New Added Motto

I think I'm going to add another motto to my existence: Just Deal With It. 

What's in the past can't be changed. We learn from it and move on. Bad things happen every day but fretting about what's happened isn't going to change it. Just deal with it and move on. I could yammer on about this for an hour but I've given my spiel and now I'll get to what this blog is about...QUILTING!😍

Diane's leaf quilt is done. It's not off the frame yet, but the quilting was completed an hour or so after lunch.

I moved over to Virginia's quilt to get something done on that for the day. I completed two more "circles" before shutting down. We needed groceries. Jim doesn't like grocery shopping without me so waited until I was done working for the day before we left. 

We diddled around in West Branch and were coming home near sunset. Look at the beautiful show we had for our ride...

This spectacular sunset followed us for most of the way. For once, Jim and I were nearly speechless. Once we did arrive home, unloaded stuff, and got the girls settled down, it was nearly 7:30. No more studio work last night. 

And since I did nothing else in the studio last night, I have a couple of strips to do in the 99 Strip quilt and some houses to get together in the temperature quilt. I'll have to finish a couple of caddies in there at some point and then beyond that, I'm not sure where I'll go. Stay tuned.

Missed Birthday(s)

When I got a new phone last year, not only did it delete half of my customer information (that's been fun), I'm discovering it deleted nearly all the birthdays I had in my calendar. Including my DIL's. Which, I have guiltily missed in previous years. 

I don't know what it is about February that I lose my head. Maybe because I'm trying to play catch-up in my queue and running hard with the machines? Maybe it's my age? I don't like that I forget stuff and my studio is starting to look like a poster child for Post-It Notes with reminders I need to remember. Apparently, I missed the birthday one for Alicia.

And, I feel awful! Jim was planning on heading downstate today to spend a quality day with the kids/grandkids. He has the truck all packed with food, toolboxes, and clothes/overnight bag and then last night we found out the grandkids are all going to a slumber party this morning and will not even be there.

Jim cancelled his trip down because I guess he wanted to spend the day with the entire family. He had no other reason to head downstate other than to play with the family in Lansing. 

Meanwhile, Diane's leaf quilt was worked all morning and after lunch, Virginia's Stars and Shadows had the body started...

Some of the quilting

Here's a better shot of the reason we purchased this pattern...

This section above takes me about an hour to work. I did four yesterday. I have five to do today with the new roll. Doing this intense work for more than a few hours is hard on the eyes, which is why I'm mixing two quilts into a day. 

I actually did my DW work prior to starting yesterday morning. The furnace was running in front of the leaf quilt and it was an easy motif. And, apparently I can not count. I have two day 24's in there. I was going to rip it out but had already quilted up to date 31 and decided to just make it 24a and 24b. 

I constructed one caddy, made eight houses, 12 trees, and talked to Andrew while he was driving home. I have row two together in the temperature quilt and have rows one and two pinned together and ready to sew. 

More of the same today. Diane's quilt should be finished after this morning. I hope. I have a customer coming to pick up and drop off around lunch time so I better get to it. 

All Three Long Arms

I've used all three long arms in a day before. But usually one or more of them is just turned on to baste in a quilt or finish a small section. Yesterday, I actually did work on all three machines and not just little fiddly stuff. I was in heaven!

I realized I hadn't posted any quilting going into Diane's leaf quilt so he's a small glimpse...

Flannels show the quilting so nicely

I worked on hers in the morning. Virginia's Stars and Shadows was worked all afternoon. Here are the two borders which always take the longest to get in...

Not my choice for the black outer

I'm following the quilting pattern received with the piecing pattern and would have probably did something different in the red border and feathered the black border. The red border is going to be next to some other feathers in the gray blocks and I feel like it's going to compete. When I do my own Stars and Shadows (yes it's done, and yes it's in my own personal queue) I'll change the red border. But the customer wanted it like the picture and I do what the customer wants.

