It must be Summer...

I'll bet it is hot where you are. We haven't had the scorching heat that other parts of the country are suffering through, but it has been hotter than usual for June. Our high here was Sunday, when we got to 89 degrees. And yet, I was wearing a sweatshirt in the studio! Because it is primarily under ground, it stays a constant 68 in there. Unfortunately, with AC coming through the vents, it turns rather chilly. Our AC is set  at 76 and we are fine with that upstairs, but it adds to the chill in the studio making me uncomfortably cold. I'll just keep wearing a sweatshirt to work. Some of you may have the same dilemma, it is freezing at work (grocery store, movie theater, etc.) and hotter than Hades hinges outside! Curious...

Meanwhile, back on topic. Quilting!! I took my big Bernina in for a spa treatment and when the guy called to tell me it was ready, he asked if I do a lot of machine embroidery. No, I don't have an embroidery machine. He says I had 11 MILLION stitches on it since my last tune up. Holy cow! That sounds like a huge amount. I guess if you count all the times I sewed something and then picked it out... yup, that's probably it. I'll pick up my machine on Friday. Nuff said.

Home from last week's retreat, I was back at the machine doing customer quilts. 'BIG' was the word of the week!

Wow!!  3" circles on a king sized quilt. The spread of color from the hot center to the cool edges is done exceptionally well.

It was quilted with the appropriately named panto, Circles.

The texture shows nicely on the backing.

The same customer made this Postcard from Sweden quilt. 

To compliment the triangles in the piecing, I chose the panto, This way and That, for the quilting.

I really like the backing, too.

This quilt was inspired by the Agilejack blog. The blogger had a tutorial for the quilt, but not until after this quilter figured out the pattern and how to make it! That's a smart quilter.

The difficult to see panto,  African Samba. It made for wonderful texture with the support of the wool batting.

The backing is this bright Kaffe print. It is silky and soft.

Last is this beautiful gift for a granddaughter.

The customer wanted a pattern with hearts. I think this fits the bill.

White on white backing shows the quilting nicely.

I am working on the tops from the retreat, but it has been slow going. With all the customer work, giving a tutorial for binding at our Heart To Heart group, a quick trip to Blue Ridge to see the fiber arts show (I have some quilts there), and helping with 4-H quilt camp for kids, I have had little spare time to do any quilting on my stuff. 

I finished a set of four placemats, (seen here front and back), after my demo of how to make, apply and join the ends of binding.

One of the 3 yard quilts from the retreat.

Quilted with a quill panto.

The backing is one of the $15 bolts I got from Stitchers Garden on the way to Paducah.

You may have seen this on the design wall in the last post. I wandered into a vendor booth that had all vintage fabrics and they had 6" square bundles of chenille bedspreads. I took the bait and bought one.

They made their sample with a straight set, but the quilt was tiny. I put the squares on point and added setting triangles and a small border to make it a better size. Sewing the lumpy chenille was a challenge!

I quilted it with Flower Power

This backing is so soft and smooth. I bought it in great quantity. Naughty Susan!

Another quilt from the retreat, this one is a keeper. For me, that is!

I used the panto Fork in the Road and a variegated King Tut thread for the quilting.

This was a perfect fabric for the back! I used it for the binding, as well.

Here are the 4-H kids with their projects. I worked quite a bit with the only boy, who was a fun and cheerful sewist and quilter. 

The past few days I have been preparing for a tutorial for the evening guild about quilt-as-you-go techniques. I'm just about ready to do the presentation. These are blocks for the demo.

Poor Mr Wazoo has been having a battle of wits with the local deer herd. They sneak in and eat his flowers while we sleep. The more brazen ones come in broad daylight to do their mischief! Our beautiful hostas look like celery stalks. Not one leaf remains. The lovely dark orange-red geranium blooms are all gone. Every rose chewed and swallowed. The same with the azaleas and hydrangea. He sprayed Deer Away on everything, but to no avail. I fear this battle has just begun. At least it keeps him busy outside and not pestering me in the studio. I like deer, but I like a happy Mr W. better. Stay tuned!

Now, go eat some ice cream and cool off!