Yesterday I finished up the Christmas sewing gifts, the rest of the bowl cozies, but mostly embroidering a few stockings, a few ornaments and a fun bookmark. The bookmark was done on card-stock, or watercolor paper as that is what I had. It took a while to stitch, but it’s pretty and functional. My MIL reads a lot of “real” books, so I think she’ll appreciate it. I still have one more knitted hat to finish before 12-25, but I’m half way through, and closing in on the decreases at the crown. I also cleared off my sewing table while the embroidery machine was working, and was able to wrap all my gifts on the clean wide open surface. I have an adjustable height desk top under my cutting mat, which makes wrapping a breeze. So much better than kneeling on the floor to wrap (as I did last week) – ugh, even my husband commented on how he couldn’t imagine doing that.

My long arm is in need of repair. Last week it was acting up, and I updated all its software, which made it communicate with the robotics again, but now it seems to have a mechanical issue. The upper thread tension assembly seems to stick in the closed position. Definitely not conducive to sewing more than 10 stitches at a time. As is the way of things, I had about 10 more inches of the Spider and The Fly quilt to finish. I’m going to call my dealer tomorrow, they are closed today, and see if he can come out and fix it. It is really hard for me to take it off the frame, put it in the car and bring it to his shop.

I am sewing today, I have a block from the Reunion BOM quilt to do, and I think I want to start something new. I bought these small panels earlier this year, and thought they would look pretty as lap quilts with the coordinating fabrics (left overs from a different quilt). The panels are 18″ x 22″, FQ size, which makes adding blocks easier. I will have to fire up the EQ7 and try to remember how to use it effectively.

The Newcastle Bouquet is finished, and the frame I ordered for it arrived. It would be nice to finish putting it together today. The other cross stitch piece that is for a gift, has been finished for a few weeks, and the frame I ordered for it isn’t here yet. Strange because I ordered it before the frame for the NB piece. Hope it gets here before New Years, as that is when the recipients will be leaving.

It’s pouring down rain today, I have to go to the post office, and maybe buy some food for this upcoming week. First sewing!

Be Kind.

The other day my DH walked into my sewing room and said “You have so much stuff.” I replied that I thought he had more stuff that pertains to his hobby, like the thousands of CD’s he has. I couldn’t persuade him, and in the end I conceded, yeah, I do have a lot of stuff. I ended the conversation with my reasoning being that it is three hobbies worth of stuff. Anyway, this lead to some contemplation, typical of the end of year thinking patterns, and goal setting for the new year. My hoard, my piles, my stash, my stock, my supplies, my-oh-my its mine and I own up to it. I don’t think my buying habits are out of control, although, I regularly buy fabric, sometimes weekly, but mostly monthly. Promises of “No-Buy” years are no good, its not feasible, if I need to complete something, or run short or its too good of a deal, that promise doesn’t last long. See what happens, I’m already adding stipulations to the rule, in the end I know myself. This coming year I would like to clear out some stash and organize it a bit more. There, a somewhat vague goal, it is a start. This past year I have gotten much done with the small bite at a time. I used up most of my Julie Paschkis fabric collection, I made four quilts out of it and sold two. I used up most of the scraps from last years Christmas Figs BOM, and made a dent in the scraps from the Halloween figs BOM too. I completed a kit, Reflected Harmony, and made a string quilt out of 20 year old scraps. I made over 25 quilts using mostly stash, and completed my BOM for 2021. Barely a dent in the hoard, but it makes me feel good to write these accomplishments down, and that I want to do more in 2022.

I am almost finished with the Newcastle Bouquet cross stitch project. I ordered a frame/backing and glass for it too, by the time that gets here I will be done. I thought about staying up late last night and finishing the last three motifs, but I kept nodding off. Best to quit before I start making mistakes I will only have to rip out the next day.

On the longarm front, I am almost done quilting the Spider and the Fly quilt, one more row. I had a bit of trouble with the computer/machine this past weekend. Some miscommunication between the two. I had updated the Q-matic program, and not the Windows Pro on the computer, yesterday, six updates were dutifully downloaded and executed. What it had been doing was stopping mid-sewing with the needle down, and the robotics would keep moving the machine head. I was there for the three times in a row that it happened, so I was able to stop it before any damage to the quilt was done. Yesterday it worked as it should, I was afraid to leave the vicinity of the machine, as you can imagine, Phew.

Off to bake cookies with a friend today, so not much sewing will be accomplished.

Be Kind.

Since moving my longarm, I have had more opportunities to use it. At least it feels like it, sort of like not having to commute to work any more. This month I have five finishes, The Reflected Harmony quilt, Two Table runners, the Nutcracker quilt and Chasing rainbows. All which need bindings, oh, wait I did do the Reflected Harmony one and one table runner. The Nutcracker needed a green binding, and I didn’t have enough scraps of Christmas Figs to do so. I had to order another ½ yard, and it was delivered today. The Rainbow quilt, I am not sure about what I want to bind it with, maybe the light blue that’s in those tiny little setting squares. The table runner, might be wanting green, or gold, have to see what I have in the solids bin.

