Unusually warm Sunday sewing

 It has been record warmth for this area for a long time now, along with drought conditions bordering on extreme. The grass is brown, and the leaves turned and are falling quickly. Not the regular Fall weather. We spent the day indoors quilting, computing and sewing. Mr Wazoo started by quilting this customer tee shirt quilt. He will get it in the mail tomorrow.

The unusual sashing really makes this quilt special

Panto: Dazzle

First, I had to take apart a set of sheets (yes, I said sheets) cut the elastic and corners off fitted one, cut strips from the pieces and sew them to the flat sheet to make a backing 116 x 120 inches. You guessed right if you said, "I bet that's one big quilt!" It is. The quilter made it from Crown Royal bags. Purple and cheddar with purple slinky sheets on the back. Mr Wazoo is doing that one tomorrow on what used to be my machine. (the big Gammill) Lucky him!! I'll be starting this quilt with the stitch in the ditch.Then, I will use my spanking new Millie to do the custom quilting. I'm nervous already!

The light tan center stars are dimensional.

I managed to get the bindings applied by machine on the two charity quilts I previously quilted on the new machine, too.

Checkered binding here

Batik binding here

Last gasp of the day, I got out the fabrics for the next batch of HSTs for the quilt in progress. Ooooh, me likee!

I only cut a few squares before I had to go start supper.
These remind me of something...

Oh yeah...Fall!

Back at the top of the hill and ready for some cooking.

Back from class and learning to quilt again

The introduction to the judging process class was really an eye opener for me! As much as I love everything quilt related, I am not sure I would like to spend the next four or five years doing research, studying, writing what ends up being a 'quilt thesis' and attending far away National and International shows on my dime. I'm too old to start this journey, so sadly, I am not going to pursue it further. I learned many things I didn't know about judging and the whole thought process that goes into it, and have a more profound respect for the certified judges we do have. Its really too bad there isn't a logical progression to the advancement during the program years; like starting at local or small shows, then a wider state or large guild show, national shows and then the mother lode of the big international shows. The way it is now, after successfully finishing the program, the candidate is certified to judge on any level. I bet they are scared silly when they judge the first big show right out of the gate! Anyhoo, this girl is going to keep making quilts and have my little quilting business and leave the judging to the scholastically driven.
The first thing Mr Wazoo told me when I got home was that he had a quilt on and didn't know what pattern or thread to use. This man is an artist and should be able to pick a pattern and thread...it isn't rocket science! I was tired from the long drive from Winston-Salem and just wanted to kick off the shoes and have a glass of wine. He acquiesced and waited until this morning to begin the new project. In my absence, he quilted a darling kitty quilt for a customer.

The fussy cut kitties make this quilt special

Mr Wazoo did a great job on the cat's paw panto

You can really see it on the back.

This is the quilt that stymied the man...I mean,
pick a watery pattern and some aqua or sea foam colored thread and get on with it!
He did a wonderful job once he got going.

Panto: Ebb and Flow

While the male half of the business was busy quilting, I dove into the computer tutorial about setting up and stitching out a computerized pantograph. It was much more difficult than I thought, mostly because of my Windows aversion. It is like a foreign language, but I'll get it in the end. I don't give up easily. The easiest design that was also pleasing to look at was a repeated spiral. Once I figured out how to size them and link them together, I was ready to go. Keeping track of where the next row goes is really different than a paper panto, and required going to the computer for instruction more than once! Here is the finished product, a charity quilt from my sister. Thanks, Anne, for letting me experiment on your colorful quilt tops!

Someone will love this village of happy houses!

It may be simple, but it took me hours to do!
I could have freehanded this in 30 minutes...

But it is perfect...

I deserved a bit of fun time after finishing the computer work, so I sewed some more of the half square triangles for the quilt I am working on. It is so relaxing and rewarding, too. I am enjoying each 'round' of color and pulling from my stash to make the bits for the quilt. I think orange is next...

I like all but one bit...can you see it?
I'll either move the blocks around more or take apart the offending block and tone it down.

Molly doesn't care as long as she has a cushy place to nap and a window to look out of when she's frisky.

Getting to know Millie, and a bit of pink

Today was spent stitching out computerized block patterns that come with my Quilt Path software. Thanks to my sister for giving me a quilt top to experiment on! It will be a charity quilt when I get the binding on.

