Angela Walters

Glen commented on yesterday's post about this item. It is a very nice book. I don't know how many pages at this point - I just have not had the energy to dive into it. I was still recovering from my rockin' weekend! I wouldn't feel right taking pictures of the pages in the book and posting them, so my plan is to go thru the book and make samples. I will then post those samples. I hope to have the wedding quilt done this weekend so then I will have time to play!

Just in case I have not posted enough Bruce pictures, here is the one I have on my desktop right now. I have only changed it every day!

Rainy and windy

It is still raining and it is very windy. The wind roared thru the trees in the back yard (kind of sounded like a train)and with rain and debris hitting the windows it was unsettling. I have it lucky compared to a lot of people so I am not complaining. We never lost power and it looks like so far the reapir I made to the hole in the foundation is working. The kids do not have school today because of the high winds. I only saw one big branch down in someone's yard, but then again it was pitch black on my way to work. I did not have to drive around any limbs or branches in the streets so that was a good thing!

I did stop at the library and I am the first one to have my hands on this book

I think I will try and get the flannel quilt put together for my sister's Xmas present and practice some of the quilting patterns shown in this book on it. I haven't had a chance to look at the book closely - I will save that for this weekend after I get the wedding quilt finished.

Here is another Bruce picture

Art Museum, Bruce and rain OH MY!

The opening at the museum went well, despite the food being late (somebody gave the caterer the wrong time) and the rain. I worked the bar and ended up opening 29 bottles of wine. Here are the corks.

Saturday I headed to Pittsburg with my brother, Mike, Robin, and my nephew, Michael. We dropped of Michael with his Uncle Bob and we went and got something to eat. Here is the back of the building where we got to park. The fellow in the red plaid shirt is Bob.

I counted seven buses.

I didn't count the semi trucks, but there were a lot of them!

I took this picture at the side of the stage. There is Bob getting stuff ready for the horn section.

Here is the top of a road case I was standing beside. Yes, that says Bruce Tools on top.

Michael got to sit beside his uncle during the concert and the rest of us stood in front of the stage. Michael was looking at You Tube videos on Sunday from the concert. He saw one that was shot by someone who had seats behind the stage. He took a freeze frame and when he looked closely at it he saw his mom and I! He put a red arrow to point us out. Too funny!

When Bruce body surfed back to the stage, I tried to help. His left foot was right over my head and I managed to touch the bottom of his left boot. With all the tall guys holding him up I was no help! I had a great time!

Here was the crowd to my left

and to my right

in front of me - this guy was freakin' huge!

Robin, my sister-in-law

Bruce played from 8:15 to 11:30. It took awhile for us to get the the express way. If you have ever been to Pittsburg the city streets are tight and it is amazing how the express ways were engineered and squashed into the city. We only had to go two city blocks to get to the highway, but there were cars in every nook and cranny trying to get onto the city streets. I pulled into my garage at 2:40 a.m. It was so worth it!

Sunday I did manage to get some machine quilting done between laundry and nodding off a few times. I only have 3 1/2 blocks to finish on the wedding quilt.

I guess I won't be walking much at lunch this week due to the hurricane. I don't mind the cold, but it is raining and the wind is suppose to be blowing 30 to 40 mph. With that wind the unbrella won't do much good and the flying debris could be dangerous.

Fixing a hole where the rain gets in ...

I didn't realize until late yesterday that I had a blister on both of my little toes. I didn't walk at lunch because it was too hot - 81 degrees - and my toes hurt. I was going to walk to the library after work, but my toes still hurt. Since the weather was so nice I decided I needed to investigate a place in my poured foundation for a hole/crack. On the inside I was seeing this grit on the floor

Here is the same area after I vacuumed up the grit

So I gathered up some tools and headed outside. You see the gray vertical line? That is where I filled in the crack, but I did not dig below grade and that is where I found a 1/4" gap.

I dug down to where there was no gap and then sprayed the crack with this black stinky goop to fill the crack. I forgot to take a picture before I started spraying, but here is the crack all filled.

I filled the hole I dug back in and graded the soil so that any water would run downhill. I will keep watching to make sure that I get no more grit inside. No more grit then I will declare that problem solved.

After fixing the hole I took off my shoes and sock and slapped some Neosporin + pain relief on my hurting toes. I didn't wrap them - I thought maybe they just needed to dry out a bit and needed to have the air get at them. They felt a lot better this morning, so I put more Neosporin on them and wrapped them with my foam tape. They feel pretty good right now.

One of my quilting friends stopped by the office yesterday and brought me the Mettler quilting thread I had ordered from her. I needed this so bad! I had run out of natural colored thread and I needed this to finish the wedding quilt.

