A big finish, and some night visitors

I finally finished the custom quilt!! Five days after starting, it is off the machine and on it's way to New Jersey, and the quiltmaker. The biggest challenge was a baggy backing, caused by sewing fabric together without pinning. One side always ends up smaller because of the feed dogs. So, unless you have the walking foot on, don't sew two giant pieces of fabric together without pinning them. I saw the droop on one side, and thought the clamps could overcome the excess of fabric on that side...I was wrong.After a massive amount of custom quilting, I advanced the quilt, and there it was. A tuck from the seam to the edge of the quilt about 45 inches long. Crap! No way I was removing all that quilting, so I set out to sew down the edge of the tuck and blend it in with the backing. Fortunately, it was a busy batik, and the fix didn't look too bad. In the end, I gave the customer a $100 discount for the error. I hope she isn't mad at me. Here is the quilt.

Last week was the opening of the Blue Ridge Fiber Arts show, and I had some quilts in the show. Our guild members took a field trip, followed by a wonderful dinner at a local restaurant, to view the show. Everyone had a good time.

Here's my Jacobs Ladder quilt.
It looks nice there.

This portrait quilt by Mary Schaeffer was my favorite in the show.
The background design is all hand beading! Wow!

This is one of mine, too. It's called 'The Buzz'.

Back at home, Mr Wazoo was hard at work on a whimsical llama quilt. The customer made two quilts for her kids, and I got to quilt the foxes! Both are fun and happy quilts.

Panto: Yodel

Digital panto: Mahogany
Don't you love the fox in specs!?

Miss Molly spent the day at the groomer being fluffed and buffed. She hates having her picture taken, and stuck her tongue out at me. Cheeky monkey!

Pfffftt!!

I spent a couple of hours after work stitching down the rats on my Rat Race quilt top. It is slow going due to the small pieces and all the twists and turns I have to make while sewing. It's coming along well, though.

My favorite rat, but a booger to sew!!

I'll end this post with a slideshow. The trail cam caught some visitors last night. Mr W's trash can locks worked so well, the bear gave up! Ha!

Create your own slideshow

Spotlight on Mr Wazoo

My job this week has been frustrating and rather tedious. I am still working on the king sized custom quilt, which had a rather baggy backing. It has been a struggle to avoid pleats on the back while quilting the front!No pictures yet...
Mr Wazoo is the star today! He has had time to do quite a bit of quilting, and has done a wonderful job. (there may be an award at the end of the month!) The majority of the quilts we get are quite big, and therefore hard to maneuver on a domestic machine. Mr W pushes on and finishes them regularly.

This Star Wars quilt will make some young man happy.
Its a 'tag-team' quilt. He quilted it, I am doing the binding

A great starry panto

Darth Vader backing and binding, too.

Some are small, like this baby quilt, all pastel Grunge fabrics.

The repeated triangles are pretty and interesting.

Angel Wings panto adds the feminine touch.

Some of the quilts are big...

This sophisticated quilt will look stunning on the customer's bed.

The panto, Rosie, adds just the right elegance to it.

This huge quilt was made by a relatively new quilter! Wow!

He used the panto, Alfresco on this one, as the customer directed.

The last quilt he finished had a slight problem at the bottom. Accurate measuring when adding multiple borders is key to a flat and square cornered quilt.

Uh oh! Mr Wazoo cried uncle when he got to this point in the quilting.
You can see the big 'smile' made by making the light border too small for the body of the quilt.

Fortunately, I have done this fix before, and had no qualm about the quilt turning out well. Mr W followed my instructions and ...

Voila! A nicely finished, square and flat quilt.

The customer requested Rosie as the pattern for the quilting.
It looks so nice on this wonderful quilt.

A bit of everything!

What a week it has been here at Wazoo! Mr Wazoo has divided his time between the yard and the studio, working long hours and getting things finished.

Hard at work on one of the huge quilts.

