Time Gets Away

Completely lost track of time so much so last night I missed The Voice. Good thing Jim taught me how to record it. I don't revolve my nights around TV. I have better things to do. Like quilt! 

Linda and Jeff's quilts are quilted. Both are trimmed, and Jeffs only needs to have the binding attached. Here's what's on Bernie today...

Lynette's gorgeous autumn top

I've already basted and ditched in what I could on this one. 

While beginning Lynettes quilt I was (of course) frame ironing Gail's quilt top. She's using flannel on the back. When I'm frame ironing I also pick any erroneous threads off the fabric. I don't want anything to show through light colors on the front so I'm pretty diligent about this. I thought this was a thread...

A slice in the backing

The slice is about 15 inches into the left side. I'm going to load so I can miss this entirely as she gave me plenty of backing to [hopefully] make this work. There may be a few hand stitches that need to go in if I can't avoid it. This is the top that's going onto DW today...

A Musical quilt for her grandson

Gails quilt wasn't the next one in the queue however. I have a partially finished T-Shirt quilt that was sent to me when the previous long armers long arm quit. I was trying to duplicate the motif and just continue on as they were doing. But it has a lot of curves and points into it and it just wasn't happening. I called the customer and they gave me permission to rip out the three rows already into it and start over. 

Unsewing

Jim loves to do this kind of stuff. Even though I started it, we talked last night and he said he'd work on it after he returned back home. So this is put away for now. 

Perplexed

I get many requests for people who need their tops quilted by yesterday. Or, I'm given a deadline (which, knock on wood, have never missed) and when I meet their expectations, whether it's the immediate quilt request or the deadline request, I'm met with some resistance for pick up. Sometimes these sit in waiting for weeks. How do I remedy this situation? And moreover, it's not fair to those customers who patiently wait for their quilts to get done while I park them behind this new immediate/deadline situation. 

I'll have to think about this today while I'm working. Here's some quilting detail of one of the tractor tires in Jeffs quilt...

Tread

I know it doesn't look like much in the pic, but when you look at the tire as a whole, it looks exactly like the tread in the tractor drawings next to the tire. Anyway, I'm a little over half-way through this top and should be able to finish today. 

I'm not going to re-load DW until Linda's quilt is done on Bernie. It's been on that frame way too long and I want to deliver it to her on Thursday or Friday. 

We are starting out with sunshine this morning, and according to the liar-man, we should be sunny all day today. We'll see, but I'll take advantage of the sparkling water down at the lake shining at me while I work. 

[Another] Working Sunday

Elleen's quilt is done. I'll need to call her in a little bit to let her know. After Jim left yesterday to go work downstate, I immediately did some house cleaning, and then got onto the frame. Here's what's on DW this morning...

There's a tractor there if you look hard

While I was frame ironing the backing I made the binding for this quilt so it can be done by the time Jim gets home. It's for his mechanic in exchange for work on his truck. 

Didn't do much of anything else in the studio this weekend except long arm. No small projects this week. 

First Robin

I was out playing ball with the girls and I heard a familiar peep, peep, peep and then I saw it. The first Robin of the year. I don't think he was one of our residents since I didn't hear it later in the day, but the winter is coming to an end.  

I love winter. I really do. I don't mind the cold and the snow. Only when I have to drive in it. I mind it much less than the bugs we are sure to have later this year. 

Here's some of the quilting going into Eleens quilt...

Come Sail Away

The sun is shining in the studio this morning and gave a great opportunity to show more of what is going into Linda's quilt...

Love those straight lines

The storm missed us yesterday. We received a total of 12 snowflakes and with the temps being above 32 when they fell, there's not a lick of evidence they even fell at all. 

Jim's truck is ill. It's at the mechanics right now needing almost $500 worth of repairs. I bartered with his mechanic to trade the John Deere top I made for him last year at retreat for the repair fee. Since Jim is going downstate tomorrow to work for the week, I have to get this done. 

When Jim returns, he'll need to pick up the truck and give Jeff the finished quilt. As I mentioned above, it's only a top right now. And, Jeff needs a king-size. The top will need a top and bottom border added to make the additional amount needed so I'm heading over to Pieces today to get the border, binding, and backing fabric for it. 

The Spartans play today which will give me time to work on Eleens quilt and get Jeff's ready to get onto the frame.

New Customers

I love meeting new people! I had a new customer stop by yesterday to drop off two quilts to do. Marg and Bill were delightful to talk to and we shared so many common interests; skating, horses, cars, and quilts. Over an hour later they departed and I was sad when they left. 

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

Eleen's top for her brother

This is getting some free motion, computer, and ruler work so it'll be fun to quilt out. I worked on Linda's top a little more last night and Jim brought from the mail, this months Cotton Cuts BOM. I worked on that (had to pull quite a few seams since I was looking a pictures and not paying attention to the actual directions), but I have month eight done and only two more months to go.

Kim called from Pieces of Thyme and asked if I'd rather pay one lump sum for the BOM they are hosting instead of paying each month. That probably works out better since the card I gave them to charge each month to was compromised and we had to get a new one. 

Speaking of compromised, the encrypted message my dad sent two days ago was actually a hack. Seems like technology just isn't as safe as we all hoped it would be. I can safely say my blog isn't worthy of hacking (I hope they have better things to do) so good news on that front I suppose.

Nail appointment this morning and then I'm coming right back home. There was supposed to be some sort of storm coming but I think it's going to end up all south of us. 

No Pics Today

I really don't have any pics to share today. I'll slip one in here of the girls or something. Anyway, Tina's quilt is done, but still on the frame. I had to wait for markings to go away before unloading. No work on Linda's quilt last night because I wanted to get Tina's done. 

Eleen's quilt top goes on next. I have a quick deadline on this one to deal with and a border I'll need to mark out before even loading. I'll do that while frame ironing the backing. 

Have a great quilting day!

What the girls do while I'm working. 

Encrypted Messages

Technology is a wonderful thing. Until there's so much of it that it's hard to keep track of who saw what on which app. I rarely do Facebook or TikTok. Or Twitter. Or Snapchat. It's making my head hurt on just how many choices there are out there to keep in touch. I'll just keep blogging and keep my web site up to date. That's enough I think.

Here's some quilting detail going into Tina's quilt...

See what wool batting does?

Tina's quilt is double batted...it has a layer of cotton on the bottom and wool on top. Look at that texture!

I think my bobbin winder for DW is crapping out. Not good. Jim has to take it downstate to let Jason (my dealer) take a look at it and see if it's salvageable. If not, there's another expense I'm going to have to eat. They aren't cheap!  I'm going to have to order some prewounds or [try to] get bobbins wound (this is going to take a lot of planning) before he leaves with it.

And I think my new SE phone is a lemon as well. I charged it fully yesterday and this morning it was completely (and I mean, it wouldn't even turn on) dead.

It's starting to snow here this morning so it'll be pretty to watch as I work today.