ScrapHappy Saturday - RSC23 - Week 42

Welcome to Week 42 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!  As you know, I'm a fairly busy person.  I like to joke that the less I'm home, the less I have to do housework.  Well, this week, even I'm tired from all that was on my schedule!

SUNDAY - It was a whirlwind of a day!  It started off with...

Taking a photo of my Nest Journal that Britt and I collaborated on.  The Nest Journal is a term coined by a fellow founding member of The Roben's Nest art membership:

Then my Easy Like a Sunday Morning Get Messy Hangout. Next, I was off to brunch with several of my knitting friends.  Sadly, I neglected to take a photo of the brunch bunch.  :o((

When I got home it was the to Zoom with Knittingsuek:

Then I enjoyed a vitrual quilting workshop with Brenda Gael Smith of Australia.  I couldn't resist a class called FUNdamentally Circles:

(Channeling my RSC Quilter friends) Here are the fabrics I chose to work with:

This is the view that bid her students farewell.  It's the incredible view out her studio window:

After dinner, I finished the quilting on the final QOV for local veterans:

MONDAY - This morning I took some time to make use of the collage clusters that I make over the weekend:

The 2023 Neighborhood Challenge was due tonight at Quilt Guild.  More on that in next Wednesday's post.  One of the entrants was my friend Diane.  Lucky me!  She also brought along another Bag of Joy filled with fabric scraps:

TUESDAY - I was thrilled to get a photo of these beautiful Light NEUTRAL flowers in my neighbor's garden this afternoon.  Great for art and my RSC Quilter friends:

WEDNESDAY - I had just enough time before work to join the International Art In for Peace + Unity...

Inspired by my friend Britt's MOSAIC prompt for Day 60 of the 2023 ICAD Challenge, I finally worked on this collage:

Zoom with LeeAnna @ Not Afraid of Color:

THURSDAY - I raced home after work to join in this month's Winging It meet-up with my Get Messy friends.  This month the hostess read a children's book titled "Virginia Wolf".  It's about a girl who paints a world to bring her sister out of the doldrums.  I came in just as she was asking participants to share a color, symbol, or word that helps brighten their day when they find themselves "down in the dumps".  Once everyone everyone shared, we were encouraged to make art using some of the mentioned items.  Here is what I made using a stenciled page in my Flowers Magic ArtFest journal that seemed like a good jumping off point, as the black paint could easily represent the doldrums:

Can you believe I use every one of those supplies on that 3" x 5" page?!?!

FRIDAY - I'm so glad that my schedule is allowing me to attend Knit Group before heading off to work!  We had a guest this morning and I forgot to get a photo.  :o((

After FIVE MONTHS, the construction crew FINALLY added erosion control to the hill they created across the street and just in time, by the looks of those clouds:

SATURDAY - It's LINK PARTY day for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!  I hope you will join me in visiting Angela @ So Scrappy to see what the RSC Quilters have been up to this week.

I plan on spending the day trying to figure out what projects will get packed up and carted off to the mountains with me next week. This is what I have gathered this is what I've gather so far.  Here's hoping that I can make some good progress at the Quilt Retreat:

Internet connectivity is spotty, at best, out in no man's land near the North Carolina - Virginia border.  Please leave any comments, but know that I may not get back to you before NEXT weekend.  I feel SEW sure that you understand.  Thanks for that.

Until next time...

Get SCRAPPY!!

Wonderful Wednesday - The Beast Comes Alive - A UFO Club Finish, too!

Welcome to another edition of Wonderful Wednesday!!  Today is a special day here in Joyful Quilterland.  If you visit often, you know that the longarm was recently reassembled and had assumed pride of place in my new studio.

Well, after some minor adjustments and a short trip...

The Beast has come alive!!  For those of you who are new here, The Beast is my longarm's (affectionate) nickname.  You see, it's a bit of a space hog and ate up more than its fair share of the room!

Leading up to this point, several things had to happen...  

It started like this at the beginning of the month when I added the border of my great niece's baby quilt...

At that time, I also pieced the backing and (a few weeks later) loaded it on the rails:

Finally...

The quilt top was pressed to prepare it for quilting:

I pulled an ancient package of Thermore batting that was just the right size for the project...

And layered it up on the longarm:

Not without issues...

I hit a button (accidentally) and the stitch regulator stopped working.  Not normally a problem, as it should simply reengage.  Unfortunately, not this time!  I had to turn the machine off and back on, which still didn't work, so an encoder wheel adjustment was necessary:

What on Earth?!?!

(While cleaning the bobbin area...) The cover plate for the shaft fell off... Twice... Before I realized that I needed to call in reinforcements.  Fortunately, my in-house tech support was on duty:

(Insert screaming here.)  I only had TWO passes left to complete the quilt:

But at the end of the night...

