An All Marty Day

Despite my good intentions of working partially on Bernie yesterday, that didn't happen. I was on Marty all day working through the Stars and Shadows. The day didn't start out well though.

The passive aggressive text received Friday morning was still on my mind and when long arming, you are provided with a lot of 'windshield' time. Truckers go through this same thing. The mind wanders and it's work that doesn't require a lot of concentration.

Apparently mine did because before noon yesterday I had to pull three sets of threads back out of what I was working on. I don't think I've pulled threads three times all last month, let alone in one morning. 

I did get Diane's quilt set on Bernie though...

Cute giraffe top

Designs are still being formulated in my head. I have some of it worked through, but have some areas that I haven't settled on yet. I'll think about it while I work on Marty some more today. 

After work I did my strip, made a caddy, made three scrappy goodness blocks, prepped the next jelly roll for more scrap happy blocks, and then I was done with what I wanted to work on. I have a pattern I've wanted to get started for a while. 

There is a LOT of prep work in this top...

I'm going to make the largest setting (4 x 5) the pattern offers instead of this throw they show on the cover. I want to get the checkered blocks done before moving along to all the appliqué stuff. BUT, I misread the directions and thought one fat quarter bundle (20 different fabrics) would be enough. I actually need two fat quarter bundles. 

And of course the Riley Blake fabric I used for the checkers is already out of print since it was created in 2022. Meaning, I'm going to have to improvise somewhat. I'll see what I have in my stash before heading to the quilt shops. 

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. 

Busy Morning

Unfortunately it won't be busy in the studio this morning. I have nails first thing. From there I have to buzz over to moms art show just on the other side of town. After I attend that I'll be heading to Pieces for fabric for a BOW I'll be attending for the next 16 weeks. It's Christmas themed and pretty cute, so I'm going to participate. It's free through my batting supplier so no pressure.

I finished the Nativity quilt for Deb P. in the morning and then had a new customer (through a referral) drop off her 'Tis the Season top for me to do. They stayed for about 45 minutes and they no sooner left and a strange truck pulled in. They thought I was a quilt shop (apparently didn't read the header on my web site). We chatted for a bit and then they left. Time for lunch.

While I was waiting for the new customer to arrive (around 11:00) I didn't want to start on Marty so I pieced backing for this next Rayola quilt on DW...

Ready for quilting

I also pieced the batting and since this was an orphan block top, the whole thing is pieced together.

During the afternoon, I worked on this on Bernie...

Table Runner #1

Deb H. has three small pieces for me to complete before she can come get her Tilda Sampler, so I have to get those done. Here's some of the quilting that went into it...

Table runners get lots of thread

Here's the next one I'll be working on today once I return home from my morning errands...

Cute Carrots

I've already did some pre-marking on this and couldn't sleep last night, so I did some head quilting while trying to get relaxed enough to go to sleep. 

After I marked and prepped that piece I made and attached the binding to one side of the Tula Butterfly. I just need to flip it and finish it later this weekend. 

I'll be working late tonight I think since I'm not working this morning. That's fine. I like working in the studio no matter the time. 

Memory Lane

Yesterday was not a good news day. I found out my childhood friend from our cottage had a death in her family (FIL) and one of my customers lost her husband the previous day. 

My father texted me and asked for another quilt for his bed since his wife 'borrowed' his indefinitely. While I was going through totes after my PT appointment, I couldn't help thinking about these two deaths and how precious life is. 

And then I pull out quilt after quilt and think about how much joy making those quilts gave me and how it's hard to let them go (for sale, or whatever) just like a member of our lifes circle. Here are a few of the ones I sent pics of to dad to see if he'd like any of them...

This is the one he selected. Farm Girl Vintage II by Lori Holt

I don't remember the name of this one

Seasons by Edita Sitar

Just a scrappy pattern I found on line

There are a crap load more out there, but he was looking for a large queen/king-sized quilt and it needed to be dark in color since his dog sleeps with him sometimes. 

I'll continue to make quilts because it gives me joy and happiness and damn it, life is too short to not be doing what we love to do. 

