The Babies Are Growing

Not only is our youngest granddaughter starting to roll over, the goslings on the lake have lost all their yellow fuzzies and are getting big very fast. We have very few this year since most nests were lost in the high waters in April, but we've spotted two families that did make it. 

Here is what I worked on yesterday...

Quit Diva Pattern by Amy Bradley

Isnt' she funny peering at me through the bars? It made me chuckle every time I looked up.

This is a problem

I love doing raw edge appliqué! There is very little the turns me off about it except what you see above.

Some fusibles leave a nasty ball of glue on the needle. I've recently picked up a new fusible (don't know the name) from Pieces recommended by Susan, but I could not, for the life of me, tell you the manufacturer. It is NOT gumming up the needle on the cowboy boots. 

This however, is not the cowboy boots but the Quilt Diva. From what I can feel I would hazard to guess it may be Heat N' Bond as it has a tendency to do this. And, it leaves the fabric feeling pretty stiff even with the Ultra Lite stuff. 

As I'm long arming this piece, I'm having to clean the needle very often and have already had a few shreds with the build up. 

Today we have to run to Bittersweet to pick up my Tilda Make Do and Mend quilt from her event two weeks ago. I had totally forgotten about it until yesterday. Oops. 

Hanging out until the next one is loaded

Oh...and the Strip quilt is done! I did finish binding it last night as well as making a Love Letters block and blanket stitching another cowboy boot. 

Kentucky Derby Day

Since horses are my second love of all time, it would be such fun to attend and participate in all the Kentucky Derby celebrations. I never have, but it's on my bucket list. Although, going down with somebody who has/knows about such things would be the better bet.

The Tilda Sampler is done. Here are some of the remaining blocks...

I had a notion to load the strip quilt onto Marty and get caught up, but then we'd have to unload it again to get another customer quilt on. We are only on block 90 of 100+ and it would have to stay on Marty for over 10 days. I'm not willing to do that. AND, I have other May deadlines to get done.

Instead I'm going to get caught up on the Temperature quilt blocks and cut out another new pattern I picked up last week at Elm Creek for our neighbors son. I'll take that and the Pineapple quilt which should keep me busy for the three days we're there in Chesaning. 

Welcome New Baby Tree

For our anniversary last year, our eldest wanted to get us a new tree. We didn't 'cash' in on that last year, but decided to take advantage this year. We had every intention to put it near the sign by the barn, but changed our minds at the last minute. Our back room gets VERY hot during the summer and this will provide some shade during those scorcher days. 

Here is some more quilting that went into the Tilda Sampler...

I started work very early yesterday morning because I knew we had errands to run in the afternoon. When a customer came to pick up her quilts and right after lunch we headed to Pinconning to deliver Make Do and Mend. From there, groceries, and then to pick out our tree at Barts in Houghton Lake. 

Today will be spent entirely on the Tilda Sampler. Jim looked to see if I could get the strip quilt onto Bernie and perhaps work on that tonight, but it's too big. I received a call from Gall yesterday and they have looked at DW and are ordering a new circuit board and something else I don't remember. He won't be back for a few weeks I'm guessing but the repairs should be under $1K. Yay! 

Make Do And Mend

It's done! Make Do and Mend is ready to head to Bittersweet for their Tilda event in a few weeks. Here's the issue-I made this quilt specifically to hang on the studio wall. Like the Produce Section quilt currently hanging, it's never been folded. There are zero creases and I'd like Make Do and Mend to stay the same way.

I think we may roll it to get it to the shop today and hopefully they'll honor my wishes to not fold it. 

Above are a few more blocks going into the Tilda Sampler I'm working on Marty which I'll continue to work all day today.

I had a customer stop by yesterday to drop off a top and to have me look over a few of her patterns for editing prior to her putting them out there for sale. She and her husband were here for about an hour. I worked another hour or so on Marty and then got right into working on Make Do.

It took the rest of the evening to get it trimmed, bound, and labeled because I couldn't just make a simple label. I actually made one of the spool blocks to use as the label so it would be cohesive to the quilt. 

I haven't made a label in so long I forgot what I should have put into it. After putting the quilt over DW's belly bar, I remembered I forgot to put the city and state in there so I'll have to do that first thing this morning. 