I jumped right onto DW from Marty. I don't normally do that because DW is so much heavier and I have to desensitize myself from the easier-to-push-around machine. But I had numbers to get into the corners (which I messed up) and had some ditching to do before starting on yesterdays motif. 

I forgot to mention yesterday, also, that I did nine houses on the temperature quilt the prior day. Why nine? Each row is going to consist of 19 houses. I had 10 already made so did another nine to give me a full row. I did ten more last night. 

I also did one caddy, one scrappy goodness block, and then I got a bug up my behind and decided I needed to put a tree between each of the houses after their month on the temperature quilt and had to work through my own "creation" on a tree. 

Two trees finally got me worked through where I need to go with those. They are all going to be pretty much the same because this quilt is pretty simple as it is and I want a constant in there between each month. 

More work on all three machines today. Pretty much the same as yesterday; Bernie in the morning, Marty in the afternoon, and DW at night.

Getting Back to Normal

After a couple of days' worth of visitors, long phone calls, and outside appointments, getting back to a normal routine is very welcoming. Although, I do enjoy the jaunt outside of normalcy, because let's face it, I'm anything but normal. 

After my customer left yesterday morning (over an hour later), I was able to get some quilting done in Diane's leaf quilt. I was also able to get this quilt loaded onto Marty to work along with Diane's leaves...

Virginia's Stars and Shadows

Virginia and I bought these kits at the same time two or three years ago at Yoders in Shipshewana. We bought them specifically for the quilting that went into them and not so much the pattern itself. 

Then lunch. We were just finishing eating and here's my mom.

While she was here, Caleb and Lia (and little Evelyn) called from Germany (a happy coincidence) and spent more than an hour on the phone via FaceTime with them. Mom had only seen pics of her great granddaughter and was enjoying the chat with the kids. I let them go as long as possible because these situations are rare in our family. 

It was nearly 'quitting' time when mom finally left. I did jump onto Bernie for a while after her departure, but not before doing my daily strip on DW. I got some of the border in Virginia's quilt marked out and I also made one caddy, one block in the scrappy quilt, and made and then constructed the blocks for Rita's first column. 

I love busy days like the past two but getting back into a normal work day is also a good day!

A Mixed Couple of Days

Yesterday started out like normal. Blog. Open Studio. Quilt. Then it all changed.

We met our friends/customers for lunch. Went to the tax preparer. Did a few other errands. Came home and it was after 4:00. Well, no more customer long arming.

I did long arm on DW. Here is a few pics of the strips done thus far...

Odd Days

Even days

I like to show these because they are so fun. The only rule for this project is no measuring. In a customer quilt, I would, of course, measure out each motif that needed precision, but we are being a little more free with these.

After shutting down DW, my phone rang with another friend/customer coming up on the caller ID. Hmmm? Hoping everything was okay I picked it up and ended up working on these while chatting for over an hour...

The first 10 days of the year

Yep, this is how my temperature quilt is starting out. They went fast, and the hardest part was actually sorting through all the bags with each designated temp. Not too tough, huh? 

I had an hour or so left in me so I did one block in the scrappy quilt and built two more blocks in the Rita the Ripper top. 

This morning I had a customer arrive (per our preset agreement) before I even 'opened' to come and pick up a quilt. We chatted, laughed, and learned together until just a few minutes ago. I love to spend time with my customers!

I'll be working on Bernie for what is left of the morning. I'm loading onto Marty after lunch and will start a little bit on that after working on Bernie for a spell this afternoon. BUT, my mother is supposed to be stopping by at some point today, so maybe my goals are a little high in my head. 

I Didn't Follow My Own Advice

Sunday's are supposed to be non-studio days. I'm supposed to stay out of there and not work on anything. At all. Well...

All 37

It doesn't look like five or six weeks worth of work, does it? But all the blocks are there. They are labeled and are ready for construction. I'll probably do that at retreat in April. 

Now I can focus on catching up on my temperature blocks and working on Rita the Ripper. I'm going to save the scrappy strips for retreat as well since I only need to sew sets of eight together and how hard can that be while talking with quilting friends?

