Giving the washer a workout

Mr W and I had a long discussion about whether or not to wash the Big Bertha quilt in the domestic washer. Both of us have fears of the machine taking off, or exploding during the spin cycle! After draining off the water in the tub, we let the quilt sit for the day to get as much water out as possible before washing it. My biggest disappointment was the Oxyclean did nothing to get the mold out. It is as black and awful as ever. I know bleach might work, but you don't bleach quilts!! Especially polyester ones...
Anyway, the quilt is in the washer, and so far so good. Let's look at where I started, and where we are today.

Everywhere you see a pink 'frame' of fabric around a square, I had to replace a block of fabric. Next to the dark blue, you can see some of the first row that have been sewn.

Its in there!! Tumbling and spinning without incident, so far.

Once I get it in the dryer, I will relax a bit.I'm supposed to be at a sew in at the fabric store in twenty minutes, but can see I'll be late because of the washing marathon. Oh well, the parts came for the APQS and Mr W is chomping at the bit to get the machine off the carriage and begin taking off the wheels and putting on the new ones. I need to help him with this, so I had better get on the stick and get going, too!! I will post later today with the washing results. Fingers crossed that nothing comes apart!!

 

Postscript!: The washing went well and the washer is still intact. The quilt itself looks so clean and smells fresh and clean. I am so happy, and I hope the customer will be, too!

The black moldy areas are much cleaner now. (the quilt underneath is on the bed, not the front of the repaired quilt)

Still a bit of black spots, but waaaaay better!

Huzzah!! Hoorah!!

Today is a great day!! I have finished the double knit polyester quilt repair. 92 blocks replaced, the binding re-sewn and 4 blocks repaired. I will give it an Oxyclean soak, hoping to remove some of the mold from the back, and then a good wash and the triumphant return to the customer's family. I hope I never have another quilt made of double knit again!

It doesn't look half bad...but it still weighs 40 pounds!!

Mr Wazoo took advantage of the rainy cold weather to dash off the quilting on this twister wreath. The customer is really getting a jump on Christmas!

I have made these before. It is a really fun technique!

Panto: Holly berries

The quilting really shows on the back

I spent my 'day off' lolly-gagging while watching highlights from the Olympics and eating French toast. I started in the studio at noon, and managed to finish one of the baby quilts for the soon-to-be twin girls for a friend of our own twins! The blocks are ready to be sewn on the second quilt, and I should be able to fit that in tomorrow after my Block of the month class. Mr Wazoo says if the weather is bad, he will get the first one quilted for me. How sweet...(pray for rain!)

The first of the two quilts has the aqua alternate blocks.

I used a Moda Jelly Roll, I think it is called something Lullabye, but I can't remember. I will check the label tomorrow and put the collection title here.

Here is the second quilt, waiting to be sewn.

The peach color isn't right in this picture. It is much lighter than it looks here.

Cute animals in the focus fabric of the collection.

The taupe fabric with the little ducks will be the back of both quilts.

Beautiful quilt finished!!

I think this is one of the most beautiful quilts I have ever worked on. I hope the customer puts it in a show...surely, its a winner! It was all done free motion on the Gammill, some marking and some ruler work, but mostly just fun, in the zone quilting. Enjoy the pictures.
Tomorrow, I will be switching gears and making another customer tee shirt quilt.

The custom quilting marathon

The thing about quilting for customers is, it is boring for you to look at day after day. So, I didn't post for a couple of days to let you take a nap and recover. I am still working on the beautiful reproduction quilt, and the quilting is slowly coming along.

Wednesday I quilted all the gold zig-zags and setting triangles.

I also got a good start on the brown narrow border. Its hard to see here, but there are squares quilted into the border.

Yesterday I finished the small borders, quilted the two long, wide brown outer borders, turned the quilt and quilted the other long brown borders. I also quilted all the white background triangles in the zig-zag border. By 6 pm, I was too tired to take pictures, so today I will do that and soldier on with the blocks. Like I said, its a marathon!

Meanwhile, Mr Wazoo was busy in the man cave quilting these customer projects. 

This quilt has nice, big blocks that show off the fabric line. I saw one like it made from Joel Dewberry fabrics on the Meadow Mist blog today. If I were to make one, I would go for the big, bold prints! This quilt is for a young lady who likes these sweet fabrics, so I understand the selection.

The Joel Dewberry fabrics quilt

Panto: Big Splat

Rosebud backing

Also on his list were these two Easter table runners.

Colorful Easter eggs and the panto: Feathers and Flowers

White linen backing.

In the evening, I am working along on the double knit quilt repair. I'm on the last round of 42 dark blue plaid squares!! I stitched during the Olympics last night, happy to see the married couple from the USA do a great job in the pairs skating competition of the team event. The moguls event was fun, too.

21 squares to go! See where I am sewing them? Into the openings where all you see is batting. I stitched from 8 until midnight and did 12 squares. Polyester double knit is a fabric from Hell!! I will be so glad to finish this one. It weighs about 20 pounds (really...) and has mold on a large part of the back. As soon as I have finished the squares, I will soak it for the mold, wash it, and get it back to the customer.

It is a beautiful day outside, so Mr Wazoo will be doing some yard work and enjoying the sunshine. I'll be in the studio, quilting the reproduction quilt. Have a glorious day!!

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?...