An Unexpected Day

Yesterday started out relatively normal. Jim mentioned mom was going to come by and drop off the queen-sized quilts for the bed we are inheriting along with some other odds and ends. 

After lunch. I started in on Dianes quilt and then the neighbor showed up with a visitor and wanted to show said visitor the studio. Not sure why; visitor knows nothing about quilting or sewing. Anyway, we were visiting and then mom showed up.

While the four of us were visiting, the other neighbor showed up in their golf cart and then Jim joined us (he was mowing at the time), and we all chatted for about a half hour. While they were departing there was mention of a campfire later.

Yep, all the people in our driveway were at the campfire as well as three others; Mike, Thom, and Pam. 

Needless to say, the quilting was pretty unproductive. I didn't even get done cutting for the next quilt top before the campfire was lit.

Still more to go

We were home by 9:00 and I felt like I'd spent the day doing manual work. What the heck? I have a lot of around the house stuff to do this morning and then maybe I can get to studio stuff. 

Have you ever read this book?

I have never read or even perused its contents so I'm going to this morning since I've purchased it and will read it to the grandkids next week when they're here. There's another in the series I believe, but I'll see how well this one is written before getting the next one. 

Oh, The Miles

Jim and I spent the whole day on the road yesterday! First my physical. Why are doctors so damn animate about the colonoscopy? UGH! From the doctor we headed to AuGres and I purchased all this fabric for $65. Jackpot!

From there Jim had to do some food pantry stuff while I let the dogs out and played with them a bit as we were then headed to Owosso to look at a pontoon there. Jim was leary about the boat and the lady selling it was very elusive with any information Jim asked of her.

From there we had a 5:30 appointment in Midland to look at another pontoon.

Here's our newest addition to the lake house. We gave them a deposit and mom is gifting the rest for our past two anniversary and birthday gifts. 

We did not get home from Midland (because groceries were done after the pontoon purchase) until 8:30 last night. Needless to say, there was zero quilting work done in the studio so we'll try again today. 

Mom is here right now dropping off quilts and sheets for the bedroom set we are inheriting from her next month. Once she leaves, I'll start back in on Diane's quilt on Bernie. 

It's Too Early

Even my computer is misbehaving this morning because it's too darn early. 

A fun new border treatment

Following the lines for quilting

I"m having fun playing with the piece I'm working yesterday and today. Diane gives me free rein and so I get to experiment with new motifs. Once work was done I continued with what I started last night. 

I got all the white (background) cut last night topping over 600 pieces. 

Time for some fun. This is the fat quarter bundle going into the next project. The sun last night was shining through (well, trying to shine through my very dirty window) onto the pressing table. At the angle the autumn/spring sun beams fall every wrinkle in the fabric is visible. 

I started using the Acorn on the fabrics to pretreat but found it wasn't doing a whole lot. I mean, it was easing the very light creases, but those deep creases were not coming out. 

Science experiment time (while I had the sun in my favor), I got all my pretreats out to see which one worked the best on fat quarters that have been folded and squished into that cellophane for who knows how long? 

Let me tell ya, this is one of those examples where the most expensive isn't always the best. That $1.49 can of starch outdid the other two by almost double. I know starch gets a bad wrap (attracts bugs, sticky, etc.) but I"m not planning on going on a picnic with the quilt I'm building and quite honestly, after the first wash, the stuff comes out of the quilt so it's not going to be there forever. AND, we don't have bugs in our house since we treat for them every other month. 

I'm kind of disappointed in my findings actually. I was hoping the Best Press would have been the winner since you can get it in so many scents and it's not as gummy on the dispenser as the Acorn. It was the last place winner. Unfortunately. 

Okay, why am I up so early? I have a very busy day. Right now I"m heading to my annual physical. Once home, I'm heading to Au Gres for a fabric sale a fellow guild member is having; $2/yard . We have to get groceries tonight, Jim has food pantry, and we have an appointment in Midland to look at a pontoon at 5:30. I'll get some quilting done in between all of that. I hope. 

Do You Pretreat?

Sue's quilt is quilted on Marty but yet to come off the frame. Once that's done this morning I'll be turning to Bernie and working on this.

Diane's fourth quilt in the project pile for her

Once work was done yesterday the moving/cleaning started. I was able to get the dresser into the studio with all my under-a-yard cuts in it. It's going to hang out with all the customer quilts waiting in queue.

Once I was done with that for the day (more to come in the following week(s)) I was contemplating starting a new project and then after looking through my bucket list stash finally decided on something. Oh the choices! 

