Odds and Ends

I worked all day in the studio, finishing up things and getting my act together for the program I'm doing next week in Texas. I finished the African quilt, and just need to give it a short spin in the wash before taking it to Texas for its debut.

Bound and done!

Next, I quilted this bee themed quilt with a new pantograph called Honeycomb. The quilt is so busy, it is hard to see the pattern very well.

This collection has some very nice patterns and colors in it.

Hexagons on hexagons!

A look at the backing.

At the show, I had done a demo of an easy quilt. I still hadn't finished it, so I sewed the rows together and got it quilted today, too. My new foot for binding on the Bernina (foot 10D) is wonderful for quickly finishing up charity quilts!! It took less than half an hour to apply and sew down the binding on this quilt!

I used quite a few fabrics from  my cowboy stash

Panto: Simply Stars

I've had this backing fabric for eons. I'm glad to finally have a quilt to use it on! Notice the binding? Looking good!

I had just enough time before quitting, that I was able to put together the door panel I bought at the local shop. Good thing I got around to it before winter arrives!! ha ha I'll get the sleeve and binding on tomorrow.

I had the crow fabric for the border in my stash. I'm afraid this will be the last project for that fabric...there is very little left. 

The quilting design is called Twinkling Leaves. I have never seen a leaf twinkle, have you?

Backing from the stash, too.

With the quilting and trimming done, I was through in the studio for the day. Some more squares appliqued on the big polyester after supper, and I'll be happy. Bye for now!

A fun day and a work day

Yesterday, I had a fun day. I went with some girlfriends to Cumming to see Victoria and Abdul. It was a wonderful story about Queen Victoria's relationship with an Indian guy who was brought over to present a coin to her. The story unfolds from there, with some funny bits and some sad bits. Judy Dench is superb in her role and the Abdul actor (I didn't get his name...) is very easy on the eyes!
We had a delicious Thai lunch before the show, and after the show, headed over to Thread Bear, one of my favorite quilt shops. I bought another cloth book panel for either a quilt or a book for Dechen, and two lengths of stash filler fabrics. It was a swell day out!
Today, I was in the studio, working on the African quilt. I finished the sewing around 4:00 and had it quilted by 6:00 and supper time. Here is the test block I made on Sunday, and the quilt made from the African fabrics using the same block pattern.

Test block made with fabrics from my strip bin

The quilt, made from African fabrics I purchased at the Asheville show.

The Photobomber...

Panto: African Samba

The backing is two Laurel Burch Mythical Jungle fabrics from my stash

Mr Wazoo quilted three baby quilts out in the Man cave, but didn't take photos of them. I'll do that tomorrow.

After work we all took a walk around the yard and talked about planting some bulbs. Mr W bought some pretty blue-purple pansies for the flat planter bowl, but the impatiens are so full and pretty, he didn't want to take them out yet. I agree! In fact, the combination of the flowers and the bright lime green of the shrub and ground cover is my favorite part of the rock garden.

You'd never guess it was October looking at these beauties!

With the garden cut back, the potted flowers are the only colorful thing in the back yard.

The Block of the Month class went well, except for my machine having a bad case of hiccups!! Everyone made their block, and we decided to pick up the pace next month and make two blocks! My version of the quilt this time will be black, white and red. Here's block number one.

Now, I have to get back to hand sewing squares into the double knit polyester quilt. You remember that, don't you? Slow going and tedious, but I am making progress...

Sunday sewing.

I was good to myself and spent most of Sunday sewing for fun. I had made a couple of little quilt tops during my demos at the show, and chose to finish one of them yesterday. This is the easiest quilt in the world (according to the webpage it came from) and I enjoyed finishing it while watching a 'happy ending' chick flick.

All fun kid pleasing fabrics

Quilted with a loose meander.

Happy backing and machine stitched binding. Done!

I spent a few hours making strip sets for a quilt of all African fabrics, too. I will share it when I have some full blocks done. I really liked the block used in the latest comfort quilts, so I tweaked it and made a sample before starting the quilt. I hope it turns out well.

In the evening, I did the hand sewing on the tablecloth wall hanging and table runner. I had to wet the wall hanging to remove the blue markings, so its out on the porch drying. Here is the finished table runner. It ended up fairly large.

I have it draped over the back of the sofa here.
I love how it turned out.

Panto: Roses, roses

the backing and hand stitched bias binding.

Mr Wazoo finished one of his customer quilts, too. With the tropical storm blowing and raining outside, he was happy to be in the studio quilting.

Autumn is in the air...and in the studio!

Panto: Trellis vine

My Block of the month class started today, and I had 11 people come. We enjoyed making the first block but my machine (Pfaff 2056) ate the top thread and balled up wads of it in the bobbin area over and over. I re-threaded, checked the bobbin and case, and cleaned everything. No dice. It's sick. I will have to call my machine guy (he s wonderful) and have it looked into. Until then, I will be using the new small Bernina for the demo in Texas next week. Or maybe the Pfaff 7570. Don't know yet.

Tomorrow, I am off to Cumming with the girls to see Victoria and Abdul. It is too highbrow to come to our little theater here in Blairsville. Oh well, maybe we'll have time to go to my favorite quilt shop there, Thread Bear. Oodles of fabric and nice shop keepers. Bye for now!