Back on the Iron Hunt

There used to be a commercial out there where a woman was screaming "Calgon, take me away," as her day kept getting more stressful. I feel like screaming out like this about irons.

The iron in the background in the pic below lasted maybe a week before it started showing illness symptoms; auto shut off shorter than eight minutes, steam sporadic if at all, burst of steam usually not present and when it was it was a 10-12 second delay in reaction after pushing the button. And yesterday is started randomly peeing. 

The debunked iron and a small project

So this pillow is the result of trying those scrappy blocks out that turned out I wasn't really all into...too many restrictions on light/dark placement. So I made a large pillow, but, I need some more batting scraps to get the insert finished (which I also made). 

I did about 15 of these this weekend.

The Oranges

This is a nice project for after my long arming day. Not much thought and they go together fairly easy. 

We started moving Jim's things into the downstairs bedroom preparing for his ankle surgery in six or so weeks. As usual, something like that always takes longer than you think its going to, and we are just starting.

Today I'm working on Paulette's king quilt intermittent with a visit from my mom later this morning/early afternoon. 

Thread

Sometime ago I was told that most high-end machines that are having trouble have a high (more than 80% rate) issue rate due to crappy thread. I use to purchase Connecting Threads thread for all my piecing. Talk about linty and causing issues with more than one of my machines. Some folks find it fine to work with but since my machines are my business, why not take care of them? And it wasn't performing that well for me anyway. ALL of that thread is now gone. 

The next thing to do was research thread. Aurifil thread is stellar! BUT, very, (very) expensive. Since I use thread in bulk this isn't really an option any more. And, I have found the last two spools have been somewhat linty (more than usual). After deciding between two resources (MSQC and Quilted Joy), opted for the MSQC box of 30 assorted colors since they double mercerize their threads and it comes with a great storage box to boot. 

Okay, that's done for the day. 

Long arming this morning on Paulette's quilt. This is some of what's been going in there...

The main stars (which received some additional quilting later)

Setting triangles

Ignore my notes on the bottom right corner

This is a completely custom quilt top so it's going to take some time.

I had to slip long arming in yesterday between the high winds. After the lights flickered a few times, quit for a while. But then the winds settled a bit in the afternoon for a spell, and was able to get a few more hours in before they kicked up again. 

Between long arm sessions, I was working and finishing the Celestial Stars top!

Celestial Stars all Complete

Now that Celestial Stars is finished, I can start to work on the Rail Fence Scrappy blocks. And as I was laying in bed this morning, was thinking about (again), my little town I was working on a few years ago. I've started and stopped that top more times in the last couple of years. Maybe it's time to drag it out and start to work on it again???

Dicey Day

Hesitation to long arm is met when the winds are whipping out there so bad our electricity has blinked already a couple of times on and off. It's trying to decide what it wants to do. And subjecting DW to that may not be the right decision today. But at any case, this is what's on the frame this morning.

Not a very good pic of Paulette's second quilt

Paulette is having me quilt this with wool which is very cool! Quilting with wool lets all the puffiness come through and show off not only my quilting, but her piecing as well.

After I pulled off her first quilt and then loaded her second, I needed to doodle to decide in what direction I was going to go with this one. While I was coming up with ideas, I started piecing together the Celestial Star top. 

I didn't get it all sashed in before running out of steam, but here's where it's at this morning.

Celestial Stars coming together

This top is not going to be nearly as big as anticipated. 59"x75" is what the pattern indicates for finished size. It's going to make somebody a nice throw.

Today, since I may wait a bit to see if the winds do calm down, I have a little reorganizing to do in the studio. Currently my batiks are in a rolling cabinet in drawers, while all the other fabrics are in crates throughout the room. 

Part of the long arming thread is in the secret drawer under the table of the long arm, but some of it is in crates on the floor. 

This makes no sense all of a sudden and swapping them out for each other is going to happen. I may not like it and may just put it back, but it's a physical something to do to keep me warm as the wind howls and the temps continue to drop, and, it needed to be done (at least in my head anyway). 