Had a drop-in set of women stop by yesterday morning. I don't think I'll be seeing them again since price was their main concern. I also had a previous customer come to drop off just one top around lunch time. I did get Bernadettes quilt finished in the early evening. I worked on DW for a bit and then moved over to the Tilda piece for a while. 

 

Hopefully today I'll have uninterrupted work time and can enjoy the rainy day headed our way. We need the rain. The lawn is starting to turn yellow and Jim's garden is looking pretty wilted. 

Shift. Change.

I've shifted from the parallelogram top to the Pineapple top using the Creative Grids Pineapple ruler to trim each fabric addition. Here's the first three complete. I'm making a queen-sized quilt so I'll need to make a total of 81 blocks. I'll be at this for a while.

I'm thinking (already) about how I'm going to set these

Before working on these guys, I did a small project to make my long arm notions basket a bit more robust...

It has Bosal Interform and interfacing both

The other cute frog one I made was collapsing under all the stuff and is going to be over between Bernie and Marty (once he arrives) since the Bernina's require less "toys". 

Today's IG Quilt Fest prompt is our favorite quilting book. These two, by far, are my absolute go-to resources when I get stuck working a quilt...

Favorite books!

Not sure where I'm headed today. Probably not very far since I slept in this morning and am already trying to get some house crap done. 

No Apologies Needed

I was on the phone with Jason and Jen at Gall Sewing yesterday morning. Jason apologized profusely about my new Q20. He thought they had one in stock but as he opened the box to inspect/test it he discovered it was a demo model. Given our history with Foster, we're opting to order a new one instead. But the frame is in so there's that. 

We're all human. Stuff happens and he didn't need to apologize, although I appreciated the sentiment. When they come to set Marty up, they are taking DW back downstate for a fix. His hopping foot is severely loose and needs to be replaced. Cha-Ching. 

Since I was frame ironing for the next quilt on DW (I'll have to limp it along for another week or so), I was working on Lynette's Tilda Snowmen on Bernie. Here's what the snowmen are getting...

Pretty!

I forgot to mention about the previous quilt on DW. When a quilt has a lot of starts and stops, sometimes the tie-off bobbin thread doesn't get pulled through all the way. I use the sun (or a flashlight when no sun is available) to seek out those threads to get them trimmed before removing from the frame...

See that little sucker?

Much easier to do on the frame before offloading. 

I've made a decision. The scrap quilt I started that's on the design wall isn't getting me all excited to work on anymore. I've screwed up the strip part and, well, I'm just not feeling it. I think I may chop all those parallelograms up and restart with a different pattern. One that I like doing and one that leaves me excited to work on at night. I have to take a look at my pattern and see how I can get the most out of what I've already cut up.

MSU plays at noon today in their first game of March madness. Jim is hoping to get home early to watch said game, but I'll have the doors shut to his man cave so I can't hear him giving the TV a batch of crap while I try to work. Happy Friday! 😀

Let's Talk Wrinkles

So many of my customers are worried about a) the quilt top being square and b) wrinkles in both the back and the front. Neither is a concern actually. Here's why: There is no such thing as a square quilt. The second it's picked up at each of the border corners, it's been stretched and is now out of square, whether that's to put on another border, to show your friend, or to get it folded to come to me.

Wrinkles on the back I take care of when I load the quilt. Wrinkles on the front magically all but disappear when I quilt it.

Here's a before... 

Look at the white area

And here's the after...

Pretty much gone

DW is having an issue with his hopping foot rod. It's becoming loose(r) than before and I've contacted Gall about getting the part ordered and having this situation serviced. The new machine (Marty) can not get here soon enough!

After working on Sharon's Flower Power quilt well after normal quitting time, Jim came in from doing outside stuff (fenced the white pine in the girls' pen for one) and assisted me in getting those parallelograms hung on the design wall. I can start filling in with my scrap pieces now...

I've gotten a few of them done already

There are more scrap pieces that are finished, but they are for the bottom section(s) we could not get on the wall.

I have one customer coming to drop off and I'll be continuing on with Sharons quilt most of the rest of the day. 

