I got the call

Last evening I got the call from my brother for the size of the first amp cover he needs. Here is the photo he sent me.

I sketched the layout of the sizes I would need to cut out and proceeded.
Here are the pieces and the roll of elastic that I will assemble and turn into a cover tonight. I think it will not take more than two hours to make this. I would like to get it in the mail to him tomorrow. I will be anxious to hear how it works out. The size will be approximately 62" x 31" X 16".

Progress on the wool quilt

I sewed together 9 more blocks into rows. I was thinking of using a little more color in this quilt so I hung up the pieces next to the quilt as it looks right now. I am going to make the blocks and audition them. I am running out of light colored wool pieces. I may have to go and visit all the taylors in town to see if they have sample books they would like to get rid of.

When I pulled in the driveway after work I spied daffodil flower heads in the flower bed. It is still February in Ohio and they should not be up until early April! Yes, I need to get out there and clean up!

The day lillies are also comming up. Here is a group of them. I will have to see if the deer came last night and snacked on them.

What I got done and the start of the wool quilt

Saturday I finished up a few more alterations. This skirt had been altered by using safety pins.

I think I can do better. The skirt had a side zipper so I had to take it out so I could spread the 4 1/2" that I needed to take this skirt in on both sides. Yes, it was a pain, but it's done!

I had to take this dress in at the zipper, so it was another removal and reinstall.

The last thing I did before I quit sewing was hem this little dress. I had to stop sewing and run the vacuum quick and clean up the place a bit before the person coming to pick up the clothes came.

Finally I could start on the wool quilt. I got a bunch of men's suit fabric sample books from a taylor's shop probably 15 years ago. I had thought about making a wool quilt, but I never got around to doing it.

My wool storage bin with these sample pieces was a mess! I spent 4 - 6 hours on Saturday pulling off the paper tags, throwing out the poly/wool blend pieces, and pressing the pieces so I could stack them by color. I also had saved the pieces from a couple of suits I had hemmed at one time so those will go into the quilt too.

On Sunday, I then picked out pieces that I wanted to use in this quilt, bundled them together with a safety pin and headed to the washer.

All this sorting was messy. There was fuzz and little pieces of wool everywhere! I decided when I washed them I didn't want all the crumbs going down the drain so I pinned an old sock on the washer drain. The sock is now gray from all the lint it caught.

This is what the pile looked like after I took it out of the dryer.

It took a couple of hours to untangle, press, and cut these pieces. By the way this was not all the wool scraps. I only washed about 1/3 of what I have. From each piece I cut a 2 7/8" strip and a 2" strip.

When I was going thru the wool scraps I came across a few blocks I had already pieced. There was one lovely log cabin block made with 2" strips

and three rail fence blocks that were 7 1/2". 7 1/2" is the longest lenght I can get out of the wool pieces so that dictated the size I was going to work with. I decided the rail fence blocks would be the way I would go on this first wool quilt so here is what I have done so far. I don't know what size of quilt my brother needs yet for his bunk, but it will be easy to add another row on the width or lenght if needed. I just want to get a top mostly done so when I get the measurments I will have the majority of the top already done. The blocks are sew together, but I haven't sew the rows together yet.

I may add in a bit more color with these scraps. These colors sure would make a interesting man's suit!

So this week will be all about working on this piece.

Two done and thank goodness it is Friday!

I forced myself to work on the gray shorts last evening and they are done! I grabbed another pair of shorts out of the pile to at least tear apart.

These pink shorts have piping at the top and bottom of the facing waistband. I had to fool around with them a bit to figure out the best way to take them in because of the piping. I finished them this morning before I left for work.

Here is my done pile for the week. A lot of work for such a small pile.

And of course the to do pile that is still on my table. I will try and get done whatever I can by the pick up time at noon tomorrow, then I am switching to quilting!

Two people here at work saw the male mallard this morning. I guess they didn't go far. I have to se if I can find the nest so I can watch them.

I have another weekend that I don't plan on leaving the house except maybe to go the the grocery store. I plan on lots of quilting! Have a great one!

Yes, another done, duck update and daffodils

I got the shorts fixed and back together that I had ripped apart the night before.

Here are the next short to fix. They are going to be a pain. They have a facing style waistband so I have to take in the outside waistband, the waistband facing and the side seam. Each side needs an inch total taken out.

Here they are ripped apart and will be tonight's project.

Even with all the stuff I have fixed this week the pile still doesn't look like it is any smaller.

The mother is picking what I have done on Saturday, so she will get whatever I have done. Then Saturday afternoon and Sunday I plan on playing with my wool scraps and see what I can put together for a road quilt for my brother. Hummmm - I just got an idea ...

After more traffic and cars pulled into the parking lot where the ducks were thinking about setting up a nest, the ducks left. I think they realized the spot they picked was not such a good idea. I am glad. Now I don't have to worry about the ducklings getting run over. I just hope they found a safer place. It was fun to watch them while they were here. I had never seen a mallard pair that close up.

It is again above freezing here and the temp gets into the 40's almost every day. The daffodils think it is spring. I worry about the fruit farmers. There are a lot of orchards in Ohio and if we get hit with a frost there could be a lot of damage. Here is a group of daffodils at my house.

