Another one is finished



The owner was supposed to be here yesterday to pick it up but didn't make it.







I did a feather swag on the outside border.

Another view of the swag.

I did a feather design on the solid squares and line dancing on the pieced squares and a simple swag design on the inside border.

A view from the back showing the feather design and the inside border swags.

A view from the back of the outside border.

I cooked more of the food from the freezer... in between customer visits. I hope I wasn't too rude when I kept saying "excuse me while I go check the food on the stove" several times. I also cut apart and stored all the cardboard in a back room. If I could only find more time to work with it.

My brother was cleaning up downed tree limbs a few days ago when another branch came down on him. It twisted his knee cap and he will probably have to have surgery to fix it. I'll be his chaufer to the doctor for 6 weeks if he has surgery.

As if I didn't have enough on my schedule already; the nursing home says my mother has to be moved to another facility. They want to send her to northeast Ohio to a nursing home there. They tell me they couldn't find not even one nursing home any closer than that capable of handling her special needs. How on earth am I supposed to go visit her so far away from me??

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Moving her from here to all the way up there is like telling me that I will never see my mother alive again. Geeze, don't those people understand city buses don't travel that far?? Northeast Ohio is not one of the scheduled TARC bus stops. And just how am I supposed to go sign her into a hospital when it's needed? If that nursing home can't take her then she may have to be sent to a state out west someplace.

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In order to find a nursing home closer to me means I will have to put in lots and lots of time on the phone. Time that won't be spent quilting. If I really can't find some place closer then she will have to go where they are equipped to handle her.

Yesterday, I took a look at my waiting list to see which quilt is next. I couldn't make heads or tails out of it. Some that were scheduled to be here in January have just now shown up. Some that are not scheduled until April have shown up already. Some that were due to be finished back in December are still being worked on. Some people that were scheduled for only 1 top decided to bring 3 or 4 instead because they didn't understand how the list works. Some that planned on bringing small quilts brought queen or king size. I found myself thoroughly confused by my own waiting list. Everyone is extremely nice saying... "Do them when you have time." That sounds very nice in theory but the reality is very different.

I took my calendar and worked with it for a couple of hours. I inserted names on the calendar based on the waiting list names and what I have already here in the studio. Hmmm.... I kind of suspected this in January but seeing it on the calendar confirms it. I'm completely booked for the rest of the year; with lots of overtime in the future too. Yes, I do mean all the way through December xmas rush. I couldn't find even one day off for at least 3 months. Awww.... gee whiz.... there has to be time off in there somewhere! I'll have to work with the calendar again because I can't live like that. No one can.

Here are just a few of the things that I have not scheduled on the calendar yet:

Classes at the quilt shop as promised

Classes in private homes as promised

Classes here at my house as promised

Time with my kids and grandkids - this is a definite!

Quilt shows I'd like to attend

Fair attendance days

Holidays

Lunches with friends

Piecing charity quilts

Piecing grandkid quilts

Contest quilts

Machine maintenance

Window quilts and other weatherizing stuff

Visiting my mother

Doctor visits and yearly exams

Yard work

Sick days

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Family chaufering

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Organizing

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Blog posting

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Creating cardboard crafts

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Making rugs

There are many other things I really want time for doing.... but WHEN am I going to do them?? My quilting schedule and waiting list seriously need redesigning! It's not working the way it should. I have to start practicing forming these words more often......

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"No, I'm sorry, I just can't."

Well finally..... the Christmas quilts are finished. One customer brought me another gift of fruit. Isn't it great! Most of it has been eaten already. I enjoyed every bite!!




Here's the first finished quilt.

I did more hands on the hand strips.

And more feet on the feet strips.

A feathery design on the outside strips.

A leafy design on the inside strips.

The feathery design from the back.

The hands and leafy design from the back.

The next finished quilt.

A curling feather design on the outside border.

A leaf vine and a curling design on the inside borders.

Combinations of line dancing and leaf and flower designs on the blocks.

Another block.

Another block.

The next finished quilt.

A feather design on the outside border.

Another feather design on the inside border.

A leafy design on the sashing and corner stones.

Another view of the sashing and corner stones.

One of the blocks.

