers stitched out before I changed it for Mickey's two quilts. Apparently I was supposed to change it sooner.

Here is what the green buffalo plaids turned into.

There are six covers total

Four of the covers are Spartan heads, the other two are just flowers as shown. 

Here's what was on the frame after the little needle incident. 

Mickey's first top 

I didn't snag any pics of the quilting in here because I was rocking yesterday and actually completed this a little after Jim arrived home from work. And, it was all custom!

Here's what's on the frame this morning...

Mickey's second top

I loaded and actually started the border work last night. DW is going to drive the center section today, but I'll still have to ruler the borders as the quilt is being advanced.

Happy Christmas Week

For most of the world, this is Christmas week. It won't be Christmas week for us until next week, so this is just another normal week, except Jim is taking a few days off for???

Monica's third quilt was finished Saturday afternoon and yay, only eight more customer quilts in the holding pattern. I'm going to take a really quick break from customer quilts to work on these...

????

You'll see tomorrow what I did with this fabric we jumped over to Pieces on Saturday afternoon to snag.

While I was doing some stuff with this fabric on the frame I hit 60 million stitches on DW! 60 million at 6:30 on the week Jim turned 60 with my 612th quilt top. That's a lot of sixes, but many say it's an unlucky number. However, every one of the boys have a 6 in their birthday or time. So it's lucky for us!

Happy 60th Jim!

Hazel had to go to the groomers yesterday. It's probably one of the least favorite of all her activities next to going to the vet. She still doesn't seem over it this morning as evidenced by her lack luster attitude...

"Darn Groomer Anyway!"

I have an appointment at 11:00 today and then Jim is coming home for lunch (again) today. I could get used to him being here during mid-day! Happy 60th birthday my love! 🎂

I'll be working on Monica's quilt again this afternoon and should be able to finish it up before the weekend is officially here. I still have two full rows to go, but some of that is the dresden stitch-out DW will be doing in those big empty blocks. It's the circles in the borders/sashings that are taking forever to complete.

Better Call Dorothy

These winds, again, are fierce! We have blinked twice so far this morning which is disconcerting. Hazel is going to the groomer this morning (if they don't call and tell me they're out of power) and I really would like to have jammed on Monicas quilt while she was away. 

I talked to Jim about this and my concern for all these high wind days. He said that was what we had insurance for. But if this machine goes down, then what? It'll take weeks to replace it (if there's even another one out there since they no longer make my model) and customers will have to wait even longer. I'm torn. I need to continue to work, but Mother Nature isn't making it easy on me. 

Here's what's going into some of Monica's top...

Quilting Detail

Can you even see the circles in the border/sashings? She has four blocks of just printed negative space to fill. We talked about repeating the Dresden pattern during her consultation, so I digitized the actual Dresden block (none was available already) to have DW stitch them out. What do ya think?

Digitizing patterns

And they both stitched out beautifully. I did get the first row in last night despite mom and I running the roads most of the mid day yesterday. It was good to get out and "play" with her for a while. I delivered two quilts to Bittersweet so not all the day was just fun and games.