Happy Second Birthday Hazel

I can't believe our puppy is now two years old. It seems like we just brought her home and yet, we couldn't imagine not having her in our lives. 

Seven Weeks Old

Nearly two years later

She's had plenty of birthday celebrations with Rylee coming to visit this morning and Walter visiting all afternoon. 

Hope she's with us many more years to come because she's one of the best dogs we've ever had over the years!

Productive and Satisfying

Actual stick-to-the-goals happened here yesterday. Long arming in the morning and part of the afternoon. But, the wind became really scary and so shut the machine off for the remainder of the afternoon. This is what I'll continue with this morning.

Kathy's Sunshiny Sunflowers

Since the mock layouts were still on the design wall a decision to get them together before Hazel swiped them off with her tail was made. 

And then four more were designed. And then four more were constructed. Last evening was the result of these eight cuties.

The first eight Nova Star Blocks

Only 34 more to tackle. 

This is NOT my usual color palette, but I really, really think these are pretty. I'm liking how soothing they are to the eye and not all in your face with their volume and colors.

Speaking of Hazel, tomorrow she has a birthday. Two years old. But, she still thinks she's a puppy. This was yesterday after lunch was eaten while we finished our TV show. 

Hazel loves to snuggle

It's the day before our Labor Day weekend officially begins. We are still without a lake (and no end in sight for the foreseeable future on that racket), but the neighbors said they were going to all be up and it should at least give us a little interaction with folks for a few days. 

It gets so quiet up here with all the trunk slammers not coming up on the weekends. And the "thing" doesn't help either so people are just plain staying away. So I continue to take advantage of the quiet and quilt, quilt, quilt away. 

Focused

I started long arming yesterday. Then lunch. And then the Nova Star quilt-along pieces were calling to me. "Do flying geese units," they said. 

And I listened; finished making all the units yesterday.

I was so excited, despite the time of night it was, that four "mock" blocks were thrown on the design wall to see how the selected colors were going to play out.

Color/Placement Play

It appears my top is going to be a little lower volume than I usually come up with, or care to make. The fat quarter bundle was much more vibrant when it was picked up from the quilt shop. I think. wink, wink.

Today is much more long arming. Customers (three) are coming Friday to douse me down with more tops. It would be nice to be prepared for their arrival by clearing out the queue. Building Nova Star blocks will follow once the paying job is done. 

Sooooo SSSLLLOOOWWW

I worked, off and on yesterday afternoon, on these flying geese units. OMG! They take a long time to make.

Nova Star geese units

It took the better part of the afternoon and early evening to complete just 10 of these. I'll have to chip away at them throughout the week. AND, these aren't the only flying geese units in the blocks. There is another set further into the block so there will be another single 168 units to make after these  double 168 units. Isn't the quilt like just so darn drama filled. LOL!

The new studio set up is working out well so far. We put the iron chord behind the table and put a rug over the chord running across the floor so I won't trip over it...which I'm notorious for doing. I'm going to long arm this morning and we'll see what happens over there and how that worked out in the move. 

A Quick Decision

I had started to clean the studio a bit yesterday morning. And then I cleaned some more. And then I began slightly organizing. I realized, I really, (really) needed to organize way more than I had started. 

After our lunch yesterday, and our traditional Saturday afternoon movie, we started tearing into the studio. It received a thorough scrubbing, dusting, vacuuming, dissecting, purging, organizing, and yes, rearranging! The only thing that didn't get cleaned were the windows themselves (although the sills certainly did). 

My new layout!

Getting Ready for the Camera

The reason all of this was done was twofold: 1) It just needed it. I hadn't spent any time actually getting my elbows dirty in there and it was time. 2) Handi Quilter is coming in about three weeks to film. They would have been appalled at the condition had they looked close enough to all the dust bunnies I was raising in there. 

