Pick Up Wednesday

I have two customer pick ups today and I'm not feeling the greatest. One is arriving first thing this morning and the other late afternoon. I'm thinking a nap in between might be in my future. I did take a Covid test this morning first thing to make sure I didn't need to reschedule but it was negative. Yay.

Here's some more of the quilting going into Reta's quilt...

I love how the tree is going together

Not much to show on the other quilt because it's just started. 

All the bindings are made for the grandkids' initial wall hangings; still waiting for all the marks to disappear before going any further on those. It's taking forever for them to leave because it's so dry in here. They may have to shower with Jim tonight since he always takes a pretty steamy shower. 

I knew I wasn't feeling good when last night I didn't want to get off the couch. And it was like Lucy knew mom was out of sorts since she wouldn't leave my tummy...

I'm "fake" smiling because looking ill is not becoming

Other than customers coming today, I'm not sure how much will actually get done in the studio. I'm staring as this as it's being typed and I could lay down right here and go to sleep. Hopefully the customers will understand and not hang out too long today.

Another Inspection

We have yet again, another inspection today. This one is to make sure we have 5/8" drywall on the ceiling and to check our R-value on the walls; to make sure what the spray foam guy did was correct. We can proceed from there onto all the interior work. Yay.  

Reta's All Hallow quilt is about a quarter of the way done. I was going to continue on after Jim came home but proceeded to stick the long arm needle under my nail bed on my ring finger. Blood. Hurt. Shut down machine. 

While I was working on Reta's quilt, Louise's was stitching out on DW and once that was finished, started loading the next quilt. I had questions about this one, called the customer, who was in a class, and held off doing anything until she returned my call. Which she did around 4:45. 

Here's what's on DW today...

Thread work a-mundo!

I don't know if I'll tear into this today or not. I want to get further on Reta's quilt. Here's some of the quilting going into that...

Partial spider web

Once I was done long arming, work began on straight-line quilting the grand kiddos initial banners. These were done on the domestic machine. Got those finished and trimmed and now ready for binding. Mine is sitting in wait to see how I'm going to do this because I want to add tails on either side for hanging instead of putting in a sleeve. Sunny but frigid day today. 

All quilted

Snowy Monday

I think we've finally moved into winter. Very cold temps this morning (mid-20's) and we have a light snow coming down right now. We got a dusting over night and yesterday we received almost an inch. 

It makes all the Christmas decorations in the house even more appropriate now that it actually resembles Christmas outside. 

I worked on this little guy intermittently throughout yesterday. I still need to make his bow tie, but here's my first prototype. 

Teddy

I like to always make one "for myself" project when delving into something new. Like sewing. Which is not quilting. And I learned a few things about this prototype. 

1. Don't use interfacing. Take the time to actually quilt the layers first. 

2. Be careful around the turns and round parts. Take them slower to make sure a curve is actually achieved. 

3. I suck at ladder stitching the back closed. Press those seams over first before turning so fighting with it when stitching it closed doesn't occur. 

4. Get the correct eyes and nose pieces before attempting another bear. Sewing on buttons ranks right up there with ladder stitching. 

That's all I can think of right now. But I'll refer back to this list when making my next one. Or better yet, I'll make notes on the actual directions. 

See the letters behind Teddy? I'm ready to start straight line quilting those tonight after getting out of the studio. I have a temporary sewing area set up in the dining room right now to get those done this week. 

But, it is Monday and it's time to get back to my "real" job. Man am I glad I don't have to go out somewhere in the weather and punch a time clock for somebody else. I have a great life! Here's what I'm working on today...

For Louise's granddaughter for Christmas

I'm putting a horse-y edge-to-edge in here. While DW is working, I'll be working on Reta's All Hallows Eve quilt on Bernie. Don't know what I'm going to put into that yet; still thinking on it. 

Trying to Get Ready

Between getting ready for our Thanksgiving I was working in the studio. I have Janices quilt done and off the frame. I'll need to contact her on Monday that all three are done.  

Here's what I worked on while frame ironing Louise's quilt...

Hannah's

Penelope

Zechariah

Jacob

Tristan

I already posted Elijah's the other day. After working on those I started a Teddy Bear from my Teddy Tell pattern that arrived the other day. 

Black Friday

Do you participate in all the black Friday hub bub? I do not. I've never been on one of those excursions early on Friday morning after Thanksgiving, but I've heard stories. I do take advantage of on-line sales when it's something that's absolutely needed but that's about it.  

Janice's quilt is done. Although, it's still hanging out on the frame since I was needed for round two of the insulation adventures in the new studio. I'll get her quilt off today and start loading for Monday.

Notice the temperature outside behind me. 

The temperature in the studio wasn't much warmer than outside since we still don't have permanent doors installed. But at least we were out of the very biting wind. We finally got finished around 3:30 yesterday afternoon. We were dirty, tired, hungry, and frozen, but it's all insulated now. 

