Snow today!

I have two quilts on going so its almost the perfect snow day. Well, except that I still have to pick up from school and if Southwest keeps flying, my snow shoveler will be gone. I should get these two quilts done today and maybe a couple of more loaded. Only six more on the list for this month. There probably won't be school tomorrow so I should get a lot done then too. I just need to figure out if Sam has guitar lessons today. The soup is slow cooking and smells good so overall a good day.

Except there won't be any walks!

Quilting Panels

Today I have to finish this quilt for a customer. Her brother is retiring from the fire department. I always have a hard time quilting panels because I think there is a fine line you have to manage to get it quilted enough without taking away from what you are working with. I always dread doing them but then when they turn out nice I like them. The bright colors are also challenging because it feels like a child's quilt but it is for a man. So, I am trying to man up the quilting. I'll just be glad to get this one done! Tea cup quilt for his wife after this one is done. Good thing it is raining and dreary. I could easily put the quilting off for another day.

Thimbleberries Club 2009 quilt on the other machine. Plus I need to do some unsewing on a couple of other quilts and finish them up. Plus, I really need to get a QOV quilt done!

I better get started.

Quilt Show & Quilt Historian

Saturday was the local Longmont Quilt Guild Second Quilt Show. There were approximately 130 quilts entered and attendees were asked to vote for their favorites in five categories. There were some great quilts there and I think everyone had a great time. One of our members is a quilt historian. She did three bed turndown presentations of the antique quilts. Jeananne owns six hundred quilts and often reproduces the antique quilts. I listened to her last presentation. She spent almost an hour talking about the various quilts that had be submitted for the show. It is amazing how much information she has on these quilts. And she teaches others how to search for information on their quilts. One signature quilt, dating back to the 1850's (don't quote me here) they were able to find that the church was having an anniversary hence they know the purpose of the quilt (given to the minister). I guess I should work harder at putting labels on my quilts!

Mini Bella Bella

My friend Carmen and I are trading services. I will quilt her quilts and she will piece some of my quilts for me. She pieced the mini Bella Bella (half-sized, 40x40). It is a stunning quilt and has been entered in the Longmont Quilt Guild Quilt Show & Sale, this Saturday, October 17th. I'm sure it will pick up a viewers choice award. I also have a large Bella Bella and two other quilts to do for Carmen. I will hand off my Hawaiian Star for her to piece. It will be interesting how the time ends up for each.

I also have other quilts in the show. One is the Book Shelf memory quilt that my sister and I pieced for our Parent's 50th anniversary in 2000. I went to my first International Quilt Festival with a friend in 1998 and the buzz was all about photos copied onto fabric sheets. Of course, I jumped in with both feet. I had never quilted before and had barely passed 7th grade Home Economics (with Mrs. Boozer, at Blyle Jr. High in Houston). I bought the book, The Collectibles Quilt by Wendy Etzel. I borrowed my mom's old Singer sewing machine and started learning how to sew. The next year a brought a Janome sewing machine and did a few small projects and then had to upgrade to a Brother Embroidery machine to do the embroidery for the memory quilt. The plan was a shelf for my parents and a shelf for each of their four children. Everything on the quilt has meaning. Two years later, my sister Nancy, came to Houston (again for the quilt festival) and we put the quilt together. We had a great time even though I slipped on the kitchen floor and banged my head on the tile. Nancy from Plain n' Fancy quilt store quilted it.

The quilt was cherished by my parents. Both have since passed from Alzheimer's Disease. I'm proud of this quilt and will probably cry when I see it hanging in the show this weekend. But then again, I cried during DWTS last night!

OK, Here we go.

I have to say, I don't regularly follow alot of blogs but I like having a place to go to catch up with friends. I probably need to document my life better. So, here we go. I'm a quilter with a longarm quilting business. I own two APQS Millenniums. One is computerized with CompuQuilter and the other is my "Custom" quilting machine. I am six weeks into this new arrangement and I am so pleased with the progress I've made in 'catching up' in my business. I was just looking at my backlog which is ALWAYS more backed than logged and I am pleased to say that I have completed 14 quilts since 9/29 and I've barely broken a sweat. As soon as I get done here, I will load two more!

In trying to manage my backlog, I decided to separate out the quilts that I've had for too long (you know the ones, no deadline, whenever you get to it) from the quilts I took in August for September delivery and those I took in September to be completed in October. All of the September quilts have been delivered! Seven of the October quilts are out of here. And I will continue to work on the old quilts (five of them). I think this plan is working out. I feel like I am accomplishing things and I have to say I am enjoying the custom quilting so much more now that the pressure of the 'schedule' has been reduced because I have two machines.

So, here is a picture of the half-sized Bella Bella I quilted last week. I'll talk more about it and try to post other stuff tomorrow.