Having a bit of fun after a frustrating day

 As you know, I am not enamored with my APQS machine. On Friday, she decided to thwart me yet again by messing up an entire row of stitching . The pattern I was doing is a very dense vine and leaf, so the quilting of each row took about a half hour to put in. It took five hours to pick out! Three hours on Friday, and two hours yesterday. The culprit was in the bobbin case. I had a similar problem a while ago without being able to pinpoint the cause. This time, I zeroed in on the spring inside the case being too worn to function properly. After picking out the row, I switched bobbin cases with Big Gammill, and everything went well. I need to get a new spring.

After picking out the row, I spritzed it with Best Press and let it work its magic. The holes closed and all was well.

The quilt is finished and it is gorgeous! It wouldn't have taken so long to fix had it not been a 96 inch long 12 inch high row! The work was worth it in the end.

My customer told me she used a ridiculously high number of different Kaffe Fassett fabrics to make the quilt. All the blues in his many fabric lines. The panto is called Stitcheree in light teal thread.

I love this backing! I think it is one of those new digitally printed fabrics. The colors are wonderful.

Remember this customer quilt? I really liked the pattern and measured all the block components and made a plan...

The customer quilt that started my creative juices flowing.

Using a jelly roll I had on hand, I made strip sets and got busy cutting and sewing blocks. My jelly roll made 120 blocks! 

After making the blocks, I auditioned some of them on the design wall before quitting for the day.

The fabric line is American Jane. As most jelly rolls, there were many repeats, especially these polka dot  ones.

Once laid out, the sameness of the fabrics didn't matter. It was just scrappy goodness.

Somehow, I lost a block in the studio...I searched everywhere and couldn't find it. I dug through my stash and made one oddball block. Can you locate it? Today I will sew the four quadrants together and finish the top. I like mine even better than the customer original. (sorry, Ruth...)

I loaded up the next quilt and got a few rows into it before quitting yesterday. It is a really colorful one!

Outside, Spring has sprung! We have had big rainstorms the last couple of days, and will have more rain today, but with the rain came warmer temperatures and a burst of growth. 

Our new pussy willow bush is blooming with delicate yellow flowers!

Aren't they pretty!?

The redbud tree is also in full glory along the driveway. 

Stay tuned for more awakenings in the garden!

The last thing I saw yesterday before quitting was this 'ghost in the machine' on Millie's computer. I think she knows I don't like her, and taunts me at every turn. I shut everything down, checked all the connections and booted up again. Everything was back to normal. Who knows what awaits me today?... We'll see.

It was a dark and stormy night...

 Remember when Snoopy would sit on his dog house and type the first line to his mystery story? It was a dark and stormy night... best describes last night! After a rain soaked day, we had the fireworks of the thunderstorms that moved through in the wee hours, keeping us awake and sending a siren warning on my phone about flash flooding. No tornado here. A huge swath of Alabama and Georgia did get the brunt of the storm, and I'm concerned for the people and places I know south of us. I hope everyone is okay.

In the studio, I quilted pantographs while finishing the binding on a large customer quilt. I have aggravated a foot injury by too much standing over the last week, so I took a day to rest it. Here is the quilt I bound yesterday.

Penny decided to help with the picture taking again, sitting in front of this lovely medallion and star block sampler.

The customer's daughter told me this was a block of the month kit her mother made. The sad thing is that the quilt maker can no longer see well, and this will be her last quilt.

The pantograph is a loose feather design that gave the quilt another layer of texture. All the fabrics are lush and coordinate beautifully.

The entire quilt is lovely. I finished the binding and it is now ready to go home.

The next project was this pretty melon and teal star quilt.

The customer requested a soft, curvy panto so I chose Flower Child in cream colored thread.

Here is the coordinating backing.

I was surprised to read the selvedge and see it was made from Liberty of London fabrics! They had a nice feel to them, but weren't the usual tightly woven lawn I am familiar with. 

Merry Christmas! Another wall hanging or table topper for next year.

Panto: Twinkling Stars in white Glide thread.

Cheerful backing.

I finished the binding and loaded the next quilt, thinking to myself what a nice pattern it was. I measured a block and made a sketch of it. While Millie did the heavy lifting, I dug out a jelly roll and got to work making strip sets for my version of the quilt. Stay tuned to see what I came up with. It is going to be a pretty quilt!

Here is the customer quilt that inspired me to get busy and sew my own quilt from the design seen here.

Her fabrics are a delightful array of oaks, acorns and squirrels. The customer requested Oaks and Acorns for the panto , and I used camel colored thread for a bit of contrast on the creamy zig zags in the quilt.

The theme continues on the backing.

I am really pleased with the rapid healing of my rotary cutter injury! My finger has gone from a bloody mess to a scab free, thin skinned area, still sensitive, but healing well. The human body is a marvelous machine!

No more band aids. I trimmed the sharp edges of the remaining nail, and am encouraged to see that it may grow back fairly normal.

