Vintage 9 patch quilt

Next finished quilt. A vintage 9 patch.



A view from the back to see the quilting design. I did a feather in the long sashing rows.



From the front.... line dancing on the blocks.



Leaves on the short sashing.



The next one on the machine.


Yes, it does have issues.


Need I say more?

I know I haven't posted for a few days. Lots of life happenings that have kept me away from the computer and the quilting machine. Geeze.... I can't seem to get caught up for all the life happenings.

I had the energy audit done on my house yesterday. Thank goodness the guy didn't have any sniffles or anything! The auditor found that part of my house is insulated and the rest isn't. He says the back part of my attic has about 4 inches of insulation but the front part doesn't have any at all. The outside walls do have some insulation. He can't say how much for sure though. He recommended I get the insulation done first.

There is an open space in the attic between the front of my house and the back part. It goes from attic to basement with nothing in between. The back section of my house is an addition done 20 years ago. The space should have been connected and closed up when the construction was done but for some reason the contractor didn't finish it.

The auditor said my windows were fine and need not be replaced unless I just wanted double pane glass. I have storm windows that close pretty tightly which acts sort of like double pane. That was a relief. I was worried he would say I needed new windows. The cost of new windows is outrageous!

My furnace doesn't have adequate air intake. I need a new intake vent cut. Something the furnace contractor should have done when he installed the furnace a few years ago. The current vent is not the same size as the ductwork. Not a big deal though, just cutting the existing vent opening larger. He said I can have it changed to a drop down filter vent which will be easier for me. He also recommended that I have one more floor vent installed on the furnace. The new floor vent would be for the coldest area of the house. Geeze... I need to clean this vent already. Quilting creates lots of dust. I have to clean it about twice a month.


Both my kitchen sink and my bathroom sink are cracked. The cracks can't be seen from above but I've always had a leak in both. I always thought it was the drain pipes leaking and I kept buckets under them. He showed me it's actually cracks in the bowl part. See no cracks visible.

See where the water is flowing? Now why didn't I think to look at this before having the auditor point it out?

I need a new dryer vent to the outside. The one I have is out dated and lets cold air into the house around it. He said I might think about one of those kind that can be converted in the winter to keep the dryer heat in the house and reversed in the summer. I've never heard of those but I like the idea. I also need to clean out the dryer.... lots of lint in there that can be a fire hazard. Gosh, I should have done that before the auditor arrived. My dryer lint brush broke and I haven't replaced it yet.

All my appliances are adequate. Mid rage for energy usage. Not energy star but will do for now. I can replace those as they wear out.... hopefully in several years.

I need a new water heater. The one I have is about 30 years old. He said it's in good shape for its age though. Well duh, I do flush out the sediment every year. He said I don't need to run out and get a new one tomorrow but I should start thinking about replacing it as soon as I can with one more energy efficient.

I wish I could say I'm getting back to full time quilting but there is still a junk day coming up. The fair is starting on Thursday and I want to go there to see which of my customers won ribbons. I need to start getting estimates on insulation and shop for some sinks and shop for a new water heater. I also should start putting new plastic on the windows and do some caulking outside before the cold weather sneaks up on me.

Gee whiz, I need to work to get the money for these things and I also need to get these things done before cold weather. I'm kind of caught between a rock and a hard place. Which to do.... which to do.....

For now the studio wins.... I'll think about caulking outside after junk day stuff is carried outside and hopefully after much more quilting is finished. With just a little luck the cold weather will hold off long enough.

Here is another finished quilt.... almost. I still have the binding to do on it. A very large quilt that took two days to quilt.



I did a flower design in the 9 patch squares.

A leaf and flower design in the sashing.

A simple outline of the flowers and petals here.

Just as I was taking this one off the machine I heard a lot of chirping and chattering from the birds outside. I thought maybe a cat was wandering around to set off the protective instinct of the mother birds so I went to investigate. Not a cat.... it was a hawk. It's sitting on top of the light pole.

I did manage to get this fair entry quilted and bound. I have it pinned to one of my design walls being blocked. When it dries it should be very square. Well at least I will have a couple of entries this year after all. Thank goodness this one was small and didn't take long to quilt it.

I did a cross hatching on the border and found it had some fullness and pulling areas in it. I went back and did more stitching to take up all the fullness.

