Blessings.

One of the things about quilt shop ownership that I find taxing is all the administrative stuff. Jennifer has helped lots with calendars, and flyers and various and sundry other stuff, and for that I am truly thankful.
The newsletter causes me touble as well it just takes me a lot of time to get just one out a month, because I only kinda know what I am doing on the computer.
Today Cheryl came in the shop to get a quilt quilted. She was here at 10:00 a.m., but it is one of my MCG nursing days. So, she came back this evening to talk about quilting the quilt. As she was leaving she said she had to go and make some money to pay for the quilting. As she was leaving it clicked that her business card was for personal assistant. So, I asked her about it. She told me "you know all the stuff you hate to do like email blasts, data management and flyers and.....I do all of that." So, we worked out a deal with quilting and administrative services. HALLEJULAH! I bolted around the counter and hugged her, this provision brought tears of joy and relief to my eyes. Did I say HALLEJULAH? Thank you, Lord for another blessing.

We got some lockers at the shop today.

We had our first "quilt 'til you wilt". There were 5 of us who quilted until about 11:00p.m or so. It was a lot of fun and I got the borders on Megan's quilt. We also got some lockers. I have a couple of customers that would like to keep their extra sewing machine at the shop and have been jokingly-ish asking about getting lockers. Robert loves to hunt for stuff like that, and so he found some that the hospital was throwing our due to some remodeling. They are the perfect size for being able to store sewing machines. Anyway it is fun and we are glad to have them.

Quilting at the beach.

I took Megan's graduation quilt with me and finished getting the top pieced. Now, I need to get the borders on it and then quilt it. Woo Hoo!
Beth and I took our sewing machines and took over a couple of tables for quilting. Part of my birthday gift to Beth was a couple of pillowcase kits. A beach diva one for us, and a motorcycle one for the guys.

Life's a beach

We got to take a few days for vacation at the beach in Panama City. I love the beach. It was a much needed and refreshing time of rest. It was really really hot and humid in Panama City. So, we got out early about 8:00 a.m. and stayed for a couple of hours and then came back after dinner for the sunset. During the heat of the day we did a little shopping, a little quilting, a little napping, a little reading and one afternoon we saw a movie. Like I said it was a nice time of rest.

A few more beach pictures.

Can you hear the ocean and feel the salt air?
These clouds brought some much needed rain and cooler weather.
My happy feet getting some time in the sand.
Robert and Don braving the algae, and sea weed for a refreshing swim. Robert wore his shirt to keep from getting sunburned.

Catching up with some old friends.

One of the interesting things about Robert is he has a knack for digging up friends from our past. He found Sandy (Cranwell) Boone from our youth group days in Albany, Ga. So, we left on Friday and drove to Albany. We had breakfast with Sandy and Keith and one of the sons. It was fun to catch up on life. At one time our tiny youth group constited of Clyde and Sandy Cranwell, Shone and Shoni Bachelor, Robert, Mark Jones (my cousin) and me. Anyway, it was fun to catch up on the last 30 or so years................

Christmas Mystery Quilt.

I got all of the Christmas Mystery Quilt Kits cut out today. I did finish off one bolt of fabric, making up all the kits. There is a sneak peak of some of the fabrics that are in the quilt in the box. I really like the way that the quilt turned out and am looking forward to Christmas in July to get them out.

Birthday quilt.

One of our customers brought this quilt in on Tuesday in hopes that we could finish it before Saturday. We really thought about whether or not we could actually get it done for her. We decided that is was do-able, and gave it our best effort. Well, we were able to get it done and Gladys picked it up this evening.

Hmm, Monday quilting and such.

I got Megan's quilt quilted. I used a clear monofilament and tried to make it look like wind. I also quilted E,W's in the borders. I love E,W's especially on ethnic quilts. If you click on the picture you can see the quilting.
I got this shop hop sampler quilt quilted today. I think an all over design works fine, as it is really about the quilt and not the quilting. Not pictured is the Christmas in July mystery quilt, which got quilted. I got Dell's quilt, Megan's quilt, and the Christmas quilt trimmed and ready for binding and then along came Rosie.....
We ended the day, with taking Rosie to the emergency vet. She tried to get the ball out from under the counter and sliced her leg open. So, she wins sedation, sutures, antibiotics, an over night stay at the vet, an E collar......and we win a huge bill. OUCH! Then we got to come back clean up the mess we left. (okay now I'm whinning)

More Monday happenings.