Funnily enough, I do run the dust buster in here nearly everyday. But those dumb bunnies like to travel and hide in the most ridiculously weird places. And, this is the room where Hazel goes in and out to her pen. She drags in a little bit of stuff too.

I'm excited to be working in here today to see how everything pans out. The only concern we really have is the iron cord running from anywhere in the room now to the middle of it, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

I do actually have a quilt on the frame (which I started in the morning before all of this). Here's Paulettes little whale of a whale top.

Just keep swimming!

So now the long arm faces east instead of north and I'll have a grand view of our "lake" once the trees start to lose their leaves. We continue to try to new layouts every once in a while to make the most of a room that actually needs to be about four feet wider and longer. But I am NOT complaining! I know of quilters who make magnificent tops and quilts in a postage stamp-sized room. I'm thankful for everything I have here and don't take this marvelous space for granted. A HUGE thank you for my man for helping in a project he simply detests to do. Without him, I'd still probably be working on this. 

Happy Saturday

There is a fall-like feel to the air. A few of the trees are starting to shed leaves, and we see color coming in on our mid-yard Maple tree. Autumn is my favorite time of the year. Mostly because I get to start wearing my sweatshirts again and don't have to suck my gut in to hide my middle-aged pooch. 

Quilt-alongs are fun! I started losing a little of my mojo over the summer. Primarily because we were 100 mph with our hair on fire. I think our mini vacation revved my engine back up because I'm sewing and piecing and cutting with a vengeance. (Katie...take a vacation. It helps!). 

My chosen fabrics

This is what will be put into the Nova Star quilt. It's a little more low volume than I normally like to work with, but beautiful nonetheless. And soothing. These colors are very relaxing. 

Here they are all cut and ready to sew.

I don't even know how many pieces are here

Mickey's quilt was completed yesterday morning before we had to do some errands. I failed to snap a pic of it, but it was another one of her Kaffee fabric pieces. 

I'll be loading a quilt top Paulette had Pat and Joanie drop off last week. It's a cute whale and has a lot of real estate for me to quilt into. Should be fun.

Meanwhile, I'll be making HST's after Paulette's quilt is worked for a while. I have another customer coming over to drop off and then who knows where the wind will take us afterwards on this lovely Saturday. 

After a Little Mini Vacation

It's back into the studio I go. I looked forward to getting away for a few days, but it seems after the first day away, I'm already longing to get back into the thread, needles, and designs. 

This was an "emergency" quilt that came in yesterday. The customer called when we were on Mackinaw Island and said she had a wedding this weekend (the call came in on Monday). 

Jill's Chickens

Not only did it need to be quilted, but bound as well. While fighting a near-migraine headache, I was able to complete the quilt and can call the customer this morning to let her know it's completed. 

After we returned on Tuesday evening, Katie sent a text about a quilt-along. Sometimes these quilt-alongs get rather tedious and supply lacking on my part, so I choose to pass. This one, however, looks pretty cool. It's called the Nova Star. Here is my first test block after working through the pattern Tuesday night and yesterday morning (while waiting for said quilt top above to arrive).

Nova Star Test Block

I plan on doing this with a fat quarter bundle I have in my stash and will only need to add about 14 more to round it out. Shopping at Pieces tomorrow will definitely be on my radar. 

My new friends from the Quirky Quilters Quilt Guild in Oscoda recommended we take the time to visit Paradise, Michigan to a quilt shop up there. We were supposed to take a road trip up earlier this month (the guild members and me), but life got in the way of our plans. 

Jim and I did visit there, but purchased nothing. However, the shop in Sault Ste. Marie (owner Chris) and Indian River (owner Barbara) were worth the trip entirely. Planning on going back to both of them in the future! Purchased some backs and a new chunk of fabric for the pressing table, which we promptly put on yesterday. 

Have another customer quilt to load this morning and another waiting to get on the frame today. I may start pulling more fabrics from my stash (or trying to anyway) for the Quilt-Along after working on Mickey's quilt today.