An update

First of all, thank you all for the kind comments on the flamingos.

I've been working night and day and the black/white and red quilt is now nearly finished.  The quilting is done; the binding is done; all the yoyo's and shell buttons are on.  Still have to stitch the lower part of the sleeve and the label.

I'm getting ready to stitch the binding/sleeve and label on the flamingos.  Then I just have the binding/sleeve and label on the fish to do.    All before morning.   

So Harry and I will pull another all night' er.   Mary does this all the time...me, I'm normally in bed by 10pm so this is a huge stretch for me....I'll be exhausted for a month!

Tomorrow is quilt take in. Monday and Tuesday is judging;  Wednesday is take care of all the stuff I forgot day;  Thursday is show set up; and Friday and Saturday the show is open to the public.   

Enough talking...I've got to get back to work!

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One down, one to go

Placidos Flamingos.  Done, except for binding and sleeve.  This was such fun!  The background is one of my own hand painted fabrics.  The palm tree is dyed batting. And the flamingo feathers are wool that I needle felted.
I used Quilters dream "Puff" batting as the main batting.  So Fine and King Tut threads.


The sun has extra loft from faux trapunto using another piece of "Puff" batting.




And the  back,  you might see some hanging threads...I haven't trimmed them yet.





And the next one is loaded and started....not a minute to lose! They have to be turned in for judging Sunday!
So I'm working late into the night lately, and it's going to continue probably right up to Saturday night!

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A new sewing machine

I am frantically trying to finish the applique and piecing for my show quilts.  I have 8 days left to finish and then quilt the 2 quilts.  My sewing machine decided to act up today.  I fiddled around all afternoon and couldn't get it working right. Grrrrrrr.  I so don't have time for this!                                                                                                                                                                                               I have an Brother PC 8500 that I have had for years....11 to be exact.  It is a sewing/embroidery machine and has been my workhorse for everything...even quilting before I bought the first longarm.   I guess it is tired.

But, not having a minute to waste here, I rush out to the local Brother dealer  to find a new machine.  Don't need/want another embroidery machine...I really don't use it enough to justify the added expense.  So I figure I can get a good, versatile machine, high quality ,with that sweet applique stitch my  8500 has that I just love and the knee lifter, and adjustable presser foot etc, etc... for $300 0r $400. After all I don't quilt on it.  I just piece and applique.....WRONG! Way wrong!   Geez, plain old sewing machines have gotten really expensive! Oh well.  It does have all the features I need/love/want, plus a few extra.   And I was in a bind.......strapped for time.

So tomorrow, after the board meeting,and guild business meeting, I'll figure out how to thread it and get back to work!  It is pretty, and my favorite color!

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Finished!

Thankfully.  I think I frogged more on this quilt than I have in the last few years put together!  While nowhere near perfect, it did finally turn out fairly well.  Hopefully Joyce will think it's OK too.Suzanne did a quilt not long ago that she did continuous curve in only part of the blocks.  I thought the pattern  created would go well with the circles on this quilt,  so I 'borrowed" the idea for the chains.  Thanks Suzanne!  

The 2 stencils I used are by Helen Squire. And I used my circle lord to make the double circles. 

The batting is Quilters Dream "Puff"  and the thread is Superior "So Fine"





Now, we'll take the entire bobbin assembly apart to get all the paint reside out, clean and put it all back together again, and oil it really well.  Then I should be good to go.

And the best news is that I'm finished my February quilts!  Now for the next 2 weeks in between working to get our guild show ready, I'll be quilting my own 2 quilts for the show.  Looks like I'll get them done...yeah!

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Rolling along...into the wall!

I so don't have time for this!  I'm working away on this client's quilt.  It has to be finished this weekend.   I have spent 3 weeks on it so far! Waaaaaay too long!  A sample of my 'issues' here below.  Notice how some sections are perfect, and other...well nowhere near!   AT first I thought it was the thread...nope.I have spent the better part of the the last 3 weeks fooling with this quilt.    I finally isolated the problem ( with help).  The background fabric is a white on white print.  You know, the sprayed on paint type print.  And it's really thick.  As it turns out, all that paint sluffed off in the quilting process and is getting caught in the tension screw of the bobbin and inthe bobbin race and shuttle and causing it to freeze up...stop dead!   Well, I have frogged and frogged and frogged.   The only way I was able to get through this quilt was to stop and clean (with solvent) and oil every 10 minutes or so of quilting.

Well all of the quilting on the white is done, thank goodness.  I'm now finishing up the gold and blue background areas.





The top looks fine, the back, though better after being frogged and re done multiple times...still is not up to my standard, but is as good as it's going to get.  Thankfully the blue and gold fabrics behaved beautifully.

After this beast is off the frame, the machine will be taken apart and thoroughly cleaned , to get rid of all that paint residue...and it's all over the place.   What a mess.   It is so thick in the tracks of the carriage and table, they look solid white. The bobbin case has so much paint residue built up, I have have to take a Q- tip saturated in oil to get it clean each every few minutes. I have quilted lots of fabric, but NEVER have seen anything like this that actually would freeze up the bobbin mechanism.

Hopefully, I'll still be sane when this is done.

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No, I didn't drop off the face of the earth...

I've just been working like a fiend!  With our  guild's quilt show less than a month away I have been busy on all fronts.  I am working on the last client quilt to be done for the show now. Then I'll be able to get mine finished....it'll be down to the wire for mine!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Mother called me last night and reminded me I hadn't posted in a long time.  So, here are some pictures of the last two quilts I finished.  This is Sharon's "Burgoyne Surrounded"

She wanted feathers and and straight lines.  I love two color quilts!


And the back.

And this one belongs to Janice.  This is such a cute quilt. She hasn't gotten it back yet, but wanted to see the photos.  Hope you like it Janice!  

Those are 1/2" 60 degree diamonds in the block backgrounds.

The motif in each cup was taken from the fabric in that particular block.



The border is all one printed fabric. Sometimes these can be challenging to quilt.  I elected to split this one into 4 sections and quilt each section differently.  There is a row of brown diamonds on either side of the 'words'  I just stitched those in the ditch.  The 'word' section I did 1/2" 60 degree diamonds.  And from the swirls section to the edge I did beadboard.  Gives the effect of separate borders.

And I did swirls in the sashing and a loopy thing in the sashing posts.  A fun quilt to do!

The next few weeks are going to be crazy, so don't expect to hear much from me.  But once the show starts I'll have plenty of pictures for you.   After that, life settles down, Whew!

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