Lots of Pics

 The quilt on Marty has yet to be finished. I worked well past 6:00 last night in hopes I could call that one done. Nope. There is still a huge chunk of borders to do on the sides as well as all the bottom borders, and all the sashing on the last two rows are yet to be finished. BUT, I did get all the interior blocks compete before shutting Marty down. Here they are and I don't remember who is who (order wise)...

I didn't get on DW last night (I mean, c'mon, really?) but did work one Fireworks block and completed this weeks AQS state block; Alaska!

Alaska!

I plan on spending the bulk of today on DW. We have two digitized E2E's that need to get on that machine. I also have a quilt-along that starts tomorrow and need to get that top onto the machine so I can participate. 

Not As It Appears

Yesterday was interrupted a little with having to do tax/grocery stuff. We had some things to return, purchase, exchange, and drop off. Meaning, we didn't get everything taken care of until nearly 7:00. I did not do Fireworks/DW work at all. Only customer work. Here are blocks 13 through 15. 16 is ditched and echoed, but not yet background filled.

Block 15

Block 14

Block 13

It's not just a matter of doing these blocks that comes with completing this quilt. It's also marking and quilting the three outer borders, ditching all the sashing, block, and border sections, and finding a motif that 'fits' with the block I'm working on. 

I have to call Gall Sewing today to try and obtain a receipt for the purchase of Marty for tax purposes. Somehow, with the trade-in on Foster and through phone work, a receipt wasn't obtained and the tax preparer needs that document for depreciation purposes. 

Jim has a basketball game tonight meaning I'll have plenty of time to catch up on stuff out in the studio. I'm not really expecting anybody today; at least nobody has called to indicate their desire to pick up or drop anything off, but that could change. 

Let's Talk Sashing

It took me as long to do 14 sashing strips yesterday as it did to ditch, echo and quilt four large blocks. Yep. Sashing is that time consuming. Here's the before...

It all has to be marked prior quilting

Here's the after...

Each one has to be started and stopped/tied off

A long customer visit dropping off yesterday resulted in only four blocks getting quilted in the afternoon.

Here are blocks nine through twelve (but loading out of order this morning for some reason)...

Block 11

Block 12

Block 10

Block 9

Jim wants to run to town today at some point; tax stuff and groceries. But I have more horizontal sashings to get in before I can roll to work the next set of blocks so it's going to have to wait until I've spent some quilting time in the studio. 

I did get one Fireworks block in and worked on DW for about an hour and a half last night. 

The weekly AQS state block dropped last night too. We'll be doing Alaska but I think I'll wait until tomorrow night to actually tackle it. MSU plays U of M and Jim will be occupied most of the evening with that and I'll need something to do while he hollers at the television. 😉

Talk About Threads

I mentioned how many threads I was using in the Produce Section. I snapped a pic and will include it below. Yesterday was a culmination of lather. Rinse. Repeat. I think the whole week will be about as follows:

Work on customer quilt during regular (and beyond) business hours. Work a Fireworks block. Work on DW. Here's some of the background fills going into the current customer quilt...

Block 1

Block 2

Block 3

Block 4

That was the first row. The second row took a LOT longer...

Block 5

Block 6

Block 7

Block 8

I had a drop-in customer yesterday morning who happened to be in the area and she left two tops with me to do. I have another customer to drop off sometime today (she wasn't specific on her time). And here's all those threads I'm using in the Produce Section...

All the pretty threads

Depsite my weather app again saying it's not supposed to snow today, it's snowing. Shocking!

Okay, Please Stop

I've had to unfollow a few Instagram quilting acquaintances recently. First, I don't talk, listen to, watch, read, or get involved with politics. I think our WHOLE government system is broken and pointing a finger at one individual gets old. I can't fix it. You can't fix it. Even as a group (because plenty have tried) can't fix it. I'm at the age where I just want to enjoy my life and live each day like it's my last. Getting my blood pressure up on something I have no control over isn't worth the days I have left on the Earth. 

Let's think about our founding fathers. They, with their bullying, desecrated millions of Indians because they thought they were far superior. Sound familiar? How are we to blame the current situation on anybody but them? It's a vicious cycle that won't be fixed in my lifetime. Unfortunately. 

On to more positive things. I have finished the wall hanging for Cindy S. and have moved onto this quilt on Marty...

A lovely sampler

This is all hand appliquéd and this is a very large quilt. It'll be on the frame for the whole week I'm afraid. 

I have set in the first border and am working through the remaining borders today. Most of them have been ditched and I'm planning out the rest. 

