But It's A Dry Heat

I checked the temperature at Camp Verde, Arizona yesterday while my studio thermometer was climbing. They were at 94 degrees. We were at...

104 DEGREES!!!!!!!!!

Yikes. The A/C NEVER shut off yesterday. In fact, that's what woke me up this morning when it did finally shut off and the perpetual hum wasn't present (it's right below my bedroom window).

I'll be finishing Virginia's Pickle Dish quilt today. We have to run to Lansing to deliver the reunion canopies later this afternoon so there's four hours (without visiting) down and back again. It's not supposed to be as hot today, but...

I made a Love Letter block, blanket stitched a Flower Power leaf block and then removed the quilt from DW that I finished the previous night. It's bound and finished.

Once I got that put away I loaded this little table runner onto DW to go with the other table runner I'm making as a leader/ender project. 

It was so hot yesterday the guys never sprayed the lake for weeds. Can you imagine being in a tyveks suit holding a heavy hose in a 104 degrees? And people on the lake were complaining about them not coming through like they were scheduled to. Sometimes ya gotta wonder about people don't ya? 

Not All The Details

So I'll skim over last week about our retreat. I did complete a number of tops. The first was the Fireworks top...

Moving along, I completed the Scrappy Goodness top but neglected to capture a pic. Those were all done on day 1.

Day 2: I was piecing the sides of the cowboy boots when it was my time to get my pedicure. My feet were so happy!

After finishing the sides of the cowboy blocks...

I pieced this top together. This had been hanging out in my retreat tub for too long so it needed to be done...

I had also been holding onto two Rayola preschool quilts to make so I got those done on day three. I started on another project on day three but could not continue it as I need a full design wall to work with it. I started another project on day four but was cut short because we needed to start packing up. Here are a few pics of other projects other folks were working on...

Linda's beautiful wall hanging

Bernadette's Lori Holt Tulips

Nancy's One Block Wonder

Linda's One Block Wonder

Before I left the retreat I had one emergent top given to me, one to just ditch, and another Tilda Snowman pillow top to quilt. When I got home I had another two emergent requests come in and then a request for me to finish quilting my Tilda Make Do and Mend top for a Tilda event Bittersweet Quilt Shop is hosting in May. 

That means juggling some things around on two of the frames. The one I was going to start on Monday had to be taken off Marty and a new back is being frame ironed. My strip quilt was removed from DW so I could work on the Tilda top for Bittersweet. 

This was the first retreat Linda and I have hosted together and we started taking names of those who may be interested for another next year. Not only did EVERYBODY sign up that was in attendance (which is never heard of), but we had an additional three people who stopped by and sign up as well. We are cutting off the number of attendees at 35. We only have 13 openings left. 

While Lightning Strikes

There are two reasons I will NOT plug in and turn on the long arms; very high winds with higher gusts, and, lightning. 

If I hear thunder I tie off, shut off the machine and then unplug. Surge protectors and/or dedicated plugs are no match for mother nature and trifling with her is playing a very dangerous game. My day was cut short because of a two hour thunderstorm that went through around 3:15. 

Here's some of the quilting going into Dianes rag quilt...

Kind of custom

I'll be working on this all of today. It's a large quilt and I'm thread changing for all the various reds, green, and creams throughout.

After having to shut down prematurely, I prepped for the strip of the day which required some markings and I also prepped to sew the two remaining blocks in Scrappy Goodness. More fabrics were cut for the pineapple blocks and then once it was clear to work on stuff all of the above were completed as well as construction of two of the four corner blocks in pineapple. 

I received a text last night that the tie quilt made it to Florida! Yay! She later sent a pic of the maker and the recipient with the quilt on the bed where it's going to live. 

Seeing it in its element

This warms my heart! I love to see something quilt makers and I put together and the happiness it makes for the person it was made for. Truly, this is why I do what I do because their reactions and faces are priceless!

Happy April Fools Day. Here's hoping you don't get pranked.

Learning

Teachers are life-long learners. I ask a lot of questions, especially when we are making a rather substantial purchase to make sure we are making the right decision(s). 