Lots going on in the neighborhood today. The north neighbors have construction people over trying to get their drainage fixed and their flood damage taken care of from a few weeks ago. The south neighbors are getting their barn lumber delivered and the guy is out at the road trying to figure out how to unload his semi with all their stuff. Wheeee!

Plans Cancelled

Apparently dates and days were confused yesterday so our outing has been rescheduled for May 12th. That means I was here all day working. Which is good. I got a lot done since I started so early anyway.

The Tilda Sampler has been started and here's some of the quilting going in...

Not all the pics are wanting to come in so we'll post more tomorrow. I'm keeping this one a little more loose than previous ones as this is a gift for a granddaughter. I want her to be able to snuggle with it. After working on this I moved over to Bernie to work on Make Do and Mend...

And it's quilted! I had some great lighting coming in through the west window to give the texture effect. Now I need to bind and label. Maybe tonight?

More on the Tilda Sampler today and I might get to sew something tonight since I really haven't in almost three weeks. Well, except for making the backing/batting for the pillow top for Carrie. 

Going Out Again Today

I have a customer coming to drop off before lunch. Another coming to pick up and drop off both after lunch. And, I'll be joining these two customers, along with another quilting friend, for lunch at the Riverwalk today. Fun!

The embroidered girls are all finished. While frame ironing for the next quilt on Marty, I finished row four and began row five in Make Do and Mend. I'm blogging early because I know I have a very social day ahead and not much quilting will take place if I don't start early.

Anyway...here's what I'll be working on for the next week on Marty...

Look familiar? It may not with the background light shining through the window but it's another Tilda Sampler like the eight or ten I've already quilted.

While I was putting this on the frame this morning, I noticed the quilt top was rather stiff. I believe a LOT of fabric treatment was utilized while making it. Funnily enough, I'll be working two Tilda quilts on each of the frames. What are the odds?

Working Seven Days a Week

I'll be working every day until these deadlines are met. People don't realize that when they stick me with a quick turn-around deadline it puts a lot of pressure on me. I'm not 20 anymore and to work seven days a week takes its toll. I now understand why folks are getting out of this profession.

Even though I'm 'working' seven days a week, some of that work is for my quilts since they are being asked to be put into shows/seminars/workshops. But I still have to stand and hunch and stoop and bend to get my quilts quilted as well. 

Yesterday I unloaded the strip quilt, set it in the guest chair, and loaded the Tilda Make Do and Mend top...

Make Do and Mend

I've already got all the colors quilted in because I knew when I was building this top what I was going to put in there. However, the pattern designers long armer did some really tight matchstick quilting in the background and that's just not what I want to put in. 

I'm going to put squares on point in the border as well as the sashing strips across each row. I think I've settled on a background fill I can live with but as always, once the needle is set in, the decision may change. 

Oh, I have a TV in the studio now. Moms basement flooded with the last heavy rains we received and she had a brand new one in the basement whose box got wet. She asked if I wanted it but couldn't guarantee it would work. 

Well, it's a few years old so the technology isn't up to today's standards. It does indeed work, it's connected to the WIFI but not the cable, and I can stream movies and programs for background noise instead of music all the time. I can't really watch it because it's above the batting closet way up in the air, but that was not its intended purpose anyway.

Welcome Baby Evelyn

Our new granddaughter arrived at 3:19 p.m. (Germany Time). They don't have a weight yet (????) but everybody is doing fine and she is beautiful!

Evelyn Riley DeGroot

The day before Lucy's birthday and one month exactly after Jims so that's easy to remember.

Here's some more quilting going into the Tilda Girls...

Getting some texture into the dresses

After working I moved over to start doing test blocks for the Luminary pattern. I don't know if I like these blocks not. I'm still deciding. 

Work on DW was next. The 'class' I'm taking with Natalia Bonner starts in 18 days and I want to get Produce Section off DW soon. I also have two E2E's picked up at retreat to do for a customer, so there's that to consider. Here is the Pineapple and Lemon... 