Oh, and working on the caddy's. A few each night won't burn me out on the project and I can slip them in with my DW 99 strip work. 

No customers expected today here, but am meeting with a friend/customer for lunch. And then off to the tax lady to deal with 2025 taxes. UGH. Taxes are such a pain, aren't they? Meaning, I'll probably only get a few hours' worth of actual quilting in today. 

Scrapped

The AQS state blocks have been scrapped. The Oklahoma block started turning into frustration and I was not liking what I was doing. Time to move on at this point. 

I've been hearing about something called a temperature quilt. I started delving into these through IG, Pinterest, Google, and other smaller sources. I wanted to see pics. Layouts. Options. I love house quilts and I've chosen to not only make a temperature quilt, but it will be very simple houses showing the daily highs and lows in Gladwin for this year.

Obviously, I'm already way behind. I can catch up throughout the year and since I already have 50+ days to make up, and the houses are fairly simple, working on them at a retreat or to fill in between projects shouldn't be earth shattering. 

The first thing Jim and I did yesterday out in the studio was to get pockets aligned and sewn down to keep things under control. He was a big help in that while I was sewing, he was clipping and putting pockets in a cute color order. We got all 31 done...

The next step(s) are to line up each pocket with the side of the backgrounds and baste in. After doing that the bottom of each short side needs to be folded up a half inch and stitched down to hide the raw seam. I have done two. I'll chip away at those as time permits. 

While we had decent daylight in the scrap dresser room I started pulling colors for the temperature quilt. The cool thing about Michigan is we have a large range of temps and I have plenty of scraps to fill in those ranges. I'm probably narrowing the temps down too tightly, but ya know what? There are really no rules to this thing. It's all in how YOU want to do it and I'm pinning my mid-year temps down a little tighter than the winter temps. 

After pulling, sorting, bagging, and labeling, (thank you again Jim for your assistance in this) I headed in the studio to do some 'real' work. I don't have a pattern for the houses and was relying on my brain to work through measurements. I did two sets of test blocks and found where I needed to head. Then, I did a Fireworks block and completed my daily strip on DW. 

I only have two more Fireworks blocks to go so I think I'm going to get those completed so I can clear those fabrics away and tidy up the work area from that project. I'll take the blocks to retreat in April and put them together there. 

A Productive Friday

Friday's are usually very unproductive for me. I have a tendency to dally and customers usually come by to drop off or pick up on their way to/from Pieces of Thyme. None of that happened yesterday. Probably because it felt like a Monday with the weather doing what it was.

I was able to finish the quilt on Marty and moved over to start working on this one on Bernie...

Diane's Flannel Leaves

This one will be worked on Monday and possibly Tuesday as well depending on what I decide to put into the background. I am echo quilting around each leaf, and I hope to do the same inside of each leaf before putting veins in.

After shutting down the two customer long arms, I moved over to DW to do my strip for the day. That sounded funny...my strip for the day. 😆

I did a Fireworks block and then started right in on the caddy work. The backgrounds had to have a center line marked...

Center markings. Done.

Now that the pockets are matched, they needed to be ironed in half and their centers needed to be marked as well. Done.

The pockets have to be placed on the background piece with centers aligned, and then the pockets have to be measured to be about 1 1/2 apart from one another. Pin or clip in place to sew down. 

Getting ready to sew

This step isn't going to be a quickie one like the previous two. Each caddy will have individualized attention to ensure correct placement and alignment before sewing. Jim and I selected a medium/light purple to use for sewing these down as I AM NOT going to change out top threads for every pocket. 

And that's what I'll be working on today. I was supposed to head downstate for a funeral. But, we have snow going on up here and the decks are very slippery. The kids are not going to be home now (they have other plans) and I'll order needles from Gall on-line and Barb isn't going to miss me if I miss her funeral. 

Going Back In Time

Today feels like an absolute repeat of Monday. Rainy, cold, and a gray type of day. Ahhh...early spring in Michigan.

