All in a day's work

It was a nasty rainy day here today, so the nose was to the grindstone. I finished three customer quilts,(the baby quilt customer specifically asked for only stitch in the ditch and a big motif) and now I am eating a quick supper before going to my evening guild. Not looking forward to the drive in the pouring rain, but I have missed two meetings and really want to see what's going on there! Until tomorrow, I am a happy quilter!!

Custom quilting at WAZOO!

Show season is approaching and I am starting to get some fun quilts to do. I worked on this quilt over the weekend and finished it up in a marathon 7 hour session today. I hope the customer likes it. I do!!

Gift quilt and next retreat project

Connie and I made the blocks,I quilted it and she did the binding on the gift quilt for the couple we stayed with in Pennsylvania. It is the more colorful one with stars. The other quilt is the sample for my next retreat. I re-designed the blocks to make the design more pleasing and I am happy with the results. Now, I am working on a fun pattern called Hanging Garden and can't ait to see how it turns out. With so much customer work to do and only so many hours in a day, I am a bit frustrated that I can't piece more...but a retreat is coming soon and I will blast through some projects and get the mojo back! I love this!!

Busy and missing friends...

The quilter who look at my blog have mentioned that I am not posting much these days...I really didn't think you were interested in the day to day work I am doing, but I guess I was wrong! Work putts along and I have been able to get a couple of things done for friends and the retreat, too. Sleep is highly over rated. Anyhoo, here are some customer quilts. I will post the up-coming retreat quilt in separate photos, because they only allow six at a time! Now, BACK TO WORK!!

Strangest quilt shop I've ever seen!!

I have been touring the Lancaster County, PA quilt shops with my girlfriends and this one had to be the weirdest shop I have ever been in! The shop is tiny and PACKED to the gills with stuff. It was not just an adventure to be there, but very dangerous. One giant stack of fabric toppled over and almost crushed an Amish woman in line behind us. My friend and I stopped the avalanche and saved the day for the poor woman who was just trying to check out! If you are ever in Pennsylvania, look for Obie's quilt shop. Worth the trip, if just to marvel at the sheer amount of stuff she has crammed in there. Home tomorrow!

9/11 quilting marathon

The TV was all about the 9/11 tenth anniversary, so I switched it on to listen to while getting some work done. I'm sure you will always remember where you were that horrifying day...I was in Germany, visiting my military daughter who was returning to work that very day after a two month maternity leave. It was supposed to be a meet and greet with the new grand daughter, but I ended up in a lock down situation on base with a toddler, a baby and a dog!! After a few days, my daughter was able to come home and we had one evening together before I had to fly back to the States. I was on the first domestic flight out of Frankfurt to the USA after 9/11. The pilot thanked us for being brave and flying with him to Chicago, and we all clapped and wept some more. I thought about that today, and wept again for the innocent souls taken by terror ten years ago. The quilting is a balm to my own soul, and I guess that is why I do it. Here are the quilts of 9/11/11. Peace.

Big quilt exercised my brain!!

Last week I worked on a quilt that really made me think outside my box for how to quilt it. It has BIG open spaces that screamed for quilting, as well as beautiful hand applique. The pillow tuck was the hardest part. I traced the applique motifs and made some plastic templates to use. I marked all the motifs on the area and quilted them in, removed the marks and did background fill. It took one whole day to do this!! This was day 2 since day one was spent stitching in the ditch and around all the applique with invisible thread. Day 3 I tackled the 15 inch wide borders. Deb Levy taught us to divide and conquer, so that is what happened. Two more days of quilting and filling the backgrounds and I was finished!! The quilt is to be a bedspread for a queen size bed, but I have a king bed so the picture isn't an accurate depiction of how it will eventually look. Anyway, my customer has her work cut out for her just applying the binding, don't you think?!

Where did August go?!

Wow! This month flew by and I am in a twist trying to get a bit caught up on the customer quilting. I had a little guilty indulgence and made the signature quilt from the blocks given to me by the guild three years ago!! The most current past president got hers done before I did. Very bad. Anyhoo, the multi colored cheerful quilt is done and in the guest room.It's in the first photo.
The other quilts are some of my customer's work. They truly are a talented group, don't you think?
Now, I am off on a sad journey to Chicago for the funeral of my dear friend June Ellis, with whom I traveled the world for ten years. She was a wonderful neighbor, a great story teller and hostess, and a treasured friend. I'll be back to work on Sunday, and missing her ever after.

WAZOO! August 2011 Retreat

This free photo slideshow made with Smilebox

Challenging myself

Last month I went back to Wisconsin for my class reunion and saw my best friend from school, Marcia. She has always been a wonderful artist, and showed me a photo of a 'wooden quilt' she made for her garden. I was really impressed and wondered if it would make a nice 'real' quilt. Well...OF COURSE!! Here are the two quilts and I am here to report the 'real' quilt has been mailed to Marcia as a surprise. Yes, I am a nice person. Most quilters are. Enjoy!