Yesterday we spent most of the day in search of a new washer. Front load? Top load? Stackables? Size? All questions we needed to ask. 

The most important thing we learned was that local businesses don't generally keep washers in stock anymore. They have to be ordered. And what is on the floor to look at is minimal right now. Would you buy something that expensive based on a picture? 

As much as we support small businesses we ended up at Lowe's and purchased our washer there. They had dozens of models to open, touch, and play with before we made our final decision. And I'm glad we were able to because there are a few features on our current washer I could do without, and there are a few I had to have on the new one.

So, here's what we learned: Washers today are good for about 7-10 years (at the outside) unless you wanted to spend $1400 or more on an industrial model which, not everything would be covered if it died. We didn't purchase the cheapest, but we went low to mid on price, features, and usability. 

And...we will receive a $50 credit from Consumers after they pick up our old one. The new washer will be here Monday.

I have to do something with this QR code...

Where does quilting come into all of this? A top-load washer still uses agitation to clean; rubbing fabrics together while swirling water around it. Notice the word 'agitation'. I don't want my quilts agitated. At all. I think making seams go back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth is asking for trouble. We stuck with a front loader in our decision. All the sales people we talked to whole heartedly agreed. 

We are washing all the rugs/mats and dog things today so if we further wreck our current washer (it is dying) we aren't out anything. I don't want to start right in with the new washer and break it from the opening gate so we are doing our spring washing a little earlier this year. 

Did I do anything in the studio yesterday? A little. I did my strip and a scrappy block. I was all set to start in on the last two center pineapple blocks but then I became really sleepy and decided I was going to just relax the rest of the day. It's the weekend. I'm entitled, right? 

Well, We're Out Of The Tournament

Jim was up well past midnight watching the Spartans claw their way through a tough basketball game. We lost by three and are now out of the tournament. I'm kind of glad. Jim gets pretty worked up when his Spartans play.

I jumped right into Dianes quilt on Bernie and here are the border treatments going in...

I got a lot done in the morning since Jim was gone hunting for a box big enough to ship a quilt (the tie quilt) and getting more background fabric for the Pineapple blocks.

That was a feat. Not the box. That was easy. The fabric was another situation altogether. Here's the lesson learned on that; Buy and LABEL the fabrics purchased for your project. Buy enough and then some and then label it so it's not inadvertently used for another project. 

Which is what happened. I know I got the fabric at Pieces. That's where most of my purchases come from. But they didn't have the right color of gray and ended up with a slightly lighter shade. I have enough of the darker stuff to finish the inside blocks so I'll use the lighter fabrics for the outside blocks, which I think will actually work out okay.

But that's not always the situation. We had to run and UPS the quilt out and then get groceries after. When we arrived back home, and while he was watching his games I did a strip, a scrappy block, and constructed two more inside pineapple blocks; only two more of the inside blocks to go.

Today we are heading to Clare to look at washers. Ours is spitting out oil onto our clothes, it will occasionally not entirely spin out, and the clothes are smelling a little funny. The dial on the front hasn't worked since forever, and all the signs are pointing to it quitting. We're going to try to head that off. Thank goodness for a decent tax refund. 

Long Projects

After getting through Dianes quilts over the next week I noticed I have several tops that are long-to-complete projects. Most of the remaining quilts in queue are a week or better in working. Not that Dianes aren't, but I know I've done several of the quilts in queue already and they all want same but different quilting in them as the previous ones already completed.

Here's what I'll be working on today...

The middle is embroidered, kind of

Borders take the longest to work. They require a lot of planning and sometimes math. But while I was going to sleep last night, I was "working" the first two in my head and today while I'm working through those, I'll work through the next one in my head.

Bernadettes quilt was finished late in the afternoon and am already frame ironing another back on Marty; the only large quilt top Diane left me last fall.

After working, I made a Scrappy Goodness block, did my strip on DW, and then completed three more pineapple blocks. I discovered I am short on the background fabric. Jim has to find a box somewhere in town to ship out Judy's Tie quilt today and then he'll head over to Pieces to get more background fabric for me while I'm here working. He's such a great husband!

