Up and down

In the last post, I was exhilarated with my quilting and work and just about everything. My bubble burst yesterday when the dreaded Millie went haywire again. I think it is a test of my patience and endurance that this happens over and over. She started sewing up and down in a ten inch long strip, only moving to the right by minuscule increments. This only lasted about 30 or 40 seconds, the time it takes me to get up from the Bernina and get to the stop button. Alas, the damage was done. There was a 1 inch wide swath of close stitches taunting me. Mr Wazoo came right away to trouble shoot, and found the problem with a loose connection in one of the motor cables. How does that happen?!! I hadn't moved anything or messed with them...it just happened. Anyway, I had two hours of tedious picking to do. Karma? I don't know.

This is the quilt I am working on and had the snafu with. It is another giant  quilt, measuring in at 92X111". The customer sent 11 yards of fabric for the backing. I measured, cut sewed and pressed the back to get it ready. If you have ever made a king sized quilt, you will understand why I am adding a fee for this!

Meanwhile, once the dilemma was resolved, I sewed a bit on my personal project to get back in the mood. Worked like a charm! I'm ready to go finish the big quilt and get on with the next one. None the worse for wear, the quilt came through with flying colors. It had many construction issues, and will be better than it was when it came to me when the quilting is done.

Sewing strip sets

These strips are for the border

Strip sets pressed and ready to cut. On the chair seat is a surprise project for the customer with the two tee shirt quilts.

Here is the second completed tee shirt quilt with the patches sewn on and the binding finished.

Some of the patches.

At the end of the day, I stopped to smell the roses...so heady and soothing at the same time. Thanks to Mr W, I have this park-like setting to ride out the quarantine in.

These roses smell so wonderful...I wish you could be here to experience it.

I don't know what these are, but they are delicate and pretty.

Bright green sedum.

The front yard garden is full and beautiful. One pot yet to be planted, but otherwise, lovely.

Studio progress

What a good day I had in the studio! I finished the second tee shirt quilt, finished the last of four quilts for a customer, quilted another quilt and had two pick ups! All day I listened to my favorite music and sang along with most of the oldies. It was a good day. I hope today will be another productive and fun work day here at Wazoo.
The name of the panto I couldn't remember was Baby Blooms. I may have to start taking that memory vitamin we see on TV!!

The tee shirt quilt is finished. This picture doesn't show the patches sewn on, but they are on and the binding finished, too. I'll snap a quick shot before calling the customer to come get them.

Panto: Dazzle

I found this great fabric for the back in the sale room at a local shop. Perfect t!

I made the back for this quilt. There was a length of fabric in the bag with the top, but  it hadn't been cut and assembled into a back to fit the quilt.
I like the charm pack collection used here. 

Panto: Jetty

I wish the color would come out correctly when I photograph the roses. These are buttery yellow and very fragrant.

This plant is very attractive to butterflies and humming birds.

Every day, the peonies get closer to bursting!

The pink Drift roses are starting to open up, too. The rock garden smells so wonderful when I walk up to the house after work.

The guardian gnome is keeping peace in the garden.

Between projects , I made a few of the strata for a scrappy Irish chain quilt. There will be photos soon, I hope. 

Our phones are out of order and Windstream won't get here until the 18th! Oh dear...the phones have no dial tone and I haven't been able to receive calls, either. I had one call get through in the morning but then...nothing. Thank goodness I have a cell phone and can still call my customers. 

It looks liker another sunny day, so I had better get to work!

Mother's Day in my happy place

Happy Mother's Day to all of you who have kids of your own. One of mine sent me these beautiful flowers. I also had some texts, phone calls, videos and a face time. Technology sure is wonderful when we can't be together!

My high school girlfriend left this morning after a 24 hour friend-fest and speed tour of the area. She arrived from Florida and stayed just two nights before leaving early this morning for her home in Wisconsin. We had a good time driving around my neck of the woods and sharing the mountain views.

Two geezers trying to do a selfie on top of Blood Mountain
(Don't get excited...our masks were taken off for this picture and then quickly replaced)

Mr Wazoo stayed home while we galavanted around in the car, doing his work like a stellar employee.

