.
I have another finished quilt. I love this one. This is one side. It has two battings. One is cotton and the other is poly fluff. When it's washed the applique should puff up more.





This is the other side.

I did stitch in the ditch around all the applique pieces. I used mono thread to hide any imperfections of how close I got.

I did a simple meander in the background. It was the request of the piecer.

I also did a piano key stitching around the outside border and simple loops on the sashing. This was done to keep the stitching fairly consistent throughout. The owner wanted minimal stitching so the puffy batting would stay puffy.

.
I had hoped to finish another one yesterday. A really small one that wouldn't have taken too long. I didn't get it done because my brother needed me. I honestly can't figure him out. If I could only understand his fears I might be able to say something or do something to help. We wound up taking him to Our Lady of Peace hospital but he didn't want to go in. He has become afraid of the VA hospital. That's why we went to a different place.

.

His wife set him up with an appointment to be there this morning at 8 am. He will start going there every morning and return home after 3 in the afternoon. She gave him an ultimatum. Either go everyday or she moves out. No ifs, ands, or buts. He should be able to handle out patient visits. He does need someone to talk with and no one is better than the professionals.

.

A good thing is that his son in law already goes there everyday. Now he will have someone to go with. They get along very well and play golf together quite often.... or at least they did before the panic attacks started. Both seem to be suffering panic attacks. Strange.... very strange that this should happen to them at about the same time.

.

With him occupied for most days I shouldn't have any interruptions until after 3 pm. I'm already trying to keep my work time between the time Ladybug will go to day care and when she will come home. By the time she and mom actually move in here, my change of schedule should be a habit. That's the plan anyway.

Again, 13 left to finish

I'm still working on the same quilt. As you can see some of the quilting is done on the blocks. I've done about 1/3 of the blocks. Still need to finish those and then the outside border.



I think this makes 3 days already on this one and probably another 2 days before it's finished. Is it any wonder that a machine quilter has difficulty with scheduling? Let's see.... I have 12 more quilts to finish. (not counting the one on the machine) If they each take 5 days to quilt.... that's 60 days of work before I can retire. Allowing myself two days a week for personal stuff like doctor appointments, housekeeping, and grocery shopping it means I will retire in about 12 weeks. Hmm.... that means sometime about October.

Ok, between now and October, how many days will I be in the hospital? How many days will I have bronchitis? How many days will my mother's needs take me away from home? What natural disaster is coming to take out the power? How many days will my machine act up, requiring me to track down the problem or wait for parts?

Maybe I shouldn't count on retiring until Christmas? This brings up a thought. If I had not made plans to retire; this month would be the start of Christmas rush. July starts the rush to finish quilts in time to be given as presents. July is when most people realize they need to get on the waiting list of their machine quilter before the lists are full.

It doesn't look like I will have the time for making my window quilts this year. Bummer! I really need those window quilts to help with the heating bills this winter. Somehow..... somehow, I've got to find time for those. It's too important to skip for another year. So I best get to the machine and start quilting..... the days and weeks are moving faster than me.

Moving right along


I have this quilt on the machine. I got it all stabilized and started doing some of the quilting on the blocks.

At the end of the workday I sat down with my schedule calendar. I was trying to figure out how close I am to getting caught up. At first glance I thought I was really close. Oh gee whiz.... I found some obligations I had forgotten about. So it seems that I won't be back on schedule just yet. Maybe by the end of April?

What a day!


First, here is the next finished quilt. It's already been picked up by the owner. This is the one that had me stumped about what to quilt on it. The owner was happy with the design I did. Whew. I always worry until I hear they are happy with the design.



I did stitch in the ditch around the stars then meandered in the background to make the stars pop out.

I did line dancing in the row squares and a leafy.... hmm.... feathery.... hmm... ribbony? Oh well it's what you see. Did this in pieced squares.

Then did this spiky leaf design on the sashing. It compliments the spikes of the stars.

I had the next quilt on the machine just a working away. I finished the starting row and then quilted the first part going down the sides.... nope, that's not gonna work. It needed something different so I stopped to pick it out so I could do something else.

.

I start quilting the newer design and suddenly I start getting breaking threads and bad tension. Every inch or two the thread breaks and the tension looks awful. So I spend the next couple of hours trying to fix the problem. Well DUH! It dawns on me what the problem is..... the felt tension disk is dirty. I take apart the tension assembly to clean it. See what I mean?

.

