Memorial Day weekend, and I will be working, as usual

I am so discombobulated with the COVID-19 protocol...I never know what day it is anymore. I miss having certain events to keep me grounded and active, like the weekly grocery shop (we now go about every three weeks), my two quilting guilds (none for three months) and little things like getting a haircut or a dog groom. The calendar has blank spaces where all our appointments and events used to be. We're staying safe, and staying home.
The last couple of days have been a slog of removing borders, squaring up a customer quilt, and re-applying the borders. It took nearly the entire day to get the quilt straightened out and the quilting started. It's a pretty quilt, but the bias edges throughout the block construction threw the quilt maker off and there borders were like romaine lettuce leaves!! After removal, starching heavily, squaring up and re-applying, I have conquered the quilt.

Outer border off. I measured and the inner border also has to come off. Drat!

You can see the ruffle in the smaller white border. I took it off, too, and set to work fixing the problem. The customer didn't want to tackle it, so asked me if I would fix it.

Everything  sewn back on, the quilt now lies flat and the quilting is going along nicely. I removed almost six inches of excess border!! How does that happen?!

On the Gammill is a custom job. The quilt is a beautiful appliqué and pieced queen sized project. I am doing the stitch  in the ditch right now, and am excited to get quilting on it, as I have already made my plan and want to get started on the actual pretty quilting.

Blue seems to be this week's color choice here at Wazoo! This is a really pretty quilt. I hope I can do it justice with the quilting.

After work on Tuesday, I sewed a bunch of half square triangles for a class sample quilt. I used a Homespuns layer cake, and the little fleckies of fabric that came off the brushed cottons were like tiny confetti all over my shirt and black pants! I used the lint roller to get them off me and the cutting mat. I have a feeling there will be more to come while I sew and cut the project.

Before cutting apart and pressing

After! Nice HSTs ready for the next step.

While I was re-doing the big blue and white quilt, I quilted this lovely bird quilt. The customer has made several different bird themed quilts for family members and always selects the Little Bird panto. This one is especially nice.

The pattern looks deceptively simple, but I'm sure getting all those diamonds to behave was a challenge. Good job!

Here is a close up view of the fabrics.

The panto is called Little Bird. It is easier to see the birds on the solid backing.

See them?

I hope to finish the blue and white quilt today and make a lot of progress on the custom quilt. We have had more torrential rains here, and it makes me glad I live on the side of a mountain, even though it may not be a super tall one! I saw the flooding on Bonnie Hunter's site and hope we don't suffer the same fate.

I'm off to work! Have a nice weekend, and pause to remember the thousand of people who gave their lives for your freedom.

He tells me it's Thursday

Yesterday was Wednesday. If you were learning to speak English, that would be a good sentence for using the past tense. Unfortunately, that is what we talk about when sitting down at the end of the day and turn on there TV. Oh my gosh! Is it Wednesday? No, it's Thursday. Sigh...
Anyhoo, it has been a busy week and I thought we must have missed a day in there somewhere. But I digress. There is quilting to see and that is what I am here for!

This large, completely hand pieced log cabin was on the machine most of the day. When hand piecing, it is easy to get a block wonky or have accidental fullness. This quilt had both . I don't feel I did a good job on it, but I did spent over an hour spray starching and steam ironing it in an effort to get it to lay flat. No dice.

I used a big meander for the quilting, smoothing and corralling the fullness where I could.

The back is a soft, microfiber sheet.

By late afternoon, I was able to get my Irish chain loaded, and opted for a pretty pantograph instead of custom quilting. I really don't have time to do any fancy quilting for myself right now. There are other custom jobs waiting.

The panto is a new one called Keepsake Daisies. I thought it was the perfect choice for this project.

I sewed on the yellow floral binding, and finished the hand sewing during TV watching last night.

Here is the label.

I also finished putting together the newsletter for the evening guild and sent it  along to the members before going to bed at 12:45. A full day, for sure! This morning, Molly woke me up at 7:00 on the dot to go outside, so today will be another long one. Maybe I'll go to bed early tonight...(seriously loud laughing in the background)

See you tomorrow. Can you believe it is Memorial Day weekend?!! Hang out the flag and pay tribute to our war dead the best you can when sheltering at home.

Chez Wazoo

Gardens and quilting

I can't help it...our yard is so beautiful, I need to share it with you. Thanks to Mr Wazoo's hard work, we have a garden spot to live in and enjoy. All the plants are waking up and showing off. Here is my walk to work.

Molly and I walk down the slate path  to get to the studio.

