Mr Wazoo gets happy!

Big doings at Wazoo today. Mr Wazoo had the electricians out to add more outlets on the back screen porch and in his back garden. He has wanted low voltage lights there for a long time, and now, his Christmas wish came true. It is so easy to make him happy...just add something to his yard or gardens!

I started early today and had a quilt done by noon! It is the last of three for the same customer I did the Christmas quilts for. This one is Halloween themed for a granddaughter who loves Halloween stuff.

A simple, but effective use of a collection of Halloween fabrics

Panto: Jack-o-lanterns in burnt orange thread.

Spooky fun backing, too!

Next was an Overall Sam with a few alignment problems. The batting also had a few problems! It was obviously a bit old, and still on a bolt. When I unrolled it, there were bald spots, maybe from something nibbling away at the soft parts and leaving the scrim. I solved the problem by adding block sized squares of thin Quilters Dream batting under the quilt top to cover the bare spots. Problem solved and the quilt looks as good as it ever will! I always feel good when I solve a problem for a quilter!

Oh dear! This was a real surprise when I unfolded her batting!

The scrim was still intact, so adding the squares of batting made things right.

Nobody will ever know there was a problem. Some of the Sams were a bit mutant and the sashing wonky,  but it is still a nice quilt that someone will love.

Panto: Texas Fan in off white thread

Leafy gray backing.

I have been working right along on the custom sampler quilt, and have a few blocks completely finished! Slow and steady wins the race.

We'll be seeing this quilt for a while yet.

PENNY FIX!!

Every morning we take a leaf frolic. Penny especially loves to chew the low hanging pine branches and roll in the dead leaves. A good brushing follows, then a nap. It's a dog's life!

Cheeky pup sticking her tongue out at the camera.

Are you getting ready?

Another random Tuesday

 Sometimes I feel like every day is the same as the next, but yesterday was a little different. I made a trip to the Family Connection of Fannin County to deliver 20 quilts from our guild in Blue Ridge. My friend had three quilts, and the remaining 17 were ones I made. I know that sounds like a lot of quilts, but I only made 12 of them since Covid began. The others were ones I gleaned from my quilt stash in an effort to make it more manageable. Too many quilts were just languishing on the shelf, waiting for someone to love them.

One box of quilts ready to go

There were three boxes altogether. Here are some more.

We delivered the quilts early in the day, so I didn't miss any work time. Back home by 10:00 and ready to quilt!

Millie's computer crashed the day before, so I re-entered the data for the second Christmas quilt, said a little prayer and began the quilting again. Everything was in place nd correct, so I was able to finish the quilting by noon.

It is a pretty red and green scrappy Christmas quilt!

Panto: Candy Canes in red thread.

Holly on the back. This will be a nice Christmas gift for a grandchild.

The quilter has made one for each of her grandchildren!

Now, for a sad and embarrassing story. I came home to a message on my answering machine from a lady looking for her baby quilt. She said her name and conveyed her concern that she hadn't heard from me that it was finished. I didn't recognize the name, and was sure there weren't any baby quilts in the huge queue waiting to be done. I checked my invoice books back to September, looked through the waiting quilts, and even called the quilt shop and asked if they had any quilts there for me. No dice anywhere. I called the lady and asked about the quilt. She described it to me, and sent a photo of the top by text. She then said she dropped it at the quilt shop weeks ago. Mr Wazoo came into the studio during the call to the shop, and when I got off the phone, he said he may have picked up a quilt when he went to collect checks from drop-off customers. A quick search of the car, and the quilt was located in a canvas bag on the floor in the back seat! I hadn't driven the car in weeks because of Covid. Mr W had run the errands and driven when we picked up Penny. I never looked in the back.

I called the lady and apologized for the error and quickly loaded the quilt, got it quilted, and added the binding. Mr W will deliver it to her today at no charge. What an embarrassing episode. I usually get baby quilts done right away because of the uncertainty of the birth date. This baby is due in two weeks!! Anyway, here it is. The customer's first quilt for her soon-to-be grandchild.

She used a colorful charm pack for the quilt, and added the small white border to top it off.

Panto: Flowerr Power in white thread.

