Perfect weather and lots of quilting

 One of the Atlanta news stations (channel 11) has a weather gimmick called the Wizometer. They rank the weather with one being completely lousy to eleven, perfect! The next week has a 10 on the Wizometer for five days in a row!! Mr Wazoo is ecstatic. I see much yard work play in his future. I'm just happy to be able to open all the doors and windows!

Down in the studio, I had been very busy working on vintage top #4, getting it repaired and pressed. It only took an hour or so to re-sew the seams the wavered from 1/4 inch to 3/4 inch. Once I did that, I spray starched and pressed the whole top. I made the backing and started in quilting.

Here we are, ready to start pressing!

before the pressing, the blocks are a bit off and wrinkled.

A spray of starch and a good press tames the wonkiness.

Then I loaded it up and began the quilting.

Today started by finishing things left unfinished at quitting time the day before.

Vintage quilt number four was almost finished with the quilting.

I simply turned off the machine, put the needle down, and stopped in the middle of a row! It was time to quit.

I got to work and finished #4 and machine sewed the binding. I also finished sewing the cowboy #3 rows together, made the back  and got it ready for quilting.

All done, and very pretty!

Panto: Woven Wind

A peek at the back.

Cowboy quilt #3 ready for quilting.

Before I could do my quilts, I needed to do some customer work. This small quilt is so cute and whimsical! Gnomes are fun.

I don't know if they are shouting, "Timber" or selling timber...either way, they're adorable.

Panto: Snowfall

Pretty red backing shows the quilting nicely.

I quilted the Cowboy #2, and applied the binding. I'll be sewing it by hand since I only had enough fabric left to make 2 inch wide binding strips. Narrow binding, for sure!

All quilted!

Panto: Posh

I have had this backing forever. It is nice to finally use it.

Binding on and ready to sew.

I haven't shown you my deep dark secret...I keep supplies and the queue of quilts in the man cave (garage) next door to the studio. The cabinet has bins with repairs waiting to be done, and the packaged batting is stored on the rack. My Wazoo green bags hang at the end of the rack.

These are the quilts waiting their turn for quilting. It looks like a lot, but I have had it chock-a-block full at times. Usually the two months before Christmas! That's coming soon...

The nation lost a fair and honest judge yesterday.

Rest In Peace, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 

Every woman's hero.

Busy day with not much to show

Yesterday was a transition day in the studio. The first two vintage quilts have been washed and are ready to go home. Number three needs a bit of repair, and number four will begin its transformation today. I quilted one giant quilt that took the entire day to do. 42 rows of clamshell quilting. It turned out beautifully and I copied and wrote down the block patterns for future use. 

Number one looks good as new and ready to be used.

Number two also came out well. I'm glad I added a couple of color catchers to the wash, as the black fabric in this one bled. 

This is a fabulous quilt! Huge, but perfectly constructed with a gorgeous collection of Japanese fabrics.

I chose a clamshell pattern called Blowing Grasses for the quilting.

The backing is this lovely gold on cream oriental.

If you were to come to the studio yesterday, you would know that a serious quilter lives here! What a mess!! There are quilts everywhere and even I think I need to get rid of some of them. I took in seven quilts and the customers take about a half hour each to interview and discuss their quilts. That chews up time in my day, but it is part of the job. I am also starting a new repair, and that takes time, too. Picking fabrics for the repair and putting a safety pin in all the places that need attention.

Poor old Big Gammill is swathed in quilting projects. Sometimes it pays to have a 12 foot table to drape things on for examination. The next repair is draped over the rail. All of this has to move from the machine since I have to start a custom job here!

From the other end  of the room, both machines full of quilts, the cardboard box full of quilts to go various places (all mine, either for charity or sale), the finished oriental quilt and the newly laundered vintage quilts.

I have to go to the studio a bit early today because I am having a Zoom  meeting with a couple of girls from Texas who want me to do a virtual demonstration and talk about fixing vintage quilts for their show in February. They are going to instruct me on how to make the demo and what is involved in doing it over the internet. I am so bad at computer stuff, I don't know if I can learn it, but I'm willing to give it a whirl. It may even be fun! We'll see.

