Happy New Year!

 It has been a busy and weird week for us here at Wazoo. No progress has been made getting the studio back in order or getting the computer put back on Millie and tested. Needless to say, I am off my game. The kids left the day after Christmas, and I really felt the emptiness in the house. You don't realize how just having the other person sitting there can create a hole when they aren't sitting there. Does that make sense? Does to me!
On Christmas we all piled into cars and drove to Marietta to have Christmas with Mr Wazoo. He was in good spirits and the visit was good old family fun.

Mr W in his light- up- cow ugly Christmas sweater

The gang.

Grandson sure takes after his Dad...

Earlier in the day we had Christmas at home. A quick breakfast, and we were on the road.

Grandson had the most fun. A new train set and some Lego

Remember the Christmas Story movie where Ralphie gets a bunny suit? This reminded me of that scene, when grandson's mom made him put on the outfit of a rainbow unicorn sent by the other grandma. I made the rainbow pillowcase he's holding.

After the trip to Marietta, we stoked the fire pit and told fun stories while making s'mores. Everyone smelled like smoke, but we had a blast.

He was mesmerized by the fire.

The kids enjoyed assembling one of Mr Wazoo's many jigsaw puzzles, too.

On my last visit, Mr W was busy with all his therapies. I should have brought a book to read while waiting. They wouldn't let me go with him and observe, so I stayed in the waiting area with the other visitors. The only action was people in wheel chairs coming and going. The good news is, he will be ready to go home next Friday!! A quick recovery that I chalk up to a burning desire to get outside and in his yard. I'm not sure, but isn't picking up dog poop good therapy?...

This is the view out Mr W's window. I imagine this is where it all began at Kennestone hospital.

I had to take a photo of the bathroom sign. For Heaven's sake! Don't stick your hand in the toilet!!

Mr W is thumbs up after the news that he can go home on Friday!

While walking through the fly-over walkway to the hospital from the parking garage a helicopter came and went. Pretty cool!

The PT and OT gals got a laugh from his shirt.
It will be good to have him home where I can find all sorts of 'therapeutic' things for him to do. ha ha ha

Things are looking up

My whole gang went to Marietta today to visit Mr Wazoo. He was in bright spirits and chatted with all the kids. Tomorrow, he moves to another floor for his intensive rehab. They work on him 45 minutes three times a day. That should fluff his stuffing!



All of us are going over on Christmas day to have Christmas and watch him open his presents.



We are winging it as far as the menu is concerned...all my delicious food plans have gone out the window and we are eating a variety of quickly prepared comfort foods. Spaghetti for Christmas dinner?! Sounds good to me.



Anyway...I hope you're having fun with your peeps, and that your Christmas will be memorable.
I'll see you on the flip side of Christmas!

Not a happy day(or rather,night)

I’m sitting in the trauma waiting room in a huge hospital in Marietta,Georgia. Mr Wazoo has had a stroke and my daughter drove me here and we're waiting for the neurosurgeon to come tell us something. Thank God I am a nurse and my daughter is a PA. I woke her up and we both agreed he was having a stroke. Slurred speech, not able to move his left arm and leg, facial droop, the whole magilla. I called 911 and they arrived in about ten minutes. The ambulance took him directly to the hospital where he transferred to a helicopter and was whisked off to the closest neuro trauma hospital. After the CT the doctor called me (in the car) and told us it was a clot type stroke and they would be taking him to surgery ASAP to remove it. He had the clot busting drug as soon as he got here. Now, we just wait. Our Christmas plan just went out the window, but we’ll still be together and that’s what counts.
Pray for us and have a Merry Christmas with your families. I love you all

No quilting!

The machines are quiet and the studio has had its transformation to guest bedroom. Christmas and the family are almost here and I am so excited!! I baked all day yesterday and finished nine types  of cookies for the festivities. Some will be sent to my daughter in Arizona who can't make it where this year, and some will go to Japan for my son's in-laws. Some stay here, for friends who aren't baking. Everybody needs Christmas cookies, don't you think?
Meanwhile, I took some pictures of the studio before we moved everything and thought you would like to see that I am as messy and cluttered as you think you are with my sewing. A feel good record of the 'before' studio. We spent two days cleaning in there, and it is totally different now!

