Don't Date Your Quilt

There are a number of queues we quilters take to identify the time period a quilt was 'born'. I won't get into all of them, but a few obvious clues are the fabrics used within the top, and, yep, how the quilt was quilted. 

I can pick out a pre-1980's quilt, a 1980-2000 quilt and something beyond 2000 usually just based on the quilting. And, the quilting can date your 2020's quilt into something more like 1980. Stippling is one of those motifs that, when used as a large all over motif by itself, can date your quilt back to the 80's.

Conversely, if stippling is used on a smaller scale in combination with other motifs, it pushes up the date of the quilt considerably. That was today's lesson.

I bet Ila is dying to know whether her quilt is done. Nope. Too many dumb distractions yesterday. That's the bad news. BUT, all the blocks are done and all that's left to work on Monday are seven sashing strips and the side/bottom border.

More good news is that I did get The Produce Section hung. 

The Produce Section pattern by Elizabeth Hartman

I worked well past quitting time to try to get done, but I knew, after finishing the last block, it was going to be another couple of hours so I made the decision to take some time for me.

I did a fireworks block (which was actually five blocks as it was the center section) and then I fired up DW to get the machine oiled, needle changed, bobbin wound, thread set up, basting in, and ditching. I'm ditched as far as I can go in the current space and today I'm hoping to be able to start the 99 strips in 99 days quilt-along. 

But first we head to the store in very cold temps. The neighbor down the road said there were people in the ditch and rollovers all along M30 and M61 yesterday. Hopefully the roads are a little better this morning. 

Why Do I Keep Losing Days?

I figured with Jim home every day I'd have an easier time keeping track of what day it was. I thought Wednesday was Tuesday and Thursday was Wednesday. Today is Friday already? UGH!

Blocks 11-15 are complete on Ila's quilt. No pics though. I'll be tackling 16-20 today but I have a few interruptions to deal with so that may be a pretty high goal. I have two customers coming to pick up (if they decide to venture out post impromptu winter storm from yesterday/last night), and we have the Spectrum guy coming to switch us over. All, first thing this morning. 

After working yesterday the weekly state block came through. Arizona.

It was supposed to be done in soft pinks and olives but this is what I had in the fat quarter bundle. I may need to pick up another one because I'm afraid I'm going to run out of these fabrics at this rate.

I pieced a Fireworks block and then I moved over to Mike to work on the binding on the Produce Section. It's done! I really want to hang it today, but that remains to be seen whether I have to deal with customers or the Spectrum guy (who is here now btw). 

UGH...Technology. Geesh!

For some reason blogger is defaulting to their menu of selecting other bloggers to follow. And, despite my deleting old blog accounts, keeps defaulting to a deleted account I've already gotten rid of. 

I hope this isn't a precursor of what's to come in technology because I have to fire up the Pro Stitcher today to get those two E2E's done. Sometimes the long arm computer (PS) can be a finicky thing as well. 

We are on the last frame iron section and then we can get those loaded and queued up for Jim to babysit. 

I, on the other hand, once the PS is starting to do its thing, will be over on Marty trying to finish the quilt for Judy. We are going to move Ila's quilt over to Marty after I get Judy's off. It's too big to handle on Bernie. It's amazing what a two foot frame difference makes.

I did one Fireworks block yesterday. 

I did get the Produce Section off DW (clearly) and trimmed. We searched everywhere for the binding I know I've already made for it but could not find meaning more had to be made. Maybe tonight I'll tackle that? 

Ready for sewing on

I was summoned to jury duty all this month, but when I called this morning I had been excused so that was dodging a bullet. I don't have time for that. Weather report today says mostly cloudy with no precipitation. It's been snowing since I got up. 

Blogger is Being Difficult Lately

It's having trouble importing my pics, it wants me to follow other blogs (like I have time to read any more than my own), or it wants me to change my profile information. WTH? 

