Custom vs E2E

It's amazing how quickly an edge to edge design takes on the long arm and how much longer it takes custom work to quilt. I'm only half way through the Linda McGibbon (Celestial Stars) piece but will continue to plug away at it this morning.

Some quilting detail

How I remember what I do in each corner

A customer is coming this morning to drop off a few pieces, and I have another drop off (or two) scheduled throughout the remainder of the week so my marathon days are probably going to finish with the Celestial Stars top.

After long arming I moved right back into the fruit top and this is where I ended last night...

Now to put these blocks together into a complete top

The "sections" had to be put onto the background pieces and once they were secured, the sections needed to be sewn down. All this is done on a block by block basis and then the blocks are sewn together as a top. That's where I'll head towards tonight. 

Thread

Sometime ago I was told that most high-end machines that are having trouble have a high (more than 80% rate) issue rate due to crappy thread. I use to purchase Connecting Threads thread for all my piecing. Talk about linty and causing issues with more than one of my machines. Some folks find it fine to work with but since my machines are my business, why not take care of them? And it wasn't performing that well for me anyway. ALL of that thread is now gone. 

The next thing to do was research thread. Aurifil thread is stellar! BUT, very, (very) expensive. Since I use thread in bulk this isn't really an option any more. And, I have found the last two spools have been somewhat linty (more than usual). After deciding between two resources (MSQC and Quilted Joy), opted for the MSQC box of 30 assorted colors since they double mercerize their threads and it comes with a great storage box to boot. 

Okay, that's done for the day. 

Long arming this morning on Paulette's quilt. This is some of what's been going in there...

The main stars (which received some additional quilting later)

Setting triangles

Ignore my notes on the bottom right corner

This is a completely custom quilt top so it's going to take some time.

I had to slip long arming in yesterday between the high winds. After the lights flickered a few times, quit for a while. But then the winds settled a bit in the afternoon for a spell, and was able to get a few more hours in before they kicked up again. 

Between long arm sessions, I was working and finishing the Celestial Stars top!

Celestial Stars all Complete

Now that Celestial Stars is finished, I can start to work on the Rail Fence Scrappy blocks. And as I was laying in bed this morning, was thinking about (again), my little town I was working on a few years ago. I've started and stopped that top more times in the last couple of years. Maybe it's time to drag it out and start to work on it again???

Dicey Day

Hesitation to long arm is met when the winds are whipping out there so bad our electricity has blinked already a couple of times on and off. It's trying to decide what it wants to do. And subjecting DW to that may not be the right decision today. But at any case, this is what's on the frame this morning.

Not a very good pic of Paulette's second quilt

Paulette is having me quilt this with wool which is very cool! Quilting with wool lets all the puffiness come through and show off not only my quilting, but her piecing as well.

After I pulled off her first quilt and then loaded her second, I needed to doodle to decide in what direction I was going to go with this one. While I was coming up with ideas, I started piecing together the Celestial Star top. 

I didn't get it all sashed in before running out of steam, but here's where it's at this morning.

Celestial Stars coming together

This top is not going to be nearly as big as anticipated. 59"x75" is what the pattern indicates for finished size. It's going to make somebody a nice throw.

Today, since I may wait a bit to see if the winds do calm down, I have a little reorganizing to do in the studio. Currently my batiks are in a rolling cabinet in drawers, while all the other fabrics are in crates throughout the room. 

Part of the long arming thread is in the secret drawer under the table of the long arm, but some of it is in crates on the floor. 

This makes no sense all of a sudden and swapping them out for each other is going to happen. I may not like it and may just put it back, but it's a physical something to do to keep me warm as the wind howls and the temps continue to drop, and, it needed to be done (at least in my head anyway). 

Computerized Freedom

My least (not that its awful at all) favorite way to long arm is using the Pro Stitcher, which is the computerized portion of my whole long arming system. 

I don't get to really do much with the machine except take measurements and keep an eye on things while it stitches out. Leaving the room isn't entirely possible either; as soon as you do a thread break occurs. It's the computerized long arming code (or something stupid like that). 

