Three more for Hollie!

What can I say! I'm impressed with Hollie's enthusiasm and dedication to her hobby. She arrived with 3 more lap quilts to work on Lolah! She's hard to beat...

Her first quilt of the day was this beautifully pieced scrappy triple Irish chain. First order was to choose the thread and she fell in love with Teaberry Glide by FilTec. You see, she came after Odette had been here to work on the shirt quilt and we know that's the thread Odette used. It turned out to be perfect for this chain. Hollie also brought her own batting for today's quilting.

Again, she wanted the lights off, Christmas music in the background...

This is another quilt that was done in loop-d-loops, her favorite... she really does a terrific job of it.

We were missing a helping hand for the photo taking that day so we improvised...

What a lovely quilt...

she even added some personal touches... a little butterfly here and there!

Number one quilt done, Lolah was prepped for 2 of the same quilts. Hollie's quilting is a business venture and this is one popular design among the summer customers to the craft shop in Murray Corner. 

For these two nautical quilts, she chose FilTec Glide in Sea Green and her own batting and backing.

Friends dropped by for a look and some lessons... some shopping too...

Sally also dropped by... Hollie, Sally and Sharon (you have yet to meet Sharon!) have a history of quilting each other's quilts together when their boys were young. It's wonderful to see such close friends share this wonderful hobby.

I love how she transforms a panel into these awesome jewels!

It was hard to get a good photo of both of the quilts... the color in the photo above is closer to the true color; I really must get that light fixture and the bulb changed. Sorry Hollie! Blame the sun setting too early in December!

A close up of the center panel... how beautiful!

Hollie, you're a hard act to follow. Many will try... can't wait to see the next three! Thank you for your energy!

Have a look at the Show and Tell page for some reveals...

Here's a look at the barn progress... The doors are in on the north side, the plumber and geothermal contractors are nearly done, and the contractor is busy putting up the pine planks on the walls upstairs. We're hoping the electrician will be in soon. Not much else left to do... :)

Toodles,

Lorette

Logging with Sally!

Sally was the first customer to play on Lolah in June 2014. At that time, I hadn't decided to take photos for the blog so I don't have anything to show.

Files and photos (2014) saved on that dead hard drive are being recovered (I hope successfully) by our son who brought it home with him. We'll know soon if the drive was damaged beyond recovery! It looks promising after diagnostic testing so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Sally returned with a colorful log cabin pieced by her friend Hollie. We had a long thread-choosing session which, to me, is always fun because the color you think you'd like is sometimes not the one you end up using. Sally chose FilTec Glide in Celery, a pale green and a wool batting.

How do you quilt words on a dark fabric? Do you freehand? Do you mark it with a white chalk pencil? Sally wanted to write "Blessings are all around us" on all four narrow borders. In order to keep the spacing and lettering the same size, we made a template in Word, and traced the blessings on Glad Press & Seal, and "pressed" it on the border. The idea is that you can quilt over the Press & Seal. It worked but it was a little difficult to see the lettering perhaps because of the reflected light off the surface. So Sally used the template mainly for spacing.

And off she went... working freehand...

Sometimes, one handed...

Lights off... except for Lolah's lights...

Hollie kept busy making another apron...

We do have fun...

The backing is quite lovely!

But look at this beauty!! Hollie had left before Sally was done quilting so we had to enlist some help to hold up the quilt for photos! 

Writing adds a personalized touch to any quilt... this one is extra special to Sally! 

Well done Sally! This will keep your guests warm this winter!

The barn progress was spotty over the holidays but we are thrilled with how it looks. The garage doors have been installed, the power has been hooked up, all the siding is applied as well as insulation, the geothermal units are in although not connected (grrrr....) but the building is secure, and we've been able to move in some boxes from the farmhouse in time for our children to arrive! The wood paneling has been delivered and will be first order to finish the walls upstairs so we can continue to empty house and trailers. Sorting, tossing, keeping, and donating will be a bear! 

In this photo, the siding is not yet on the north wall... the two openings will get barn doors fabricated to look like the garage doors by our contractor using some siding planks. This should keep the north winds from wrenching the doors from our hands when opening them. 

I hope you all enjoyed a great holiday season! Happy New Year everyone!

Toodles,

Lorette