Not Really a FB User

I had to post something on Facebook yesterday about the barking dog. I was so tired all day that I felt like my arms were lead and my head was filled with peach fuzz. 

Somebody must have seen the post because he started barking around 11:30 last night (actually, he'd been barking right along but I wasn't trying to go to sleep yet) and I heard somebody immediately shush him. He tried again a few minutes later but then heard nothing after that. 

I finally got a decent nights sleep with the window wide open and the peace the country offers. Amen! 

The Quilt Diva is finished. The quilt that was being loaded onto Marty was moved over to Bernie. It's a smaller one and I have another June deadline to meet. I know that quilt is bigger so thought while I could, I better get this other one moved. Here's what I'll be working for the next couple of days...

All hand embroidered on velvet

I'm running a cross hatch behind all the hand embroidery but haven't decided yet what I'm putting into the sashing strips. 

Once Jim was home and after he tried to get more rocks (but ended up at my moms) I was done. I had layed in three of the blocks on the quilt above and my eyes and energy just weren't having it. We had a load of black dirt delivered yesterday and now needed to get some grass seed to fix our north hill. We ran into town and when we got back, both of us just didn't feel like doing much.

He was sore from his OT appointment and I was still pretty tired. We moved a few things around in the studio though...

Stitch Happens got replaced with the Make Do and Mend

I wanted these put together because they both have pebbling in the background and the colors compliment each other. Meanwhile, I'm still trying to decide what to do with the strip quilt since I DO NOT want it folded until I can get it hung. 

After we moved stuff, Jim was finished for the day, but I must have had a small last burst of energy. I did a Love Letter block and then finished blanket stitching the cowboy boot I started Friday...

Another beautiful weather day predicted today nearing 80 with not a drop of rain in sight. While I love this dry weather (less mosquitoes) we really, really need some rain. I guess this weekend we are supposed to get some. 

Squirrel-ing and RIP Barb Smith

Yesterday morning, while perusing through emails, one was received from AQS. I generally just glance at these before deleting them, but something caught my eye. They are hosting a state-by-state weekly block quilt-along. I've always wanted to do one of these and decided to participate this year. They are starting with Hawaii and here is my block...

Paper pieced Hawaii

I don't know if they are all going to be paper pieced, but it's okay if they are since I like doing PP. I'm using a fat quarter bundle that's been sitting in my stash for quite some time so will start with those until I feel the need to supplement with other fabrics. That was how my evening ended.

I did do my one Fireworks block before starting the Hawaii block, and during the day while I was working on Marty Jim replaced the closet doors with two flimsy's he found in my queue. Here are the new door openings...

Closet doors gone

I received a text message from a previous guild member down state informing me a member had passed on Tuesday. Barb was passionate about quilting, genealogy, and her family. She'll be missed by many people whose lives she touched. And, she isn't the only passing notification I received this week. Another member of the new guid in Hale also passed last week but I hardly knew her since I'm so new to the area. 

I've been asked if I'm getting caught up on customer quilts yet. Here's a pic of the closet before hanging the new top in front of the customer queue...

Flimsys hanging in wait for me to work

The pic above was an eye opener. I know my queue stays about the same, but to see it in its entirety is kind of intimidating. I have plenty of work to keep me busy, which I am eternally grateful for and it is with appreciation that this many customers trust me to finish their quilts for them. 

One more day on Marty. I wanted to get the Grannies Garden quilt finished for Bunny, but Marty and I were not getting along in the late afternoon. Shredded threads (I changed his needle), balking at all the bulk (I changed his foot), throwing up and getting the bobbin area nearly seized (running out of bobbin), and it was a little after 4:00 I decided we needed to take a little break from each other. 

I'll finish Grannies Garden this morning and then move on to the next one on Bernie (wall hanging), which hasn't been photographed yet as I'm still waiting to dig out the quilt top that goes with said wall hanging. 

Changing a Few Things

The closet doors in the studio, while esthetically pleasant to have, are not of good practical use. I have to have full range of both closets to cut batting and seek out future tops in queue. The doors only allow me to view 1/3 of each side. 

