Happy Thanksgiving Eve

It's the day of prep work, although, for us this year, it's just a meal for three. The B's have been sick and had other plans anyway. Of course, the A's live in Ohio and Andrew cooks for his family as well as Laura's. The C's are headed to Jims Nieces house, who also live in Germany for the holiday.  

But that will give Jim and I plenty of leftovers for the weekend because we ARE making a traditional turkey dinner to celebrate the thanks we have for the life we currently live. 

I was in the studio early yesterday morning so here's some of the quilting going into the horses quilt...

Borders

Light thread work

I worked until nearly 6:00. I'd call that a win day since I did finish up the 'Tis the Season quilt for Susan. 

After long arming I moved over to work on another block in the Alaska quilt top...

Lupine

Not sure how much long arming I'm going to get done today. I have a nail appointment first thing and Jim is going with me to do errands while I'm getting those done. The wind is howling out there and I'll have to wait to see if it's a good idea to turn on the machines once we get back.

And, prep work needs to commence at some point for our meal tomorrow. 

USPS Is Stupid

The encoder for DW was sent from Lansing last Tuesday. The previous day I sent Lia a birthday card to Germany. She's already gotten her card. I still haven't gotten the encoder. See, USPS is stupid!

Joyces quilt was finished on Bernie in the morning. The Labrador was started yesterday afternoon and last night, while Jim was talking Ben through raising the corner of his garage, I finished the lab up. I thought I took a pic of the quilting going in but apparently not.

Here's something I encountered yesterday though...

Oops. 

I fixed it as best as I could. Today I'll be working on this Halloween top that came in earlier this week...

A rush job for the holiday

Jim is loading another Wensleydale onto Marty. This next one is an E2E, which I sketched out on my iPad last night. Since DW can't 'drive' the motif, I'm going to kind of E2E and kind of custom do it. But first, the one on Bernie needs to be tackled. 

A lawyer has been hired to work on Jims work comp denial. He's furious with Jims company and what they are trying to get away with. Meanwhile, since the denial arrived, Jim's boss won't return his phone calls. According to the attorney, Jim should have been on disability after his ankle was pinned four years ago, and Jim is now, unofficially, retired. He's going to be assisting in the studio with all the time consuming steps to getting a quilt on and off the frame, while I concentrate on the actual quilting. 

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. 

Another Inspection

We have yet again, another inspection today. This one is to make sure we have 5/8" drywall on the ceiling and to check our R-value on the walls; to make sure what the spray foam guy did was correct. We can proceed from there onto all the interior work. Yay.  

Reta's All Hallow quilt is about a quarter of the way done. I was going to continue on after Jim came home but proceeded to stick the long arm needle under my nail bed on my ring finger. Blood. Hurt. Shut down machine. 

While I was working on Reta's quilt, Louise's was stitching out on DW and once that was finished, started loading the next quilt. I had questions about this one, called the customer, who was in a class, and held off doing anything until she returned my call. Which she did around 4:45. 

Here's what's on DW today...

Thread work a-mundo!

I don't know if I'll tear into this today or not. I want to get further on Reta's quilt. Here's some of the quilting going into that...

Partial spider web

Once I was done long arming, work began on straight-line quilting the grand kiddos initial banners. These were done on the domestic machine. Got those finished and trimmed and now ready for binding. Mine is sitting in wait to see how I'm going to do this because I want to add tails on either side for hanging instead of putting in a sleeve. Sunny but frigid day today. 

All quilted

Happy Spooky Day

I IG'd this morning about the bummer of working from home; nobody gets to see your costume.

Nearly done with Tina's quilt. I started making mistakes and knew at around 6:00 it would probably be better to call it a night on the long arm. I had to rip stitches twice and that was enough of an indicator.

Here's  a little of the progress so far...

She wanted the snowmen to pop out. Do they?

All that's left to do on this little piece is get those borders done. I'll move over to Martha's quilt later after getting those in this morning. 

Meanwhile, another inspection is expected today. Jim said to just stay in the house and not worry about being out there with the guy. Okay. I can do that. 

