One Crazy Week

Well, I must admit, I haven't worked "full-time" in a very long time. Well for myself yes, but not on customer quilts. That is one of the perks of being your own boss and working from home, right? NOT this week, I've been a crazy quilting fool in an attempt to get caught up (or ahead) in preparation for Festival. So last week I pumped out five quilts... OMG, that's like a quilt a day - the hard way! No really, I had been quilting all day and into the evenings (so not like me), but I am okay on my schedule. When I get back from Houston I will only be two quilts behind... no big deal right? Wrong, I get one day after Houston to recoup, then its back to the airport to deliver my wonderful Mom back to her home state, deliver my quilts to West Palm Beach for judging for Mancuso's World Quilt Show Florida III, one day of what-the-heck has happened in the past ten days, and then two to three days spent wandering the Mancuso show. So, honestly, I might possibly be three quilts behind by the time I'm truly back to quilting, but it will all be worth it! It'll just be another crazy quilting fool week and life will be good!
Okay, back to business -- I really need to share last week's craziness with all my wonderful quilty peeps...
First we have Charlotte's Sampler. Are you ready for this -- this is her very first quilt. WOW, she did an awesome job, and I do believe she is an amazing piecer, because there was nothing wrong with this quilt, not a pucker, ripple, nothing!

Next up was Gerri's quilt. I love black backgrounds -- so this one was fun! Gerri used some bright solids and really made a striking quilt.

Now I may be a bit partial as I'm a machine quilter, or maybe the fact that I love wholecloths but, look at the back of Gerri's quilt - wow... that is just so cool!

Then we have two quilts by Judy, another awesome piecer. The first one was a mystery quilt class that Judy calls "Stars for Our Lady of Kibeho". This is a super cute quilt. I love how crisp the colors are against the white background -- a real eye-catcher.

Judy's next one is "40 Flower Pots" -- super, super cute. In case you didn't notice, Judy is very whimsical. I love the orange and yellows in this quilt and the fun flower shapes.

And last, but certainly not least, Marion's "The Blue Collection" (pattern by Maggie Walker) -- a delightful quilt.

That's it quilty peeps... I'm off to Festival in a few days, see you when I get back -- Happy Quilting!

Avalanche Warning...

Lately I have been in a war of catch-up. It almost feels like a snowball effect, for every step forward I'm taking two back -- just waiting for the full-blown avalanche to hit. Really, I'm sure it's not as bad as I think, and I am catching up slowly. I am NOT complaining, just verbalizing (is that even a word?) my feelings of not being able to breathe. This is actually the busiest I've been in a long time, between life matters, my own personal quilts, my own show quilts, and my wonderful customer quilts... so much is going on right now, and I'm only able to share a tiny piece of it with you... there just isn't enough time in my day to type it all out. So I hope you enjoy these little glimpses of daily happenings bottled up into an almost weekly (but not quite) summary that I call a blog. So, without any further delay here goes:

Edwina's Thimbleberries quilt. This is a Thimbleberries sampler from a few years ago, but Edwina finally finished the piecing (it's a monsta) and it is an oh-so-cute quilt!

Then I went to a great lecture at Martin County Quilters by Maya Schonenberger. WOW... she has some amazing talent. Why I didn't sign up for either of her two workshops I do not know -- I must have been worried about the avalanche and anticipating the chaos and confusion... stupid move on my part. Check out Maya's website for some amazing inspiration!

Then my other guild, PSL Crazy Quilters were having a Halloween Party. Of course, I had to dress up, just had to! Halloween is one of my most favorite holidays, it is the warmup for the holiday season and what is more fun than dressing up, wearing outrageous makeup, and having a ball? So, my bestie and I went and bought some basic t-shirts and transformed them into cute little costumes! I was my usual witch and Nancy was the Fabric Fairy! It was a great party and I wish I had remembered to take pictures of everyone while at the meeting... guess I was having too much fun!

Finally, back to work! Lisa had been waiting for this quilt for forever (really). Since I had taken sooooooooo long to finish it, I decided I'd add some trapunto to the tree for her. So glad I took my time on this quilt because it turned out awesome. Just the quilted tree would have been nice, but the trapunto added that little bit of wow!

Well, there it is in a nutshell. The next two weeks will be total chaos as I'm not only trying to catch-up, I'm also trying to get ahead so that I can leave for Festival without worry that the avalanche will happen while I'm away!

