Time for a road trip

Today I will be going to Blue Ridge Assisted living to give a trunk show and talk about the changes in quilting over the years. I have one duffle full of old quilts that I have either acquired as a quilt and repaired, or got as a top or blocks and made into a quilt. The other duffle is full of my own quilts, both pieced and appliqué, that use elements of the older quilts, but with contemporary fabrics. The only problem I foresee is holding the quilts up for viewing, as I have one assistant and the quilts are mostly big ones! I will be calling the facility at 9:00 to see if they have someone who can help me get the 'dead body' duffles into the room and , maybe, stay to help hod them. Its a long shot, but worth the effort.
Back up to yesterday when I was in the studio working along on my queue of quilts. The first one was another David Gilliland paper pieced project from the class we had a couple of months ago. You have seen one already, but they are all different because of the maker's color choices. I have one more to do after this one.

The maker used a controlled palette of gray tones accented with black. I like the icy look of this quilt.

The Panto is called Chevron, and I spaced them close together and staggered them to mimic the piecing.

She also had me do the label, sleeve and binding. Here is a peek at how I apply a label into the binding. The security of having the label sewn right into the edge protects the quilt from being stolen at shows. I would be really tough to get off once the binding is sewn around the corner. I finished the hand work on the above project last night while watching the Democratic debates.

 

I loaded two quilts mid-day yesterday and I have started both, and almost finished the one on the Millie. When I get home from my talk, I'll get going again, and probably finish the Panto one. Busy day ahead!!

This beautiful brick and block quilt is being custom done. I'll tell more about it later when I finish the quilting.

I am working the squares with a little flower and the bricks with a leafy motif. There will be two colors used. Every other row will be this melon color, and the others a light turquoise. 

This one will be finished soon!

Gosh, I almost forgot to tell you about the speaker at guild on Tuesday night. Jennie told us all about feet for our machines and what they are for. Oh my! Does she have a bunch of feet!! It boggles my mind what can be done with the proper equipment and makes me want to get a couple of feet to make  my sewing easier. Unfortunately, Bernina feet (for my 770QE) are mondo-expensive. I have to really need one to cough up the $100 to own it. We'll see...

Jennie talked about feet while members passed around the feet and gave them a good look. The giant book on the table next to her machine is a compendium of all the feet for her machine. Yikes! In front of the machine is a large box of feet as well as the smaller boxes with fancy feet in them. It was a great talk, informative and fun.

I pulled out this UFO from my Scan and Cut class, and would like to finish it up for Christmas. One panel left to fuse, and I can get the pieces sewn down and the whole shebang assembled and quilted. I think it will be a good Sunday stitching project, don't you?

A big finish and forging ahead

The custom job I have been working on for a couple of weeks is finished. I still can't show it to you. The customer requested I not-it it on the blog. Okay... I can show you the thread changes I used. There were a bunch of them.

This may not be an exciting picture, but it represents the work well.

I also quilted a very large tee shirt quilt for a customer's husband. It has shirts from their kid's sports and activities. What a nice gift!

It is big, at 78 x 110, but not the biggest tee shirt quilt I have quilted.

The local school colors are purple, gold and black. 

Panto: Rounded diamonds.

Houndstooth check flannel on the back. This quilt will be really warm!!

Today is guild, and my friend Gail is doing a trunk show. I'm going to try to get some pictures, but it will be hard since I am am also holding up the quilts! Hopefully, I can talk a friend into taking a few shots during the show for the blog and the newspaper. We'll see. Later on, we will be traveling to Blue Ridge for the evening guild. A full day, for sure!

A little Christmas detour

Today was a big Christmas prep sewing day! I finished the farm quilt for my daughter, and made six of twelve placemats. The other six have been cut but not bound. It will have to wait. Tomorrow is a big custom quilting day.

Hot off the frame, with the binding attached.
I finished the hand sewing while watching a Christmas movie.

I used a loose swirly panto to keep the quilt soft and cuddly.

Really soft flannel backing.

Six placemats ready for someone's dinner.

Reversible, too!

I did quilt a customer quilt, too. I feel guilty if I don't accomplish something for the business every day.

This was another giant quilt. There have been a lot of them this last couple of weeks!

The quilter made it perfectly flat and square. I love that!
The pattern and colors are lovely, aren't they?

 

Panto: Maple leaves

The simple muslin back really shows the quilting.

I'd better hit the hay! Tomorrow is going to be a custom quilting day. Standing up for eight hours. Oh joy...

