Its going to be a good day

 Things settled down and the cloud over my studio lifted. Mr Wazoo had his phone call with the Gammill guru, Bobby (thank you, Bobby!!) and fixed my machine!! It turned out to be the motor belt had frayed and was no longer tight. I couldn't believe the schmutz that was inside the case on the back of the machine. Black residue from the disintegrating belt on all the components and surfaces. 

I cleaned the machine. oiled everything, and it ran like a top. Whew! In about an hour, I had the custom quilt back on and ready to go. On to the next...

The custom quilt was carefully unloaded and placed out of harm's way

My newly cleared cutting table was, once again, cluttered with the things I had to sort or work on during the day.

See the jagged looking edge? Its a wonder the belt didn't break!

This is where all the black residue came from

I had loaded some fabric and stitched out samples of what was happening to show Bobby.

He knew right away what the problem was and Mr W set out to remedy it.

After the fix. Stitching smooth and the right size. Yippee!

Meanwhile, I took some pictures of the rush repair job before starting the hand work.

Yikes! Much of the edge looked like this.

This shows some of the new pieces pinned over the torn and missing bits

Some places didn't have batting or fabrics.

I added pieces of batting to holes like this and then pinned the new piece in place.

Everywhere there is a safety pin, I need to replace the fabric.

There are a lot of these 6 inch muslin squares that are torn or damaged.

Click the photo and get a closer view of the work ahead.

Here is another corner with the new pieces pinned on and ready to sew.

I turn and glue the edges before starting. I found this to be easier and faster than needle turning them.

All the new pieces are pinned on and I am ready to start the tedious job of stitching them in place.

It will look great when finished.

It should be pretty when completed. There is much work ahead, and I have a good start. Last night, I did about half of the worst row at one of the edges.

With everything else going along smoothly, I managed to quilt this gorgeous batik star quilt. It is quite large and will look stunning on a bed.

Isn't this wonderful? I love it.

It is huge.

Panto: African Samba mirrors the patterns in the batiks and adds a lovely texture to the surface of the quilt.

The back is this  Stonehenge fabric, contains all the colors of the quilt top.

All day the weather couldn't decide what to give us. It was raining lightly when I walked to the studio, then turned to a mushy sleet stuff, finishing off the combination with some snow. Later, it went back to rain and remained cold and gray the rest of the day.

Snow flurries in the afternoon.

Even Bigfoot ( with his leg mended ) felt he had to move along to escape the weather!

Today dawned gray and cold again with fog and some frost on the car. Penny feels better after her bout yesterday, but hasn't pooped since yesterday afternoon. I think there is a poopocolypse in the future!

Down the repair path...again

 As if by fate, I had a machine breakdown yesterday. This time it is Big Gammill, my friend, my workhorse. She suddenly stopped making the even small stitches I am used to seeing. I checked the encoder and the timing...no luck. No matter what I have her set on, the stitches are just a bit smaller than basting length. Even in the manual mode, she runs at the same speed no matter what speed I set her for. Gammill tech guru will be on the phone at 10:30 this morning for a long "try this...try that..." session. Mr Wazoo is already in a bad mood. Penny has  diarrhea. When it rains, it pours!

I did finish this beautiful quilt on the Millie. She is up to her usual tricks. Taking off on her own, freezing the computer screen, refusing to obey any button command. I turned her on and off at least five times during the quilting process. It takes forever to finish something when I have to keep stopping, shut her down and re-insert the parameters of the pattern. At least I was smart enough to take a picture of the settings before I started the process. Live and learn!

Thankfully, I had the forethought to photograph my settings!

This quilt is lovely! The blocks are really small and perfectly sewn. The center 9 patches are 2 !/3 inches square.

The panto is new, and I can't remember the name offhand. It is from Creative Stitches and didn't come in my format. Fortunately, I was able to trick Millie into using it.

The nice pattern of vines and leaves shows well on the back.

Well, it's time to get dressed and go down to the studio. I have to load some fabric to stitch on while attempting to fix Miss Gammill. The custom quilt has to come off.

Two customers had the same problem yesterday...they were adding their bindings and noticed the thread on the back was two colors. Guess what happened there. Sigh...the gray thread one had one row of green and the green had one row of gray. Both ladies were very nice about it, but I am totally embarrassed and made the note to self to not have bobbins wound for more than one project at a time. I must have picked up the wrong one and happily quilted the last row with the other. I did the second quilt with that thread, and when the bobbin ran out, switched to the second bobbin of thread number one for the other quilt. The colors were close, but no cigar. Two free quilts in one day.

On the bright side, I have all the components made for the rush repair job and ready to begin the hand sewing. It is a huge job, and the 25th is really an unreasonable goal for the finish. We'll see how it goes.

I hope we survive this political quagmire we are in. Another policeman has died of his injuries from a rioter hitting him over the head with a fire extinguisher. I am so sad over this whole mess. Many elected officials are still spouting their conspiracy theories, as people are dead from the mob they incited. Fox News continues to inflame its disciples. In a week or two, Corona numbers will rise again from the debacle we watched in our nation's capitol. Perhaps that is why I am making stupid mistakes and feeling so discombobulated. Today has to be better...

Utter disbelief and paralyzing sadness

 I started my day finishing up the quilt from yesterday. The TV was on and I had hoped to watch Congress validate the Electoral College results. It was history, and I watch historical programming. Then, the unthinkable happened.Our sitting president incited his crowd to riot. Plain and simple.