A Crappy Day

Well, I had a great day. Very productive. Jim did not have a great day. More on that in a bit. 

I worked on Bernadettes Hometown quilt all day and will be doing that again today. Maybe this is its last day before being completed?

Here are a few of the threads going into it though...

I actually added one more after this pic was taken

After working, once again, past quitting time, I moved right over to DW. I should not do that because the difference in the Bernina weights and DW's weight is significant and I don't feel like I quilt as well because of this. Here's the last weeks worth of strip quilting...

We are more than half-way done with these so not too many more weeks. 

I did a Scrappy Goodness block and then tried to move into an appliqué project I started months ago, but don't have the transfer fabric to complete it (A Laura Heine) so pulled some other project out that's been put aside for quite some time. 

Remember the pineapple blocks I was making eons ago? They have been hanging out underneath the sewing table way too long. Yep, those are going to retreat to get finished if they aren't by then.

Here's what Jim had to deal with yesterday...

Increasing the riser height

Talk about a stinky job for him to have to deal with. I didn't even go out and talk to him while he was working because, just, NO! We have burned up three pumps in eight years and it's the lay of the land that causes it to overwork itself during heavy rains. He's trying to rectify the situation. 

March is Ugly

Isn't the landscape not so pretty in March? Everything is brown and there's really nothing very nice to look at. Except in the studio. I get to look at beautiful quilts all day so I feel very fortunate.

Dianes quilt was finished in the early afternoon and I moved over to this quilt after...

Hometown

This is Lori Holts' Hometown quilt top that Bernadette is having me custom quilt. Isn't it gorgeous? I've already got the borders set in...

Border treatment

I'll be working on this one for a few days...or more.

After working a little later I jumped over to DW to get the two days worth of strips completed. From there I worked on the temperature quilt blocks for the past week and have those all caught up. Monday seems to be a good day to work those. 

I did one block in Scrappy Goodness and then it was nearly 8:00. Where does the time go? 

Jim is at the vets this morning with the girls getting their annual physicals and shots and their meds for the summer. Wow, is it quiet around here with everybody gone!

Batting Chicken

While I was taking my last roll late in the afternoon, I was sweating whether this quilt was going to exceed the batting width. Talk about winner, winner...

Andrew called just as I was finishing getting things basted in for today's work which was perfect timing. While I was talking to him I constructed three Scrappy goodness blocks. After we hung up the strip of the day was stitched out. 

The zippers and other things arrived yesterday including the frames for the caddy's. Since the zipper did arrive, I was on to tackling that next. Here's the color Jim and I picked out and what do ya think?

The pink zipper

It went in rather easily and I'm debating on whether to put one into the other coat I made earlier this year. Maybe this weekend?

I have an appointment first thing this morning and then when I get back this afternoon I'll be finishing Judys Tie quilt. Along with other stuff. 

Hours of Operation

It's pretty simple. I'm open from 10-4 each weekday. I observe national holidays and Saturdays are with appointment only. Or, if you're in the area and we aren't doing anything, as long as you call first we can probably accommodate you in the morning. Please let me have Saturday afternoon and Sunday off.

I received a message at 9:01 this morning about a quilting question. 

Even though Jim is home now, we still have a routine to do every morning; laundry, house cleaning, dogs, correspondence, technical stuff, showers, blogging, etc. I don't get up until around 8:00 (I love to read at night when the house is finally quiet) so staying up until well after midnight is my norm.

That's the beauty of having your own business. Your hours are up to what fits in your schedule. For me, 10-4 works well. And please respect that people. You have a life, as do I.

Soapbox done. I worked all day on the Tie quilt for Judy. We headed to get groceries in the afternoon and then after returning home, I quilted the strip for the day on DW. 

I pieced a scrappy block and then separated for the next three. I also ran two test strips for the cowboy boot top. 

18 more of these to go

I think this will be a retreat project I'll work on since it requires minimal thinking. Jim finished binding my coat...

Waiting for the zipper now

I have the zipper on order and will install that tonight if it does indeed arrive today. 