More picking out and some fun quilting

 Yesterday was a fun and productive exercise in quilting. The day began with the un-sewing of the block components I sewed wrong. I was so careful to re-sew them that I accidentally sewed two of them to the wrong side of the block! More picking. I had on the soothing music to stay calm, so everything came out okay.

I finished sewing the rows together at 6:00, so the borders will have to wait.

The customer quilt up first was a joy to do. It was so pretty, as well as flat and well made. It made me happy.

Simple, but so lovely

Panto: Climbing roses

I love the backing, too.

When I finished the customer quilt, I loaded my cowboy quilt number one and quickly quilted it.

I've come around, and now, I like it! Quilting always makes the quilt look better!

Panto: Conduit. It is a simple and fast linear design. The binding will be the red border fabric.

Here is the funky back! I've had this honky tonk fabric forever. It's good to finally use it.

Mr Wazoo was a bit at loose ends because he had an eye doctor appointment in the middle of the day. He didn't want to have to get cleaned up twice, so he milled around until he had to go. It turns out he will be getting glasses for driving. Oh dear...this is the man who just have 20 pairs of drug store readers and one pair of prescription ones. He misplaces them regularly. He assures me he will keep them in the car. We'll see. I'll end the post with Mr W in his birthday tee shirt, looking very much like a gangster.

Keep an eye on your gardeners!

Triumphs and mistakes

 Steeled up for a battle, I got the next quilt in the queue and started to work at 10:00. The day began with the measuring as I always do, and the discovery that the quilt is 81x91 and the backing was 63x103. Hmmmm. I measured again and got the same result. I needed to add 28 inches of width to the back in order to be able to do the quilting. I have not done quilts for this customer before, and I saw when they came in that there were sewing flaws needing to be rectified before I could quilt them. We even talked about me fixing the mistakes and she was happy to let me do it. I went to the stash and found a blue fabric that was the color of the roses in the backing fabric, and deconstructed and reconstructed the backing. One hour. Then, I set to starching and pressing the top to see how much of it I could coax into straightness. I added a couple of new seams in the borders to take up the fullness, and fixed a couple of open seams. Two hours had gone by before I got the quilt loaded and ready to go. It took until 5:00 to quilt, manipulating and the fabric to avoid tucks and pleats while Millie chugged along. For all it's problems, I think it looks okay.

Lots of mistakes in the construction, but it is still sweet and will keep someone warm at night.

Panto: Splat

The backing fabric. My big piece is the blue color and is right down the center of the back.

The next cowboy project is a BQ2. This design is easy to make and results in a fairly large quilt. I chose a beige basketweave fabric for the background and an ethnic looking print for the small contrasting strips.

Because BQ blocks are turned different ways to make the design, I put the cowboy fabrics up in a pleasing array so I could keep them right side up during the block construction.

I made and cut the strip sets and sewed them in the correct position for each block, keeping them arranged on the design wall so I could see any mistakes. So far, so good.

I made the final section of the blocks, but when I went to add them, discovered I had sewn all the accent strips to the wrong side!! I'll begin my day with some reverse sewing...

A little quilting...a little sewing

The spider came back and was on the screen door again, and Mr Wazoo commented on his persistence. Then he removed him again and took him over to his shed, where it is a good place for a web. I'm betting the spider will be on the door when I open up tomorrow!

 Once I trimmed the Jacob's ladder quilt and applied the  binding, I was ready for the day. I began by loading a nice, square, flat and well made quilt with a generously large back. Nirvana.

The quilt is centered around a beautiful panel of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park

The bears are so wonderful. I love it.

I struggled with the selection of a panto that would not distract from the panel, but create texture in the background. I settled on Dazzle, and a grayish green thread.

The backing looks fine with gray thread.

It took a couple of hours to finish cutting out all the pieces for the three cowboy quilts, and then, it was off to the races. The first pattern is called Pegs and I have made it a couple of times before. To connect the cowboy theme, I chose a bandana print for the peg parts. I think it made an interesting quilt that someone will like.

Here are the cowboy fabrics arranged on the design wall. I eventually eliminated the longhorn cow ones because their background color got lost when I added the background fabric.

Once I added the pegs and background, it started to come together.

The red border fabric sprinkled with cattle brands frames the thematic fabrics and ties the quilt together.

I'll get it quilted and probably try to sell it. It was fun to make, but I'm not thrilled with it. Plus, I still have a pile of cowboy fabrics!!