Good-bye Millie

 What a whirlwind week it has been. My buyer came and spent a day here taking apart Millie and getting her loaded in a U-Haul for the trip back to Oklahoma. They got there yesterday and sent me pictures of Millie in her new environment. I think everyone will be happy. There is a huge hole in my studio...

With a bit of help, my buyer had her dream become a reality.

All put together and ready to rock and roll. She has big plans for this rom. It will be a stunning studio when she's done.

Without the machine in the way, you can see what a fabricaholic I am. Penny has been happy with the big space to run around in. I may do a bit of re-arranging to get it looking better.

I finished all four of the second batch of small-from-large quilts. I think the customer will be pleased. (Picture goes here...I forgot to take it. Tomorrow!!)

I also had a customer come to the studio (without notice) and ask me to do a table runner for Thanksgiving. She didn't know about my back or that I wasn't quilting right now, but she is so sweet, I said I would do it. It only took an hour or so, and it was nice to take Big Gammill out for a spin.

It doesn't take very long to quilt something 49x16"!

Woodland scene on this side.

Paper pantograph: Primrose swirl, an old favorite.

For the backing, I chose this winter bird fabric, making the runner useful for two seasons. 

She was so pleased. She isn't a quilter, and was given the top by her sister. I guess I came in and saved the day! Ha ha ha ha.

Meanwhile, I sewed up a charity quilt for a nursing home man. Ladies get the bulk of the quilts, but I like to make them for men, too!

I will quilt it when I'm feeling better.

Penny finally got a haircut! No more buffalo here, just a pretty princess dog.

Bouncing to another subject...at guild the other night, Diane gave a wonderful tutorial on using equilateral triangles to make a quilted table runner or topper. This woman sews all the time and I can never begin to produce the amount of things she makes! She also is making a bunch of Raggedy Ann dolls, and brought the outfits she sewed for them to show us. I'm in awe.

Diane gives us the skinny on making the table runner.

It's like a puzzle. I am going to try it soon.

All these outfits are handmade by Diane.

Mr Wazoo was stuck in there house with a sore arm (long story...geezer stuff) so he decided to re-batt my design wall. After a bad false start, he got it together and finished the job. We tried it out with the antique blocks. Nice!

I took these down to start the planning for the second race car driver quilt.

This quilt will be smaller, for the race car driver's son.

It's that time of year. The deer are plentiful and hungry and they are always in the yard. Penny never barks at them. She watches quietly with her ears up and her tail wagging. This one peeked over Mr W's yard cart to see what we were up to. So funny!

As long as they stay out of the garden, we are okay with them in our yard.

Another busy week!

 I have been really busy trying to get all my work done before the buyer comes for Millie. During the week, I cut and prepped tee shirts for a new quilt. The shirts have huge designs on them making the quilt fairly large.

There were loads of circles cut from fronts and sleeves to be sewn onto the shirts.

Once I had the placement I liked, I sewed it all together with one inch black patterned sashing.

All quilted with the binding attached to the back.

I will sew this binding by machine tomrrow.

Panto: Rounded diamond

I had this backing in my stash and I think it is fine for a manly quilt.

I also quilted the second Christmas quilt and it needs binding. After that, I quilted up a piece of cheater fabric. Mr Wazoo changed out our encoder and horizontal hold and I wanted to be sure everything works fine.

I added a small border to this one so it can be used as a sofa throw.

Panto: Texas fan

I got the backing from the sale rack in Hiawassee.

I bought this cheater fabric in Chattanooga on a trip to drop off Gail's machine to be serviced.

It really looks nice! Very Autumnal.

Panto: Diagonal by Angela Clark

The backing is from the same collection by Sandy Gervais

Every evening I have been working on the four-from-one quilt project. I have another quilt taken apart for another four-from-one set of quilts in the works.

Penny is very interested in the hand quilting and binding going on.

Each piece had to be taken apart where there was no batting, or big balls of batting wads.

I pulled out the stuff on there right.

I cut off the edge (a back to front finish) and put on new binding

Here is a piece of batting, cut to fit, placed and ready to be pinned.

I mark the pattern with water erase ink and do the hand quilting while watching TV

Here are the four little quilts made from the big quilt.

There are 8 great grandchildren who will get these as gifts from their Grandma, who got the quilts from her late mother.

It was a whole cloth quilt, and this is the fabric on the front.

The backing is light pink solid. A rosebud patterned fabric from my stash made up the bindings.

The second one didn't  have batting, and when I took it apart to fix, I found another pieced top. Too weird!! We'll see how this goes and what I can do to make it gift worthy.

On the same trip to Chattanooga, I bought a sewing basket to organize the mess next to my living room chair. I have it all organized and am enjoying having everything neat and tidy when I go to sew.

A place for everything, and everything in its place

Take the tray out, and there is a big space for bigger supplies.

Here  is the charity quilt I said I would show you after I got the binding on.

The fabric was too cute to pass up. I did a meander for the quilting.

The back is from the same collection. I had the two frame fabrics in my stash.

Penny will finally get a haircut tomorrow. I fear the groomer will have to scalp her since her fur is so long and thick. She looks like a shaggy buffalo! I will be worried about what she looks like until we pick her up. Stay tuned!

Lots of things going on!

 Mea culpa! I haven't posted lately, mostly because I am not as busy as usual. I have been to the neurosurgeon and will be having an MRI next Wednesday, and then return to see him the first of November. Surgery will be scheduled then, and I will be on my way to recovering from my back injury.

While I am waiting for that to happen, I have been trying to quilt everything I have here before the buyer comes for the Millie! I still have two tee shirt quilts to make, but I can always quilt them on my Gammill if they aren't finished when Milie goes  bye-bye.

Here is a look at what I did last week.

Remember this?

It is the bunny quilt I took in for repairs.

There were numerous torn spots and some bits missing.

The customer has slept under this quilt most of his life and loved it to near death!

Much TLC and re-quilting later, this is the result.

All the bunnies are back in place and the holes fixed.

I loaded it on my Gammill and re-quilted it like it was originally done.

Then, I added new binding.

Next, I quilted the two small charity quilts I made last weekend.

I had some Minion fabrics left from a quilt I made a couple of years ago, and cut it into 6" squares for this quilt.

The quilting is a simple meander; quick and easy.

I bound it in the banana fabric I used on the back.

Bananas!!

I got this animal fabric at a shop sale and made a quick 2-3-2-6 quilt with it.

Oops! I didn't take a picture of it after quilting! I will put that in the next post.

This is the first of two Christmas quilt tops given to me .

I used the panto: Simply Stars for the quilting in a gold thread.

The plaid is from my stash. It made a nice backing. The binding is made but not yet sewn on.

I made this top in Texas and got the backing last week.

I really like the collection of fabrics, so I think I'll keep it.

Panto: Argosy

I sprung the big bucks for the co-ordinating backing. I haven't picked a binding fabric yet.

My daughter got her cat a Halloween costume...

this is kitty abuse!

Maxine does not look amused to be a panda.

I finally had my eyes checked, and got these new purple glasses!

Now, I can read without squinting and see the TV without shadows!