Another Visit from Mom?

After working yesterday, which btw, I have two quilts off the Bernini's and two more backs already loaded and getting frame ironed, I had to do the long work on the Quilt Room. The last set of blocks (the banner) needed to have setting blocks and top blocks added.

That section is now done

After working on the Quilt Room I headed over to DW. I spent the rest of the evening marking, and then quilting all the thin sashings and part of the border. While I was over there working I spied my Temperature quilt row hanging out and oh crap, I haven't done that in a few weeks. 

Guess I know what I'll be doing tonight.

Got a text from mom. She'll be over later this afternoon to discuss this bedroom set that's supposed to be coming over here. I believe she's having second thoughts. Which is fine by me. I don't have to rush to get the room ready (new paint). She volunteered the set. I didn't ask for it, but she knew I liked it and wanted to get something new for herself.

Mom visits about three times a year. She doesn't like dogs and we are a little below her housing expectations. She used to bitch about my grandmother tsk-ing our family home when I was growing up. Mom wasn't a great housekeeper back then. Now my mom is doing the same thing to me. Funny, huh?

I have nothing to share on what I'll be working on the machines today because each of them needs one more roll before I can load. 

The Lake is Back!

After nearly 6 1/2 years our lake is finally back. With the rain we received a few days ago, and with the runoff from tributaries and Secord Lake, our legal lake levels have returned. While it has risen a few times during the 6 1/2 year period, we knew it would dissipate in a matter of days; which it did because the gates were wide open still with construction going on. Now we are staying full until 12/1. 

I did spend a little time in the studio yesterday morning/afternoon.

Two new portable design boards

The kids went to a real Octoberfest (in Germany) on Saturday. Aren't they adorable?

In Munich on Saturday

I guess Evie was a hit and the star of the whole show. 

Today I'll be on Marty all day. I don't know if Lynettes quilt will be done today or not. There's still a couple of rolls hanging there and I usually do about a pass and a half a day. 

As Predictated

Zero time was spent in the studio yesterday except to plug in my iPad. Today I'll be out there for a bit because I miss it.

Here's why I was otherwise occupied.

Boiling the cider before packaging

Filling the press hopper

Our water is nearly at summer lake levels

Bailing out the pontoon cover

Family is everything and after talking to the mom of this motley crew (happy face) it looks like each of the kids need a new quilt for their beds. Don't know how many I'll get to before the holiday, but hey, bonus!

It May Be...

I had a call into a skating rink in Midland about my old skates and getting them retrofitted for new boots. The plates, wheels, and bearings are all in beautiful shape. The trucks may be dry rotted and the boots are way too small (I've had these since pre-pregnancy). They were my competition skates and after having children, going back to university, moving, starting new careers, etc., skating was put on the back burner.

But when Jim and I met I told him then I'd be a horseback riding, water skiing, roller skating grandmammy. Well, the horse thing isn't going to happen. I don't think our neighbors would appreciate horses on the property. But the other two, yep, that's doable.

Wednesday morning is the "geezer" skate at the rink in Midland. I need more exercise. I LOVE to skate, and when we go down to Ohio in a few weeks, skating is on the menu with the grandkids. Can't use rentals. No good southerner would ever use instant grits, just like no good skater ever uses rentals.

So, if this pans out, my studio will be closed on Wednesdays. Skating is from 10:30 to noon and we wouldn't get back home until around 1:00. 

Meanwhile, since we had to run to Midland for the skate appointment, we also dropped off the borrowed receiver from our pontoon seller, mailed out some birthday cards, and then got back home after 5:00. 

I did long arm in the morning, but barely got one pass done as I'm into a lot of the lower witch detail. 

I did get this put together after we returned.

Q.U.I.L.T. Banner

Today we have the Lansing grandkids on their way up with their parents. The adults will watch the MSU football game against Wisconsin and I'll be playing with the kids (since I'm not really an adult). 😇

The 'B' family usually stays until the kids' bedtime so very doubtful if I'll get much done in the studio today. I do have to switch out all my back to school decorations with Halloween stuff so I'll get to work on that until they arrive. Which is about an hour or so from now. 

Schedule/Hours Revision

Since I'm 'retiring' in less than two weeks I'm thinking about changing my available hours for customer drops offs/pick ups. What do you think? Which day(s) should I eliminate or maybe hours to cut back?

I don't have to decide yet. Here's some background fill going into Lynette's quilt.

A nice swirl and some pebbles here and there

Two hearts and the 'Q' and 'U'

Once we got home from groceries it was still raining pretty hard and there's nothing to watch on TV on Thursday nights (not that I 'watch' TV), but Jim was going to be busy playing his games so I stayed out and constructed the first couple of blocks for the Quilt Room. 

We're headed to a sale over in Harrison this morning. All fabric $5 a pound. You can get about three yards of fabric in a pound and the math works. Can't pass this up and we'll go over and see what we can find. 

I'll be working this afternoon once we return from town. Oh, and all that rain we got over the past 24 or more hours; the lake is filling up nicely. We are still about a foot or a little more before reaching the summer lake levels but it's starting to look like a lake instead of a lazy river! 😊

The Doug (Dug, Dugg?)

Normal work day yesterday except I knocked off a little early. I took this pic before we left.

A view from our front (back) deck

I wanted to show the Fowler's where the new pontoon was going to 'live' over the summer. Speaking of pontoons, it's now in our yard. Which is why I had to knock off early. Jim wanted to avoid post-work traffic going through Midland with a pontoon boat. 

Home at last

I was pondering all week what to name the pontoon. It's a Bennington. Caleb's FFA advisors last name was Pennington. His first name was Doug. I keep calling the pontoon Doug so I believe that is going to be the name we settle on for the new toy.

Once we got home and settled Doug in the yard (for now) and let the girls out for a bit, I hustled in the studio and was able to get the next set of sashings/borders quilted in and the four blocks above done on the QAL.

Then I started cutting. 

Just a few pieces in the next block

It had been dark for quite some time by the time I left out of the studio. Making up for the couple of hours we were gone maybe?

A very rainy day today (hurray) which makes quilting perfect!

High Expectations

Wanna see the cutest baby ever?

Our Germany granddaughter

She loved the pumpkin patch yesterday.

I'm quilting along yesterday and I noticed I was throwing a lot of little threads on the floor. More than usual. I was picking them off the top I was working on and decided to do a clean sweep of about an 18" square area.

This is what I got.

Seriously?

Maybe I have higher expectations than other quilters? I know while I'm pressing my seams I pick seam threads out during the whole construction process because they'll just come to haunt me later on the frame if I don't. 

Do others not care? I'm a rare long armer that will actually clean your top up for you while I'm quilting. Simply because I don't just plug in a motif and push play on the computer and walk away and do something else. I see every millimeter of the top and take care of issues (threads, tears, missed seams) while I'm working.

If I wasn't a long armer and had to send quilts out to be quilted, I'd make damn sure I got rid of as many seam threads as I could. I expect myself to take pride in my work and not make others work harder due to the lack of caring/laziness. 

Soap box done. In the last hour of my work day mom stopped by and stayed for a few hours to visit. She also needed to pick up one of the quilts dropped off last week for her new bed on its way.

After she left I jumped right in to working on the Quilt Room. It was time to put the next big section together.

We finally have a rainy day today; we sure needed it. It's easier to stay rooted to the machine working when the weather adds to the ambiance; love rainy days. It's not going to be a long day though. We are hopefully going to be picking up the new pontoon later this afternoon. So. Fricken. Excited!