Wowsa Thunderstorms

It sure was a strobe light show out there all night. And the thunder was shaking the house. Needless to say, not much sleep took place. But, as they say in Hollywood, the show must go on.

Does this look familiar?

This was done at the retreat last week. It needs to be quilted ASAP for Bittersweet Quilt Shop for display purposes. The owner needs to make room for more Lori Holt items coming in and needs to move this kit.

The first row is completed. And, the first row in the Make Do and Mend is also completed but not without DW and I having some issues (again). 

I tried everything I've learned over the past 13 or so years on how to rectify his skipping issue. And the skipping was becoming worse the longer I fussed with him. I stepped back and thought about the situation and came to the conclusion it had to be the thread. 

He was behaving perfectly until I took the strip quilt off and put the Tilda quilt on. The only thing I did in the change out was give him a new needle and change thread. Why all of a sudden was he skipping so badly? I tried out a few needles yesterday and even altered their position on the post without any luck so it had to be the thread. 

Unfortunately, I did not have another So Fine! cone to switch out so moved over to the Glide thread. Can you see the difference?

So Fine! vs Glide Thread

The circle on the left is So Fine! and the circle on the right is Glide. Pardon the erratic circles as I was again, not correctly quilting as I was watching for skips. So Fine! is a matt thread and Glide is a tri-lobal poly that is shiny. And, since DW is stuck on not behaving unless he has Glide in him, I'm on a time crunch and can't wait for another cone to get here from wherever I could find one so Glide it is. 

Today is going to be a repeat from yesterday. Hopefully thunderstorms will stay away until I'm done long arming tonight. And, since I'm on the big machines for 10 or so hours, not even any piecing is being done. 

Not Much To Share

Jim got the lights on the tree and I worked on DW for about four hours yesterday. Our neighbors came over for a visit. MSU lost their b-ball game. I did get the new bow tied to the top of the studio tree. Not much else happening in the studio.

When Jim was digging out the Snow Village from under the stairs earlier this week he found this in the closet... 

Newly hung thread rack

I'm not sure what it was doing in the closet, but fat lot of good it does me in there. He hung it up for me and any spare threads we have are on it. BUT I need to make better use of it and add more "odd" threads hanging around that I only use on occasion. 

Thankfully I have a good duster to go over these when needed. 

I have a virtual baby shower to attend for the little kids later this morning and don't know if mom will remember to come or not. It's been snowing a little bit so she may not try to venture out. Hair cuts already occurred and we have to trim the tree as well so we have a busy Sunday planned. 

Taxes

Everybody has to pay them. Taxes. Bleh! Jim and I ran and signed our prepared taxes last night before heading to Midland to get some groceries and do errands. The only reason we're getting some money back this year is because of my business. I guess after your kids leave and you no longer have that deduction, opening a business is the next best thing?

Received some bad news as we were shopping last night. The long armer west of me towards Harrison passed away in her sleep the previous night. Totally unexpected and a shocker to say the least. You'd think I'd be happy about this, but she was keeping my numbers at a relatively stable level. I didn't know her. Never met her. Never been to her business. I just know she's a fellow long armer and it makes me sad.

On a brighter note, I've decided to get on the quilted jacket bandwagon. I like them. They're super cute and finding orphan quilts is never a problem. Since Joann's is going out of business, we stopped by the Midland store to take advantage of their liquidation sale and picked up these two patterns...

Hoping one of them works

I suck at "real" sewing. I can make a quilt until you're blue in the face, but then sewing garments is always a different story with me. I've tried over the years with horrible results. These patterns claim to be "easy" but I'll see about that over the weekend when I peruse the directions. 

I also picked up a little yarn to finish my daisy blocks I'm crocheting for a bag I'm making. 

And...Ginny's Steam Punk quilt still isn't finished. Today maybe? All that starting and stopping in the birdcage and around the birdies is taking soooooo long. And I have six thread changes with each pass as well, which also takes some time. Leaving work at "normal" time didn't help either to take care of the tax thing. Well...

Happy Friday. 

Skeptical

I was on the long arm by 8:30 yesterday morning. Getting up super early does that I guess. I'll be on it before 9:30 today. I worked on Ginny's Steam Punk quilt in the afternoon as well as some more quilting on Foster, but the bulk of yesterday morning and afternoon were spent working on Ginny's E2E piece on DW.

I drove...

I can drive faster than the computer 

I love to set DW at about 55% on manual mode and "skate" across the quilt. This big lady was done before a late lunch. 