I love these days because quilting and working in the studio doesn't give me any guilt about not working around the yard. 

I worked on the quilt on Marty yesterday morning and part of the afternoon after my friend Linda stopped by to ask about this top she just completed at retreat...

I don't get to quilt this. Unfortunately!

Linda has her own long arm, and while I will do some of her custom work for her, she's not putting custom quilting into this. But she was consulting with me about what threads to put into it and how closely it should be quilted. We also made a lunch date for Monday.

After working on Marty, and cutting my work day a little short, we ran to Midland to get groceries and do some other errands. When we got home, Andrew called on his way home from work and while talking to him, matched the respective pockets together for the caddies so they are ready to start assembling. I also made a Fireworks block.

After hanging up with him I did my daily strip on DW and then started working on the Oklahoma block. I'm not a fan of EPP and after struggling with those tiny triangles, gave it up. I watched a few videos on how to tackle the little tips that hang past the 'cardboard' being basted around and I'm still not convinced this is fun.

While going to sleep last night, I decided, since all of this needs to be appliquéd onto the background fabric anyway, I'm going to appliqué the whole dumb thing. There's more than one way to skin a skunk in quilting and I'm going to do what I know. 

Batch Sewing

Still working the quilt on Marty and will be all day today. Maybe even part of tomorrow. It has a LOT of tie offs and restarts. And thread changes. And, unfortunately, the quilting being put into it will barely show. 

After working all day on Marty, I shifted over to DW to do my daily strip. I constructed a fireworks block after that and then I started sorting and cutting the Tula fabrics I have in my stash for the upright caddies being made for retreat in April. 

How am I going to make these? One at a time? In sections of five or ten? Or, one step at a time? I'm thinking, one step at a time since I seem to be on that path already. I mean, I've made the backgrounds. I've cut all the pieces. The next step is to match pieces into their respective groupings for each caddy. 

All cut out and ready to blend

We have to head to Meijer at some point after working so I'm not sure how much on the little caddy's will be done. And...the new AQS block came out last night. Oklahoma. Get this...it has FPP, EPP, piecing, and appliqué all rolled into one block. I don't think I'll be getting this one done in one night. It'll be a miracle if it goes together well at all. 

Notice how I'm blogging very late this morning. I was awake every hour last night and finally, around 7:00 this morning, slept for a two hour stint. So, I didn't even get out of bed until after 9:00. 

Hey, What Happened to my Scissors?

I wear hooded sweatshirts not only for their warmth, but most of my leggings don't have pockets, and when having to grab and transfer small things I usually stuff them in the kangaroo pocket in the front of my hoodie. 

But I never (ever) put scissors in the front pocket. Every one of the long arms, with a Command hook, have their own set of scissors mounted to the front of the machine. They have a tendency to get in my peripheral vision so when I do my first tie-off, they are moving all over the top of the quilt. All three pair have a curved tip so as not to chance slicing a customers (or my own) quilt. 

I lost Bernie's scissors yesterday. I even patted down Ila's quilt to make sure I hadn't quilted them into the quilt itself. I searched the floor, the garbage cans, and Jim even came out and did the same. Then he said, "Check your hoodie pocket", and sure enough, there they were. 

More eye candy

Here's some more quilting going into Ila's quilt and it's now off the frame. I'm back onto Marty for the duration of this rainy day. 

After working in the afternoon on Marty, I transferred back over to Bernie. WHAT?

What's this all about?

I had to prepare the backings for the little stand up organizers I'm making for the retreat Linda and I are hosting. I grabbed 44" each of these Tula prints and quilted them up.

What went into these

It doesn't look like much, but it took me over an hour and a half to get both of these quilted. These two large pieces of fabric turned into these...

31 in total

After getting all of these cut out and put aside for a later day I made a Fireworks block and then checked out the 99 strip video and quilted my strip for the day. I wanted to work a scrappy block and some more on Rita but I was pretty well done for the night. 