But, having the Pro Stitcher driving frees me up to do things in the way of piecing in here. The Celestial Star Month 12 Block is finished.

Month 12

Also, while DW was stitching out, I got the opportunity to work on a bajillion flying geese for the border stars. 

See, about a bajillion

Once Linda's quilt was off the machine in the late afternoon, I was able to load Paulette's on before the sun even set. 

This is on the frame this morning and will be completed by lunchtime (hopefully).

Paultette's HST Throw

I did get one set of borders star sets made last night actually since I was cruising along so well in my day.

The first four of 20 needed

DW is driving today again so sad face/happy face and can work on more border stars while he cruises along. 

Flexability

My hours, as stated on my brochure, my website, Google, and my blog, are 10-4 M-F and 10-1 on Saturday. But I'm pretty flexible and realize life gets precedence allowing customers to come when it's convenient for us both.

Last night, around 6:15, I had a [regular] customer come to drop off four tree skirts for quilting. She brought another prospective customer with her and it was a win-win. If I hadn't let her come later than the posted hours I would not have met the new person and may have lost some potential business. 

Here's what's on the frame this morning and is actually being quilted out as I'm blogging...

Linda's King-Size

This top measure 94x104" and because most of the quilting will get lost in it, it's going to get an E2E with DW assisting today.

After the customers left last night I commenced piecing and then trying to put together Month #12 of Celestial Star.

Month #12

I completely misread the construction instructions after the pieces were paper pieced and had to rip out about half of the block. And, I'm without my industrial machine (down for service and cleaning) so had to work this on Lilo...my Handi Quilter Stitch 210. It's a very small machine but seems to plow through bunches of seams without too many issues. The Janome Horizon I have eats batiks when I try to start the blocks, so piecing on him is avoided for that task. 

Today I'll continue with this block. It has a paper pieced border running around it and while DW is working, I'll do some more on Celestial Stars. 

Hazel seemed to enjoy her new groomer, in as much as she likes to eat lettuce. She liked playing with all the other doggies, but her new groomer said she would not behave in the washer, dryer, or on the table. And did not want to be caught to come in to get groomed to start with. But since the experience was relatively positive, maybe with a few visits she'll get better about the whole thing. 

Foxy

We have a pretty good size fox running around the neighborhood. Deb and I pretty much located where he's denning up and he occasionally travels by the lakeside of the house in the morning. Yesterday he was a major distraction for me while watching him travel in his daily quest for food. This is the nice thing about living on a lake, out in the country, on acreage; so much wildlife to observe during my work day.

I finished Kayes quilt yesterday and then loaded this onto the frame...

Robin's Grand Fishes

I'm putting a lot of thread into this already (for some reason) and then read the directions on what she wanted. Loose and snuggly. I'll have to tone down the fishes section so I can balance out those top blocks and the borders where I went a little thread crazy.

While Kayes quilt was stitching out, I managed to open, read about, and set up my new iron. Let's hope this one lasts a little longer then the eight months the other one did. After setting up the iron, Celestial Star month number ten was worked on. 

Month #10 of Celestial Stars

After trimming Kayes quilt and pressing this out, I loaded Robins first top (she dropped off two a while ago) and then started cutting out for Month #11. 

It was early when the lights shut off in the studio so made an EPP hexagon flower to make up for it. Oh, did I mention that?

Okay, so crocheting and knitting scarves is finished for a while. I mean, how many scarves does a person need? And, I'm out of decent yarn anyway. But doing handwork at night is cathartic. I drug out my baskets of hexagons I've been working on for, oh, seven or so years, and started putting flowers together. 

The original plan for these was some type of pixelated top using the colors to "paint" with but I don't want to get that intense with these anymore; it's funny how plans change. I'll shoot a pic of the baskets to show how many thousands of hexagons that have been made over the years and what I have to work with. 

