Finally Autumn

We have been enjoying the crisp Autumn weather for a few days, and the trees are starting to change colors on the mountainside. I wish we could be outside more, but there are many quilts waiting to be finished for our patient customers.
I finished the skyscraper modern quilt yesterday, and the customer loved it.

Quilting in progress. Unfortunately, the back isn't as pretty. Light fabric with dark thread is icky. Starts and stops all show. Sigh...

The front is wonderful! I love this modern take on a skyline at night.

I kept the quilting simple, but it took two days due to the numerous color changes.

I did the sky with a variegated King Tut, adding just a bit of sparkle to the
swirly quilting.

Mr Wazoo has been busy in his space, quilting one beautiful quilt after another. This is my favorite of the latest batch. Simple pattern, but wonderful fabric colors and placement. Between us, the quilts are flying off the rack and into the 'going-home' bags.

My favorite this week!

Panto: Forest Floor

I did this patriotic quilt the customer is donating to a raffle.

The pattern is like card trick with a pinwheel in the center

Panto: Simply Stars

Mr W liked this Buzz saw patterned quilt.

He used a buzz saw type panto for the quilting. Brilliant!

Autumn colors in this one

Panto: Retro Leaves

Today, I start on a project I have been avoiding for months. It isn't fair to the customer that I have balked on doing this project; making a tablecloth into a quilted wall hanging. I have had it out many times, only to re-hang it in the queue because I didn't have a coherent thought of what to do. Yesterday, I bit the bullet and cut the oval into a rectangle and loaded it on the machine. I then spent two hours looking at patterns and trying to decide where to begin. 6 pm and a headache later, I quilt for the day without sewing a stitch! We'll see what today brings...

Something WILL happen today!!

Meanwhile, early this morning the deer family came for breakfast. There were seven family members all enjoying the back garden and beyond. Its hard to capture them through the door and porch screening, but you get the idea. 

Mama and twins came the closest. The babies have lost their spots and are growing like weeds. I hate the thought of someone shooting them, but the circle of life goes on here in the mountains, and it is an inevitable end to some of the deer here. I haven't seen any of the pie-bald white deer this year. Probably shot for their novelty, not for the use of the hunter's family. So sad.

Binding

I spent the day making and applying binding. By 6 o'clock I had done three lap quilts and a king sized customer quilt. My new Bernina has a foot to aid in binding, and the Bernina saleswoman at the show showed me how to use it to put on binding by machine. I was flabbergasted by how good it looks, and will use it for charity and tee shirt quilts in the future.

Two comfort quilts and my Block of the Month quilt, all bound
and ready to go!

The quilt I re-quilted and the king sized quilt I bound, also ready to go home.

Mr Wazoo was in his Man Cave most of the day, quilting colorful quilts for the same customer.

Quilty eye candy!

Panto: Yodel

Spools of bright 'thread'

Panto: Flower Festival

When I quit for the day, I went to the Man Cave, where the lights were on, a quilt loaded...but no Mr W. I shut down everything and locked the door. Walking around the house, this is what I found. You can't keep him out of the yard or garden! It seems Molly was in cahoots, too!

The lights were on, but there's nobody home.

Busted! Cutting back the garden in the mild Fall weather.
Molly kept an eye out for deer.

Tomorrow, I'll start a new customer custom project. Molly says its time to go to bed! Good night.

Quilting day

I spent yesterday quilting! Two machines running simultaneously and with driven purpose. The queue of quilts has grown in the last week, and we have to step it up to get more things done in a timely manner.
First, I finished taking out all the quilting on this customer quilt, and steamed the traces of the old quilting out before starting re-quilting it the way she wanted it done. I am pleased with how it turned out, and hope she is, too. I'd hate to think she would get yet another quilter to remove my work... The right thing was done, and the quilt is better for it.

I removed stitching from the solid lavender border, and all of the blocks.