Birds

I thought I heard a goose honking this morning. I was just coming out of my sleep so I may have just dreamt it. But we heard some type of songbird yesterday morning, so they are starting, already, to head back north.

Here's some of the quilting going into Ila's Magic Cube quilt...

Magic Cube

Since I'm at the half-way point I should be able to get this one finished by today's end. I'll move back over to Marty and work on the batik blocks when I do finish it if before quitting time. 

Two days' worth of 99 strips were done last night, a Fireworks block, and a scrappy block were also constructed. I couldn't get my mind off of the Rita the Ripper piece I sorted and prepped for on Saturday, so I did five or so blocks on that. Block three was a culmination of three blocks put together though. 

Another spring-like weather day in store for us much like yesterday. But I'm not ready for spring. I love winter. I love the snow and the cold and it's free of bugs. 

Quite a Mess

I left a bit of a mess Saturday night when sewing/prepping was finished. 

Cutting table is covered

pressing table is somewhat covered

This is not the norm out there, but maybe yesterday work was on my mind? That didn't happen. I have to really check myself not to be out there ALL THE TIME. It's a gorgeous place to create, but as I've eluded to before, too much of a good thing and all that happy crap. 

After cleaning up said mess, I'll be on Bernie and that will occupy most of this Monday.

Freezing Fog

I love freezing fog. My brother used to be a pilot for ComAir and he said the worst flying conditions were freezing fog. But it's so pretty and we get to enjoy two days in a row of it here on the 'lake'. 

I have caught up with my 99 strips and made three Fireworks blocks yesterday. In between each of those, the quilt fairy gift prototype was worked through. Here's the result of my efforts...

Being 'used'

A large back pocket

Six front pockets

I sent the pics to Linda and she said they were cute. How long did it take me or how much fabric was necesssary? I sent her back all that information, but honestly, I could probably get one done in under an hour AFTER the background fabric was quilted and trimmed and it only takes scraps to make. 

Somewhere in my day, while Jim was down burning the Bellers' dead pile, I hung this up to add some color and life into the studio...

Jim put this together for me

This is now located between the two large windows facing the lake behind Marty. 

Since I only have a week left in building the Fireworks blocks, and the scrappy quilt is going to be another one of those block-or-two-a-night projects, I started prepping for this cute wall hanging that I think I picked up in Shipshewana...

Should go nicely with my needles wallhanging

I was disappointed in learning they only provided templates to make copies of instead of actually providing the FPP papers most patterns have. Thankfully, I have some newsprint I picked up at Arnies during their going-out-of-business sale and was able to get the copies done last night. 

This looks bigger in the picture than what it's actually going to finish given the tiny pieces needed for each foundation. I'm not using the mustard yellows in all of it. The fabrics I pulled are more yellow-yellow and creams working towards the dark with a bit of browns and oranges. But the seam rippers are all about the same colors.

Expectations

A disappointing couple of days in sports. 

When a judge messed with Shock/Bates' scores in the free dance lowering them to silver, and Ilian messed with his own head in his long program last night leaving him taking eighth instead of the gold he truly earned expectations were not met. 

MSU mens basketball should have at least had a close game last night. They were trounced by Wisconsin by 21 points. It for sure wasn't the outcome we expected on all three accounts. But stuff like this happens to professionals. Hell, to anybody professional or otherwise. 

Have you ever purchased a quilt pattern and started working on it with high hopes of it at least looking something like the picture, only to find our your 1/4" seam wasn't 1/4"? Or the fusible ended up on the bottom of your iron and the top of your fabric instead of underneath? Or cut the fabric instead of the thread at the end of the seam? Or, or, or...

When I plan a quilt out I expect for everything to come out as I...well...expected. But then I run into some type of situation to have me rethink the pre-planning I did prior to setting any thread. I'm not an athlete, but I am a professional and we all have our hurdles to jump. Thankfully, my day yesterday went better than the athletes out in the world the past few days.

Here's something I rarely do. Pre-mark a quilt before loading it...