Another block.

And one more.

And another.

The border from the back.

Now that I'm finished for the year, I can turn my energy to finishing up the weatherization I didn't get finished a few weeks ago. I will put up the rest of the plastic on the windows and possibly make a window quilt or two. Even with the new insulation this house always feels cold. Mostly because I have high ceilings which means the heat is up high and the windows don't have covers on them. Next, I'll sort and file the paper work for this year and start the paperwork for the new year.


One thing is for sure.... I don't want to be this busy again! With so many life happenings this year I've been really stressed for weeks. The money just isn't worth all that stress. I'd rather be broke than go through another year like I've had. My goal for next year is to work less and enjoy life more. Hmmm..... seems like I said something like that last December and the December before that and even the one before that. Maybe my goal should be to find a way (a golden key) to work less and enjoy life more while still making the customers happy and keeping the bills paid?

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If I find the golden key to ending machine quilter stress.....I will be sure to tell the whole world. Until then I'm going to concentrate on more immediate tasks. I only have a few days when the chain that holds me to my machine is let loose ya' no.

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Later......

More finished quilts. I did go back and do more quilting on this one. I meandered with clear thread in the background of the blocks.



It looks much better with the background quilted.

Then I did more holly leaves on the tiny border.

Next I quilted this one.

Circle Lord made it go quicker.

Then this one for the same owner.

Also used the Circle Lord.

Then I quilted this one.

It's hard to see the stitching because the colors match so closely.

The feather designs on the border start in the center with this bow and move out to the ends.

The sashing is a leaf and curl design. It's one of my favorite designs because it looks so elegant.

The center photo also got a feather design around it.

Here's a picture of the back so you can see the quilting better.

And another one from the back.

I couldn't quilt on the photos because it would crack with each stitch.

I'm slowly getting the Christmas quilts done. I'm still not sure if all will be finished but I'm doing my best. Staying off the computer and in the studio is helping a lot. It's surprising how much can be accomplished when I stay away from the computer.

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I have an appointment this morning to sign papers for my mother to be admitted to the hospital. She's acting up again which usually means her medication isn't balanced right. They wanted me to go right away but I'm not catching a bus while it's still dark. I gave a verbal admittance over the phone and will go as soon as the sun comes up.

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I have the next quilt on the machine ready to go when I get back. I have a couple more to do then I will take a whole day to do the binding on several. The work goes much quicker when I work on several bindings all at one time.

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Over the last several weeks I've had people post comment questions but..... your "no reply comment" is turned on so I can't email you back to answer. "No comment reply" is an email blocker that keeps a person from being able to respond to your comment. I know I'm staying away from the computer as much as I can but I do try and answer specific questions about the quilting I get done and then show in my posts. Please consider turning on your "yes comment reply" so I can email you. I may have a question to ask you but can't if I can't email you.

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What have I been up to?? Take a look. This one is done.



Flowers on the border. Line dance an inside border.

Loopy vine the next inside border. Line dance the pieced blocks.

Stitch in the ditch of the applique and meander the background down.

On to the pillow covers that go with the quilt from a few days ago.

Same designs as the quilt. Feather design in the solid blocks.

Leaves on the the pieced blocks.

A look from the back.

The solid blocks from the back.

The pieced blocks from the back.

The setting triangels from the back.

Hmm... what next? Oh yes, these 4 pillow covers.

The first one.

A look at the back.

The pieced block from the back.

The next one.

From the back.

The back also.

Another one.

From the back.

Also from the back.

The last pillow cover.

View from the back.

Care for one more view from the back?

Then there is this.... a table runner. The best picture is from while it's still on the machine. It's very long and narrow. Twelve inches by 100 inches.

Simple outline stitching around the block designs and holly design between the blocks.

Stitch in the ditch the borders and sashing then and more holly.

The table runner needs more quilting but I'm not sure what yet. Probably more holly. The borders are so small (1 1/2 inch) that it's difficult to come up with a design I can do really tiny. The sasing is only one inch wide and the holly is teeny. I can't do a lot of quilting because of the shrinkage during quilting. Heavy quilting creates shrinkage and its small enough already.

Still several quilts to do before xmas......


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