Process and Happy Easter Weekend

The process of quilting accurately requires some marking. Now this is what I call a crap load of marking!

All those chalk marks

I will NEVER, EVER mark your quilt with something that can't be brushed away or spritzed with water to remove. 

On a positive note, the Jacqueline quilt is done. The quilting Gods were with me yesterday in that there were no interruptions to distract my focus. It's still hanging out on the frame waiting for the markings to disappear and I'll load later today prepare for Monday. 

We have already been to town to pick up wood for the pocket door encasement. Jim is hammering away at trim around the windows and I'm going out to work on severe cracks in the flooring before we poly next week. 

Here's the next quilt up on Bernie...

Dianes flannel beauty

Don't have a clue what I'm putting in here yet, but it's going to hang out for a while since I have a few deadlines I need to deal with on DW this week. 

I did get one more block done on the Cabin quilt last night after shutting down the long arm (around 7:00) and can maybe get another done later today. Happy Easter weekend!

Make That 17

I'm now onto my 17th thread color in the Jacqueline quilt. 

Here are some pics from yesterdays quilting adventures...

This took forever to get in here

Woodgrain for the termite

And here's the big blue bug again

The quilts last row

It's now finished and I'm waiting for the air erasable marks to disappear before unloading. You're probably wondering what the big blue bug is about. Google it and you'll discover the history behind the bug and how famous it is in the state of Rhode Island. 

I moved over to the Jacqueline shortly after Jim arrived home for the day. I may (that's a big 'may' there) get that one completed today. I don't know. There's still a lot to do and I'm barely 75% through it. 

Not expecting anybody today and the sun is shining so nicely (but it's cold out) which will make for a good quilting day.

Sunny Saturday

Along with the sun we have a nice couple of inches of snow sparkling in the light. So pretty.

I'm going to work this morning while Jim does more in the new studio. We have nothing for lunch so we need to run into town at some point. We didn't go grocery shopping this week so we're lacking. 

Bernadettes quilt is done and I'm frame ironing for the next one (Ann V. your Rhode Island quilt is up next), and while doing that, and as predicted, I did more work on the Jacqueline deJonge piece...

What's with the white stuff?

Most long armers mark each quilt as they work to make sure staying within boundaries and giving a guide to where we intend to head is met. Here's the same corner without marks...

See...all gone

The marks are made entirely with water or water/air soluble marking devices. I will NEVER use heat (Frixion) pens on your quilt. EVER! These particular marks are made with Pounce chalk, which brushes away with the free toothbrush I get from the dentist office. Thank you Dr. Allen!

Happy quilt weekend. 

Everest

Doing a Jacqueline deJonge quilt is a quilters Everest. I've attempted one myself and only got through about 1/3 of the pattern and decided to just quilt that. The one I'm quilting for a customer right now is HUGE! After working on it for about five hours, I've gotten the first 12" done. Whew!

Yep, took me five hours

And why did it take me so long? All the marking and color selection takes up a lot of time. 

Marking for the slim sliced triangles

Those are 1/2" intervals, times 98 inches. And that's just the side portion. I'll be chipping away at this intermittently over the next few weeks. The customer isn't going to be back until mid-April so there's no hurries on this one. 

Meanwhile, and while I was working on this piece, I was frame ironing the back for this one now loaded onto Bernie...

Bernadettes Tilda Houses

I don't think there's actually a pattern for this. I think Bernadette selected pieces and parts of a pattern and made this one up. I'll be working on this today. 

BUT...we had severe winds for the time being so I'm going to have to quilt cautiously. They are supposed to calm a bit here shortly and I'll keep an eye on things before actually turning on the machine. I have threads to pick out and design elements to decide on first. 

Jim worked in the new studio last night getting the last of the main floor laid. The closet floors still need to be done, but first the closets themselves need to be finished. He also worked on some of the window trim that hasn't been finished yet but with the gloomy day yesterday he ran out of light. Maybe tonight? 

Low Key Turns Busy

Except for a nail appointment and some errands, I thought the rest of yesterday would be fairly low key. But then I had a customer come and pick up, several phone calls coming in, and appointments to set for next week. Even though all of that occurred, Debs quilt is done...

Here's the back

I posted the back because there isn't much to see on the front. 

I started working on Bernadettes quilt right after I took Debs off and started frame ironing the next backing on DW...

I think I like flannel the best!