Not so Snuggle Sunday

Okay, so we did snuggle a little after lunch and before the game, and then again after it was finished in the early evening. Meanwhile, in the morning I worked on Foster...

What's going in the "mint" section

And in the afternoon I started pressing, cutting, and piecing for the first block in what I'm calling the Scrappy Susan quilt. 

The first scrap block (of 40)

You can see my focus fabric in the background; what I pulled all the scraps from to make it a little more cohesive. 

Today is QOV work on Bernie. It should be done by the end of today barring too many interruptions. 

Taking the Girls

We had errands to do after getting morning chores done and we took the girls with us. Something we haven't done in a while, but we weren't going to be in any one place any too long. They were so tuckered out when we got back home they were very quiet the rest of the day. They get so excited going bye-bye.

One of the stops was Pieces of Thyme to pick up some background fabric for this new project...

The newest project

After lunch and a movie or two, I headed out to the studio to read the directions for this project and started cutting the background pieces...

Backgrounds all cut

Jim was out in the workshop cutting and making shim pieces for the two north/south long arms. DW is wearing his latest "heels"...

A new set of shims

During our second movie the medium I had purchased Friday for the Girl with the Pearl Earring was applied. Here's a before and after treatment with said medium...

Before

After

Yep, just some fabric medium on those InkTense pencils brings out the life of the party.

Not sure where I'm headed today but it'll be low-keyed. 

Credit Unions

My business account is through a credit union. With a different credit union, Jim and I do our personal banking. Not all credit unions are created equal. I'm on hold (ignore) with the business credit union right now trying to figure out why two of my Friday deposits didn't go through. 

I follow all their little "rules" and while one of the checks went through, two others did not. WHY? Because they "recently" changed their policy and I have to have the business name written on the back of the check. Even though one of the checks went through without it. Seriously? Whatever. 

Okay, no more ranting today. I'm in a mood. Probably because I was up early and waking up with the sun isn't normally on my to-do list. 

Here's some quilting going into Mary's quilt...

Can't hardly see anything

I'm using a green thread on green fabric, so all you can see is some texture. Sorry about that. I'll try to grab a pic of the back which can be seen a little better once it's done later today. Hopefully.

I'm loading a back onto Bernie right now and I did some quilting on Foster last night after finishing up on DW for the day. I had two customers come and pick up yesterday; one was scheduled and the other was a quick drop-in, until both turned into not-so-quick visits. 

25 more cottage fronts were made after long arming so despite having customers in and out, much was accomplished. Yay!

A Variety

Yesterday was a variety of things in the studio. The first thing we needed before I could "play" was to grocery shop. That's kind of depressing. After getting back I cheered myself up by completing this...

Will not be making this again

The templates provided were not ample enough and I has some exceedingly frustrating moments building this block. It's going to end up being a wall hanging. I'll donate this pattern. 

I moved over to Foster after Jim got a call out for a 'smells gas'; he's on-call this weekend and all of next week. I have the first row half done, have taken a roll, and will work on that again this morning while Jim is canning salsa.

After working on Foster for a while, I dug around to find something new to work on. I did find a project I've put off for a while, but don't have the right color/amount of solids to complete it, so moved onto something else. 

I settled on this knowing I'm still trying to diminish my scrap stash. This should bust out a few...

I love house quilts!

When I refer to "The Village" for the next few weeks, this is what I'll be referring to. Each of these blocks measures 5 1/2" x 7"unfinished so I'm not going to tear through a large quantity of scraps, but a few. My rule is no large scrap pieces but all those small-ish ones floating around in the dresser that my fingers constantly push back down into the other bigger scraps. 

Appeal Denied!

There's been a group formed trying to appeal the special assessment of our dam reconstruction. Until the appeal ruling came in, the dams were going to cease construction soon. We just received the ruling yesterday that the appeal was denied. Maybe the construction will continue now that we're past that?

Meanwhile, I had a new customer drop off yesterday morning. She was very nice and her previous long armer is out of the picture and therefore looking for another. She gave me her first (maybe a trial of sorts) to see how I do (I think). Another customer came and picked up in the mid-afternoon. 

