Trying to get something done!

Oh my! It has been 10 days since I wrote anything on the blog. Why not? Mostly because I haven't done much to comment on! In fact, I will look at the past ten days on my calendar to see where the time went.

On the evening of the 18th, I gave a talk, tutorial and demonstration of domestic machine free-motion quilting. I practiced for a few days prior in order to not look like a bumbling idiot when sewing. I did okay, but, with a few more practice sessions, I would have done better. That meeting was also the last installment of the Seminole pieced quilt I've been doing for the guild.

Here is my top, all sewn together. Zoom in to see the border fabric, the inspiration for the colors in the quilt.

I also finished a table topper made from Darlene's tutorial last month.

Stripes on this side...

And cherries on this side! I'd guess it's about 18 inches across.

I don't know where I will use it yet.

On Friday, I had to take the quilts for the fiber arts show over to Blue Ridge. The sleeves are all on and they are now in the show into July. I went over to see them a week later, but didn't take any pictures. The show is bigger this year and quite lovely.

All bound and hanging in Blue Ridge.

There was also some progress with getting to the bottom of my Handi Quilter trouble. My dealer came out to the house and swapped my carriage for one from her shop. Once it was installed, I thought my troubles were over. I did a quilt without a glitch and became excited. Short lived excitement when the next quilt started with a motor error, followed by two more while quilting. Rats!! I pressed on and finished the quilting, but I am frustrated and deflated. I'm thinking it is something I did when I tried to update the software. I am no computer whiz, so that will be the next thing to look at. Meanwhile, here are the quilts I did manage to do.

This was the quilt on the machine when all went sideways. A huge Christmas quilt. All the fabrics are sparkly and very pretty. 

The customer requested Holly Berries for the panto. I used light gold Glide thread. It also has a nice sheen to it, complimenting the sparkly fabrics.

The backing is the navy poinsettia print.

This small quilt is for the evening guild charity pile. I added the floral border to make it big enough to be useful. The construction presented a few challenges, as it had baggy spots and some wobbly seams. Quilting sure improved it! I was almost ready to take it off and chuck it, but persevered and carried on with the quilting. Its okay, but wonky.

I used a simple floral pattern for the quilting so I could manipulate the fabric in an effort to avoid tucks. There is one tuck I couldn't avoid, but it is quite small.

The backing is muslin.

This is another of my sister's batch. It wasn't done with the others because the backing was way too small. I was going to add to what she sent, but it was going to be so much work, I decided to use something from my stash. The lovely batik she sent is still in one piece and will be useful for her future projects.

The quilting is a swirly pattern in King Tut variegated thread.

This looks gray in the picture, but it is black in real life. I don't know why the camera always does this to black fabrics...

On the 23rd, the big guild hosted Candace Hassen for a trunk show and workshop. Her quilts are beautiful and the class was fun. 15 members took the class and everyone got some blocks done and seemed to enjoy themselves. I had to go early to get the room set up because I am the program chair for the guild. Thankfully, my friend Kathy also showed up early and saved me from lugging 18 tables and loads of chairs out. As more people came, they pitched in and we were off to the races by 9:30. In the pictures are a couple of Candace's quilts, and a sample of the blocks I made. I have a plan, so the first ones are kind of boring, but they will fit into the quilt I am making. It will be a work in progress for a while.

Members were impressed with the colorful array of quilts Candace brought

I especially like this one

Candace says she uses nature to put together her palette of colors for a quilt. This ia autumnal.

Her quilts are a glorious riot of color. I love them!

Here is a sample of my blocks from the class. I have 20 finished and a whole bunch to do. Another work in progress...oh my. 

I saw this quilt on Pinterest and am taking my color inspiration from it for my quilt.

I don't usually have more than one quilt in progress, but I'm finding it hard to settle and keep going on things. I have been struggling with depression for a while now, and am taking medication to help lift me from the dark funk I'm in. It's been tough to concentrate on making a quilt. I'm sure this will pass with time.

I took a stroll around the gardens a few days ago to see what is happening there. Mr Wazoo has been very busy with weeding, planting and mulching. Plus, he painted the side of the house that gets unrelenting sun during the day. It takes a beating and fades over a couple of years. It isn't his favorite thing to do, but he does it anyway. He's a keeper.

The Stella d'Oro lilies are starting to fill in.

The peonies are fading, so I cut a few and brought them in. The fragrance is intoxicatingly wonderful!

My peonies with a few survivors from the Mother's Day flowers.

Mr W's clematis is always a hit with my customers. They have to walk past it on the way to the studio.

