Summer's End

 It's always amazing how fast the summers go.  We have had a very hot and dry summer here so fall is a welcome prospect.  Winter, not so much.  But we will not concentrate on the upcoming cold.

My siblings were finally able to get together this summer after trying for several years.  We rented a house close to Lewis and Clark Lake near Yankton, South Dakota.  It was wonderful being together and out and about after being so closed in during the restrictions of COVID this past year.  Yankton was the closest town to where we grew up that had more variety for shopping, eating and things to do.  Our small town offered the necessities, but not much in the way of non-essentials, which are fun to check out when shopping.  And the lake seems to pull all of the local--and not so local--people to it's waters.  It's such a relaxing spot with friendly people to meet.

2020 had been a busy year for the quilting business, as my customers were home piecing quilts instead of enjoying their usual activities away from home.  I had only been able to finish one of my own quilts, so prior to this year's fair I took a couple of weeks to finish projects.  I wanted have some quilts to enter at the fair.  My quilts did well,  I captured the Champion and Best of Show ribbons.  One of my customers was awarded the Reserve Champion and Viewer's Choice ribbons.  Together we captured all of the top prizes!

Tennessee Waltz won Best of Show

Appliqued cats made in honor of my friend won the Champion ribbon

My bright elephant wall hanging received a first place ribbon

My baby quilt received 2nd place in it's category

I also entered another quilt that did not receive a ribbon.  It was one of those quilts that didn't take much skill so I wasn't surprised.  I do think it is striking though.  Of course I didn't take a picture when it was hanging at the fair so at the moment, this is the only picture that I have.

That's it for today.  Stay healthy everyone!

Mary

Two More Days

 I'm getting pretty excited here.  In just two more days I will have my stitches out and be ready to quilt.  Actually I could probably go mount my next customer quilt right now, but I don't work on Sundays--at least not for money.  Tomorrow we have a meeting out of town so I probably won't accomplish much at home.  Not that I won't try.  At this point I can move my hand and thumb around without pain but the hand does fatigue easily.  It is amazing how much strength is lost when muscles aren't used, and it doesn't take much time to lose that strength.

It is cold here today.  Just 5 degrees with light to moderate snowfall.  A good day for staying in the house and doing whatever you are in the mood for doing.  That might be why I have strawberries thawing on the counter.  A strawberry desert, piping hot from the oven, is what I'm in the mood for.  It really is too bad that we don't have any ice cream in the house.  

I did manage to stitch up a pillow today.  I have some pillow forms that I ordered last month and fabric to cover them, so what better time to get started.  Since I only had one zipper on hand, I could only make one pillow.  I decided to start with the pillow that I need for the small of my back when I'm sitting on the loveseat.  I found some fabric that I had initially planned on using to make a bag.  There is still enough fabric left from the pillow, that by adding some contrasting fabric, I can make a bag.  The pillow's not fancy, but it is already serving the purpose.  

Time Off From Quilting

On January 28, I had surgery on my thumb.  Having trigger finger in my thumb wasn't something that I would have anticipated a couple of years ago, any more than I would have expected a pandemic.   But since when has life been predictable, right?  

Last year was a busy one for the business so to be brutally honest, a couple of weeks off feels pretty good.  The surgery did cause a flair in my myasthenia gravis and that has not been pleasant.  I have honestly not been able to get many of the things done that I had planned for my time off, and that has been a bit of a bummer.  On the bright side, however, I did get one quilt of mine quilted after Christmas.  It is still waiting for binding, which is prepared and ready to go when I can again use my left hand for more than very light tasks.  I also finished a customer quilt which is custom quilted.  Hopefully you will enjoy the pictures of both.  First up is my king sized Labyrinth quilt.

Back:

Borders:

On occasion I get quilts that require hand guided quilting.  These quilts must be reasonably small for me to accept them, as again, there is a limit to how long my muscles will hold out while machine guiding.  This is a quilt from Julie, which needed hand guided background fill around the applique.  

 

The back: 

I was so happy to hear back from Julie that she liked the quilting.  Customer feedback is so much needed so that I can continue to refine what I do.  Thank you Julie.

It's the End of the Holiday Season

 Despite being home more because of the virus, the past year has still gone by quickly.  It seems as though I just finished posting last year's mug rug project.  Actually it has been a very busy year.  As people stayed home they also put together quilt tops for me to quilt.  My quilting projects are still waiting to be finished.  I have pieced several tops but they are in the pile with the other tops that are waiting their turn at the machine.  I have gotten a couple quilted that are waiting for binding. 

This year, since we would be spending Christmas alone, I decided that a small tree would suit us fine.  The living room has plenty of things taking up space so a full sized tree wasn't necessary.  I order a 4' tree online and when it came I was quite pleased with it.  It was on sale so it wasn't expensive, but it looked very nice when decorated.  Of course when I set it up I realized that none of my tree skirts would fit it.  It would need a smaller one.  I looked around at patterns and videos online for inspiration, and found what I wanted.  I liked a skirt that one lady had made that just had a hole in the center but no split in the skirt.  She said that because it was one piece, she could also use it to sit a centerpiece on, and still slip the skirt through the tree trunk before putting the tree in the stand..  When using under a vase or centerpiece, the centerpiece would cover the hole in the middle.  I thought that was a great idea!  

Of course I didn't have the proper ruler for cutting the pieces so I found some template plastic and created my own.  The guides for the angles were provided by my quilting ruler, and all I had to do was add the seam allowances.  I used a piece of snowman fabric for the backing and quilted it on the longarm using an edge to edge pattern.  Since the snowman fabric appeared as though it would show through the white, I used two layers of poly batting.  I think it turned out well,  It is reversible, but I didn't get a picture of the back.