Sunday-Funday!!

Hello, happy people! I hope everyone is safe and warm. We had some nasty weather last week and now, its really cold outside. Rain and snow aren't bad for me...I get to go in the studio and sew. Mr Wazoo isn't happy at all with this weather; covering plants and shoveling off the porch and taking Penny outside for her long sniffing sessions before doing her business.We'll survive this and the sun will be back soon!

Even with a dusting of snow, the birds brave the cold to get their breakfast

When we get snow, it always sticks to everything. Like powered sugar on donuts. So pretty.

Bigfoot doesn't mind the cold. What a stud! He's barefoot and naked!

In my last post I had the scrappy quilt made by my deceased friend, Donna. When I was applying the binding, I looked at one of the triangles and saw something written by Donna! It was well hidden, but told the story of why she made this quilt. I decided I would add to the story by scribing our names on the triangle for someone else to find someday.

This is the quilt

Donna made the quilt top in a class taught by the venerable Claudeen Hansen in 1995.

I added her name to the bottom, and mine along one side.

27 years later, it is a finished quilt. 

I selected an old Jinny Beyer blue fabric for the binding. The quilt left with one of my customers who will give it to her church for their outreach program. Quilters in the congregation  make quilts and give them to parishioners who are having a hard time in their life. It was the request Donna's husband made for her handiwork.

Back at work; during the week I finished several customer quilts.Three string quilts came in from the same customer. I enjoyed working on them.

Strip Quilt number one; The traditional four pointed star, but with a twist; the blue triangles on the corners that form a secondary pattern!

The fabrics are much brighter than they appear here

Panto: Flower Power

The customer requested a pattern that looked like the flowers on the backing.       

Flower power is perfect!

Number two is a beautiful collection of Kaffe Fassett fabrics arranged into four patches by color. 

I love how the colors dance around, weaving into one another. The green sashing adds the perfect touch.

Panto: Paisley curls

This backing is spectacular! I carefully trimmed off a piece of the selvedge so I can keep an eye out for some for my stash! "100 Years, Art Theory by Alison Glass for Andover fabrics". Not made anymore, but I could run across it somewhere in my travels.

The last of the three is my favorite. It is a scrappy four patch of all sorts of fabrics, mostly small print pastels.

Light teal in the blocks and minty green sashes around the big blocks

Panto: Adore

The backing was this wonderful big print.

My first tee shirt quilt of the year was made by a new customer. She is a lively, interesting lady who had never made a tee shirt quilt before. We chatted for a while and had a great time. I gave Donna's quilt to her. I think it's in good hands.

The quilt is made from tee shirts of a  girl who graduates this year.

Panto: African Samba. These soft geometric patterns always look swell on tee shirt quilts. The texture they provide is wonderful to run your hand over.

Nice modern backing.

Today,(Funday-Sunday) I had a fun day sewing and quilting with Hallmark movie re-runs in the background. The Lonni Rossi top is coming along slowly, and I will rejoice when I have it together. I am tired of looking at it right now.

Here is where I started the day. I have two more rows on and one sewn and ready for tomorrow after my PT. It should be finished by tomorrow afternoon.

Mr W washed Penny's dog quilt and she was happily ensconced under the longarm, just like Molly before her.

What a good girl!

Up top, the longarm chugged along as I quilted this double 4-patch

Panto: Alpine Grande. The flowers and swirls were very pretty one the solid color areas.

The quilt was all small, delicate floral prints. So soft and sweet!

I've been working on the strip quilt repair all week. When I un-picked the binding, I was amazed at how colorful the quilt used to be. I think somewhere inn it's lifetime, someone put bleach in the wash and completely dulled it down. What a shame! Now it has the shabby chic vibe, but is shredding to bits! Take a look at what I found.

You won't believe this!! This is the original color of the backing fabric it is laying on. That's why I think it has been bleached.

the fabric under the binding is colorful and fun. The quilt fabric...not so much.

Same here

And here, too

Yup, More faded fabric that should have been bright and pretty.

This fabric is completely gone from the top, but I wish it was there because it is so kooky.

Wow! Look at the difference in the yellow fabric!

the plaid bits

the striped bits

and the floral bits. All faded and worn.

I love the purple floral. Too bad.

Well, I'll make more pieces tomorrow for sewing while TV watching. I've run out of episodes of The Repair Shop, but found a new binge program...Making Fun. The guys are silly, but they make some great projects from kid's imaginations.

Ta for now. I have  to get up early, so its off to bed for me.