This customer took my class, Cat Stairway to Heaven, and made this lovely version of the quilt.

Mr W used the panto: Cat paws to do the quilting

The backing is a pretty hot pink batik.

This is the fourth and last of the 1970s quilts. The customer will come tomorrow to pick them up. I hope she likes them as much as I do! I'm happy she had them quilted instead of packing them back in a box for another 50 years!

Panto: Adore

Here is the dark green back. Looks great!

Next, I quilted this cheerful quilt. The customer is one of the happiest people I know, so it seems perfect for her to have made this quilt.

I don't remember the name of the panto. I haven't used it before. The design is a pretty flower and some loops.

The backing is just as wonderful as the top.

While Millie did her job on the flowery quilt, I put together the lap sized tee shirt quilt. I finished the top and will get it quilted tomorrow after I get the last project from today off the machine.
We're keeping up fairly well, but the quilts are rolling in at a breakneck pace. I'm grateful people are staying home and making quilt tops, but starting to panic at the length of the queue on the 'waiting' rack.

I'm almost done with this attic window quilt. One row more and I'll be done. It was after 6pm and I decided it was time to get supper around and enjoy some down time on Mother's Day.

I'm thankful for quilting!

I know I said I would post regularly, but the time gets away from me and I missed a day. Many quilts are being done, and customers are home making more. I will be busy for a long time. Thank you for sewing and quilting during the pandemic, because it allows me to continue my business where many others are struggling to make ends meet. I am truly grateful for quilters.
Here are a few  pics of what happened yesterday.

This the third of the 1970s quilts from one customer. The use of the sunflower focus fabric with the supporting players is quite effective.

Panto: Borneo

 

The gold thread I chose shows up well on the dark brown backing.

I worked all day to finish the tee shirt quilt. I think it looks really nice.  The binding is on and I did the hand sewing last night while watching stand up comedians on Netflix. If you have Netflix, the new Jerry Seinfeld 23 hours to kill, is clever and funny. John Mulaney is also hilarious, even though he does swear at times. Neither use gross topics, and both use their personal observation to make us laugh. We all need a laugh right now.

Panto: Rounded squares

I had this gray patterned wide backing in my stash for the back.

This little quilt is the first attempt to make a quilt by a new customer. She did a good job with the piecing, but I am having to do some quilting gymnastics to get it finished. First, she cut the backing the exact size of the top. I picked another fabric for the back and used it. The quilting has been a bit tricky because the top and batting are also the same size. I think it will be nice in the end, though. I cut her binding strips down from 3" to 2 1/4" and re-sewed them with miters instead of straight seams. I should have it bound and ready to go out the door tomorrow

Today, I will be constructing the second tee shirt quilt for the same customer. It will be a good sized lap quilt. My intention is to reverse the color palette for the sashing and borders to change it up a bit. Pressing all the stabilizer to the shirts is the tedious part, but it moves along quickly from there. I'm excited to get going!

One of my quilting friends discovered a website called Jigsaw Planet and emailed  thinking one of the contributors was me! I went to the site, where you can make puzzles for free, and looked it over. Well, I'm hooked. There are puzzles for all levels of ease, from kiddie ones to beautiful pictures with loads of pieces. They are fun to do and I worked a couple of them a few nights ago in the evening. I joined (free) and opened an account, putting some of my quilts on there as puzzles. I also put pictures of Molly as kid puzzles and some of Mr Wazoo's flowers as pretty puzzles. Here are a few of the pictures I haven't uploaded yet, but I think would be fun to work as puzzles. 

Enjoy the pictures, and check out the site if you like doing puzzles, or just like looking at pretty pictures.

Some of my quilts, stacked in the bathroom of the studio

Another stack of quilts

Oriental and brights fabric  on the shelf

Blue fabric

My favorite color!

Stripe and dots

Plaids

quilt books on the shelf

More titles

Thread

Items on top of the bookshelf

I'll be busy today, but giddy with anticipation for my Wisconsin friend who is breaking up her journey from Florida to Wisconsin with a stop at Wazoo. We have been friends since High school, and I can't wait to see her again in person, even if we will be 6 feet apart. 

Take care and quilt on!