Research

My mom hates that word. Research. Probably because my brother overuses it and doesn't actually 'research' correctly. But this morning I was using it very correctly trying to find next years retreat gift pattern. 

That's why I'm blogging so late. I did manage to get some things done in the studio yesterday. I got the next two blocks done in the QAL. 

Once I completed those I removed that quilt from DW and put this one on.

The outside border is being done with custom quilting but the inside started with DW stitching it out on the ProStitcher.

And half-way through, the ProStitcher decided to be a bonehead and stop working. I tried a restart and instead of stitching out it decided to ghost stitch (following the path it was going to stitch, but not actually stitching). I gave up. I tried a few other things (reconnecting the motors, a soft restart, etc.) unsuccessfully. 

Jim was down to the neighbors visiting so I decided to join him instead of fighting the machine. After my experience yesterday with the computer, realized our days were probably over as a team. We had 14 good years but I think my patience and his age are going to be our demise. 

So, the rest of the motif is going to have to be done with rulers instead of the computer because I just don't trust it anymore. And it's very frustrating when the time is spent setting up the motif and getting everything just right just to have it crash or not stitch at all. Life is too short!

With Good Intentions

Today is guild day. I'm supposed to be there 16 minutes ago. Since that last time I looked at the clock this morning was 3:42, I didn't figure I'd get up in time to attend. Dogs barking all over the lake (and beyond) and my head would not shut down last night. Maybe I need some sleeping gummies?

The embroidered quilt is done. Nothing on Bernie right now. Here's what I'll be working on today on Marty...

Iila's beautiful reproduction

This is another June deadline and it's a biggie! The vine in the border as well as all the embellishments are hand-turned appliqué. Such patience! It doesn't look like many thread changes though, so that helps. 

Not only did I get the quilt above all ready for today, I had a little time in the late afternoon to get the puppy quilt stitched out. 

A little more loose than what I would normally put into a quilt, but I'm using this as a teaching tool tomorrow; how to machine bind, and needed to get it done quickly. And the little guy I made this for isn't going to use it long since he's almost nearly 4-years old. 

Getting ready to join

After trimming the above quilt I started attaching the binding. This is where our lesson will begin. How to invisibly join and how to turn and continue on from the top. 

I did a Love Letter block and then worked on a cowboy boot. This one is now blanket stitched and took a long time to finish!

I'm frame ironing for the next quilt on DW already and I made one pinwheel on the garden table runner started a few days ago. Only 58 more pinwheels to go. 😗

Looks Simple Enough

This is the sashing I'm putting into Ila's quilt per her request...

The sashing

It seems simple enough, right? This is all the markings and leg work that need to occur to get that 'simple' sashing motif into the quilt...

Getting the sashing in

The center point needed to be found. Then a measurement between blocks divided by the number of curves required for each curve has to be calculated. And they aren't always the same. Most of them are measuring at 2 7/8". Then, while quilting them, I have to be sure to hit that exact point where they intersect otherwise it throws off the whole motif. 

And, that's part of my job. Math. Speaking of math. Jim was babysitting DW again while he was stitching out this motif on the princess quilt for Sharon...

I like to overstitch motifs on E2E's so there isn't any negative space on the sides or the top/bottom. More math involved to ensure the motif isn't distorted or skewed. Once that princess quilt was finished, Jim started loading DW with the backing for my quilt-along that started on February 1st. Obviously I'm late getting to the party. 

I have never (ever, ever, ever) had two duplicate backs on the three frames, and here we are, loading a duplicate back to the one being frame ironed on Bernie for a customer...

I have pics of the blocks I worked yesterday in Ila's quilt, but won't post them today since I've already spent enough time blogging this morning. I worked late again getting blocks 11-15 completed before shutting down; around 6:15. 

I did get a fireworks blocks done last night and got the two tops on Bernie and DW set and ready to start basting in. I'll be working Ila's quilt today (blocks 12-16) and one customer is scheduled to come and pick up. I don't know if she'll actually make it since it's snowing pretty good out there and we are expecting an all day event so we'll see about that. 

Three, Three, Three Quilts in One

I worked on three customer quilts yesterday. First, Sharon's quilt had to be set up on DW for E2E work with the Pro Stitcher. 

Babysitting the computer

Here's the motif going into Sharon's I Spy quilt...

Flutterbys

Once I got everything all set for Jim to sit and babysit, I moved over to Judy's quilt on Marty. I didn't think I would be spending all day on her quilt since I only had borders, sashing and ditching to do. But, quilting life throws curve balls and that's exactly what happened. All. Day. Long I was working on that quilt!