I cut 18 more sections of the cowboy boots after getting off the long arm while Jim was finishing up "inspector" stuff. All the furring strips are up. The tape is on. The gable end is tied in. The bathroom is going to have to wait since the plumber can't get here for another six weeks. Isn't building fun? 

Off To The Races

I have two quilts that I want to get done before leaving for retreat on Monday. Did I mention I'd be closed all next week? 

When I take time off like this I have to work through the weekend, so logistically, this is my Tuesday. 

A fellow guild member, who will be at the retreat the same time I'm going to be there, wishes to take her two quilts south with her in November. So, I'm aiming to get these done before Monday. Which is kinda hard since I've still not fully loaded the first one. 

Here's what's on DW today...

Lois's first quilt. Chopsticks by Jaybird Quilts

I've made one of these but in Christmas colors. I know how I'm going to quilt it, but it's a lot of straight lines and ruler work, so that always takes some time. And look at all those thread changes! Seven so far that I pulled last night while frame ironing the backing.

Here are a few that were done on DW yesterday...

This is going to be one snuggly quilt when it's done

I'm going to chenille all the design elements in this at retreat.

Blank canvas

And, once again, I quilt my appliqué backgrounds before I actually do the appliqué itself. This is for a little pattern Misty Doan did on her YouTube channel about a year ago when she first started it. 

What I ended up putting in here.

It's funny how, in my head, I know what I want to put in, but then after over thinking things and analyzing the use/future work that needs to be done, I change my mind literally as I'm putting the first stitch into the piece. In my head, this was going to be continuous curves in the border and pebbles in the background. See how that changed?

The electrician rescheduled for Monday so I'm free for electric shut-offs which was an imminent threat today. He got called to Standish Hospital because their panel took a poop. I guess it's taking longer than expected. 

No Electricity (Again)

When our electric goes out, my main computer shuts down. I have to restart it and wait for any updates to take place. Then all my cookies are gone so it has to find everything again. I'm just glad the electricity was only off for about four hours. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here.

Here's what's on DW today...

Beauty and the Beast

This is one of my all time favorite movies. I'm going to have fun quilting this one! 

Here's what's on Bernie today...

Applique and Piecing both!

What a fun one for me to do too. I love these 'not the same throughout' quilts. I don't get bored while quilting them because there's always a lot of thread changes and variations on how they get quilted. 

I have a customer coming to drop off today. Glad she won't have to freeze while she's here now that the furnace is running again. Our little "fireplace" doesn't give off enough heat to do a thing. I hope she comes earlier though because it's starting to snow out there pretty good all of a sudden. 

A Day With Mom and Jim

Our anniversary was Wednesday, but we never really did much. Today we're going into "the big town" and have a nice lunch and do some shopping. It's the longest we've ever left Lucy since we got her over a month ago. Jim is out wearing the girls out now.

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

Jane B.'s Spring Top

I've already started setting in borders and ditching what I could. Depending on when we return later, I may get some more done yet today. But, I'm not counting on it. 

Piecing? What's That?

Because the girls were pretty sedate yesterday, I was able to long arm a full eight hours and had some time left in the day to actually put together my latest Cotton Cuts BOM...

Month #9

While I was on the phone yesterday afternoon with a customer, I rolled the quilt forward on the frame I'm currently working and noticed this...

Hmmm????

Well, after further inspection, realized there was a large amount of stiffness and perhaps some glue(?) holding this seam together. 

I'll ditch what I can, but there is a slight possibility this part of the bead board won't get quilted. I'm not going to risk (again) throwing my machine out of time. It's too costly and puts me behind another 2-4 days. 

I understand having to repair tops. I have done the same in the past. But I hope anybody who looks at this quilt later is told what the situation is on why the quilting isn't consistent (if that's what it comes down to). 

Music

I listen to music (mostly) in the studio every day when I'm working. I almost can't quilt without it. But there is other music in my life; music just as sweet to my ears. The hum of the long arm, the birds singing outside the studio windows, the geese coming back and resting on the lake in their travels, or the sound of Jim's ring tone when he texts me to tell me he'll be home for lunch today. 

