A Couple of Finishes!

Wow, it has been almost a month since I've written a post.  I knew I was going to likely skip the week that I was preparing for a retreat; however, I was not prepared to come home from the retreat with a horrible cold that lasted for over two weeks.  I am not one that normally gets chest colds or coughing with my colds, but I sure did this time.  The cough is finally about 95% gone and my nose has stopped running 24/7.

I finished sewing the binding down on an old UFO just prior to the retreat.  I originally pieced this little quilt in 2010 while living in AZ.  I was starting my first machine applique project, so I wanted to do some practicing with my machine and the stitches before I worked on the "real" quilt.  I had some scraps of batiks laying around that already had fusible on them from making a Snippet Sensations quilt so I fused them on a piece of background fabric in a random pattern, practiced my machine applique skills around each piece, added a border and dubbed the finished quilt top "Collage Applique".  Just now as I was typing that I realized that "Applique Collage" is probably a more accurate name, but the label is already made (shocking for me) and I am not changing the name now :-).  I got the center half quilted while still in AZ, probably also in 2010 and then the quilt just sat and sat.  I finally pulled it back out, finished the quilting and got it bound.  It has now lived in 3 different states and I've had two different names since it got started, so it was time to get it done.  Here is the finished quilt.  Now I just need to find the perfect place to hang it :-)

I also got my Tumbling Nine Patch quilt completed at the retreat.  This quilt is a shop sample and only baby size, so since it will likely be either donated for a baby or gifted for a baby, I opted to attach the binding by machine to get it done and off the to do list.  There are a number of methods used to attach binding by machine.  I didn't want a lot of fuss and worry about having to line things up so I opted to attach the binding to the back of the quilt, pull it to the front and to stitch it down using a blanket/buttonhole stitch.  I am very happy with how the front looks.  Does the back look great?  Well, not so much, but I used a thread that matched the backing so unless you are looking close, it doesn't look bad.  And again, this quilt will eventually be used by a baby and will get washed and washed, so machine binding was a good choice for this quilt.  Below are pictures of the finished quilt and a closeup of both the front and the back of the binding.  I do have 3 kits of this quilt made up in the shop.  You can find them HERE.

I have also been plugging away on my Perkiomen Daydreams blocks and have 6 rows completely assembled.  Well, technically I have a block flipped on the far left side of row 6.  I have unpicked the stitching since taking this pic, but still have to sew it back together.

2 Hour Table Runner Finish, a New Iron & a Cutting Mat Bath!

I have gotten way behind in my bindings as I've gotten absorbed in my Perkiomen Daydreams blocks and now I have a huge backlog of quilts needing binding. So, to remedy that situation I have decided to go back to only doing hand work while listening to Daily Audio Bible. I have mostly followed that plan and finally finished sewing down the binding on this two hour table runner last week that has been quilted and half sewn down for months.

This version of the runner is sold out in the shop, but we still have black and red versions, blue and tan and a bright reindeer version available.  You can find them all HERE.

I also made progress on the next binding in the queue and should get this little quilt finished this week.

My cutting mats finally got a bath this past week as well!  It was long overdue.  Too long as it turned out as some of the deepest cuts were just too far gone to heal.  Both of the mats that I washed were 10-15 years old and it was becoming very difficult to cut on them and my rotary blades were becoming dull very quickly.  While the worst parts of both mats didn't really get better, both are reversible and the other sides are in excellent shape, as are the outer parts of the bad sides, so they are still usable.  I will be starting this maintenance on my newer mats now to hopefully keep them in great shape for longer.  There are directions all over the Internet and how and why to do this, but these are the instructions I used today:  http://sew-fantastic.blogspot.com/2009/11/make-your-self-healing-mat-last-much.html

Out of the bath and drying:

Finally, it was an exciting week last week in that I got a new iron after at least 10 years of using the old one.  I would have been very happy to continue using the old one as I loved that iron, but it had started to randomly spew rusty water out.  Not good when you are pressing very light fabrics.  And my new ironing board cover has stains now as well :-(.  I am very careful to empty the water after each use and to only use distilled or purified water, but alas, after that much use, this was bound to happen eventually. I paid just over $20 for the iron brand new so I most definitely got my money's worth. And yes, it ...was made in China. Just like the replacement model I purchased. The new iron was still only $28 from Amazon with free shipping so if it lasts half as long as the previous version I will be thrilled, but I am hoping it lasts much longer. I love these Panasonic irons and I really love the retractable cord! They also get nice and hot and they heat up quickly. And they are fairly lightweight which is important to me.