Love a formal feather

While Jim was advancing the current backing being frame ironed on Bernie, he ran across this little situation...

A "darned" tear

The owner of this backing darned what appears to have been a tear in the fabric. I'm going to have to keep an eye on this because I'm afraid this is going to seriously interfere with the quilting going into the top we will load later. 

I did another Fireworks block and worked on DW for a while last night. I just had to do custom and thread changes for all the fruit didn't I? This is taking a long time to complete. 

The weather app on my iPad said we are to have a cloudy and windy day with zero precipitation. As I'm blogging, it's snowing out and has been for about a half hour already. Aren't apps great?

A Little More Subdued

The star that I made yesterday (after having to remake a few of the parts) went together fairly easily. My colors are not as vibrant as the cover of the pattern, but am happy with the results...

Woven Ribbons by Judy Neimeyer

The rest of the afternoon was spent snuggling with the puppies and trying to stay warm. This frigid temp situation is taxing the house and our furnace, that's for sure. 

I'll be finishing the Flea Market wall hanging for Cindy S. this morning and then moving onto the quilt I'm frame ironing the backing for on Marty. 

For once, I'm working with the sun instead of against it. The sun bounces off the propane tank in the afternoon, which hinders my ability to see during the late afternoon. The sun is blazing through the windows on the east side of the house in the morning, which hinders my vision in the morning on Marty. 

Personal Time

At one point a person needs to take time out for oneself. Yesterday was spent working on DW the entire day and then after doing long arming I moved over to work on two Fireworks blocks. I didn't know if I'd feel like doing anything out in the studio today. 

After those two blocks were pieced and trimmed I wanted to start something new. The Fireworks blocks are a once-a-day thing, and the AQS state blocks are a once-a-week kind of thing. I didn't want to start something huge so found this in my stash from Shipshewana...

I have enough batiks to work this so started right in. 

My latest little project

The thing that intrigued me about this pattern wasn't so much the quilt design, but rather the quilting that was in the design itself. Had I not seen it completed in the quilt shop in Indiana, I may not have even given it a second glance. It's a Judy Niemeyer, and while I love doing her patterns, sometimes the directions are a bit muddy. 

Thankfully, I'm not a beginning paper piecer because this set of directions, were again, a little muddy to understand. Today I'm hoping to work on some more of this. We're getting a late start today. I could NOT get to sleep last night despite having the busy day that I had; I remember seeing 3:54 a.m. on the clock. Meaning, I slept in.

Brrrr....

Haven't seen these cold temps in about seven years. Minus 18 this morning. Thank goodness (for now) the wind isn't blowing. 

Because of said temps, we are staying home and not taxing the trucks, or ourselves for that matter. In fact, we are colder than the North Pole and have been for going on our second day. It's Michigan. We're a hardy bunch. 

The Grannies Garden was finished yesterday morning and I moved over to Bernie to work on this...

A wall hanging for Cindy S.

I have the bones set in and have started doing the quilting. This will be finished on Monday. A block was made for the Fireworks top and I moved over to DW to finish out my short day in the studio. We wandered over to the neighbors around 6:00 last night to visit with them. They had the flu last time they were here. 

I plan on doing some more work on The Produce Section on DW most of today. I received a few digitized E2E's at retreat so I need to get that piece off since there's a March 1 deadline on both of them. 

Squirrel-ing and RIP Barb Smith

Yesterday morning, while perusing through emails, one was received from AQS. I generally just glance at these before deleting them, but something caught my eye. They are hosting a state-by-state weekly block quilt-along. I've always wanted to do one of these and decided to participate this year. They are starting with Hawaii and here is my block...

Paper pieced Hawaii

I don't know if they are all going to be paper pieced, but it's okay if they are since I like doing PP. I'm using a fat quarter bundle that's been sitting in my stash for quite some time so will start with those until I feel the need to supplement with other fabrics. That was how my evening ended.

I did do my one Fireworks block before starting the Hawaii block, and during the day while I was working on Marty Jim replaced the closet doors with two flimsy's he found in my queue. Here are the new door openings...

Closet doors gone

I received a text message from a previous guild member down state informing me a member had passed on Tuesday. Barb was passionate about quilting, genealogy, and her family. She'll be missed by many people whose lives she touched. And, she isn't the only passing notification I received this week. Another member of the new guid in Hale also passed last week but I hardly knew her since I'm so new to the area. 

I've been asked if I'm getting caught up on customer quilts yet. Here's a pic of the closet before hanging the new top in front of the customer queue...

