SID day, and machine surgery

The binding and label are on the drop shadow quilt. Its ready to send to Wisconsin!

I did stitch in the ditch all day, and finished the ditches by quitting time! Yippee!

SID done. Quilting starts tomorrow.

I got some marking done, too.

Mr Wazoo quilted an ethnic looking project for a customer's nephew. I love the two Bedspreads she chose for the front and the back! Very clever.

The front features elephants, a favorite of the young man.

So cool!!

The back is another design in these warm colors.
Panto: Primrose swirl

After lunch, I called APQS to ask about my machine. If you have been following me for a while, you know the Millie and I are not the best of friends. There have been problems with the computer and the machine is really hard to quilt free motion with.There is a drag to the movement I have never gotten used to. When I had my friend over for a lesson, he said his APQS moves smoothly in every direction. Well...why doesn't mine?! 

Angie at APQS was very nice and extremely patient with us. We face timed the trouble shooting, and after an hour of trying things, it was decided we needed new axles and wheels. They will be sent out tomorrow. Meanwhile, the machine is dismantled (OMG, that was an undertaking!!) and just sitting on the carriage. The rollers are on the floor. Its a good thing I am doing the custom quilt on the Gammill!

Don't anybody sneeze! This is just sitting on the carriage with nothing holding it there.

Rollers on the floor behind the machine, the whole shebang untethered from its power and computer cords.

Evening sky. Looks like rain is coming.

New projects, old finishes

I made the back for the weekend quilt and got it quilted today. I also started a new customer project that will consume my time for the rest of the week. Mr Wazoo did a quilt for the same customer, so I had better get on the stick and get mine done, too. I did have to add fabric to the back of his quilting project, so I guess it was a joint effort. He didn't get it off the machine, so I will put the photo up tomorrow.

I like how it looks. The circular pattern is a nice foyle to the square motifs.
My grandson's friend should like it, too!

Digital panto: Funky Fans

I had this piece of emergency vehicle fabric, and added the check fabric to make it big enough for the backing. I'll use the check for the binding, too.

Tomorrow, I'll be doing the dreaded stitch in the ditch on this beauty. I hope it moves right along without problems, because I'm itching to do the quilting!

My assistant reminded me of our 6pm quitting time, and we retired to the real world upstairs. We'll be back at the machine in the morning!

Another Sunday-Fun day

I spent the day in the studio enjoying the bluetooth speaker I got for Christmas and sewing. The speaker sat upstairs for a month, and I decided it needed to be where I usually am...in the studio! I put on Pandora and listened to the John Denver channel all day while sewing the diagonal quilt on the design wall. Here is where I started, in case you don't remember what I'm talking about. These are leftover 6 inch squares from other quilts I have made.

The squares up on the wall

I decided the finished quilt had to be bigger, so I added strips to the block sides to make a drop-shadow look. This increased the finished size from 39x49 to 61x69 with borders. A good size for a growing boy to use for a few years.

After using this technique on a tee shirt quilt, I am obsessed with how the optical illusion looks.

Here is a close-up of how I achieved the look. I added sashing 1 1/2 inches wide, with a 1 1/2 inch square of background fabric at the ends. I cut the gray fabric for the first side in 4 3/4 inch strips sewn to  1 1/2 inch strips of the white dot fabric. Then I subcut the 1 1/2 inch sashing strips. I did the same with the bottom sashing, sewing strip sets of 5 3/4 gray strips to 1 1/2 inch white and sub cutting them. Easy peasy. Add the 7 inch white sashes between the blocks, and you're off to the races to be finished!

In my haste to get the flimsy sewn together before the start of the Super Bowl, I measured, cut and applied all the borders...and then discovered I had left off the bottom row!! Crap! Oh well, I left the quilt as is, and it is 7 inches shorter...still a good size. On the happy side, I can now look for a backing and get it quilted!

Oops...the last row was waiting on the ironing board, and I totally missed it!

Meanwhile, I had a great birthday, and the Patriots finally lost. The planets are now realigned and Eagle fans everywhere are rejoicing. I don't really care for either team (Packer fans are die-hard) but wanted the Eagles to win and make some history. Good game, iffy half time, 'meh' commercials. I watched Victoria right in the middle of the game, and still caught the final 10 minutes and the sweet victory. 

Back in the studio today, and back to customer work!

Mr W got the cake at the grocery store. I think the decorator needs a bit more practice! ha ha ha. Our lips and tongues were purple from the food coloring, but the cake was delicious. Next year, my birthday is on Super Bowl Sunday. Packers?...

Ending the week with a big birthday!

I don't have to catered to all month for my birthday like Bonnie Hunter. I can have just as much fun on the one day I'm allotted. My 65th is today, and I plan to party! Medicare and Social Security, I'm ready!! A nice steak dinner, some laughs with friends and cake and ice cream...that's a fun birthday!
Back up the train, and I'll tell you what I have been up to while not posting like I should. First, I have the big tee shirt quilt done except to sew on the binding. The back was quite  challenge in that I had to take it all apart and reassemble it because it was so wonky. The number strips caused it to have a pronounced sag in the middle, causing the quilting to have tucks in it. I removed the two rows of quilting, re-made the back and added fabric strips to the sides of the numbers for stability, and had Mr Wazoo do the quilting. Good move on my part. His quilting was perfect.

