A different direction

Not much happening on the quilting front due to the wind up to the show. There are so many details and loose ends to attend to, it takes my time away from the studio. (insert sad face here...) I don't know if you remember the bear I dressed for the woodland critters challenge, but I still needed  to make her accessories. The only quilting I have finished in the last two days is her little quilt! It is 5" x 8" , pieced and quilted, and was a booger to bind!

I haven't decided what to name her, but she's ready for bed in her nightie and pink bear slippers.

She needed a quilt...and maybe a sleep mask, I haven't decided that either.

So, here is the quilt

...and the back.

I put my wrinkly hand in so you get the idea how small the quilt is.

Or a little carved dog!

I did get all the blocks cut out for a quilt of valor, but won't show it just yet. I also did some of the prep for my demo at the quilt show. I'm slowly getting it all together before the big day. The last thing I saw before coming in to make supper was this rainbow. We didn't have a drop of rain, but had the joy of the rainbow anyway. Confusing, but nice.

See you all on the flip side!

A happy kind of tired

Good news! All my show quilts are finished. The chicken run quilt was finished on Saturday, and I think its cute but not ribbon worthy.

They are certainly running! I used the red dot for the binding.

It's hard to see the quilting; chicken wire in the blocks, swirls in the sashing and simple piano keys in the border.

I got the backing fabric on my trip to Wisconsin.

Late Saturday afternoon, I started the hand work on the primitive applique quilt. I had the binding, sleeve and label sewn down by midnight and my bedtime. Sunday morning, I started sewing on the embellishments. I sewed all day and into the evening, stopping only to make supper and eat. The project was done at 11:30 PM. Murder shows, movies and PBS series on Prime kept me company until the last bead was sewn.

I thought I was finished, but thought I needed to define the center blocks from the borders. So today I added tiny rick rack and more buttons. Now, I'm finished!!

There is no way to photograph the quilting properly, so you have to trust me that it is very nice.

It does look better with the tiny lime green rick rack and the flowery buttons.

You would have to look at the quilt for a few minutes to find all the button and bead embellishments. It was fun seeing them all on, but my fingers are sore and I'm glad to be done.

I have added one of these acorn buttons to three applique quilts with squirrels on them. I have one left...

It took over an hour to sew these heart/flower buttons on this block.  It is difficult to sew them securely to the quilt without going through to the back.

So there you have it. The show quilts are folded in a stack and ready to go. What a load off my mind. I have put off customer quilting long enough. It is time to get to work on the waiting queue of quilts waiting for their debut.

I spent today getting the studio back to normal, putting away the 42 cones of thread I used to quilt the last two quilts, vacuum up the lint and threads from the floor and put away the buttons, beads and rick rack before washing and putting on my brand new Sheex sheets and await my journey to sleepy town. I slept on this brand of sheets at my daughter's place and had to get some. They are the softest, smoothest sheets I have ever slept on. Enough chat!! I'm going to bed!

Slow and steady wins the race!

There hasn't been much to post here in the last couple of days. We had to go to Gainsville for some personal business, and that took an entire day off working on the primitive quilt. I jumped in early today and am in the home stretch . The colored parts are all done and I have quilted the top border and the first row of the quilt. I hope tomorrow will show more progress, maybe even a finish!
I did quilt just the blocks on the chicken run before taking the quilt off the machine and loading up the next customer quilt.

I quilted the 20 blocks with this chicken wire pattern. The rest of the quilt will be done freehand.

If anyone recognizes this quilt, give me a call!
You didn't put your name or phone number in the bag with the quilt parts,

I chose the panto: Funky Fans

Maybe you recognize the backing. It was a long piece I needed to cut and sew.

When my day was done (and my feet hurt) I finished the quilt made of free blocks from my evening guild. It will be a charity quilt for that guild.

Here it is on the design wall with the borders finished.

All done! I quilted it and got the binding done after our trip to Gainsville.

The panto is Feather Flourish. Oh yes, the name of the pretty panto on the neutral quilt from a couple of days ago is Daydream. Isn't that a lovely name?

I had this backing piece left from another quilt I did.

Today I prepped more pieces for the never ending repair I have been trying to finish.
The hand work fills most evenings in front of the TV with my feet up!

And here is an after school picture of my grandson in his new rainbow shirt and shoes.

My son picks him up after his school day!
He is a middle school teacher.

Pressing on

I finished the hand work on the big chicken and it is ready for the show. Today, I loaded the primitive applique quilt. I also loaded and quilted another blue beauty from the same customer as yesterday's quilt. Both quilts occupied my entire day, and I only managed to get the inner border on the little log cabin quilt I sewed together yesterday.
The story of the blocks is a fun one. My evening guild had a fabric exchange, where we brought fabric we don't want anymore and take home fabric the other members don't want anymore. Hmmmm...I didn't need any other fabric, but there was a small stack of blocks that looked really interesting. I found out a member made them years ago and no longer wanted to make more. They spoke to me, and I took them home. All in all, a good day, quilting and having fun!

The stitch in the ditch took all day, but it is finished and I am ready to start the fun quilting tomorrow.

I only had a few minutes while the Millie finished the last row of the blue quilt, to sew on the inner border of the little log cabin quilt. Its coming along nicely.

Here is the quilt from the same customer who had a blue and neutral quilt yesterday.

Of course, between quitting time and now (midnight) I have totally forgotten the name of this pattern...sorry. It is quite lovely on the quilt though.

The light blue thread looks pretty, too.

My Grandson sent me a picture of his latest artwork.

He's infatuated with rainbows right now, so Grandma sent him a rainbow shirt.


He's so darn cute! I even scored a kiss!

Hard work, satisfying finish

I worked long hours yesterday, but didn't finish anything. Today, I had a really productive streak, and another show finish!

The quilting on this quilt was begun yesterday.
At first, I didn't like this neutral quilt, but it grew on me after quilting it.
(See the blocks on the design wall behind the quilt? Remember them...)

The pattern is called Feather Flourish

The pieced backing really looks nice.

Meanwhile, I quilted and quilted and quilted some more, but couldn't finish the  Big Chicken...

I got as far as the border, and then my feet screamed for me to stop. So I did.

Here is where I started today.

It's finished!

I added the sleeve, label and binding at the end of the day. Tonight, I will do the hand sewing

It was hard to get a good picture of the quilting.

I did the border to mimic the piecing.

I love this fabric! It is the backing.

After finishing the neutral quilt, I loaded this one.
This pretty quilt belongs to a guild member who makes more quilts than most everyone.
I would love to make quilts all day...what a dream.

The pattern on this one is called Butterfly Swirl.

The quilting looks really nice on the back.

Here is what I doodled around with when the chicken was done! These were the blocks you saw earlier on the design wall. I added the blue sashing and red cornerstones, but it needs borders, and then I'll tell you the whole story.
Until then, here are some nice pictures of the homestead I took early this morning on the way to work. How are we so fortunate to live in this beautiful place?!