Cotton fabrics are okay, but not very warm. Wool fabrics bunch and shift very easily while piecing and quilting. But flannels are soft, easy to work with, and are a dream to quilt. I'm already about 1/4 of the way done with this piece. 

Meanwhile, later in the evening, was able to load this quilt...

Jacqueline deJonge: Be Colorful

This is going to take some time to quilt. It's 101"x107" and look at all those thread changes! And the planning. This is going to put my brain to good use.

While I was continuing to frame iron this, and while Jim was out sanding more flooring he picked up yesterday, I finished this little piece...

My "invention" panel quilt

We are working in the [new] studio all day today laying flooring and then Jim will start working more on the closet. Or something. After the flooring is all down (I don't know that we have enough to finish today) the rest of the interior is mostly up to him. 

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!

Summer's Back

Temps to reach into the mid-80's today. Apparently it isn't autumn after all. 

Nails first thing this morning, but afterward a quick trip to Pieces to let them know I'm catching up on the queue, I'm back home and ready to quilt. After Joan's first quilt was finished mid-afternoon yesterday, I loaded this onto the frame...

Shoulda been a tree skirt

This was supposed to be a tree skirt, but Joan made it into a throw quilt. It received a quick edge to edge so was able to get it done by early evening. This is what's on the frame for the weekend...

Lynette's Colorful Dreams by Jacqueline deJonge

This is one of those small-but-mighty quilt projects and the long arming will be not an exception. She gave me a photo of how to quilt it and wow...it's going to be a few days. It was starting with the double batting going into it; one layer of poly/silk and then another layer of wool. 

When I have double layers to do, anything requiring free motion (all of the white area) will need to have a foot change done so I don't push the batting along while working. I'm working on stabilizing it right now with the ditching and some basting. 

Tomorrow we have an all day funeral downstate, so no quilting tomorrow. 😒 But I'll chip away at Lynette's quilt as I can throughout the weekend. 

A Little Longer to Complete

The tops done thus far in my little corner of the world have been edge to edge quilted. Custom/ruler work takes a LOT longer to accomplish and this Jacqueline De Jonge piece is no exception. I have only completed about half.

Here's a little detail going into the quilt...

Quilting detail

I bound the quilt from the previous day after long arming for the afternoon. I then started in on more turtle construction, and not without a lot of hiccups. I did manage to get the shell constructed and here's the progress thus far.

The turtle shell

More of the same in store for today except the binding part. 

Changing Oars

Since yesterday was Monday, it was a work-in-the-yard morning. Which actually took until 1:30 in the afternoon since the yard had been ignored for a week. And it was hot. And it was muggy. And it zapped most of my energy while giving me a stellar headache for the remainder of the day.

I decided to not long arm at all because my work wouldn't have been my best. Cleaning out a WIP tote seemed like the restful thing to do. Five projects total (four in the tote and one on the shelves) were found. 

Project #1: A Jacqueline DeJong class from Craftsy that was started years ago that I no longer have an interest in. 

What to do with this?

I decided this would make a cute table thing and quilted it up quickly, pinked the edges (was not going to spend that much time binding it) and put it under my clarinet lamp. 

Project #2: An anything bag, which was from another Craftsy class, that had the zipper on the wrong side. 

I wasn't going to salvage a $.32 zipper

I scrapped it because the zip was incorrectly put in and stashed out the rest of the fabrics. 

Project #3: A large bag model to use for laundry/customers that is just that...a model. Not really a project at all.

Project #4: The Painted Ladies. Now this one you'll be hearing about for a few weeks. 

The Painted Ladies

I have been looking for these houses for quite some time now. I have pulled apart pattern drawers, looked on pattern shelves, looked in pattern baskets, and could NOT find these anywhere. I knew I would stumble upon them eventually...and finally! Here they are!! 

I'm very excited about this project. Each house is a combination of paper piecing, traditional piecing, and raw edge appliqué. I started working on the third "house", which is actually the Bakery last night. After an hour and a half, I made a door. These things are not for the faint at heart. 

It's a door

It's hot and muggy outside and today is a normal work day in here. Long arming Norma's reindeer will begin shortly and if the storms kick up like they're predicting, I'll move on to something off the long arm. Like the Painted Ladies. 😀

It Usually Snows in April

April 21

That was the view while long arming yesterday morning. I had to stop after lunch because the winds were out of control.

The post you see in the pic is the new deck Jim and I are building.