Ta da! Really big, and really nice

Our standard tee shirt quilt panto: Dazzle

The pieced back that gave me such a headache

Mr Wazoo quilted this customer made tee shirt quilt while I was fixing the back on the other one.

This one is for a girl

Panto: Modern loops

Nice, soft flannel back.

On Friday, I went to the local middle school with three other members of the guild and helped with the sewing club there. The kids are learning to make a drawstring backpack. For 50 minutes, they pinned the pattern, cut out the parts and wound their bobbins. It was over in what seemed like a flash, and off they went to their next class. Its good to see kids excited about sewing. 

In the afternoon, my friend Vince came over to the studio to learn a bit more about longarming. He bought an APQS, too, and we went over some of the basics of operation and supplies. When I got home from the middle school, I quickly made a little quilt to practice on. I keep a box of leftover 6 inch squares, so it was easy sewing.

The little quilt, waiting for binding

All the squares have different patterns.

In the miscellaneous category, my daughter in law sent a picture that my 2 year old grandson made. Mr Wazoo framed it and hung it over the desk in the studio! Aww...that's so sweet.

I also got my birthday present to myself. I ordered some new socks, and they are all colorful and quite comfy.

My office workspace. There really is a computer under the quilt blocks!

Dechen's art.

Birthday socks.

Now, I'm off to a long winter's nap. I don't have to do anything I don't want to do. Its my Birthday!!

Tee shirt quilt day

A long day of sewing, but I got the tee shirt quilt top finished!! There will be two columns of numbers on the back, too. Tomorrow, I will be at the fabric shop looking for backing and border fabric.

After lunch, I had the columns done.

By quitting time, I had the top done, except for the borders.

...and I still had all these blocks left for the back.

Mr Wazoo quilted today, too. He finished this jewel box quilt. It looks really nice, and will be a great gift for a family member of the customer.

I've always liked this pattern, especially in batiks.

Panto: Yodel

The pieced back really makes it special.

Big shopping day tomorrow. I hope to have this quilt totally finished by the end of the week. I skipped the state of the union speech. I would rather binge watch Grace and Frankie while hand sewing on a customer quilt. Not depressing, and definitely more intelligent. Off to bed now. 

Back to business, as usual

My day got a later than usual start, due to an early dental appointment. Good news, nothing wrong, and now my teeth are super clean.
Back in the studio, I got started on a customer commissioned tee shirt quilt. Loads of shirts to back and cut. I think I will be putting some of the numbers on the back so it will finish a manageable size. Tomorrow, I will get the sashing cut and probably have the top sewn together. I have a pair of army print PJ pants the customer wants on the quilt, so that will be a go for some of the sashing. The rest will be black solid fabric.

A couple of the shirts fell down right before I snapped the picture...

This kid played every sport!! Look at all the numbers!

Even more numbers!!

Mr Wazoo quilted this house BOM quilt. Does it look a bit familiar? We did the customer's friend's quilt a couple of weeks ago. This one features homespun and flannel fabrics. Nice!

Panto: Featherize

This was the friend's quilt.

Busy Saturday

Yesterday was a gloomy, rainy affair, but that didn't stop customers from visiting the studio. Three drop-offs and two pick-ups. That's unusual for any Saturday!
On Friday afternoon, Mr Wazoo and I did a mega tidy and clean in there, trying to make it look as if we have a bonafide business venture going on.
Late Saturday (after messing it up with work...) here is what it looked like. Please note the lack of threads and dust bunnies on the floor!!

That's the biggest open area we have seen on the cutting table in months!!

All quilting was finished for the day, so the machines were idle and stacked with the day's finished work. Look how nice the rugs are!! And our resident photo-bomber...cute as usual.

I was in the process of pressing the binding out before sewing it down on the last of the nine little day care quilts.

My BOM samples are on the design wall, and my new Ikea wall cubes in use.

On the other side of the room, I tidied up the fabric wall, cut all of the last two weeks scraps into strips and put them in the proper bins (on top) and have the Sunday work staged.

I even cleaned off my sewing cabinet!! Gosh, that machine is so pretty and really a wonderful addition to the Wazoo studio.

Mr Wazoo worked in his man cave, quilting pantos and listening to music.

This quilt is vibrant colors, but because of the poor lighting, it looks a bit dull.

Panto: Falmingo sunset

My friend, Joan A., would love this paisley backing!

One of my octogenarian customers made this 3D looking log cabin quilt

I love the log cabin centers, making it log cabin in a log cabin! Ha! Panto: Retro leaves

It is backed with the log cabin fabric. Whew! I've used 'log cabin' enough for a while.

I finished up adding the bindings on the day care quilts, quilted another comfort quilt for the evening guild  and need to bind the Second Wind charity quilt today. I'll be starting a tee shirt quilt, too.

Comfort quilt done in a nice purple and yellow scheme.

My go-to panto: Flower Power

Great tie dye green flannel back

A big stack of little quilts! All set to mail off tomorrow.

Half the day is gone, and I haven't even managed to get dressed! I had better get moving if I intend to accomplish anything. Happy Sunday!