New Wednesday Norm

Since I am now closed on Wednesdays we have a new norm. IF the weather cooperates, we'll be in Midland in the morning, maybe lunch after but definitely grocery shopping after that since we're already in Midland. 

When I get home I may or may not long arm depending on the time. Yesterday it was nearly 4:00 before we got home so no long arming on Janices quilt. But, there was lots to do after Jim and I watched (as we are naming them) Fred and Ed across the lake attempting to build a pole barn. And, it was too nice to be inside.

First, get the binding on Jacobs quilt. 

Check that off the list

Next was picking out and making backing for Elijah's quilt. I'm frame ironing today while working. 

Getting ready to load this tonight

Once I had the back made, loaded, and started on frame ironing, I moved over to Mike and blanket stitched the pillow top. 

Top and back/binding selections

I had to decide what colors I was using for the pillow back and binding and have those all figured out. By this time it was nearly 8:00 and I was tired from the Midland activities this morning. My knee has a little twinge in it so I'll not be running any marathons today. 

We are also dealing with mom stuff. She is showing continued decline in her mental faculties and we had to put a bedroom set fire out throughout the day. Well, Jim did anyway. She's supposed to come over later on to explain what happened but we need to have a discussion with her about recent developments in her spending and thought processes. I'll be working all day until she decides to show up later. 

Noticing Things

I've mentioned before that when I'm quilting a quilt I see every stinking millimeter of the top. I inspect for tears, holes, threads, and other anomalies. Like the one below.

Blood? Food? Drink?

I'll be continuing on with Janices quilt later today but this morning is skating day and we have to get groceries while we are in Midland. 

Since I had a guild meeting last night and we didn't get home until nearly 9:00 nothing else was done in the studio other then cutting out more strips for the other project I'm working on. 

New Hours

I went into my web site yesterday to modify hours of availability with my 'retirement'. Same with Google. However, one of the two (I can't remember which one) would only let me either be closed on Friday or stay with the same hours (10-4). I wanted to reduce Friday to 10-12 since we seem to get pulled away on Friday afternoons for one reason or another. 

I opted to mark it closed and if somebody needs to come on Friday I'll make arrangements to be here. 

Meanwhile, here's some of the quilting going into Janice's quilt.

A corner

The border corner

After working I took a few minutes to cut up a bunch of strips. More on this later. 

Strips in green, white/off white, and red

I got the top together on the horse quilt and have to get a bunch of borders in next.

After getting that top where I wanted to be last night, I moved over to DW. I removed and trimmed Jacobs quilt and made the binding after that. It's not attached but ready for me to do when next available. Not tonight.

Tonight I have a QQQ meeting up in Oscoda and we have to leave here around 4:30 to get up there in time for the meeting. 

Change the Web Site

If I put a blurb in here I'll be more inclined to remember to do something later. Like changing the hours on Google and on the web site. I'll be closed on Wednesdays, remember? 

This is what I'll be working on for the next few days. 

I laid in bed last night thinking about how I'm going to quilt this, but thought it was pieced differently than what I was 'quilting' in my head. Back to the drawing board.

Meanwhile, nothing quilting or knitting yesterday. We were in Mt. Pleasant most of the afternoon and once we got home our neighbors three doors down were out to the property and we went to visit until nearly sunset. 

It doesn't feel like I got a lot done in the studio yesterday but I was busy out there all day long. At first, after running around in the morning, I started right in on Tristans potty quilt because decided it needed to be enlarged. 

One of our stops was Pieces of Thyme to find more toilet paper fabric. They were out so I made due with something I had here in the stash. 

I remembered I needed to make a baby quilt for Jims cousin due in about January/February, so I picked up three yards and a back for that.

After lunch I was animate about finishing Jacobs/QAL quilt and by nearly dusk, I called it a win. 

Block #20 (my favorite)

Block #18

Block #19

Block #17

Block #16

From there it was time to fix/finish the quilt I started with on the first day of retreat. It's still not done but at  least some of the blocks are squared and fixed. 

I'm on the phone right now with the kids in Germany so getting photos in is a challenge. I may knit later, but Jim and I are running to Mt. Pleasant to start picking up Christmas lights for the house. Every year a couple of strands burn out. 

Taking A Me Day

Technically we are supposed to be in Ohio, but because of Hazels situation right now, we postponed that trip. I had already, in my head, scheduled a day off yesterday so I 'played' in the studio working on holiday gifts for the grands. 

Here's Zechariah's set all complete. 

They call him Zecky but I spelled it like I wanted

After working all morning and most of the afternoon on his pillow (took way longer than I thought it would), I jumped on DW and worked on these three blocks.

Block 15

Block 14

Block 13

The QAL from Sam Alberts and Quilting Curve Studio is going to Jacob. I have to get this quilt done so I can get his gift(s) finished. But I did start his pillow.

We have to run to town to get some ingredients for dog food. We are making it here because Hazel is on soft foods for a few weeks. We replicate the Farmers Dog recipe in our insta-pot. I'm hoping to jump on DW to work the remaining five blocks later today. 

Not Going to Ohio

We were supposed to be leaving this morning to head down to Andrews. Tristan (our grandson) isn't feeling well, but moreover, Hazel had to have five teeth removed yesterday. She has stitches, pain meds, and is on antibiotics. Too much for the dog sitter to deal with. We had to cancel.

I'll be fussing around the studio today. Not necessarily working but, yes, working. To shorten a lengthy story, I came home with a crap load of fabric from the retreat and have filed most of it away. But I have other things to take care of. 

Here's what I accomplished in four days.

Day 4: Potty Humor

Day 4: The Quilt Room

Day 3: Ho, Ho, Ho

Day 3: Cowboy Boots

Day 2: Flower Power

My birthday was amongst the retreat happenings and Jim not only got me a long stemmed rose for the retreat table, but he got me these for the house.

Gorgeous!

From the pics above, I managed to get five tops put together. The piece I worked on the first day was not going together well. And, quite honestly, I was being lazy. I didn't trim each block as I was building them and it's not going together very well. I'm hoping to rectify that soon since all my big projects are now all together.