Work and fun always go together!

Mr Wazoo and I have done quite a lot of work this week, so I took a half day off and got some sewing done. It felt good to do something just for me...just for fun. I have a wonderful customer who gave me (yes, gave me...) a bag full of Liberty of London fabrics. Not just little scraps; big pieces of fabric! I have been drooling over them until last Wednesday when I took them to my sewing group and (gasp!) cut them into pieces-parts for blocks. Big fun ensued and I became obsessed with finishing the quilt. All I have left to do is hand sew the binding...tonight, after I finish writing this.
Meanwhile, I worked on some gorgeous quilts this week, as did the old man. Everybody is happy here in Wazooland. I hope you are happy, too. Just break up your work time with some self-indulgent fun!

my Liberty quilt

                                   

Mr Wazoo did this one

He did this one, too

I got to quilt this wonderfully happy quilt!

I quilted this one, too

I rather like the quilting

here's the back

I have quilted this design before, so I knew just what to do

Not only colorful, but fun to do

Mr Wazoo quilted this

I did this little wall hanging today

Well, the binding is on and sewn down, I'm enjoying SNL and Molly is snoozing on the couch. A perfect day!

Another beautiful quilt finished

Because I really over did it yesterday, I decided to be conservative (with work, not politics...)and work two hours, rest 30 minutes. It works! I still feel good, and I got the quilt I loaded yesterday all done. Mr.Wazoo did two quilts, just showing off...
Tomorrow, I will be loading another fabulous quilt from the queue. Truly, I love my job!

Isn't this quilt wonderful?! I love it.

Simple quilting to enhance the classic  design

Border treatment

Nice applique

A look at the back

Mr. Wazoo did this modern quilt. It spells Ava, the recipient's name.

The back is all cat and dog fabrics. (he really can't take pictures, can he?)

Back fixed, slowly getting in the swing

The surgery went well and I am home being bored silly. Paperwork and TV are not my idea of fun. Today I started quilting. Half a good idea...half a bad one. I did get the quilt done, but now my back hurts. Tomorrow I will do things slower and pace myself.
Mr Wazoo has been working every day and between quilting and mowing he has been very busy. By 8PM he is dozing in the recliner, and by 9PM he is sawing logs in bed. I'm so happy that he has been keeping up with the dishes and taking the dog out for walkies. He'll be relieved when I'm 100%.
Here are a couple of the quilts we've done last week, and some photos of the class I taught in Venice. I had a great time there. The ladies were fun and all got the project close to finished!
Until next time, Cheers!

Mr Wazoo did this nice Irish block of the month

He quilted this fruity table cloth, too

He also did this watery beauty

And he loved doing this bright quilt

We both worked on this giant quilt

Mr Wazoo did this one, too

I swear I am going to make a quilt like this! I love the color placement. Mr Wazoo quilted it

He did this one today

This is the quilt I did today, not too big, but still too much for one day

some of the quilting. Next up, the Venice class! Enjoy the slideshow.

This photo slideshow created with Smilebox

My favorite quilt link party

I was reading one of my fave blogs (Nifty Quilts) and she linked up with Molly Flanders Makerie  for a show your favorite quilt blog entry. So here is my favorite quilt. I made it from a pattern in Sandy Bonsib's Sweet Treat book and added the applique to the border for a little extra punch. It was definitely my favorite to make and show.
Thanks to Mary for the opportunity to show it to you.
On the home front, my back surgery went well and I hope to be back at the machine next week.

Yippee!! Raffle quilt finished!

I finished the guild raffle quilt at 7PM and I am so tired!! Yesterday and today were 8 hour days, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were 6 hour days and Friday was a four hour day. This doesn't include breaks and lunch...it is all quilting time. Yipes! I am so happy to have it off the rack and ready to go to the binding person.
I have Monday and Tuesday to prepare for my class and trunk show in Venice, all day Wednesday I will be there, Thursday evening is my other guild, and then Friday I will be off to the out-patient surgery place to have my back fixed. I think next weekend will be a wash out, but Monday I plan to be back at the machine for at least a couple of hours.
As for the raffle quilt; it turned out very pretty. It will be displayed, sent to quilt shows, and used for fund raising in local trade shows for the next year and a half. The show and drawing for the quilt isn't until February 2015. I'll blog about it when there are tickets to be had. I suppose it will be the standard one ticket for a dollar or six for five dollars.
Now, sit back and look at the finished product.

The quilt is king size, and features beach scenes done with machine embroidery

The inner border is pinwheel blocks, with background squares quilted with pinwheels

The central wedding ring area and the outer border have arcs of feathers with two sizes of piano key quilting treatments in the background

Each corner of the central area has a seaside motif in the quilting

The colored squares have a pinwheel feather in the quilting

another corner motif

The outer border

A look at the back

Moving along nicely

I worked all day on the guild quilt, and have almost all the background quilting done! I will finish up the last outside part of the last border, and then it's on to the colored areas. Hopefully, the entire task will be done by late tomorrow afternoon. At lest I hope so, because I have to prepare for my class and trunk show in Venice on Wednesday.
Enjoy a few shots of today's quilting progress.

Good news...Bad news

Bad news...I went to the back Dr today and I need surgery to fix the fractured vertebrae. On the bright side, it should help with the pain. Hopefully, I will have it done in the next couple of weeks and get back to my life as I knew it.
Good news...I am working on the guild raffle quilt and making nice progress despite being able to work for a few hours at a time. I did finish the king sized Sylvia's wedding quilt (from the Jennifer Chiaverini books) that I posted a view of last week. It is a fabulous quilt from a sweet lady.
Tomorrow, I will be playing a bit of hooky by taking my Red Hat peeps to a musical called Burt and Me about Burt Bacharach. I love the music and look forward to a fun afternoon out.
Here are a few peeks at the quilting in progress on the raffle quilt, as well as the finished quilt from last week.

Sylvia's wedding quilt- 140 blocks, all different

some of the 6 inch blocks

more fabulous blocks

border treatments

Guild raffle quilt

'football' quilting

I'm working the background first

feathers added, next comes the background fill

one of the embroidered blocks

Sat down and laid up

The surgery went well and I am now in recovery mode. I am so glad I have never been a bored housewife...daytime TV sucks! I have watched two movies and started viewing the series Vera on Netflix. Mr Wazoo is holding down the fort, cooking (?) doing dishes, and quilting. Molly doesn't understand why the big black thing is taking up her spot in my chair. Relegated to the sofa, she sleeps when I sit and goes along whenever nature calls and I have to get up. She steers a wide berth around the walker...it's pretty scary.There hasn't been a bit of pain. Better living through chemistry! Rehab starts Thursday, so I am taking it easy until then.
Tomorrow is Nifty Fifty and I think I will be sitting with my feet up making hexies. Sounds good!
Until then, here's what I can do with a cell phone and hours to waste.

Molly keeping me company

Big Black. My MD put his initials on my knee so he wouldn't mess up. Just some bandaids now!

Hmmm, Giada makes pizza. Okay.

During the pizza segment, I fell asleep. Oh well, it looked good. Molly never moved.