I start to put it back together...... well dang it! I don't have any more clean felt disks. I swear I had a whole dozen not long ago. Hmm.... just when did I order those last? I look it up and realized these were ordered a year ago. Well no wonder I'm out. I order more and turn the one I have over so I can keep quilting until the new ones arrive. It's a temporary fix but should last for at least two or three days so I can keep quilting.

.
I've lost nearly a whole day of quilting time. I plan to work a couple of hours later than usual to make up for the lost time. Nope, didn't happen. I got a phone call from Alaska. I'm not going to miss the opportunity to talk with all my grandkids up there! They tell me that they are ok. The volcano is dropping some ash over their place but not enough to harm anything yet. If it gets bad enough they will go stay with relatives in the village for awhile. My great-grandkids are growing fast.

.

After the phone call its much too late in the day to go back to working so I quit for the day. I've lost my momentum. I go to the computer and start writing some posts which keeps me busy until bedtime.

.

Today I hope things go a little more smoothly. This weekend I'm going to clean the Gammill and table from top to bottom.... thoroughly! Not just the bobbin area. It's long past due. While I'm cleaning I'll make some notes of things I need to order.

.

I hear my machine calling me so it's time to get to work.

I'm kind of quiet lately

Another one done. The red and grey log cabin.



It's stitch in the ditch around the red logs and three different feather designs on the grey logs. This is one feather.

Another feather design.

Then this feather design.

Lately I don't seem to have much to say on my blog. Mostly because my mind is on getting the quilt work caught up. While I'm at the machine I think of lots of things but somehow they don't get type-talked about when I'm at the computer.

.

It's very hard on me mentally to look around my house and see the things I should be doing and at the same time realize I can't because the quilting comes first. For example, spring cleaning. I should be doing it. Sun coming through the windows shows up all the dust bunnies that seem to be breeding faster than I can gather them up. But.... when can I do it?

.

Another example, machine maintenance. It should be done because lately I seem to be fighting with my machine. The tracks and wheels need a thorough cleaning. The machine itself needs a thorough cleaning, tuneup, and oiling. But.... when can I do it?

.

Another example, cardboard furniture. I have a design drawn. I've checked and I have all the right size pieces. I know I need this piece of furniture to replace what I'm using right now. It will help me get some things organized. But..... when will I do it?

.

What it all comes down to is.... if it doesn't pay the bills.... it doesn't get done. So now I'm headed to work.

Ok, Saturday my computer leaves home to visit with a friend who worked on it to make it better. On Sunday morning my computer comes back. It is soooooo much better!!

Saturday, I looked through the quilting work to be finished by xmas and decided to finish piecing the remaining three tops I have left to do. I'm thinking if I get those finished it will greatly reduce the stress of staying on deadline. There won't be anything except staying on the machine to finish out the xmas rush season.

On Sunday afternoon this is where I am on the first top. The squares are almost completed..... when my stomach starts to feel queezzzy..... ugh. I had just finished drinking a milk shake from a fast food place.

Maybe that was it.... bad milk shake... OR someone had been around me that was sick. Either way by the end of Sunday I'm in bed with a bucket beside it. Nothing will stay down, not even water and I feel extremely thirsty. That's where I remained until yesterday afternoon. Geeze..... more days behind schedule. I'm finally able to keep something in my stomach although it's still just clear soups and juices.

.

Today I'm going to pick up where I left off with the purple picture quilt. I'm planning to finish it then see what is best to do next. I'm taking it one step at a time. If I feel weak... I will lay back down. This seems to be the hardest year I've had for a long, long time. I look forward to finishing the season and moving on. Hopefully, next year will be much better.

Mother nature did it again. I woke up about 3 am like I always do. I fixed my coffee and sat down at the computer to type a blog entry and answer some emails. This is the quilt that's on the machine. I took the picture the night before. It was all stabelized and ready for the design in the centers. Well anyway, I'm sitting ready to do a little computer stuff...



I hear a clap of thunder and the lights go out. Yesterday morning's storm knocked the electricity out again. By the time the lights came on at about 9 am I felt it more important that I get quilting work done than sit at a computer.

A few days ago, I think it was last Saturday, I counted the number of items I need to quilt before xmas. By my calculations there was 62 left to do. I don't have them all here yet. Some are still just names on the list and some will cancel. Some will be small enough I can put them on the machine two or three together and quilt them that way.

It will be a stretch for me to get them all done on time but its very do-able providing I stay at my machine and don't go anywhere for the next few weeks. It happens this way every year. The final big xmas rush.