I had already sketched out how I wanted this quilt quilted and extending out those rays from the center motif was a definite must-do. I knew, once I got it onto the frame, it would be difficult, if not impossible to get the angles correct. Preplanning is what professionals do. Well, we're supposed to anyway. And sometimes, preplanning doesn't pan out.

See those blue bars going horizontal and vertical? What I had planned to do in there isn't really working with how the quilt is pieced. So, back to the drawing board. And, for Ilian and MSU mens basketball, they too will head back to the drawing board to perfect how to approach their next competition. 

I did work on Marty in the morning and on Bernie in the afternoon yesterday, so customer work was happening, but the customers who came to pick up their quilt in the afternoon stayed quite a while (over an hour) so not as much as I wanted was completed out there. 

Meanwhile, I have plenty to do in the studio today. We shopped last night after work time so have a couple of fireworks and scrappy blocks to catch up on. The 99 strip quilt is two days behind now, and I have a small project to prototype for our retreat coming up in April. 

Is the 13th Lucky For You?

Friday the 13th. One of those days I'm glad I no longer work OB at the hospital. Births on this day, full moons, and storms seem to bring in laboring mothers. Odd isn't it? But the 13th has always been lucky for Jim and I. We were married on the 13th and we put our offer in on this house on the 13th. Hopefully today will be a lucky day in the studio. 

Here are a few pics of the quilt being worked on Marty...

Not much to see is there? It's because batiks are so busy and are hard to see when quilted. This quilt will have a lot of texture because of the Dream Puff batting, but that's about all. Every other block is getting some free motion in the center and the offset blocks are getting something linear. The outside of the block is alternating between linear lines and wishbone quilting. 

New Mexico

Despite my reservations about using templates in this weeks AQS block, it turned out okay. Not great, but passable. Although, I don't generally pull threads unless it's a blatant positioning mistake; I can fix inaccurate piecing on the long arm. 

I also did a Fireworks block but did not do a scrappy block or my strip on DW. 

I had time and the energy to do my strip, but Natalia (the host) messed up and duplicated day 12 with day two. She suggested waiting until later on in the process. She has some bonus strips after the 99 are done and I'll park one of those into slot 12 when we get to that point. 

I'll be working on the quilt above this morning until I can get the backing finished (frame ironing) for Ila's second quilt. She mentioned it on the phone yesterday morning and I guess I didn't realize she had a second one in queue. 

Meaning, the one on Marty will be parked for a few days while I work on hers, which is fine. If I can make it easier on customers not having to make multiple trips up/down here I'll do what I can to accommodate them. 

Have you ever heard of Shapermint? I have a job where I have to be pretty flexible. I bend, stretch, squat, reach, contort, and of course there's some dancing in there. My old bras were becoming pretty tired and riding up in places they should not ride. Jim purchased me two tanks for Valentines Day and I gotta tell ya. game changer! I'm mentioning this because they are that much better than the old, tired, traditional bra already and I'm not going to have to constantly readjust myself throughout my day. Check 'em out if you have never heard of them. 

Can't Even Celebrate

Everybody on IG are posting their caricature pics with what they love to do. Here's mine...

Yep. That's me!

When I finish a quilt for a customer, much like our Olympians, a celebration day would certainly be welcome. Unfortunately, the beat must go on and today I'll be working on this quilt on Marty...

For a nephew

This has a March deadline and it's quickly approaching meaning more quilts get pushed back to meet deadlines. 

I'm trying a new-to-me batting today. It's called Dream Puff and it mimics wool but is 100% denier poly. It's a dream to feel and snuggle with and will bring absolute warmth to the quilt. 

After getting Julies quilt quilted (I still need to do the post quilt work on it), I made myself walk away from the machine. It was nearing 5:30 and I knew if I started doing other things with it...well, you know how I work. One things leads to another and before you know it another hour has passed.

I pieced a Fireworks and a Scrappy block last night before jumping onto DW to do my 11th strip. I checked out the AQS block for this week (New Mexico) and it has me printing templates. WHAT? Didn't we toss templates out in the early 90's? This should be interesting. 