While I was setting up to quilt this, of course, I had to pick top and bottom threads. I need to place a thread order because my bobbin threads are becoming very reduced in quantity. I didn't think I had enough  of the sterling color to get me through this piece and then I found these...

Prewound bobbins

These are SuperBOB's by Superior Threads and I had tried these once before in DW when I first purchased him. I didn't have a lick of luck back then, but I'm a little more seasoned now and feel like I could deal with adjusting tension to make them work. Everybody else in the industry is all a rage about prewounds and I really wanted to make them work. I had to. I didn't have enough of the Glide thread to get me through this quilt. These were a gift from a customer and I thought, 'what the heck?'.

OMG! I'm sold! I would have put four or five bobbins through this quilt if I would have wound them myself. I had a little under two bobbins into this quilt with the prewounds! According to Bob at Superior Threads, there is nearly four times more thread into these bobbins then there would be if I would have wound them myself. I don't think he's kidding!

I've tried the Magna Glide [prewound] bobbins in Bernie and they worked well in him also. I know the Berninas take a slightly different profiled bobbin, and it's recommended that if we do use prewounds to use the Magna Glides.

I wonder what a dozen of these price out at? Let me check. 

Okay, they run about a buck apiece (for either the Magna Glide or the SuperBOBs). When pricing them out they are nearly double what it would cost for me to wind my own bobbins. Dang it. I really like the convenience but for a business, I'll just have to suck it up and wind my own. Drats!

More work on Bernie with the Steam Punk quilt. I'm hoping to finish that one today but since it's a shop custom I'm going at it a little slow. 

Bad Thread

First thing yesterday morning I loaded and then quilted this lovely piece...

Maggie's Tilda Quilt

This is getting an E2E with me driving...

An all over feather/swirl flower

I'm faster than the ProStitcher and I had some bobbins to use up. I knew if I threw the computer on it the bobbins would run out mid pass and lining up mid pass is a pain.

This quilt was done before a late lunch. After lunch I moved over to Millies Dresses on Bernie. I'll be working that most of today while I'm frame ironing the next back on DW.

Once I was done working on customer stuff I loaded this quilt onto Foster...

Cotton Cuts BOM from ???

I'm not sure when I made this top. It was a few years ago out of Kaffe fabric. I'm putting a lime green thread through it and I started with some Omni I've had for quite some time. 

What a nightmare. I hadn't even gotten through the first pass and I had constant thread breakage, shredding, wrapping around the needle, and horrible tension. I took it one preventative step at a time and still had the same issues. Once I changed out to Glide thread I didn't have one stinking issue.

Here's where the thread is now...

In the garbage

I hate throwing away thread. My threads aren't exposed to any sunlight or adverse temperature conditions. In fact, this thread is in a drawer under DW being protected from dust, sun, or extreme changes in temp, yet it went bad after 10 or so years. I'm tossing the rest of my Omni thread as well because they've all been around about that long and I'm not willing to use this in any further quilt. 

Not to mention this stuff is linty, linty, linty!

Mom may be over later today to assist with some "eye" work on an art piece I was hired to finish for a customer. Mom is the eye queen and she'll look over what I've chalked in and approve or correct as needed.

We have a weather event in the works out west and while Bernadette was scheduled to come and pick up her Tilda Sampler (and Millies Dresses if I get it done) tomorrow the weather may change that intention. 

Lunch With a Friend

I have a pretty regular customer who came to drop off yesterday. She is also becoming quite a nice friend and she treated me to a wonderful lunch yesterday. What a pleasure to spend some time away from the studio for a few hours with great company. 

She also has a long arm but doesn't find it very enjoyable. So, I reap the benefits. When she arrived she brought me presents...

Look at this!

A pretty nice thread haul, some of which I use everyday. Some of them I've never tried (Wonderfil), and she even included some prewound bobbins for both the long arm and the DSM's. I don't have a lot of friends (I'm not easy to earn trust), but what friends I do have are pretty great!

I'll be working on Elleens quilt most of the day today. I am about a quarter of the way through it but, as I've said before, getting the rhythm and the feel of what needs to get put into it is always the biggest hurdle. Once that's established, things move along rather quickly. 

That Time of Year

About this time of year I start collecting fabric and patterns for quilts I'd like to make throughout the winter since I seldom go anywhere during the cold months. We took advantage of the beautiful day yesterday and headed over to Elm Creek to see what I could find for more background fabric for Bee Happy. And pick up anything else that caught my eye.

Here's my haul...

A few goodies

A new pattern book for a Double Wedding Ring, which is one of the last quilts on my bucket list. I'm going to attempt one. Background fabrics for Bee Happy, and a pattern/jellyroll/background fabric for a cool star-like quilt. 

