Two machines running all day!

The last two days have been long and tiring. I have been quilting custom jobs while keeping Millie busy with pantographs. I realize some people think I just push a button and the quilt gets done. It is a computer, right? When everything goes smoothly, the computer driven machine is a wonderful asset to the studio, but it takes some knowledge and skill to get it to do what I want and have it look good, too. Fortunately, the quilts I did yesterday were both well made.

This pretty Christmas sampler will be a beautiful addition to the customer's living room during the holidays.

Panto: Holly Berries

The quilting looks nice on the back. I used Glide on the top and So Fine on the back.

The customer quilt is from a customer who has brought me similar quilts in the past. She does cross stitch embroidery on pre-marked blocks. She has made eight of these! Most are different patterns and colors.

Because she wants them to be soft and comfortable (not densely quilted) I did echo quilting in the blocks and simple loops and swirls in the sashing and border.

The back is so cool looking!

Today was a bit more labor intensive because the panto quilt was all hand pieced from 4 inch squares and didn't want to behave on the machine. The customer's aunt made two tops and gave them to her two nieces to have finished. I am quilting and binding both.

Number one has five rounds of squares around a big 

pieced square.

Panto: Splat. It took a lot of manual manipulation to avoid quilting in tucks.

I bought the backing from Connecting Threads latest sale.

Number two went on around 3:30 this afternoon, so it isn't finished. 

I'm on the last row of embroidery number two, then I'll just have sashing and borders to finish. Sixteen blocks done! Not bad for  a day's work. When it is finished tomorrow, you'll see how pretty this one is.

I have been doing hand sewing on the repair job in the evening. Boy, is it slow going. I have done three of the half blocks that run along one side of the quilt, and stitched down one of the blocks I made.

The calico bits are new.

This block had three different fabrics! Only the calico disintegrated. All fixed, now!

Mr Wazoo surprised me with a gift  for the studio! A tiny refrigerator, just big enough for my lunch, bottles of water and some apples. I get so involved in the projects, I often don't bother to go upstairs and have something to eat. Now, I can carry a sandwich with me and eat in the studio. I already have a small microwave for my afternoon popcorn snack. The rope bowl comes in handy with a paper towel liner for my popcorn.

He got the cabinet to put the microwave on, too, giving me a few more drawers for storage. The fridge is the black box on the other set of drawers.

I'm getting quilts in as fast as I can get them out! These are all waiting to go home. In the last two days, I have added seven more to the queue. Time marches on! Time for tonight's hand work...