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.

2nd finish for 2026, pouch quilting,

I took a half sick day off Friday afternoon. I was not feeling good. I was still feeling the pressure in my chest, neck, and lower jaw. This is the weirdest cold I have ever had. I worked on quilting the green baby quilt, got the binding on it and now it is done! It finished 39" x 45.75". All it needs is a label, which is a story for later on this week.

Saturday, I quilted the sandwiches I had put together for the curved top pouches. I decided to start on the ones I planned on quilting with yellow thread. I still wasn't feeling great so I took many breaks, but I managed to get 15 quilted. I finished the last 5 on Sunday morning.

The pouches are now cut out and ready for finishing. Here they are on the table with the other pouch sandwiches that need quilted. My plan is to get them quilted and trimmed, then start the process of finishing them.

I am going to start quilting the orange pile so I wound bobbins and pulled out the Sulky rayon thread I will quilt them with. I have a lot of this Sulky thread and would like to use it up. These pouches are a good way to use up some of the thread I have.

I made a pot of chili.

I decided to go around the studio to clean up stuff. I had this pile of end cuts from making the zig zag quilt

I sewed those together to make four patches. They are now pressed and ready for trimming. If I alternate the 4 patches with a solid patch, I think I have enough for another baby quilt.

I put together a ruler, cutting mat, my rotary cutter with the 4 patches and will trim them at lunch.

I was doing laundry in between other tasks. I did get a label made and sewed on for the t-shirt quilt finally. It is all packed in a box ready for mailing at lunchtime today.

I ran out of energy to cut any fabric for the thread beds, but Sunday when I got up the heaviness in my chest, neck and jaw was gone and my teeth didn't hurt anymore!  I feel great today and I will continue to keep taking that elixir.  I think it has helped my itchy skin too!  

We did get a bit of snow last night - about a half inch. It snowed all day Sunday but it was so fine there was no accumilation. It is still snowing, but it is suppose to end in a couple hours.

Quilting has begun and thank goodness it is Friday

I got about one third of the green zig zag quilted last evening. My goal is to get this done this weekend. I won't hand it off until March 4th so for once I will be ahead of schedule!

My other plans are to start quilting the curved top pouches, make some thread beds, and get that t-shirt quilt shipped. Have a great weekend!

Pin basting, chicken, and a new calendar

Quilt is pin basted, bobbins are wound, and the sewing machine is all oiled so I am ready to start quilting the green zig zag quilt.

I needed put the last two packages of chicken in the crockpot to cook yesterday before I went to work. I deboned the chicken and will pack it tonight to vacuum seal it before freezing.

Yesterday the General Superintendent passed out calendars to us that featured pictures of the bridge job. Here is December 2025 showing on the upper right the SB new bridge which is for both north and south bound traffic until the north bound bridge is built. The other bridge is the existing bridge which is being demolished and the new north bound bridge will be built close to same place.

Ready to pin baste

I was not feeling great yesterday. I have this heaviness in my chest and I'm still coughing so I didn't get much done last evening. The baby zig zag is ready for pin basting.

I had my monthly wellness appointment with my chiropractor/kinesiologist/functional nutritionist and told him about how I was feeling. He ran out of the room and brought back this herbal elixir. I started taking it as soon as I got home. I mix a teaspoon with water and I need to take it 3 to 4 times a day. It is some nasty tasting stuff, but if it helps me get rid of this lingering cold I don't care! I learned real quick that if I get something else to drink after I take it, the taste subsides quickly.

When I went to check the mailbox last evening I saw the daffodils are already coming up.