Checking on other blog platforms has been done in the past and finding nothing as easy to use as Blogger seems to be the result. But lately, with all the advances in AI and technology, they are becoming very code heavy and are harder to use. Which, to me, sounds counterintuitive. 

Yesterday was like a regular work day but doing my own quilting rather than customer work. Do you ever wonder how I get the channeling around the piece work in the quilt?

Chalking my perimeters

On a positive note. The Produce Section is quilted! I love this part of the quilting process...

Getting ready to remove

I have to check the backing to trim any stray bobbin threads that didn't get pulled up during tie-off. Occasionally there will be a few hanging around. 

I rummaged around to find the binding for this and it's not where I thought it was. Jim moved my queue totes to under DW (you can see them in the pic above), and he thinks he saw the binding in there. Or, I have fabric left over to make more if necessary. It may or may not get attached today.

I'm looking forward to snuggle Sunday with the girls and I have a scarf I've been working on (knit-wise) and hope to relax and work on that all afternoon. 

Let's Talk Sashing

It took me as long to do 14 sashing strips yesterday as it did to ditch, echo and quilt four large blocks. Yep. Sashing is that time consuming. Here's the before...

It all has to be marked prior quilting

Here's the after...

Each one has to be started and stopped/tied off

A long customer visit dropping off yesterday resulted in only four blocks getting quilted in the afternoon.

Here are blocks nine through twelve (but loading out of order this morning for some reason)...

Block 11

Block 12

Block 10

Block 9

Jim wants to run to town today at some point; tax stuff and groceries. But I have more horizontal sashings to get in before I can roll to work the next set of blocks so it's going to have to wait until I've spent some quilting time in the studio. 

I did get one Fireworks block in and worked on DW for about an hour and a half last night. 

The weekly AQS state block dropped last night too. We'll be doing Alaska but I think I'll wait until tomorrow night to actually tackle it. MSU plays U of M and Jim will be occupied most of the evening with that and I'll need something to do while he hollers at the television. 😉

Talk About Threads

I mentioned how many threads I was using in the Produce Section. I snapped a pic and will include it below. Yesterday was a culmination of lather. Rinse. Repeat. I think the whole week will be about as follows:

Work on customer quilt during regular (and beyond) business hours. Work a Fireworks block. Work on DW. Here's some of the background fills going into the current customer quilt...

Block 1

Block 2

Block 3

Block 4

That was the first row. The second row took a LOT longer...

Block 5

Block 6

Block 7

Block 8

I had a drop-in customer yesterday morning who happened to be in the area and she left two tops with me to do. I have another customer to drop off sometime today (she wasn't specific on her time). And here's all those threads I'm using in the Produce Section...

All the pretty threads

Depsite my weather app again saying it's not supposed to snow today, it's snowing. Shocking!

Okay, Please Stop

I've had to unfollow a few Instagram quilting acquaintances recently. First, I don't talk, listen to, watch, read, or get involved with politics. I think our WHOLE government system is broken and pointing a finger at one individual gets old. I can't fix it. You can't fix it. Even as a group (because plenty have tried) can't fix it. I'm at the age where I just want to enjoy my life and live each day like it's my last. Getting my blood pressure up on something I have no control over isn't worth the days I have left on the Earth. 

Let's think about our founding fathers. They, with their bullying, desecrated millions of Indians because they thought they were far superior. Sound familiar? How are we to blame the current situation on anybody but them? It's a vicious cycle that won't be fixed in my lifetime. Unfortunately. 

On to more positive things. I have finished the wall hanging for Cindy S. and have moved onto this quilt on Marty...

A lovely sampler

This is all hand appliquéd and this is a very large quilt. It'll be on the frame for the whole week I'm afraid. 

I have set in the first border and am working through the remaining borders today. Most of them have been ditched and I'm planning out the rest. 

Love a formal feather

While Jim was advancing the current backing being frame ironed on Bernie, he ran across this little situation...

