Sunday, February 26, 2017

Customer quilt -- change of plans...

The current customer king-size quilt on the frame is a bit slower-going than normal due to this cute creative orange border addition.

Typically, I'm an edge-to-edge pantograph quilter, however this little lip will create havoc in that plan.  Therefore, time is being taken to tie-off threads at the start and end of each pass in the center portion of the quilt in order to keep her border treatment to remain unique.  Once the center is quilted, the quilt will then be reinstalled length-wise in order to quilt her outer borders.


Pantograph of choice:  this edge-to-edge 7" pantograph from Cheryl Barnes.

In other news...

A few moments were taken this morning to transplant a few early Cherry Tomato seedlings that are destined to be potted plants, producing (hopefully) by mid April.  I'm waiting somewhat patiently for the end of March in order to plant all the rest of the Garden 2017 tomatoes; a couple new varieties being tested out this year.


Caitlyn has been joining me downstairs during my recent quilting endeavors in order to bring her quilt to completion.  Last weekend, she finished up piecing the blocks.  Today, she hopes to get all (most?) of the top's center pieced together.

 
And last weekend, after hours of standing behind the quilting machine, my back was given a rest when I pulled out the ongoing (FOREVER!) WIP monster king-size Manghan for the hubster.  The good news is it's over half completed ;)

Happy Sunday everyone!

Monday, February 20, 2017

Virto di Mare - Quilted

This past Saturday was my first Saturday open since December 31;  the reality of being a basketball mom to three girls has kept me in the bleachers rather than in front of my machines.
However, with a little discipline and LOTS of motivation, I set out to finish up the quilting on Vitro di Mare.

... good ol' Murphy seemed to have other plans in mind!  >:|
Thankfully, I was only sidelined for a few minutes.  Seeing as I was changing out the broken needle, the time was given to perform a quick machine cleaning, removing some lint from under the bobbin and needle area, and then... I was back up-n-runnin'!

The moment a quilt is unwound from the frame is truly always a super amazing moment!  I'm forever in love with this craft!

Being President's Day, we have a scheduled vacation day at school.  Therefore, shortly, I'll be heading downstairs to see if I can finish up a customer quilt that has already been loaded on the frame:  a 103" x 103" log cabin style.  That one will keep me busy for a bit.

Happy Monday everyone!

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Vitro di Mare (Bonnie's Allietare mystery) - top done

Finishing around 81" x 95", my version of Bonnie K. Hunter's Allietare quilt design has reached flimsy status.


I set out to put the finishing touches on the top a couple of Sundays ago;  the borders.  The inner border was an easy decision, as I had just enough of the darker brown fabric to pull off 2" strips, however, the final outer border required some fabric auditions.

Deciding on the green, a couple of hours later resulted in a complete 81" x 95" flimsy, ready for quilting.

Continuing the perseverance on the day, a backing was prepped, some batting sections were spliced, and all three layers were loaded on the quilting frame.  Setting up my go-to 7" feather pantograph, a few passes of quilting were completed using Aurifil thread for both the top and bobbin.

With two customer quilts coming my way this past week, today's downtime turned into some quilting work time in hopes to move this quilt off the frame and into the binding pile.

Happy Sunday everyone.

Sunday, January 1, 2017

2016 Running Log

2016 Running Log....
Total: 66.02 miles
8/26/16: 1.83 miles (11:14/mile)
8/24/16: 2.10 miles (12:43/mile)
8/23/16: 2.02 miles (14:17/mile)
8/2/16: 2.04 miles (13:53/mile)
7/31/16: 3.28 miles (15:16/mile)
7/30/16: 1.09 miles (18:01/mile)
7/30/16: 2.74 miles (17:59/mile)
7/28/16: 1.35 miles (17:38/mile)
7/28/16: 3.32 miles (15:10/mile)
7/26/16: 1.31 miles (15:12/mile)
7/22/16: 2.00 miles (11:23/mile)
7/15/16: 1.29 miles (15:04/mile)
7/14/16: 2.00 miles (13:26/mile)
6/20/16: 3.00 miles (12:23/mile)
6/19/16: 3.25 miles (11:57/mile)
6/18/16: 4.32 miles (15:56/mile)  - Longest run of year
6/16/16: 2.00 miles (11:45/mile)
6/13/16: 3.86 miles (13:00/mile)
6/12/16: 1.36 miles (15:38/mile)
6/12/16: 2.00 miles (11:00/mile) - Fastest per mile of year
6/9/16: 1.88 miles (14:30/mile)
6/5/16: 3.91 miles (16:07/mile)
6/5/16: 2.59 miles (11:17/mile)
5/31/16: 4.08 miles (15:30/mile)
5/21/16: 1.79 miles (12:41/mile)
4/30/16: 1.28 miles (11:39/mile)
4/20/16: 1.29 miles (11:49/mile)
4/17/16: 2.01 miles (12:03/mile)
4/14/16: 1.03 miles (11:37/mile)