Nearing the finish line...and a birthday!

It has been an intense couple of days here at Wazoo, trying to get the customer quilt top with all the handprints and words done. Of course they want it king sized, so the blocks are huge, and maneuvering them for sewing is tricky.
Worse that this, I went through three sewing machines before I got one that didn't have a problem! I started with my newest Pfaff 2056. The thread won't stay in the tension disk causing nests on the back. I have had this looked at before, but it never does it for the technician...I put it away and got out the Pfaff 7570, my workhorse of a machine. It started acting up almost immediately, skipping stitches and getting needle jams in the bobbin area. Trust me, I tried everything  to get them going, wasting time in the process. Oh well, I thought, I'll get out the Janome 6500. Guess what? One seam fine, the next had no bobbin tension. There is no bobbin case, per se, on the Janome, so I just gave up. Going on down the line and further into the past, I pulled out the Bernina 1260. Good old girl, ran like a top. I had to get out the book to refresh myself on setting up for buttonhole stitch, but it went smooth as silk after that. Thank goodness! I only had one machine left...the Singer 301. People kid me about having so many machines, but this proves it is absolutely necessary!
Back to the quilt story. I used EQ to come up with a plan for the blocks and fabric the customer gave me for the quilt. Giant 30 inch blocks on point! Works for me.

Day one's work on the design wall

Day two, sew down the hands

I had added the names before starting to stitch them down

Today started early making the sashings, cornerstones and setting triangles. I had to sew all the embroidered words the customer gave me (she did them on her machine) onto the sashings before I could start sewing the whole shebang together.

Here it is...just lacking the outer borders.
I had to go make supper, so those go on tomorrow.

Words sewn to the sashing.

Mr Wazoo was working, too. He did this cool sewing machine quilt, as well as the cute kite quilt.

Panto: Bayside

I had to make binding and apply it to the kite quilt, so I did that before shutting off the studio lights and calling it a day.

On the way back up to the house I saw something moving around up on the ridge. It was Tim, surveying the land and having a beer. He got us a new screen door, too, and painted and installed it. What a guy!

Thanks to the kid's Christmas gift card, we have a door that works!

After supper, I sewed down the binding on the kite quilt. Today I worked from 9AM until 10PM. I'm ready to call it quits for today and go to bed. 

Done!

When I wake up tomorrow, it will be my birthday! (oh yeah, I have PT at 8:30 AM, too...yuk) I still have to work, but there will be phone calls from the kids and maybe a cake...