A "darned" tear

The owner of this backing darned what appears to have been a tear in the fabric. I'm going to have to keep an eye on this because I'm afraid this is going to seriously interfere with the quilting going into the top we will load later. 

I did another Fireworks block and worked on DW for a while last night. I just had to do custom and thread changes for all the fruit didn't I? This is taking a long time to complete. 

The weather app on my iPad said we are to have a cloudy and windy day with zero precipitation. As I'm blogging, it's snowing out and has been for about a half hour already. Aren't apps great?

Personal Time

At one point a person needs to take time out for oneself. Yesterday was spent working on DW the entire day and then after doing long arming I moved over to work on two Fireworks blocks. I didn't know if I'd feel like doing anything out in the studio today. 

After those two blocks were pieced and trimmed I wanted to start something new. The Fireworks blocks are a once-a-day thing, and the AQS state blocks are a once-a-week kind of thing. I didn't want to start something huge so found this in my stash from Shipshewana...

I have enough batiks to work this so started right in. 

My latest little project

The thing that intrigued me about this pattern wasn't so much the quilt design, but rather the quilting that was in the design itself. Had I not seen it completed in the quilt shop in Indiana, I may not have even given it a second glance. It's a Judy Niemeyer, and while I love doing her patterns, sometimes the directions are a bit muddy. 

Thankfully, I'm not a beginning paper piecer because this set of directions, were again, a little muddy to understand. Today I'm hoping to work on some more of this. We're getting a late start today. I could NOT get to sleep last night despite having the busy day that I had; I remember seeing 3:54 a.m. on the clock. Meaning, I slept in.

Brrrr....

Haven't seen these cold temps in about seven years. Minus 18 this morning. Thank goodness (for now) the wind isn't blowing. 

Because of said temps, we are staying home and not taxing the trucks, or ourselves for that matter. In fact, we are colder than the North Pole and have been for going on our second day. It's Michigan. We're a hardy bunch. 

The Grannies Garden was finished yesterday morning and I moved over to Bernie to work on this...

A wall hanging for Cindy S.

I have the bones set in and have started doing the quilting. This will be finished on Monday. A block was made for the Fireworks top and I moved over to DW to finish out my short day in the studio. We wandered over to the neighbors around 6:00 last night to visit with them. They had the flu last time they were here. 

I plan on doing some more work on The Produce Section on DW most of today. I received a few digitized E2E's at retreat so I need to get that piece off since there's a March 1 deadline on both of them. 

Retreats

I'm co-hosting a retreat with Linda this upcoming April at a place in town called the Riverwalk. They have never held a quilting retreat there, but have hosted several scrap booking retreats. That's how Linda and I discovered the place. 

I had a call, first thing this morning, about adding another person to our already climbing numbers. I think we're at around 16 now and the brochures were just released to the public on Friday. We need a minimum of 20; shouldn't be a problem.

Tilda Girls are done and I've started on this quilt already for Bunny...

Grannies Garden by Lori Holt

This is one of those quilts you love to look at, but to long arm it is another thing. There are several, (and I mean five or more) layers throughout the piecing/applique and the machine has a tough time maintaining a consistent stitch length when tackling these hurdles. I have to constantly change feet since I need the ruler foot to do the borders and a different foot to do the free motion work. This will occupy most of the rest of the week.

Meanwhile, block five of the Fireworks top is done and the remaining fruits I hadn't yet had the pleasure of quilting were worked in The Produce Section...

Plum

Orange

Peach

Cherries

We have more snow coming down this morning and at some point groceries are needed. We have to wait and see what the weather is going to continue to do before making that decision. 

Making Adjustments

Evie (if all goes well) should be coming home from the hospital today. We're discovering they have much better health care in Germany. It's not like it is here in the states where you spit out a kiddo and then leave the next day. 

The Tilda Girls should be finished today and I'll be moving onto the quilt on Marty. After working until past quitting time I moved over to make another block in the Fireworks top. Once the weight of Bernie was out of my system, DW was next up.

