Not Even A Small Project

Yesterday was a rare day; NO work in the studio. At all.

Jim and I did a little shopping in the morning. We didn't get home until well after lunch time. Made a nice stir-fry and then we basically napped and watched movies the rest of the afternoon. Sometimes a person needs that recharge. 

I did, however, finish my Dream Big quilt on Foster on Saturday...

I love doing these things!

All I need to do is trim and bind and it'll be one less in the to-do totes.

Gwen's quilt is first up this morning on DW. I'm frame ironing on Bernie for Deb B. and while it's a sunny day out there, it's actually kinda cold this morning; low 50's. Feels more like a fall morning than an early summer morning. I have the heat on in both the main house and the studio. Happy Monday. 

Challenges

When I'm given a challenge, I love to use problem solving methods to make the situation right. Yesterday, the borders were the challenge. I starched. I steam pressed, and even that wasn't enough to ease in the large amount of fullness in this border...

This is kind of excessive

I ended up taking a tuck because there was still over an inch remaining after all my other options were exhausted.

Here's what's going into each of the blocks in this piece...

A Sawtooth Star

I realize now why I'm not traditionally an edge-to-edger. Yawn. These motifs take a little under a minute to stitch out. Not enough time to work on Bernie, or do much of anything else. Then the motif has to be tied off, moved, realigned with the next block, bobbin thread pulled up and then stitch again. That's not problem solving nor is it a challenge. 

After working on this piece over six hours yesterday, I moved onto Foster to work the Dream Big Minky piece...

Eight petals completed

This machine has excellent lighting. But when I switch over to it during the evening hours, the window behind it faces west. With the sunlight coming through and the lighting on the machine, I was having a really hard time seeing the petals in here. I dialed the lighting down on the machine and that helped.

After working on that for a bit, I moved to Mike to stitch the first six blocks together in my sit-down 365 project...

That didn't take too long

Once that was finished I rolled it up and put it away until the next six blocks are done. I moved over to Ellie to construct the next set of blocks (33 of them) in the scrappy green clean-out-the-dresser project I'll be chipping away at for a while. I have 80 more blocks to go of the 168 I'm going to need.

Jim was busy cutting trim pieces for the studio and he got the transitional stair piece installed too.

No customers scheduled today. I'm going to make a thread basket for Foster to start and then I'll see if Jim needs my help outside (he's working on the porch). 

On and Off

I had to keep turning DW on and off yesterday. And unplugging him as well. A lot of pop-up storms with lightning and thunder, so while the machine was off I was planning for the next couple of petals. Here are a few of what we did yesterday...

Flowing Feather

Puzzle Pieces

This quilt should be done today. I have a customer coming at around noon to drop off three and I had a text yesterday about a top I have in queue that needs to be pulled forward a bit (there are only four in front) so I have to get that on and done quickly. And we have a holiday weekend coming up, so there's that. 

Neighbors are already here, with the other neighbor expected this weekend too. The last hoo-rah before summer vacationers dwindle. 

A Good Nights Sleep

For the first time since I don't know when, I got a decent nights sleep last night. Feeling much more refreshed and ready to tackle the day. 

Texts already this morning and those are answered about when quilts will be done and other random questions regarding quilting. 

Here's a few more pics of Susans Dream Bigger I'm working on...

A few center petals

Two outer petals

While Jim was working on the studio, I was out mowing and weed whacking. And then I was (once again) moving dirt to fill in the settling. I had to move some last night because rain is here today making the dirt sticky and heavier to lift. 

The "first wall" is done. 

Jim decided to start with the easiest wall. It's progress. 

More on the Dream Bigger today. Not expecting any customers coming by so should be able to focus on that rather well. I'm at the half-way point so another day or so before it's completed. 

Back to Normalcy

The grandkids have returned to their home downstate and our lives go back to our regularly scheduled programming. Needless to say, not much quilting was accomplished in the last four days. I did have customers in and out, but thats the extent of putting needle to thread since Thursday. We didn't even have the energy yesterday to do much more than the basic survival activities. 

Here's a few pics of what's going into the Dream Bigger piece I'll be working on over the next few days...

One of the petals

Love doing those feathers

We did manage to get some work done on the new studio addition. When the kids came to fetch the grandkids, we put one of them to work on the plumbing. The pex is now run out into the new crawl space ready for a sink attachment. 

All of us celebrated Saturday night with frozen yogurt for the first flooring layer (of three) is done! 

Ready for the next step

Jim will (hopefully) be working on building the wall sections this upcoming week after work. It seems like this is going so much slower, and as the leaves are beginning to really start changing colors, I'm getting worried about whether we are actually going to be dried in before snow comes. Our falls are so short and before we know it the cold weather has crept in on us, along with the cold rain and often times, snow.  

Our trusses should be ready this week sometime. Haven't heard exactly when, but since we are not nearly as prepared for them as we should be, I guess that point is moo(t). Not expecting anybody today since all the quilts have been picked up that were waiting for their forever homes. 