It hit me when I was separating the next three scrappy blocks that I have to test irons and start getting stuff around for the retreat we're hosting. Since it's not at The Springs and we're doing this one from scratch (first time ever at this location), we have to provide some of the things we aren't used to providing. Big irons for the ironing station (which we're also providing) is one of those. I had to test a few to make sure they still worked since they've been in the closet for a few years...

In good working order

Today I'm supposed to have a customer coming to drop off, but we're getting some weird snow/rain mix and it's well below freezing. More work on the tie quilt but it should be done today. Hopefully!

Shipshewana

I just found out my non-quilting mother is heading to Shipshewana tomorrow. She's staying at the same hotel we stay at during our retreats (Blue Gate Garden Inn). I'm so bummed! There are a few seats left on the bus, but I have a customer coming tomorrow and a meeting (retreat related) on Friday at 11:00. And, it's not just the expense of the trip, but the shopping that'll get ya.

Sigh.

Here's some more quilting eye candy on Judy's Tie quilt...

Center of the middle ties

Perimeter of the center ties

I did my strip last night on DW, two Scrappy Goodness blocks, attached the sleeve binding on the coat, and sewed the last binding around the perimeter of the coat as well. I started hand stitching that down and am nearly half-way done. Jim may take the remainder over since my middle finger is now numb. 

I have all the temperature houses caught up and the frames are ordered for the caddy's. 

I received a message from a lady wanting pricing on E2E quilting through my web site. She must have missed the banner at the top indicating I wasn't taking new customers any longer. I called her back (got voice mail) and let her know the situation. I referred her to Sarah across town for E2E services. 

More on Judys quilt today. I'm past the half-way point so the schedule in my head is good. 

Lots of Negative Space

When I'm given lots of negative space, there are so many things I could do in there. But the quilt has to be 'read' and doing some things in one may not be what the quilt needs. 

Here's some of the quilting going into Judy's Ties...

I haven't yet gotten to the center section of ties but this is what's happening above the center. More pics tomorrow.

After working I moved over to DW to quilt Sunday and Monday's strips. I worked a block in the Scrappy Goodness and then attached the hood and the sleeve binding on the coat. However, the sleeves have to be hand sewn now to the inside. 

Yep, I'm actually hand sewing the binding on this one. Don't ask. I lost my head. 

Back in the Saddle

Yesterday was the first "normal" day in the studio in a week. It felt so good to be back in the saddle!

I finished Diane's quilt up and we have the back to her next quilt being frame ironed. Once all the post- quilting chores were done, I moved over onto Marty to work on Judys quilt she made for a friend. All ties!

The quilt plan had been discussed during the drop off so I didn't have to think about it much. Here's the border and center of the partial dresdens...

Then I got to all that negative space. I originally proposed putting rays off each tie, but after getting the markings in DID NOT like that at all. I called Judy to let her know it wouldn't look good and could I move in a different direction.

Thankfully, my customers trust me. She's leaving all of that up to my discretion and feels like I'll make the right choices for what I change it to. 

I did start working the partial dresdens in the corner, but even after putting in two rows of echoing, they aren't spilling out into the negative space quite like I'd hoped. I needed to sketch some more and I think I've got a good plan going forward. 

After shutting down business for the day I made a caddy. I have enough for the amount of folks currently registered to attend the retreat but I'm going to continue on with the ones that are roughed in so attendees have a choice in their gift. 

I made a Scrappy Goodness block and then headed over to DW to do my strip for the day. From there I grabbed that quilt I whipped out last Sunday and started cutting up the pieces for my Elemental quilted jacket. I made the long bias binding strip needed for the whole thing and then I didn't know where else to head. 

I read through the directions (again) and will start working on that today. I'm a little confused about the binding on the inside of the hood, so when I finally came out of the studio around 7:30 Jim had a Spartan b-ball game to watch (which we lost by two) and I plugged my ear buds in and started looking for a video to assist with my confusion.

Misty Doan (Missouri Star Quilt Company) did a video with the pattern designer making a coat from start to finish. BUT, they barely touched on the hood section. In fact, just sort of glazed over the whole thing. Huh? Maybe it'll make more sense when I get back to it this morning?