At the bottom of the path, the raccoon peeks out of the plantings.

Just outside the studio is the front rock garden. Mr W has mostly low maintenance plants and shrubs that offer a wide spectrum of colors.

The mountain laurel is blooming, and the little pink buds look like kisses.

Sage, peonies and roses perfume the air.

We had a light morning rain, and the flowers are all dewey and bright.

Butterfly bush, foxglove and coral bells mingle together.

Scultellaria.

The house looks different without the barn quilt. I wish we could find someone brave enough to put the new one up there...

It looks a bit naked.

In the studio, things were humming. I had a lot to do and kept busy with sewing and quilting all weekend and today. The big 50s quilt is done and will go home tomorrow. I also finished the last of the Texas quilts. They were mailed today. My military daughter requested 3 black face masks for next weekend, so I made them and sent them off without taking any pictures. It was a quick project, and Mr W took them to the Post Office as soon as I finished them!

Here's what else I accomplished!

The last of my sister's charity quilts; another pastel beauty.

I used this pretty flower panto, whose name I can't recall.

This backing fabric is so soft...and it is the Joann Fabric brand!

Our friend, Nancy, made this exciting aboriginal quilt.

Swirls and pebbles Panto.

The fabrics are all interesting and so colorful!

This customer quilt is humble lap size, but is a wonderful example of how good homespuns can be en masse. The earthy colors compliment each other.

I used the same wave pattern for the quilting on my plaid quilt. I think it gives movement to a very basic design.

She had this beautiful batik on the back.

Over the weekend I worked on the Irish chain project, and finished construction of the center of the quilt. I have the small yellow inner border on, and am sewing strips together to make the piano key border I have planned. Maybe I'll get that done tomorrow.

Finished blocks on the design wall Sunday night.

Sewn top late Monday afternoon.

I'm putting all those extra strips to good use, opting for a piano key border rather than the appliqué one I originally planned. I hope to squeeze in the border construction tomorrow.

Right now, I am dead tired!! Molly has been getting me up at 6:00 AM and I have had a really long day. I hear my pillow calling...

Spanking clean house!

Yesterday was a good day for cleanliness at Wazoo. We had the house power washed, and the barn quilt taken down. It's sad about the barn quilt, but it had severe splitting of the plywood it was made of, and was curling up on the edges. Having the sun beating on it all day, coupled with rain getting into the plus of the wood, led to a quick demise. ( four years!) We had a new one made with the same pattern, and this time, on metal! Nobody would take the offer of  putting it up where the other one was, so it will be between the windows of my studio, close to the ground, but visible from the road. Mr Wazoo, not so handy with power tools, will have to figure out how to put it up.
The inside is mostly clean, too, thanks to Judy, our wonderful twice monthly splurge for a cleaner. We were just talking about cleaning there studio...a monumental task I have never done since moving here. Five years and all I have done is vacuum, take down cobwebs, dust the fan blades and clean the machines. I'm a stickler for a clean machine. Soon, but not today!
In the studio, I quilted the fifties project and added the binding. I love how it looks and wish it belonged to me!

After some re-sewing to get the seams to match up at the corners, it was done. I had a red and white tiny gingham that was also in the original quilt, and used it for the binding.

The panto is Rounded Squares

I opted for a quality Kona muslin wide backing.

The next project t was a two sided  tee shirt quilt. Unfortunately, the maker made the front and back exactly the same size. The side borders were 5 inches wider than the top and bottom ones, so I cut off 4 inches from each side of one, and sewed them to the top and bottom of the other to make it into the back. I was careful to line up front to back, and it came out perfectly!

Here's one side. The customer also wanted a label made and applied. I made it a circle and appliqué it to the tan block later. I don't have a picture of it, so as not to embarrass the maker. She wanted it green, so I made it green!

A request from the recipient, the quilting pattern is graduation friendly. Mortar board caps with tassels called You Did It!

This is the other side...the back? I did the binding in the same blue as the borders.

All the 'Block A' pieces for my Irish chain quilt have been pressed and trimmed. I don't know why I had such a pile of leftover bits...I think I must have done something wrong. Oh well, I'll find a use for them in the future. I'm hoping to get the 'Block B' parts made today and get it up on the design wall.

What's your plan for today?

Sliver trimmings. I was happy the blocks were nearly all perfectly sized, although some of the seams did match perfectly. No taking apart on this project...I am making this as a therapeutic exercise, and I refuse to stress over it.

Blocks are so pretty when they are trimmed and well pressed.

But...why do I have all this leftover? Oops...