I had (somehow) managed to finish the quilting:

The next day I trimmed it up:

Testing out binding options...

The backing or the border fabric were the two main contenders:

Ultimately, I went with the border fabric:

~ 40" x 50"

Needleb's suggestion was taken under advisement and implemented.  It looks great:

Special thanks to Angela @ Thread Waggle Quilting!! She answered my frantic late night text and helped my in-house tech guy solve the problem.

Enjoy the porch swing photos above and below.  Yes.  The colors really are that vibrant:

Another big thank you goes out to LeeAnna @ Not Afraid of Color for the layout suggestion!  I'm not sure that I ever would have thought to blend the colors of the rainbow as rows progressed.  (Orange in the red row, as well as in the yellow row, etc.)  It really made the entire quilt sparkle!

And that, friends, is my ONE finish for the Winter 2022 (Ravelry) UFO Club.  Just in the nick of time.  Rainbow, Baby! is a wrap.

Sharing with Cynthia

for

Oh, Scrap!

Until next time...

Let's go QUILT!!! 

Tidy Up Tuesday - The Longarm Edition - The Beast Finds a New Home

Welcome to another edition of Tidy Up Tuesday!!  I wasn't sure how long it would take "the crew" to install the longarm once the components were carted up to the studio last week.

SEW...

In the meantime, I decided to occupy myself by sorting some scraps.  Thanks, Diane H., for giving me something to do while I waited!!  That bag is nearly empty and everything is sorted (vaguely) by color:

What does THAT have to do with the longarm, Joyful???

Nothing, but this is a quilt blog.  Shouldn't there be fabric in every post?!  :o))

Here's how the room was left last week:

After tripping over the black metal piece in (in front of the shiny silver part) all week, SOMETHING had to give!!!

On 2/20/22, that something meant that DH and I began the (re)assembly process of my longarm quilting machine:

It didn't hurt that one of my friends texted to ask when I would be "back in business".  (Thanks for the prompting, Candy!!)  Her question flipped some sort of switch in my head, so when DH was looking out the back window on Saturday asking which yardwork project he should do first, I snapped and came back with the following:

The next OUTDOOR project you should do is the one up those stairs in the STUDIO!!!

I'm pretty sure he got the hint.

What happened next???

Nothing.  For a few hours, but then we got to work:

Before too long, it was time to cook dinner, so we took a break:

After dinner, I cleaned (with an old T-Quilt remnant and isopropyl alcohol)  the rails which were filthy with aluminum shavings (oxidation? outgassing? I can't remember what it's called) and a fair amount of dust from sitting in the garage for these last few months since the move:

When DS2 came home and assessed the INCORRECT order of operation his father and I had completed:

He  said Ugh! and collapsed in a puddle (at our ridiculousness.)

The rails came off and the carriage went on...

Followed by the machine head:

It's a happy day:

But...

I'm SEW tired and there were still a few details to finish up:

DS2 took care of that this afternoon and now I'm ready to rock and roll.
Maybe tomorrow?  I worked today and I had to get a bite to eat before this evening's
(Virtual) Evening Quilt Bee meeting.  The point is that now the machine is ready whenever I am!!

Thanks to all of you who provided encouraging words over the past few months, as I waited for this day.  I knew it would arrive eventually and it finally has.  I am oh-SEW-happy!

Until next time...

Let's go QUILT!!!

Wonderful Wednesday - Longarm in the House - Sort of!!!

Welcome to another edition of Wonderful Wednesday!!  It FINALLY happened!!  Can you believe it???

What, Joyful???

Over the weekend, the rails of the longarm made their way INSIDE the house and up to the studio!

2/12/22 was Moving Day for the long bits...

They came in through this window:

Fortunately, it was a warm and wonderful February day...

The movers warmed up with the lightest piece, the support bracket:

It was a three man person job...

DH was in the lead and was the one who climbed the ladder:

Followed by DS2, the trusty assistant and runner:

Then there was me.  I waited in the studio taking photos between the incoming rails.  With the assistance of the window ledge, I held each rail while DS2 went through the garage and up the studio stairs.  Upon his arrival, we added the first rail to the (future) longarm spot:

Before long, three pieces had joined the growing collection...

Four...

All the rails are together, again, 

Last came the "ladder" (otherwise known as the table) and the collection was complete:

As you can see in the photo below, the carriage and the supports have been waiting for the return of the rails:

Only three pieces left to join the ones shown thus far!!!

The table top panels...

And...

The machine head:

I'm hoping these final items will be carried up the studio stairs and magically transformed into a usable piece of machinery.  With the way the weeks have gone, I'm fairly certain this won't happen before next weekend.  That's OK, I've waited this long.  A few more whiles won't matter in the grand scheme of things.  :o))

Until next time...

SEW exciting!!!