Here was the border initially in The Produce Section...

Kind of plain

Jim assured me this was enough border treatment and I pondered this before taking the next roll. Days I thought about it. Nope. Not enough. Here's the new borders...

Much, much better

Jim was watching the pre-game and eventually the championship game between Indiana and Miami last night. Lucy was watching with him just like one of the dudes...

She's so funny

Very cold today but at least the gusting winds have subsided somewhat. We received blizzard like conditions yesterday and pileups on the highway all around the state were reported. So glad working from home solves all those issues!

Welcome Baby Evelyn

Our new granddaughter arrived at 3:19 p.m. (Germany Time). They don't have a weight yet (????) but everybody is doing fine and she is beautiful!

Evelyn Riley DeGroot

The day before Lucy's birthday and one month exactly after Jims so that's easy to remember.

Here's some more quilting going into the Tilda Girls...

Getting some texture into the dresses

After working I moved over to start doing test blocks for the Luminary pattern. I don't know if I like these blocks not. I'm still deciding. 

Work on DW was next. The 'class' I'm taking with Natalia Bonner starts in 18 days and I want to get Produce Section off DW soon. I also have two E2E's picked up at retreat to do for a customer, so there's that to consider. Here is the Pineapple and Lemon... 

Lemon

Pineapple

Jim is out snow blowing because our 'light snow' yesterday resulted in four inches of powder, and it's still coming down this morning. He wants to keep on top of it. And, we have to run to the store for a few things. A pot of chili and a pan of enchiladas were on the menu for this weekend. I think we've change the enchiladas to breakfast instead though since we're just running down the road for a few things. 

Merry New Year

And all the decorations are starting to come down. It's the saddest part of the holiday for me to see the house return 'back to normal' after all the festive items have been collected. We always have to leave a tote with easy access because sometimes we find stuff for weeks after the holiday.

I worked on AWAT to start my day after returning from groceries. The block did not turn out well, and, if I have enough fabric left over, will be redoing that block. For now, it's in the tote with the others, but I'll make notes to get it redone if permissible when I get to it in the setting.

Here are a few other things I worked on yesterday...

I plan to continue on with these today while Jim is packing up the house. We have very few his-chores-her-chores in our lives, but this is one of those Jim chores I don't normally participate in. It makes me too sad. 

Regular Work Day

Yesterday was a regular work day for me. I did get the quilt done for Bittersweet Quilt Shop and will call her this morning first thing to let her know. It was after their closing time when I finished so didn't call last night.

Just a few HST's

After getting that off the frame, I made a few blocks in AWAT...

Bow Ties

Flying Geese

After working on these two blocks I jumped onto DW to work a few of the blocks in Produce Section. I've learned that taking a break from the light machines before getting onto DW (the heavy machine) makes it a little easier to transfer into. He's such a beast. 

Our last family Christmas is today. We told my mom to be here around 10:30, but Jim just got off the phone with her and she's just getting ready to leave; it's 9:35 and she lives 10 minutes away. 

Since I still have some prep work to do I guess I'm jumping in the kitchen first thing. No studio work today but I'll enjoy having the second set of grand kiddos here. 

Merry Christmas Eve

Today is a play day. I was actually planning on making Christmas cookies today but we have one family who is currently fighting Influenza A and it looks like we may have to postpone our family Christmas to Monday or Tuesday next week. They are keeping us posted. 

Here's some of the quilting going into the Produce Section quilt...

Background work

I've only started the borders and the background and hope to work on this later today. But for now, my goal is to finish the Alaska quilt. I'm changing the borders the author instructed us to do and simplifying things a bit...

I'm going to do a 4-patch rather than a "v" like she instructs. I need to build the borders first before I can get any of them on. 

Jim is going out to his workshop to continue on with the memory boxes for the grandkids. We spent most of yesterday running the roads to pick up parts/supplies/mail/ in two different towns. Why does traveling wear one out so much?