The Quilt Room is still going strong, but I like to have more than one project going at a time and I have nothing else in the works at the moment. Not until I can get to a retreat and get the Flower Power and Cowboy Boots on the wall to get them together correctly.

I do not normally pretreat my fabrics. I used to. I used to prewash and starch all the fabrics I used in a quilt. And then I started using precuts and it's pretty hard to prewash jelly roll strips or 5/10" squares. 

I LOVE Acorn!

And when I started using precuts I stopped the whole prewash/pretreat thing altogether. 

I recently watched a YouTube video about why I should at least pretreat fabrics before delving into a project. Well, I'm still not going to pretreat precuts but I will yardage and a FQ bundle. This next project has me using both and so it's getting the royal treatment. 

I hope it makes a difference because I need to piece pretty tight with Granny Squares by Lori Holt; which is the project I'm marathon cutting for.

I know a lot of quilters who have cutting their fabric at the top of the dislike list. It's actually one of my favorite things to do. I may feel differently after cutting over 700 white pieces and nearly 800 colored fabrics but that's what I started doing last night. Cutting for the next project. 

I also need to make a small design thing so I can lay out my blocks before piecing them together. I'll be working on this at retreat(s) because it's more like assembly line sewing and won't have to really think while making the blocks while gabbing with folks. I've learned my lesson about doing an intense project at retreat. Not a good decision. 

A Few Household Changes

Mom wants to get rid of her bedroom set. Not sure why because it's gorgeous. We are inheriting said bedroom set to include a large dresser, night stand, and a sleigh bed frame and mattress. The situation we have with that is moving the very heavy set. And, I need to rearrange/paint the room.

How is this quilting relate? The other lighter cherry dresser we have in the guest bedroom has all my under a yard fabrics in it. It will need to be moved out to the studio to make room for the other set. Jims 'dresser' (it's very small) will be moved upstairs as will the two mattresses from his downstairs bedroom.

Moms new bed should be here in a few weeks so I have very little time to get all of this done. I think maybe we'll move the fabric dresser tonight?

Anyway, back to the studio stuff. I have this going into Sues quilt on Marty. She wanted very light custom quilting in here so I'm doing a piano key in the border and a continuous curve in every other block in the body. I'm nearly half-way complete. 

Piano key border with cc's in every other block

I cut out and pieced the next block in the Quilt Room. 

Books!

I jumped on DW after I got that finished and am on the last row of Book Nook. Jim is concerned about him moving upstairs in that the girls use that bed to look out the window for incoming visitors. They mash down any dirt they have on their paws and although I have a protective 'cover' on the top of the bed, it's not quite big enough to cover the whole thing.

I guess I need to make another cover and I think Christmas is a good time to do that. We can have all the family long arm something for memories. The current cover is just that. When I first got DW we loaded some fabric onto the machine and let all the grownups play. I'll keep that quilt forever even though it's not finished or correct. But, it's memories. Once we get to this age, that's about all that really matters anymore.

This is Why

This is exactly why I don't get much done on Sunday. I did knit for a while but this occupies my left arm...

And this occupies my right side...

It makes it hard to move my arms when I have a total of 100 pounds all over me. And I LOVE every minute of it. I savor my time with the girls because they don't live as long as people and we have to cherish our moments with them as much as we can.

Here is what is starting my week out on Marty. I love Trip Around the World quilts. They are probably one of my favorites. Except to quilt them. There are a lot (lot, lot) of starts and stops in these because the blocks are following in their diagonal arrangement. And look at all those color changes. 

But it's going to be beautiful when I get her done!

I Have NEVER Done This!

We spent most of the late morning/afternoon with mom. We went out to lunch, cleared out some stuff she needed to get rid of and I think we've acquired a new bedroom set. We'll see if she actually gets a different one for her bedroom.

Despite being gone most of the daytime hours, I was able to get the State of Michigan quilted, trimmed, and then did something I've never (ever, ever) in the 32 years I've been making quilts, faced the finished piece. 

I like the facing!

It was way easier than I thought and I believe all my future artistic wall hangings will get this treatment from here on in. 

I cut out and then pieced the next block in the Quilt Room. Jim was watching MSU get their butts kicked by Notre Dame and I didn't want to hear his grumblings about how the team was playing. 

These are supposed to be spools but to me they look like boxes of presents stacked up. When I quilt this, I'm going to really have to emphasize the 'spool' part. 

Haircuts have already been done this morning and I'm not sure where the rest of the day is going. Since it's nearly noon it probably won't go very far. 😉