I encourage all of you to use caution with your tools and avoid injuries like this one. My momentary lapse of attention has taught me to slow down and be aware of where my fingers are when cutting.

I took an afternoon break and enjoyed a bag of popcorn. Obviously, nothing happens in the studio without supervision...

Moving along toward the goal

 Time is moving along apace and we are getting closer to lift off to Texas. I have been working to finish all the quilts here, as well as get more kits made for the time I'm there. Mr Wazoo has been doing all the Spring yard work; spreading mulch, planting shrubs and cleaning out the flower beds. Penny supervises.

The front garden is starting to show some color. The bright green creeping Jenny is my favorite ground cover.

Dogwood buds are starting to peek out, and I think they will be blooming soon.

The dwarf Poppies have been brightening up the space for a couple of weeks now.

We planted my chicken with a new succulent to greet the customers.

Meanwhile, in the studio it is Halloween

I started quilting this and had to quit for the night, but it is finished and gone home now. The panto is Along came a spider in variegated black thread. 

The quilting shows well on the pieced backing. Spooky!!

After Halloween comes Christmas, and I loaded up a pretty Christmas sampler before quitting for the night. On the Gammill, I am slogging through the quilting on the green and magenta pineapple quilt. Each block has 16 magenta logs, and each log gets two leaves. The centers get four leaves. There are 80 blocks, so it's taking a while to quilt them all.

It was Christmas at 6:00!

It's big and bold and taking a long time to quilt.

The next day, I finished the Christmas quilt and moved on to a patriotic table runner. Fourth of July?!

Penny decided to ham it up for the camera when I was taking a picture of the quilt. Silly girl!

The construction of this quilt is perfect. Every block is lovely, some having fussy cut bits highlighting the fabric patterns. So pretty!

Panto: Twinkling Snowflakes

The swirling snow looks nice on the white on white backing.

Here is the table runner by the same customer. It may be small, but it is dramatic.

Panto: Simply stars

White back.

I worked all day yesterday on a huge medallion quilt, finishing the quilting at 6:10. No photos yet, but there will be some today. I made another kit for the trip...but I may succumb to my desire to make something and piece it before we go. Sometimes I have to give in and sew for fun. After a lot of quilting and quilt repairing, I need a bit of the freedom sewing for myself affords me. It makes me happy!

I am at least two thirds done with the magenta bits, then I'll start on the lime quilting. A few more days should do it.

Penny amuses herself by playing with her bed. I don't know why she does this, but it sure is funny!

Lovely day...for quilting!

 After the rainy, blustery week, we finally had a beautiful, sunny day. Mr Wazoo rejoiced and was glad in it. He spent the day digging and planting, but had to quit when he slipped I'm the mud and fell, twisting his knee. It took him a while to get cleaned up and comfortable, but he was much better by suppertime. He takes a licking and keeps on ticking!

Cleaned up and almost good as new.He is truly a hard core gardener!

In the studio, Penny and I had a fetch game before getting down to business and quilting some customer projects. I started with the third of the quilts from the same customer. She made the two chicken quilts you saw yesterday. The third one is totally different! A beautiful appliqué quilt from subdued and elegant fabrics.

This is really nice.

Well, another name of a pattern slips my pea sized mind. I got this and the one on the first chicken quilt at the same time, and have only used them once, so remembering the weird names is challenging. I will write them down and get them in a post later.

The backing is the same as the sashing fabric.

That reminds me, I said I would show you my quilt along with my customer's quilt. Here they are, 10 years apart, but still exciting. I love the colors!

My quilt from 2010

My customer's quilt from 2021! You can find the pattern in Sandy Bonsib's book, Sweet Treats.

The next quilt is an Easter quilt that will make more sense after the yo-yos are sewn back on. She took them off so I could do the quilting. The eyes and wool on the lamb in the upper right corner will be really cute in the end. I think the colors are sweet and very Spring-like.

A nice Easter quilt for her wall.

Panto: Frolic

The backing has a centered panel of Easter lilies.

Next was a table runner . It may seem like deja-vu, because I did the matching quilt a couple of weeks ago. The quilter had some blocks left over and her daughter wanted a table runner from them.

Panto: Woven Wins

She used the trimmings from the ombre backing for this back!

More table runner updates. When I called to tell the customer her two runners from her embroidered bedspread were done, she said she wanted them totally finished. Back to the cutting table to make some binding. They are the same, so I will show just one. All done!

My next (and last) custom quilt is this striking pineapple king sized quilt. It may ring a bell because of the fabric combination used...it is by the same quilter as the quilt shown above. 

I have finished the stabilizing stitching in the ditch and am ready to start the quilting.

On Millie is this Halloween quilt made by the same customer as the Easter quilt. 

I'm doing a spider and web pattern that is looking cool so far. Each row takes a long time to stitch, but is spooky and creepily wonderful;!