Here is the now...

With the closet doors

Here's what we're changing to. 

Like the idea. Don't like this particular top to hang here

While I liked this quilt top hanging originally, the longer I looked at it yesterday, the less I was in love. We need to find a different top for this side. We're hanging the koala top on the right where the closet doors are above. 

While Jim works on that project, I'm working on Grannies Garden for Bunny on Marty. Here's some of the quilting going in...

Body treatment

Border treatment

I'll be continuing on with this today while Jim digs further into my flimsy's to find another top to hang on that left side. He also needs to modify the rod for the right side because either it's too big, or too small, depending on where he sets the screw.

Quiet Sunday

Since the weather was nice this weekend, there was plenty of ruckus going on around the lake. This lead to very little sleep so yesterday was a rest day. 

We did head up to West Branch to pick up a different track system for the batting closet doors and a new door for the queue closet since one of them is just too big for me to be able to see in there clearly.

We also had to stop at one of my least favorites stores (Wal-Mart) to pick up pens and the bungees for cutting the batting... 

Marking pens and bungees

We ran in. We grabbed. We quickly got out. The we went over to the Home Depot where we also purchased a new screen door for the studio entrance and the other stuff mentioned above. 

I'll be working on Bernie today (pic not available) getting the Carrot table runner off and getting the Coffee Break Table Topper started. 

Crazy, Busy Day

We started out with this project...

The "Before"

The "After"

Four of the battings are hung. I did not have the wool hung because after you open the package from the roll, the thing gets about 3 times bigger. Taking up that much room would have only allowed for three batts to be hung.

Before we started on this project though, we had to move the sewing table about a foot and that's a large undertaking in of itself. Talk about dust bunnies!

After lunch I had decided I was sick of moving the Tilda blocks/sashings around and tore into it to get it finished...

Getting things organized

It's a top!

Ready for the long arm

That was one long project taking up most of the sit-down summer months.

Once I got that measured, folded, and put away I jumped on DW to free motion quilt this HST baby quilt...

Ready for binding

I made the binding once this was quilted and have that and the Tula to bind yet. Which goes against my "rule" about not starting another quilt on the long arm before the previous quilt is bound. Oh well, it's my choice.

I loaded this onto DW next...

What the heck???

Let me explain. She (Laura Heine) builds the backgrounds in the traditional manner where by everything is pieced before the flower appliqués are applied. I'm not doing that.

These are being held onto the batting with spray baste and I'm going to free motion a zig-zag between each block to make the background even more scrappy. I'm not sure how well this is going to turn out, but I'm hoping for the best. 

Today we have to run to West Branch to research closet door tracks. Jim's not happy with how little room I have to dig around into the queue closet and how tight it's going to be to get the batting out of the new batting closet. He wants to pull the track from inside the closet to outside to give me more "open" space. 

I also need to pick up marking pens (for long arming) and bungee chords to use as a straight line on said batting when cutting. I'll attach them on each side of the bracket to give me a visual and not have me cutting downhill. 

Weird Day

Appointments and errands in the morning. Long Arm a bit. Lunch. Long Arm a bit more. More errands. Long Arm some more and then start working on my BOW Christmas project. BUT, I did get that table runner done that was loaded onto Bernie...

Can you see the two rabbits?

I'm waiting for the marks to come off (used a Marks-be-Gone blue) and while doing that I sorted through the fabrics I purchased for the BOW...

Making it not modern; more lower tones

Here's my first block...

Santa's Hat

We have houses/barns that will be surrounding each block, but those come out next week. In the meantime, Jim and I will be working in the studio rearranging things to get the batting in the batting closet rather than in the little alcove where it's hanging out now. 

All Wool

All three of the quilts being worked have wool batt in them. That's highly unusual in having all three be the same batting, especially with all the batting varieties available out there.

It's a cloudy day today and I was able to snag this pic this morning of the exterior of the studio...

Hello!