I will make phone calls to get as many items here as possible. I will put together a large batting order and call to get it sent on the way. Usually the freezer is stocked up and the cabinets have plenty of staples. This year the power outage has emptied the freezer. I'll have to let my daughter get some meat and other frozen foods for me. She usually does all my shopping for me from September through December and doesn't mind. My xmas shopping is done. I'm waiting for the wrapping paper to show up in the stores. I failed to get any at last years after xmas sales. My daughter will get that for me.

I've run out of time for any possiblity of doing my window quilts. Those will just have to wait until after all the xmas work is finished. Hopefully, the new insulation will be enough to keep my bills low for now. Whenever it gets done? I still have to wait for the insulation company to get to me. They have a number of other homes ahead of mine. I don't mind the wait because the price is right for my budget and the company has a good reputation. They promised it would be before really cold weather gets here.

Over the next few weeks I will drink plenty of orange juice; I'll stay away from anyone known to be sick; I'll tell my neighbors I will see them in the spring; and I'll grow semi-silent on the email lists. The hours of work will be from early morning till late evening. Ahhh.... the things we do for the love of quilting.

On Monday I went back to the fairgrounds to pick up my quilts. I left home about 10 am and got back home just after 3 pm. It takes that long for me to travel there and back by city bus. 2 transfers each way. Needless to say I didn't get much done in the studio on Monday.

Yesterday I finally got this quilt finished. I think it turned out pretty nice.



Micro stippling is not something I would want to do everyday. Don't look too closely or you will see my backtracking mistakes around the design.

I think I would hate having to make all those tiny micro stitches all the time. I'm glad I was able to do line dancing on the star part.

The stippling did take up most of the fullness in the top.

There are still areas where there was so much fullness it couldn't be stitched out.

I have another vintage top on the machine and ready to start quilting today. Last evening I made phone calls to the next people on my waiting list. I had to giggle after making those calls and I also felt relieved. It seems I'm not the only one behind schedule. Some of my customers asked to be moved to January's list or February's list because they hadn't finished their tops. Some said they hadn't even started making their top yet. Moving some work to next year has actually taken some pressure off me and put me closer to getting back on schedule.

Hmm.... maybe I'll have some time for making my window quilts before winter after all? I can't see that I'll have time for making all of them but one or two is now a possibility if I quilt pantos on whole cloth. Window quilts don't have to be pieced.... just made for warmth.

A big day ahead of me so I best get started.

Geeze, when will I get a break!

I was down to the last 5 inches of design on todays quilt when the storms hit. I lost electricity for the rest of the night and most of this morning. The wind yesterday was something! I lost this little tree in the front of the house. It wasn't a big concern though because it was pretty much dead anyway.


Sometimes the fabrics used in a quilt give me pause. I can't figure out how to quilt it. If I use a design then the pictures of the fabric is lost. Yet, it must be quilted. This is an example of what I mean. I'm not sure the designer of this fabric considered how it would be quilted and keep the beauty of the pictures.


After the power came back on again this morning; I finished the last small area; then loaded the next one on the machine; then came to my computer to make a post. This is the finished quilt.


I did baby rattles on the inside border. It was one single baby rattle that didn't get done when the storm happened. I did line dancing on the center pieced area.


Another view of the line dancing.


A view from the back showing the line dancing.


And a view from the back of how I quilted the outside border with the pictures. I used clear thread on the front and pink on the back. A simple outline along the top and bottom of the characters.


I'm not sure how much of the quilt on the machine will get finished today. I have another project that will take priority over working on a customer quilt. If I get the other project finished then I will get back to working at the machine.

What's the project? Paperwork..... yuck! It's some organizing I should have done weeks ago but couldn't get to it because of other circumstances. I have one simple paper to find among bunches and bunches of papers. A very necessary paper for the annual renewal of my mother's nursing home care.

I do have everything necessary for keeping papers filed..... I just didn't use them as I should have. When I'm extremely busy and running behind on the waiting list; or when I'm not feeling my best; I tend to stack up papers believing that I will get to those later.... only later get pushed back time and time again. So today I'm going to setup and test a solution to my paperwork problem.

Why work on this instead of a customer quilt? Simple really, if I'm not organized..... I can't quilt on schedule. I will spend far too much time looking for something than is reasonable. If I'm organized I should be able to find it, deal with it, then get back to work. Ok, what I mean is..... the less time I spend on other projects like locating papers for renewals, the more time I have for quilting.

Well dang. Imagine that. The Wednesday deadline quilt gets picked up on Tuesday. I had the binding done and I'm sitting there clipping thread tails after just getting the baby to sleep. The owner shows up and tells me he was in the neighborhood and wanted to pick it up a day early. He decides to wait while I clip the threads.