Computer problems and some quilting

I have been horribly frustrated with my aging computer lately, and Mr Wazoo suggested it was time for a newer, faster and more updated one. We discussed it a couple of times, and tonight I ordered a new laptop! My Christmas, birthday and who knows what else present. This one is ten years old and I have so much stuff on it that is frequently crashes or freezes. I have been re-booting and coaxing it along for months, but have reached my threshold for patience. Next Tuesday I should be zooming along on a speedy new model. Until then, I put up with less blog and more patience!
Meanwhile, life in the studio goes on and I have been busy with work and some gift making. I am making a Christmas themed quilt for my daughter in Portland and hope to have it done by Sunday so I can get it mailed before Thanksgiving. That way, she can have it out for the season instead of putting it away for a year before using it.

I got the pattern and fabrics as a kit from the shop in Dahlonega. I don't often buy kits, but this looked easy and was really pretty. When it is done, it will remind her of Wisconsin winters.

I labeled all the bits and pieces of fabric so I wouldn't use the wrong one anywhere.

Day one, I had the panel trimmed and three borders on, as well as one set of blocks made.

Friday afternoon I made the other blocks. I should have it all sewn together tomorrow and have the last three borders on. Then I just have to quilt and finish it!

I got some fabric from the sale room, too, and I quilted it up to cut into placemats. I'll do that tomorrow as well. At the Cumming shop, I bought two cute snowman panels and quilted them for door decorations. One will go to our cleaning lady and the other may stay here for the studio.

Molly photo-bombed the placemat picture.

Cute snowmen on one side...

Cheerful red print on the other. I should get 8 nice sized mats out of the two yards of quilted fabric. Not bad for ten bucks!

All I did was quilt these panels with snowflakes and add sleeve and binding. How easy is that?!

I spent a delightful morning with my friend Gail going through her vast array of quilts for a presentation she's doing at guild next Tuesday. She is so talented and artistic...it makes me feel a bit inadequate with my weird assortment of quilts. We went out for a nice lunch and then it was back to work. Gail has a cat at her house that she needs a home for. Someone dropped it off in her neighborhood and left it to fend for itself. It has been very cold here, so Gail let it in her garage and fed it for a few days while looking for the owner. She can't keep it because she is allergic to cats, but says it is sweet and friendly, obviously used to people and seems to be declawed, too. We'l be looking for a holiday home for the cat, and hopefully someone will love it and take it home. It really is a pretty cat. I'm not a cat person, so no dice here.

This is the cat. The fur color is much prettier in person. I hope we find it a home.

Repair and commission, and something of my own!

Mr Wazoo took in a repair for a customer who is leaving for Florida in a few days. It was a hole clear through the quilt, but otherwise, the quilt was in good shape. It was an easy repair, so I also washed the quilt because I don't think it had ever been laundered and was a bit funky and dirty. In the end, it looked wonderful and made the customer very happy!

All clean and ready to go south for the winter.

The repair is in the green sashing.

This is the repair on the back. About the size of a half dollar.

I couldn't believe how much better it looked after a bath. I should have taken a 'before' photo, but I was in a hurry to get the repairs done.

I have had these Grandmother's flower garden blocks for too long, so I worked up a plan for the customer's queen sized quilt and only had to make one flower to do it. It took most of the day to applique the flowers to the backgrounds, and tomorrow I will sew the top together.

This is the flower I made while it was in progress. I finished it up  while watching TV and was ready for the construction in the morning.

Each flower is huge, almost 18 inches, so I had to make the blocks big, too. The setting triangles are yellow with white strips next to the body of the quilt. There will be a yellow outer border, too.

More blocks prepped and ready.

Last night I finished the cats quilt! Binding is on, label is on and it is D-O-N-E!

Hot off the machine.

Panto: Twinkling Stars

Wild Jane Sassaman print on the back.

Bound in blue/purple print.

Past my bedtime! Tomorrow is another fun studio day. 42 days until Christmas...YIKES!

Top finished, Back made...going out to eat!

I got a late start today because I went and had a haircut. I feel like a new person! Back in the studio, Mr Wazoo quilted a Christmas gift for a customer's granddaughter. It is a pretty Florida style quilt, with soothing shades of teal and aqua on a white background.

A simple pattern, but beautiful when finished.

Panto: Waterworld

The backing is this blue wavy fabric.

I finished the cats  quilt while Millie did the quilting on yesterday's leftover project. Both are looking good! I need to quilt and bind the class sample, but should be able to do that tomorrow.

This is such a happy quilt! I wish it was mine.

Brick and block pattern with the panto, Modern Squares.

The quilting shows up best on the solid backing.

It is an oversized queen quilt.

My class sample is ready to be quilted. I have a Jane Sassaman print for the back. It should be binding ready tomorrow at quitting time!

Big enough for a lap quilt at 56 inches square.

We stopped quilting early today so we could go out to a local eatery for a change of pace. Full of beef tips and peppers, I plan to watch another episode of Agatha Raisin tonight!