My main stash of fabric larger than half a yard is on Ikea shelving from the door into the garage to the outside door to the studio. I roll the fabric to save space and make it easier to remove and put back. I saw this on an episode of Simply Quilts years ago.

Here it is from the other end. Some of the fabric is sorted by color, and the rest by theme.  On top of the shelves are Ikea bins with strips 1 1/2, 2, 2 1/4, 2 1/2 and 3 inches wide for projects. There is a bin of orphan blocks, too.

Here is the Gammill. My favorite machine, and a workhorse for the business. All my custom work is done with this machine.

This area is the office. The bookkeeping and pattern purchasing takes place here.

My Koala cabinet with my Bernina B770 QE. I got the chair at the quilt show, and it is the most comfortable one I have ever had!! From here, I can see out to the front yard and get to watch the birds and squirrels frolic while I work.

Next to my sewing area are these Ikea drawers with the fabric less than 1/2 yard and fat quarters are stored. The red snappers are for the Millie, and live in the holders Mr Wazoo made for me. Baskets hold ironing supplies, fat quarter packs and small rulers and tools.

Pegboard has tools and rulers, as well as baskets for embellishments and specialty tools.

From behind the Millie, I can see the door and the hand sewing area. I have a comfy chair and small table for this, and it also doubles as a spot for husbands to relax while I discuss quilting with their wife customers. My books are in a bookcase we were gifted when a friend moved, and Mr Wazoo painted.

The Millie was working when I took the pictures, and the quilt is finished and being delivered to a nice lady in an assisted living facility today.

The design wall looks a bit saggy and sad, but will get a makeover with new flannel after Christmas. Mr W made it and was smart enough to have it be removable for changing the flannel! My big ironing surface lives here, too.

In the tiny half bath there are shelves where I store my quilts. These are the quilts I choose from for my various trunk shows, and sometimes pick one to give away. I couldn't get the entire shelf unit in the picture ( the room really is tiny) but there is one floor to ceiling stack not shown. I have about 75 quilts here, and at least 20 more upstairs, either displayed on ladders and racks, on the wall or on the beds.

Mr W found this metal cabinet in the neighbor's trash in Florida. It was  a gray cabinet for holding screws and such in a garage. He painted it white and my sister made the drawer labels for all my sewing sundries. I love this cabinet! Everything has a place, and everything is in it's space.

Thread storage, backing fabrics, Fusibles, longarm rulers and the bobbin winder are all behind the cutting table area.

Paper pantographs are stored by theme. Thread is on rolling shelves and is stored by manufacturer, sorted by color.

The 'man cave'. Otherwise, the garage. Mr Wazoo works out here on his Gammill Premier Plus. The rack is for the queue fo quilts to be done. Most have been done and are gone to their homes before Christmas.

Mr W's machine.

We have used almost all the packaged batting for the Christmas orders, and new batts are on the way from our suppliers.

The view into the studio.

On both ends of the cutting table are 8 drawers. Fat quarters are stored in the smaller ones, and pre-cuts and flannel are stored in the deep drawers. On the other end, I have drawers for printed patterns for my classes, manuals for the machines, and correspondence supplies.

For Christmas, Mr W got me these plastic drawer units to get my ufos and projects to be made out of bags and off the floor. Thank you! I am so happy to get the collection of bags out from under my machines!

This cabinet is from Home Depot and holds rolls of fusables, freezer  paper, interfacing, stencils, more pre cuts and my indigo collection.

Fusables and interfacings

Stencils, friction pens and paper piecing supplies

Pre-cuts

mostly indigo fabrics

The last quilt I finished for the year is this one. I made it for a lady who was at my trunk show for the residents of a local Assisted Living facility. She really wanted to buy a quilt, but I don't sell them; I either keep them for trunk shows or gift them away for different reasons. I told her I would make her a quilt, but I'm sure she forgot all about it, since the place she lives is for memory impaired people. Anyhoo, I took the quilt out there today and she was so happy to get it. I had a time convincing her it was a gift because she liked my quilts so much, and she finally resigned to take it without payment. I am so happy to make her day!