Despite all the customer work, I was able to get Deb B's quilt finished. I'm loading a back now for the next one on Bernie. DW is all loaded and basted in and I'll be working on this today...

Another big one

Sorry about the pic. I didn't have the lights on when I was buzzing through shutting down the studio for the night.

After finishing Debs quilt, Jim was home and we needed to run over to get his truck. When we returned home I had every intention of working on Foster while Jim was mowing the lawn. Our eldest called and we were on the phone for over an hour. I did some quiet work while we chatted and ended up getting all the remaining pieces cut for the green scrappy quilt.

I was going to go and mow the girls' pen but Jim waved me off and so went in and put all the blocks together. They are all pieced and just waiting for me to set them into rows.

Ready for a retreat

I squirreled after looking down into my ruler area and found these...

Crumb blocks and a few 25-patches

I'll get some sashing around these and make them into smaller kids or dolly quilts. It was almost 9:00 before I left the studio and I never did get to the flag block I had intended to make. Maybe tonight? 

Donating

I have't donated in a while. To anything really. Shame on me. I saw an IG post this morning from a quilter in Missouri (I think) who is collecting blocks to create some QOV's for her area. She's trying to get a block from every state. Count Michigan in!

Of course, the blocks are easy (a simple flag) and I'll be making one of those for her tonight to get into tomorrows mail. It's a small donation, but at least it's something.

Easy Peasy

More on Deb B's quilt today. I had one customer pick up and another customer came to drop off. That always takes up a little time out of long arming.

After I was done working for the day, I went to Foster to work more on the Amish with a Twist III and am now ready to roll. 

Once that was done I moved over to cutting more green pieces for the scrap quilt. While I was pressing the fabrics I ran across this piece...

My very first fabric purchase

This was the focus fabric in Calebs baby quilt; my first quilt EVER! This is the original fabric and after 30 years, it's still in pristine condition. It came from Country Stitches down in Lansing. I sent a pic to him to see if he recognized it and he quickly replied back that yes, he did know this fabric and was pleased I still had a piece.

More on Debs quilt today. I should be able to finish it up as I only have two more rows to do but the first of those is partially done. 

I have a customer coming to pick up this morning and a brand new customer coming around 11:00 to meet me and discuss what she has going on in her quilt top world. Not sure what time the other customer is coming; she wasn't very specific on when she'd be here. 

Short Life

I often wonder why those sweet smelling flowers and trees only stay in bloom for such a very short time. Like the Peonies and the Irises. The cherry and apple trees; they're quick to go as well. My Northern Catalpa tree is no exception. He just started blooming on Friday; he's already losing his flowers. 

Not even a week

I don't think this extremely hot weather is doing it any favors. It isn't doing anything any favors. 

Laura's quilt did not get finished yesterday. I had to run and pick up Jim from the mechanics and lost long arming mojo upon my return. I have the last row and the last border to do this morning. 

I did make some more green scrappy blocks while Jim did a little drywall sanding and then moved over to do one block on the sit-down machine when he headed to the shower...

Lollipop Chain

I did the center block and almost moved to another one, but it's pretty labor intensive and it was nearly 8:00 by then. The heat is zapping our energy and we were done for the day. It's not supposed to be as hot today, but the humidity is making up for the heat. So thankful we have central air. 

Pea Soup

It's a sure sign it's going to be a hot one today when letting the dogs out at 8:00 the temperatures are the same outside as they are in; 75 degrees. 

The humidity outside is much higher than in the house though making it feel like pea soup out there. We're cold weather people and this really affects Jim. I hope he stays hydrated out there working in the field.

Customer bags. I'm now making customer bags to help eliminate the scrap pile I have. I worked on about four of those this weekend...

Bags for customers

I'm currently tackling the greens in the dresser with the bags and the scrap quilt I've been working on...

Pieces and parts and blocks already made

I still have a little more than 50 blocks to make. Here's some more quilting going into Amish with a Twist III...

More quilting details

Jim trimmed the dogs yesterday after he gave them both a bath. They will be much cooler with this awful heat we're expecting this week. And, it's only the middle of June. More work on Laura's log cabin quilt on DW. Since it's so big, I don't think I'll be getting this one done today, but since Jim isn't coming home for lunch, maybe?