Flimsys hanging in wait for me to work

The pic above was an eye opener. I know my queue stays about the same, but to see it in its entirety is kind of intimidating. I have plenty of work to keep me busy, which I am eternally grateful for and it is with appreciation that this many customers trust me to finish their quilts for them. 

One more day on Marty. I wanted to get the Grannies Garden quilt finished for Bunny, but Marty and I were not getting along in the late afternoon. Shredded threads (I changed his needle), balking at all the bulk (I changed his foot), throwing up and getting the bobbin area nearly seized (running out of bobbin), and it was a little after 4:00 I decided we needed to take a little break from each other. 

I'll finish Grannies Garden this morning and then move on to the next one on Bernie (wall hanging), which hasn't been photographed yet as I'm still waiting to dig out the quilt top that goes with said wall hanging. 

Changing a Few Things

The closet doors in the studio, while esthetically pleasant to have, are not of good practical use. I have to have full range of both closets to cut batting and seek out future tops in queue. The doors only allow me to view 1/3 of each side. 

Here is the now...

With the closet doors

Here's what we're changing to. 

Like the idea. Don't like this particular top to hang here

While I liked this quilt top hanging originally, the longer I looked at it yesterday, the less I was in love. We need to find a different top for this side. We're hanging the koala top on the right where the closet doors are above. 

While Jim works on that project, I'm working on Grannies Garden for Bunny on Marty. Here's some of the quilting going in...

Body treatment

Border treatment

I'll be continuing on with this today while Jim digs further into my flimsy's to find another top to hang on that left side. He also needs to modify the rod for the right side because either it's too big, or too small, depending on where he sets the screw.

Retreats

I'm co-hosting a retreat with Linda this upcoming April at a place in town called the Riverwalk. They have never held a quilting retreat there, but have hosted several scrap booking retreats. That's how Linda and I discovered the place. 

I had a call, first thing this morning, about adding another person to our already climbing numbers. I think we're at around 16 now and the brochures were just released to the public on Friday. We need a minimum of 20; shouldn't be a problem.

Tilda Girls are done and I've started on this quilt already for Bunny...

Grannies Garden by Lori Holt

This is one of those quilts you love to look at, but to long arm it is another thing. There are several, (and I mean five or more) layers throughout the piecing/applique and the machine has a tough time maintaining a consistent stitch length when tackling these hurdles. I have to constantly change feet since I need the ruler foot to do the borders and a different foot to do the free motion work. This will occupy most of the rest of the week.

Meanwhile, block five of the Fireworks top is done and the remaining fruits I hadn't yet had the pleasure of quilting were worked in The Produce Section...

Plum

Orange

Peach

Cherries

We have more snow coming down this morning and at some point groceries are needed. We have to wait and see what the weather is going to continue to do before making that decision. 

Making Adjustments

Evie (if all goes well) should be coming home from the hospital today. We're discovering they have much better health care in Germany. It's not like it is here in the states where you spit out a kiddo and then leave the next day. 

The Tilda Girls should be finished today and I'll be moving onto the quilt on Marty. After working until past quitting time I moved over to make another block in the Fireworks top. Once the weight of Bernie was out of my system, DW was next up.

Here was the border initially in The Produce Section...

Kind of plain

Jim assured me this was enough border treatment and I pondered this before taking the next roll. Days I thought about it. Nope. Not enough. Here's the new borders...

Much, much better

Jim was watching the pre-game and eventually the championship game between Indiana and Miami last night. Lucy was watching with him just like one of the dudes...

She's so funny

Very cold today but at least the gusting winds have subsided somewhat. We received blizzard like conditions yesterday and pileups on the highway all around the state were reported. So glad working from home solves all those issues!

Two More

I completed two more blocks in Fireworks yesterday morning before having to start lunch. Jim had to repair the snowblower since one of the pins sheared off and only half the auger was doing anything.

Going to be pretty

The kids should be home from the hospital/clinic this morning with baby Evie and Jim and I were reminiscing about how, when we brought Andrew home it was so anticlimactic. Do you remember the first baby? You get them undressed of their winter wear, fed, changed, and put them in their crib and then look at each other as if to say, 'now what?'. 

I was a c-section mom so I just wanted to sleep. But little Evie was not a section baby and mom had a pretty easy delivery so I can imagine what's going on over there. 

Back to quilting. I'll be working on the Tilda Girls all day. After work, I have to get onto DW to continue with Produce Section. It's hard going from a 49lb machine to a 69lb machine though. And, Bernie and DW track totally different. I usually piece something in between to get a break from one to the other which helps immensely.