After lunch I played a little bit with sit-down quilting. I decided moms pillow didn't need all the detail Helen is putting into the flowers because the blocks are so small. All I did was outline those flowers in dark green and yet it will still match her quilt nicely.

Moving along to some Jacqueline de Jong work. I scrounged around in the stash to find something to replace the two colors I'm lacking and came up with passible pieces since the arcs being worked are pretty small. The slight change in value/color won't be very eye-popping.

Mom is coming over today for some wifi administrative stuff. Paulette is coming to pick up her quilt and drop off three more. I think people are tired of the stay-at-home thing and are starting to get antsy. I don't have a problem with them coming over since I know how to wash my hands when they leave. Problem solved.

Possible long arming later after the visitors depart because so far it appears the wind is going to stay under control today.

Winters Grip

Yep, today we wake up to about a half inch of snow. And, it seems to be an ongoing thing with squalls intermittent with sunshine throughout the day. And the wind is howling...again.

It's a great day to quilt! Here's what's on the frame now.

Barnyard and other animal friends

In keeping with the animal theme, I've included a few more in the setting squares.

Quack!

Bzzzz

The additional critters are done with the Handi Quilter Pro Stitcher, but the rest of the quilt is being free motion quilted. This is the quilt being sent to the reunion for auction this upcoming summer.

I also found myself working on my Jacqueline de Jong pieces last night after helping with more deck work. I'm getting way low on some of the batiks going into the piece. So much so production has stopped until I can get to a quilt shop to obtain more.

And where in the #$^& is my MSQC orders placed over three weeks ago? Seriously, I could have driven out there and back as long as they are taking. But I understand they are probably swamped with all the folks making masks, so I get it, and patience is relevant here. Maybe today?

Running Out Of Fabric

I have six projects going on in the studio right now. My Jacqueline is at a standstill because I need more fabric to finish the last go-around. I can't order any for it on-line because I need to make sure the correct colors get placed in each section. Computers aren't always true to color.

The flannel rag quilt for Jim is on hold until my order comes in from MSQC.

The Happy Camper piece may be worked next, but I'll have to pirate some of the black fabric from the Jacqueline piece to work on it.

The Row by Row quilt along is a monthly thing and until Irene puts up another month, that's parked.

The Scrap Happy top can be continued for a little bit, but once all the slabs are built, I have no background fabric for the thing...unless I pirate the white from the Row by Row to continue on. See...I need more fabric.

The quilt for my mom is in the works and the top will be completed today. The center section of this quilt is the quilt along I'm doing with Helen Godden and won't be able to quilt it until she gets through all her videos (in two weeks). BUT, I'm thinking with the leftover fabrics, I may just get creative and make a matching pillow to go with the quilt.

Moms Mothers Day Quilt for her new Condo

The wind outside today is screaming (again), so long arming probably would not be a good idea. I'll make the back for the animal/barn top from last week and at least attempt to get it loaded.

Maybe I need to get a large black and white order in to MSQC for some more white and black? I don't think I'm going to be able to get anymore otherwise.

Difficult

Small project Sunday was interesting. I completely constructed the thin borders for my Jacqueline wrong so last night was spent ripping them out and today I'll have to reconstruct them. Paper pieces were taken out for the checkered border and with two of us, took nearly a half of a movie to remove all of it. Thank you Jim for assisting in this tedious process!

The giant rail fence is quilted and today I shall attach the binding for the customer. Hopefully. 

The very large border

It looks like our quarantine may be extended??? I feel bad for the folks who don't have hobbies or a passion. To me, it's just another day, or even a week(s). Except for the weekends, and an occasional customer dropping by, I don't generally go many places or see many people. I guess I love quilting too much to be in everybody else's business or to have to go somewhere to entertain myself. 

And I'm so grateful I do. 

With the assistance of YouTube, the internet, the blogs, and the web sites, I have plenty of interaction with the world. Or at least enough for me anyway. I hope you find your passion some day to be in the same position of contentment I've managed to find. 

Taking Advantage

Since we are "quarantined" to our homes, the work element in here is pretty high. Lots of hours yesterday doing a variety of things here in the studio. Working on my ever developing web site was first since I like getting administrative issues out of the way in the morning.

Then, these were sewn together.

Border sections for my current Jacqueline de Jong

These were the 584 squares I mentioned yesterday. After getting these together, I started another customer quilt.

Jill's giant rail fence

Why is that pic upside down? Here's a better one.