I hadn't yet put the flag out for Flag Day. I'll be in the studio this morning working on either Bunny's quilt or my own. I have a quilting visitor (not a customer) to come and look at the studio later this morning. Jim is canning berries. It's Father's Day weekend and he gets to do whatever he wants this weekend.

Bunny's quilt is about a third of the way done. Mine wasn't touched at all yesterday as we went grocery shopping after Jim groomed Lucy. 

Find Your Passion

I know I've talked about this before but it's that important. I have an idea about my family and what they like to do. My mom loves to travel and shop. Although she paints as well, I think her passion is more likely found on the road or in some art studio.

My eldest loves to garden and cook. My middle kiddo loves to work outside, and my youngest loves music and technology. I'm still not sure what Jims is. Puzzles or fiddling with wood maybe. He loves to solve things and socialize. And, we all know what mine is.

Here's something Jim finished yesterday showing his wood passion...

Welcome!

As we age we need to find our passion. It keeps us young and our minds busy. It's that one thing that when we are doing it our BP is lower, we feel happier, and it makes us feel accomplished. 

Speaking of my passion, here's some of the quilting going into Diana's quilt...

Some light custom work

I'll be on this quilt at least through the morning and possibly in the afternoon before heading to Bernie to work on another Patty quilt.

Class, Quilt Show, and Moving

Class was very fun and I have all the pieces cut out for the quilted jacket. Talk about an emotional thing to do; cut up a completely finished quilt... 

A repurpose exercise

The coat in chunks

So, after we were finished with our class (around 2:00) I wandered over to the Midland Quilters Guild show at the Midland Center for the Arts. What a beautiful venue and what a great show! Several quilts I've worked on for customers were displayed and it was nice to see them in their full glory instead of laterally on the frame. 

I purchased a quilt kit from a quilt shop in Chesaning related to our lake and talked to a LOT of people during both the class and the quilt show. I have one business card left and I had zero intention of doing that. 

After getting home around 4:00-ish I inhaled some lunch and then Jim was able to show me what he did while I was gone. 

Getting ready for Marty on the east wall

DW is now facing the garage

The room looks kind of empty on the east side but only until Thursday morning. Haircuts this morning first thing and then I think I may piece a little before lunch. 

Who Said Long Arming Wasn't Dangerous?

I was on Bernie yesterday way before I was scheduled to open to try to get ahead of the day. 10 minutes into my work and... 

Poked my finger and the thumb is being compression-ized

I can tell when I don't wear my compression glove. My thumb just throbs the next day and sometimes even keeps me up at night. I poked my finger tying off with the needle because I was being stupid.

The Steam Punk is done! Not until after lunch, but done nonetheless. I had a bazillion phone calls/texts in the morning to deal with. And then there's the regular admin stuff I do on Friday mornings too.

Here's what I'll be working on next week on DW...

The last of Ginnys tops to do

This was a BOM she did last year and upon initial inspection, this too is going to be a lot of starts/stops and thread changes. I've already pulled four threads and that's just for the borders and backgrounds. I've already basted in and started the first border. 

Once Jim got home from work (way after 4:00) I jumped over on Foster and finished the quilt I have loaded on him. But not without some issues...

What's wrong with this picture?

The machine is on. The machine quilts. But how do I change stitch length? Or any other controls (lights/handles/bobbin sensor)? And this happened twice last night. The only way to get the screen back on is to turn the machine off and then back on again. There's a short in there somewhere so he needs to head back down to Lansing.

But he may be leaving me permanently. Still haven't heard back from Jason to see if we're going to make that a go, but as soon as he opens up today I'll be calling him. 

Speaking of Jason and Lansing, we are headed there later today when Jim gets home from work. We have to stop at Gall anyway because my favorite bobbin case (once again) is not tensioning correctly. He needs to change a little spring thingie in there. IF we have time. 

Jim is working this morning but as soon as he gets back home we are on our way south. We need to pick up some things from the little kids to bring back home before the movers come in for round one for their European move.

We might buzz over to the B's to visit with them for a bit, but we'll have to wait and see where we are at time-wise. 

I've already got the sheets in the dryer; first load already put away. Bathrooms cleaned. Plants watered. Dogs fed. Sinks scrubbed. Living room vacuumed. Now can I play in the studio?