Not Boozey

Jim and I don't drink. At all. We see what it does to family members. And friends. And, honestly, what a complete waste of money. Don't get me wrong, we had our days of partying from our early 20's through 30's. And, then we got wise. And poor. It was draining our household finances taking away from raising our three boys. Haven't touched a drop in nearly 30 years.

That's why the quilt I'm working for Julie is tough. Crown Royal. Whiskey. The hard stuff. Our neighbor LOVES Crown Royal as does this customer I'm working for right now. But, as I'm quilting this piece, I wonder how much money was literally poured out into getting these bags to use in the quilt. I'm not judgmental. Just having a harder time with this one.

Here's most of the quilting going into it...

Using matching threads

I'm past the half-way point and don't know if I'll get this done today or not. I'm planning on working as long as my hand/feet will play nice.

I did a Fireworks block and a scrappy block yesterday and I did my daily strip long arming for the 99 days project. I was done earlier than usual so started pulling things from my stash to see what other kind of 'trouble' I could get into out there. 

I have plenty of projects I would like to work, but I need background fabrics for every one of them. I need to just buy a bolt of white fabric. That's what I'm lacking and ALL of the patterns called for it. Not to mention I'm going to need more for the state-by-state project being worked through AQS. 

One customer expected today and I hope she drives safe. The snow started this morning and is starting to get a bit heavier although nothing treacherous yet. 

Now That The Quilt Is Done

Just because I'm done quilting a quilt doesn't mean I'm done. Far from it. First, all the chalk marks need to be removed...

Chalk marks

I do this while I'm advancing the quilt, but the final inspection needs to remove any I may have missed and any that were included in the last pass.

Then checking for pull-up threads...

Pull-up threads

Again, I usually check these as the quilt is advanced, but sometimes they are a little elusive. I found about 10 on Ila's quilt yesterday.

I have to remove the quilt from the frame after unpinning the side leaders and removing the front Red Snappers...

Removing from the frame

I've seen people on IG and FB who actually pull these off the frame. The science side of me says this doesn't do the quilt any good and I back roll it instead to cause zero stress on the piecing and quilting. Then the take-up bar leaders are removed. 

I would, at this conjecture, take the quilt over to the cutting mat and trim it, but this one was not requested to be trimmed. After trimming...

It has to be folded to be ready for storage until it's picked up...

Folded and ready for storage/pick up

And then all the paperwork has to be done; finalizing the invoice, making a copy of said invoice, recording all figures into the monthly worksheet, removing from the queue, logging into the quilt log book, and then completion noted before storing the copied invoice into that months books. 

The post-quilting process takes about an hour depending on whether the quilt is to be trimmed. 

I did all the final finishes just before lunch despite customers hanging out for an hour yesterday morning catching up on life and playing with the dogs. 

Here's what I'm working on today and tomorrow...

Crown Royal quilt for Steve

This quilt is pretty straight forward. A large discussion was done about what was to go in here at drop-off so thinking about what 'fits' here has already been completed. This is a Crown Royal bag quilt I've seen so many of in the past years on social. 

Despite my feeling groggy all day, I did do a Fireworks block and a Scrappy block before getting on DW to do days eight and nine on the strip quilt. And, I'm feeling pretty groggy again today. My head is all fuzzy and my energy level is basement bottom low. But, I'm powering through. I have to. Too many quilts still left to do in the queue. 

Didn't Do A Thing

I hardly stepped into the studio yesterday. Not that I didn't want to, because I did. But after haircuts and some light chores around the house, I knew that I had a busy week coming up (shocking, right?) so spent the rest of the day snuggling the dogs and watching Hallmark movies. 

I didn't even knit.

But, here's a better pic of the fabrics going into the newest scrappy quilt, which, obviously, isn't scrappy since I'm using purchased jelly rolls rather than my own scraps to make.

Aren't these so soft and pretty?