I've been picking up things here and there. The Produce Section is one of those examples and what I hauled yesterday is another. I should have enough to keep me amused through about April. Or just about anyway. 

Saturday, after coming home from the art show, I met the mailman and my box arrived with the thread order placed last week, so DW is going to be cranking most of today. Well, it depends on which of the two quilts (DW's or Bernies) are from the Oscoda group because I have to head up there tomorrow night. I'll take with me anything I can. 

Every Intention

I had every intention of getting this quilt stitched out today... 

An Edge to Edge with the Pro Stitcher

But after I got it loaded and all ready to start this morning, I looked at the work order last night and discovered she requested cream (#20001) thread. This is how much cream thread I have left...

Ummm...not happening

That is not enough to quilt this piece out. By a long shot. This quilt is a super king and this amount of thread here would only do a twin-size. At best. And I need this color for the other quilt I'm working on Bernie.

An immediate thread order went in last night and hopefully it'll be here quickly. Although, they usually send through regular mail, so maybe not until next week. Drats! I'm not pulling that quilt off the frame since I had so much difficulty getting the backing all straightened out and ironed.

I'll continue on with Kathy's quilt on Bernie and when that gets finished I'll just have to stick to working on him for the next few days on something different. 

After making three new pincushions (left over jars that I could put buttons on the bottom of) I moved on to something else. 

I tried to do the first two blocks in my Bee Happy quilt. Epic fail! That interfacing stuff and I are not getting along. It looked messy and after blanket stitching the appliqué blocks, I'm still not happy with it. And the frustration level was over the top. This should be a fun hobby and getting frustrated isn't fun. I'm switching modes of adhesive. Hello Misty Fuse!

I gave it a shot. I didn't like it. I gave it another shot. Liked it even less. I'm cutting my losses to a few yards of lightweight interfacing. Which I'll just use for another project. Moving along. 

I have a new customer coming today. I don't know how much business I'll get from her since she's an art quilter and only makes small pieces. She just can't seem to get the eyes right and wants me to bring the rest of it to life. But it should be fun. I love doing art quilts!

Done and Done

Bernadettes second quilt is done. I have yet to remove it from the frame, but can you see the sparkly thread I put in?

Can you see the sparkle?

Ready to come off

I moved over to Foster once hers was finished since it was nearly 4:00 and I've been running some long hours this week. Jim was weed whacking while I was working on him and before he was finished, I finished the last border/cornerstones.

He's off the frame. The Red Snappers are into his leaders that arrived while the quilt was already loaded and I'm ready to bind...

Ready to bind

We have several errands to run this morning. I never went to Pieces yesterday and we need to head to Bittersweet; both for new brochure drop-offs. We need to get some groceries in amongst all of that running around but we are going to treat ourselves out to breakfast first. 

The Eagle

While mom was here on Monday, we heard the Eagle out by our floating dock. We couldn't see him, but the neighboring birds were in a dither and complaining loudly about his presence. After mom left a few hours later, the little birds were still chattering. I snuck down around the neighboring yard and was able to capture this...

Isn't he beautiful?

From the looks of his beak/talons, he's not very old but it's just breathtaking to watch him fly around the area. 

Gails quilt was finished just before quitting time yesterday. I'm going to be working on this one on Bernie today...

Bernadettes Tula Pink blocks

The lights aren't on in the studio yet, so the pic came out rather dark. Sorry about that. This is getting a free motion edge-to-edge treatment while I'm frame ironing the next back on DW.

After working on DW I switched over to Foster. I had a little left on the bobbin from Gails quilt and a little left over in the cone to wind another partial bobbin. I'm on to the last row but fear the bobbins aren't going to hold out much longer. 

The thread order, as well as the new brochures are due this week. Two different suppliers; two different shipping methods. I bet the brochures (shipping UPS) will beat the thread order (shipping USPS). Any takers on the bet?

Thread Changes

A lot of long armers out there won't change threads. You pick one (or they will for you) and that's the color thread you get throughout the quilt. And that's fine if you're okay with that. But as long as I'm doing custom work, I'll change threads as much as needed. It only takes an additional minute and isn't your quilt worth it?  

The quilt I'm doing for Ann V has 10 different colored top threads and two different bobbin colors. The Jacqueline has 16 different top threads and six different bobbin colors. And, for me, it's a little break in the quilting and offers a chance for me to stretch and play with the girls for a bit. 

Here' some more of the quilting going into Ann V's quilt...