When did you last listen to the music surrounding you?

Here's what's on the frame today...

Onita's "cheater" top

And somebody commented on a recent IG post I had about showing the quilting I've put into the quilts on the previous day. I thought I was pretty good at that, but apparently I need to get better. Here's a little of what Donna's quilt received yesterday...

Got Feathers?

We have a birthday party to attend down in Lansing so there will be no quilting tomorrow. Unfortunately. I'll have to make up for it maybe Sunday? Just when I thought I was getting caught up I had three more tops come in this week so I need to keep at it full steam while I can. 

Well Hello Thar!

It's been over a week, but since mom seems to be on the mend somewhat, I'm free to work in here a few days this week. Today is one of those days. I did manage to get a little quilting in here and there throughout the week but not enough to really report on a daily basis.

The Heart top is quilted and being picked up today. What. A. Mess!

Getting things straight

I did get some good news while mom was convalescing; Pieces of Thyme got their occupancy permit and were moving on Sunday. This was a great opportunity for Jim to deal with mom issues because I needed a break. Here are a few photos of all of the fabric and shelves we painstakingly moved. 

The shelves starting to come in

Yummy fabric!

The day started out well enough, but then Mother Nature decided to intervene and throw some rain at us. At that point, we were just hustling to get all the fabric in the new store before we got thoroughly drenched. I wish I could assist in setting up the new shop but I'm so buried here. 

Here's what I'm working on this morning...

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

This is a panel Diane said "No Hurries" to, but obviously it needs to be done for the holidays. We finally have some sunshine in our day and no appointments outside the house, just one drop off and one pick up here is all. 

Phone Issues

Isn't it funny how our smart phones are something we both love...and hate. Love them when they are all updated and new and shiny. When we can get any bit of information right at our fingertips. When we can communicate so easily with each other; family members who live so far away with a couple of clicks. Hate them when they become outdated and won't do any updates. When they start getting scratched, cracked, and when half the functions no longer work; like sound.

Mine is heading into the hate category. We have a 14.8 update and a huge 15.0 update that my phone won't accept. I've spent the entire (and I mean more than two hours) deleting photos, videos, and apps no longer relevant. I've checked my storage space. I've turned the phone off and then back on again attempting one more time to get these updates to work. It's thinking about it.

And without my phone I can't communicate with customers. Not cool! 

MJ's quilt was finished last night. I have another I'm loading right now. This is the pic I took while doing measurements and preparing to get it onto the frame. This piece will be getting an edge-to-edge design. 

Going on the frame today

 Here's what I worked on last night after trimming MJ's quilt...

Raviolis!

I've always wanted to make a puff, or sometimes called a pillow quilt. There's a long story about why and I won't get into that, but this is the start of the puff quilt I'm determined to make. There are several video's about how to make these. Two of the videos suggested making all the squares, putting them together, and then slitting the back to stuff. This method would require one to then hand stitch all those slitted seams closed, that is, if you didn't slip and possibly also snip the front fabric. 

I decided to choose the method from the Missouri Star Quilt Company (with Misty hosting) as the best method. I have two machines that are quite capable of handling bulk and weird sewing issues and she provides insight on why not to overfill the puffs and how to handle matching seams and other possible problem situations. We'll see how it goes over the next few days.

Typical cold, wet, windy fall day today. I took off all my summer jewelry this morning and broke out the turtleneck and sweatshirt. But fall is absolutely my favorite season since the bugs will eventually be gone. 

Three Tries

It took three tries to get the tension right on this top but I'm finally happy. And, DW is a lot cleaner since a little bit of the issue was his tension knob.

Looks okay from the top, but the bottom wasn't so great

Once I got everything to my standards I was off and running. It felt so good to be back on the frame after being off for (only) a week. It seemed like longer. The top is half way complete and should be finished up today. Here's a little bit of the quilting detail going in...

So pretty!

I often take pics of the corner motifs because I never seem to remember what I did at the beginning after I've rolled a few times and tucked everything under the take-up bar. 

