Saturday, October 18, 2014

Another fun finish!

I am so stoked about this quilt! Sometimes, I get such fun projects to work on, that they are a breeze to quilt. This is one of them. This is a Piece o'Cake design, done in fun brights and wonderful patterned fabrics. The customer did a perfect job with the applique, too.









For the backing, she chose this great turquoise swirly fabric. I just love this quilt!



Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Interesting finish, and a sigh of relief

Today, I finished the quilt I had to pick out yesterday. It turned out really nice, and the holes are barely visible after a good steaming. I'm sure the customer won't even realize anything happened. Whew!
Finished quilt

A repeat of the swirls that started the whole picking bother

Boo-boos all gone!

The pieced back is looking good, too
Next, I'd love to show you a customer's commissioned quilt I sewed with my friend Terri. The customer's mother bought the kit for the quilt from Woman's Day magazine in 1981, but never made the quilt.

The magazine. It was a hoot to look at the fashions and ads.



She got in touch with me and I told her I would love to do it with the help of my quilting friend, Terri. Both of us made the blocks, Terri sewed the sashings in and put the top together, I added the pieced borders and quilted the project. Terri added the binding, and voila!, the finished product! I am going to send the picture to Woman's Day along with the story and see if they think it is interesting, too. Something new from something old...gotta love quilting!

Here is our version. We had to change one fabric because the mother (who ordered the kit) used
the original fabric for another project. Her daughter said she made the pillow, but she doesn't know what happened to it.

A different angle

Close up of the blocks and sashing



EEEEEK!!

Yesterday, I was in the zone with quilting, having a good time making swirls and pebbles on a customer show quilt. Did I mention it is a customer quilt? Show quilt?





 Everything seemed fine until I saw one stitch that looked humped. Sometimes the anti-backlash spring gets old and causes the thread to make a knot on the back, so I stopped and rolled the quilt to check it out. Yikes!!! The back was an entire mine field of knots! The top thread had popped out of the tensioner and there was no tension between the threads. This has happened to every longarmer at some time, and is a royal pain in the toot when it does.




I ended up taking the whole quilt off and sitting in my chair, picking it all out. I worked from 4:30 in the afternoon until 1:15 this morning. Needless to say, my eyes were goofy and I had a terrible headache when it was all done. This morning, I feel fine and am ready to steam the holes to try to close them a bit (oh yes...all batik fabric, too) and get back on the horse, so to speak. I'm sure it will be fine in the end, but it sure shakes one's confidence.
Bad storms in Georgia last night caused some localized flooding and wind damage. My friend is kind enough to check the homestead for us, so I am not going to worry. What next? Something good, I hope.
Back to the machine!

Monday, October 13, 2014

Georgia (and quilts) on my mind

We just got back from the new house and I am already back at work on the pile of quilts I need to finish! Molly went along this time, and she was just as I expected her to be....awful! She puffed and panted for 600 miles! I don't know how she kept it up for so long. She does not Like to ride in the car!



Once we got to Georgia, we went shopping for a TV for the Dish installer to hook up for us. We had to get some other things, as well as get in some vittles for later. Along the road, we saw some bright red rockers and had to stop to see how much they were. Very nicely priced, two of them went back to the house with us. We also got a console to put the TV on and a new chair for Tim. A quick trip to Home Depot, and we added a rug to the mix. A little at a time, the place is starting to take shape.

Yippee! The TV works. See the red rocker? I used it because Tim hadn't put my Ikea chair together yet.

Sunrise from the deck. 

Looking in the front door, see Tim's new chair and Uncle Leo standing guard in the kitchen.

Molly is settling in quite well.


Tim got my chair together, but they didn't include the cover!! Good thing I have boxes of quilts!

Once we got home, I started in quilting and finished a beautiful applique quilt for a customer. I also quilted a baby quilt for my friend in Georgia. Tim will get that in the mail tomorrow. No matter how fast we go, the quilt number doesn't go down. I took in 5 more today! It looks like we will be quilting until they back up the truck to load the machines! That's okay with me since there is sure to be a lull at the new location until I get the word out about Wazoo.

Yee-haw! Cowboy baby quilt

I love the back!

Customer applique quilt

I guess that's why its called 'Hop to it"


Here is the back

Tomorrow is another day! I need to get my emails caught up and hit the hay. Happy quilting!