Having a bit of fun after a frustrating day

 As you know, I am not enamored with my APQS machine. On Friday, she decided to thwart me yet again by messing up an entire row of stitching . The pattern I was doing is a very dense vine and leaf, so the quilting of each row took about a half hour to put in. It took five hours to pick out! Three hours on Friday, and two hours yesterday. The culprit was in the bobbin case. I had a similar problem a while ago without being able to pinpoint the cause. This time, I zeroed in on the spring inside the case being too worn to function properly. After picking out the row, I switched bobbin cases with Big Gammill, and everything went well. I need to get a new spring.

After picking out the row, I spritzed it with Best Press and let it work its magic. The holes closed and all was well.

The quilt is finished and it is gorgeous! It wouldn't have taken so long to fix had it not been a 96 inch long 12 inch high row! The work was worth it in the end.

My customer told me she used a ridiculously high number of different Kaffe Fassett fabrics to make the quilt. All the blues in his many fabric lines. The panto is called Stitcheree in light teal thread.

I love this backing! I think it is one of those new digitally printed fabrics. The colors are wonderful.

Remember this customer quilt? I really liked the pattern and measured all the block components and made a plan...

The customer quilt that started my creative juices flowing.

Using a jelly roll I had on hand, I made strip sets and got busy cutting and sewing blocks. My jelly roll made 120 blocks! 

After making the blocks, I auditioned some of them on the design wall before quitting for the day.

The fabric line is American Jane. As most jelly rolls, there were many repeats, especially these polka dot  ones.

Once laid out, the sameness of the fabrics didn't matter. It was just scrappy goodness.

Somehow, I lost a block in the studio...I searched everywhere and couldn't find it. I dug through my stash and made one oddball block. Can you locate it? Today I will sew the four quadrants together and finish the top. I like mine even better than the customer original. (sorry, Ruth...)

I loaded up the next quilt and got a few rows into it before quitting yesterday. It is a really colorful one!

Outside, Spring has sprung! We have had big rainstorms the last couple of days, and will have more rain today, but with the rain came warmer temperatures and a burst of growth. 

Our new pussy willow bush is blooming with delicate yellow flowers!

Aren't they pretty!?

The redbud tree is also in full glory along the driveway. 

Stay tuned for more awakenings in the garden!

The last thing I saw yesterday before quitting was this 'ghost in the machine' on Millie's computer. I think she knows I don't like her, and taunts me at every turn. I shut everything down, checked all the connections and booted up again. Everything was back to normal. Who knows what awaits me today?... We'll see.