Lemon

Pineapple

Jim is out snow blowing because our 'light snow' yesterday resulted in four inches of powder, and it's still coming down this morning. He wants to keep on top of it. And, we have to run to the store for a few things. A pot of chili and a pan of enchiladas were on the menu for this weekend. I think we've change the enchiladas to breakfast instead though since we're just running down the road for a few things. 

I Just Couldn't Wait

Ann's quilt was finished in the afternoon after Cindy and Bernadette left. It's so great talking to the girls and sharing quilting stories. And grand baby stories. And retreat planning. And, and, and...

Anywho. I moved over to Bernie to work on Joyces quilt after I raked up the garden to put it to bed for the winter. It's not entirely "to bed" as there are a few pepper plants still hanging in there with the frost not really affecting them too much. Yet.

This is the top that had to be moved over from Marty to Bernie so I could tackle the immediate need quilt for Ann, which was too big to put onto Bernie. 

Wensleydale by Jan Kingwell (I believe)

Here's what I'll be quilting into it...

These are the pieced blocks.

I'll get a pic of the negative space blocks in their entirety for tomorrows blog. While I was working on this I received this from the USPS...

From Missouri Star

These are for a quilt-along I'm doing over the winter (starting in January) with Natalia Bonner. She offered four panels from Honest Fabrics, but I'm not going there. I'll piece mine together (those panels are poly) with cotton and make it a full-sized quilt rather than four unusable panels. I have to draft how I'm going to put these together as they are not just sewn into rows but are staggered on the ends in placement. 

I was pretty much long-armed out by 4:30. Not feeling it yesterday (we all have days like that), and I think it's because this was sitting there behind me saying "Piece Me"! So I did. 

Now I have to quilt it

This looks smaller than it really is, which is about 22"x20"-ish. I may throw this on Marty for the weekend because DW's new encoder hasn't shown up yet, despite being sent out of Lansing on Monday. 

One customer expected today and I'll be working on Bernie all day. Jim is at his second doctor appointment about his fall last week to determine what they are going to do with him next. Hopefully just another week or two of rest will solve the problem. 

Minky. Love It...or Not

I love the feel of Minky (Cuddle, whatever you want to call it) for a quilt back. It quilts fairly well, other than being closely woven and it being 100% polyester. I can hear and feel the needle "thunk" as it stitches every stitch. But the quilting looks pretty awesome on the back of the quilt and it's forgiving for a few hiccups in my stitch path.

But, it stretches. Badly. And if it's not pieced together correctly leaving the stretchy ends parallel to the belly bar, I have to rely on the side clamps to take up the slack. That's not the optimal situation and I'm surprised I haven't run into any folds or pleats on the back of this quilt I'm working just for this very reason. And, I refuse (since it's a free service I provide) to trim the quilt when it's done. Too much poof leaving the backing and all over my studio.

I have one more day on Ann's quilt. 

Teeth are the absolute hardest to do!

Jim ran up to Erin Matthews for me yesterday to pick up this kit...

I'll be doing the yellow background on the right

I looked forward to starting on this so much yesterday and yet, I had to do as much on Anns quilt as I could, and then I had to put together the BOM for month four...

Month Four

After working and getting the BOM block put together all I managed to do was prep the fabric, sift through the pattern (Tilda patterns are a bit of a puzzle if you've never done one), and cut for the first of five sections. This is going to be a gift for Jims sister who had a VW van for a while. 

I have two customers coming today; one to pick up and another to discuss our Shipshewana retreat. Which I'm so excited to do this year since I won't be paying off [another] machine. 😉

Do You Ever Wonder Why?

When I'm long arm quilting, especially those repetitive filler motifs that are automatic for me to do without much planning/thinking, my mind wanders to why things happen. Why do people make quilts? I mean I know why I do it, and I'm sure my reasons parallel with others, but some other people probably do it for perpendicular reasons from mine. 

Jim calls it 'windshield time'; that time to reflect and wonder about life/things.

The Coffee Break table runner is done...

Deb H.'s Coffee Break

Some quilting that went in...

Can you even see anything?

After I finished that I pulled the next October deadline out and started frame ironing it. I also noticed a notation for another quilt that needs to be done soon and it's an E2E on DW (digitized). I worked on Marty on the Tilda Sampler during business hours...

See any difference?