The Calm

After yesterdays blustery day, it's calm, sunny, but frigidly cold outside. A full day yesterday of nails, shoveling snow, quilting a table runner for Emily, loading another very large quilt onto the long arm, and completing block(s) nine. 

This is what's on the frame this morning...

Kaye's Irish Chain

DW is going to stitch this one out. I've researched Irish Chain quilts and it seems, with the smaller negative space squares, E2E is the way to go. The customer wants it loosely quilted and doing a feather wreath in what appears to be a 6" square would make it awful tight. 

Here are block(s) nine.

Block(s) Nine of Celestial Star

I've already started block ten. I'll probably work on it while I'm letting DW stitch out. As well as some web site maintenance. There seems to be a lot of traffic out there. Well, lots for my little ole site anyway. 

Snowy, Blowy Day

These kind of days are so welcoming to me. Cloudy, snowing to beat the band, blowing the snowflakes all over. I don't feel guilty about not being outside working on something (or being with somebody).

This is what's on the frame this morning...

Emily's Table Runner

I have a quilting plan all worked out on this. But, it requires a LOT of thread changes. And it's a little frilly. Once I have looked at this and realized its more log cabin-y, don't think what I planned out is the correct way to go. I think DW will do the stitching on this one with some aspen and maple leaves. Hmm?

Yesterday was a beautiful day. We walked the ice (although not too far out since we had open water across the way last Wednesday).

Dave, Lisa, and me

After working/finishing Jill's Christmas quilt, playing on the ice, having Tina drop off a new top to do for a magazine, and cutting out the fabric for Celestial Star Block Nine, Jill came to fetch her two quilts. I started to piece block nine together. It's taking quite some time as there are eight sections for this month. 

I visited the Med Center yesterday morning and the eye thing is the result of over full sinuses during the Covid crap (that leeched over into my eye cavity) as well as a small scratch on my cornea. I'm on meds and it should be healed in the next week or so. It's already feeling much better. 

Relaxing Day

Yesterday was pretty low-key. No long arming, but another Celestial Block was completed. And that's about all that was done in here.

Block #8

This block went together better so I'm thinking I need to maybe rip stitches and try to realign block #7. Hmmm....??

Not Sure What Happened Here

This is paper piecing. How can it go wrong? Oh, I know. Let Colette do it and it'll defy all physics and odds.

Celestial Stars Block #7

Thank goodness I'll be able to hide most of the problem seams with some long arming. And Pigman pens.

I did long arm yesterday until lunchtime. We had a neighbor come up for a visit and the afternoon was spent with her. No long arming today. Just not feeling it and my eye is still being bothersome. 

I'll build Block #8 today and prepare for Block #9. I may do a few rail fence blocks...or squirrel into something else. It's a Sunday and my day to do whatever I please. 

Cataloging Quilts

My mom picked me up something called Pack n' Track manufactured by the Duct Tape company. It comes with bar coded stickers, an opportunity to take pics, and with the contents of the tote, the ability to describe each of the pics/items within. We just packed up eight more quilts into tote #11. 

Here's what's on the frame this morning...

Jill's Christmas Quilt

I have already started the outer border and was having so much fun that I quilted the second border. What's a Christmas quilt without some kind of ribbon candy?

Snowflakes and Ribbon Candy

Here's the pic that wouldn't come through of block #6 of Celestial Stars made two nights ago...

Much simpler than some of the previous blocks

Block seven didn't get done last night because I was so into the long arming side of things. And, Jill has me do her binding so the previous quilt off the frame (the cute crayons) had to be bound before getting into any of my stuff.

We have a neighbor who is supposed to come up later today. This will disrupt the studio flow but I hope to get a little in before she arrives. We love having company so the interruption will be welcome. More work for me later (like probably tomorrow), but so worth visiting with friends (and family). 

It's 2021 Isn't It?

Just when we thought things (health wise) were starting to straighten out, boom, another situation occurs. Jim has a bum toe. I have a goopy eye. I could have swore 2021 would bring a better year. So far, this one isn't starting out too well. 

