Another finish and the grand finale for the wedding quilt

I put in another long studio day and finished the double wedding ring quilt for my customer's daughter. Now I remember why I had decided to NOT do custom anymore... Oh well, I have three to go, so I'll go back to no custom jobs when they're done. I have spent a week on this quilt!

Ta da! The customer did not want quilting on the colored parts of the quilt. Also, she didn't want feathers everywhere, so I did a leafy pattern in the centers and melons. I'm not wild about them, but she should be happy.

One border treatment

One corner. It is perfectly square, but looks wonky because I am holding it out for the picture.

Bottom border

Leaves and ditch stitched arcs

Top corner, (taken upside down)

Cream batik backing

Yikes! I dislike plain backs...they show all the wobbles and mistakes.

While I did the free motion quilting on the wedding quilt, the computerized machine helped me finish another Christmas quilt for a customer. It is all flannel and very soft.

Pretty autumnal fabrics in a rail fence setting. Nice!

Panto: Twinkling leaves.

It has this cute puppy backing, too. What's not to like?!

Mr Wazoo quilted number eleven of the twelve quilts of Christmas today. He will be gone tomorrow visiting his Mom in South Carolina, so we'll have to wait until Thursday to celebrate them all being completed. Here is number eleven.

Same pattern, different fabrics. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! All the quilts are pretty, thanks to her selection of Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

Panto: Flower Festival

A pieced back, but not Paris this time.

At the end of the day, I loaded my quilt for tomorrow. It is a pieced quilt of all white fabrics, with a white back. The customer made this for her daughter, who selected the color palette (or lack of color palette!). It is obvious the girl does not have dogs or cats...and is very clean and tidy. I'm sure it will be lovely, but I'd be afraid to have it on my bed. One of the fabrics is a soft white corduroy.

The classy snow white quilt.

My faithful servant posed by the wedding quilt before we quit for the day. She is such a good girl, waiting patiently for the work to be done so we can play fetch with her lamb toy. She got her wish after supper, and is now resting quietly before going to bed. Life is good!

Quilting with a new brace!

Yesterday, I quilted for 8 hours in the new foot brace. Things went well, and I am optimistic about continuing. Thank goodness I am hopefully out of the boot!!

Yippee!! I can even get a shoe over it.
I like colorful socks. Probably one of the few things  Bush 41 and I had in common. He was a loving, honest family man and a patriotic American. Something lacking in the current White House. He had integrity and empathy, as well as a sense of humor. I may not agree with his politics, but he was a great man. I pray for his family and friends who profoundly feel the loss. 

But, I digress...Here is the brace with my shoe off.

As you can see, I took the pics while un-winding after the day of quilting.

Both machine were called into service, the custom wedding ring quilt is moving along slowly to completion, and another of the 12 quilts of Christmas is history. I think we will have the last ones done today!! The customer has been picking them up as they are finished, and she will be here today for the four we have ready.

This quilt is for a lively person, for sure!! I love the colors together, and think it is wonderful.

Panto: Flower Power

Paris on the back encore.

Rolling, rolling, rolling...keep the quilt a rolling. Crack the whip! I'm hoping to finish it today.
You older people will get the reference...

Mr Wazoo also quilted a 12 quilts contestant yesterday, but he didn't take a picture yet. We'll get it in the books and out the door soon. We are steadily making our way to the Christmas finish line.

Sweatpants, paper towels and quilting

We finally bit the bullet and went to Walmart. I hate going to Walmart. Mr Wazoo and I both needed stuff that we can only get there. When you live in a small town, Walmart is probably the only store for miles, so you do your shopping there. The man needed new sweatpants, we needed paper products, wreath hooks and some other sundries, so we ventured out. The store wasn't packed, so we got our stuff and beat feet home.
The rest of the day was spent quilting (for me) and blowing leaves off the driveway and yard (for the yard man).
There isn't much to show you, I just thought I should check in and write something. The stitch in the ditch on the wedding ring quilt is completed and I have barely started the actual quilting. It took all afternoon to get this far. The quilt is rolled back to the top and I am on my way to the finish line! Stay tuned!

After the stitch in the ditch was done, I rolled the quilt back to the top to begin quilting.

It's a big one, too! Molly knows when the work day is over, and she's ready to go home.

Yesterday, we quilted a couple of Christmas gifts for customers. Mr Wazoo did another of the 12 quilts of Christmas, and I did a dog and corduroy quilt.

Dogs and black corduroy. Nice pattern!

The panto, Dazzle, shows well on the corduroy.

A peek at the back.

Mr W did a complicated panto on this simple quilt. It helped to jazz it up a bit.

Panto: Forest floor

The backing was also pieced, for a two sided quilt.