Jim's Home Again

If this man takes more than a day off work, he's certainly not in a good way.  Despite him being home, I still have to work. He's camped out in the spare bedroom downstairs; it's too hard to walk up the stairs since this thing causes one to be very dizzy. 

Lucy is worried about her dad

I'm removing all the markings on Mary's Dream Bigger quilt. Some of them are from the Marks-be-gone water soluble pen, which often times, requires a few treatments before disappearing entirely.

The morning sun really enhances the otherwise obscure quilting

I'm going to remove and trim this piece once all the markings are removed and then load the next one in line. Bernie and I are still getting to know one another (wow, he's so light I'm having to learn how to make circles all over again). I got the first row quilted in the 9-Patch and will work on that some more later tonight. 

At some point, I need to run out for a few supplies, but I'll do that after lunch. Looks like we finally get to see some sun today; it's been gloomy since Sunday so that will make errands much more enjoyable. 

Almost There

I worked almost a full day in the studio yesterday. It was well after dark before I came out. I wasn't breaking any speed records but it was wonderful to be back in there!

Here's some of the quilting detail going into the Dream Bigger panel I'm working on...

One of the smaller leaves

Always have to have one spiderweb

I'm just about at the half-way point on this huge project. Here's what's on Bernie this morning...

9-Patch Quilt-along with Natalia Bonner

Natalia is a wonderful quilter, who until recently, quilted for other people. Now she teaches remotely and has her own line of rulers; some of the best in the industry as far as I'm concerned. She has hosted a 9-patch quilt-along three times over the years. I'm going to pull my favorites from her three "classes" and just play with my new ruler base on Bernie over the next couple of days. 

I had to machine piece the backing for this 9-Patch and Ellie sewed it together perfectly. The only other thing I have to do today is make a pot of chili...which I'll do later this afternoon since I don't want to smell like cooked onions all day long. 

Thunder Boomers

Just after waking this morning I heard thunder off in the distance. By 8:30 this morning it looked like it was 8:30 in the evening. Even the mercury and solar lights in the neighborhood were lit. Thankfully, it passed through rather quickly and now it's just really cloudy. Jim called and said there was a rainbow in the NW.

Huge rainbow

I don't long arm during thunder storms. I can't chance the machines getting hit. 

Here's what's on DW this morning...

We've seen one of these before haven't we?

This will be on the frame for the next four days, which is how long it takes me to do one of these Dream Bigger panels. 

The small piece on Bernie is still on Bernie. I've got it about half-way completed and am just putting swirls in there to get a feel for the buttons, machine weight, the performance, and how to handle rolling. 

Jim's been working on the new Elna location. He's modifying the HQ 210 Stitch table to accommodate the more robust machine for me. 

The new machines name will be Ellie

He worked until almost dark on this and said he still has some more stuff to do to on it . He's such a great husband!

One last pic of the quilt I took off yesterday. Eye Candy!

Big Project Done

The Big Dream Big (Dream Bigger officially), is now complete. I had hopes the weather would cooperate so I could snag a quick pick of the whole thing, but it's not to be and the customer is coming soon to fetch said quilt. 

Here are some more (final) pics of what went into the remaining petals...

I think I need to reevaluate how much I charge for one of these. After dividing my time and thread into what the final invoice came to, I made a whopping $7.91 an hour. Moving along...

I was going to load last night for today, but with the customer coming first thing I have the quilt draped over the long arm so she can see all the work that was done. It's hard to load when another quilt is already occupying the space. But, Sandy D., your Kaffe Diamonds are next on the long arm. 

Speaking of which...she has a specific way she wants this quilted and I didn't have the motif in my library. After searching last night on-line, found the exact one that was used in the pic she sent indicating what we were going to put in there. I had to purchase, and then download that last night, and hopefully today I'll be able to get started on it. 

Chipping Away

Sometimes one gets into a project that takes more than a few days. This one has been on the frame a week now. Granted, there was a four day retreat in there, but this Dream Bigger panel takes about four to five days to complete. Here's some of the petals worked yesterday...

And we just keep on keeping on. It looks like I have about 14 1/2 more to go. And...these are the bigger ones at the edge of the flower. Which take a LOT longer to work. A half because the bigger petals can't be done on the frame width; they have to be rolled back and forth to complete. 

Hopefully the girls will chill out most of the day since we have rain coming. And sometime in the night last night we lost electricity as well as our internet. All seems to be running fine now, but resetting all the electrical stuff takes some time. Including the long arm. 

Post-Retreat Check-in

Here are a few things I was able to get done at our weekend retreat...

A new "crazy" quilt top

Two Pillow Cases

Elijah's new big boy quilt top

The center of the Cotton Cuts BOM and a new carry bag

Once I was home and had everything put away yesterday, I started right in on the Dream Bigger. I'm not sure how many petals I actually did do but here are the pics...

It looks to be about eight. Today (and tomorrow, and probably the next day) will be spent chipping away on this piece. My goal is to have it off the frame by this weekend (Memorial Day) because we are expecting all the neighbors up with the holiday (despite not having a lake).