I'm technically not open today, so I should not be working, but I don't consider what I do exactly work.

While I'm frame ironing for Monday's quilt, I'll be making more letters for the grandkids' Christmas gifts. Jim's at work and the sun is currently shining in the studio so nicely it'll be a nice morning to work out there. 

This afternoon...food prep. Although, and just recently, have learned that Ben is not feeling well, and it almost sounds like the Covid variant, so they may not even be able to attend Thanksgiving tomorrow. We'll have to send food back down with the C's if they can't actually be up here. No worries. 

Happy Turkey Day

Jim and Colette don't do holidays like "normal" people. Our Thanksgiving is Saturday. Today, we are continuing on with the blown-in insulation project in the new studio. 

Batch one

We started with 22 bales and had to run to get 15 more last night. Jim has some drywall work to do this morning for the peak in the cathedral ceiling and then we'll continue with the insulation.

Meanwhile, I'll be finishing Janices quilt this morning until I'm needed out in the very cold new studio. 

Happy Thanksgiving! May a relaxing day and full tummy come your way. 

Happy Thanksgiving Eve

I just got back from the dentist office; just a cleaning. 

Here's what's on Bernie for the unforeseeable future...

Reta's All Hallow's Eve

I need to get Janice's quilt done. What's different about her quilt?

What's Different?

I spent most of last night trying to get this quilt turned. I realized, after getting the first section done, that unless I turned this quilt, I was going to be doing way more starts and stops than I was willing to deal with. 

Now I can run passes seamlessly and not have to tie off between each and every block. 

We have started rearranging the dining room/living room to prepare for Saturday, which will be our Thanksgiving. The actual Thanksgiving day will be spent blowing insulation in the ceiling of the new studio. Who hoo! 

Excellent Quilting Day

Cold. Rainy. A perfect quilting day. Good thing there's some leftover chili in the fridge because that, my friend, is the perfect late autumn day food.

Despite having worked 11 hours yesterday on Joans quilt, it's still not done. But today should be the finishing day. Only one customer is expected to pick up (and maybe drop off) meaning very few pauses. 

This arrived in the mail last night and I didn't even take a look at it until I was done long arming regardless of my being so excited about it.

Sorry about the dark pic

It's that dark out in the studio RIGHT NOW. I literally just grabbed this pic before blogging. 

The nice thing about this pattern is there are four pieces. Two fronts and two backs. Gina has a four-part YouTube tutorial on putting it together and between that and her written instructions, we may just get a cute bear out of this. Hopefully, one of many.

Well, Bernie isn't going to run himself, so off I go to enjoy a rainy quilting day. 

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!

I'm Back!

What a wonderful week! Well, except for the last afternoon of the last day when a snarky women made an absolutely rude comment, but we'll stay away from her next year. 

Here's a few pics of the week I just came back from...

Our "home" for the week

We love this room

I deleted all other pics or I'd share those as well. I got a lot of shopping done, kits/patterns purchased to entertain me through the winter, the cowboy blocks are assembled into rows, the Pieces BOM blocks are all made, and I did a little baby quilt while at retreat. Meanwhile, as I was taking some time off from work, Jim and the boys were not. Here's the first window in.

The boys being boys

This is the west window. All the others are now in, the bulk of the drywall is on the ceiling and the subfloor material has been transferred from the garage into the new studio. Not bad for a nine hour day. 

Have many phone calls to return that were left on my work phone while away and I have to get back on the big machines. Did I ever miss them. Welcome home!

ON VACATION!

QUILTING AT THE LAKE WILL BE CLOSED FROM MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6 THROUGH SUNDAY NOVEMBER 12TH. 

See you after that!😉

Road Day

We were on the road ALL DAY yesterday and while I wasn't in the studio, I was working. Binding. My nemesis. 

Hand Binding

I have a hole in my middle finger already from pushing the needle through. Today, while the insulation guys are here, and while I'm waiting for the quilting girls to come and fetch me for Shipshewana I'm going to have to put a bandaid on my finger to get the rest of this done.

The insulation guys have the windows all taped up so I can't take a video of them working out there, but it's a big step in our new studio addition since this was the hold-up after the construction inspection. Did I mention I do not like building? 

I Must Be a Slob

I pulled my Sew EZ table out from under the pressing/planning table yesterday to get ready for retreat. OMG, what a dusty, fuzz bunny mess! And the top of my small travel case wasn't much better sitting under DW. 

At any case, I have four projects going to retreat. The cowboy boot blocks are all cut and ready to go. I'm taking a cute kit with me from Pieces I bought a while ago and then the Pieces BOM to work on. While I was scrounging around for things yesterday, I stumbled upon a huge bundle (26) fat quarters and found a pattern to make with those.

