Great day at Meeks Park

So far, the festival has exceeded our expectations for raising money for the guild. You remember yesterday, we set up in Meeks Park and hoped for the best. Here we are, day one...

Meeks Park sign over the footbridge

This is what it looked like today. Quite a difference from April!

You can see the backs of the booths from the bridge.

On the path to our booth.

More booths.

Here it is!

Kay and Anna were selling raffle tickets.
The raffle quilt is behind them.

Our booth

Some of our hand made goodies

Tomorrow, we do it all again. I hope the weather cooperates with us again, too!

Just when we'd thought we'd seen it all...
This guy comes by. I asked for a photo, and he obliged.
Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Hot, Sticky, Tired and Happy

No, those aren't four weird dwarfs, they are the words to describe how I feel today. Mr Wazoo, Kay and Henry, Connie and I all met at Meeks park here in Blairsville to set up our booth for the Butternut Creek Festival tomorrow and Sunday. The weather cooperated for the entire set up, but it is pouring rain now. Thank goodness we got done before the heavens opened! It was 90 degrees and rather humid, too. Tomorrow, I'll have a cooler with plenty of water! ( And an umbrella! 60 percent chance,,,)
Here is Meeks Park, looking at the area where the show will be. I took this picture in April when my daughter was visiting. I'll snap a photo tomorrow to show you the summer festival view!

I took this picture of the creek from a walking bridge that we can see from our booth.
In April, it was cool and wonderful. Today, it was hot and sticky.

I came home drained and so tired I had to take a snooze in my chair! 

On the happy front, one of my quilts sold at the Blue Ridge Art Center fiber arts show!! Imagine my surprise when a check for a considerable sum came in the mail! I never was truly happy with how this quilt turned out, but kept it for trunk shows. It is called 'Fancy Dress Party' and features appliqued tropical bird varieties on a pieced background. I guess someone liked it better than I do, and shelled out the money for it. The art center gets their commission, but I did well regardless.

Fancy Dress Party

The birds are appliqued together off the background, and then, applied to the quilt by machine. The leaves are appliqued directly to the background.

I wish I had taken better pictures of it.
The feathers are all individually made, appliqued together, and then the entire bird is sewn to the background. It takes a long time, but I think it looks great this way. Loads of detail is possible in each bird. The background is a jelly roll quilt pattern called Serendipity. I already had it in my pile of UFOs waiting to be quilted, so I used it for the background.

Well, it has been an interesting day, but I'm ready for a shower and some chow. Stay tuned for tomorrow's edition. I hope to have pictures to show you.

Dead tablet update

We traveled three hours to the heart of Atlanta to get the Surface Pro evaluated. She was dead on arrival. The guy at the Microsoft store tried his best to get the thing running, but he was as stymied as I was with the stubborn black screen phenomenon plaguing my poor tablet. Because it was only nine months old, he gave us a new tablet at no charge.
On the way home, we stopped at the batting wholesaler and picked up two rolls, five king and two black queen sized batts. We saved a load of cash by not having it shipped. The car stuffed with batts, we headed over Blood mountain and the pretty ride home.
I called APQS to ask how to go about the change of tablet and my registered Quilt Path software, but had to leave a voice mail for the elusive support person. After some trial and error, I got the software to play nice with my laptop and the new tablet. Two and a half hours later, with no reply from APQS, I got it installed, up and running! I must be getting the hang of Microsoft computing, but will never admit it to your face! I'm a Mac girl through and through. We had the small boxy Mac with the blinking green cursor in 1987, before there was internet for peons. I remember signing in with a long sequence of numbers and letters to get into the system at the UW Hospital. I've come a long way, baby, and all without ever having a Microsoft product. Until now. I have an HP laptop and the tablet for the longarm, but only because they didn't make the software Mac compatible. Thankfully, I'm a quick study and have limped along with my limited computer savvy.
I'll be back in business on Monday, after manning the booth with the guild ladies at the Butternut Creek arts and crafts festival over the weekend.
See you all on the other side of the weekend! Here's a couple of vintage photos to tide you over. A blast from 2011, and a memorable Wazoo retreat in Sebring, Florida. Oh, how I miss these ladies...especially the ones who aren't with us anymore.

That's me...the goddess of quilt tops!
The girls got silly and covered me with the fruit of their labor at the retreat.

Truer friends you'll seldom find.
Thank you, ladies, for the memories.