My goal was to get Ila's quilt moved over to Marty before shutting down for the day, so working 'overtime' was in the cards last night. 

At around 6:00 her quilt was moved, loaded, basted in, and threads are selected ready for me to start right in this morning. 

Next up on Marty

And why I'm working on Marty, I'll be frame ironing the back for Sharon's next Princess quilt on DW and whatever is up next on Bernie. The one on DW has been started, but then this happened with the last roll last night...

Can you see it?

The center of this backing is dipping down while the insides are fine. The back is as tight as possible on all four sides. Jim is still learning and he's the one that loaded this back with the selvedges on the side rather than the top and bottom. I'm going to have to remove it and turn it 90 degrees. From there it will have to be back and front rolled to try to get this to even itself out. 

An inexperienced long armer would have no idea how to remedy this, and I've only ever seen it one other time, but I know, from watching and learning from other long armers how to deal with this situation.

Meanwhile, Jim is running into town this morning for more tax stuff and other miscellaneous errands so will work on his E2E quilt later this afternoon AFTER I get the backing situation taken care of. Maybe. 

The Older I Get...

...the more the messy studio bugs me. I have projects laying around all over; binding that Jim is working on, my two BOW's, a top I didn't get borders on, a Laura Heine I'm working on for my brother, and the petals for the quilt I want to make entirely on DW. I'm sure there are more, but this is just off the top of my head. 

I think once the BOW's are done, I'll have to start getting things completed. 

This just arrived yesterday...

A challenge for next year

The girls in the Wisteria Room at Shipshewana had three of these hanging. Two were complete, and one came home with me to be quilted. Then they said they were having a challenge for next year to bring one of these completed. Challenge accepted! Because, you know, given what I'm complaining about, need something else to do. Lol!

After getting (not Rae's) but Sue S.'s quilt off Marty I found the next holiday quilt that needed to be loaded and got started right away in frame ironing. 

After getting that going I worked a little on the table runner on DW. I put this into the center rather than what I did in the previous customers' quilt...

A little more 'controlled'

I still have the outer border on the table runner to do, but the rest is complete. I moved over to the sewing table and worked on my BOW's. I actually cut for the remaining four barns/houses around the pieced block, which is why these didn't get done last night...

Aren't they cute?

Hopefully tonight I can finish those two up because on Friday there is another one to be delivered. Today I'll be working on this holiday quilt on Bernie...

This is actually Rae's

While this isn't a huge quilt, the notes I took when she delivered it for quilting are pretty extensive. Code for time consuming. Meh, it's what I love and that's okay. 

Family Importance

I only see my brother a few times a year. Same with my mother even though she lives about eight miles away. She's busy with her art stuff.

But my brother lives seven or eight hours (instead of miles) away down in Cincinnati. He came up for his and my moms birthday on Thursday night and we spent all of yesterday going to art exhibits, shopping at antique markets, and going out to eat in Bay City. From there, we headed to Hobby Lobby in Midland before coming home. Jim stayed behind. It's too hard for him to do much walking right now. 

Needless to say, no long arming occurred yesterday on my part. Jim did some work on DW. But the previous day resulted in this going into the quilt on Marty...

After working on that quilt all day, and Jim starting to get into the one on DW...

Putting a frame around each of these already "quilted" blocks

I started getting ready for the retreat that starts next Tuesday...

Cutting and sorting for each block
I have much more cutting to do. After my meeting this morning in town I'll continue this afternoon.

The meeting I have this morning is with Linda for a possible retreat location downtown Gladwin at the Riverwalk. While we enjoy the retreats at The Springs, Riverwalk offers a few higher ended options; chef versus cook, pedicure versus a chair massage, beautiful suites versus 'just a room' rooms, and the view is spectacular out two sides of the room versus being in the basement of a large building.

We've conjured up some interest with people Linda and I have talked to and will talk some more about it while we are in Shipshewana with those girls there. But we have to nail down some specifics because questions will be asked we need answers for before they are asked of us. 

My Own Rules

I started the day out on DW getting the wall hanging that needs to get to Germany quilted. This was all before or near 10:00. Jim had to head into town to run some errands and get some personal affects from his desk (unsuccessful) leaving me here to do some quilting...

I finished Carrie's quilt on Bernie just before 4:00 and then looked behind me. 

I have a rule about DW. Once a quilt is taken off (mine) then the next one can NOT be started until the binding is on the one just removed. Yet, this was staring at me all last week as well as this week thus far...