Corner detail

I worked on the little panel quilt after shutting DW down. Jim headed into his shop to start a Christmas present for the B's and we both worked until almost dark. I think today will probably be more of the same. We have a wet, cloudy, and typical fall day out there so a GREAT day to work on projects inside. 

Thread and Bobbin Chicken

When working on a customer quilt, this is never a good thing.

Where's the thread?

And I still had one and a half passes to go. Start making calls. Bribe people. Plead with suppliers. And then when that fails, call the customer after finding a color that is nearly exact from your thread stash. 

Apparently So Fine! #401 is a rare commodity. After spending a good amount of time on the phone with folks found that it's been an issue since last June or July. People are switching to different thread suppliers because of the situation. 

But it's rectified. Moving along. This is on the frame this morning.

Customer said to make this panel not look like a panel

I actually started it yesterday afternoon because I was excited to make the panel not look like one. A lot of ruler work and close quilting is happening to make the challenge happen. 

Quadrant #1 is complete on the rail fence top, and because I still wasn't feeling all that great (thank you Elijah), I knocked off before 8:00 last night. 

More of the same today with the exception of customers coming later this afternoon to pick up completed quilts. 

Good Intentions, Bad News

If you read my post yesterday, intentions were high for a productive day. Then, after checking the DeGroot Reunion Facebook page, received an IM from a high school and dear friend. 

There were about five or six of us who hung around together in high school. Back then, I didn't get along with girls very well, so I was the only girl in the group. There was Steve, Tom, Kevin, Doug, Chris, and myself. Doug was the one that contacted me to let me know Chris had passed away last week. WHAT? I'm JUST hearing about this? And then Doug tells me his wife passed in January. 

Because Facebook is a vortex of time sucker, I rarely go out there. I find myself squirreling way too much and waste valuable studio time playing on the stupid app. So I avoid it until the need arrives. Apparently, I need to start visiting the sight more than I have in the past.

So the morning was shot. And, just when I was getting into my afternoon groove, Jim needed to be picked up at work to get his truck from the repair shop. Again. 

I tried to long arm after I got back home, but then two of my customers came and picked up their quilts. And stayed to chat for a little bit. Yep, not very productive yesterday.

So, this morning,  I'm again working on the deer panel top for Pat and will hopefully get it done. And today is another interruption day. Mom is coming over later this morning, Doug is coming over this afternoon to get some much needed hugs (he happened to be in the area when he IM'd me yesterday and we figured while he was up here, he needed to visit). And Jim is taking the afternoon off and has tomorrow off as well.

I warned him that I would need to work tomorrow since yesterday and probably today will be a bust. He understands and has work around here to do anyway, so we'll just work apart together at the house. 

What is Going On?

My blog posting page looks different today. Again. This is the third "change" in to how submit in the past couple of months. Maybe they're all off with the virus thing too?

The Lona nightmare is now complete. Well, the quilting anyway. I still need to trim and invoice. 

The blocks for the bear paw top are finished too. 

All 100!

Since we had some severe storms roll through most of yesterday afternoon, long arming was not an option. Making blocks was. It was better to risk a machine that cost a few hundred dollars then one that cost way more. Sashing has to be done next on these...which I fear will take quite a while. 

Then once the storms finally passed late afternoon, and my long arming for the day was nearly complete earlier on before the storms, I was able to start my little July wall hanging. 

Then I had to prod the AIQ squad for some advice about this.

Hmmm????

I was going to get super intense with this little panel, but the back that goes with it (another panel, thus making a two sided quilt), isn't going to allow me to get all that nuts. The group suggested some random circles echoed and then filler inside. With another filler in between. I like the idea, so this is getting loaded today. 

A Week!?

Mom's Day and deck building consumed our last week, but not without at least a little long arming thrown in somehow.

Currently on the Frame for Bunny

Pat's Deer done on Wednesday

Sue's QOV for a Marine in her family completed yesterday

Gotta love the Pro Stitcher

And that's about it.

Bunny's will get finished today and Carla's will get loaded right after. I have another three coming this morning and three or more tomorrow too.

