Going home

We had a good visit here in Texas, but it is time to go home. My Dad is in good shape and getting along okay in his new digs. We took him around town on a car tour and out to lunch at a nice restaurant. I face timed all the kids and everyone was happy to see Grandpa and say hello.

Mr Wazoo is anxious to get home, so we leave at dawn's early light. I'll be back here on the blog on Monday.

Day one, Dad was perky and ready to roll. 

He is 99 years old, and able to get around well.

Day two we found him snoozing in his recliner.

It looks like he's ready for a ski trip, but it is 98 degrees outside!

He really feels the cold, and the AC where he lives is cranked up.

Once he was up and about, we had a good visit and  called the grandkids. 

Mr W snapped this just before we said goodbye.

Then I snapped a very funny looking selfie of all three of us!

We're packed and ready to go.

Until Monday...

 

Sewing and packing

 A day without sewing is a day without sunshine... I may have borrowed the sentiment, but its true. No sewing for the next week, but we'll be traveling and visiting. The studio is buttoned up and a neighbor is watching the house and watering the plants. We're ready.

I finished making the blocks for the tree frog quilt, and sewed the rows together, making sure I had them in the correct order! I didn't want to have another surprise when quilting it later.

There was a lot of trimming going on before the blocks were ready. 

The fabric next to the blocks will be the border

Here is the interior part of the quilt.

I also trimmed the QOV and steamed the wobbly border. It may not be perfect, but I did what I could.

The border hangs okay, so I think the quilt is fine.

I used the simple Rounded Squares panto because I didn't want to chance a bunch of star points getting caught on a quilt with raised motifs all over it.

The backing is very soft and cozy.

I only sewed until 2:30, then I did the grocery run and prepared dinner. We'll be on the road early tomorrow, so look for an update from Baton Rouge!

The gardens are coming to life! Roses, iris and peonies are displaying their finery

What a beauty, There are loads of buds ready to pop open.

I hope some of them wait until we get home!

This one is not quite fully open. Why are there always ants on peonies?

Happy Mother's Day!!

 I hope all you mothers out in blogland had a wonderful day. I sure did! We started with French toast for breakfast, and then I spent the day in the studio. 

I began by loading a Quilt of Valor, and getting it started on the Handi Quilter. Everything went well considering the quilt had large appliquéd stars that were three layers thick. The scoop foot glided along as if the top was flat! The only problem was the bottom border. It was exceedingly wavy. I spritzed it with sizing and carefully ran the iron over the waves, but there were some big ones that wouldn't be tamed. The row quilted okay, no tucks, only some lumpy fullness where the fabric was just too much. I think when I get it off tomorrow and give it another steam press, it will look better.

Oh dear! This isn't what your quilter wants to see at the end of a quilt.

All quilted, but a bit lumpy. I hope I can get some of the fullness tamed.

On a happier note, I worked a while making blocks for my next quilt. I'll work on it tomorrow morning, but I'll have to quit in the afternoon to make a grocery run and pack for our trip to Texas to see my Dad. We leave on Tuesday.

I left off sewing right here because I had to go get the dinner going.

The blocks are coming along nicely!

There are three kinds of blocks; dark/medium, medium/light and dark/light. 

The way they are laid out will make the overall pattern. I will be extra careful sewing this time!

See you later!

Catching up

I realized I hadn't posted in a few days and thought I would catch you up today. I am near the finish line with the customer quilts. I have one more to do, then I am officially done. I'll still be busy, but mostly with my own projects.

First up, customer stuff.

This is the finished repair. I removed the tattered binding and replaced it.

I replaced 15 pieces of various blocks, like this one. Holes and tears.

The center and the two squares next to it are new. I re-quilt them after appliquéing them in place.

There were a few holes in the backing, too and they are all fixed as well. I just washed the quilt and now, it is fluffy and soft. They called it Aunt Ted's Magic Quilt. The family members have used the quilt as healing balm since 1966. I think most of the fabrics used are 1950s. It's a great quilt!

The first of my last two customer quilts is a two sided behemoth.

This is the top, 103x103"

Panto: Phoenix

The quilt on the back is a Christmas bedspread. I centered the top to the back to keep it within the borders. My advise would be to not do a two sided quilt this way. Make the back main pattern about 4 inches smaller than the top, then add a wide border to the back to make it the proper size. The quilter won't struggle with trying to keep a not always square top right at the edge of your border. The quilt will have a nice border around the main pattern that way. 

Here is an example of a customer's two sided tee shirt quilt done that way.

This is the front

Here is the back, with the wide border. It looks as nice as the top, right?! 

Unfortunately, most of the tan border will go bye-bye when this quilt is trimmed. 

The customer requested 'no trim' on my end.

Next was this sampler Quilt of Valor.

Panto: Simply stars

Nice starry back.

Remember the gray and turquoise quilt? I worked on it for a couple of days. Here is how it progressed.

