Wow!

I woke yesterday thinking I didn't have any customers coming over and that I would be able to get Diane's quilt finished.

Four customers and five quilt drop-offs later, I was able to get only one roll done in her quilt. We needed to get groceries after Jim got home leaving very little time to actually work. 

Today is starting out much of the same. I have a new customer coming this morning first thing. Maybe that will be the only one since the weather isn't very pretty out there. 

Did I show you this the other day? I don't think I did. While I was working on the Dream Bigger panel I was finishing up the second darkest thread-needed area. After I tied off and went to change to the darkest thread next, I saw this...

Talk about thread chicken

That was close.

Hoping to finish Dianes quilt and get another loaded for next week. I'll work on Bernie the remainder of the day/evening since our weekend is all taken up. We have to run to TC tomorrow (weather permitting) to visit Jim's [dying] mom, and Sunday is Elijah's 3rd birthday party so that puts us in the opposite direction going to Lansing. 

Oh, and next week, I start jury duty for the whole month of April. I'll be working in the studio during the night I think on days they may actually need me. 

Keep on Truckin'

Remember that saying from the 70's? I was listening to some old country music yesterday and got kind of nostalgic since this "death" thing is hanging over our heads and remembered some of those old sayings from back then. 

Let's be positive today. The sun is shining and I have two quilt tops to quilt with machines that are humming along beautifully. There is a slight hitch in my day though. I need to run over to Pieces to fetch some binding fabric for the Dream Bigger quilt. I'll work on that and the other quilt-along binding maybe Saturday.

I tell my customers that I literally see every millimeter of their quilts. I sometimes think the new ones don't believe me. Here's proof of how close and intimate to the top I get...

Find the problem

What's wrong here?

Ummmm?????

See anything wrong here?

This is just the first half of the quilt. Today should bring more fun since only half of it is done. 

I'm not the most perfect piecer so I understand these issues. But that's what a professional long armer does. Recognizes these problems and rectifies them to the best of their ability. I know several long armers who would ignore these and just keep on quilting. If this quilt had had an edge-to-edge done, these would, in all reality, not been spotted, let alone fixed. 

I did get a bit of the Cotton Cuts top worked last evening. Today will be much of the same, but with the sun to assist in lighting the studio. 

Bad News

So Jim's mom is being admitted to Palliative care effective immediately. He spent most of yesterday in Traverse City with her. We'll probably make another trip up on Sunday. When Jim contacted the boys about the bad news, my eldest commented, "Death is the winner each and every time." It makes you take stock in what you're doing today and it's a reminder we should NOT take each day for granted. Do what you want to do. Do what makes you happy. Because in the end, that's all that matters.

Having said that, I'll continue to stay in my studio. That's my passion. That's my happy place. That's where I can watch nature (despite the weather...which is currently back to winter mode with all the snow we've gotten this morning), I can hear construction, the children's laughter, the dogs happily barking, the smell of campfire smoke or a bacon breakfast. It's lake life with quilting thrown in for an extra happy measure. 

I finished long arming the Dream Bigger yesterday! Fist pump! Here's what's on DW this morning...

This pattern is called Gypsy Wife by Jen Kingwell

I've done one of Jen's patterns before and loved working on it. She makes traditional blocks in weird settings and they turn out beautiful. This one, unfortunately, is not mine but a customers. I may have to rethink calling her when it's completed. 😉

I did get a little quilting in on Bernie yesterday afternoon while frame ironing the backing for the quilt above. I was stumbling over the BOM on the table so shut Bernie down to finish my next two blocks before all my little pieces were in places they shouldn't be. 

Construction

Our neighbors to the north of us are getting a whole new deck on their house. The construction crew started working yesterday and the dogs are having a tizzy that somebody is next door. It would be more helpful if the leaves were out on those Ash trees already, but until then, constant growling and barking; which is very disruptive to my work flow!

Still working on the Dream Bigger panel. Here's some more eye candy on what's going into it...

I probably have another day, maybe even two on this piece. They usually take about 4 1/2 days to work. 

New customer visit yesterday and she stayed for quite a while. We got along very well. All my customers are so very friendly!