Bug Guy Be Damned

Our Orkin guy was supposed to be here between 12-2 yesterday. It was 3:30 when he showed up. Despite my having to pace the house and anticipate his arrival, I was able to be somewhat productive. 

Avis' quilt

Yes, quilt. It was already quilted once and it's halfway bound. She pulled the previous quilting stitches out (it wasn't me who did the first quilting BTW), and was referred to me to try to salvage this piece.

This is all I had to work with all around; no extra anything to pin/clamp to

Sewing on a temporary leader to both the top and bottom

Once the temporary leaders were sewn on I was able to load and then pin temporary leaders onto the sides. This took most of the morning. I did manage to get a pass done before lunch and so far the tension seems pretty good.

Because the bug man hadn't shown up even after eating my lunch, I knew that if I turned on DW he'd be here. People don't realize that once we get into our zen place, interrupting us is kind of a pain. I thought I would start pulling fabrics for the Color Outside the Lines pattern instead of trying to long arm.

This is where I left off last night. 

Making progress

I was really enjoying the process of making this piece. Measuring, cutting, piecing, paper piecing, ironing...I didn't get bored during the whole time I was working. 

Today I'll finish Avis' quilt and get another one loaded (if all goes well). I'll work some more on the Color piece and the neighbors are supposed to be up later so working late may not happen. Then again, it's supposed to rain all evening, so having a campfire may not happen either. It's a crap shoot.

Accident Day

Not a car accident or anything remotely Earth shattering as all that, but ding-yourself-up-accident day definitely happened. Those dumb Japanese Lady Beetles (affectionally known as bean bugs) started coming in the house yesterday. Time to get out the dust buster and keep on top of them; banged my shin up pretty good on the chair I was using to get at them.

Once I doctored myself up from that I finished quilting Scrap Petals and took it off the frame. I built the binding and was putting that on when I decided to sew through my finger, nail and all. It's kind of interesting to see a needle sticking through your finger and then having to go find the needle nose pliers to pull the damn thing out. 

But I did manage to get the binding on and the Scrap Petals is complete. 

Ready to use

Frog and Owl are also completed and hanging in the bathroom.

Who?

Jim brought the mail into the studio right in the middle of my needle-in-the-finger crises so I wasn't able to check it out until later. This came yesterday! So excited!

This is the smaller one measuring 46" x 52"

I wish I would have paid attention when I purchased this because I really wanted the bigger size. But this will make a decent throw when I border it out. The pattern is jelly roll friendly but I don't have one with 42 varying colors. I think I may make it a little scrappy and pull from my stash instead. Hmmm???

Putting a customer quilt on who has already bound the quilt and needs me to re-quilt it from her previous quilter who messed it up. I'll have to baste temporary leaders on it first to get it loaded and then see what I can do from there.

Goofy Day

What started out as a normal day yesterday turned kind of goofy. The new customer was a little later than I had expected (I was using my new Glide color card to inventory my current supply while waiting). We spent some time getting to know one another and then I wolfed down lunch. No sooner had I cleaned up and I heard a rumbling noise. Oh yeah, the gutter guy is supposed to be here to install a gutter on the front of the garage.

By the time I welcomed him, talked to him about the gutter in Hazels pen, and got back inside, it was almost 3:30. I wasn't in a long arming mood by then. I did get the Scrap Petals rolled back and it's ready to free motion this morning...

Ready to start this morning

I did talk to Jen at Gall Sewing about the tension on DW and she suggested a few things, which seemed to have helped. I'll still keep an eye on it pretty closely for a while just to make sure our "fix" was what DW needed. 

Owl and Frog

The Owl and Frog wallhanging I left on the table last week, prior to my trip, was worked instead and I've already started blanket stitching everything down. By 8:00 I was done. All the weekend travel caught up to me I think. 

I'll long arm this morning. Mom may (or may not) stop by after her art league and I'll continue on with the Owl and Frog this evening. Life is back to normal(cy).