Working in the studio and haul

I tried to get some stuff done despite being tired from the two shows and late nights. I worked on getting all the fabric I had cut for more tote bags.

I now have a bunch of handles topstitched so it will be easy to whip together some bags quickly. Right now we are in pretty good shape at the merch booth.

My next project is to quilt and bind a quilt top that belongs to a friend of one of the ladies I work with. I started out pressing it but came to realize that all the pressing the world was not going to help this top lay anywhere near flat. Look at how crooked this edge is and see all that excess in the middle of the top row?

See how wavy it is at the bottom of the part hanging over the side of my table?

There is only one course of action and that it to take the top apart and recut the blocks. Look at how crooked this block is!

Every block is a different size! I don't understand why the person didn't at least make a cardboard template to at least try and get the blocks somewhat the same size.  Here is the back of the quilt top

and this what the back looks like after trimming and sewing together the blocks.  As I was taking the blocks apart there were places where seams were so tiny they got missed.  I am trimming the blocks to the size of the smallest block in the quilt so they will all be trimmed to 9 1/2" square. 

The bottom two rows are sewn together and the other two rows are trimmed blocks ready to be sewn into rows.

Here is my pile of blocks ready for pressing and trimming

This is what is left of the top to rip apart. I will do some of that at lunchtime today.

I finally found some time to open the boxes of stuff I have bought.

The King Tut quilting thread was $3.30 a spool; normally it is $10.99. I saved $200.00! The pink will be used for the quilt I am remaking. The lady included a dark pink sheet for the back so this pink thread will be prefect.

I bought a few more pieces for thread beds and project bags. I had a $12.00 off coupon, everything was at least half off and I got free shipping.

I picked up two pieces of very nice quality flannel that were only $5.00 a yard.

I did have left over cookies and the guys at work are happy!

Thursday and Friday's shows

Thursday we headed to Sandusky OH for Ohio Bike Week

The merch booth was a long ways from the stage

There was a pretty sunset

These are all the cookies that were left for Friday's show

so I made another double batch of oatmeal raisin and then made a double batch of pan banging chocolate chip. I had some leftover and I will take those to the guys at work.

I had finished the six tote bags for Thursday and made two bigger bags for drumheads on Friday.

Both nights I got to bed at 12:45 am. I'm a bit tired. LOL!!

Lunch, cookies, and tote bags

Yesterday was crazy but I got thru it. After a meeting the woman who runs our group took us to lunch; there must have been money in the budget that needed spent! I had salmon and it was delicious!

When I finally got home after doing a few errands there were some loose ends I needed to tie up from work. I then started making cookies for the show the band has Thursday night. Oatmeal raisin - two double batches!

After that I worked on the tote bags and they are ready for assembly. I will be working on these all summer. I need just one day to just work on them and try to get ahead.

3rd finish for 2026, tote bags and a car repair

Now the Harley quilt is done! It finished at 79" x 88".

So what's next? Tote bags! I got started last evening pressing the fabric for the handles. My friend, Cherie, gave me fabric for tote bags already cut to size which makes it so easy for me to get some bags put together quickly.

Yesterday my brother stopped over to replace my passenger side mirror. He had "fixed" it a week and a half ago with wire ties after I knocked it off trying to back into a too small of a space while trying not to hit my SIL's car.

I clipped the mirror on a branch. My brother watched YouTube videos and bought a mirror off of FB marketplace or ebay. The mirror had a brown cover on it, so we just switched that out.

The broken mirror was easy to remove. There were three bolts and a screw.

15 minutes later and the mirror was fixed!

My brother had called the dealership to find out what a mirror would cost which was $700 plus $500 for installation! He bought the used one for $80.00.

Almost done

My poor fingers hurt, but I got the binding sewn. Now all I need is a label and it's done!

I took a break from hand stitching the binding at 6 pm to go out and mow the back yard. It took about 35 minutes. I still need to do some trimming, but at least it doesn't look like a hayfield anymore! I only had a couple of feet left to stitch so I did that and then went to bed.

So close!

Friday evening I got two more shirts quilted. Saturday morning I decided I needed to pull some weeds. This bed was a hot mess!

I got out my tools and turned on some music.

After about an hour I had the one side pretty well cleaned up.

The other side was bad!

I had to be careful to try and not pull any of the California Poppies out, so it took longer to weed. I didn't get it all done. I was getting tired after being on my hands and knees and then up and down after 2 1/2 hours, but it looks better than it did.

I ended up with three wagon loads of weeds and stuff I cut off the mugo pine.

Next was quilting again. I had 5 shirts left and got 4 1/2 quilted. I wanted to make some cookies to take that evening to a show for the security guy I met at last week's show. He was so helpful with loading out.

Michael was going to play with

The weather was beautiful and there was a pretty good crowd.

During the show there were fireworks for the end of the minor league baseball team game. The ball park is located on the other side of a parking deck.

Sunday I was hurting all over so it took me some time to get moving. I did get the last shirt quilted. The binding was sewn on by machine and I now have one side hand stitched. I brought it to work so I can get a bit more of the hand stitching done at lunch then I will hopefully finish it tonight.

The band's first show is Thursday and that is the show where I will hand this quilt off to the lady that has the poker run. We have a lot of shows this summer so I will be keeping busy making tote bags and cookies!

I finshed out my Sunday with triming and mowing the front and sides. The back still needs mowed, but I was just too tired to do it last night. I still hurt a bit all over today, but I'll be ok. I need a couple Excedrine!

Back to the Harley quilt!

I got two more shirts quilted last evening.

I am now 80% done with quilting this. I will have the quilting done by end of day Saturday and then then binding will be Sunday. Add a label and it will be done!

I did tell a fib. When I got home I finished those three thread beds instead of putting them aside until after I finished the Harley quilt. They were so close to being done I just had to finish them. The two lighter purple beds still need the snaps, but otherwise all the sewing is done.

Have a great weekend!