Teaching a friend and making more blocks

I had such a nice day today! My friend Debbie came over and had a good time learning how to load a quilt, set up a pantograph and stitch it out on the quilt! Kind of like Tom Sawyer, I let her do all the work while I 'supervised'. She was a fast learner, and finished the lap sized quilt by lunchtime!

The quilt was pieced by my sister. Remember?, she gave me a load of quilts to finish for charity.

I made the binding from a red and white checked fabric.

Panto: Quirky.
Doesn't it look good!?

After lunch, I worked on the quilt I started yesterday, making blocks for two of the corners. I have a lot more to do, but it will probably have to wait. One day playing hooky is okay...two days playing hooky; well, that would be downright sinful!

More blocks for the corner sections.

Squaring up the 3 colored blocks was tedious, but worth it.

Center and two corners done!

I don't have all the bits made for the other 2 corners,
but I'm working on them!

I wanted to show you something interesting from Tim's garden today. The butterfly bush has been quite active and showy with butterflies. They are so difficult to photograph with my little point and shoot camera because they never stop flitting about! Can't say I didn't try!

These two are the early bird butterflies.
They came in the morning.

These are the night owl butterflies.
They came in the evening.

Late summer afternoon on the mountain

Mr Wazoo, taking a breather before cleaning up for supper.
He says he's glad the walkway is finished!
All that's left is to get rid of the leftover gravel.

Lazy Sunday sewing

There wasn't a flurry of activity today...I felt a bit lazy. Looking at patterns and books, trying to get an idea of what I wanted to do took up a couple of hours, and then, I decided to start a happy project. Something to make me feel good. You see, my mom died a year ago today, and I am in a blue funk. The best thing for that is a happy quilt. With 30s reproduction fabrics. The pattern was a block-of -the-month thing, but I will try to do a little every Sunday sewing day, and think of her while I sew.

This is the pattern, and I had already made some blocks when I took the picture.

Over at the machine, the pieces-parts are waiting to be assembled

Another set of blocks done

This is as far as I got with the sewing today.
I feel better already.

Samedi en Provence?

If you came to the studio today, you might have thought you were in France! I worked on a beautiful medallion quilt, all done in fabrics that looked quite 'Provencial'. I did the panto, Rosie, which is a bit fussy and time consuming, but lovely for this quilt.

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The photos don't do the colors justice! This is a wonderful burst of French color.

Its a big one, so I took a second photo from the back of the table.

The border print is perfect for the quilt.

You can see the panto design better on the back.

The customer also added some blocks with machine embroidery.
It is a gift for her husband for their 20th anniversary.

The same customer did this darling baby quilt with embroideries of children's songs in the blocks.

This is a good way to utilize those cute patterns, isn't it?

Bingo block. Panto: Popcorn

Very pleasant Friday

My customer sent a partially finished tee shirt quilt, or should I say quilts!? There was one for the front and one for the back. She sent along the borders, already sewn, with a note saying she was hopelessly frustrated with it and couldn't finish it. Most of the morning was spent trimming, sewing and making the back big enough. Then, I added the borders, quilted it and added binding. Tonight, I am doing the hand sewing while watching Inspector Lewis.

During the day, I took in some lovely quilts and made a new friend. The whole day was pleasant and comfortable. Some afternoon rain and bratwurst for supper...perfect!

This is the front. 

                                   

Here is the back!

Panto: Modern twist

Mr Wazoo hasn't been remiss either, quilting a flurry of bear paws on this outdoorsman quilt. My friend, Gert, would love it! It has awesome wolf fabric featured both front and back.

The customer asked for bear paw quilting to go with the bear paw blocks!

Panto: Bear paw (duh!)

A bit blurry, but this is the backing fabric.

The only dilemma  of the day is this quilt I'm repairing. Does anyone know of a fabric like this? The 'blobs' are about an inch high. Please email me if you have info on any fabric that looks like this one. wazoo4u@gmail.com. Thanks! Time to sew.

Another finish, and some charity work.

We were all excited yesterday when Mark Sherman came to our guild to speak and show his quilts. Some of the members got to take his class today, but I stayed in the studio and finished the custom quilt I have been working on.

Mark Sherman and his famous butterfly quilt

The shabby Chic quilt turned out so beautiful, I am thinking I need to make one for the guest room. (This would be about number 20 on the possible guest room quilts I want to make!)

I used Quilter's Dream wool to give the quilt the definition the customer wanted.

Quilting in the blocks

Quilting in the borders

A look at the back

Mr Wazoo had an easy day in the studio, quilting a small baby quilt and a table runner before going outside to trim some trees.

Cute baby quilt.

Panto: Popcorn

Table runner

Panto: Star Spangled Banner

In the afternoon, I quilted and added binding to two comfort quilts for the Blairsville guild. These will be given for comfort to members who are having a life crisis.

When you feel beat, and consider giving up...consider these little flowers, that came up through the gravel driveway to face the sun. We didn't plant them; they just had a will to survive!!

Honey, have you seen my glasses?...

Mr Wazoo has a thing about putting anything away. He doesn't put things away. I think he probably has a dozen pairs of glasses, but can never find them. Today, I was in the studio by myself and when I went to photograph the finished quilt, found six pairs of glasses on his Gammill table!! Six! I laughed when I saw them and thought of all the times he has asked,"Honey, have you seen  my glasses?"
Yes, I have seen them...here they are.

The rest of the day was spent quilting the custom quilt I have been working on this week. It is finished! Turned out really nice. The customer will be pleased.

Finished!

At 5:00, I loaded this shabby chic quilt and did the stitch in the ditch. I'll start the quilting tomorrow. Its funny how extremely different the last quilt and this one are. That's why I love my job! Always something new to figure out.

In the garden, there was a pretty visitor. I just couldn't
get him to stop flapping and pose!

Despite all the rain, the walkway is nearing completion