Jill's rail fence corner block

After long arming for about six or seven hours, I then turned a corner into something different. Our month is winding down and I hadn't yet started my small wall hanging for the month of April. Fabrics are pulled and the designs are on fusible. I'll continue with it later tonight.

I'm supposed to have a new customer coming this morning, but I'm not sure if the weather will cooperate. She doesn't want to come into our home since we are to maintain "social distancing" with this virus situation so we are hoping to do the planning on the back deck. There's more than one way to work through obstructions I always say and this is the solution we came up with. Yeah!

584 Little Blocks

The next phase of my Jacqueline de Jong is a checkered border surrounding all the rainbow curved sections. The colors are gradient and have to be meticulously pieced. She provided paper pieced templates to do the piecing with and I chose to stick with those.

10 hours later and are all together. They still need to be trimmed, paper removed and then put together in rows, but the paper piecing is the hardest part with the long, skinny papers needed to assemble them into something useful.

Here's all the trimmings.

Trimmings from the checkered border in my JD piece

 Kind of pretty!

I have some errands to do today (despite the "lock down" we're supposed to adhere to). But I need to get some things done and mom needs help with moving chores. I'm afraid there won't be much sewing done in the studio today.

Lock Down

Our governor closed our doors yesterday until April 13. Non-essential businesses are ordered to close. All travel is ceased unless you are an essential employee to an essential business. So glad I work from home.

Jim has to work since he is considered an essential business, but he'd prefer to be working.

This is what I accomplished yesterday.

Jills Shadow Box Quilt

Jill wanted me to bind this for her too and the reason for it being completed. I can't call any of these people to come get their quilts because I'm a non-essential business. But I'm getting a lot done for them so when I can let them in the house, they'll be all ready to go.

But my Jacqueline de Jong pieces blew up all over the studio after working on Jill's quilt. Today needs to be spent getting these out of the way to make room to work on other pieces without having 2" squares flying everywhere.

I'm going to take advantage of the lock-in and work diligently in here for the next three weeks. This way I'll be ready when I need to go outside and start working on the yard/flowers without feeling guilty about customer quilts being neglected. I've chosen to look at this in a positive light rather than complaining about it. It's a stay-cation!

Progressing Along

Here's the Jacqueline de Jong after last night and this morning.

Crawling Along

Like I mentioned previously, this is not a quilt-in-a-day kinda project. Once DW returns tomorrow (hopefully) I'll have less time to work on this because I'm getting behind on customer quilts. Thankfully, my last day at my "real" job is in one week, which should provide ample enough time to get them caught up.

Piecing Today

I'll be paper piecing today. No word on the long arm yet and I don't really expect one until later today. This gives me time to work on my Jacqueline de Jonge I've put away for a while now. Here's where I am currently.

Chipping away at it

A Jacqueline de Jonge isn't a quilt you pump out in a few days. Her patterns are intense. It's like the Mt. Everest of quilting. Once you've tackled one of hers, or a Judy Neimeyer pattern, you can pretty much do anything in the quilting world.

And the geese are coming back. As I'm writing my blog this morning there is honking galore out on the nearly open lake. Spring is here I think.

I Never Did...

...post the pic of my completed 100 Blocks. There was a legitimate reason in we had horrible weather with which to photograph the quilt until yesterday.

Yesterday provided us with a fresh new four inches of snow and the morning temps and sun provided an excellent time to snap a few pics this morning.

100 Blocks in 100 Days

Yesterday was also a good day to stay home and work on customer quilts. This was my first long arm project for the day.

Adding hook swirls in the rail fence top

Three more Christmas presents were completed and the papers were removed from my latest Jacqueline de Jonge set of circles.

Today there's another customer quilt to long arm and its very cold so a good day to basically stay in and work with the beautiful view of the freshly fallen snow.

Happy Halloween

And it's a dreary day so far. I remember trick or treating in weather like this. All that time spent picking out the just right costume only to have it covered by winter coats, boots, scarves, gloves, and hats.

No Dollar Tree work today. No appointments. Just a great day to eat some left over chili and quilt.

The 100 Blocks top is about half way completed, so getting on the long arm is hopefully in the works.

I've been sneaking in a few quick sewing sessions during the week before and after work. I'm finding the Jacqueline de Jonge process is rather addictive. Each segment provides a beautiful completion phase and wanting to keep doing more is where I find myself. But, alas, work schedules supersede.

This is where the top was at two days ago.

The center circle

More of the JDJ today between long arming the 100 blocks and a new customer top received yesterday.

Time to get busy!