How I'm Super Productive

I've kept track of my productivity over the past few months and I've come to some conclusions. I'm very productive when...

1. It's poopy weather outside

2. I'm talking on the phone

3. Jim is out doing errands

4. I'm not expecting any customers and can really immerse myself in the music playing in the studio

Yep, Yesterday number 3 and 4 occurred and I managed to get Virginia's quilt finished at around 2 or 2:30. Since I worked over a few days this week, that gave me permission to run over to Pieces for some fusible and the fat quarters missing in the cowboy boot quilt. 

Once we were finished shopping, one of the workers' sister came in with something she made while we were checking out. I fell in love. Asked how hard it was. She was NOT a sewer or a quilter but managed to make a stunning piece of clothing. 

I asked her about the pattern and Susan (owner of Pieces of Thyme) now carries the very pattern she used. Guess what else I came home with? 

Looks easy enough!

When I came home I put the purchased items away except for this pattern as I wanted to look through it and see what I was up against. OMG! So simple. And the lady I talked to at the quilt shop said the only hard part was the pockets. She said to look at the pictures first and then read the instructions, otherwise they are sort of confusing. Good thing I already do that anyway!

She made the one in the center in the picture above. I was even able to try hers on (I'm glad I did or I would have under sized it) and have decided to put a hood on mine. The pattern has many size, style, and extra options including hoods, zippers, rounded corners, etc. included. Now I'm on the hunt in my flimsy pile to see what would be cool to make into a coat. 

After looking through the pattern and trying not to squirrel, I made a caddy, quilted my strip, and then re-made the first block in Scrappy Goodness after Jim pulled all my seams. He's such a trooper. This is more like it...

I was so happy with the results of this block that I made another. 

Today will be a caddy, a strip, another Scrappy Goodness block, and I have to get this weeks temperatures recorded and houses made. From there, who knows?

All Wrong!

I did end up working on Marty all day and still have a solid day ahead of me to finish the Stars and Shadows quilt for Virginia. Jim has errands to do this morning so maybe with no distractions it'll move along quickly. 

I did work late on it last night because I wanted to only have the gray work to do in the blocks before advancing and finishing out the borders.

And then the usual schedule followed: Make a caddy. Quilt the strip of the day. Work on something else. Scrappy Goodness was my target. And that worked out well because Andrew called on his way home from the office and we talked while I cut out all of these...

All cut and ready to piece

And in my tired state, I read the directions for the next step and pieced this...

Nope

I had two strips left over from my "A" pile and wondered why that was. The way the directions were written, she said to pull all strips from the "A" pile, separate at so and so number, and then sew those together as seen above. 

Except, that's not what she meant. I should have pulled the top off of each A through H pile, separate at so and so number, and then sew together. All of these seams have to be ripped out, sewn back together into their place in the tube, and then put back into the A pile to start over again. 

I'm not happy about this! And, this is why I always do one block beforehand to make sure I've read everything correctly. Or, in this case, make sure the directions are written as they should have been written.

Welcome Spring-ish

The morning started out on Bernie working on this next piece for Diane...

Some celebratory ribbons

Now I'm stuck again on what to put into her center panel. I'll think more on that today while working on Marty. Virginia's quilt is coming along slowly. My goal is to get it done before tomorrow's close of business. Meaning, no guild today. 

Yesterday was one of those days when I LOVE working out in the yard. It was sunny and warm-ish and no bugs. Can't stand bugs. But everything is still frozen into the soil and I had 'real' work to do in the studio. Jim got a lot done though. He loves being outdoors. 

 He also made me this...

Long Arm Ruler Rack

My rulers are getting pretty banged up with me transferring them from the pressing/planning table each night so I can do personal stuff in the evening. I mentioned to him about making something like this because rulers are VERY expensive and needed a way to keep them from getting scratches all over. He's the man!

Another beautiful sunset last night as I was making a caddy, quilting my strip on DW, and working through the Scrappy Goodness blocks...

