A Binding Day

Errands needed to be done this morning and now I'm back home. Penny's binding needs to be made and attached to her quilt and I have zoology to bind as well. Not sure how I'm going to bind that one yet. 

One of the errands I needed to accomplish this morning was to stop by Pieces to say hello and see what's going on with their move. Jim called ahead and told them I was on my way and I was met with a hug, a happy birthday, a kiss, and a swat on the butt. Those girls are so great!

Here's what Jim also called ahead for...

Pretty!

Jim knew my stash is/was lacking in both purples and oranges so the girls made up this fat quarter bundle for me!

The Color Outside the Lines top is done. I want to put it on the frame but have customer quilts waiting so have to wait on that for a bit. 

I have pulled off a few coloring pages for the art quilt class I'm tentatively supposed to teach next year and need to make a few examples since all my other art quilts are at their permanent homes. I need to get some sketches done of Hazel first (thank you Ben for helping out with the layering option on my Sketches program) and even if I don't teach the class, having an art piece of her face is on my bucket list of things to do. 

Happy 57th to Me

When I was a kid I remember thinking that people in their 50's were old. I mean nearing the end old. I don't feel much different than I did in my 30's except for a few more aches and the need to be cautious in my surroundings. 

I had to decide whether to actually "work" today or play in here on something I've wanted to make for a while. Except, there's too many things that I actually want to work and not enough time in the day to do that. I still don't know what I'm going to do.

Penny's quilt is completed on the long arm but not without a few hitches. I was playing bobbin chicken and lost. Had to restart within her quilting plan, except, the new PS update does not allow you to designate a new start spot when telling the machine to stop. After almost and hour and having to line it up twice (because the first time it wanted to ghost stitch), I was back in business. Here's what was put into her quilt...

The quilting plan

Where the cross hairs are on the pic is where my failure at bobbin estimating occurred.

For the pencil top I worked on the extra border and may just end up working that in here today. Here's where I left off last night...

This will make it a little bigger

If this doesn't make it big enough when I get done, I may have to make some piano keys for even more of a stretch. I've yet to file the fabrics away that were used so I'll see where this takes me after today. 

So, a happy 57th birthday to me with a rainy day to work inside; just what this quilter ordered. 😉

Typical Day

A few customers. A few phone calls. Some quilting. Some piecing. Lunch. Chores. Just a typical day in my life. But I wouldn't trade it for any job out there. 

Here's what's on the frame today since Zoology was finished...

Penny's Top

After finishing Zoology and loading Penny's top I started right in on piecing the heart top together. Talk about shrinkage! Before I add the 2 1/2" borders all around I need to get the letters made that I'm putting in the second border to make sure I don't need to increase somewhere. 

I'll be babysitting DW with the Prostitcher doing most of the work today. I'll work on more letters and try not to lose my mind with this machine screaming at me all day long. I do love ruler work and custom so much better.

80 Degrees in Michigan in October?

And because it was 80 degrees yesterday, all the Japanese Lady Beetles were out. This meant stitch a little on DW, vacuum bugs, stitch a little, suck up bugs. UGH!

Today is cooler with rain and so they don't seem as prevalent. I should get more stitching done today. 

Had a customer come and drop off first thing this morning and they were enamored with Hazel. They just left which is why I'm blogging so late.

Here is some detail going into the Zoology top...

N is for Norwall

After working on the long arm well past my usual time (because the morning was spent cleaning the entire house after the kids/grandkids were here the past weekend), I pieced together the vertical sections of the colored pencils heart...

Now to get those vertical rows assembled

I would like this to be a more usable quilt. I'm thinking, after getting it together and bordering the first border, I'll do something else for a second border. Maybe make some letters to go around. The actual name of the quilt is Color Outside the Lines. Maybe putting that around it?

Zoology should be finished today if there are no more interruptions in my day. I'm hoping to get the heart pencils put together and get the first border at least made. 

Bug Guy Be Damned

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

Avis' quilt

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

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

Sewing on a temporary leader to both the top and bottom

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

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

This is where I left off last night. 

Making progress

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

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

Accident Day

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

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

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

Ready to use

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

Who?

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

This is the smaller one measuring 46" x 52"

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

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