Feathered wreath

Cool box pattern

More ornate leaf wreath

Mr Wazoo spent Sunday basting a quilt for a customer, trying to get used to the bigger machine,

He finished this Christmas quilt before that.

Panto: Holly Berries

Mr Wazoo was gone most of the day, helping a new longarm owner get started with her machine. I managed to get the next pile of half- square triangles made for the quilt I'm working on. Maybe I'll get some blocks made next Sunday.

These are the squares I cut out last weekend

These are the HSTs that will make up the next round of blocks on my quilt.

Now, I have to get my stuff ready for the guild meeting tomorrow. We're having the annual 'yard sale' , or trash to treasure sale. I plan to resist buying too much...new machine, new computer, one tortured conscience. We'll see what happens. Wednesday, I'm off to North Carolina for a two day class about what the certified judging course entails, complete with a mock judging. Right up my alley. I have wanted to pursue this, but I fear it takes so long, I'll be too old to do any judging when I'm done!

Waiting...waiting...It's Here!!

While waiting for my delivery and my company, I did get the next round of the scrap quilt cut out.

Pink!

Dark pink

But then...My friends arrived from Florida, and the next day, while we were out and about, my delivery came!! Today, Mr Wazoo and our pal, Henry, began unpacking boxes and assembling my new longarm machine!! Woo-hoo!! I have been waiting about a month since buying it at the Chattanooga show. This is so exciting to me...but also very scary. It has an onboard computer system that I have to learn, as well as being very foreign to me in its operation. I have been watching you tube videos and reading the manual to prepare for the first stitches I make. 

That story will be for another day. Until then, thank you to Henry for all his help so Mr Wazoo remains sane and able to quilt another day!

Mr Wazoo quilted in the garage for a couple of day because we had to make room for the new machine

Then she came!

Henry and Mr Wazoo figuring out where all the parts go

Progress! She's out of the box!

This is how far they got. Everything hooked up, but  the operator is still clueless.
Stay tuned!

Relaxed sewing

Yesterday I had the worst scare ever concerning my computer. I'm not a computer geek, we get along okay, but I don't know how to do lots of necessary things on the laptop. My photo program is full. I mean really full. I have 36000 pictures on my computer.  That's bad. I decided to back up my photos on an external hard drive with 2 terabytes of storage. The guy at the Apple store told me that was more than enough for my files and pictures. I followed the directions to format the device and accidentally erased all my pictures. After the initial panic and nausea, I went about trying everything to restore them...or at least find them. No dice. There was a copy of the old iPhoto on my other computer, so I went there and salvaged 26000 pictures, but nothing from the last couple of years.
It took all night to load them onto the laptop.

This morning, I went to Apple support just for fun, and there was a guy asking how to get his deleted photos back. They said to hold down the command key and re-open Photo. I did it. There they all are. ARRRRGGGHHH!!! 

Oh well, I got them back. Crisis averted. Now, I'm afraid to close the photo application.

Fast forward to the studio. It wasn't until the afternoon that I was finally  able to get into the studio to play with my fabric. I am waiting for a delivery and am not able to quilt right now, so there has been some sewing going on. Remember the pile of teal fabric from my Sunday sewing? I made the next set of blocks yesterday, and moved on to purple today.

All the purple I can stand. Not a fan of purple, but it is necessary for this project     
                           

This is what a couple of hours without interruption gets you!

I am liking it so far!

Company coming from Florida tomorrow! And maybe my delivery... How excited can one girl get?!

Sunday, fun day?

No joy in Mudville! We spent the day cleaning and moving things around...not so much fun. No quilting today, as we are expecting company this week and the house is a dirt ball of a mess. We keep it tidy, but not clean... I found dust bunnies that are the size of squirrels under the living room furniture!! Well, it's about half clean now. One more day of this torture and it will be fit for company.

Mr Wazoo spent the better part of the day in the garage, fixated on some black spots on the floor. I went in there several times to put things away, and he was trying another cleaning fluid each time. I wonder if he was ever successful. I'll have to ask him when he comes in from his daily watering ritual in the yard.

By 5:30, I was a bit miffed that I hadn't had any fun. So I got out the next pile of fabrics and cut some more squares for the quilt I started yesterday. See if you can guess what's going on here in the studio. Big news on Tuesday...or Wednesday. We'll see.

Squares cut for the next set of blocks.

All these fabrics will be in the quilt. It seems like the pile of squares should be bigger...

Studio is tidy and vacuumed, my sewing area turned to face the window.