And that sums up all of the exciting events in MY life last week :-).  Oh, and we also found a great like-new sectional for our formal living room, so that was fun too :-).  And of course the remodel work on the rest of the house continues to move along.  Last week involved finishing the painting in the living room.  This week it is back to baseboard cleaning and staining.

Quilting Fun at Retreat!

The weekend before last I attended a quilt retreat at Thumper Pond Resort in Ottertail, MN.  This is my third year attending this retreat, but the first year that I lived only about 60 miles away.  Since the weather forecast was good, I opted to take mostly county roads rather than state highways, hoping for some great scenery as well as the opportunity to see some of the area near our new home.  I was not disappointed.  The drive was beautiful in both directions with lots of lakes, woods, winding roads and rolling hills.  I also discovered that there are Amish living about 30 miles from us.  My husband's heritage is Amish, so we find it very cool to be living so close to them.  We will definitely be going back to that area as it looked like there was at least one family that made furniture and we want to see what other goods we might find.  When I traveled through Amish country in Wisconsin last spring I came home with 3 quarts of honey, some pure maple syrup made by a Gingerich (my husband's surname) as well as several yummy jams.  Scott's father was raised Amish until he was 10 and I wish he were still alive to go with us when we go back to the area.  On my way home, I came across a buggy on the road while in a no passing zone and on a hill.  The horse pulling the buggy was beautiful, but I obviously couldn't get a picture of the horse as I was passing them!  It was just a treat to see them out and about.  On my way TO the retreat, I passed a group of Amish children and their mother playing outside in the snow and having a lot of fun.  While I wouldn't care to give up my conveniences of electricity, computers, etc., it was refreshing to see children outside playing on a nice day rather then glued to various electronic devices.  Of course there are adults who are just as bad and just as addicted to their cell phones, computers, etc.

So back to the retreat.  My first goal was to get some quilts quilted since I was in free motion quilting mode.  I believe I took 5 basted quilts and I got two of them completely quilted and a third one is in process.  The first one I quilted was Tumbling Nine Patch by Sweet Jane's Designs.  This quilt is for a shop sample and I will be putting together some kits.  I really, really like quilting swirls and allover swirls were a good pattern for this quilt, so off I went with my swirls.  Below is the quilted quilt and a closeup of the quilting.

Next up was quilting my Reef table runner.  This should have been a quick and easy job, but it was anything but.  The Sulky rayon thread I was trying to use on the top keep shredding and breaking.  I tried a different size needle.  Same result.  I went and bought Microtex Sharp needles from the vendor and tried one of those.  Same result.  I re-threaded and tried yet another different needle.  Same result.  After consulting my quilting friends, the only thing we could conclude was that the batik fabrics were shredding the thread due to the tightness of their weave.  I have a practice quilt sandwich with me that is made from muslin so I tried the thread on that and it seemed to work fine, so it could very likely be the batiks.  Fortunately, I had a cotton thread with me in virtually an identical color, so I was able to keep going with the quilting without ripping out the first quilting done in the rayon thread.  The two threads look so similar that you really have to inspect to figure out which end of the runner was originally started with the rayon.  The rayon has more sheen than the cotton, but you even have to look for that, so problem handled and the quilting got done.  This little quilt is also a shop sample and it is a free pattern included with the Reef Charm Pack by Timeless Treasures.

Once those two quilts were quilted, I decided to give my shoulders and arms a break and worked on making and attaching some bindings.  The little quilt below had the binding completely attached by machine so I could send it back to Grand Forks with one of my quilting friends for donation to our Guild's Outreach program for foster children.

I got a couple more bindings attached and ready for the hand sewing and then I went back to quilting.  Next up was Oh Christmas Tree and more swirls :-).  What can I say, I've got those down and they look nice as an allover pattern.