I have a set of customers coming first thing this morning before another weather event hits later this afternoon. I have some deadlines I have to deal with and some calls to make today as well as the usual quilting that needs to take place. Happy Monday.

Playtime!

I played so much in the studio yesterday. First on DW. Then a small project I've been wanting to tackle. And then a new quilt top. 

Let's start with DW. Here's the deal. I'm participating in a quilt-along using 2" strips (from 2 1/2" jelly rolls) lasting 99 days. It's the Natalia Bonner 99 designs in 99 days quilt-along. She started on February 1st. Yesterday was my first day actually doing some quilting. Here are days 1, 3, 5, and 7. 

Odd days through day seven

Here are days 2,4, and 6. 

Even days

If you look, I'm labeling each strip so customers can come over and select what they want in their quilt easily enough. 

After working on DW through most of the day I wanted to start something small. I made one of these to hang on the stove. 

A new towel

That didn't amuse me nearly long enough. I did do a fireworks block and that too didn't entertain me long enough. I only have another two weeks on those blocks before starting to get them into a quilt top. So, I started a new quilt top. 

Bought this in Shipshewana

Here are the materials I'm using for said pattern...

Not a great representation

I purchased all these supplies in Shipshewana also. I'll take better pictures as I'm working through these.

Today started with haircuts, phone calls with the kids in Germany and now in Ohio and we are going to just relax this afternoon and watch some Olympics, movies, and do some knitting. I need to catch up on snuggles with the dogs because I've not had much time to do so lately. 

Don't Date Your Quilt

There are a number of queues we quilters take to identify the time period a quilt was 'born'. I won't get into all of them, but a few obvious clues are the fabrics used within the top, and, yep, how the quilt was quilted. 

I can pick out a pre-1980's quilt, a 1980-2000 quilt and something beyond 2000 usually just based on the quilting. And, the quilting can date your 2020's quilt into something more like 1980. Stippling is one of those motifs that, when used as a large all over motif by itself, can date your quilt back to the 80's.

Conversely, if stippling is used on a smaller scale in combination with other motifs, it pushes up the date of the quilt considerably. That was today's lesson.

I bet Ila is dying to know whether her quilt is done. Nope. Too many dumb distractions yesterday. That's the bad news. BUT, all the blocks are done and all that's left to work on Monday are seven sashing strips and the side/bottom border.

More good news is that I did get The Produce Section hung. 

The Produce Section pattern by Elizabeth Hartman

I worked well past quitting time to try to get done, but I knew, after finishing the last block, it was going to be another couple of hours so I made the decision to take some time for me.

I did a fireworks block (which was actually five blocks as it was the center section) and then I fired up DW to get the machine oiled, needle changed, bobbin wound, thread set up, basting in, and ditching. I'm ditched as far as I can go in the current space and today I'm hoping to be able to start the 99 strips in 99 days quilt-along. 

But first we head to the store in very cold temps. The neighbor down the road said there were people in the ditch and rollovers all along M30 and M61 yesterday. Hopefully the roads are a little better this morning. 

Why Do I Keep Losing Days?

I figured with Jim home every day I'd have an easier time keeping track of what day it was. I thought Wednesday was Tuesday and Thursday was Wednesday. Today is Friday already? UGH!

Blocks 11-15 are complete on Ila's quilt. No pics though. I'll be tackling 16-20 today but I have a few interruptions to deal with so that may be a pretty high goal. I have two customers coming to pick up (if they decide to venture out post impromptu winter storm from yesterday/last night), and we have the Spectrum guy coming to switch us over. All, first thing this morning. 

After working yesterday the weekly state block came through. Arizona.

It was supposed to be done in soft pinks and olives but this is what I had in the fat quarter bundle. I may need to pick up another one because I'm afraid I'm going to run out of these fabrics at this rate.

I pieced a Fireworks block and then I moved over to Mike to work on the binding on the Produce Section. It's done! I really want to hang it today, but that remains to be seen whether I have to deal with customers or the Spectrum guy (who is here now btw).