Oh, and here's a video of the studio today...

It's a sunny Saturday as you can tell from the video so enjoy!

Independent

My mother is a very independent person. After her surgery Tuesday morning, she was pretty out of it. I spent Tuesday night and yesterday morning with her. After she felt a little better, she insisted I go home and get some work done. Jim stopped by after he got done with his work day, and again, she insisted she didn't need me to come back and spend the night "just in case". 

I have customers coming later this morning and let mom know if she needed anything (at all) I would be free after lunch. This was via text. Since sending the text last night all I've received back were crickets.

Hope she's okay. I'm going to try to call her here in a bit. 

Meanwhile, I spent most of yesterday (once I did get home) on Bernie working Elleens A to Z for Ewe and Me quilt. I'm about half-way complete on that one. Lots of cross hatching...

Every letter gets crosshatching in the background

Once I worked that for about seven hours, I shut Bernie down to prepare Bernadettes Dog Park quilt for quilting today.

Dog Park by Elizabeth Hartman

This top is so darn cute! Hazel's in the front. LOL! It's getting an E2E with dog houses and bones in it, but first I had to get the new tablet hooked up to the internet. I had to make a call to HQ and then had to reinstall the latest ProStitcher version since it wasn't recognizing the wifi. 

Once that was done, I needed to purchase the motif Bernadette wanted. Now I can set quilting parameters and get it started later this afternoon. I don't want the machine running when customers are here. It always has problems during their visit and then I become frustrated.

We were supposed to get snow last night, but the storm split and went totally around us. Oh...I didn't post this earlier in the week but we now have the final "big" section of the studio done...

The last big studio chore

So glad that's done. Devon (the company owner) is coming back out today or tomorrow to work on some house issues we're having, but the studio is now drip free. Yay!

Cutting

A lot of quilting folks have their favorite, and, well, not so favorite thing to do. At the latest retreat, I polled our room and the least favorite chore was cutting the fabric and much to my surprise, binding was one of the favorite pastimes to do when quilting.

I'm just the opposite of the poll I took. Binding is my absolute least favorite thing to do and cutting is one of my very favorites. 

I had all these to play with yesterday when preparing for the Produce Section...

Look at all the lushisness!

The first cuts are made. I know, from talking to fellow Elizabeth Hartman quilt makers, first cuts are made and bagged and then when each fruit element is made, more cuts will follow. All the colors are in their respective fruit bags and ready for me to tackle once I get to that point. 

However, today is back to the regular day schedule. I do have an eavestrough interruption in there (which is our last "big" studio finish project), but hopefully he'll show up after Jim gets out of the woods; he took today off to hunt some more.

First thing this morning I have to move the back loaded onto DW over to Bernie and then get a back loaded onto DW for an E2E that has another Christmas deadline. Man, I sure hope moms surgery isn't going to happen. I know that sounds selfish, but this is putting undo pressure on me. It takes something I love to do and turns it into a "job" which creates resentment and stress. Not cool. 

Unexpected Visitors

I was quilting along yesterday thinking I'd have Maggies first quilt done at the end of the day and at just about public studio closing time an SUV pulled up into the drive. This happens occasionally where retreaters from down the road come and visit the studio thinking I'm a quilt shop. Because it was 4:00 the sun was shining in my eyes as I greeted them asking, "What can I do for you ladies today?". 

It was Jims aunt and his cousin from another aunt and I recognized the aunts voice immediately. What a pleasant surprise to have them come by for a visit.

They stayed until about 6:00-ish and by then I was past working on customer quilts and moved over to Foster. I have all the black done and only have the bottom half of the colored areas to do.

Here's Maggie's first quilt...

I love these subtle colors

The thread I'm using in this is So Fine! 50 and talk about hard to see. I know there are areas I have overstitched some of the motif I'm putting into the center section, but as long as I do it more than once, then it's a design choice, right?

While the furnace ran a couple of times yesterday I worked on my acrylic sleeve for the SewEZ table and finally finished this...

