Lots of rain means lots of sewing!

 We have had foggy, soggy, rainy days all week. That means (when the doctor's appointments are done) I can sew quilt all I want! Mr Wazoo has been in tree decorating mode, and every time I come up from a day in the studio, he has added more stuff to the tree. I like to do the tree, too, but he is having such a good time, I'm taking a pass on decorating and praising his efforts effusively! I really have to stop sewing for a while and bake cookies and write my Christmas cards. All of it has to be sent to far away places, so I need to get busy.

Here are the latest quilts from this week, as well as some of Mr W's efforts. 17 days left! Yikes!!

Quilt for an elderly neighbor who has no family to share Christmas with.

Fun panto called Frosty

A little label

I made one for us! All from my stash of Christmas fabric. I made a dent in the stack, for sure.

My Fav, Stars over Lake Minoqua.

Geometric panto.

Soft and snuggly flannel backing. The binding is ready, but I ran out of time to get it applied.

It started like this, and then got better!

Dogwood full of lighted balls.

Porch illuminations

Back porch lights and bows.

After seeing a picture my daughter sent, he added the lights on the trunk.

The great room is a mess, but the tree is beautiful...

Cudos to Mr Wazoo! Seen here finally relaxing.

That's it for now. I have about half my shopping done and am waiting breathlessly for things to arrive so I can wrap and mail them. I fear everything will be late. Rats. I have to make a list and check it twice. And get busy.

Christmas sewing and decorating

 I've been enjoying some festive sewing and quilting as well as a bit of gift giving. After all, 'tis the season!

I made this lap quilt over the weekend. I added a border and it is loaded on the longarm for quilting today. The pattern is from one of my quilting with pre-cuts books. This one used a layer cake (pack of 10" squares) and a bit of another fabric for the stars. I'll post pics of the finished quilt later.

Meanwhile, Mr Wazoo visited our neighbor, who fell in his yard and broke his ankle, in the hospital where he is recovering from surgery. He took him the Christmas quilt I fmade last week and a package of Oreos ( a request from the patient).

This one

The sunrise here has been especially beautiful on the few days that we haven't had gloomy, gray days. Flocks of geese flying in formation pass overhead often, on their way to warmer places for the Winter. I like this time of year despite the grayness of most days. Gray days are wonderful for hanging out in the studio, listening to Christmas music, touching fabric and pondering what to make next. So many ideas...so little time.

Dawn starts like this...

And morphs into this! It is amazing how quickly the sky changes, getting a paint job for the rest of the day. It doesn't look like this today.

I finished another repair of an interesting quilt. This courthouse steps quilt is all silk fabrics, assembled like stuffed sausages sewn to a muslin foundation. I neglected to take a photo of the missing sausages, but did remember to get one of the finished quilt and a close-up of the new blocks. My silk stash has taken a hit after fixing two silk quilts! I'm hoping things will normalize with cotton quilts soon.

This quilt is extremely heavy and slippery! Someone took a lot of time sewing and stuffing all those logs!

I replaced these two blocks. It took me a while to figure out how to do it without my stitches showing on the purple backing. It was added after the maker finished sewing all the logs to the muslin foundation. I made tubes in the sizes of the logs, lightly stuffed them with wool batting and then, sewed them carefully to the surrounding blocks and each other. The quilting in the ditches holds the blocks to the backing.

Well, it's time to get going for the day. Here are a couple of funnies that I found while surfing random sites last night. The cat one made me laugh out loud! People sure can have some weird ideas. Have a good day, filled with snippets of fun and adventure.

This is the actual comment that went with the photo: 

"These cute little kitties are in fact wearing cone hats made from their own hairballs. We think that is lovely, a little bit weird, and icky, but also lovely."

And one for my friends who are either having knee injections, or have already enjoyed the procedure.

Sliding into December!

 We ate the last of the turkey and sides tonight and now it is decorating time. Mr Wazoo has got the jump on the lights. He put his prized twinkling light balls in the dogwood tree and has them lit up tonight. We'll be setting up th tree and decorating it over the weekend. A fun time for us. I love our tree and all the ornaments we've collected over the years.

Meanwhile, I have been sewing and quilting up a storm, getting things done and back to customers.

Here is the silk crazy quilt, all repaired, quilted, bound and with the label they wanted.

This thing weighs a ton! The top was heavy enough, but with batting and backing it is even heavier. The customer wanted it to be a quilt, not just a top. Too bad. There are some cool feedbacks that were used as the foundation for the piecing, hidden forever now.

The backing is a black swirly fabric.

The label turned out better than I expected. The photo is the lady who made the quilt with her seven daughters. Nannie is seated second from the left.

I quilted one customer quilt this week, too. This is a pretty patriotic gift for a son.

Of course, Penny photobombed the picture...