Here's what she looks like after three stitches, some antibiotics, and a nights stay at the emergency vet. Not too bad really.

Look, we have lines.

Robert got one more thing on his "to do" list done this weekend. He got parking lines painted. He did a fantastic job. It makes me smile because we look like we have official parking now. Woohoo!

I did get some quilts done.

Siobhan brought me in a couple of quilts to quilt. She made this one while she was in England. She used it to teach quilting while she was there. I quilted it with a floral echo, which I seem to be on a roll with these days.

This is Siobhan's study in blue. It was fun to quilt, I quilted it in a blue varigated thread in swirls.
I did get another quilt quilted for Dell as well, but we have to get the binding on it.

Feeling humble and blessed.

Things at the quilt shop have been interesting the last couple of months. April was a little slower at the shop, I blame it on spring break and the Masters. Then May came along and was a little slower still. Now we are into June and the first week was the slowest one we have had since we opened the shop. I am trying not to worry and run ahead of God and try to fix the situation. But, I will admit that I was scrambling inside of my head and heart wondering exactly what we should do. Do I pick up more shifts at the hospital? Cancel some orders? Then Tuesday and Wednesday were some of the busiest days we have had in a while. I sit here with a full heart, thankful that God has once again provided for us in an amazing way. So, for now I will try to contain my worry and panic and continue on this path.

One of many old quilt tops, found and quilted.

This is one of several quilts I have quilted for Dell. She has found boxes of quilts and wants to have them finished. This is the fourth one we have finished. These quilts are special to her and hold lots of memories. It has been an honor to quilt these quilts for her.

Here is the close up of this quilt. I quilted it with floral echos in the main part of the quilt and with wonky feathers in the borders.

No quilting this Monday.....

Megan had to put Maggie to sleep yesterday. So, I took the day off to be with her. We spent the day walking the dogs and shopping and getting stuff she needed for her trip to Trinidad. It was good to have the time together.

The diva and the Christmas quilt.

I have gotten more work done on the diva this week. Lots of blanket stitching. It makes me like the stole better, because it frames it and makes it not quite so stark. I am excited to start planning and thinking about all the embelishments.


I also got the Christmas mystery quilt done. I like it, it is a fun and playful quilt. It is just one of the ways the shop is getting ready for Christmas in July!

Monday, Monday quilts.

This ginko leaf pantograph is one of the few pantographs I like to use, and I have gotten to use it several times on Asian quilts. This is a beautiful red and black Chinese coins quilt. I think the leaves look lovely on this quilt.
This is a lovely round the world quilt pieced by Dorris. It is done in beautiful soft colors. It was fun to quilt loops, leaves and ribbons on this beautiful quilt.
Honestly, quilting a muslin backed quilt is not my favorite, but I am feeling more and more comfortable and confident with my quilting. I thought the ribbons and leaves looked just as good on the back as they did on the front.

Mandy Herron t-shirt quilt.

Mandy Herron made this t-shirt quilt for her niece. It is the first t-shirt quilt that she has made and she did a fantastic job. She was very creative in her use of t-shirts and parts of visors and pictures and blankets.... I got to quilt it for her which was fun, but the real art was in the piecing. Way to go Mandy!

Nice weekend for a motorcycle ride.

Robert and I left on Saturday for Monks Corner South Carolina, which is a little north and west of Charleston. It was a wonderful weekend for a motorcycle ride. In fact it was a little chilly in the morning. And, this one time we missed the 30mph sign heading into a little town and got pulled over by South Carolina's finest. Really we are cautious and safe riders as we would like to be alive to ride again. And our kids would be really mad at us if we weren't. Anyway, the nice officer gave "Mr. and Mrs. Mullis" a slap on the wrist and a warning. For which we are thankful. Especially since it would have been 6 points on our license and $440.00 each. OUCH! With that behind us on we went. We got to see some old friends, and hang out it was a wonderful and refreshing time for our hearts. Now, we are back and I am ready to start the week.
Megan kept an eye on the house and Tallulah for us while we were gone. And this is what happens when you let Rosie and Tallulah loose on the porch the cushion gets defluffed and shredded.