Making a Quilt In A Day

Yep, this quilt was completed in less than four hours. Yes, I did cut out petals/footballs over the course of four sessions, and I took a few hours in an afternoon to grid out the background, but essentially, I have a completed (binding excluded) quilt in a day.

A completed quilt!

Getting it started

The second pic is starting the piece at around 2:30, and first pic is around 6:00. I have the binding made and will be attaching that first thing this morning. Afterward I'll be making two pencil pouches for Christmas gifts for the grandkids.

Okay, I did work all of yesterday morning and part of the afternoon on the customer quilt on Bernie, so I didn't slack off all day. I also had a customer come and pick up and she was here for a while (her husband and Jim were busy talking). 

The body is together

While I was waiting for the furnace to quit running a few times yesterday I assembled the body of the Alaska top. I have two borders to attach. One is going to be pretty easy. The other is something I have to come up with because the one given isn't going to happen. 

While working on things today I need to find the next quilt/back to load onto DW. If I keep him naked, a customer quilt will end up on the frame and I need to stop doing that. 

Changing up the Day

I didn't get out into the studio until well after lunch yesterday. We did shopping for food and then by the time we came home and unloaded everything and made and ate lunch, it was well after noon. Jim brought me home a gingerbread house kit from his earlier trip to Lansing on Monday and I constructed that while he was out removing giant chunks of ice from our eaves...

Once that was all constructed and cleanup of said house was finished, I headed out to the studio. Finally.

Here's what I'll be working on today...

Look at all those HST's!!!

I have an idea on how the HST's are going to be quilted in my head. I have to get my preview paper out this morning to make sure it's going to flow correctly before I start this though. This quilt was made by a LQS to honor our country's 250th birthday. How cool is that?

Once I fiddled around on Bernie and got this on, I moved over to DW and removed the table runner quilted the previous night, made the binding and got it finished. It's ready to head to under the tree.

I did not feel like working on the Alaska quilt and DW had an empty frame. I noticed something I gridded out earlier this fall and decided to find a back for it (and I did), pieced said back, and started loading for the project I've been wanting to do for some time now. Do these look familiar?

Petals for the upcoming DW project

If (and this is a big if) this works out, it's going to be pretty cool. I got the idea from another long armer out there who not only quilts quilts on her machine, but uses it in other useful ways as well. I'm thinking, if she can do it, I can too. 

One customer expected today for pick up and Christmas is less than a week away. I have a LOT to do around here for gifting so I better get to work. 

At a Stand Still

I'm kind of at a long arming stand still. I finished the Sue Spurge yesterday at closing time. Now, I'm frame ironing two backs...

Bernie and Marty sitting in wait

I have the table runner quilted...

So until I pick the next project to get onto DW nothing is sitting waiting there. 

Speaking of DW; seems like every time he goes downstate for "fixing" he comes back with another issue. Yesterday was an electrical issue day. If his throat lights are plugged in, his handlebar lights do not work, and the button that selects his speed is also dead. And he stitches at about 4spi. Once I unplugged him and let him reset, he fired back up but the throat lights are unplugged as well. Guess we won't be using those anymore. 

I pieced the blocks together to make big sections for the Alaska top...

And that's where I ended last night because I had knitting to work on for the holidays. Still do have knitting to work, but the other four scarves are much smaller than what I'm making for the DIL.

We are off to get groceries this morning. We have poopy weather coming tomorrow afternoon and we don't want to go to the grocery store the weekend before Christmas. Today is going to be bad enough. 

A Happy Retirement Birthday

My best friend, my husband has his first "retirement" birthday today. It's still weird having him here all day long, but we're adjusting. Slowly. 

Yesterday was a mixture of all sorts of stuff; appointments, long arming, appliqué,
piecing, putting long arms back together, and watching the neighbors yard get torn up while it appears they are going to build a barn. The weather is a mixture as well. Six inches of snow on the ground and today it's raining. 

I finished the quilt on Marty and moved over to this one on Bernie...

Sue Spargo Woodland animals

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

Can you see anything?

After working on this piece into late afternoon, I found a quilt we needed to do a little work on. I had to get a couple of straight lines placed in an area that wasn't quilted...

Inserting some straight lines

After finishing that I finished appliquéing and putting the borders on the last block in the Alaska top...

I checked to see how this quilt top is constructed and I'm floored that I have to use a partial seam to get all the blocks set in around the center block. UGH. I like partial seams about as well as nothing. 

Jim had a b-ball game to watch so while he was doing that I found and attached leaders to the absolute perfect backing for a table runner going to the B's for the holiday. Once all the leaders were temporarily attached I loaded this onto DW...

I had a hair brained idea to knit scarves for all the grandkids, but I've got one in the works for my DIL so I finished getting everything ready for today's work and then went to work some more on that. I don't know if my goal will be accomplished or not? Just gotta keep plugging away at things I suppose. 

Dental Appointment

I have a cleaning later this morning and I can't put it off. I have a tartar issue and if I neglect these cleanings, the next cleaning is so painful. Here's the catch. Jims company cancelled our health/dental/optical insurance on October 31st. So I'm paying cash today. Why do all of these things hit right during the holiday's? This isn't our first low-on-money-because-of-circumstances Christmas. 

Speaking of expenses, DW is back home. Part of the needle that broke off last week was still stuck in the race. They found it and Jim said while Jason was stitching it off, it was running great. We'll see. And the bill for not only his repair but the y-axis encoder was given to Jim yesterday. Cha-ching. 

I have one more day on Marty and then I'll be moving over to Bernie for the beginning of the evening. After I worked into the evening on the long arm, I moved over to framing the three blocks I had blanket stitched the previous day...

Looon

Polar Bear

Lupine

I have one more block to blanket stitch and frame. Maybe tonight? Meanwhile, I'll be in the studio until I have to leave for the dentist. 

Alaska Blocks

I worked on a few more Alaska blocks yesterday. 

Here's one of them. 

Moose in the trees

I have the polar bear and loon both blanket stitched and I have the salmon block appliqued but not yet blanket stitched. That leaves four to frame in total to complete the blocks. After all those are framed and constructed into a top, the pattern has a pretty pieced border that will go around all of it. But, I'm getting way ahead of myself here. 

I'll be working on Marty all day on Toni's Christmas quilt. Jim is downstate taking DW to the shop to get repaired since I knocked him totally out of time with that broken needle situation. Jim is also visiting the kids/grandkids while he's in the Lansing area and he has license plates to renew on my truck. Many birds with this stone. 

Customers on Saturday

Jim and I cherish our quiet time throughout the weekend, but we cherish talking to kind and friendly folks even more. Our customers that came yesterday were so nice and we took over an hour out talking to them.

Two more quilt tops were dropped off; Lori Holts Marketplace. Remember those? I've done about 10 of them already and two more came in yesterday. 

I long armed prior to them showing up and once again after we ate lunch for a total of about four to five hours. I lost track of time when I'm long arming. 

Well after dark, I started working on more Alaska blocks and completed these three last night...

Orca by the Sea

Ursa Major

I don't remember the name of this one

I'm planning on working on more of these today. We actually have some sunshine today which is the first day in a week or more where it's not clouded up right after sunrise. It's very bright out there with all the snow on the ground and will be nice to work with in the studio.