slow stitching

 I have been doing repairs while my daughter is here, because we can visit while I work. The only quilting being done in the studio is when she and her boyfriend are off hiking.

Joel and Carolyn on top of Blood Mountain along the Appalachian Trail. They hiked up 1595 feet to get there. Glad I stayed home and sewed ;o)

I love the pattern of this quilt! I have a similar pattern called Belle Wave

Panto: Mid Century in variegated gray thread

Swirly black backing

This quilt is much wider than it is long. I think it is either  going sideways on a bed, or will be a focal point wall hanging.

The flamingo panel is a digital rendering of a beautiful watercolor painting

The panto is windblown reedlike plants. I don't recall the name, but thought it looked great with the flamingoes and surrounding plants.

There was a pieced backing with the leftover blocks down the center.

Penny got her new harness. Doesn't she look swanky?

The chest straps reflective

Lots of places to hook her up for walkies!

A bit of Penny slo-mo

Visitors!

We have been holed up here for so long that when we get a visitor, we are beside ourselves with elation. My daughter from Portland ,OR is here for a week! All precautions have and are being observed, and I am loving seeing her in person again after a year. Of course, I have neglected the studio and quilting, but have continued fixing the rush repair job while we visit.

Before she arrived, I did manage to clear out the QOVs that have been languishing under Millie's table for a couple of busy months.

Patriotic panels are always a beautiful centerpiece for a QOV! This one is especially nice.

Panto: Simply Stars

Patriotic backing, too.

The second quilt also has a panel centerpiece. The pieced stars set it off nicely!

Panto: Ribbon Stars

Old Glory on the backing

After finishing the QOVs, I quilted this lovely turquoise quilt. It reminds me of the Gulf Stream back in the Florida Keys. On a cold, gray day, it was a warm flashback to a wonderful vacation!

The king sized quilt featured all sorts of tranquil sea scenes bordered with turquoise batiks.

I used a fish and ripple panto to echo the scenes in the larger blocks.

The backing was also pieced with under the sea prints.

I have finished another quilt, but haven't taken the pictures yet. You see, my daughter walked in and surprised me while I was in the process of trimming the quilt. In my joy, I forgot what I was doing and left the studio, leaving my machine turned on overnight, and the un-trimmed quilt on the cutting table. I'll get back to it today while Carolyn is off hiking part of the Appalachian Trail south of town today. I'm having a happy moment in one of the most horrible times we have all endured.

 

and now, your moment of cuteness.

 

 

Its going to be a good day

 Things settled down and the cloud over my studio lifted. Mr Wazoo had his phone call with the Gammill guru, Bobby (thank you, Bobby!!) and fixed my machine!! It turned out to be the motor belt had frayed and was no longer tight. I couldn't believe the schmutz that was inside the case on the back of the machine. Black residue from the disintegrating belt on all the components and surfaces. 

I cleaned the machine. oiled everything, and it ran like a top. Whew! In about an hour, I had the custom quilt back on and ready to go. On to the next...

The custom quilt was carefully unloaded and placed out of harm's way

My newly cleared cutting table was, once again, cluttered with the things I had to sort or work on during the day.

See the jagged looking edge? Its a wonder the belt didn't break!

This is where all the black residue came from

I had loaded some fabric and stitched out samples of what was happening to show Bobby.

He knew right away what the problem was and Mr W set out to remedy it.

After the fix. Stitching smooth and the right size. Yippee!

Meanwhile, I took some pictures of the rush repair job before starting the hand work.

Yikes! Much of the edge looked like this.

This shows some of the new pieces pinned over the torn and missing bits

Some places didn't have batting or fabrics.

I added pieces of batting to holes like this and then pinned the new piece in place.

Everywhere there is a safety pin, I need to replace the fabric.

There are a lot of these 6 inch muslin squares that are torn or damaged.

Click the photo and get a closer view of the work ahead.

Here is another corner with the new pieces pinned on and ready to sew.

I turn and glue the edges before starting. I found this to be easier and faster than needle turning them.

All the new pieces are pinned on and I am ready to start the tedious job of stitching them in place.

It will look great when finished.

It should be pretty when completed. There is much work ahead, and I have a good start. Last night, I did about half of the worst row at one of the edges.

With everything else going along smoothly, I managed to quilt this gorgeous batik star quilt. It is quite large and will look stunning on a bed.

Isn't this wonderful? I love it.

It is huge.

Panto: African Samba mirrors the patterns in the batiks and adds a lovely texture to the surface of the quilt.

The back is this  Stonehenge fabric, contains all the colors of the quilt top.

All day the weather couldn't decide what to give us. It was raining lightly when I walked to the studio, then turned to a mushy sleet stuff, finishing off the combination with some snow. Later, it went back to rain and remained cold and gray the rest of the day.

Snow flurries in the afternoon.

Even Bigfoot ( with his leg mended ) felt he had to move along to escape the weather!

Today dawned gray and cold again with fog and some frost on the car. Penny feels better after her bout yesterday, but hasn't pooped since yesterday afternoon. I think there is a poopocolypse in the future!

Down the repair path...again

 As if by fate, I had a machine breakdown yesterday. This time it is Big Gammill, my friend, my workhorse. She suddenly stopped making the even small stitches I am used to seeing. I checked the encoder and the timing...no luck. No matter what I have her set on, the stitches are just a bit smaller than basting length. Even in the manual mode, she runs at the same speed no matter what speed I set her for. Gammill tech guru will be on the phone at 10:30 this morning for a long "try this...try that..." session. Mr Wazoo is already in a bad mood. Penny has  diarrhea. When it rains, it pours!

I did finish this beautiful quilt on the Millie. She is up to her usual tricks. Taking off on her own, freezing the computer screen, refusing to obey any button command. I turned her on and off at least five times during the quilting process. It takes forever to finish something when I have to keep stopping, shut her down and re-insert the parameters of the pattern. At least I was smart enough to take a picture of the settings before I started the process. Live and learn!

Thankfully, I had the forethought to photograph my settings!

This quilt is lovely! The blocks are really small and perfectly sewn. The center 9 patches are 2 !/3 inches square.

The panto is new, and I can't remember the name offhand. It is from Creative Stitches and didn't come in my format. Fortunately, I was able to trick Millie into using it.

The nice pattern of vines and leaves shows well on the back.

Well, it's time to get dressed and go down to the studio. I have to load some fabric to stitch on while attempting to fix Miss Gammill. The custom quilt has to come off.

Two customers had the same problem yesterday...they were adding their bindings and noticed the thread on the back was two colors. Guess what happened there. Sigh...the gray thread one had one row of green and the green had one row of gray. Both ladies were very nice about it, but I am totally embarrassed and made the note to self to not have bobbins wound for more than one project at a time. I must have picked up the wrong one and happily quilted the last row with the other. I did the second quilt with that thread, and when the bobbin ran out, switched to the second bobbin of thread number one for the other quilt. The colors were close, but no cigar. Two free quilts in one day.

On the bright side, I have all the components made for the rush repair job and ready to begin the hand sewing. It is a huge job, and the 25th is really an unreasonable goal for the finish. We'll see how it goes.

I hope we survive this political quagmire we are in. Another policeman has died of his injuries from a rioter hitting him over the head with a fire extinguisher. I am so sad over this whole mess. Many elected officials are still spouting their conspiracy theories, as people are dead from the mob they incited. Fox News continues to inflame its disciples. In a week or two, Corona numbers will rise again from the debacle we watched in our nation's capitol. Perhaps that is why I am making stupid mistakes and feeling so discombobulated. Today has to be better...