I re-quilted with the appropriate colors, and a more complimentary pattern.

While I was doing this, the computerized machine was chugging along on my block of the month quilt. It will be totally done later today.

Panto: Yodel

I also quilted one of the comfort quilts from my evening guild. I have another one to do today, and will be caught up then.

Members of the guild signed the muslin blocks, making the gift more personal.

Panto: Flower power

The backing came from my sister. Thanks, Anne!

Today is binding day. I have a king sized customer quilt, the two quilts from yesterday and the one I am doing today to get bound and ready for delivery. I had better get to it!

Asheville, NC

Yesterday, I went to Asheville with my friend Gail and enjoyed the quilt show there. I took pictures, but not of everything. Here are the quilts that caught my attention and made my heart pitter pat.

Customize a picture slideshow

On Thursday, I finished the flimsy of the Block of the Month I'll be doing at the Misty Mountain Guild, and went ahead and wrote the introduction and instructions for the first couple of blocks. Whew! I'm glad that's done. Mr Wazoo quilted a customer project, and then ventured out to enjoy the beautiful weather in the yard.

My BOM flimsy. I hope to get it quilted today.

Pretty quilt, all done

Panto: Bali dream

Charity quilts all bound and gone to the guild effort

Peaceful work day

We got right back into the rhythm of the quilt studio and finished some quilts. I am trying to get these charity quilts done for the meeting tomorrow, but fear that isn't going to happen. The quilting is done, but the binding isn't... we'll see.

All these quilts are for my Blue Ridge guild

The ladies got together at a sew-in and made them

I quilted them with either Flower Power or Simple Meander

The last of the charity quilts. Back to paying customers!

This monster of a whole cloth quilt is almost finished...The tablet crashed three times during the quilting process and re-entering all the settings was time consuming. I finally gave up at 6:30 and went to make our supper.

Mr Wazoo worked in his 'Man Cave' and finished two customer quilts for a patron from Texas!

Of course, I love the lime green! My favorite color.

Panto: Swirl and Twirl

Beautiful pinwheels, and lime green again!!

Panto: Small Splat

I have also been trying to get the Block of the Month pieces made for the October debut. I stupidly gave away the sample for this project after finishing it a few years ago, so I'm having to make it again! I am also tweaking the instructions to make them more readable and easy to follow. I struggled a bit last time, and don't want to confuse anyone.

Well, I had better get going or I won't get anything accomplished today. Mr W is off to SC to see his Mom, so I can do whatever I want!! I think I'll quilt!

Getting back to normal

The show is over and was a very nice event. Everyone who helped seemed pleased with how things looked and the extra exhibits, demos and vendors provided there. It took a while to get the slide show done, but here it is for your viewing pleasure.
FYI: I didn't win the raffle quilt. A nice lady from Murphy, NC had that honor. I guess I'll have to make another one!

Make your own free slideshow design

Hmmm...I'm a bit peeved that the vertical pictures have their bottoms cut off...Sorry.

Quilt show week

Quilt take in went smoothly, the judging room prepared, and the first day of judging is over. Oh my! The quilts are beautiful!! We're going to have a wonderful show. I'm off to judging today, scribing for the last fifty or so quilts. By this afternoon, we'll know who won the big prize! (It's not me) My customers are making a good showing, and that makes me happy. My quilts were in stiff competition, so I am still happy with the results. One of  mine will be judged today. In my mind, I know which quilt would be best of show if I got to pick, but I haven't seen it up close, so I can't be sure of the construction. This judge is fair and efficient, a true professional. Kay and I had dinner with her last night, and she is a delightful person, as well. If you ever have to get the judge for a show, you won't go wrong with Lorraine Covington.
Tomorrow will be the "off-day", but we will be anything but off! We have loads of prep to do for set-up day, and I will be loading the car with stuff I have for the boutique and the outreach booths. All this hubbub is exciting to me. I Love quilt shows!!