The backing she included was way too small for the project, so I substituted this cherries fabric from muy stash. I used a red calico for the binding. I texted her photos of the finished quilt and she is delighted with the outcome. Whew! Tragedy averted.

The sampler quilt's stitch in the ditch is moving along nicely. I finished all the black SID and will move on to white next. A few seams in red will be done, and then I will begin the quilting in earnest.

I have an Opthomologist appointment today, so quilting time will be shortened again. I just keep plugging along and finishing quilts. If they make them...I will quilt them!

Monday, Monday...

Not really a fun-day, but a work day. I have been continuing with the stitch in the ditch on the black and white custom quilt, as well as doing customer pantos as fast as I can.

When I finished the block border stitching and the quilt was stabilized, I started at the bottom and am working my way up the quilt, doing the border SID and each block.

This sailboat quilt is a gift for a little grandson of my customer, and she needed it ASAP before leaving town to see him. It didn't take long to do, so I quilted it and had it ready by lunchtime.

The quilt is really cute, with it's topsy-turvy boats and the fish swimming underneath them.

Panto: Ebb and Flow in light turquoise thread.

The back is pieced from the fabrics on the front.

The next customer has two Christmas quilts and a Halloween quilt. I am debating whether to wait on the Halloween one until all the Christmas orders are finished.

This pattern is easy and looks like it would be fun to make. I took a picture and will work out how to make it when I have a few minutes to myself. I think it is really pretty!

Snowy backing

Snow Fall panto on the black Grunge fabric, using Christmas red thread.

The second Christmas quilt is loaded and about half quilted. The computer program crashed and I can't get it to go to the next row. I have tried al my usual tricks without success. I left it and quit for the day. I will tackle it today when I get home from delivering quilts to Family Connection in Blue Ridge. I have a giant box of donation quilts, finished since Covid precautions began. Mr Wazoo will be glad to get them out of the house!

I finished the hand sewing on my daughter's Christmas present, and laid it out on our bed to take a look. I wish the colors would come out right, but the lighting in the room is dismal. Oh well, its done!

Funday, Sunday!!

 Hey! I really did have a funday Sunday! I went to the studio early and finished the quilting on my daughter's Christmas quilt, as well as switch the custom quilt over to Millie for the finishing touches. 

I love this quilt! I think it is one of the most beautiful ones I have made in years.

I hope my daughter likes it as much as I do.

Panto: Paradise Feather with blush pink thread.

One of my customers had this backing on her quilt and I had to find it! I located it at Connecting Threads and managed to buy it at one of their sales.  I spent the evening watching a movie and hand sewing the binding. It will take another session tonight to finish the job.

The custom quilt took most of the day to finish. I used the same block motif in the border as in the big, colorful hexagons . I had prepared the borders by sectioning off squares, stitching the hexagon shapes and doing somer matchstick background fill around them. One I had it loaded on Millie, I stitched the motifs in all the prepared squares. It is a lovely quilt, and I am happy with the results.

It took a week too finish, but I like how it turned out!

The secondary pattern of circles made by the four patches is an added treat!

Here you can see the block pattern in one of the hexagons

Here is the same pattern, but smaller, to fit in the border squares. The little red border was left un-quilted, and the second border has loops in each of the squares.

This backing is really stunning. It is a Hoffams wide back called Fluttering By. It has 

 huge butterflies in tones of teal and lime green. Really nice!

Late in the day, I loaded one of the last Christmas gift quilts. I'll have better pictures of it later today, as the quilting is at the last row (what is it with this last row thing?!) It was after six and I needed to get going with our supper.

I'm at the bottom and ready to finish it up this morning!

While quilting the small quilt on Millie, I loaded this behemoth on Big Gammill for custom quilting. This sampler will surely take a while to do, so you will be seeing it often over the next little bit. I have about half of the basic stitch in the ditch done, trying to get it up off the floor for the quilting. Little dog would love to get her tiny choppers in that batting...

Today, I will start the first of the last three quilts for Christmas, all from the same customer. Then, I have 26 placemats to make for another customer. That will be a long, boring job...binding 26 mats. Oh well, time is money, and I have Christmas shopping to do!