It is made from ma French General line of fabrics I got in a layer cake.

The quilting pattern is called Swan's Journey

I love the backing, too!

I also got my hair cut today and had a fun time visiting with my friends and looking at their beautiful Christmas decorations. Now, I am going to finish the cookies!! One of our favorite couples are coming over for some cookies and beverages later this evening and the house is a mess!! One day left before the family comes! I am getting in the groove for Christmas and loving it.

5 quilts in two days!

A repeat customer called the other day and begged to have her five Christmas gift quilts done. We decided to go ahead and do them despite my need to start the cookie baking marathon before the kids come. Four of the quilts are quite large, and one is a big throw size. Mr Wazoo volunteered to do the small one and one other since the weather was bad and he couldn't go out to play. I did the other three!

I started with this one. Bright colors, picked by the lucky nephew who is on the receiving end of the quilt!

I forget the name of the Panto, but it is zigs and zags alternating direction.
It gives wonderful texture to the quilt.

We have never used microfiber sheets for backings before, but they all quilted up fine. They have a really soft hand, too.

I quilted up number two for another nephew. He also picked the colors.
The sugar skull border fabric is a perfect finish!

Panto: Woven wind

Microfiber sheet on the back again!

Number three was quilted by Mr W out in the man-cave. This is my favorite of the rail fence ones because of the color combination.

Panto: Square spiral

The texture really shows on the back, another sheet.

I quilted number four, made for a niece, or sister...I don't remember.

I used King Tut variegated thread for the quilting.
Panto: Flower power

The backing is another sheet, but the color doesn't come through correctly here. It is a nice lavender.

I like that the quilt maker fussy cut some of the fabrics for the crazy blocks.

The recipient must love nature and animals.

This smaller quilt is for the girlfriend of the maker's son. I had to laugh and tell her that I have quilts all over the place with ex-boyfriends of my girls. Yup, I made one for the latest squeeze of one daughter who is coming for Christmas. I wonder where it will end up...

Mr Wazoo quilted it with t he Small Splat Panto.

The quilt is the only one with a patterned sheet on the back.

All this quilting may seem like quite an  accomplishment to you, dear reader, but it is an even more outstanding feat when I reveal that I also added and sewed all the bindings on the quilts. The last quilt is on my Bernina as I type, and is about half done being bound. I am determined to start the cookies tomorrow, as I have a few things to go to this week and time is running out!

I added borders to the red quilt and loaded it on the Millie yesterday late afternoon. It was chugging along when I heard a loud WHACK! noise and then the dreaded hum of the machine being stopped in it's tracks. I jumped up and tried to get the firmly stuck needle up out of the quilt by turning the hand wheel, but nothing would move. I cut the thread to release the tension on the quilt, but that didn't work either. I called out for Mr Wazoo to come quickly, and after trying in vain to get anything to move, unplugged the machine. Silence. OMG! I just knew I was going to have a rip in the quilt, or at least lose the pattern on the computer. We undid the side panel and found thread had gone into the gap around the take up lever and wound itself tightly around the shaft, stopping any movement of the needle bar. Mr W used a box cutter and tweezers to get the thread off, and was able to finally raise the needle from the quilt. No rip!! Yippee!! I plugged everything back in and it all came to life. Guess what? There was the pattern, still on the screen of the tablet indicating the spot where the pattern was so cruelly stopped. I was so elated at the prospect of the quilt suffering no damage and the pattern being intact, I gave the man a big hug. We both decided it was best to leave while we were ahead, and did so at 6:30. A nice steak dinner made the evening complete.

I'll finish the quilt today And get the binding on and hand sewn tonight. It will go to a nice lady who was totally enamored with my quilts at the trunk show a couple of weeks ago. She wanted to buy one, but I had only show quilts with me and I don't part with those. I promised to get a quilt to her, and this is the one. Not to buy...as a gift. It makes me happy to give appreciative people a quilt.

Here is the top, all ready to be quilted. A quick trip to the quilt shop for backing, and it was loaded and the quilting started. I'll post photos when it is done.