Not quite as crazy, BUT...

Well, it has been another week. Not quite as crazy as the last one, that would be hard to top, BUT, exciting nonetheless. You all may or may not know, Florida is a stop for Mancuso's 2011 World Quilt Competition XV Tour. We have also had our own World Quilt Show Florida Competition for the past two years. This year, they have increased it to the seven Southeastern States -- very exciting! So, coming in November, West Palm Beach will be home to the World Quilt Show - Florida III. This is the show where my owl quilt, "Oliver" took Third Place last year.

This year, I entered two quilts, both of which were accepted. The first is "Clouds in My Latte"

The second is my Journey's Thru Art group door challenge, entitled "The Choice"

I really can not wait for this show. I can't wait for all of you to be able to see the creations of this group. Eight amazing people creating outstanding art -- that is the only way I can describe them. I have seen all the doors and they are amazing - each one so very different but yet so awe inspiring. I'm hoping to be able to share pictures with you after the show.

I've also heard of many local quilties that have also had their entries juried into the show - Congratulations again! I can assure you that this WILL be an awesome show!

Oh, can't forget that you'll also be able to see "Stella Luminosa" there -- not as part of the competition, but as a special exhibit for the Martin County Quilters Guild yearly challenge.

Show details:

World Quilt Show - Florida III
November 10-12, 2011
at the
Palm Beach County Convention Center
650 Okeechobee Blvd.
West Palm Beach, FL

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Whew.... what a week!

And no, not in a good way! Much more in a happy to have lived through it relieved that it's over kind of way.

So, to catch you up, I had been working on my latest show quilt, trying ever so hard to have it finished for photographs for a show entry deadline. Nope, did not happen. Well, it did, four days after the deadline! It's all good, I did enter "Clouds in My Latte" and of course my JTA Door Challenge "The Choice", so not to worry, I will have two quilts in the World Quilt Show in West Palm Beach in November... that is, unless they don't get juried in?!! Well have to wait and see.

Then, being as I'm behind schedule. Yes, WAY behind. I'll share my stupidity with you -- I accidentally turned two pages in my schedule book and missed a couple of quilts. See what happens when I don't double check with the computer listing. No worries, took a week away from my own scheduled time and plan on cloning myself from now until when I leave for Houston, so hopefully I'll be back on schedule by November!

So, I load one of the missed customer quilts on Tuesday, I'm quilting away... life is good, quilt looks great. Its Wedneday morning, I'm halfway done this beautiful king size quilt... yep, here goes, my switch goes bad. Okay, not a big deal, I simply replace the switch like I've done a million times before. WRONG... the switch has been replaced sooooo many times, and the wires and connectors are sooooo worn, that when I snipped the end for a new connection, the wire was so short it went down in the handle -- utoh! Grab tweezers, pulled it up, pulled really really hard and fix the switch. Guess what, nothing is working now -- well, it is, but not the way it should, its working more in a possessed-chaotic way. Oh no, I call the repair guy -- most probably pulled the wires loose or they are shorting because I when I pulled I pinched them. Take the head off the table with the beautiful quilt still loaded. Thusday morning jump in the truck for a three+ hour road trip. Great, while it's there it'll get a long-overdue checkup! Four repair hours later.... both ends rewired, brand new shiny switches, a new hook assembly, new springies, gears adjusted, shaft tightened, and a thorough cleaning and oiling. Now, a three+ hour with massive traffic drive home. BUT, life is good because it is up and running again. Well really, life is great, because I spent a much-needed quality day with my son!

Friday morning, wake up, adjust tensions for poly thread and finally finish Shay's confetti quilt.

That was my week... in a super short nutshell, which has been edited for frustration, anger, and minor cursing here and there.

But, before I go, I'll share the pictures of my latest show quilt, "Wonderlust" an original design, I still need to add some bling, but you get the idea:

FRONT:

DETAIL:

BACK:

This weekend will be spent working on my MCQG Star Challenge... yep, that's right, it's coming out of the I hate you right now corner and will be getting quilted, blinged, and hopefully by weekends end I will once again like it, if not, it'll still be done, I'll just be pouty. This too will be at the Mancuso show in West Palm as part of the Martin County Quilters challenge exhibit.