A sleeve for Jay/Ellies acrylic

You're wondering why I can't long arm when the furnace is running. We knew this would be an issue when we built the studio, and honestly, once the room gets up to temp, it only runs about five minutes at a stretch. The blower for the hot air is at the bottom of the unit (if you look close you can see it behind Maggies quilt) and I don't want my machine or the customer quilt to be exposed to direct heat. I get it up out of the way when I hear the furnace "click" telling me it's going to fire in a minute or so. 

And, I don't want me to be in front of it because I'll get all warm and toasty and think the rest of the room is too cold. 

I'll be finishing Maggies quilt today, frame ironing the next back, and hopefully finish the quilt on Foster so he and DW can head down to Lansing for their PM's and timing issues. We finally received some rain today (we were very dry which, for autumn is odd) and are expecting more later this morning. Happy Friday!

Just A Little Left

I have this much left to quilt in Kathi's quilt...

Another couple of hours

But I have a customer coming this morning to pick up and I also have a nail appointment first thing. By the end of the day?

Had a scare yesterday. I had two customers call last week whilst at retreat. One about a check that I hadn't cashed (I had, but the C.U. changed some rules and some of the checks weren't going through) and another to come and pick up today.

I inadvertently switched who was doing what and was feverishly running around here trying to find a quilt that didn't exist any longer in the pick up area. Then I re-checked my messages and got myself straightened out.

A few of the retreat people asked about the new studio and I showed them the pick I posted on TikTok a while ago. Wow, things have already changed since then. I reshot a video this morning without even picking anything up or tidying the space.

It's funny how the transfer to my phone onto the blog changes the lighting. Full day ahead so I best be heading to it. 

New Internet Provider

We've kicked Spectrum to the curb. We now have a new wireless/internet provider and I must say, things have speeded up! They are coming to relocate our Dish cable later today and that means, Jim's man cave/our new living room will be officially moved!

What a weekend. Saturday was insane. I started with Linda's quilt on DW around 8:30 a.m.. Got the motif all set up and cropped and then hit start...

The motif Linda brought over for me to stitch out

Two thread breaks, one bobbin chicken loss, and one motor error later I was taking the last stitch at 9:30-ish Saturday night. 

While DW was doing his thing, I decided to work on other projects around the studio (I think DW was jealous because every time I would neglect him for a bit I'd have a thread issue). The first project was Diane's embroidered gift blocks. Here it is all together...

Much smaller than I thought it would be

I put that away and got out the flannel Twirly blocks that were made at guild. I trimmed all those down, put those together and then put that aside. 

For Rayola

I fired up Foster and finished quilting, trimming, and then binding the quilt for Charlotte. 

Done!

Now Foster was empty so I got the Twirly quilt back out and found some backing and batting to quilt it out quickly. 

Just some loose swirls were needed

Okay, at this point, DW was still only about two-thirds of the way done and was starting to show me he was being neglected. I had to clean everything up and concentrate on what he was doing from that point on. And as long as you watch him, everything works out beautifully. Which it did. 

Linda's quilt is off the frame and the first round of binding is attached. I'll finish that this morning before doing much of anything else except loading the back for the next quilt going onto DW. 

Oh, here's the new living room too....

New living room

While I was working on DW all day Saturday, Jim got the girls' new pen nearly finished (just a latch is needed for the gate) and they are having fun exploring their new digs. Yesterday we moved the TV, the rest of the furniture and then cleaned all that up (electronics are dust magnets). What a busy weekend!

Small Project Sunday

I finished two bags for customers and got caught up with my July BOM/Mystery quilt-along with SewVeryEasy. Yep, that's about all I did in the studio yesterday. 

Jim washed the dogs. 

We vegged the rest of the day after a late lunch. I think Jim and I run so fast during the week we need that downtime to recharge our batteries. Isn't it funny that when we were younger this was never a need?

I never did get a pic of the finished studio as you walk into it from the porch. Here's a visual to show what you see when coming through the door...

As you walk in

I have one customer coming later this morning to drop off three quilt tops and I'll be working Bernadettes Quilted Witch on DW all day. Happy Monday. 