Just breathtaking

And phase 1 sewing the scrappy goodness blocks together is complete. I pieced the remaining six strip sets and then they had to be joined at the top and bottom to make a tube. Next step? Cutting out (160) 2 1/2" strips from the tubes. Oh boy. 

Ready for cutting up

Since I'm not going to be at guild this morning I'm jumping straight onto Marty and working pretty hard to get through as much as I can today. Crank up the tunes, drink lots of water, do lots of stretches and go!

IG Quilt Fest

It's that time of year. The Instagram Quilt Festival. It's all virtual so anybody anywhere can participate which is kind of cool. I like to impart whenever I can. Yesterday was sewing machines and today is our quilt space. I'm going to combine the two. 

On Marty all day yesterday still trying to think of what to put into Diane's quilt on Bernie. After work I had to actually sit down with my Sketch program and draw out a variety of ideas I had and think maybe I've settled on something. 

I also did my daily DW strip before doing any sewing work. I did a caddy and then the cowboy boots were beckoning me to match the checkerboard fabric with a background fabric since I messed that up. I was able to pull 12 from my stash that are pretty darn close, and the diamond fat quarter bundle I started using for the AQS states worked well in most of them. I only need eight more pieces to get it all back on track.

Oh, and fusible. Seven yards of it!

Let's talk fusible for a bit. I usually use Heat n' Bond in the light version. It comes in a tube and it's relatively inexpensive. But it's stiff when applied and it gums up my needle when I'm appliquéing it down. I've also used Misty Fuse, but for these cowboy boots, that particular fusible won't work for me; too much waste and it does not do well with multiple layers. 

I've heard Wonder Under #305 works well. While I'm at the quilt shop I'm going to get advice from them and see what they say. The pattern designer suggests a brand called Transweb but Tina at Bittersweet had never even heard of this so we'll see what we come up with.

Once I wandered through the cowboy boots, I made four scrap blocks...

Step 1 of 3

The first step in the Scrappy Goodness quilt is to sew these strip sets together. I can't make a small quilt meaning I have to make 20 of these. I have six more to go. And then I got tired. It wasn't even 7:00 yet, but I had a full day and thought I'd come out of the studio early. 

I have guild tomorrow in Hale, but if the weather does anything stupid, I'll not be heading up. Although I need to since I haven't been up since I think October or November. 

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. 

All Three Long Arms

I've used all three long arms in a day before. But usually one or more of them is just turned on to baste in a quilt or finish a small section. Yesterday, I actually did work on all three machines and not just little fiddly stuff. I was in heaven!

I realized I hadn't posted any quilting going into Diane's leaf quilt so he's a small glimpse...

Flannels show the quilting so nicely

I worked on hers in the morning. Virginia's Stars and Shadows was worked all afternoon. Here are the two borders which always take the longest to get in...

Not my choice for the black outer

I'm following the quilting pattern received with the piecing pattern and would have probably did something different in the red border and feathered the black border. The red border is going to be next to some other feathers in the gray blocks and I feel like it's going to compete. When I do my own Stars and Shadows (yes it's done, and yes it's in my own personal queue) I'll change the red border. But the customer wanted it like the picture and I do what the customer wants.

I jumped right onto DW from Marty. I don't normally do that because DW is so much heavier and I have to desensitize myself from the easier-to-push-around machine. But I had numbers to get into the corners (which I messed up) and had some ditching to do before starting on yesterdays motif. 

I forgot to mention yesterday, also, that I did nine houses on the temperature quilt the prior day. Why nine? Each row is going to consist of 19 houses. I had 10 already made so did another nine to give me a full row. I did ten more last night. 

I also did one caddy, one scrappy goodness block, and then I got a bug up my behind and decided I needed to put a tree between each of the houses after their month on the temperature quilt and had to work through my own "creation" on a tree. 

Two trees finally got me worked through where I need to go with those. They are all going to be pretty much the same because this quilt is pretty simple as it is and I want a constant in there between each month. 

More work on all three machines today. Pretty much the same as yesterday; Bernie in the morning, Marty in the afternoon, and DW at night.

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!