One of the worst days ever

Today started okay. Then, I went to work. My 9 month new APQS machine has crapped out. The tablet is the brain of the machine, and it just plain quit. When I turn it on, I get the pretty welcome screen, and then it goes black. No matter what I do, screen goes black. I hate to rag on APQS, but the customer support is abysmal. I called customer support and the girl tells me the support person is teaching a class and is unavailable, but she will give her the message. What? This is not what the person does all day for the company?! Anyhoo, an hour or so later, I got the call and was told the tablet is not an APQS problem, and I should try charging it for two hours off the machine and plugged directly into a wall socket. I did this. Black screen persisted. Next call to APQS got voice mail. Again, a two hour wait and same customer support person tells me I need to take the tablet to my nearest Microsoft store, which is in Atlanta. So tomorrow, I am off to Atlanta to see the Surface Pro guru and see if the thing is salvageable.
Needless to say, very little work got done today. I took in a couple of quilts, and finished cutting the clothing pieces. No sewing or quilting.
So, enjoy this nice photo, and think of me (a die hard Mac geek) hob-nobbing with the PC geeks in Atlanta. Don't worry, I'll be fine.

There was some beauty in the world today

Big wind, Tennessee scenery and some actual work getting done!

Mr Wazoo and I took a morning off to go to Chattanooga and pick up my little Bernina. It was in the shop for some minor surgery to have the knee lift mechanism installed. While I was there, I picked up a couple of feet for my 770 and some useful information on how to get it to tie off at both ends of a seam.
The journey to Chattanooga is a beautiful one, through the Cherokee forest, and along the waterways made by the TVA. It is an awesome wilderness, punctuated by river rafting and zip line businesses.

Part of the man-made waterway along the road to Chattanooga

The Cherokee forest in the Tennessee mountains.

Meanwhile, back in Georgia, we got a look at the damage to trees and sheds along the road to our house after the big storms of the last week. One home has beautiful Bradford Pear trees all along their driveway that really got blasted. That variety of tree is notorious for splitting and falling apart in weather, and is not for sale at any of the local nurseries. Now, I see why! Here, you see what happened, and what the trees look like when all is well. Too bad.
The little shed is right next to the road, and I have always thought I would take some quilts over there to photograph. Oh well, I hope the owner fixes it, but I doubt that will happen. I see sheds, houses and barns all over our and the neighboring counties falling down from neglect whenever I am out and about.

The row of trees in the Fall

Busted up and falling down, now.

My favorite little roadside shed looking battered and sad.

When I got home, it was time to get in the studio and try to finish cutting up the clothes I have been working on for two days. I have one shirt yet to cut, but just couldn't finish it. All the rest are ready to sew, and today, I'll start the process.

Almost finished with the prep work...
another load of un-usable bits in the trash

I took this picture before finishing for the day.
There is only one shirt left to cut. Yippee!

I have been doing the hand embroidery on this miniature
for the last couple of evenings.

Last night, I got it done!
Now, I just need the binding and sleeve!

Those tiny buttons were tough to sew on,
but aren't they cute?!

Time to get to work!

Slow progress

My right arm is so sore this morning!! Yesterday, I de-constructed the giant bin of clothes for the three memory quilts. I worked on taking them all apart for four hours, taking one rest break to machine applique some of the pieces to one border of my show quilt.

Deconstructed and ready to be cut into block pieces

The parts I can't use

First border ready to be sewn to the quilt!

Some of the bits...there will be buttons and yo-yos, too

The master plan, and the rest of the bits.

Mr Wazoo was in the garage (yes, we have spilled over into the garage with our quilting enterprise) quilting this batik beauty. He doesn't mind being out there by himself, but I noticed he had propped the door open between the studio and garage... 

This quilt will look spectacular on a bed!

Panto: Fantasia

The light Grunge fabric on the back really shows off the quilting.

Late in the afternoon, I started the process of cutting the clothes into squares and strips, and then sub-cut them into block pieces. I didn't get really far before it was 6:00 and time to quit. After a doctor appointment this morning (ugh...I am supposed to be on a diet, and I have gained weight...) I will be back at the cutting table, slogging through the humongous pile of clothing parts. Once I get the pieces cut, the project will move along quickly. It's the prep work that sucks! Oh well, it's a living!

It's a start...

Sunday, Fun day

I'm still in my jammies as I type this, watching Sunday Morning and enjoying pancakes. Sunday is my day, and I do whatever I want...usually sew, or quilt. Today will be no exception, because I am planning to cut apart a tub full of clothes to prep for three customer memory quilts. But that comes later.

Yesterday, I spent my studio time quilting, and for the most part, so did Mr Wazoo. After all, it rained...again.

First, I quilted this pretty jelly roll quilt.

Panto: Stacked Snailz, one of my favorite patterns.

The customer backed it with soft flannel.

Then, I tackled this Georgia quilt for a customer's grandson going off to college.

The panto is digital. Really, the only way to get such precise corners

One of the fabrics is repeated on the back

Mr Wazoo quilted this Christmas project for
a customer who is a new quilter.

She did a great job! The panto is Holly berry.

The back is another happy Christmas print.

Well, its time to jump in the shower and get this quilting show on the road! I have the next project ready to be quilted, and the bin of shirts and pants waiting to be dismantled. The sun is briefly shining, and Mr W is going out to plant the new hydrangea bush. Life is good!

The next quilt in the queue

So pretty!