Saturday, August 12, 2017

Happy work day

I had a very nice day, doing what I wanted all day long. I did deliver the wedding ring quilt, and the quilt maker seemed pleased. Whew!... Then some grocery shopping and home.
Mr Wazoo stayed busy in the studio, quilting a bed runner that is 36 x 117"!!. It just fit on the big Gammill, and he was rejoicing the fact he didn't have to quilt rows and rows and rows only 36 inches wide. He only had to quilt 3 rows, but each one took 20 minutes!! Wow!

Its a biggie!!

Very pretty. It will look nice at the end of a big bed.Panto: Feathers and flowers
I spent the day planning the quilting for my rat quilt. I'm not a good artist, so it took a long time and a lot of erasing to get it the way I wanted it to look. I did a paper pattern with a pencil sketch first; then I traced it with a sharpie. I laid the paper pattern and quilt top on the light box and traced it  with a water soluble pen. 

The finished drawing

Left side...

middle...

right side.

And here it is, traced onto the quilt top.

I have to re-do the cheese shop, the sign was too low.
Tomorrow, I will start quilting. Aaah, stitch in the ditch. Horrible to do, but necessary for a nice, square finish.
Brats and sweet corn for dinner tonight, and raspberries about one inch across! Yum.


Last two customer show quilts done!

I have finished the show quilts for other people and now, I can finish my rats over the weekend! I am so happy!!

 
This little wall hanging was primarily done with machine embroidery.

The seed packet blocks are charming. I custom quilted it with leaves and flowers.

See the bunny looking out from the gray plants on the backing and borders?

This is also machine embroidered, with a circus theme

The blocks are all a retro circus The retro styled blocks were echo quilted with yellow thread. The sashing has loops and the border has double loops.

The back is the same starry fabric as the sashing.

Another customer made this wild wedding ring quilt.

I used a swirl theme throughout for continuity in many different colors to set off the striped fabric.

The customer requested something to tone down the arcs, so I added colored swirls there.

I almost prefer the back to the front!! It would be a cool looking whole cloth!
Tomorrow, I'll plan the quilting on the rat quilt and maybe prep the first of two customer tee shirt quilts. Gosh! I'd better go to bed!

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Messy studio tour

I realized today that I haven't up dated my studio tour since acquiring the APQS Millie. Mr Wazoo has moved to his 'man cave' in the garage, and I have the main studio for the Millie and the Gammill Classic Plus. It all works for us, and we are happy with the set-up even though I can't keep an eye on my employee while he is at work! ha ha!!
Anyhoo, had a fruitful day, learned some new tricks on the APQS and maybe, just maybe, I am making friends with it.
I did manage to get this quilt done today. Thank you Angela!

The big picture. Taken from the back of the room.
Millie on the left, Gammill on the right.

The "office".

The thread. The shelves roll out.

The snack and beverage area.
Basket of customer Tees waiting to be made into a quilt...
my Rat quilt waiting for quilting is on top of the small cabinet.

The sewing area.

The big stash

The little stash and the design area

The reading and hand work area

My homemade hanging thingie

More hanging stuff...

I love hanging stuff!

The big Gammill with the quality control officer in attendance.

Mr W's studio and Gammill Premier Plus.
Here is the Jen Kingwell Long Time Gone quilt by one of my customers. I was going to custome quilt it, but looking at others on line, I knew an old fashioned pattern with a modern slant was the way to go.

The fabrics are quaint reproductions

The customer fussy cut many of the tiny squares throughout the quilt. 

A peek at the back

Digital panto: Funky Fans
Six o'clock and time to quit for the day. More handwork awaits upstairs, so I am glad Mr W is cooking tonight!! Winner, winner, a nice steak dinner!


Tuesday, August 8, 2017

All done but the hand work!!

Yippee!! I took my show quilt off the frame at about 3:00 this afternoon, then made the sleeve, binding and label. Mr Wazoo quilted one project in the morning, and I taught him how to use the computerized pantograph this afternoon. While he was busy at the machine, I got the finishing parts on and now, just have to do the hand sewing. What a relief! Enjoy the photo finish!

Mr W started with cats

Panto: Cats paws

A peek at the back

He worked in the studio with this one...Dogs!

Panto: Dog bones

It has a nice pieced back


I'm ready for a hand sewing session tonight!





Here is the back view.
Tomorrow, I will be back to customer work, happy to be almost ready for the show. I have one more little quilt to do (The rat quilt), then I coast until the show!!



Long day...still not done

Sometimes, its hard to keep at it when my feet are screaming and my wrists are sore, but I did work on the show quilt until 6 before quitting. I am almost done. I forced myself to press on and complete all four inner borders before turning off the lights, but that was tough. There was about an hour of picking earlier in the day when I accidentally put the wrong motif in a square where it didn't belong. Rats!! But I picked it all out and re-did the square. The only way to get a picture that shows the quilting, is to turn the overhead lights off, so here it is.

The quilt main body is finished, and the three part border is, too!

The blue outer border with the applique is all that remains to be quilted.
It rained all day, and Mr Wazoo stayed busy quilting this lap quilt for a customer.

A nice sampler in interesting colors

The toile backing

Panto: Brocade
I am sincerely hoping the quilt will be off the frame today!! It is rainy again today, so at least I won't be tempted to go outside...we'll see what happens.