I didn't get on Bernie last night. I think I'm fighting some kind of cold bug. Headache-o-rama and scratchy throat. Sneezing. Slight nasal stuffiness. I took my temp this morning to make sure we weren't dealing with [another] round of my covid friend and it's normal. Thank goodness!

I did do some more piecing on the BOM from Pieces, but didn't finish before my head said that was enough. Stupid headaches. There is a weather change coming around so maybe that's all this is?

More Dream Bigger today. No customers expected. Maybe some Bernie work. Jim is in Traverse City today as we received some very bad news about his mothers health last night. And, it's her birthday today. She was hospitalized last night so Jim gets to spend a day off in not such a good way. He may spend the night so if he does I'll work later tonight. If my head agrees that is. 

BOM's

I love block of the months! Do you? I know not everybody does, but for me, with the attention span of a flea, I like only working a partial part of the quilt at a time and don't feel pressured to get the project done before starting another. 

Here's the one I'm working on for Pieces right now...

Isn't it pretty?

The nice thing about this gorgeous piece is that it is NOT batiks. I love piecing with batiks. I don't particularly like quilting with them. Because they are so tightly woven, any picking shows holes that are rather hard to get out. 

I already have the first two blocks done and started working on the next two yesterday. I didn't get through them before we decided to have a relaxing day and enjoy not having to be somewhere or do something for somebody. 

Beautiful sunny day today to work on the Dream Bigger on DW. Better get to it. 

Committed

When I start quilting a quilt everything is beer and skittles; it's new. I haven't gotten bored yet. And all the fabrics are fun to look at. Then, after doing the first roll, I realize just how labor intensive the work is going to be for the next day (or three). I have committed to what I started and sometimes my decisions are questionable. 

I have learned over the years to start with a framework and see how the basic motif goes. From there, I may (or may not) add additional pieces into the framework depending on how the quilt is pieced and how much time commitment I want to put into it. At some point, I have to keep things relatively under control as I have other quilts waiting for me to work.

Here's what's on Bernie this morning...

Cotton Cuts BOM 2022 made with Tula Pink fabric

Here's the bonus quilt top I pieced yesterday from the play quilt I just took off Bernie. 

Bonus Quilt

This came with a bonus quilting motif as well but since I added the upper/lower borders, I may do my own thing in here. 

After I pieced this top, and while Jim was giving Lucy a groom, I made this new spring banner for the studio... 

Using as many of the scraps I can

I deleted out the background but while I was making this yesterday, we were in the middle of a snowstorm. Yet, today, it's supposed to be near 50. Ahhh...March in Michigan. 

I'm going to be binding this morning on the little coffee table in the living room, which should prove interesting. Jim needs the backroom table to groom Hazel today so I have to make do with what I have available. Thank goodness quilters are flexible people. 

Routine Interruption

Apparently, the older I get, the more I can not have my routine altered or I forget things. Like blogging.

Thursday I worked on the Dream Bigger panel in between customers. I had three pick ups...and three drop offs. I also worked on my "play" piece and got another row completed in it. MSU lost in the sweet 16.

Friday I worked on the Dream Bigger panel in between a customer who picked up and visiting my mom, getting my nails done, and trying to contact the Bay Area Surgical Center in Midland about my upcoming procedure. I very much dislike phone trees. 

Here's some work in the Dream Bigger piece...

Climbing Feathers

I finished quilting the "play" piece last night and Jim finished picking out threads from the back of the t-shirt quilt. A very productive day. 

I'm not sure where today is going to go. I have another "play" piece to stick onto Bernie, but I was planning on getting a specific backing for it. Unfortunately, we have extremely crappy weather right now with advisories in force. Jim decided to forgo his volunteer Saturday so I'm not heading over to the fabric store. 

I want to make a new SPRING banner because the current one isn't very spring-y. But I have to get something else onto Bernie at one point or another. Speaking of Bernie, last night while I was quilting, the button that I use to start and stop the machine decided to not respond. Eventually the machine gave an error on the screen and told me to restart the machine. Huh? I hope this is a one-time thing.