More quilting tomorrow. I plan to have all three machines humming, if Mr W cooperates. Christmas is coming!

More finishes, another start.

I finished the Mexican Star quilt and it has gone home with its maker. I think it is really beautiful.

The dimensional blocks really pop.

Some of the quilting.

A peek at the back

Mr Wazoo worked on and completed this baseball themed quilt.

Its a Christmas gift for a Mets fan

Masculine panto: Yodel

Mets fabric on the back!

I loaded and computer quilted the centers and melons on this wedding ring quilt. Then I un-loaded it and will get it on the Gammill tomorrow for the hand guided quilting.

Here's the "before".

I prefer the look of hand guided quilting when I can do it and have it look good. I use the computer patterns, but don't always like how perfect they look. People aren't perfect. My quilting is organic and imperfect.

Centers and melons done. Tomorrow, I start the quilting I really enjoy.

One of my customers sent me a picture of a quilt Mr Wazoo did a while back, and how it looks on her bed. She says her kids have already had a fight over who gets it. Oh my!

Its a blast to see the quilts in their "natural habitat".

One day closer...

I am so excited!! My entire family will be here for Christmas. Our daughter, who lives in Arizona, and my two grandkids will make the trip for the first time in years. The twins will both be here, too, as well as my son, his wife and two more grandkids!! This house will be a beehive of activity and fun.
Until that happens, we will be quilting or fingers off to get our work done. Mr Wazoo did two for the same customer, and I began a custom quilt for a friend.

The first quilt is this patriotic one. It will be a great gift for a family member!

The customer requested swirls, so that is what Mr W did. I don't know the name of the pattern...sorry.

Swirly backing, too.

The second quilt was this pretty French General fabric one.
The stars are just scrape enough to give the quilt some sparkle.

Panto: Trellis Vine

Matching backing.

The custom quilt has intricate manipulated fabric blocks.

The name of the pattern is Mexican Star. It's really beautiful.
I am about 2/3 done with the quilting, and have it re-loaded from the APQS to the Gammill for the hand guided quilting. I prefer to do my free motion quilting on the Gammill.

This morning when we got up, it was really cold!! 20 degrees! I took a picture from the same location on the road as a few days before, just to show you the difference in climate from here to the mountain tops! The snowy peaks were pretty.

On the home front, it's beginning to look Christmasy.
The tree decorating is finished and we have started to get the other items out, as well.

Sure, there's work waiting, but Christmas comes only once a year and we have to stop and enjoy  the traditions and make new memories.

28 days...oh dear!!

I suddenly realized there are only 28 days until Christmas. How did that happen?! We have so much work to be done here at Wazoo, and more coming tomorrow!! I haven't shopped or made anything for anyone. No more days off until the quilting is caught up.
We did have two nice Thanksgivings. The first one at our friend's house, featuring my vegetable lasagne and Kay's made from scratch tiramisu. Yesterday, I made the whole shebang turkey dinner for 6 people. We had a good time, despite the turkey taking 45 minutes longer to cook than expected. Even so, the meal and the company was were wonderful. My daughter went to Portland, Oregon last week and landed a new job there. She'll be leaving North Carolina in January. I'll really miss having her close by and her visits here to the mountain. Once again, my kids will be scattered to the four corners of the USA.
My elves have been busy sewing the blocks for the raffle quilt. The show is in 2019, but the quilt needs to be done so we can raise money with it. The center blocks are done, and my friend Gail is sewing them together. We'll add a small red inner border, then an appliquéd border on a black background. It is going to be beautiful!

We juggled the blocks around until we liked the layout, and then labile and stacked them for sewing. This isn't the final layout, but its close.

Mr Wazoo has been quilting in between jaunts outdoors to winterize the gardens and yard. I have been quilting, cooking, decorating and entertaining! There just aren't enough hours in a day, are there?

It took three days for me to finish this big quilt, but isn't it a spectacular project?

Panto: Ivy swirl

This will really make someone happy.

Mr W is still plugging along on the 12 Christmas quilts. This is number 8.

Panto" Alfresco

Pink Paris and polka dots again for the backing.

Quilt guild is tomorrow, and I'll be home quilting in the afternoon. Time flies when you're having fun! My idea of fun is a good Christmas movie and some popcorn. Carolyn and I watched Holiday Inn, White Christmas, A Christmas Carol (the George C. Scott version), Christmas Vacation, The Holiday, and Trading Christmas while she was here. I have a cabinet full of Christmas movies, and try to watch them all every year. Last night I watched Love Actually and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Oh yeah, I have the music on most of the day, too. You may have guessed I love Christmas. Only 28 days to go. Yikes!! I had better get busy.