No Small Project Weekend

We've spent the weekend working. And not on small projects. And not in the new studio. 

We were working in the old studio/the Jim cave. Well, I did, Jim worked mostly outside staining and sealing all the decks. The painting is done, tape is removed. Switch covers are back on. Sills are washed/sealed. Couch has been completely steam cleaned. Rug and couch have been moved, and the room looks spectacular!

Getting ready for kickoff

We can't move the rest of the furniture out here until we get the Dish cable moved. This requires somebody to crawl under the house. And that's not me. 

The only thing I sewed this whole weekend were eight blocks for Charlottes quilt.  

Today I'll be working on Ruth's Christmas Star and once that's finished I'll move over to DW to work on this...

Paula's Black and White

This quilt looks simple enough, right? There are so many different gray tones in here and I'm thinking it's not going to be as simple as all that because of this. I'll know more this afternoon. 

I Thought...

...yesterday was Thursday, but today feels like Wednesday. I finished the batik quilt for Pat and this is some of the quilting that went into it...

Letting me drive, not the computer

Susan Smith teaches, for a fee, a variety of free motion techniques to mimic computerization/digital quilting. I try to pick up as much as I can off her YouTube videos without having to pay for the class, but in all honesty, it would be cheaper to take her class then to have to buy a new tablet for my ProStitcher. Which, after the last quilt, is telling me it's time to replace. It is, after all, 11 years old. 

After I finished Pats batik quilt on DW, I moved over to Bernie to work on the Christmas Star quilt. Ummm...this is a puzzle. Here's why...

3D

All three of those inner layers are "popping up", meaning they aren't fastened down save for the seam at the cream backgrounds. If I quilt them down, it defeats the "popping up-ed-nesss". I've got most of the ditching done on the borders and will, while working the quilting in the borders, think about this some more. 

Actually, I thought about it all day yesterday. I researched on what to do about it. And honestly, I'm finding NOT A THING out there on how to handle this. I'm going to be the pioneer I guess. 

After I worked on both DW and Bernie, I moved over to Foster and did the first three Arcadia's on that quilt. I realized, when going out for a coffee break with the girls, my painters tape was coming off the trim in the old studio/new living room and decided I needed to get out there and get to painting. With all the humidity of late, it's a wonder it lasted this long. 

That took until nearly 8:00 so I was done working with fabric and thread for the day. Booo!

"It's a small quilt"

When a customer tells me "...and it's a small quilt..." I'm learning smaller means more work. Seriously! This Harley-Davidson quilt isn't all that big really. Yet, here I am, day three, (I started it last Thursday) before it will be finished. 

That's pretty much my work day and then after I shut down DW after 6:00, I started in planning and cutting pieces for Charlotte's quilt.

While I was doing that, Jim got the new closet doors hung, and then together we moved the pressing table back about 4-5 inches. This is so customers would have more room when they came in and it puts it closer to me while I'm working on Bernie. 

Foggy and wet out there today. Great day to be in working on quilts!

No more messes

He'll have to put a trim piece across the top to hide the hanging rails, but yay, they're up!

Whirlwind Couple of Days

It's been three days since I put any thread into anything. Friday morning was appointments. Friday afternoon was at the Lumberjack Festival (date day with hubby), getting fabric for the grand neighbor girl, getting groceries, and finally heading home. Saturday was picking up a barn quilt, star decoration for the new studio, grandsons birthday, picking up a t-shirt top/back to be quilted from an old friend downstate, getting closet doors/track, and finally coming home. The neighbors are up so after getting home, we were over there.

Today we started right in on projects; hanging the new barn quilt...

Pretty fricken awesome!
Polyurethaning the new closet doors, and since it's getting gross outside (hot and sticky), we moved inside to start taping the old studio (new living room) which is going to get painted before we get stuff moved out there. There are a lot of windows and trim so we are just getting lunch made. 

I'm hoping to get the new living room cut in this afternoon so maybe (hopefully) I can do something "quilty" before the weekend ends.