Never Have I Ever

Have you ever played that game called 'Never Have I Ever'? Well, yesterday was one of those situations for me. I worked on Marty, did the daily Love Letter block. Blanket stitched the cowboy block...

The second horseshoe boot

Put binding on Rita and got it hung on the design wall (aka the art wall) and then reset Mike to do more blanket stitching today.

Rita the Ripper is finished!

And then I started a table runner and actually finished the top all in a matter of hours. It usually takes me a whole day to design, pick fabrics, press, cut and sew together something like this. I did it in under three-ish hours. I've never done that! It's on DW and ready to be basted in...

Flag table runner

It matches the banner design I made Sunday and will be put on the table for the upcoming holiday. I'm hoping to get it quilted later tonight after all the other quilting "chores" are done. The pic doesn't really do it justice so hopefully I can get a better one later today. 

Ah, Such is Life

My eldest closed on his new house yesterday. The buyers for his [now] old house backed out on Saturday. Now Andrew owns two houses. Since the house sold quickly the first time six weeks ago, I'm sure it won't take long for it to sell again. Such is life.

A Love Letter block and another cowboy boot commenced after working yesterday.

I was still moving and hadn't fallen over from the lack of sleep the night before so I quilted up Rita the Ripper...

I made the binding for it once it was quilted and will hopefully get that on tonight so I can load another something on DW.

More of the same today; working on Marty (Farm Girl Vintage II for Evelyn), etc., etc., etc..

Beat the Clock

I was playing beat the clock yesterday with the humidity and the air erasable pen I use to mark with on quilts. I was also playing against mother nature who decided to cut my day short (more than once) with thunderstorms. Not only did I get off Bernie before 3:00, I couldn't even get on DW later in the evening.

Here is row four of the row by row for Ginny...

Textured wood and some flowers in the background

So I did some sit-down work and as the storms continued to roll through I continued on with more sit-down work. I got a love letter block done before 4:00. I moved over to a cowboy boot...

That was done by 5:30. Jim was still canning so I had plenty of time to do something else. I decided to get Rita the Ripper out and work on that. Turns out I had more than enough time to work on it and even put a border around (which the pattern did not).

Rita the Ripper

This pattern is still available on-line and in some stores. There is a whole series of them available including bobbins, thread, and other sewing notions. I thought this would go well with the needles wall hanging I have on the 'design wall'. 

Well, I still had some more energy and started going through my bag-o-tricks to see what I could start next. I have to have a half-dozen things going in the studio at once. However, only one or two appliqués are permitted. I can only take so much blanket stitching. I know this next project needs to be pieced first and the cowboy boots should be done before having to blanket stitch things here so this is my next project...

I've quilted a few of these for customers already and mom bought me this kit for Christmas two years ago. I'm NOT going to fuse these down. That's a lot of layers and the long arm isn't particularly jazzed about it all. Neither am I frankly.

They are large pieces and I feel like I can stitch them down as I build the blocks. I may get some fraying, but I'm okay with that. In fact, I may just promote it because that would be stinkin' cute as heck. 

Today is another round of beat the clock. Very humid and we have rain (maybe storms) coming later this afternoon. Ginny's quilt would have been done yesterday had I not had the interruption. And I have a customers' husband coming to drop off this morning, so I should be able to get the quilt done. 

All Caught Up

The temperature blocks are all caught up to the information available at this time. Row three is in...

Here are pics of the last weeks strips in the 99 strip quilt along with corrected numbers I might add...

One caddy was made; all of the above before lunch.

Since Jim was still a little under the weather and he had a basketball game to watch in the afternoon anyway, I retired back to the studio after lunch/movie to work on Rita. Her first two columns are constructed and are together...

I'll be working Virginias Stars and Shadows quilt most of the day today. I have to remove Dianes quilt from Bernie and load her next backing on to start frame ironing it and will weave all of that into my day.

