Christmas Presents and Other Important 'Stuff'

This quilt is so large, that I can't get a full picture of it. However, here are a few, both before and after quilting.

 This one on the far right is a picture of the finished quilting. Now, with each quilt I learn something.

What did I learn on this quilt?
1. Never put the quilt on the frame until you have decided on at least 75% of the quilting designs that you will use...........otherwise, you spend hours, days, WEEKS trying to make those decisions.

Mary brought this quilt to me in AUGUST!!! AUGUST!!! (yes, it was this year). We decided on what we wanted to quilt in the gifts. We decided on what to use for the outside border. So, I zipped it on the frame basted the whole quilt in and just KNEW that this was going to go 'lickety split' ( that's really fast for those of you that don't speak Southern). Wellllllllll, I started with the border because I knew what we wanted in that area. I set it up and stitched the whole side border and two corners. The tension was perfect! I looked at the finished product and decided it should have been stitched 1/2" lower so that the bottom of the gifts would stitch in the ditch............out comes the seam ripper for stitch removal. I know better than to NOT listen to that little voice in my brain that tells me to stop after 6 inches of quilting.

While I am un-stitching, I can at least take some time and go ahead with the gifts. After all everything has been ditch stitched and is stable. So, I set the designs in the first two gifts and 'LET'S GO TO IT'!!' I stitched those out and wonder of wonders, turned the quilt over and I HATE the way that the tension is working on the bottom. OK, more work for the seam ripper.

By now, it must be at least October. Remember, Mary brought this to me in AUGUST!

OK, fast forward to Halloween..........the border has been un-quilted, the gifts have been un-quilted. I have all of the gifts now stitched with their special designs and now it's time for the sashings and spaces between the gifts.....but, no, the borders have not been requilted. It's time for quilt camp, so, we need to stop for that.

So, we get back to work after camp and it's time for the sashings and borders..........I decided to stitch the borders first (after all, I know what I want there). This time everything works BEAUTIFULLY!!! (I love my Statler!)

Fabulous! now I'm really on a roll. Let's get this finished before Thanksgiving. So, this is where everything stops.........again. I have no idea as to what I wanted to stitch in the sashings and around the ribbons. Thought about this for several days. Shopped all of the designers for ideas. Tried to dream about the solution.........wasn't happening. Anyhow, I finally came up with what I thought would work. Stitched it out and I was pleased, so then worked on finishing the quilt.

Well, guess what!! It's done!! Mary will soon be binding this beautiful quilt and have it on her bed for when Santa delivers his gifts.

Now, that was one thing I learned. What else might I have gleaned from this experience.

2. Thank goodness my custom clients are very patient and understand that I am not stitching anything on their quilts that doesn't 'feel' right to me. I love everyone of them.

3. My clients understand that my custom work is VERY SLOW............Thank you.

4. To that end, I will only be accepting 2 quilts a month for custom work. They could be hand guided, Statler assisted, or both, but I will only accept 2 per month. That said, my custom schedule is currently scheduled out to March of 2019. There is one quilt that is scheduled in for January 2019 that I do not currently have 'in house'. If it appears that it will not arrive, then everyone moves up in the schedule.

Custom quilting is something that I enjoy, but, it is also the most stressful, so, I am having to set some limits. I'm sure everyone can understand and we will all adjust to this new scheduling.

NOW AS FAR AS EDGE TO EDGE--------bring it on. I can usually have that back to you within 2 weeks..sometime sooner. This schedule is independent of my custom schedule, so, it moves faster.

Registration for February Quilt Camp will start the first week of December. Time to start thinking about the beginning of a new year as we finish up this one.

Now, here we are, the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Tomorrow I will load Penelope Statler and begin working on all of the edge 2 edge quilts that have been waiting for me to finish the Gifts. The weekend has been full for food, family, and football (GO TIGERRRRS). Time to settle in, decorate and enjoy the season. I have a few extra special quilts to complete before Christmas morning, but, that will happen. Life is great and I am enjoying the process. Hope you are too.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!! and LET'S GO SEW!!!

WHAT A WEEK!!!!

It's Sunday morning and I returned from Quilt Camp on Friday. Everything is packed away. Now it is time to reflect on our 4 days at Gravatt Camp and Confrence Center. It is time to make some decisions on how I do things for retreats, when retreats are scheduled, and what type of retreats I am hosting. I do this at the end of every year. I sit and reflect, make lists, make decisions. I do this for my business and for my life.

One of the first things I need to do is to thank each and every 'Frayed Knot' that attended the One Loose Thread Retreats this year and every year prior for the last 10+ years. Without you this endeavor could not happen.

 I also need to say a gracious thank you to all of my longarm clients for trusting me with their 'children' and allowing me to finish them. When I look back at the quilts that I have worked on this year, your talent humbles me. You have also allowed me to work with quilts that I might love to make, but, would never take the time to do so. However, working with yours.....I can almost say that I have.

This November retreat ( as all others) was an eventful time. The 'show and tell' was amazing as usual. The wide variety of projects showed the depth of interest and experience of the quilters. The sharing of ideas and knowledge was fabulous as usual. Unfortunately, we did have an event that made all of us realize how fragile our time together is.

Sue is doing fine and is home from the hospital now. We had a visit from EMS with red lights and sirens. However, this brought to my attention a few additional emergency procedures that I need to have in place. Among our group is always at least 1 nurse and this time was not different, except we had 3. Unfortunately one was the patient, but, thank you to Wilma and Judy for your fast response to the emergency. Once a nurse............always a nurse.

I have scheduled 4 retreats for next year along with the trip to Sisters, Oregon for the quilt show. Our dates are:

                             February 14-17, 2019-----this is a UFO retreat
                             April 25-28, 2019-----this is a UFO retreat
                             July 8-16, 2019---------Trip and tour with Country Heritage to Sisters, Oregon
                             August 7-11,2019----------this is a UFO retreat
                             November 12-15, 2019-----------this is a UFO retreat

So, no classes this year, as of this writing. You never know, that may change if I get requests for some special technique, quilt, or project.

Registration for our February dates will begin right after Thanksgiving. So, if that is what you would like to be given for Christmas......tell your family to contact me or they can just give you a check for partial or full payment.

There is still some space available for the Sisters trip. All you need to do is contact Country Heritage Tours to register and you can tell them that you want to be part of the 'One Loose Thread' Group. They will reserve your space with all of us that are going.

That's it for now. I will be in the studio from now until Christmas. There are a few spaces available for Christmas quilting and I will have Penelope Statler running until December 21st. So if you have some last minute tops that you need to be done, just call and we'll see what we can work out. The edge 2 edge 'que' always runs faster than the custom que. Custom quilting is currently scheduled out to late March-early April, 2019 so if you want something special, you need to reserve time on that list. If I have the piece 'in house' I may get to it sooner.

Thanks again for all of your support of my business and for me personally.
Now, Let's go Sew!!!