Hong Kong Nights Quilt & Donation Quilts (2019 personal challenge)

This quilt is realllly big.  I had to tip the tablet cattywampus to get a pic.

The maker used a beautiful collection of Asian prints for the blocks.

And I absolutely love the corner triangle she added.  That provides such an interesting touch.

Oddly enough, those print blocks are all cut on the bias.  I was really impressed that they were not stretched out of square when the 3-d flange was added to them, and then additional sashing too.  She's a really, really good piecer. ⭐
The setting triangles were a design challenge for me.  When you actually LOOK at them, they're not triangles, they have a square block inserted at the top.

Backs are so lovely...

2019 PERSONAL CHALLENGE
Last December, I set a personal challenge for myself to complete at least five quilts for donation.  I had such a collection of panels - that was where I started. 
When the contents of my Donation Box were counted up and there were SEVEN ...pretty darned pleased with myself. 👍

AND, the gal who pieced the Hong Kong Nights quilt above, brought along five small quilts that she wanted to donate.  She was happy to have me add them to my collection.

On Thursday last week I delivered all twelve quilts to the Caledonia & District Food Bank for inclusion in their Christmas hampers, then I treated myself to an afternoon out and lunch with a friend. 

Christmas VacationTo-Do List Wrapup

Chic Picnic - quilted & bound & labeled.  Many of the fabrics in this have special meaning for me, so the whole time I was hand stitching the binding I just felt... happy.

The fabrics are so busy that the time spent to custom quilt this was wasted, but since it's mine... I figure I'm worth it.

I used up some random fabrics on the back.

In keeping with the "word" theme of the quilt, I included my QUILT GIRL comic strip yardage.  (Spoiler alert:  she saved the day.)

I made two kids drag-around quilts which I'll donate to the Catholic Children's Aid.  A big pat-myself-on-the-back for the mitered striped border on the right.

It was a few years ago that a friend gave me the panel, the border print, and a half meter of the stripe.  I had the remnants of a whole bolt of the stripe in my own stash, so I used it on the back.

Sixteen placemats quilted for Meals on Wheels.

I completed eight out of fifteen items on my list, and the day is not over yet.  I've already taken Sadie for her walk (brrr - chilly wind!) and DH has supper under control, so this afternoon I will tackle the mending pile. 

More Critters On Quilts, and Quilt Scheduling

I showed some "animal" quilts a couple of weeks ago, in the post that degenerated, somehow, into a story about bullying.  Today I am being UPBEAT!

First, we have a moose.

Next, a bunch of sheep.

A butterfly.

A Yeti.

And feet.  This one cracked me up... it's the BACK of the Yeti quilt.

I have to show you the whole butterfly quilt, though.  It's really pretty.

Here's a clip of the back...it's Minkee.  The quilting shows beautifully on this stuff, and it is sooo soft.  Use caution, though.  Sometimes teensy bits of the fluff will pull up to the top of the quilt during quilting.  The Minkee fibers get caught in the twist of the thread.

I'm sure you are all wondering how the, um, procedure went last week.  Fine.  I'm clean as a whistle and don't have to go back for ten years.  Yee haw. 
Scheduling of that was great too. 

• Monday - prep.  No food & lots of toilet.
• Tuesday - colonoscopy then light food for remainder of the day
• Wednesday - guild pot luck supper! 

QUILT SCHEDULING

As you may have noticed, I'm currently scheduling work for April.  Why am I so busy???  Well, I'm not exactly busier.

1. In the past, people would drop off the quilt that was on the schedule, and they would often bring another, unscheduled quilt with them.  I would quilt both of them, even though only one was penciled in on my calendar.  I was forever behind schedule and would spend extra time at the machine in the evening.  NOW, these quilts get added to the queue and I'm working hours that are closer to what I want.  This hasn't improved my housekeeping efforts, but maybe next year I can work on that. 
2. In the past, I would schedule three quilts per week.  This was the BEST. TIP. EVER. and I thank Jane Berry for the suggestion - it's been working very well for years.  However, I am 62 and would like to spend more time piecing and playing in the garden (aka weeding).  So the schedule for 2019 only allows for TWO quilts per week now.  Obviously, that means a longer wait time.  In 2018 I started by blocking off an empty week every couple of months.  One in February to clean the house and enjoy the Beach Girls here for Winterruption.  One in the spring to get the garden cleaned up and planted.  One in the late summer for harvesting & canning of produce.  One for the France trip.  One in October for Tobermory with the Beach Girls.  

