Installing snap on the thread beds

I worked on installing the snaps on the thread beds last evening. It didn't go as smooth as I thought it would, but I figured out some little techniques that made it go better. The fabric was still a bit too thick so it was hammer time! I had a scrap piece of fabric I positioned where I needed to hammer using the template I had made.

I removed the template and then pounded the fabric to flatten it.

I repositioned the template and used the punch for the hole.  The punch and maul worked great!

I stuck the cap thru the hole and used a piece of tape to hole it in place.

Next was adding the female part of the snap

Then I slide the snap into the plier tool and press it with all my might! I took off the tape and press it again.

The side with the flannel was thick so I had to hammer it hard. Here is this one done.

I got half of the thread beds finished. I wasn't feeling that great so it was hard to do these. I did go at lunch to get more of that elixir and I am feeling a whole lot better this morning!

I may need to invest in a better tool to install the snaps. I will be making more of these thread beds and it is just so hard to use the pliers.

These thread beds are bigger than the ones I first started making. Here is a comparison

Thread beds almost done

I took a half day's vacation on Friday; I just had a lot to get done. I made a road trip to the bulk food store I like and needed to go to the credit union in person. After that I headed home; it was a 124.9 mile round trip. I first trimmed these blocks. I never had time at lunch last week to trim them.

Some of the blocks had just enough fabric left that I needed to do something with that.

I made some tiny four patches. It would have been so easy just to pitch those cut off bits.

Next I worked on getting the rest of the pieces I needed for the thread beds. By Saturday at 11:30 am, I had all the pieces cut and the thread picked out.

By 6:30 pm Sunday, all 16 of the thread beds were sewn. The finished 10 1/2" x 13".  They still need snaps.

The punch, maul, and board showed up on Saturday!  Tonight I will be installing snaps. 

That was pretty fast from Texas! I didn't get a chance to try the punch out. By 6:30 pm I was just too tired. I had only taken one does of that elixir on Saturday, and on Sunday my chest, neck and teeth were hurting. I was almost out of the elixir so I was seeing if I needed to get another bottle or not. I got three doses in on Sunday and I am going to get another bottle today.

Cutting out more thread beds

I decided to get eight more thread beads cut out from those fabrics I paired up yesterday.

I then pressed on the fusible fleece. This is the fabric the shows on the inside of the thread bed. I oversized both the fleece and fabric so that after I fused them, I could trim and get a clean edge.

There are a lot of steps to make a thread bed and lots of prepping of the parts. Here are the 4" x 11", 2" x 11", and 2 1/2 x 11" pieces ready for the next step.

The 4" x 11" get pressed into quarters (press in half then press the raw edges to the center and the 2" x 11" get pressed in half. These two pieces get sewn on to the zipper

The 2 1/2" x 11" gets press into quarters and is the binding for the zipper unit. I first baste the pocket lining at the top edge then add the binding.

Pressing all the pieces takes more time than sewing the thing together! LOL!!

I hope to get a big dent in the thread beds this weekend. Have a great one!

More thread bed fabric, cooking, the bridge and more!

I put together a few more fabric combos for thread beds.  Now to get them cut out. 

On the way to the mailbox I was surprised how much taller the daffodils has grown even with the snow and cold weather returning.

In the mail yesterday was a cute card and a packet of California Poppy seeds from my friend in PA. She was at the World Ag Expo and the Sequoia Riverland Trust at the Expo was giving these packages of Californian Poppy seeds so she snagged one for me! They look like they are a variegated flower so I am excited to get this planted once the weather warms up.

Yesterday the project engineer (PE) took me on a tour of the job site. I was hoping to see some of the steel fall where the guys are taking apart the old bridge. Unfortunately, the winds were up to 30 mph so they had to stop working, but it was still good to see how much progress they have made. Here is a shot of underneath. Much of the decking (that's is the part you would drive on) is gone.

Here is from on top of the bridge. You can see the new SB bridge to the left.

We drove thru the stone company's yard to get to the other end of the bridge. They had a big pile of concrete from us that they were processing. It is so handy to have them right beside our project so we don't have to spent the money to haul the concrete to a recycler. The PE told me the guys had set up a slide so they could slide the slabs down to the stone yard and not have to carry them down with a loader. I wish I could have seen that!

The PE wouldn't let me get out of the truck to take pictures at the other end of the bridge because the crew had pounded holes in the concrete to make it easier to remove. He did not want to have me trip on one of the holes. It was good to get out there and see how much they have gotten done.

I spent the majority of my evening in the kitchen. I made a big pot of soup

and flatbread.

I washed dishes while I added indegrediants to the soup and while the flatbread dough rose. After that it was almost 6:30 and I was starting to crash. At work yesterday someone brought in rice crispy treats with of all things, coconut on top. I am not a huge fan of coconut, but I tried one anyway and they were pretty good! Here is a picture before mine was gone.

A replacement rubber stamp for labels

I didn't get anything done last evening because I went to the funeral home. My nephew, Michael the musician, girlfriend's father passed away. He had cancer for several years and was only 59. I was there for a couple hours visiting with the girlfriend's family, my brother, SIL, nephew and lots of friends of the band who showed up. Once I got home, I picked up the mail which included the rubber stamp I had bought. I can now get the label made for the green zig zag quilt. The rubber stamp that I use for my labels is worn out. It reads "One who sleeps under a quilt is comforted by love".

I was lucky last week to find one that was hardly used on ebay. The information said that this stamp was made in 1999. I had looked in the past for one of these with no luck so I was shocked when this one popped up.  I guess I got my money's worth out of the first one!

I decided to test it out with the new ink pad and ink I bought.

The ink on my old ink pad was goopy and thick. With a worn stamp and sticky, goopy ink, I was getting very bad impressions.

Now on my search for a punch, I found what I think will work and once it arrives, I will post about that.

Thread beds

I spent last evening cutting out thread beads. I have the fabric for 8 cutout and the stabilizer pressed on.

But wait! There's more! I still need to cut the green felt, flannel, and vinyl. The flannel will need to be interfaced and the zippers chosen. There are a lot of parts to making one of these! Cutting all the fabrics seems to take long than to sew one together!

I finally tried out the longer spike snaps and they work! Here is the thread bed that I attached it to.

I need to make a hole for the spike to fit thru so I can attach the snaps. I only have one punch that makes a little hole, but it is not very sharp and doesn't make a clean hole. The other punches I have make too big of hole. I use to make a lot of jackets out of sweatshirt fabric and would put on metal snaps which the punch make a bigger hole. I guess I will have to do some research to find a fabric punch.