Blue and Yellow Quilt

Love the colors in this quilt. I'm partial to blues with yellows!

This pretty top is QUILTED with Swirls & Curls Meander (freehand)

Time marches through this bi-polar autumn we're having. Today we're supposed to be in the 50's & then plummet into the 20's for tomorrow's high temperature. See, Mother Nature is feeling a little moody!

How are you all faring with holiday preparations? Are you started yet? Dreading it or looking forward to it?

I'm so excited for the Christmas season. I'm thankful this year I should have the long weekend off after Thanksgiving (still keeping my fingers crossed on this one), so that I can jump start the Christmas preparations with a little decorating, a little baking, and a little shopping.  

Beach & Dinosaur Kids Quilts

A beach scene QUILTED with Seafoam Meander (freehand)

Dinosaur Top QUILTED with Single Loops Meander (freehand)

We had our first snow here in Lancaster, PA, this afternoon :) I'm not going to even try to pretend to be irritated by it. Yeah, it made me cold & spotted up my glasses, but the white fluffy stuff just makes me so freaking HAPPY! 

Caterpillar & Butterfly Quilts

Caterpillar Top; QUILTED with Bubble Meander (freehand)

... and this Butterfly Top; QUILTED with Single Loop Meander (freehand)

Woe is me... I'm pretty sure these were from back in the summer. I'm a bad blogger!! 

And I swear it shouldn't be NOVEMBER already?!? I'm loving having my sweats out again, truly, but the biting cold & wind this past weekend took me by surprise. Had to amp up the layers for morning walks!

Rainbow Colors Quilt

This was QUILTED with a simple Meander (frreehand.) While the quilting isn't something to get too excited about, I think the colors are stunning.

I'm missing a quilt guild meeting tonight. The quilt machine was down for almost 3 weeks while I waited for the appointment with the technician to come, and thankfully he was able to fix 'er right up! However, this has left me with a hefty backlog, and the semi-custom I had on the schedule today didn't get finished when I thought it would. Sigh... 

I'm done for the night now and am getting ready for Law & Order followed by American Horror Story!

House Quilt

Wall-hanging House Top QUILTED with Stars & Loops (freehand)

My quilting machine has actually been down for a little over a week, but as I mentioned before, I'm woefully behind in posting.

During my forced "stay-cation", I did get to do some things that typically get ignored & I got to do some fun stuff. We picked apples, carved pumpkins, got the kitties in for an overdue appointment, got significant work done on a queen-sized Christmas gift, set up a mailing station, moved around & reorganized my sewing/quilting room, stacked a load of firewood on the back porch, switched my closet & bureaus out for the current fall season, prepped inventory for a month-long Christmas crafting event, and canned apple pie filling! Whew!! I get a lot done when I don't have to work & make money :-P

My machine was fixed earlier today, and I managed to get one small quilt finished before the rain & thunder moved in.

Patriotic Sampler Quilt

Patriotic Sampler QUILTED with a Ribbon Meander

Daisy Baby Quilt

This sweet pink & green baby quilt was QUILTED with a Daisy Meander (freehand)

 

Don't be afraid to quilt using minky or fleece as a backing. They both quilt up beautifully! Just be careful not to create too much tension between your roller bars, thereby stretching the flexible fabric.

I've even used fleece on the back, rolled it forward, and sewed it to the front to create the binding. It makes for a soft edge :)

Brown bubbles

I'm such a bad, neglectful blogger! I can't even remember how long ago this quilt was finished!! One of these days I'll get on a schedule & stick to it :)

Is this a Churn Dash block? This fun quilt was QUILTED with a Simple Bubble Meander (freehand)

I'm utterly gleeful that autumn is upon us. It's truly my favorite time of the year (with Christmas time almost a neck-in-neck tie.) We did a little apple picking & carved pumpkins this week. All that's needed now is a first fire roaring... but I think we'll be needing some wood for that. 

Earth Rails Quilt

I have to admit I love the way the quilt turned out! 

It's QUILTED with Leafy Swirl (freehand)

Is everybody feeling Autumn creeping in where they are? It's lovely here. The temps have been in the 70's & I'm soaking it up as often as I can. I so wish Smokey was enjoying our walks (perhaps you remember me mentioning my lab has a partially torn ACL??) Instead I've been doing more running with my 18 & 22 year old daughters, so I guess that's not a bad thing either.