After I finish up the December quilts (3 for binding today, then this week will be 2 more pantos and 1 custom) then I'm 'closed' for Christmas holidays.  I have plently of mending that's piled up the last few months. DH had to resort to buying a few new shirts. 😀  I have bedroom drapes to make, and I want to paint the dining room...although that may get hired out because of my bad elbow.  I have several tops of my own that need quilting, and a pile of guild placemats to be quilted for Meals on Wheels.  I think that will keep me plenty busy for two weeks.

BUSINESS TIP

If YOU are a longarm quilter and you want more business, make sure you have some kind of presence on the web.  Several new customers contacted me this past year because they found me by doing a Google search.  I regularly refer people to other quilters when I cannot accommodate their time frame, but I don't know everyone who quilts for hire.  People should be able to find you as easily as they find me.  

Tales from the Lancaster AQS Show

I finally have my head back above water after my not-quite-a-week away in Lancaster.
If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you might have seen the weather we were (ahem) blessed with.  This is a nor'easter.  None of us had a winter coat.  One gal on the trip was wearing sandals. Our bus driver was such a patient man, what with the bus sliding up the hills and getting stuck in the hotel parking lot, and all.

This is 100+ yards of wide backing that was preordered and waiting for me at the hotel.  You have no idea how heavy this is.  The neutrals are mine (for you, actually, at $17/m, a selection of whites and creams, all tone-on-tone) and the batiks are Diane's.

The AQS show itself was blissfully empty on our first day there, thanks to the weather.  People just didn't attend.  We had plenty of room to roam around, see the quilts, and shop the vendors.  However, the restaurants and malls were ALSO closed because employees could not get to work.  Yeah, so it was interesting for Diane (our tour organizer) to get us fed that night.

THE CUTEST QUILT I SAW

Very timely, considering that it was one week away from Easter, don't you think?

I attended a couple of lectures.  The more interesting one was by Kathy Doughty of Material Obsessions.  This quilt of hers made me laugh - it's a portrait of her husband.

You can poke around the web to see the quilts that won awards.

Below I am showing you why I will never waste my time entering any of these shows.

This quilt is by Claudia Pfeil of Germany.  She's a very well known quilter - you can check out her facebook page.

Do you see the identification tag on the right?  There is NO RIBBON.  Honest to God.  How could a pipsqueek like me ever compete with a quilt like this?  Yeah - no - not happening!!

Mind you, this quilt DID win $10,000.00 at the Road 2 California show in February. It's not like she wasted her money by sending it to the States to compete.

Here's another one by Carolyn Rider of Ohio.

Hokey smokey.

Again, NO RIBBON.  Now, I understand that the caliber of quilts at these AQS shows is crazy-high and they can't all be winners.  But this is a magnificent piece of work, between the applique, the quilting, the scalloped inner border and the piped accent along both the scalloped border and the outer binding.  My gawd.  I am definitely out of the running.

You can't come back to Ontario without going through Hershey, PA.  Well, MAYBE you could, buy why would you? And what the hell, you might as well pick up a date while you're there.  (ha ha ha, note to self:  don't complain about your job - you could have his!)

Giraffe Quilt & Life/Housekeeping Update

These patterns by Laura Heine are collage.  This giraffe was fascinating, as far as how the maker put the fabrics together.

She requested straight line quilting, with some decorative elements added.  Here I've quilted in the shrubbery this hungry guy is eating.

 Here you can see the sun and pouffy clouds.

I was sooo in love with the back.

Now, the Life & Housekeeping Story.

I told you last month many tales of woe.  Things are mostly starting to recover, but not completely.
The latest Oh-For-Crying-Out-Loud is my diagnosis with Pityriasis Rosea. It's a virus that I just have to live with for about 12 weeks.  It started around Thanksgiving (ha ha, very funny Universe!) and should be gone by mid January.  Yay, I get to look like I've been boiled in oil over Christmas.  How fun is that?

Some of the good news is that DH hounded our fireplace insert company until they finally replaced our unit under warranty.  So I can stay warm this winter.  Happy, happy!
And on Friday our new fridge FINALLY arrived.  Although we had to remove two banks of cupboards to make it fit in the kitchen, and now we're having some, ahem, discussions about the necessity of a kitchen renovation.

In the Almost Finished category is the quilt guild.  One of our members passed away and bequeathed her sewing room to the guild - fabric, books, magazines, thread, notions, batting, stuffing, ribbons & trims, ufo's, etc., and she named me as the person in charge.  So far I've spent three full days working on that stuff, along with some wonderful helpers.  Our first sale will be this week with another one a week later.  Proceeds will be going into a separate fund for, I think, a quilt teacher.  I will be really glad to see that job tied up.

On the housekeeping front, since we will be renovating the kitchen (hee hee 😚) I thought I should do some shoveling purging in the pantry.  Out with 30 - yes 30 - years of Milk Calendars.  I had to page through every.single.one.  I needed to pull some recipes out, and it was fun seeing the funny notes my s.i.l. used to write on there when we were dog-sitting for them.