I have been hand quilting in the evenings and have all the backgrounds done on the bunny quilt. It has been very relaxing to do, and I am getting better with practice. I think I'll do the sashing next before tackling the outer border and the bunnies themselves. I have stencils and patterns for those bits.

Here is an overview of the quilt (again, in progress...) Pardon the lighting, I put it on the guest bed for pictures. Its kind of dark in there.

Some of the backgrounds have vertical patterns in the fabric, so I quilted them vertically

The others have horizontal lines in the weave, so they got horizontal quilting. I am doing big stitch quilting with Pearl cotton, size 8.

The next colors are waiting in my sewing basket!

My son sent me the kanji for rabbit that I will incorporate on the quilt. This is the year of the rabbit, so I hope to finish this before the year is over!

On the design wall is another work in progress; a comfort quilt for the small guild. I had a pretty jelly roll and some white tone on tone fabric, so I made some rail fence blocks for the signature style quilt we use for members who are having a life changing event. I hope to sew it together this afternoon (Funday-Sunday) and quilted soon.

Here are the blocks

Here they are in grayscale. I do this to see the distribution of value in the quilt before sewing it together. Too many lights along the right side...I will re-distribute them when I get to the studio.

These leftover blocks will grace the back.

I'm closing today with some nostalgia. My good friend, Georgia, sent me these pictures. The man in this photo is our youth group leader from the church I went to when I lived in Madison. He is Reverend John Shield, R.J. to us kids. In the picture are his wife and daughter. The church had an appreciation celebration for his many years of service to communities in need all over the United States. He called these efforts "Work Camp", and I was lucky enough to participate in some before going off to college and marriage.

This photo is from a work camp in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee where we refurbished a head start center. It was hot, humid and full of mosquitos. We slept in in sleeping bags at the a Boys and Girls Club in Chattanooga and showered at the high school. R.J. is the guy standing on the far right with his shirt off. I'm the girl standing almost in the center of the shot, next to the girl in the white blouse. I still recognize many of the kids, but not all of them. This trip was in 1969! 54 years ago. R.J continued this mission  for more than 20 years, working along side the kids, always happy and supportive to teenagers. Everyone who met him and worked with him and was in the youth groups he led love him. I'm glad they had the ceremony. I wish I could have been there.

Have a great day and remember our fallen troops tomorrow.

I don't like adding quilt sleeves!!

 I finally went to the ear, nose and throat doctor to see why I lose my voice after working all day in the studio. He looked in my ears and nose, then ran a tube down through my nose to look at my vocal cords. Everything is A-OK. I have some sinus problems and they drain all the time. That may be a big part of the hoarseness, so I now have a nose spray to use twice a day to slow that down. Also, he suggests I wear a mask when working. Ugh! I will start the mask wearing next week.

I called the dealer to see why my machine cord didn't come, and she told me they are temporarily out of stock. I'm going to Franklin on Thursday for the longarm club, so I will borrow a cord from the shop until I get my own. So the giant Christmas quilt is still waiting for something to happen.

On top of all this, I chipped my incisor! Last night I was just watching TV and sewing a sleeve when I felt a piece of something in my mouth. I thought it was a seed or something, but it was a piece of my tooth! Now it feels rough where the piece came off and I can't keep from feeling it with my tongue. I'll need a trip to the dentist to fix it. No pain, but really annoying. Sigh...

Anyhoo, here is my finished top for the Seminole patchwork sew along that Gail and I have been hosting. I like it! Bright and interesting. I used an Australian Aboriginal print for my border, and pulled the quilt's colors from that. It is a nice size, 55x65.

I have a new custom project for a customer on Big Gammill and will be quilting in earnest this weekend. The quilts for the fiber arts show are to be turned in on Friday and I have been sewing sleeves on them every night. One to go and I'll be ready. I hate sewing on sleeves!!

Two done and one to go!

Otherwise, there is nothing new going on in the studio. Outside is another matter...everything is lush and beautiful with Mr Wazoo's loving care. How lucky am I to have such a great yardman?! ha ha

The clematis is loaded with huge purple blooms.

Roses are blooming everywhere and even the shrubs I thought were dead are coming back. The mountain laurel is at its peak, covered with lovely pink flowers. What a wonderful view from my studio!

Back to work!

 I took a couple of days off from running the longarm and sat with my foot up, doing hand quilting on the bunny quilt. I have done 10 of the 20 blocks so far! I ordered a stencil for the borders and it is perfect. I'm finding big stitch relaxing and fun. I did have to get a rubber finger tip for my thumb. You know, the kind bank tellers used to wear to count stacks of money... It sure makes pulling the needle through the quilt easier and less painful.