Brown Sampler Quilt

QUILTED with Leafy Swirl (freehand)

School schedule is under way; a new quilting schedule is under way; and I'm reveling in the Autumnal weather! 

Scrappy Wonky Blocks Quilt

Our A/C cannot keep up with the heat & humidity today, and the irony is that I hear from my BFF she's just seen her first Christmas advertisement for specials! lol 

Unconventional Log Cabin

Each center showcases a Rose while I meandered in between (freehand)

I'm severely behind in showing client quilts. Perhaps now that we're back in the school swing of things & the schedule becomes more regular, this too will become more regular :) 

Pastel Rails

If I remember correctly, this one was made for a granddaughter! So cheerful!

This one is QUILTED with Bubble Meander (freehand)

Sept 1 brings about a renewal of time-committment for me. After having a more free-float summer schedule, it's time to figure out how to mesh working at home AND outside the home with homeschooling. It's a juggling act to be sure.

It'll be my last year homeschooling. Bi-polar feelings galore over that one! I truly love planning the subjects, learning or relearning things along side a child, but the best part of it is spending time with my favorite people in the world.

I'll miss the one-on-one, the side-tracked, heart-to-heart talks that burst forth spontaneously during school time. But I'll admit, too, that there's a small part of me that's excited by the prospect of reclaiming that time. Enormous amounts of time going into thinking it all through before & during the school year, the endless grading, keeping one step ahead of reading subjects like Chemistry or Anatomy/Physiology to aid in somewhat intelligent conversations with a daughter, researching supplements that go with lessons (like field trips or other experiences), gathering all the curriculum & learning how it can run and then deciding how it'll run for us. It's like an gigantic jigsaw puzzle. OMGosh I love it!!! 

I've been helping my kiddos with school for 20 years! Even the years they spent in "real school" took enormous amounts of time: adhering to schedules, studying for tests & plays, shuttling to/from activities or sports, making sure uniforms/bookbags/shoes could be found. Just think how much time it all takes! Our entire days revolve around those school schedules. 

And next year mine won't. 

Braid in a Day in Blues & Lime

Braid-in-a-Day Top

QUILTED with a Daisy Meander (freehand) 

TGIF peeps! Enjoy the beautiful weekend...

Braid in a Day in Browns & Cream

Braid-in-a-Day quilt in Browns & Cream

QUILTED with Single Reverse Loop Meander (freehand)

Today marks my 100th post for The Longarm Lady! 

I think I'll leave it at that~ I wish there were more posts than there are for the duration of time, but well, life is all up in there.

If you'd like to check out where I was writing & sharing before this blog, check out Montie's Mom Talks Turkey. I'll forewarn you before you head over, what started as a life-sharing & grief outlet gradually became my quilting blog. So if you go there looking for pure eye candy you may be a tad disappointed; for over there is a fair share of family & doggie pics as well as some heavy/sad topics. Enter at your own risk :) 

But then do come back here!!

Crazy Patch Pastels Quilt

QUILTED with a Daisy Meander (freehand) 

There's something about this quilting pattern I love. Simple yet sophisticated! 

Ribbons & Bows & Batman Quilt

A modern play on a memory quilt of sorts~ 

QUILTED with Ribbons & Bows Meander (freehand)

Subtle Patriotic Quilt

Quilted in Stars & Loops Meander (freehand)

Is anybody else panicking about hitting mid-July?? In the midst of a quilting session yesterday, I was struck   **as in panicked**   that we'd hit the middle of July, and I've yet to begin planning for Morgan's senior year!! 

Okay, that's a slight exaggeration. We've been talking about what she'll work on next year since the middle of last year, so I've done some mental preparation & I have most of the books, etc., we'll be needing as well. 

No, I'm talking about the physical act of sitting with each subject, each book, and devising a plan of attack. Sure she can DO most of the work on her own at this point, but she needs direction; there needs to be a basic plan of how each book/curriculum works. So that's what I'm supposed to be working on. For some of them I need to plot out those plans in some typed or written form. Things are omitted & extra things are added. Others require study guides to be worked up. But I think there's a book or two that she can just work in order without too much prep work from me. 

I wrote this to my best friend this morning: 

Summers are never the relaxing span of freedom in time & space that we hope for. I think something is ingrained in our brains that equates summer with blissful leisure that's left over from our childhoods. Only problem being that once we hit adulthood, that flies right out the window!!!

Perhaps I can just choose to see my summer as half full instead!? 

Happy Hump Day :)