Filler for the state block

A fun little filler for Godzilla

Wind and waves being worked in here

Hopefully this quilt will be done today barring any interruptions. The neighbors are supposed to be up later but they usually arrive in the evening. No [new] studio work last night; we had to run to get some groceries since we skipped last week. That's always a treat when you get the check out isn't it? 

Everest

Doing a Jacqueline deJonge quilt is a quilters Everest. I've attempted one myself and only got through about 1/3 of the pattern and decided to just quilt that. The one I'm quilting for a customer right now is HUGE! After working on it for about five hours, I've gotten the first 12" done. Whew!

Yep, took me five hours

And why did it take me so long? All the marking and color selection takes up a lot of time. 

Marking for the slim sliced triangles

Those are 1/2" intervals, times 98 inches. And that's just the side portion. I'll be chipping away at this intermittently over the next few weeks. The customer isn't going to be back until mid-April so there's no hurries on this one. 

Meanwhile, and while I was working on this piece, I was frame ironing the back for this one now loaded onto Bernie...

Bernadettes Tilda Houses

I don't think there's actually a pattern for this. I think Bernadette selected pieces and parts of a pattern and made this one up. I'll be working on this today. 

BUT...we had severe winds for the time being so I'm going to have to quilt cautiously. They are supposed to calm a bit here shortly and I'll keep an eye on things before actually turning on the machine. I have threads to pick out and design elements to decide on first. 

Jim worked in the new studio last night getting the last of the main floor laid. The closet floors still need to be done, but first the closets themselves need to be finished. He also worked on some of the window trim that hasn't been finished yet but with the gloomy day yesterday he ran out of light. Maybe tonight? 

Holy Thread Batman

I've had plenty of quilts in the past requiring multiple thread changes. This has to be one of the highest number...

16 (so far)

I rolled the quilt last night before shutting off DW and noticed it will probably require at least one more thread color.

Not expecting any customers today (that often changes) but the immediate outlook is uninterrupted quilting. I SHOULD be able to get Tina's quilt done if that remains the case. And that's basically the plan for the day.

I have mostly sunny skies peeking at me through the windows and the tunes are already on. Ready to quilt Zen. 

Rained Out

Our construction last night was a complete wash out. It was pouring rain and the lake has (temporarily) come up about six inches. It'll be back down in a day or so.

Jim canned salsa and I quilted. Speaking of rain, we weren't supposed to get any more today and as I look out the window above the computer, it's pouring again. 

I'll be finishing Ann's quilt today. Here's most of the thread going into it...

That's a lot of thread changes

I think I've added three more colors since I grabbed this pic yesterday morning. 

We're hoping the rain stops soon and things get a little dried out so stringers can be started on the east side of the new studio. It needs that stability and should we get some nasty winds, the situation could get dicey. 

Thread Snob

I'm a snob about some things I put into my own personal quilts, and, sometimes, about what I put into customer quilts. Thread is one of those. 

I use Glide (by Fil-Tec) and So-Fine! (by Superior) almost exclusively in the long arms. But, occasionally, I have to use a speciality thread per the customers request. Well, just because it's made by XYZ company doesn't necessarily mean the quality follows along in all of the lines they manufacturer.

For example...

Wasted thread

...this light blue glow in the dark thread. Its cone name is Luminary and it's made by Fil-Tec...one of my go-to thread manufacturers. I wish words could describe the frustration level in dealing with this stuff yesterday trying to work with constant breakages, skipped stitches, and twisting. 

I called Pieces of Thyme to see if they had any glow in the dark thread (because another 20 blocks of this was going to send me up the pole) and they do indeed carry it now. 

However, it's a Mettler brand and it's not blue. It's white. So, I'm going to have to deal with the light blue through at least one more row (I'm going to alternate every other row), but I haven't yet set in the Mettler to see how it behaves on the machine. That's in about 10 minutes from now. 

And, after calling my usual thread supplier (Quilted Joy) about any recorded issues with this stuff, they, of course assumed it was my machine adjustments. We talked through that, and didn't come up with any significant solutions. The breakage didn't start happening until I changed out threads and when I put the Glide back in to resume the next row, DW behaved swimmingly. He better. He did just come back from his spa week after all.

Wish me luck today on this new glow in the dark thread!

Happy Friday

Jim is off being on-call. But, he's headed downstate on Sunday afternoon and will be working there for a week. I don't know which is the better of the two. 

I have plenty of things to keep me busy around here. Seven new tops came in yesterday. Four of them are for my hospice girl who are extremely time sensitive. Of course. 

Here's what's on DW today...