I called my Handi Quilter dealer with all the motor error problems that persist, and she has ordered a new cable that connects the carriage to the machine. If that doesn't work, I'll be getting a new carriage. Quilting stopped on the machine two days ago. One quilt squeaked through before everything quit.

This is another of the many mystery quilts from the small guild. It is fun to see all the different color combinations!

The panto is a square spiral in tan Glide thread.

The backing is a tan lacy pattern.

I loaded the next custom job and got it done in spurts with rest periods in between. It was Fun to do. I didn't have a plan, but pondered what to do on it while stitching around all the appliqué. It isn't a formal pattern, but a fun batch of Dresden plate flowers on ledger printed background. I decided to let my imagination take over and just go where it took me. The result is a happy collection of swirls, flowers, leaves and pebbles in the background, and a whole bunch of different motifs in the flowers and leaves. I used seven different colors of thread, mostly Glide, with matching bobbins. I like it very much the way I quilted it!

I did another quilt like this a few weeks ago, but with Baptist fan quilting.

The customer used rather thin batting (her choice) and it doesn't have much definition from the quilting. Too bad, because it is really nice.

All the flowers are quilted with the appropriate colored thread.

Hard to see, but the border has piano keys where every fourth one has a stacked swirl design.

More background fill and flower quilting.

The customer was pleased with the result.

Mr Wazoo has been working hard to get the yard cleaned up and the gardens weeded and mulch put down. My flowers are blooming like crazy and I couldn't be happier. The peonies smell wonderful, as do the roses. I am enjoying the fruits of Mr W's labor.

Coral bells

More iris

So pretty!

What a crop of giant peonies I got this year!

The mountain laurel does its own thing without any human help. Such delicate blooms!

I love how the color changes to this white and pink combination as they open. I think this ranks right up there with lady slippers as my favorite wild flower.

 

My daughter sent these lovely Spring flowers for Mother's Day. 

Mr Wazoo got me a potted orchid and made ribs on the grill for supper. Mother's Day was a true Sunday Funday!

Foot failure

 Much has happened in a week! Quilting continues and it has brought me new problems. Heel pain and plantar fasciitis rearing its head after years of pain free walking and standing. I have had it before and it took over a year to get rid of. I don't need that again! So, I didn't quilt yesterday and it looks like I won't be quilting today. I did get quite a few quilts done before my foot gave out, and here they are.

Scrappy goodness in this large quilt! Think of how pretty this will look on a bed.

Panto: Meandering feathers

A peek at the back.

I finished quilting the custom quilt, and it is a beauty.

If you like it, there is another one just like it to be raffled by our guild. Any member of Misty Mountain Quilt Guild has them to sell...including me!

My customer liked it so much, she made another one for herself; this one.

Some of the quilting

The borders. Hard to see the blue border quilting. I probably should have used a lighter blue thread.

Flying geese quilting. I love flying geese!

The backing is this contemporary design.

Another bit of quilting.

With all the colors of the lilies and the geometric design, this quilt is stunning.

This customer brought two quilts. The first is this Delft-looking nine patch variation.

The customer requested this panto ( I can't remember the name) with light blue thread.

Lovely backing, too.

Next, she made this Jacob's ladder quilt in purples and gold.

The pattern is a meandering vine with pretty leaves.

She requested lavender thread, which shows up well on the white backing.

I'm working on another custom quilt, but had to take a break until my foot feels better. I think I am getting caught up with the edge-to-edge quilts. I am considering my future and think it's time to throw in the towel. I started quilting again after a period of loss and depression and fully expected to keep on with it. The problem is, I like to get things done in a timely fashion and I haven't been able to do that. At 70 years old, I think it's okay to finally retire. I need to have creative time as much as everyone else. So many quilts...so little time! 

I went to a group of hand quilters and  got instruction from an expert for big-stitch quilting. I've been hesitant to start my bunny quilt, but took off on it yesterday and am doing okay! I have three blocks of background quilting done so far. I find it really relaxing.

This is a back view. The lighter thread is the basting.

Here is the front.

I ordered these shoes to combat my foot problems. They are supposed to be one of the best for heel pain and plantar fasciitis. I hope they work a miracle. Foot pain sucks!

On a hopeful note, my peonies are opening! This is the first one, with more to follow.

One iris is now three! So pretty.

Spring brings new life and hope for the future.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers who quilt!