I'm still here!!!

  One of my snowbird friends said she was worried about me because I hadn't blogged for quite a while. Oops! Life does get in the way sometimes, but I think it's still a good thing to stay busy and do the things that make you happy. Quilting makes me happy, so I keep busy quilting! Oh, and going to quilt shows...like Houston. Ooo-wee, that was a show and a half. It was a marathon of vendor visits and quilt peeping that tickled my fancy and wore out my newly fixed knee. I have been home four days and it is still swollen and painful. At least I can still run the big machine and get'r done! Come along and take a look at what Wazoo has been up to.

This is a booth sample from a fabric designer. I am stoked to be able to see her stuff before the rest of the world!

Great fabrics, custom quilted, but hard to see here

This is the smaller sample

the back shows the quilting better

cool circles quilted by me

men's ties memory quilt, done by me, too

Machine embroidered Christmas quilt. I did this one

Mr Wazoo has been doing tee shirt quilts

same customer, different quilt

one of my favorite customers made this. I love the window with the clamshell 'wallpaper'. Cool!

quilting in the window

clams and border quilting

meanwhile...Mr Wazoo did another tee shirt quilt

While I was in Houston, Mr W. got on the big machine for two huge quilts.
This one is a beauty!

This trip around the world is HUGE!!



YES!! I was there!


And, YES!, there were oodles of vendors...and we visited ALL of them.


Carole (green bag) with some other quilters at the photo op quilt.
They were supposed to look at the camera, but the quilt was far more interesting.

This was the best of show quilt


Our friend, Jean Smith, had three quilts in the show! This is one of them.


One special exhibit was cows with 'moo-ving' titles.
I love this one with the hotdogs for teats. Ha ha


The display of dolls was fabulous! This lady could be any of my quilting friends, right down to the tray of brownies!


The venue from my hotel window. Looks small, but it is gigantic. Look at the size of the cars next to it for perspective.


The view at dawn from our hotel room, the venue is on the right.


Good night, Houston. I hope we'll be back!


The End!

                               

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