The shut-in is starting to drive some people nuts. DW and I are enjoying some of the benefits with everybody finishing the long-awaited tops customers had waiting to be completed.

Merry New Year!

Yep, I know, it's already a week into the new year but hey, I've been a little busy. Quilt camp, ya know?

And, three more tops join the rack of shame, one wall hanging was completed, and one cloth book gives Hannah something else to read instead of Bob the Tomato.

Here's a quick look at the progress for the weekend.

The Leah Day Friendship blocks are now a top! This was before getting them together

My last project, which, I just finished this morning (those darn mitered corners). Catsmosphere!

The January wall hanging

The Angela Walter Build a Quilt blocks are now a top

And I don't have a picture of the book, but it's a cloth book titled The Twelve Dogs of Christmas.

A few other projects were started and then put aside because of concentration issues during chatting and all the noise.

I actually got the blades made for this project, but didn't have enough background to finish it.

This was two panels and a fat quarter bundle purchased earlier this fall that needs some work.

And that's what camp is all about. Finishing those projects and catching up with fast friends; making new friends and discovering new ideas and techniques; making memories and starting out the new year on a good note.

New Project

The blocks are into rows, but the rows aren't put together yet. But isn't this cool?

Morning Star

Katie gave me a Dream Big panel for my birthday last year. I've been looking, and looking, and looking some more for something out of the ordinary to do with the panel. I didn't want to just quilt it like everybody else has done.

Then I went to the Pieces of Thyme tent sale on Saturday, at my husbands suggestion (he's the BEST) and (yes, I know, I was there Friday too, but only on a mission trip rather then a fun buying trip) and found this pattern on sale! Two more panels later and this is what you get. I can't wait to dive into the quilting on this!

We were in and out all weekend so this is about all that was accomplished in here. I just got a call for a few quilts for customers to work on, so the project above will have to wait to be done. But it's going to be fun when I finally get into it.

And, I'm starting to research the rows I would like to do for this years Row by Row. I've selected 10 shops, all over the state, and mom has indicated she'd like to ride along Friday when I get six or seven of the ten obtained. I'll need kits for about half of the blocks/rows; maybe more depending on how much I can derive from my stash. I'll have to talk to Jim about the possibility of said adventure because I know we have other priorities around here to work on and spending coin on a fun thing isn't a priority right now.

Panel Quilt

I didn't know if I would be able to participate in this weeks challenge. Here in central, northern Michigan we have received quite the weather situation. Not that weather directly impacts a quilter, but it does have factors affecting how much cam be accomplished when power is lost.

I was a little leery to begin anything because after having severe storms to include sleet, then freezing rain, and then a dump in temps, and then 40 mph winds, we were certainly going to lose power. We live on a dead-end road and our power would have been one of the last restored in the area should this situation have happened.

But yesterday, after an almost three-day ugly weather event, the sun came out again. The winds started to calm, and the race was on to get something done. What I had planned in my head just wasn't going to happen in two days. Now the search for a project.

I found a panel in my stash while rifling through to locate some quick inspiration. I've had it for a while and never really had any plans for it. Because I was in such a rush to complete everything I didn't even take time to get many pics while feverishly wielding the rotary cutter, the iron, and the long arm.

Here was the panel roughly being created into something.

Making something out of a found panel

My husband delivers propane and is on-call for the next week. He had to head to bed rather early last night because he was scheduled to work again today. I certainly could not long arm while he was in the loft catching some Z's. So the long arming commenced today.

Some of the quilting detail

Despite having to have to finish my grandsons Fire Engine quilt (the rule is to get the binding on the quilt just taken off the long arm before another can be loaded)...

Tristan's Fire Engine quilt (had to be finished before getting this one put on the frame).

...and despite having to chop 1" of ice off all of our decks, I was able to get the quilt off and on the long arm before the sun set today. I machine bound it during the Spartan basketball game (a great husband babysitter) and here's the finished project.

The finished piece. Still haven't named it yet.

It measures 59" x 70" so the size requirements are certainly met.