I'm slowly making progress to getting back on schedule. I had to eliminate several "me" things from my "to do" list. I think my apprentice will start the first week of September. It will be a welcome relief to have someone here to lend a hand with the things I need to get done. Maybe next year I won't have to eliminate so many of my "me" things.

I'm headed off to start on the next customer quilt.

Well its been a busy 3 day weekend for me. I like to include pictures in my blog so here are 3 of what I'm currently working on. Making a design work is always challenging when the seams don't line up.


When the area to quilt is also very small it makes the design choice even more important.

With a little thought and creative machine movement the design works.

I hope to finish this quilt today and have more detail pictures tomorrow.

Over the weekend I finished the binding and sleeves on my fair entry quilts and watched the baby. I still have one fair entry to get quilted if I can. If it doesn't get finished that will be 3 items I don't enter. I love to enter the woven rug catagories but this year I just couldn't get any rugs finished. Both of the rugs I wanted to enter are still on the frames waiting for me to get around to working on them.

Yesterday I was all set to have an energy audit done on my house. I sat and waited for the man to arrive. About 10 minutes late he calls to reschedule for next Monday. He's feeling kinda poorly but will come if I really want him to. YES! by all means... reschedule!! Please don't bring any sickness around me. I'll catch it...... I catch everything.... and I don't want it.

Well, that meant I could get onto the machine after all so I started that quilt. I'm so far behind on the work that any time I can put into quilting helps. With that said... I'm headed for the studio to get started.

I managed to finish the quilt with the difficult thread. It worked out much better for me to turn off the stitch regulator. I didn't get quite as many skipped stitches with it off.

This is the quilt.



A close up of the sashing.

A close up of the block done with line dancing.

A close up of the piano key border.

I added this to the corner for her. I try to add a little special surprise item to all her quilts because she is such a good friend.

Whew! It's been such a hard week for me. I try to keep myself working on the machine so I can get caught up...... BUT LIFE KEEPS GETTING IN THE WAY. Just when I think I'm making progress there is something to come along to take me away from my goal.

August is always the hardest month of the year for me. Many things happen in August that seem to take all my strength to get done. I'm usually gone a week this month so its a short work month. The big junk day happens in August which means I can finally get some broken things out of the house. I can't get any of the lazy men around here to help carry stuff to the alley. I must do it myself.

The fair starts this month which mean all my own entries must be finished this week. I have a couple that still need binding and sleeve attached and one isn't quilted yet. It won't get entered. The customer fair quilts were finished a couple of weeks ago.

I have an energy audit scheduled for Monday which means I have several things to do before it can be done. The weekend was going to be my time for getting ready for the audit. But.... my daughter needs me to babysit Saturday so she can work. Daycare is closed on the weekend. Looks like Sunday is going to be a rush... rush.... rush kind of day.

In all this rush to get life things done; I don't know when I will find time for quilting. Yet.... it must be done if the bills are going to get paid. I usually don't schedule many quilts during August because I know its a busy month. I'm still working on June and July quilts.

For a long time I've thought about how nice it would be to clone mayself so there would be two of me working. Two people get soooo much more work done than just one. Well, the alternative would be to have an apprentice. Looks like my wish is coming true!

I had a call a couple of days ago from a very nice young lady that wants to learn the business of machine quilting in exchange for helping me with things I can't seem to get done. I met her a few years ago on a bus trip to Nashville.... or was it Paducah.... no matter.... we got along great.

I didn't have time to call her yesterday to tell her I'm ready.... if she is. I was too busy finishing the quilt to make a phone call. I'm going to call her later today to talk more about it.

She wants to come over one day a week to help with whatever I need in exchange for watching and learning. Neither of us know if it will work out but I'm certainly willing to give it a try if she is. I'm excited at the prospect of having someone help. I kind of see the light at the end of the tunnel for getting caught up around here.

I know she doesn't have the experience to do machine quilting yet. She will learn that over time. It's the other things that she can help with that mean the most. For example sewing while I'm pressing and pinning. Or helping sort fabric donations. Or cutting and organizing fabric ready for piecing into charity quilts. I can think of lots of stuff I need help doing.

I may not get back onto the computer again until Tuesday. Computer time and tv time sure can eat up work time. I try to stay off the computer and away from the tv when I'm in a rush. Time for me to get started.... the work won't get finished as long as I sit here type-talking.