Falling in fall

My falling was catching a major cold from my hubby last week -- I had a cold a couple weeks ago, but mild.  This last one knocked me out from last Friday and I am still fighting it!  Yesterday was the first day I could get off the couch ... Lucky for me I didn't have a lot going on!

I had the pleasure of longarming this adorable quilt a couple weeks ago!

It was for someone that does hound rescue!  I just loved looking at the tshirts as I was quilting.

This was one of my favorite shirts ... We have a beagle in our house, and this is perfect for describing him!

I have never made a tshirt quilt, and was admiring how she the shirts out.  I just wanted to hold the quilt together with lots of texture, so we chose a meander.

Look how cute the back is!!

This was such a joy to do and I know it's owner is going to love all the memories this quilt will bring!

Slow down

If I could just make time go slower right now, I surely would!  I love this season and time of year ... I guess October is my favorite month ... I never thought of it that way but here's why:  it's my birthday month, it's fall, it's weeks ahead of the time of year where I feel crazed from too much to do!!  Fall to me means apple cider, turning leaves, a chill in the air ... Except when you live in Southern California and it has been in the 90's for the last week.  I am sick of the heat ... Bring me some snow!!!  Ok ... I'll take rain  instead ... I'm about ready to figure out how to do a rain dance!!  I can feel wrinkles sprouting on my face from lack of moisture in the air!!

I have been busy busy ... Finished the quilting and binding of a quilt I started years ago.  It is a Donna Yackey pattern and the Thursday girls at the Country Loft will surely remember it!

I love it and have decided to teach it in my October stash class, Friday, Oct. 30 from 10 to 1.  I requested permission from my dear friend to teach it!  She is a doll!!

Been longarming as well ... Here is a beautiful quilt that I worked on last week 

This was a stash class from a couple of months ago and she put the pattern on point and added some appliqué.  The idea here was to use what you had ... She did!  What a great way to use up those 5" charm squares

I wanted to make the texture on this quilt special ... Been working on feathers, and it seemed like a good quilt to get more practice on.

I used Glide thread in the top in a color called Vegas Gold ... Isn't that a great name?  It is a caramel kind of gold and works so well on many quilts where there are light and dark colors.  I hate putting a light thread on a dark fabric, but even worse, I don't like a dark thread on a light fabric.  This thread color worked great and the low sheen on the thread makes it look a little special!  I used Omni thread in the bobbin.

Her appliqué is only partly done ... She wanted me to put some texture on the leaves before she added flowers!  Beautiful quilt, and a pleasure to work on.

Moving into October

I am slowly getting my quilting business organized.  I thought a couple of weeks ago that here it is almost October ... If you're a quilter, you are thinking that your Christmas quilts or ones you want finished by the end of the year need to get to your longarm quilter!  I didn't have any new quilts for a while, but over the last couple weeks I have had at least 8 come in ... That's a lot for me.  I realized I better get myself organized and stick to a schedule!!  

I quilted a 108" x 108" quilt last week.  It took me 4 days because I would only work on it about 2 or 3 hours a day.  Longarm quilting puts you in a position where you are always leaning over the quilt.  I quilt from the front of the frame, so I lean over the quilt and tend to have poor posture, because I am leaning down to see where I am quilting and making sure it looks beautiful!

This was a flannel quilt made by a young lady for her boyfriend... To keep him warm.  No fancy quilting here ...

Just a medium stipple for texture ... And it will hold up well during all the washing and love the quilt will provide!

The quilt is a great pattern for a fairly fast quilt ... An alternating solid block with a four patch ...

I had a bit of a hard time picking a color that I thought would go with the light and dark fabrics, but finally settled on a cotton caramel brown color thread by Gutterman; I used Glide in the bobbin in a complimenting color.  Don't like to use the heavy cottons in the bobbin -- because the thread is so bulky it doesn't go as far; it also tends to be really linty and the Glide is not linty at all.

Slipping in a couple proud grandmama pictures ... Daddy took her to the aquarium for the first time ... 

She found Nemo!!