 

A re-group and more quilting

 Yesterday was a wash  for quilting in the studio. Mr Wazoo and I drove to Gainsville again for an appointment with the pain doctor's nurse practitioner. The new plan is for L3-SI facet MBB treatment, followed by nerve ablation in those areas. This means more injections in my back, then a burning of the tiny nerves that are causing the problem. Yikes! I'm waiting to hear from the scheduler for the date of the first treatment.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, rain, rain, rain and a wave of colder weather has kept Mr W indoors. I like the inclement weather as long as the power stays on and I can work! On Sunday-Funday I pieced a charity quilt from the fabric I bought at the sale in Hiawassee. I would have made the usual small (40x50) quilt, but I want to make quilts a bit bigger for nursing home residents. It is really cheerful!

I need to find something for the back, then I'll get it quilted and bound.

I quilted the QOV that arrived from the national group on Sunday, too. This is how much thread was left on the cone when I finished the quilting. That's cutting it close! Look at the cone in the upper right of the photo...

Here is the quilt, ready to ship back to the maker in Florida.

 

Panto: Starry Night in gold thread

It looks great on the backing.

I also cut out the pieces for another 2-3-2-6 quilt, this one in the standard child size.

I made a bunch more repair pieces for the strip quilt I have been working on, too.

I am almost two months behind on the BOM from The Quilt Show, but did get the first border paper-pieced for the center block.

There are supposed to be corner blocks with appliquéd circles on them, but I'm not crazy about them, so I am auditioning other possibilities. Here, I tried some fussy-cut hummingbirds from a Laurel Burch fabric. I'm not thrilled about this look, either... Back to the drawing board.

Before quitting for the day, I loaded this quilt. The top was made by a dear friend who died of from kidney failure after many years fighting her disease. Even the needed kidney transplant didn't save her. She was a lovely woman, and truly wonderful artist and quilter. Her husband gave me this top after she passed, hoping it would give someone comfort. It sat in my stash of tops for several years before I finally got it out, made a backing and got it quilted.

Monday began with PT, where the therapist did palliative treatments instead of the usual exercises. Massage, E-stem and heat made my back calmer and started the day off well.

Back home, I quilted Donna's quilt, and now it will finally give comfort to a nursing home resident. Binding is all that I need to do to finish it.

I love the colors in this scrappy quilt. The fabrics are older prints, but the impression is a modern style.

Panto: Flower feathers

I had this feather fabric in my stash, and like the big print as a surprise on the back.

When I finished Donna's quilt, I loaded this Ghastlycrumb rendition of Valentine's Day. The prints in this collection are all whimsical renditions of the Ghastly's being in love. Their expressions and the supporting visuals (like the heart with swords piercing through it) make it a tongue-in-cheek lampoon of the holiday. It was a fun quilt to do!

My customer's daughter made this as her first quilt! She has learned her precise piecing from her Mom and done a wonderful job making a flat and square quilt. Good job!

The panto is Heart Fancy. A spilled bottle of poison is on the block at the top, and elsewhere in the piecing is the Ghastly butler offering poisoned drinks on a tray. Many of the fabric's motifs were fussy-cut to showcase the macabre subject matter.

The heart full of swords and the butler serving drinks.

The people are all saying "love", but look like they want to kill someone!

The backing is a composite fabric from the collection

Here is the entire back. So fun to look at!

"One who marries for love alone courts bad days but delicious nights"

The guy under the black cloud courting his true love. Then, half hidden to the right, the naked couple enjoying(?) their 'delicious night'.

This couple, with their evil looking cat, surrounded by pretty flowers.

How about these guys? What's their story? The Ghastlycrumb's designer has a wicked sense of humor!

After the trip to Gainsville, I didn't have time to do much in the studio, so I stayed upstairs and baked a pineapple upside down cake for Mr W. While it was in the oven, I did the hand repair of a rag rug a customer entrusted to me, Her grandma and auntie made many of these, but this one was the only one worth repairing. It is well worn from years of use, but still has some life left for the family. Boy, was it tough to hand sew through the double knit polyester bits! I used a large embroidery needle and dental floss for the work. Good for another 50 years!

Here is one side of the rug. Penny gave it her seal of approval after a quick sniff.

This is the other side. Oh, that pup just has to be in the picture! The shady part near the center of the rug isbn't a stain, it is where darker fabrics were incorporated in the braids.

I didn't have a platter the right size to turn out the cake on, so I used a pizza pan! After we ate a couple of pieces for dessert, I fit the rest in a Rubbermaid container. Mmmmmm...so tasty!! Especially with vanilla ice cream.

I also baked a large pan of granola with dried fruit and nuts in it to have with my morning yogurt. Its great stuff, easy to make, and lasts a couple of weeks in a sealed container.

Okay...that's enough for now. I'm off to the studio to work on my next quilt. It is foggy and raining outside, so I am guaranteed a productive day at work. Mr W isn't as happy, but he'll survive. 

See you later!