I Love Surprises

I did work on this little project on Saturday night after Jim got home from work...

So True!

I just have the binding to attach, making the retreat number to four so far. Which is what I'll be doing today...getting ready for a five day retreat. And continuing to pull down Christmas things. And moving stuff out of the upstairs bathroom. Jim will be installing flooring up there while I'm retreating. 

Jim's belated birthday surprise (that I wrote about on Saturday) was a meal with all of his children. The four of them haven't been together in their entirety for over four years. We drove to East Lansing and met them all there. He was brought to tears. 

From L to R: Jim, Caleb, Ben, Penelope, Andrew, and Tristan

Penelope and Tristan are the grand kiddos from Ohio. Jim hasn't seen Penelope since she was barely walking.

There will be some more quilting on Amish with a Twist and I need to load a top onto Bernie at some point today once I get through all the other stuff. 

Gratifying and Sad at the Same Time

The Spool quilt is quilted. I had so much fun working on it. It was a combination of free motion and ruler work and I had several thread changes throughout. It lessens my boredom level which makes it even more pleasant to work on. But alas, now comes the binding. 

Some of the quilting detail

I wanted to get that done before starting Amish with a Twist. I did get the top border started last night before shutting down...

Starting the borders

The borders, I think, are the hardest part of the quilt. They set the tone of the rest of the quilt and are the largest negative space areas to work. Usually. And, because they are challenging, are one of my favorite parts of the quilting process. 

Jim volunteered to work today. I'm going to play in the studio all day and work on this quilt while I have what appears as a normal work day ahead of me. There is some chatter about the neighbor two doors to the north coming up today so that may be a hitch in my giddy up. 

Family Comes First

I spent a lot of time on the phone with family yesterday. This is probably why Spools isn't done yet. Maybe today?

DW finally got something put on the frame...

Amish With a Twist

This top was completed at least five years ago. It's 98" x 108" and it's been patiently waiting to get done. It was originally a BOM from The Hen House in Charlotte and what a fun one to do! I need a black batting for it. Which I have in stock. The problem is my batts are only 96" in width. I'm going to have to piece a section once I get down to the bottom. 

I was going to head to Houghton Lake today to pick up a king-size black batt, but they don't open until 10:30 and I'm not sure they even have one in stock. I was already in town today (nails) at 9:00 and didn't feel like waiting in town for another half hour to call them. 

I made an 'executive' decision to just whip stitch a section together once I get to the bottom. Gas went up again so I didn't want to spend the money, or the time driving up there only to find out they didn't have what I needed. 

Not expecting any customers today which means I get all day of uninterrupted play. 

A Great Day

Yesterday was spent downstate for our Christmas with the kids/grandkids. We had perfect driving weather. Wonderful food. Lots of laughs and the girls were absolutely well behaved. By the time we got home, and got everything unloaded from the truck, we were very worn out.  

I did get the MSQC wall hanging done on Tuesday afternoon. I made a modification to the pattern though. It planned for three mug rugs instead of actually incorporating all the blocks it had me make into the actual quilt. We don't use mug rugs. My kids, when visiting, would use them as frisbees (they are boys after all). 

Here's what I came up with...

Now it's more of a table runner-type thing

Now that I have all the Christmas presents received put away, I'm going to try to finish the spools quilt today. DW has been naked now for a few days (almost a week actually) and that's just not right. I have the remainder of this week and one day next week to play in the studio on my own stuff. I need to take advantage of that very precious time. 

A Quick Regular Day

Since we didn't have Christmas during, well, Christmas, our holiday will be tomorrow. So, logistically, this is our Christmas eve. I even did business on Sunday and Monday; three customers came yesterday. 

After the customers left, we quickly ate lunch and watched a movie and then we were off to finish holiday errands/shopping. Once we returned home (well after dark) I worked on my little wall hanging that came with the MSQC box. I still have lots to go but here are a few of the blocks I've completed...

Mugs!

This handy little gadget, that also came in the box, is almost priceless...

Excellent for separating chain pieces

Jim is at work today. I'm going to play, piece, wrap, and jam today in the studio. Enjoy!

Christmas (Observed)

My shop hours are posted on Google. And...everything else is/was closed both yesterday and today like I am (supposed to be). Yet...I have a customer that called last night (I'm not kidding about this) and is coming over today. She said, last night, she would be here around 11:00. 

Jim and I had things to do around here this morning (haircuts, etc) and were staged to receive her around 11:00. She just called again for the balance on the invoice and said they'd be here in the next hour to hour and a half. 

Do people really have such little consideration anymore? So frustrating. I know my brochure said I'm flexible. But there's flexible, and then there is just plain rude. 

Let's get to something a little more positive. In the MSQC box I opened yesterday, there were a number of small projects that could be completed rather quickly. Which I really enjoyed. Here's the ornament that came in the box...

Isn't this just darling?

There was a leather duck change purse you had to stitch together and complete so here he is...

Quack

Then there was a jar of buttons in the box and the next days' gift was a pattern to make a pincushion to set atop the jar...

Another pincushion...which I am always in need of

Cute pattern

Then the box came with a winter-y charm pack, some yardage background fabric, and this pattern. I'm in the middle of all of this right now. I'll work on this until this customer [eventually] shows up. 

There's still another charm pack and background fabric to do another cute wall hanging and some more yardage to make a darling snowflake pillow. I'll tackle those later but for now, let's go sew. 

Merry Christmas

I made a folded start to put into the tree last night. Merry Christmas everybody!

Merry Christmas

Yesterday was spent working on the Spools quilt. Nothing else. But the Christmas present from Jim was additional lighting in the studio. Here he is getting it all in...

Hanging the new lights

Our family Christmas is actually on Wednesday. I knew this was going to happen (call is mothers intuition), so I had ordered a 25 Days of Christmas box from Missouri Star Quilt Company. It's been sitting here teasing me for a few months now. 

Spoiler Alert! The next pic is a compilation of everything in the box (minus two items).The very first day was not to disappoint (I won't tell in case somebody else out there ordered one)! It was a pleasant surprise throughout the whole box and I'll definitely order one again next year. 

MSQC 25-Days of Christmas Box