Manicured lawn and the garden is filling out

I had a couple of challenges as well as some of my own quilts to get finished for the guild meeting on Thursday. A gentleman came in with a beloved quilt that had some holes to be repaired, and he was a fascinating person. I have never met anyone who actually lives in one of those tiny houses you see on TV. This guy lives off the grid, collecting rain water and using solar energy. I was thrilled I could help him with something as simple as a repair to his favorite quilt!

This is what it looked like when I got it.

Here are the pieces pinned in place and ready to applique down.

I realized when posting the 'before' photos, that I had forgotten to take the 'after' shot. Drat!! Well, you'll have to believe me that it looked great and he was thrilled. The next quilt will show you an 'after' shot worthy of the blog!

This quilt was found at a sale for $10!!! I am always sad to see quilts like this, where someone in the family worked for months hand sewing a beautiful quilt just to have it discarded by the people who should love it the most. Fortunately, there are quilters out there sniffing out the cast-offs and giving them new life in new homes. Here is the customer's $10 find, and the repair.

This block was the only one with disintegrated fabrics. Look closely and you'll see all the brown plaid fabric is falling apart.

Here is the same block after I appliqued in the 9 new pieces. The owner wanted something 'prettier' in place of the plaid.

This is the quilt. I took this picture to show the colors better.

I didn't think they showed up as well indoors, on the bed.
The repaired block is center right.

Hand quilting all intact. Lovely!

 The Bernina dealer finally called with the good news! My machine (that was ordered right after the Paducah show in April), was finally here. Mr W drove me to Chattanooga last Friday to pick it up, and I spent the day Saturday following along in the book and putting it through its paces.

I also got a new chair! Ooooo!! Swanky!

Here she is! The insert for the Koala table hasn't come yet,
but I'm comfortable using the extended platform that comes with the machine.
The nifty accessory box came with it, too.

With the new slim light on, I am in sewing Heaven.Thank you, Mr Wazoo!

On Sunday, I quilted my quilt tops from the retreat. Then, I used my new machine to do the bindings. All but one of these are going to the guild for charity. Two for kids and two for adults at the Second Wind respite house.

This quilt is a two-fer. Not only will it be a charity quilt, but it is one of my UFOs for the UFO club. I have been bending the rules a bit by doing mine out of order, but it doesn't seem to matter. They're done.

The digital panto is feather swirl

This one is a good boy quilt, with meander quilting.

This one looks more girly to me. Same quilt pattern.

I'm not sure I like this quilt...too pink! It is from a jelly roll pattern.

My favorite digital panto: Flower Power

I did make a quilt for me, too. Using some of the Australian fabrics from my stash, I made this BQ quilt. The background fabric is a Kaffe Fassett shot cotton.

BQ (which stands for Big Quilt) and Miss Molly on the photobomb.

Panto: Stacked Snailz.
I love the texture of this quilting.

We had our annual meeting of the guild where I present the budget and install new officers, as well as remember friends and relations we have lost in the past year. Oh yes...it's also a luncheon. The meeting went well and everyone left full and happy. I'm really pooped from all the excitement, nd I still need to make supper! More hand sewing, and then to bed...to dream of more quilting.

Back home from retreat!

My batteries are recharged and I am raring to get into the studio! We had a wonderful day despite it raining all...the...time. Soggy was the word, but we were in the sewing room getting our groove on and making quilts. I didn't take pictures until the last day, so you get to see what all the girls did. It was a perfect getaway, and I think we all had fun.

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On the last day, I got the call I have been waiting for since Paducah. My new Bernina is finally here!! I high tailed it home from the retreat and Mr Wazoo and I took a road trip to Chattanooga to pick it up. We made a pit stop in Ooltewah, TN to check out the quilt shop there. Awesome!! I bought enough fabric to make a sweet quilt, as well as a bath of fat quarters for another BQ quilt. Then it was off to the Bernina store, and home again.

This quilt was in the shop, and I got what I need to make one!

I'll have some pictures tomorrow, since I forgot to take my phone to the studio in my excitement to try the new behemoth 770. It is beautiful, and sews quietly and with a perfectly formed stitch. I can't wait to take it through it's paces. That will happen on Sunday. Until then, good night, dear readers, I am off to bed to dream of quilting.