New Gammill doing well

I got my new Gammill Classic Plus this month and I am like a kid on Christmas morning! The old one had some issues and it was time for a trade in. The new machine purrs along at lightning speed, and is fun to use. Here are a couple of photos of Pat and Richard of Pat's Calico Cottage putting in the new machine and table with the help of my husband, Tim. It is a pleasure to use a machine that doesa great stitch without tweaking every few minutes! Back to work now, Susan

Summer quilting

I have been working right along now that I have my new Gammil! So far, it has been a dream to quilt with. Fingers crossed it stays that way.
These photos are of a customer quilt she made from a Connecting Threads catalog kit. I thought you might like to see how nice a kit can turn out. Now, Back to work! Susan

Back to work!

The girls are gone and I am back to work in earnest. This customer quilt was especially nice, and fun to do with all my new tools from the Kansas City show. I don't know how I got such pretty daughters with this mug, but here they are! Susan

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Back home!

I had a great time in KC at the convention where I put in an order for a new Gammill! Mine is having some computer problem that makes quilting a bit annoying, but still possible. My spoonbill quilt was in the show, but didn't win anything. I hadn't expected to due to the caliber of the other quilters in the show. A quilt in my category won best of show!

My WAZOO! retreat in Sebring went well despite rain every day. The ladies seemed to enjoy the camaraderie and get many pretty quilts finished. The project was a variation of the friendship star. Mine is shown here.

Today, my twin daughters are coming to visit for a week, so the Gammill will not be running very much. Be sure to check out my mobile me.com site for photos of all the ladies having fun at the retreat! Susan 

Another busy week

It has been another busy week at Wazoo!. I have made a tee shirt quilt for a customer, the project quilt for my upcoming retreat, and quilted four lovely (huge) quilts. One of them has to be one of the most beautiful quilts I have ever worked on. My customer's Granddaughter is named Daisy, so she made the daisy applique quilt. It has back art, too! I will be off to Overland Park, KS on Wednesday for the IMQA show and classes. Home on Saturday, then off to Sebring for the Wazoo! retreat at the Kenilworth Lodge. The next post should have the scoop on all of that! I hope you are all keeping well and avoiding the flu. Susan

Busy week

Its been a very busy week getting caught up on customer quilting. I quilted six quilts this week and did the custom applique work on another. Hopefully, I will get my projects done for my daughters' birthdays in May! Time zooms along when you're having fun! Enjoy some of my customer's work in the photos, and I will get back to sewing. Susan

Phil Ortiz memorial quilt

I have finished the quilt made from the scrap bag of my friend Phil from Wisconsin. He was a quilter and made a quilt for each grandchild before he succumbed to pancreatic cancer. His kids sent me the scraps and a photo of a quilt he wanted to make for his wife, Judy, from them for their anniversary. He died before making it. The pattern is Paducah nine-patch and each block has 29 pieces...alot for a scrappy quilt, since you can't mass produce the blocks with strip piecing. It took awhile to make because I only do 'non-customer' work on Sunday, my day off. Here it is, all finished! Nice pattern...I may even make it again!

Spring Challenge

At the last guild meeting we had our Spring challenge results and a very nice luncheon. I was honored to receive the 'Order of the Fat Quarter' award that is given for volunteerism by nomination from the guild members. It's a great privilege to be in the select group who have already gotten the award.

I thought you might like to see my entry in the challenge. The rules were that the finished quilt couldn't be bigger than 120" all around, it had to have polka dot fabric, and it had to have circles in the design. My "Blue Plate Special" came in second in the voting, actually in a tie with another entry and decided by coin flip! I guess it was my lucky day all around!

Quilt show over

The results are in and I got a blue ribbon for Prickly Pear Polka, a red for my spoonbill quilt, and two honorable mentions and a blue for quilts I quilted for other people. Not too bad! I am so happy to have this behind me and am looking forward to making more quilts for myself, and for show. I love to quilt! Enjoy the photos, Susan