I got about half of the quilt quilted and then I reached machine quilting burnout for the weekend and switched to piecing for the rest of the time.  I only brought one piecing project to the retreat because it is in the early stages and has 10,000 pieces, so I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get anywhere close to finishing and needing another project to work on lol.  I've continued working on the project since I've been home from the retreat and I am now working on blocks for row number 4 of 20.  There are 20 blocks in each row.  Now that I've got 3 rows laid out, the design is starting to emerge.  The pattern is Perkiomen Daydreams by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville and it's in her first book titled Scraps and Shirttails.

Finished Current Projects & Progress on an old UFO

I have made sure to spend time in my sewing room every day since getting home from the retreat and I have finishes to show for it!  Actually one of the finishes came in the truck on a road trip to pick up the 1000 square feet of flooring that we purchased, but a finish is a finish no matter where it happens!

I was on a roll with the Dancing 9 Patch top, so I kept going and not only got the top finished, but I also have the backing made.  I have a huge pile of unquilted tops, so one of my goals this year is to try and quilt each top as it's finished.  Sometimes quilts need to sit for awhile before quilting to figure out what will look best or just because you are so sick of the top by then that you can't stand to look at it for one more second LOL.  I'm still excited about the Dancing 9 Patch top, so I want to strike while the iron is hot.  I have plenty of batting on hand, so I just need to get that cut and the quilt basted so I can start the quilting.

Here is the finished top followed by the quilting design that I have decided on.  It really is true that if you practice a design over and over by drawing it on paper, that WILL translate to quilting your quilt.  I did the same thing when I was trying to learn an allover swirl quilting design and now I'm trying it with another design.  I've seen this one referred to as headbands and mussels and I'm sure there are plenty of other names for it as well.  I get huge pieces of packing paper in with my fabric shipments and I realized last week that they would be perfect for practicing doodling allover quilting designs.

The finish I mentioned came in the form of sewing down the binding on this small quilt that I pieced in 2015 and quilted last year.  It was one of them that got the swirl quilting.  It's a disappearing 9 patch pattern.  I got the entire binding sewn down in about 2 hours of our 3 hours of road time going to and from Fargo for our flooring.  I was shocked at how fast it went and realized that quilts with batik binding seem to take me much longer to sew down as the tighter weave makes it more difficult to push the needle through, even with the use of a thimble.   But I will still use my beloved batiks :-).

I have also been slogging along with updating my UFO lists and creating a detailed list in a notebook with all of the steps/materials needed to complete the project.  One of the quilts in progress was a pineapple quilt.  It's hard to really call it a quilt in progress when all it consisted of was 6 pineapple quilt blocks barely started.  I do still have a large pineapple quilt on my "must make" list, but in the spirit of getting something done with these barely started blocks right now, I decided to finish them all and make a small table runner out of them.  I got 5 of the 6 done before I called it quits last night.  Digging through bags of scraps for just the right pieces was so. much. fun.  Now I actually do want to start a large pineapple quilt lol.  But I will wait on that until I put a bigger dent in that pile of quilt tops to be quilted as well as other UFOs.  Pictured below are a couple of blocks in progress, the five finished blocks and my piles of scraps.

Finally, on a quick note about quilt shop business, it's the time of the month that our latest Fabric Club selections are posted.  We currently have three clubs - a Fat Quarter Club, a One Third Yard Club and starting this month, a Half Yard Club.  In each case, you get six coordinated batik fabrics in the cut size applicable to the club you are in.  This month we have grays and turquoises and the fabric selections are below.  

New Year, New Shop!

2016 turned out to be a big year of changes for us, with the biggest being our unplanned relocation to Park Rapids, MN.  We fell into the opportunity to purchase our dream home on a lake just outside Park Rapids and included in the dream home was a very large separate space for the quilt shop, with built in bookcases and a layout that I couldn't have designed better if I had done it myself.  So we took the big leap, made an offer on the dream home in early August, put ours on the market a few weeks later, moved me and the quilt shop to the new home at the end of October, and completed the move in early December after the closing on our Grand Forks home.  It has been a whirlwind to say the least, but when God opens a door for you and shows you a clear path, you have to take that leap of faith and just go with it.  My husband had to leave his full time job of over 31 years, but there is so much more that we can do with the quilt shop at our new location and I will need help to get it all done.  I have been working on my list of goals for the business in 2017 and while they are ambitious, I think they are achievable with some hard work on our part.