I'm still frame ironing the backing for what's headed to Bernie next, but this is going to be what's on him...

Bernadette's Tilda Baskets

I have a nail appointment first thing this morning. It's not supposed to be until next week on Friday, but since I'm not going to be here Shay got me in today to get me through the next almost month.

Once I get back I need to start packing more seriously. I haven't even thought about clothing. Only quilting things.

I'm not sure what Jim will be doing today. Something in the new studio I'm sure. Although, we're kind of waiting for the insulation guys to do their thing on Monday before getting too deep into anything else. 

Phone Call

It's funny how one phone call can change upcoming plans. The ladies I'm traveling with down to Shipshewana are coming from the Alpena area. Further north even than Alpena. They have a good three hour drive just to get to me. And then, we have another two hour drive to Lansing, and then another good two hour drive to Shipshewana. That's seven hours for the northern girls. 

We are leaving Monday instead of Tuesday. That way they aren't "jet lagged" when we arrive and can have a complete day of sewing on Tuesday. 

I completed the quilting on Peggy's quilt. 

Peggy's cute wall hanging

And while I was working on this darling little piece, I frame ironed and loaded the next one for Janice...

A kind-of Halloween themed quilt

Obviously, I didn't get this done by Halloween, but she wasn't adamant about it being done by then. Thank goodness. 

I was just finishing Peggy's quilt when Jim got home from work and said we were going to Home Depot to pick up half the ceiling drywall. Okay, done in the studio for the day. No cowboy boots were cut. Obviously.  

Today is going to be a weird studio day. I have a customer coming to pick up. I have to get Peggy's quilt off the frame and trimmed. Once that's done, and while I'm frame ironing the next backing, I'm building binding, a label, and a hanging sleeve for Peggy's quilt. I don't do binding, sleeving, or labels. BUT I'm making this one exception. Otherwise that thing would have to be shipped back to Grand Rapids for finishing. 

Which is gong to be a problem. I don't have a table that's clear enough in here for me to work on such things. Mike HAS to do the binding work for me but there's no where to put him. The table out back has new bathroom stuff under and on top of it. The bar in the dining room is too high and has no leg space. The table in the living room is too low and provides no quilt support once I get that big machine on it. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm?????????

And the electrician is supposed to come and move ceiling boxes since the furring strips are all in place. Did I mention we passed our rough inspection? Thank goodness it's Friday. I have a lot to do today and tomorrow. Sunday we're heading to Lansing for the day to pick up chickens, deliver a refrigerator, and deliver mail so a chopped up day there with little to no productivity. 

Where is the Week Going?

I thought yesterday was Tuesday. And I still think today is Wednesday. Heavens time is spinning by quickly. Here's where the "boys" are at this morning...

Nearly empty

Bernie has a backing all frame ironed and I need to finish loading. DW has a finished Martha quilt sitting in rest and he needs to be off loaded and reloaded throughout the day. I'll work on the little piece on Bernie most of the day today. Pics to follow once on the frame. 

Meanwhile, while I was working yesterday, I could smell poop. Again! Didn't we just go through this earlier this year? When Jim came home for lunch he pulled the riser lid off. Yep. All backed up. Sludge to the very top of the lid. 

That was a nice unplanned hefty bill we had to shell out to get the pump replaced and the septic tank cleaned out. At least the house quit smelling like an outhouse.

House Cleaning

Every once in a while I need to take a morning out to just clean up the house a bit. Bathrooms, stairs, change out the monthly wall hangings, wash area rugs and seasonal quilts. Since those dreaded chores are now out of the way, the fun part of the day can begin.

Martha's quilt is about 2/3 of the way complete. I have the sashing strips in the third row to do and then will move onto the last row. This quilt has a lot of thread changes, and different quilting areas requiring me to roll back and forth.

Some of the quilting

I discovered yesterday (or actually remembered) that Golden Doodles are like velcro to leaves. The Catalpa tree shed most of its leaves yesterday because it was pretty cold yesterday morning. The girls love to play in the leaves and it was fun watching them romp and wrestle around out there. Until we had to come in.

Yep, all over her body

And you can't just wipe them away like a normal short haired canine. These have to be aggressively brushed out with a wire and then smoothing brush. After I was done quilting for the day and before I lost daylight, I was out in their pen getting rid of all those leaves. And getting dog poo stuck in the lugs of my boots because the leaves were hiding all of that as well.

And I said autumn was my favorite season?

Starting to think about next week. Leaving on Tuesday for retreat down in Shipshewana for the week. My last vacation until the end of January and I'm so excited. I'm pondering which machine to take. I think Lilo (my HQ Stitch 210) because he's small and light to carry and I have an extra Sew EZ table for him to give me some extra sewing space.

I cut some more pieces out for the cowboy boots and I think I have about 35 sets done. I need 68 and I'll cut a few extra for, well, extras. Happy November!