On to cross stitch news, I am nearing the finish of the Newcastle Bouquet. I am restraining myself from starting anything new until I finish it. The border is taking forever, last night while stitching, I counted the stitches in each motif. The five branched flower-like things around the piece, each one has almost 280 stitches in it, no wonder it is taking sooo long. I breezed through the Irish saying piece in about ten days, 32 count linen verses 40 count is the major difference. I am waiting on a frame for that, to make it a FFO. I am thinking of starting the Pilgrims Progress piece from LongDog stitchery as my next big piece. It is all one color, and I have gridded Aida cloth for it. Been having a few reservations about using the gridded cloth, as it has to be washed in order to remove the gray lines of the grid, once the piece is stitched. I was thinking of using Aurifil wool for the stitches, and I am wondering about the durability of it, and if it will hold up to a vigorous scrubbing. I may have to do a test piece.

Tomorrow is baking day, I am making a cheesecake (instant pot) an apple pie and pumpkin pie. If I am really ambitious, I’ll make persimmon bread too. Maybe I’ll get the bindings done in the morning, or this blog post :).

Be Kind.

I set out to make a table runner as a commission for a friend, the fabrics were a solid and a print. A simple quilted runner with some appliquéd trees on it. We decided that the trees would be on top of the quilting, so I was to stitch the flakes and then appliqué the trees on top. I attached the print to the frame, cut a piece of batting and sandwiched it with a piece of Bella snow on top. Time investment, about 30 minutes. Set up the q-matic to stitch out one row, 16″ x 103″ of a snowflake pantograph, about 15 minutes. Yup, quick and easy. I was using metallic thread, so I have to slow the stitching speed down a bit to prevent shredding. I got the bobbin and thread tensions working well, and started stitching, and stitching and stitching. It took 4 ½ hours to stitch the design out. It looks really pretty, but the size of flake and the size of the trees just wasn’t working for me. Back to the design wall, or digital pantograph market place. I found a smaller scale panto, and since I had loaded the runner length-wise, I had enough room on the 44 inch wide fabric to advance the rollers and quilt another runner parallel to the first one. A little time savings, and less hassle. The replacement panto took and hour and twenty minutes to stitch, much better there too. I have the trees cut out and ready to sew on, today is the day for that.

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Over the past few weeks I have gotten my act together to pursue a career in Long Arm Quilting for others. I joined the “LongArm League”, got a website together, and even an instagram page. Yep, it’s all happening. My DH likes to ask me when he can retire and have me support us with quilting. I highly doubt that will ever happen, but I like to think that this venture will support itself and be more than a tax write off. This past week I sold my 40th quilt on Etsy, it took three years, but I am proud of that milestone. I think I have about 30 more that I have sold to customers through craft shows and through word of mouth in this time also. Another milestone that is quickly approaching, is my 300th quilt. Phew, that’s a lot of stitching. So if your thinking about having someone quilt for you, or know someone who has a few UFO’s hanging about, tell them to check out my site Live Oak Quilt Studio.Com

Be Kind.

Last week I started working on a new quilt pattern from The Fat Quarter Shop called Nutcracker. It uses one of their Jolly Bars (10″x 5″ stacker) and about two yards of background. I combined most of the scraps from the Christmas Figs quilt and this Jolly bar to get enough pieces to make a top that is slightly larger (a row and a column) than the pattern. I omitted the plain sashing, to give it a little more cohesion. I found a piece of 108″wide coordinating backing, which with some careful measuring and math, made the borders and backing, possibly enough for the binding too. Leaving off the sashing, and adding the borders made the top measure in at 48″ X 62″. A quick panto and I could have this ready for sale in a week or two.

Another project that I have recently gotten is a table runner. It is relatively simple, the top is a gathering of isosceles triangle trees appliquéd onto a solid background. The tricky part is that the trees are to be sewn over the quilting. So I have to quilt it first and then put the trees on, Oh! I just got an idea! I can appliqué the trees with the long arm machine, while the runner is still on the frame. I feel smart today.

The quilting on the Reflected Harmony quilt was finished last night. So happy it is off the frame. It has been the sole quilting project since 9/28, way too long. I like how it turned out though, many roses and ribbons were added to the texture of this quilt. I should have kept track of the hours, because there were days I didn’t work on it. I used an older collection of rose themed designs from Wasatch quilting. I made them fit the borders and blocks by resizing them and combining them to fit the medallion pattern. I used a thicker bobbin thread for this quilt with Sew Fine on the top. The back side stitching shows a bit more than the front as a result. I really like this backing, a Strawberry Thief print I got from connecting threads.

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Cross stitching finishes/starts for November are this Gathering Berries small (yay!) from Misty Pursel and Gathering Blessings. Still working on the Newcastle Bouquet, with some progress on the border.

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Off to start my day.

Be Kind.