A very soothing top for sure

Funny story about the backing for the top above. I started loading it onto Bernie, but then re-read the work order and knew using the channel locks/computer on DW would be easier for the straight lines going into those stacked pieces. Unload. Reload onto DW. Except I reloaded the back 90 degrees the wrong way. Unload again. Reload. Now I think we have it right.

Here's what's on Bernie this morning...

Dragonflies flitting around the studio

I love this top! I was so excited to start working on it and I actually did a little bit last night once I got the backings all frame ironed. Both are basted in and ready for me to tear into this morning, but I have to place a thread order first. 

And that's going up as well. Can't we just skip this upcoming recession and move along onto better things?

Part of the Job

So this is what I did all yesterday afternoon...

Pulling threads

This is the quilt these came out of...

Paulette's Quilt of Valor

I found some red, white, and blue thread in my thread drawer and thought it would look pretty good in here. I actually found two cones, but used the one that had the most thread on it. They were two different manufacturers. 

After doing a tension check (different weight) felt like it was okay to get the Prostitcher going. While it was stitching out, I fired up Bernie to work on Tina's quilt. Then I heard a weird noise and knew something was amiss with DW. 

Thread break. Tried again. Same thing. Changed needle. Same thing. Did a tension adjustment. Bad juju. And then I looked at the back of the quilt to see what (if anything) was happening there. What. A. Mess! The 20 minutes it stitched took me (and then Jim too after he got home) four hours to get out. 

I'm switching thread and starting over today. I was so over this quilt after pulling all those threads. I shut DW down and worked on Tina's quilt instead. I managed to get it done while Jim was watching his basketball game. I still have to offload and things that go with it, but Bernie will get a new quilt top later today. Maybe the new thread I've selected will work better today. Here's crossing our fingers (and toes). 

Happy Thanksgiving!

The girls and I started out our morning with a quick run up to get yesterdays [junk] mail. I'll be working on small projects today as Jim does the same. Well, hanging lights isn't such a small project if he puts up the usual amount. 

I also have to rearrange the backroom to accommodate the dorm fridge and the small table for everybody to put their stuff when arriving on Saturday.

Yesterday resulted in a very productive day. As I was perusing through IG this morning, it seems all the long armers were 'pulling' to finish out their day trying to get ready for the long weekend. Here's two more that were on and off DW...

Mystery Quilt #1

Mystery Quilt #2

So in all yesterday, I pulled four quilts off the machines. While finishing Bernadettes on Bernie I was playing a bit of thread chicken...

And I still had one whole section to work

But I won in the end. Another thing to be thankful for. Have a wonderful holiday. Don't eat too much and if you do, take a walk so you can eat that yummy dessert. 

It's the 1st

I take time on the first of every month to thoroughly clean out any machines I've used since the last month. DW certainly needed a scrubbing! He's been working his arse off the past month and deserved the royal treatment. Bernie and Ellie are still very new, but they got a bit of a spa treatment this morning as well.

Here's what's on DW this morning...

Another big one from Sandy

This is getting an E2E, but I'm driving today instead of the computer. When we have a lot of passes from right to left, threads have a tendency to get twisted and eventually snap. She wants rolling waves in here so I'll just do my thing going from left to right.

Diana's quilt is done, but still on Bernie. 

Some of the quilt detail in Diana's quilt

I haven't unloaded it yet because I received notification my new Red Snappers have been shipped and I'm kinda waiting for those to arrive before loading anything else. I know. I'm being a baby about pinning. But I'm woman enough to admit I'm clumsy and sticking myself with pins isn't high on my fun list. 

I tried a new thread out yesterday (always willing to keep an open mind about these things), and I've gotta say, we're not ever using that again in the long arm. This was after one pass yesterday...

The bobbin area was much worse

I was having to clean the whole thread path and the bobbin area with each pass. I'm glad today was the first because he took a little abuse yesterday. The thread that did this? Mettler. I wouldn't recommend it.

Is it Wednesday Already?

Here's what's on the frame this morning...

Cathie M.'s "Modern Mountains"

This is all basted in, threads are selected, and I have to pull it off the frame. Note to self...read directions first and think about those before loading. 

The top and bottom (which are currently on the sides) are all straight-line quilting. Why would I take a line of stitches down. Tie off. Start again. About a bazillion times? Or...I can just run a straight line all the way across and it's done. So I'm starting off the morning unsewing. 😢

The light last night, while I was finishing Cynthia's quilt, was filtering through our newly rearranged loft and I was able to capture this pic...

Showing off the quilting

Another beautiful late summer day in store for us today so I'll fire up the tunes, pull out the saddle stool (perfect for frogging), and get to it.