Four ready to bind

Yep, four of them. I started around 4:30 and ended around 7:15. Enjoy the show!

Originally for Rayola but going to Germany now

Baby Spartan

Baby Hedgehog

Baby beds

Jim can ship these out next week while I'm gone. Speaking of next week, I popped open my tote to see what I had left to sew at next week in Shipshewana and it isn't good. I have one (ONE!) project in there and that certainly isn't going to keep me busy for a whole week.

I have the BOM I can cut out and take as well as Chads flying pig I could work on. Jim drug out my wagon for transport of things up to the room(s) and so tonight I need to start thinking about my projects being taken to Indiana and getting things around for that. 

I have two customers coming to day to pick up and this is what I'll be starting on Marty today...

A few of her favorite things

Another holiday deadline. 

Lots Going On

This is what I'm currently working on... 

Carrie R.'s hand embroidered girls

Here's some of what's going into it...

The inside border

Outside border

Jim did this little quilt for the kids in Germany...

Hedgehogs for the hedgehogs

Babysitting the Pro Stitcher

We had customers come later in the afternoon for pick up/drop off and they are infrequent visitors so we caught up with all that we'd been up to over the past six months. Delightful ladies for sure!

After the hedgehogs were completed we constructed backing, frame ironed, loaded, and then basted in for this next quilt on DW. 

To put into the nursery in Germany

We both selected a design together and got it ready to start first thing this morning, but the longer I thought about what we had picked to put in there the less I was sold on it. Back to the drawing board. I'll continue on with Carries quilt on Bernie once I get Jim started on DW. 

Very (Un)Accomplished Yesterday

I didn't get nearly enough done in what it was I was initially working on...

Some continuous curves in the triangles

Jim was having some tablet issues on DW. Here's what he's stitching out in Mary's quilt...

He kept touching the work portion of the screen and hosing up his progress. We had to restart the machine a few times because he lost connection. It was just one of those days I guess. But we did make it to the bottom with a few inches to spare on that backing. 

By the time he wrapped up his quilting and I trimmed the piece, it was past quitting time so I shut down Marty for the day. 

Jim asked what was next on DW. We have to get these two baby quilts done and in the mail headed for Germany. Customs goes through everything and last time we sent a package it took five weeks to arrive to the kids. We want to make sure these get there sooner rather than later. 

Having said that, this was loaded last night...

Baby DeGroots first Spartan quilt

I haven't actually quilted with DW in months. His buttons and weight are vastly different than the two Bernina long arms, yet, we fit together like peanut butter and honey (I prefer honey over jelly). 

And since I already had him loaded (we had to put a panel his his backing to make it wide enough), I decided I hadn't had enough long arming yesterday and tore right into it. 

Me doing free motion

Yep, this is NOT computerized but rather me doing the driving. After an hour or so it was finished and is now waiting for me to get it off the frame and trim so it can be bound. 

But the B's are headed up today (pending their alternator repair on the van) and Jim is pressing cider. I'm going to work in the studio for a short bit to get my BOW done. I had made great progress on it last night but then the Bellers decided to have a fire (Kathy's cancer is back) and we knew we needed to spend as much time with them as possible. They are headed to Florida next week for a month. 

If the B's don't come up, then I'll continue in the studio getting the next DeGroot baby quilt loaded. I have to find a back for it and that's another something I'm going to do this morning. I may need to run to Pieces. 

Un-Sewing on Halloween

This quilt was moved from Marty to DW as we decided to do a block by block E2E on it (the customer wanted E2E and something loose). 

Mary's Wensleydale

But, it was not laying straight, and we encountered this...

Backing too small

So we had to do this...

Unsewing the basting stitches

We needed to move it up a bit onto the backing as the quilt is square. Turning it 90 degrees would not have been an option. I hope we make it!

Here's Jim doing what Jim does now with his back injury...

"Babysitting" DW

After we got all of that straightened out and got Jim going on the blocks, I had to load some backs and start some actual quilting myself. 

This back may be an issue...

Drooping back

I rolled it back and forth a few times and it kind of straightened out, but not entirely. It's because it's a) Homespuns and b) Pieced together. It must be a bad backing week!

I'll make it work. At any case, while Jim is working on DW on Marys quilt, I'll be working on Marty on this cute Christmas quilt...

Ho, ho, ho

Yep, I'm starting all the holiday quilts. Actually, I'm going to have one machine doing holiday stuff while the other one is doing queue work. Except this time. The two on Marty and the other I'm loading on Bernie are for the same customer and they are both holiday deadlines. Happy Halloween!