Getting Back to Normal

After a couple of days' worth of visitors, long phone calls, and outside appointments, getting back to a normal routine is very welcoming. Although, I do enjoy the jaunt outside of normalcy, because let's face it, I'm anything but normal. 

After my customer left yesterday morning (over an hour later), I was able to get some quilting done in Diane's leaf quilt. I was also able to get this quilt loaded onto Marty to work along with Diane's leaves...

Virginia's Stars and Shadows

Virginia and I bought these kits at the same time two or three years ago at Yoders in Shipshewana. We bought them specifically for the quilting that went into them and not so much the pattern itself. 

Then lunch. We were just finishing eating and here's my mom.

While she was here, Caleb and Lia (and little Evelyn) called from Germany (a happy coincidence) and spent more than an hour on the phone via FaceTime with them. Mom had only seen pics of her great granddaughter and was enjoying the chat with the kids. I let them go as long as possible because these situations are rare in our family. 

It was nearly 'quitting' time when mom finally left. I did jump onto Bernie for a while after her departure, but not before doing my daily strip on DW. I got some of the border in Virginia's quilt marked out and I also made one caddy, one block in the scrappy quilt, and made and then constructed the blocks for Rita's first column. 

I love busy days like the past two but getting back into a normal work day is also a good day!

A Mixed Couple of Days

Yesterday started out like normal. Blog. Open Studio. Quilt. Then it all changed.

We met our friends/customers for lunch. Went to the tax preparer. Did a few other errands. Came home and it was after 4:00. Well, no more customer long arming.

I did long arm on DW. Here is a few pics of the strips done thus far...

Odd Days

Even days

I like to show these because they are so fun. The only rule for this project is no measuring. In a customer quilt, I would, of course, measure out each motif that needed precision, but we are being a little more free with these.

After shutting down DW, my phone rang with another friend/customer coming up on the caller ID. Hmmm? Hoping everything was okay I picked it up and ended up working on these while chatting for over an hour...

The first 10 days of the year

Yep, this is how my temperature quilt is starting out. They went fast, and the hardest part was actually sorting through all the bags with each designated temp. Not too tough, huh? 

I had an hour or so left in me so I did one block in the scrappy quilt and built two more blocks in the Rita the Ripper top. 

This morning I had a customer arrive (per our preset agreement) before I even 'opened' to come and pick up a quilt. We chatted, laughed, and learned together until just a few minutes ago. I love to spend time with my customers!

I'll be working on Bernie for what is left of the morning. I'm loading onto Marty after lunch and will start a little bit on that after working on Bernie for a spell this afternoon. BUT, my mother is supposed to be stopping by at some point today, so maybe my goals are a little high in my head. 

Birds

I thought I heard a goose honking this morning. I was just coming out of my sleep so I may have just dreamt it. But we heard some type of songbird yesterday morning, so they are starting, already, to head back north.

Here's some of the quilting going into Ila's Magic Cube quilt...

Magic Cube

Since I'm at the half-way point I should be able to get this one finished by today's end. I'll move back over to Marty and work on the batik blocks when I do finish it if before quitting time. 

Two days' worth of 99 strips were done last night, a Fireworks block, and a scrappy block were also constructed. I couldn't get my mind off of the Rita the Ripper piece I sorted and prepped for on Saturday, so I did five or so blocks on that. Block three was a culmination of three blocks put together though. 

Another spring-like weather day in store for us much like yesterday. But I'm not ready for spring. I love winter. I love the snow and the cold and it's free of bugs. 

Quite a Mess

I left a bit of a mess Saturday night when sewing/prepping was finished. 

Cutting table is covered

pressing table is somewhat covered

This is not the norm out there, but maybe yesterday work was on my mind? That didn't happen. I have to really check myself not to be out there ALL THE TIME. It's a gorgeous place to create, but as I've eluded to before, too much of a good thing and all that happy crap. 

After cleaning up said mess, I'll be on Bernie and that will occupy most of this Monday.