Open Studios are over for the year

Last week I put together a 40 x 40 inch quilt so I would have something to do during this past weekend of open studios.

It is made with dyed fabrics and the red actually goes from a blue red to an orange red. I just liked this configuration of fabrics. Wed. I started sewing the circles using a variegated thread which goes from red to orange and made circles forever! Then, yesterday, when I came in for open studios I sat down and quilted the rest of the day, stopping when people came in. By doing the quilting it gave people a chance to see how it all works and also the noise of the machine brought them in from Donna's studio. But most importantly, I had it all done with really intensive quilting by the end of the day and time just flew by yesterday.

The upper image shows the circles being done. The bottom image shows how I quilted around two of the round pieces.
I also used two different blue threads, one that went from dark blue to a light blue and one that went from a medium blue to a dark blue. I mapped out areas and did a lot of tight stitching.

It's a little hard to see in these snap shots but I am quite happy with it.

It has been a good two weekends. My only problem happened when I came home Wed. from the studio and decided to continue being industrious and pulled weeds. That wasn't the only thing I pulled...my lower back started to really hurt. That night I tried to sleep in two different beds and ended up on the recliner where I still continue to sleep. During open studios this weekend I have had a bag on ice down the back of my pants...thank goodness it never leaked! Now the pain has moved into my right leg. I can not lie down and I can barely walk. And I have a very busy week coming up!

Tomorrow after lunch with some friends, it is down to the studio to paint the rest of the fabric for the county commission. Then I need to pack up all the art work that I had down there and bring it home. I think, altogether, I sold seven items during the two weeks. Not too bad.

People have been very generous and have been purchasing my art work during my sale for the trip to Uganda. I still have to figure out how much I have made but it is about 2/3 of the money I need...it covers the airfare plus some of the other expenses. This is such a big help!

This week we sign papers for refinancing our house and taking some money out so we can actually start a building project that we have been talking about for four years. We will be adding a second garage to the house which will hold another car and our motorhome. Upstairs will be a studio that will be about 45' long by 15' wide. I have the plans and have been placing little squares everywhere but I won't get excited until we actually break ground and I can see it happening.

I will keep the studio in the main part of the house as there is no way I can fit everything in to the new studio. However, I will have a commercial kitchen sink and a large table and area for dyeing fabrics! WOW! It will also have an outside entryway so if I want to participate in open studios from my area here at home, I can do so without having people go through the house.

Friday I start my shots for Uganda. And there are meetings three nights this week with church and my father has a doctor's appoint and I have a dentist appointment. Nothing like a busy week. And I really need to make headway on this last quilt so I can do the paper work and deliver them next week and put in an invoice for the remaining money. I also need to start shipping quilts out to people who have bought them.

Whew...I am tired already but that is probably because I have sort of slept in the recliner for three nights and have spent two whole days at the studio talking to people. Since I work alone, it seems to take a lot out of me to be social all day! Oh well, that is how it goes!