The baby wakes up with a tummy ache, the dogs come back from the groomer, the phone rings, and a neighbor knocks on the door. All this while I'm trying to quickly clip thread tails. Needless to say I didn't get any pictures of the finished quilt. But.... it is this one that I took pictures of a few days ago while it was on the machine. I didn't get a chance to go over it one last time to check it either. That makes me nervous.



I have the Friday deadline one quilted. I'm putting the binding on it and clipping the threads today just in case the owner decides to show up on Thursday. Luckily it's a top I pieced with not many threads to clip.

After that I plan to work on some tops that aren't quite so difficult for a day or two. I need a creative break before moving on to the next of the pre printed tops. I have 5 more pre printed tops on my schedule. All of them queen or king size. I find those to be very difficult and time consuming to quilt. Mostly because I have to be so accurate in following the lines. Not at all like putting a top on the machine and creating freehand designs as I go.

It looks like it will be awhile before I can get caught up on deadlines enough to get back to organizing again. So.... I'm heading to the studio for an early start. I'm going to do some mindless quilting for a little while before the baby arrives. Hmm... forget about organizing.... with all the looming deadlines I wonder when I will find time for some simple house cleaning? Maybe next week. I knew there was a reason I should not have gone to Paducah. Now I know what it was..... deadlines.

Lately I've had a series of difficult quilts. First the one with the do over border..... now this one.

I had this one on the machine. It had lots of fullness in the piecing and the border. I first basted the entire thing to see if I could work out the fullness. It only got worse as I got it basted. I finally had to call the owner about the problem.


She has decided to take the top apart then return to me to get help remaking it. The top is savable. It only needs some re working.


Now I have this one loaded onto the machine. Another time consuming top. Not really a problem quilt.... just time consuming. As you can see..... it's a very large top.


It just barely fit onto the leaders.....


This one gets custom quilting. Out of curiosity I've decided to track my time on this one. I want to see how much I'm earning per hour on a large custom quilt. My best guess it that it may take me 4 or 5 days of quilting time. Since I work 12 hours a day, that means somewhere between 48 to 60 hours of work on one quilt.

I know its been a few days since I posted to my blog. I've been busy changing this quilt....


To this...


To be quite honest I hope I never see that quilt again.... ever! It's extremely difficult to pick out 4400 square inches of stitching and replace the border and stitch it again. That quilt has been nothing but a bad experience from the start. It's experiences like this that has me feeling like I want to throw up my hands and quit quilting. Thank goodness these experiences rarely happen.

I've worked on a couple of quilts that can't be shown until after March. One is my guild challenge quilt for AQS and the other is the animal fabric challenge for MQX. The guild challenge is completely pieced and partially quilted. I've completed most of the piecing on the animal fabric challenge and its duplicate. I've told Janet-Lee that after the show the SPCA there in NH can keep it to raise more money for their charity. The duplicate will be given to the SPCA here in KY.

Finally...... yesterday I got around to more normal quilting. This is today's finished quilt.


And a view or two of the back so you can see the quilting better.


I know some of the design lines don't match up perfectly. It had fabric warts in the corners that my hopping foot couldn't stitch over.


In the next few days I hope to put more pictures in my webshots albums. I've neglected that work for awhile.


Reworking that quilt has put me several days behind schedule. This in turn puts me under a lot of stress to try to catch up again. It simply can't be done! I won't sacrifice quality for speed and there are only so many hours in a day....

More about organizing

This is today's finished quilt. I used the circle lord square dance templates. There is a flame design on the border. I used the flame because the bright orange made me think flaming hot. In person the oranges are extremely bright. They almost hurt your eyes to look at it.





I was asked why I thought it sometimes seems easier to reorganize during a busy season. In my opinion it's because we can see the "thing that isn't working" during it's heaviest use. Our natural instinct is to "fix it" when we see the solution right in front of us. For me, it's very hard not to just stop everything to fix what isn't working. . I constantly have to remind myself -- the customer's quilts come first, reorganize or improve later. Which is why I make lots of notes for things to work on after the rush is over. I don't want to forget my thoughts about the solutions.

If you notice, my blog entries become much shorter when I'm busy with Christmas quilts. Internet time -- my downfall. I could sit at the computer for hours and hours reading blogs and looking at eye candy; but, that won't get the quilts finished. I hear a customer's quilt calling my name already this morning. I'll just look at a few of the web ring blogs then get to work.