Rainy days and quilting

I know its been a couple of days since I posted, but it seemed boring to post pictures of the same quilt for three days. The big custom customer quilt is finished, and I am able to move on to another show quilt for another guild member and customer.

This pretty Dresden Plate should go home soon!

The first picture is the truer color...I don't know how the color change happens in pictures, but it is frustrating. I opted to not do gobs of background fill, but to add another element to the design. I hope the customer is okay with that decision.

Leaves, loops and flowers in the borders.

The same floral design that is in the borders is also in the plates. The customer requested flowers in the plates.

A peek at the back, which is navy blue, not the gray that shows up in the photo.

I did the machine applique on the four cornerstones for my show quilt after work, and need to pick up some more white rick rack before doing the bottom border. I am determined to get the top put together and ready for quilting over the weekend. Then it will hang in the queue until the customer orders are done.

Working on the applique until my grumbling stomach told me to quit! We have been eating at 8 PM for days...

I went to my Blue Ridge guild on Thursday night, and we had a good program where my friend Janet demonstrated an easy way to make the braided quilt. It takes regular straight cut strips, and uses up scraps galore. I need to make this!!

This is the quilt that Janet made from the braids she sewed.

Here, we are all enraptured with the simple construction.

I'll have to look at my sample and the instructions a couple of times to get the process, but after that, it is easy!

It was edging up on 9 pm when I made the top of the hill where usually I can see the roof of our house. Not this night! The peak of the cloud in the center of the picture is right over where our house is! From the house, it looks like fog.

Yesterday, I did this little camping quilt after finishing the big Dresden Plate. The customer made it for a friend they camp with. So cute!

Each one has something that pertains to the couple the customer made the quilt for.

Digital panto: Flower Power

The backing is perfect for the quilt!

My faithful assistant is there for me, no matter how late I work! We'll be back there today after the trip to Walmart for supplies.

Calm day with no surprises

Both of us worked quietly all day in the studio. Mr Wazoo quilted two nice customer projects, and I worked along on a show quilt for another customer. Nothing went awry...the machines hummed along without a hiccup, and the day passed quickly, and I felt that sense of accomplishment that comes from time well spent.

This is a great pattern for a bright jelly roll, isn't it?

Panto: Daisy Swirl

I love the happy texture this pattern makes.

Here is another happy quilt. (I see a theme emerging...)

The panto is another cheerful floral, Flower Festival.

And yet, another wonderful texture!

I spent the day with this quietly elegant quilt. The stitch in the ditch is done, and so are the Dresden Plates! Tomorrow, I will do the background fill, and maybe the borders. That may be ambitious, but I'm going to try!

The pieced plates are almost 15 inches wide! The picture doesn't show the colors as rich as they are. Its a beautiful quilt.

After doing the last of the plates, I did a bit of work on my show quilt. At the rate I'm going on this, it will be finished ten minutes before it is to be turned in!!

Today, I attached all the applique bits to the top border. Maybe I'll get the cornerstones done tomorrow after work.

One more border and four cornerstones to go...

A nice dinner, a glass of wine and some handwork, then its off to bed. I have had a really good day!!

Fruitful day with a bit of a tutorial

We had a quilt last week with an extremely wavy border. Mr Wazoo soldiered along, trying to keep it straight, but it got away from him and he eventually cried Uncle and asked me for help. I had recently watched a video on You Tube on the subject, and thought I'd give it a whirl. This is the original tutorial :(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxqfjcK6i7o&t=16s)

And here is what I did. I tweaked it a bit to suit the quilt.

I had already started the repairs when I thought to take pictures.
This border was easily 7 or 8 inches off!! How the heck does that happen?
You can see where I decided to take up the slack; 4 places, each about 2 inches to fix.

Here's another view. Scary, huh?

I peeled back the edge of the first one to show you the fusible inside.

I unpicked the seam at the bottom of the block, and then made the pleat.

This is Misty Fuse. I rarely use it because it is so thin and difficult to cut and place, but it is perfect for this application. It stays soft after fusing. Just don't turn on a fan!

A fine web of fusie goodness.

I cut some thin strips for the repairs and laid them on a bright folder so I could find them when working on the quilt.

The block is unpicked from the white inner border, and the pleat taken. I lined up the colors as much as possible before laying in the fusible. You can barely see it in the fold.

I placed an ironing surface under the area to be fused.

Then, I applied heat to the pleat to fuse it in place.

Carefully pressing the borders and keeping them aligned.

Here's what it looks like after fusing.

Fixing the side border fullness was next.

In this picture, I have completely unpicked each border and re-laid them in straight lines.

Then I put the fusible under the overlapping edges and fused them down.

This one, too.

Look at how much too long the side border was!
I unpicked the bottom outer border and fused it , making the corners meet squarely.

After four pleats that took in around 6 inches, there were still two inches too much! One inch at each end! See it there on the left.

I repeated the procedure on the other end, too.

After fusing all the pleats, I took the quilt off the frame and sewed the edges with a tiny zig zag stitch, using invisible thread. I did not sew through the batting and backing.

This is what it looks like sewn, before quilting.

Here is the quilt, quilted and trimmed.
Nice and flat, without tucks or pleats.

The bottom borders are now straight and the corners are pretty square.

The invisible thread blends in and looks like a sewn seam.

Panto: Small Splat

The back is perfect!! Yippee!

Mr Wazoo stayed busy out in his garage studio, quilting a small wall hanging. I spent some time realigning the pattern for the quilt I was working on when the computer died. It took me a while to get the software loaded and running, and to put in the digital pattern that got dumped along with the broken computer. I finished the tee shirt quilt, and then took on the wavy border quilt. That pretty much shot the day, and we quit at 6 pm.

Welcome!

Panto: Mahogany

My customer made this for a grandson going off to college.
Yes, the block is upside down, but the shirt was printed this way.

Digital panto: Dazzle

Easy to see on the dark green back

The only silver lining in the second trip to Atlanta in a week was a stop at Dillards so I could get some new shoes! They sell my favorite Ecco sandals and mine are hopelessly worn out. Look at these babies!! Swanky!

Pretty shoes, but I see I need a pedi ASAP!

More colors on the sides and back, too!! Cool!

I'll end with garden visitors!
The butterfly bush is living up to its name!

I couldn't resist sharing Molly cuddling with her favorite toy.