CALENDARS GONE BYE-BYE!

 That recipe for a fruit flan is delicious.  Once I get it into a plastic page protector and into the binder it should be much easier to find.  I think the last time I made it was three years ago.  DH and I were out for a walk and we scavenged pears from a wild tree growing at the side of the road.  My lovely neighbour Sophie provided the apples.

RECIPES I HAD TO SAVE

 Lord.  Instruction manuals for FOUR microwave ovens were in this pile.  We only have one.  The others have all gone to the landfill.  How sad is that?  I feel sorry for the generation that will have to clean up all that shit after we're gone.

MANUALS FOR APPLIANCES.

Is Your Longarm Quilter A Drinker? Maybe This Is Why...

If you are a longarm quilter yourself, you'll look at these photos and (probably) laugh.  Or at least snort a little.  If you have ever heard me refer to someone as "a sweet little old lady", this is the kind of customer I'm referring to.  And there is no need to "tsk tsk" me - this particular woman is in her 80's and does not have a computer, so she'll never see this.  Considering her failing vision I'm happy that she is still quilting at all.  But getting her tops quilted is still a bit of a challenge for me.

#1 is a very common problem.  Ruffly borders.  Easy to accomplish by taking a big hunk of fabric and just keep sewing until the pieced top runs out, then whack off the remaining length.  Sigh.  NO.  Measure the top through the middle and cut that border to that length (and remember that you have TWO of them that ARE supposed to be the same, one on each side).  Then quarter mark the top and border, match them up, and pin.  Then do the same for the other border.

#2 - the frequency of this is not as common.  Leave as many threads as possible sticking out the top side of the seams.  Aaargh.  Honest - you can clip these off yourself!  You won't wear out your scissors!  If I left these the way the quiltmaker did, this quilt would look pretty awful.  So I remove them while practicing DH's Garage Language.  Yeah - use your imagination.

#3 can be dangerous for your quilt.  Longarm machines have a presser foot that hops.  Your quilter is often NOT watching the foot.  She's probably watching the pattern that she is quilting from because she's following the design using a laser light. When the foot 'hops' into that hole in your seams, the machine is going to stitch itself right into your quilt.  The poor quilter may have to cut your quilt to extricate the machine - that is not a comforting thought.

This happened to be in a "good" spot.  I was able to flip the border up and stitch the seam closed with the longarm, but that is a rare bit of serendipity.  Yes, it was stitched right through the batting and backing, but the thread was a perfect match for the backing and that little seam does not show.

#4 on this particular quilt, as if there wasn't already enough going on, the backing was not long enough.  I had to cut some length off the end, then piece it, and attach it to the perpendicular end.  I changed it from a measurement of 40 x 70 to 45 x 60.  Or something like that.  My usual system is that customers bring their quilt here.  I measure everything, check the batting & backing sizes, price out the work with an estimate, and we're good to go.  For this "sweet little old lady" I pick up and deliver when I have a dinner date with my friends in her neck of the woods.  She's either throwing a bag of work at me and trying to get rid of me because she's going to be late for her 4:30 dining room booking, OR she's trying to pawn off a bunch more quilting stuff that she found in her spare room/storage locker/under the kitchen sink.  In any event, I don't check sizes of anything, and that occasionally bites me in the arse.

After finishing THREE of her quilts on Wednesday, I drank myself out of house and home that night.  It was a happy accident that I went to a quilting event the next evening, AT A WINERY.  HAH!  SCORE!

Christmas!!

What?  Christmas?  Well, apparently it is.

This is Flurry - a free pattern from United Notions.  Link HERE.

It was quilted with a pantograph that echoes the style of star in some of the prints, and the swirl in some others.

You know how I feel about pieced quilt backs. :-)

This is totally scrappy in reds/greens/golds and includes lots of plaids.

It's a dirt simple quilt - all made from 4-patches and matching background squares.  It's DEFINITELY going on my scrappy to-do list.

Simple straight line quilting looks great on the muslin back.

I'm feeling very TECH SAVVY this morning.  I finally added 'smileys' to my arsenal. :-P
It's honestly frightening to mess with the template knowing that I risk screwing up the whole blog.  And there's a lotta blog here, going back to 2008.  This is, in essence, an online diary.  I occasionally go back to see when it was that I poked myself in the eye.  Or when I slipped and broke my wrist, or when I poisoned us with some recipe-experiment in the kitchen.  Speaking of which, we'll be eating asparagus from the garden within the week, so experiments will be on the menu.  Poor DH.  ha ha ha...