The swimmers leg on top has been ditched. Look how much nicer the fabric and batting lay. The leg on the bottom has not yet been ditched and her legs look like mine; all dimply. 

Ditching takes a LONG time! Maybe that's why these Tilda Samplers take so long because each of those legs needed a start and stop done. I could not just move from one to the other without doing a tie-off to get there. 

Anyway, once I worked on the Tilda Sampler for a while, (well past quitting time), I moved over to DW because he needed to have that background stuff stitched down before I could start frame ironing for Pat's quilt backing. 

It worked out pretty well

Once I got that stitched out/down I pulled it off and started frame ironing the backing for what I need to do on DW for my customer. All three long arms were used yesterday. That's unusual, but kinda cool.

I moved over to my DSM to get those bindings done and here is Rayola quilt #115...

Tula Butterfly

And once that was cataloged, photographed, folded and tagged I started and finished Rayola quilt #116...

Half-square Triangle Baby

While I was working on the above two quilts, Jim was working on getting the old wood removed from our permanent dock since we're supposed to get our lake back next spring/summer. The angle iron on the end needed to be removed first, and then the boards after. Once the new boards are in place the angle iron on the end will need to be welded back on. Welding and water don't mix so this needs to be done before we have water to deal with.

Really unsafe right now

Today I'm working on more frame ironing in both Bernie and DW while I work on the Tilda Sampler on Marty. 

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. 

Just About There

Because I had to cut yesterday short with the mammogram appointment and then having to run to Midland to UPS out two quilts heading to Germany, I didn't get Deb P.'s quilt done. We also had to head over to Home Depot to pick up some type of dowel or tubing to hang a few of the batts in the batting closet.

Here's one more pic of Debs quilting...

Can you see the stars?

I'm sticking with a star theme on this quilt since there are a variety of them throughout. I'll finish that up this morning and then move over to Marty where I'm doing...

Another Tilda Sampler

This one has no borders so it won't take as long, but still a weeks worth of work. I will not be solely focusing on this though. I have three table runners that have to get done before customers can come and pick up their Tilda Samplers.

Speaking of Tilda. All the blocks are now constructed because that's what I worked on when we finally returned back from Midland...

Ready for sashing

After I got those all constructed and put aside, I took the Tula Butterfly off DW, got it trimmed up and the binding is now made and ready to be attached. 

I also sorted through the upper most part of the pile of tops I have on the totes. There are a number of orphan block tops that are smaller in size I'll knock out in the next week or so. I have some scrap backings left over and I'll piece those to make backs for them to get as much use out of the fabric that I have since these too will be donated. 

Flash and Smash

Yep, it's that time of year again. Flash and Smash later this afternoon. We have to run to Midland RIGHT after I get done with that appointment to get two of the kids' quilts to UPS so they can be hand carried to Germany next week (long story I won't go into). 

I'll be getting right in the studio once I'm done with this since it'll be a shorter day for me. There's a lot of marking going on with this quilt I'm working on...

Chalk it out

Here's some of the quilting going into Deb P.'s Nativity Quilt...

When I'm prepping a quilt for long arming, it's usually just hanging out on the frame the day before so I can get right to it when I'm ready. That's why I have two customer machines (with DW on reserve). I don't like the quilts to drag on the ground so I fold them up onto themselves. This gives me a chance to check how the quilt was pressed (open seams or otherwise) and it allows me to check how square the top is. 

Ummm...

There is always an over/under lap of some sort when I do this. Less is clearly better. This one overlapped by a good inch meaning I'm going to have to adjust the quilt as I work on it throughout to try to get it more square-ish. 

Honestly, everybody obsesses over this "squaring" thing and in the scheme of things, it's never going to be noticed by the user. Even you, if you're the end point for it's destination, aren't going to know if the thing is off square. It's a senseless 'worry' by the quilt maker because it's going to be loved regardless. 

I did get four of the 10 'sewing' blocks put together on Tilda after working until 7:00 on Bernie. How do you complete a very intricate quilt top with the work situation you're faced with during the day? One block at a time. 

Think about it. If you piece for just 10 minutes a day, that's an hour a week if you take one day off. I've been working on this Tilda piece over the whole summer. How am I completing it? By taking small bites of time here and there and just getting stitches in when I can.😀