High Expectations

Wanna see the cutest baby ever?

Our Germany granddaughter

She loved the pumpkin patch yesterday.

I'm quilting along yesterday and I noticed I was throwing a lot of little threads on the floor. More than usual. I was picking them off the top I was working on and decided to do a clean sweep of about an 18" square area.

This is what I got.

Seriously?

Maybe I have higher expectations than other quilters? I know while I'm pressing my seams I pick seam threads out during the whole construction process because they'll just come to haunt me later on the frame if I don't. 

Do others not care? I'm a rare long armer that will actually clean your top up for you while I'm quilting. Simply because I don't just plug in a motif and push play on the computer and walk away and do something else. I see every millimeter of the top and take care of issues (threads, tears, missed seams) while I'm working.

If I wasn't a long armer and had to send quilts out to be quilted, I'd make damn sure I got rid of as many seam threads as I could. I expect myself to take pride in my work and not make others work harder due to the lack of caring/laziness. 

Soap box done. In the last hour of my work day mom stopped by and stayed for a few hours to visit. She also needed to pick up one of the quilts dropped off last week for her new bed on its way.

After she left I jumped right in to working on the Quilt Room. It was time to put the next big section together.

We finally have a rainy day today; we sure needed it. It's easier to stay rooted to the machine working when the weather adds to the ambiance; love rainy days. It's not going to be a long day though. We are hopefully going to be picking up the new pontoon later this afternoon. So. Fricken. Excited! 

Getting a Late Start

When I woke up at 7:30 this morning my intention was to just lay there and watch nature outside the window. I woke back up around 8:40. Oops. Must have been tired.

Dianes quilt is nearly done but I'm shifting over to this piece to get it done for the holiday.

Lynette's Quilted Witch by Lori Holt

Pumpkins!

I'm free motion quilting pumpkins of all shapes and sizes into the border. 

I pieced the next block in the Quilt Room

Scrap bins and bolts of fabric

Block #4

Block #3

Block #2

Block #1

Not sure why these loaded in reverse but I started the QAL with Natalia Bonner of Piece n' Quilt in Utah last night. I was having so much fun I did four blocks. I had all three long arms busy yesterday!

More of the same today while enjoying the picture perfect weather the past week (mid-70's with sunshine).

Bedroom Make Over

I did a little knitting yesterday afternoon while relaxing and snuggling with the dogs.

Have you ever prepped a room for painting? I've started (as you know) by getting things out (like the dresser), but yesterday morning was spent washing walls, trim, ceiling fans, and doors. While I'm not painting the ceiling fan or door, it's nice to start with a clean slate. And, frankly, they needed it.

Here's the bedroom with the 'before' pic.

I'll repost the before pic after we get the room finished, but it's going to be a few months before that happens. I have to get paint first and with that I'll need my mom. She knows color and coordinates. I'll leave everything up to her.

Diane's quilt on Bernie will be finished today and then I'll be moving over to Marty to start Lynettes Quilted Witch. No pics of that yet. 

First Order of Business

Wow, did I get some things done in the studio yesterday. I think I was making up for the past two unproductive days. 

First: All the pieces for the Granny Squares top are cut, organized, and ready to head to a retreat. Check. 

Next. Finish the Book Nook quilt on DW. Check.

Next. Get binding on said Book Nook quilt and shoot a photo before putting it away. Check.

The pumpkin was still sweating from the cold night we had so was finally able to get it dollied up for the fall season. Check. 

Get new top loaded onto DW for the 9-Patch Quilt-Along with Natalia Bonner. Check.

Decided on a different border treatment than she put in because I know this quilt-along is a bit simpler than the one I'm doing with Sam from Quilting Curve Studio. How about this?

I'm now ready to actually participate in the QAL since I have the borders and sashing started. Yay!

Because I had spent a lot of time on DW yesterday getting things finished and started, I pulled away from him around 7:00 to do some cutting for the next block on the Quilt Room. 

But today I'll not be doing that. In fact, I should be heading to Crosswell for a fantastic fabric sale going on but it's a 2 1/2 hour drive one way and the sale started yesterday. Chances are, everything is picked over and it's too nice to be in the truck all day long (again) today. 

Jim has applesauce he wants to start. There is another sale next weekend in Harrison with even better prices than Crosswell and I'll just attend that on Friday (Saturday, we have family coming up). 

I need to run into town sometime today to find a foam core board for the super-mini design wall I'm going to need for the Granny Square planning. I also need to wash down the trim and ceiling fan in the guest bedroom to prepare it for painting so I'll start there and later we can run in after Jim fends off all the mean bees out right now while he's peeling and coring apples outside. 

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.