I watched in horror as a mob of thugs wearing Trump hats and carrying Trump flags and placards overwhelmed the security and trashed our nation's capitol. What is going on? I wept as I saw them walking through the rotunda, snapping selfies and knocking over stanchions that were seen only minutes earlier when a few radical congress and senate members objected to the vote count in Arizona.

The smashed their way into the senate chamber and rifled through senator's desks. Stealing and trashing the contents of senate offices. Breaking windows, knocking out doors and rejoicing in their destruction.

Mobsters outside ran off the press and destroyed their equipment. They laughed and shouted obscenities while committing crimes. 

In the end, four people are dead. One shot to death. My country and the institutions and edifices I love soiled with the unconscionable actions of misguided Americans. I see these people in the grocery store and on the street wearing their mega hats and sporting shirts with ugly taunts. I see their trucks with the giant Trump flags in the bed, driving around with pride in being cult followers of a deranged autocrat. I fear for our country and our safety.

Needless to say, I didn't get any more work done. Transfixed to the coverage on the TV screen and unable to process what was happening. Shame on the president, and shame on those who have continually enabled this president's ugliness. 

I hope I will find some solace in quilting. 

Patience is a virtue!

My day started happily with  a customer picking up her quilts. Penny got some love and attention, and I got paid! Work started with finishing a quilt from yesterday. I forgot to take pictures of the other QOV, so that will be here, too!

Remember this?

Here is the finished QOV! I was right about the wonky borders. I secretly added well placed 'faux seams' to take in about an inch on all four sides. When borders are properly sewn together, measured and cut to fit, they are sure to lay flat. If you aren't well versed in mitering joins and corners, don't do it. Straight joined seams and butted corners will be more forgiving when sewing them to your quilt. Measure through the center of the quilt, cut the border to fit this measurement, then pin it to the quilt easing any fullness while pinning. Sew the border on and admire your flat quilt.

Pineapple blocks are always pretty. I like the layout of red, blue and mixed blocks used in the quilt.

Panto: Simply Stars

Nice patriotic backing

This is the other quilt. I think it what the modern quilters call low volume. I never understood why they label things that way...volume is either how much space something takes up or the loudness of your music! Where it comes from, I don't know. I'd call it low contrast. Too many mediums, very little contrast in the fabric color values

Panto: Heart Fancy in taupe thread

The customer requested a heart panto. It goes nicely with the backing!

The fabrics are all tiny farm scenes. I like the fabrics a lot, really cute.

When I finished the quilt, and taken in a couple more, I loaded up the next project. Its a beautiful reproduction quilt featuring wonderful blocks made up of numerous tiny pieces. I'm always jealous of the people who make these types of quilts. I am still trying to be precise without much luck. I like bigger pieces and less fiddly blocks. I'll get the hang of it someday! But I digress...

I wanted a filagree type pattern for the quilting, so  I spent some time on the computer looking for just the one. I found it and downloaded all the formats, because they didn't have mine, but I knew others would work. As you know, the computer on the machine and I are not good friends. Every time I tried to select and open the pattern, it disappeared. I spent almost an hour patiently trying different formats of the pattern with the same result every time. I reviewed the directions for uploading and importing the patterns, tried again...poof! it was gone. Refusing to give up, I entered the incorrect format and didn't have the computer change it. It worked. I sure don't get it. Anyhoo, I started late and each pass took a long time to quilt, so I had the obligatory one row left to do.

After six and time for supper!!

I am making progress on the custom quilt. No pictures, but I finished the last of the light gray and will start on the red tomorrow. Meanwhile, I also took in another repair that needs to be done by the 25th. The quilt belongs to the customer's son and was made by his Grandma. He has had it his entire life and now, the dog had a fight with it and the quilt lost. I hope to start on it right away so I have it finished as a surprise for his birthday on the 25th. Its a big job, but I like a challenge, and a great story!

Penny needs to go out and I need to get to bed!

Oh my...

 

Wow! Two posts i9n one day!

 Penny and I had a good day together in the studio. She sang along with my classical music, and I quilted a Quilt of Valor. She has never been as vocal as she was today. Barking and doing some primo plaintive crying. I had to keep her in the playpen for a while, at least until the batting was advanced enough off the floor to not be an attraction to my little land shark.

Boy, does she need a haircut!

I loaded up a QOV around 11:00 and finished quilting it by 3:00. There was enough time to get a good start on the next one, too. Mr Wazoo joined us in the studio to compute my state sales tax for 2020. Penny stopped crying and beautiful music filled the air. Even Millie was happy today!! Quilting went without a single problem.

This is a really handsome quilt for the maker's uncle.

I hope she gets to award it to him!

Panto: Ribbon Stars in light gold thread

Nice patriotic backing, too.

I knew as soon as I loaded the next top that this quilt would be a bit of a challenge.

Look at the top border. Ripples and flared corners. I was correct, taking an inch out of the center of the border with a faux seam. It laid down in submission, but I know the bottom (if not the sides, too) would also be rippled.

I quit at 5:45 to make supper with about half the quilt left to do. 

Tomorrow I'll finish it up and hopefully quilt another one.

When she is clam, it is amazing how sweet she can look. 

Looks are deceiving! She's a pistol most of the time.

I guess Christmas is over...