Computerized Freedom

My least (not that its awful at all) favorite way to long arm is using the Pro Stitcher, which is the computerized portion of my whole long arming system. 

I don't get to really do much with the machine except take measurements and keep an eye on things while it stitches out. Leaving the room isn't entirely possible either; as soon as you do a thread break occurs. It's the computerized long arming code (or something stupid like that). 

But, having the Pro Stitcher driving frees me up to do things in the way of piecing in here. The Celestial Star Month 12 Block is finished.

Month 12

Also, while DW was stitching out, I got the opportunity to work on a bajillion flying geese for the border stars. 

See, about a bajillion

Once Linda's quilt was off the machine in the late afternoon, I was able to load Paulette's on before the sun even set. 

This is on the frame this morning and will be completed by lunchtime (hopefully).

Paultette's HST Throw

I did get one set of borders star sets made last night actually since I was cruising along so well in my day.

The first four of 20 needed

DW is driving today again so sad face/happy face and can work on more border stars while he cruises along. 

Flexability

My hours, as stated on my brochure, my website, Google, and my blog, are 10-4 M-F and 10-1 on Saturday. But I'm pretty flexible and realize life gets precedence allowing customers to come when it's convenient for us both.

Last night, around 6:15, I had a [regular] customer come to drop off four tree skirts for quilting. She brought another prospective customer with her and it was a win-win. If I hadn't let her come later than the posted hours I would not have met the new person and may have lost some potential business. 

Here's what's on the frame this morning and is actually being quilted out as I'm blogging...

Linda's King-Size

This top measure 94x104" and because most of the quilting will get lost in it, it's going to get an E2E with DW assisting today.

After the customers left last night I commenced piecing and then trying to put together Month #12 of Celestial Star.

Month #12

I completely misread the construction instructions after the pieces were paper pieced and had to rip out about half of the block. And, I'm without my industrial machine (down for service and cleaning) so had to work this on Lilo...my Handi Quilter Stitch 210. It's a very small machine but seems to plow through bunches of seams without too many issues. The Janome Horizon I have eats batiks when I try to start the blocks, so piecing on him is avoided for that task. 

Today I'll continue with this block. It has a paper pieced border running around it and while DW is working, I'll do some more on Celestial Stars. 

Hazel seemed to enjoy her new groomer, in as much as she likes to eat lettuce. She liked playing with all the other doggies, but her new groomer said she would not behave in the washer, dryer, or on the table. And did not want to be caught to come in to get groomed to start with. But since the experience was relatively positive, maybe with a few visits she'll get better about the whole thing. 

The Simplest of Quilts...

...take the longest to complete. Or so it seems.

Still working on Susan's Garden quilt. I was interrupted in the afternoon to run to Midland for a toe appointment for Jim, otherwise it would have probably been finished. Obviously, that's first on my list this morning. 

From the toe appointment, Jim took us a different way home and we were able to gander at the rebuilding progress of the M-30 bridge that the flood took out last May. 

The M-30 Bridge Construction

Hazel has a grooming appointment with a new groomer today. Long story about the other one.

It'll be wonderful to have this bridge functioning again. Our trips to Midland are increased by about 10-15 minutes because of this being absent. Oddly enough, I'm going back down there today since Hazel's new groomer is just on the north side of all of this mess. 

Studio-less Weekend

It wasn't an entirely studio-less weekend; a little paper piecing occurred as well as a little project (another mask) and long arming on Saturday morning, but that was it. Jim has a toe appointment later this afternoon so long arming most of the day today to make up for lost evening hours. 

Yet another pattern for a mask

I wore this mask for a bit on Saturday for one of our many stops during our errand afternoon/evening. It didn't work out as well as the previous mask Katie sent me the link for. So, the winner for overall comfort, less glasses fogging (although you will NEVER eliminate the fog entirely), and ease of construction is the 3-D Face Mask Updated version. 

Here's another way to eliminate the mask making problem. Eliminate their requirement altogether.