And another done and urban ducks

I didn't feel good yesterday, but I did managed to get the tan shorts sewn back together. I had to take them in 2 1/4" so that is 18/8. Divide that by 3 and that is 6/8 for each side seam and the back seam. Divide that in half and I took in each seam 3/8".

I got the second pair of shorts torn apart and will fix those tonight just like I did the tan pair.

I came into work this morning and I saw a mallard duck outside our office. Then I saw the female duck. She is looking to make a nest in the low juniper bushes in front of the office. He is standing guard. We are about a half mile from water, but if she plans on walking her brude they would have to cross one of the busiest streets in town! Now I am going to have to learn everything about ducks and see what we can do about relocating the baby ducks once they are hatched.
Here is daddy duck. The bushes to the left is where mom wants to nest.

One of the guys tried to chase them away so maybe they would find a safer place - they didn't go far

The mother duck came right back to the first spot she liked and dad is standing guard.

Another done

Hem pants - Done!

Next I spent time taking a pair of shorts apart. I took me an hours to carefully rip them apart. They are too big and the young woman paid big bucks for them so she wanted to get some more wear out of them. I had to be careful taking off the belt loops that were sewn on within an inch of their lives. The good news (ha, ha) is that I have another pair of the same shorts to alter! Here are the shorts on the owner

Here are the shorts torn apart

So tonight I will take these in by taking some out of each side seam and the back seam, cut a hunk out of the waistband and sew it back on and use the center back belt loop to cover the seam I will put in the waistband. I feel like I am back at the shop where I worked and did the majority of their alterations 60 - 70 hours a week. They made custom clothes for people who showed western horses. There were always alterations to do as the girls grew or sold their outfits to someone else. I guess all that experience is being put to use this week - but I would rather be making a quilt!

Here is the sunrise this morning.

What got done

Lots of pictures today and please read at least the end of this post. I have a question that I need your help with. Thanks!

Hand sew the binding on the pink and white quilt - DONE!

Hem sleeves and skirt on my neighbor's suit - DONE!

Replace zipper in my neighor's skirt - DONE!

Hem a lined pair of pants - DONE!

Take in the waist of a pair of pants - DONE!

Take in a dress at the zipper - not done

The rest of the pile to do

I didn't get as much done on Saturday - I was tired even though I had sleep good the night before. I am going to keep working on this pile of clothing and try to get as much done as possible this week. I want to work on quilts not alterations!

My brother called and said he would be on his way to N.J. today. There is a possiblity that I may be making amp covers for another band he works with and he asked that I make him a conforter/quilt blanket for his bunk on the bus. He won't need it until sometime in March and he needs to get me the measurements. He doesn't like the comforters that are supplied and he said he needs something warm. Apparently they keep the A/C on full blast on the bus. Question to all of you out there in blogland - is the wool batting warmer than the cotton? I have never use wool so I don't know. I was thinking I would use the wool suit sample scraps I have and make him a wool quilt and use wool batting in it. For the backing I may use flannel. Thanks for your help!

Yeah it is Friday!

I got busy last evening and sewed the binding on that pink and white quilt. I smells of Bounce and my hands started itching. I never use Bounce - I do not like the smell! Well, I must have touched my eye, because my left under eye area is puffy this morning. I will be careful when I do the handstitching on this and make sure I don't touch my face.

I don't have any errands, appointments, and my nephew is not playing this weekend. I plan on not leaving the house and having a sewing marathon starting at 5 pm tonight when I get to the house after work until Sunday evening. I plan on stopping only for food and some sleep. The only other activity I may do is get some of the weeds pulled that were left from last year in the front flower bed if the weather is nice. Yesterday the temperature got up to 48 degrees! Let's see what I can get done.

Have a great weekend.

Things are going according to plans

On Monday I ordered the car cover fabric and elastic (from two different companies) I will need for the amp covers for my brother. Well, they both arrived yesterday! I was a little brain dead when I took this picture - I forgot to turn on the flash! Here is the fabric packaged nicely and the rolls of elastic. That is 10 yards of 55" wide fabric and 100 yards of elastic. I only bought enough fabric for making the first cover. This cover is to plant the idea of how great these covers would be and then I will order more fabric once they are officially ordered. 100 yards seems like a lot of elastic, but when it will be attached all the way around the bottom of the covers I think I will go thru a lot. 100 yards was their minimum order and at 29 cents a yard (including shipping) that is a pretty good price.

I didn't get much done last night. I had to run to the post office to get my external hard drive to back up my laptop that I had ordered. I finally got around to buying one - now I just hope I can figure out how to hook it up!

After I got back from the post office I sat down and watched "Southland". This morning I had enough time that I cut the binding for the pink and white quilt.

Maybe I will be ambitious tonight and get the binding attached.

6th finish for 2012

I managed to get the binding hand sewn on the first of the two brown and pink quilts last evening. Yeah!

So what is next? Well, the pesky alterations, the other pink and brown quilt, a blue and gold zig zag quilt top, and I have a baby size quilt out of Dutch wax fabric to finish. I am declaring February the month of finishes - yes I know the month is half over, but I am all about making rules up as I go along!