Custom quilt finish, and a show!

Yesterday, I worked on the custom job, and finished it in time for my guild meeting in Blue Ridge. I am pleased with how it looks, and think the customer will be, too.

Here is the quilt

The butterflies, swirly bits and feathers

Star point and squares quilting

A peek at the back

Borders

After I finished the quilt, I was off to Blue Ridge to guild and the fiber arts show. Here are some shots at the show. Recognize anything?!

Now I have to get back to work! I will post later this evening when there is more to show.
Later...Mr Wazoo finished the quilt he was working on and loaded another before being distracted by a truck load of stone. Out he went and hasn't been seen since! I did find him on my walk to the top to get supper started. Seems he has been digging and planning for the new walkway. Another big digging project...better him than me!

Panto: Daisy Swirl

Molly waits patiently for her kibble. Tim has a patriotic quilt on in the background

Here is where the action is!

Well...it will be full of action tomorrow.

I put on a pretty show quilt for a loyal customer. The pattern and fabrics are really nice, but...

While doing the stitch in the ditch, I was surprised by something. Do you see it?!

The real quilting starts tomorrow.

The end of the work day

I promised to show you the quilting I am doing on the latest customer quilt, so here it is! The black parts of the quilt are finished and the colored parts are well under way. I did go back to marking the outer border using pounce powder and a foam brush, since I was using  a stencil.

One of the black squares with fat feathers

I used this stencil I picked up at a guild yard sale for 10 cents!
I use pounce powder and a foam brush to mark it

Here's what it looks like sewn

The star points are marked with a ruler and my trusty chalk pencil

Patterned points are quilted with subtle variegated thread

Here are my registration markings

Then, I use my longarm ruler to quilt the outlines

The swirls are free-motion quilted

The solid star points get brighter variegated thread
quilted in an outlined swirl pattern

Looking good!

Mr Wazoo worked on finishing the Garden Delight quilt, and starting on a new quilt.

This one has a variety of beautiful florals on a soft beige batik background.

 Lovely!

He's on to the next quilt; this big purple and green bed quilt.

New lilies in the garden!

And these pretty flowers, too.

One of the hybrid lilies we got at the master gardener sale last year.

The dahlias are coming on, as well. I wish you could see their deep red velvety color in person.
The picture doesn't do them justice!

Fat feathers, guild business and quilting...oh my!

My first board meeting went well, and the ladies were so helpful in understanding how the guild operates. Every guild is different and has their own way of doing things, and this guild is well organized and functional, so why change it? A bit of tinkering may get is to be even better, so I will try to enlist help to do so. Change is scary. I believe a quilt guild exists for two reasons; to educate the members and the community in the art of quilting, and to provide comfort to the community and the members through the gifting of quilts. Its a pretty simple concept...
After the meeting, I met up with the show co-chair and we went to look at another venue possibility. I am so stoked about this one! HUGE!!, clean, well lit, easy to get to, lots of parking, and did I mention HUGE!! We are hoping the price is right and we can move forward with our plan for a terrific show.

 

I returned home and back into reality, and started right in on the custom quilt from yesterday. I did stick with the chalk pencil for marking and it has worked well so far. As for the title of this post...I admit it, I like healthy, fat feathers. Many stellar, award winning  quilters make the slim, packed and stacked feathers, but I have never been too fond of making them. Maybe that's why I don't measure up in the competitive quilting world, but I don't care. I like what I do, and my customers seem to like it as well, so I'll stick to what I know how to do...fat feathers! What I don't like doing is quilting on black. It is really hard to see where I'm going even with the auxiliary lighting on my machine.(big sigh here...I'm getting old) Hopefully, I will finish the black parts today and get on to the fun, colorful bits.

I finished the other end, and have the guide markings on this end.
I'll show you the quilting later today.

The backing is an ombre black to gray to black. Here, you see the middle section of gray on the take-up roller.

Mr Wazoo got to work on a much more colorful project; a maple leaf quilt. We don't have a maple leaf pantograph, so he used a meandering leafy vine pattern instead, in a light gold color. It turned out really pretty.

Panto: Trellis vine

He's all set to finish another customer quilt from my Garden Delight class today. He has the same problem I have of running out of gas at 6:00. We quit working at 6 most evenings. Then, I make supper and he does a bit of yardwork. It's a good life!

One last row and he'll be done!

Molly was outsmarted by a lizard who ran to safety under the steps.
The pot of geraniums is full and beautiful.

I've been informed that the next garden project is a flagstone walk where you see dirt in this picture.

The back garden is now in summer color...mostly lavender and purples.

The fairy garden in the half shell is running over its edges! I love how cute it is.