Yet, we roll with it. 

Here is what is on the frame this morning...

Jill's Colorful Crayons

This may look easy enough. Customer requested a variety of colors be written and inserted on the crayons and the baby's name be inserted into the piece somewhere. Alrighty then. Maybe not so easy today?

Customer coming to pick up this morning. Another couple of new customers coming with the current customer, and they are bringing more tops. The spare room is starting to look like a quilt shop showroom. 

After finishing Melissas quilt last night and loading the one above, I was only going to cut out for Block #6 on the Celestial Stars, but it was not as detailed as the previous few so I went ahead and assembled that. 

Pic not coming through this morning for some reason. My phone has had one too many drops I think and is starting to act very odd. 

Block #5

Going backwards from my day yesterday. This is block five. Isn't it gorgeous?

Celestial Stars Block Five

I love/hate batiks. I love their colors and how they play well no matter the combinations you derive with them. But they needle poorly both in the sewing machine and on the long arm. While I'm constructing this quilt I'm already thinking about how it's be quilted and the issues I'm going to have while doing so.

Prior to working on block five, I finished Melissa's first quilt and then loaded/fought with her second. Fought? How about this?

Not a straight back

This was reloaded three times before I was somewhat able to move along.

Now we have it going 

This is some of the detail in the outer border.

Okay, it doesn't show much does it?

But I'm following the contours of the branches with complimentary thread and it's giving it some really great texture. 

I'll continue along with this top today and cut out for Block #6 on Celestial Stars. A pot of chili is also on my to-do list at some point this morning/early afternoon. 

Normalcy

Yesterday was the first day back to anything resembling normal in the studio; quilting for customers in the morning, meeting with customers, and piecing at night. 

I love change and diversity, but sometimes normalcy can feel comforting, especially after the holidays and a full house round of Covid. 

Carla's quilt was finished yesterday afternoon. This quilt was loaded for Melissa and was actually partially started before Jim got home from work.

Melissa's Top

For my piecing last night, blocks four were completed. 

Month Four

Today I'll continue with Melissa's quilt top and month five of the Celestial Stars. 

Quilting and Shopping

 My two favorite things to do all wrapped up into one day yesterday.

Carla's Love It Quilt

A little detail of the appliqué blocks. And some of the surrounding blocks too. I got a pass and a half done before our shopping trip at noon. 

About the only other thing accomplished yesterday was cutting out pieces for block #4 on the Celestial Stars. Chad and mom stayed longer than I had anticipated last night giving me very little time afterwards. 

Kinda Busy Weekend

Working on the BOM (Celestial Stars) and the Rail Fence Katie sent to me via text was interspersed with visiting family.

Block 3

Picking from the scrap buckets

My brother here from Cincinnati

And my brother is staying through tomorrow so we're going to go out and do something with mom today. I'm going to try to get a little long arming done before they arrive around noon so at least I'll feel a little productive and less neglectful (is that even a word?) to my customers.

Saturday I picked up four more tops to do. I think the current count is around 14; therefore today is my last "play" day before I really have to buckle down. It has been nearly a month since I really dug my heels in with the business between the holiday and the "thing" and...it is time to get fully vested. 

Feeling Almost Myself

This morning finds it snowing outside, but my fuzzy, snowy head seems to be clearing away. I nearly feel whole again. 

I pushed through that feeling yesterday and finished quilting the Cross quilt. It's still on the frame waiting for me to make binding for it, but it's quilted nonetheless.

And I was digging through my bag of tricks for something to start. The scrap thing I started two nights ago just isn't doing it for me. The four blocks I made will be a throw pillow...or something else. Then I found my raffle winner from last years retreat.

Linda McGibbon From Lakeview Quilting donated this pattern

The first star, located in the upper left hand corner was block one (It's a block of the month kinda pattern). Here is my rendition.

Block One

I think I have enough scraps in my batik bin to be able to do most of this without having to go out and purchase a whole heck of a lot. Except the background, which I'll need to run over and get tomorrow maybe?