The last row, ready to sew

Almost all the blocks fit on the design wall. I moved them around until I got them where I liked the placement.

I sewed the rows into sections of twos and staged them on the big Gammill.

Somehow, when I sewed them together, I accidentally reversed one of the sets. Oops. I didn't see the error until I got to the second set and noticed the pattern isn't right. After some thought ( and a few bad words) I decided it would take forever to pick it all out and start over, so I left it and kept quilting.

Panto: rounded squares

I found the backing in our local quilt shop, and added the gray dot binding.

This quilt is really soft and drapes nicely. I think it's still a wonderful quilt.

Don't forget the label!

Here's a new customer request. They had a throw blanket of their winter getaway and wanted fixed so it could be hung on a wall.

I added a hanging sleeve just below the top fringe. Wow, was this blanket squidgy!! I used lots of pins and managed to keep the sleeve straight. Job well done.

That's it for all the customer projects I did in the last few days. You can see why I haven't posted like I should. I kept busy and can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I have my next project stacked and ready to go!

You'll see what it is tomorrow! 

Funday Sunday is also Mother's Day, and Mr Wazoo got me this lovely pot of mixed flowers. They should keep me happy all summer!

We haver a spot for them in the garden. He will do that tomorrow...then, we'll enjoy a steak dinner!

Happy Mother's Day to all you quilty Moms out there.

 

Finishing up and having some fun

Welcome to May! I can't believe how quickly time flies. It surely is Spring here at Wazoo, and Mr Wazoo is in his element, planting and mulching like crazy. We'll get to that in a moment...

Inside, I have been finishing up the customer queue and am down to two quilts left to finish. It is so nice to not have the stress of deadlines and the crush of work waiting to be quilted. I have been doing more sewing for my own enjoyment, and loving it. Back pain is always lurking in the background, but I have learned to stop and rest when it gets bad. I'l put the customer quilts first, and follow up with my stuff.

This is the second quilt by a member of a wooly group of quilters, rug hookers and knitters. 

The quilt has photos of the group members with witty quips in the margins.

I quilted it with light gray thread in a meandering pattern.

A peek at the back.

This Quilt of Valor is sure a different pattern! I think it uses a disappearing 9 patch.

Swirly stars panto.

There was a great cheater fabric on the back.

Well, I forgot to take a photo of the repair 'before'. This block was shredded and the batting spilling out. I repaired it and added new batting, re-quilting it, too. There is one more block needing my attention, but I don't have a fabric that matches it well. I'll make a quick trip to the local quilt shop and see what they have. Then I'll sew some new binding and it will be ready for another 50 years of service!

I have been trying to get some of the kits I put together last year when I went to Texas. I pulled a lot of fabric from the stash for them, and want to get it back on the shelves if I can. The first one is a 2 1/2" roll of African fabrics I bought years ago from a vendor in Paducah. It was fun to make, and I even used the Indian bedspread I bought there for the backing!

Here is the top on the design wall. The pattern is from Cluck Cluck Sew, and I have made it a couple of times before.

Here it is quilted, bound and washed.

Panto: African Samba

I had to add several inches of blue fabric to get the spread big enough for the back. The binding is a wonderful batik.

Here is the back, replete with elephants!

Don't forget to label your work!

On Funday-Sunday I started making this quilt, that I had a homemade kit for. The way the blocks are made is kind of fiddly, with a lot of trimming, cutting and drawing diagonal lines. It's moving along, though, and I have only 20 more blocks to make before I can sew it together! I used loads of fun fabrics from my stash, some with interesting designs like foxes and skeletons!

I've been making 20 blocks at a time, in order to keep the amount of standing, drawing, cutting and pressing to a manageable amount. We'll see if I can get the last 20 done today while I'm working on the last customer quilts.

Don't they look spiffy?! I'm liking it!

I got outside and did a bit of gardening with Mr W. He is letting me do the pots this year, and I had fun picking out plants. It took a few hours to get everything planted, but I'm sure they'll fill in and look pretty. If I fail, I don't think he will let me help again...

Mr W hates this pot. I bought it in Texas, and I love the bright colors. He has tried to hide it ever since I got it back to Georgia, but I found it behind a pile of bricks next to the shed. He's crafty, but not enough to fool me.

I moved this small pot to the iron birdbath that doesn't serve its original purpose. The water evaporates too quickly to make it useful for bird bathing.

All four pots in front of my studio got a bright pink geranium. The two end pots have a wave petunia in them, too.

The two long pots look a bit sparse, but should fill in as the plants grow. Wave petunias, Creeping Jenny and spirea are in these.

My chicken got a petunia, too.

The two big blue pots have a geranium and some sweet potato vines.

Here's a look at the entire porch.

Well, its time to get to the studio and get to work. I love having the door open all day and hearing the birds singing and the wind chime making quiet music outside my window. Now, I have flowers to look at, too! Life is good!