I'm back!

I guess I took a bit of a blogging break. Didn't plan to, but that's just how things worked out. Now September is here, Fred is back to school, and hopefully I can get back into a regular routine. I have been busy - doing what I'm not sure - I just know that time is flying as usual.

After I ran the UFO marathon I had to do a bit of cleaning and organizing to make room for all the finished quilts. Storage of finished quilts hasn't been a problem before, but it's starting to be one now. First I cleaned off a shelf in the upstairs bathroom by organizing pieces of leftover batting. Looks like I have enough for at least six more quilts! I pieced battings for a couple of the quilts I finished, stitching them together on the machine for the first time. (I've always done it by hand before.) Worked great so it will do it that way from now on.

Once the shelf was clear I rolled up all my little quilts and put them together onto the shelf. Would you believe there are 20 little quilts stored here? This prevents wrinkles from setting in permanently, and each quilt is still easily identifiable.

I also refolded all the big quilts for the armoire in the living room. In my classes with Eileen Trestain I've learned never to fold a quilt in half - nothing is more noticeable than a permanent crease right down the center. So all were folded first in thirds, and then over and over crosswise. The fit into the shelves much better this way. I've added a couple more since I took this picture, and unfortunately there is no more room for large quilts. Small table runners can be rolled and tucked in the ends - that's about it. Will that stop me from making more quilts? Hah - that's not possible! I guess I'll just have to give more away.

Once all the new quilts were either stored safely or on display on a quilt rack I went back to the longarm room and started tackling customer quilts. I had three to quilt - one pantograph and two custom - and two large tops to baste for hand quilting. I spent most of the next week getting those done. Not sure which is better - having them all out of the house or having money in my bank account again. I think I'll go for having money - there are some new pantographs I want to buy and more new threads to order.

All my energy came to a screeching halt and literally disappeared come last Wednesday night when I came down with a head cold. This is the first I've had in awhile and it's knocked me for a bit of a loop. I've spent the last few days sitting in a chair reading or hand quilting. I think I'm finally on the mend, I'm happy to say. I did finish the quilting on one small top which I'll show you in the next post.