The customer likes to do her own trimming, so the batting is showing here.

Stars and Stripes panto.

Starry backing. Perfect!

I made another Christmas quilt this week, too. One of our neighbors is having a health issue, so I finished it quickly and will give it to him tomorrow. It came out so soft and cuddly!! The backing is really soft flannel.

Mr W commented about the dark green blocks. He says the pattern doesn't stand out on them. I agree, but with a jelly roll you make do with what's there. Not enough lights in this roll.

Snowflake panto.

Wonderfully soft backing.

I made another thing today, but I can't show it to you until after the guild meeting on the 13th. It's a wowser! At least I think so...

Off to bed for me. More quilting fun tomorrow, mixed in with a neighborhood lunch with the ladies. This should be interesting. I only know a few of my neighbors, and there are lots of new people to meet.

Happy quilting!

.

Thanksgiving in the rear view

Thanksgiving morning. We have a lot to be thankful for.

Well, I got my last shot!! Yahoo!! I'm really happy to be back in the studio and working a little more every day. Over the last week I have been upstairs more than downstairs working with machines. I have finally finished all the repairs on the silk crazy quilt. I trimmed the extra five blocks and they made a nice row to finish the entire top. I have a vintage sheet for the backing. Tomorrow I will finish it.

It was a beautiful day today, and Mr Wazoo took advantage of the sunny day to put up some of the Christmas decorations. He was off to a rocky start with one string of new lights refusing to light. A quick trip to Home Depot, and the porch is lit.

The house really sticks out when the leaves are off.

The trees are bare now. We had a day of high winds and some rain that finished the 2022 leaf drop. Of course, Mr W has them all raked and removed, so we still have the nicest yard in the neighborhood.

At least we have a better mountain view in the Winter

In both directions!

Mr W planted the winter pansies. They will be tested tonight. It's going to be pretty cold.

I bought this chicken on our trip to Texas.

The rest of the "Exterior Illuminations" (Mr Wazoo's term...) will go up tomorrow unless it is raining. Then the tree during the week. Christmas is coming, people! Get ready.

OMG! Where do people keep all this stuff?

My inspiration!!

 

Busy and happy

I have been keeping busy with quilting and sewing, and it feels good. Customer quilts are coming in and I am able to keep up so far. Here are the customer projects I finished lately.

Cabin Coffee is a coffee shop here in Blairsville, and this customer worked there. She made this quilt from tee shirts from the shop as a birthday gift for the owner.

The panto is steaming coffee cups called Coffee Break.

A peek at the back

My friend made this quilt, but is unable to sew right now, so I added the borders and finished the project. It will be a gift for her neighbors on their wedding day.

Panto: Funky fans

Pretty floral backing

I did a couple of QOVs last weekend. Here is the first one.

Simply stars for the panto.

Stars on the back

Number two QOV

Same backing

Same backing

This cute quilt it for a granddaughter who wanted an under the sea quilt. The customer found these adorable fabrics and did a great job on the quilt.

Panto: Swimming fish

Coral and shells on the back

This small wall hanging was custom quilted.

I don't know if you can see my quilting on the back.

Another customer is gifting her mystery quilt from the evening guild to her son.

Panto: Ikat

It looks fun on the bright orange backing!

I made a couple of quilts, too. Slowly getting back into the swing of things.

I bought yardage of an assortment of ombre fabrics and made this 16 patch quilt with them. I used different colors of grunge for the other fabrics in the blocks.

Pattern: Ikat (again!)

I had this Kaffe in my stash for the backing. Perfect!

It may look like I made oodles of tiny monkey wrench blocks, but I didn't. This was a cheater fabric I found on a shopping jaunt to  Marietta a while ago. All I added was the border!

Panto: Inkblot Flowers

I had this sweet floral backing in my stash.

I picked up this quilt from off the porch of the house we were summoned to for discarded fabric. It was a depressing chore because the heir of the lady the home belonged to hired a crew to "clean out" the house so it could be sold. There was a semi sized dumpster full of the homeowner's belongings and furniture, and all the stuff that didn't fit in it was left on the front porch of the house. The cleaning crew had power washed the outside of the house, drenching everything there in filthy water. I found this quilt wadded up in a plastic bin. It looked horrible, but I wanted to save it. I took it home, washed it with Tide and Oxyclean and fluffed it in the dryer. It is wonderful! There are a few places to repair, but it will have a second chance at life here at Wazoo. Soft and fluffy, hand quilted. I love it!

A look at one of the friendship star blocks.

The backing is a green striped fabric.

Well, that's it for now. Mr Wazoo is anxious to go to Home Depot and get pansies for the outdoor pots. They do well over the Winter, adding pops of color in the brown landscape. Then I'm home for an afternoon of Funday-Sunday. I'll catch you on the flip side!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!