So on to the new shop!  The rest of this post is going to be pic heavy, so sit back and relax while I take you on the virtual tour :-).  

The back of the house and deck.  All of those windows overlooking the deck are the quilt shop space.

The yard has wildlife visitors of some sort every day.  This trio consisting of a doe and two of her babies are frequent visitors to the backyard.

Built in bookcases that were the perfect size for bolts of fabric.  Lots and lots of bookcases with room for lots and lots of bolts.  No, this isn't even all of the bookcases. There are more to come down further in this post.

The double sided bookcase that we moved from the old house and which was a perfect fit for this corner space in the shop.

Narrow bookcase that we previously used in our old kitchen for extra storage now fits perfectly against a short wall in the quilt shop and is also just the right size for our black and white fabrics.

We also moved these 3 cabinets from the old house.  Two had previously been used in the shop and the third was used in the basement bathroom for storage. The bathrooms in the new house have tons of storage, so we were able to reunite all three cabinets, which fit this wall perfectly and cover the media center spaces that were used by the previous owners.  We did make good use of the glass shelves in the media center and are using them to store the bolts ends that have been removed from skinny bolts.  The top sections house precuts perfectly and the rest has plenty of room to showcase our pastel batiks.

Our tall bookcase we moved from the old house and which fit perfectly on the narrow wall next to the wet bar area.  We desperately need to restock our solid batiks, but Anthology is in the midst of their own big changes and the shipment that came in December was only about 25% of what they were expecting, so we are waiting as well to get these solid shelves filled back up.

As promised, here are more built in bookcases.  There is another group of five tucked into a corner near the back windows.  The natural light in the shop is amazing!!  I have my old cutting table and mat set up in that corner for cutting shop orders.

The pool table that came with the house.  What does a pool table have to do with a quilt shop, you say?  Well if you have a handy husband that can build a removable top, you have yourselves one really awesome and huge cutting table!  The pool table is situated near the large section of bookcases and the wet bar and it has two skylights plus a large light fixture right over it, so perfect for cutting out a quilt or for playing pool :-).  It will be really handy when we start hosting quilt retreats.  More on that below.

Pool table converted to a cutting table just like that.  The cutting mats are not yet taped down to the plywood.  I scored 3 of these on Veteran's Day at Joanns for 60% off each thanks to coupons.  That made each mat just $30 including sales tax.  So basically I paid for one and got the other two for free.  Can't beat that!

Retreat space!  One of the biggest opportunities with the purchase of this house is the ability to host small quilt retreats.  We already had three 8 foot long banquet tables and a smaller 6 foot long one that I used in the old shop.  The other 3 were purchased for plans that never panned out at the old house, but they are exactly what we need for quilt retreats.  We actually need one more, but that can wait for now.  One of the 8 foot tables is now my desk set up in front of the 3 part window with the half moon window above.  The last picture in the post will show you the view I now have every day as opposed to the basement wall that I had previously.  It's quite an upgrade lol.

The far corner in the picture below is where my cutting table is set up and the side that is closest is where two of the 8 foot tables are set up for retreat sewing.  That area is just in front of the pastel bolts I showed previously.  Have I mentioned that the natural light is amazing????  There are also tons of recessed lights, as well as other lighting, so plenty of light even after dark.

The wet bar area just off where the double sided bookcase now sits.  There is also a half bath that is opposite the window on the other side of the wet bar.  The cabinets in the wet bar area now give me plenty of space to store shipping supplies such as tape and envelopes, as well other miscellaneous shop items.

And finally, this is the view out the back windows of the shop space that I look at every day from my desk and  that will also be the view for quilters sewing at retreats.  We are living in God's country for sure :-).  We have some work to do before we can host retreats, including getting two of the four bedrooms down the hall from the shop painted and set up with beds, etc., but we will get there!  We also need to refinish and repair the deck before we can use it as a separate entrance for the shop during the non winter months.  And we have a huge list of projects to complete for the rest of the house as well.  We got a great deal on the price because there is flooring and painting to be done pretty much everywhere but the quilt shop, as well as some other updating and remodeling, including remodel of both of the full bathrooms.  The quilt shop area was just added in 2008, so it was move in ready, which was the most important so that our regular online business could continue as usual.