She also brought me some 1/4 yard pieces of fabric - yeah! The yellow and gray swirly piece will be going into my gray and yellow quilt.

Tonight I am working at the art museum for a new exhibit that is opening - Adolph Gottlieb and new works by Brent Kee Young and Sungsoo Kim. It is sculpture and glass pieces.
Tomorrow I am going to Pittsburg to see my brother and Bruce Springsteen. I will be riding with another brother, my sister-in-law and my nephew, Michael, the musician. We will drop off Michael so he can hang out with his uncle and get the behind the scenes education during sound check. My brother, sister-in-law and I will then find something to do for a few hours. I have spent some time in Pittsburg so I know my way around a bit. It is an easy town to get around in as long as you are not walking uphill! It would be too much for my brother for all of us to be back stage and it is more important for Michael to see what goes on.

So Sunday I will have to recover and maybe I will get a couple blocks on the wedding quilt done.

Have a great weekend!

Progress on the wedidng quilt

I walked at lunch yesterday and saw this mushroom. It must have been 8 or 9 inches tall and I thought it was beautiful. It did have a bit of a shimmer to it, but that does not show up in the photo. By the way, my toe feels ok for walking. I have it wrapped in foam tape. The weather was so beautiful yesterday I went out for another walk after work so I got in a total of 5 miles yesterday. The weather is suppose to turn cold so I want to spend as much time outside as possible just soaking up all the warmth.

After my evening walk I worked on the wedding quilt. I got half of one block quilted.

And then this happened ...

I wasn't going to buy any more fabric, and this happened!

I didn't have any of these prints so I just had to add them to the music fabric stash.

I went for my walk yesterday

and then this happened

a blister on my little toe! I opened up the blister, wrapped it in tape last night and it feels better this morning. I wrapped it up again in cushioned tape in case the rain stops so I can walk today.

I got my mail last evening and this happened!

This is an invite to a lingerie shower for my future sister-in-law. The shower is on Friday morning, the pre-wedding reception is Friday evening, and the wedding is on Saturday afternoon. The shower invite means I need to come up with another outfit! I have worn nothing but polo shirts and jeans for over 10 years and I have nothing to wear to any one of the three events! I borrowed a book from the library to try and figure out what I should wear.

I feel like I am livin' la vita loca!

Keeping busy

Yesterday weather was absolutely beautiful for Ohio this time of year. The temp was in the mid 60's and the sun was shining. I increased my mileage at lunch time to 3 miles and after work I rode bike for 45 minutes. I am trying to soak in all this nice weather before the nasty stuff shows up.

After the bike ride I finished hemming the sleeves of my neighbor's jacket and walked around the corner to deliver it. I had worked on the wedding quilt a bit, but was up early this morning and finished block number 36.

The last 6 blocks are in the middle of the quilt so there will be some major wrestling to work on them. The quilt is 6 - 14" blocks by 7 - 14" blocks so that is 84" x 98".
Here are the 6 blocks left to quilt.

Productive weekend

I managed to get the pair of lined pants for my neighbor hemmed and the jacket sleeves are almost done. I will finish those tonight.

I got all the fabric from my last purchase washed and pressed. My shelf with all my music and pirate fabric is almost full! I now have pleanty of choices for the next quilt I make.

I worked on the wedding quilt in between the weekend activities. I now have 6 1/3 blocks left to quilt. The blocks in the center of the quilt take longer to quilt since I can only quilt a few inches before I need to straighten up the quilt. The feel of the quilt is so great. I love the texture of all the line quilting and how the quilting just makes the quilt come to life.

I know it is a bit wacky that I don't start in the middle and work outwards, but I find the the quilt is easier to handle rolling it up when the part you roll up is already quilted. The quilting keeps the layer from shifting and with good pin basting I usually don't have a problem doing it this way. So far (knock on wood here) I have not gotten any bunching or puckers in the back.

Sunday the weather was beautiful! I went for a walk (somewhere between 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 miles) and enjoyed the beauty of the trees. Here are a few I saw.

The weather is suppose to be in the low 70's this week so I will be walking at lunch time down at the tow path. I think I walked 4 out of 5 days last week. The crowds had thinned out since the weather has gotten cooler, but I can imagine this week there will be more people since the weather will be warmer.

Better than a stick in the eye

I messed around a bit last evening, did my exercise tape, and then quilted a bit. I only got half a block done, but it's better than a stick in the eye!

My weekend plans are quilting, exercising, hemming the sleeves on a jacket, and hemming a pair of pants. I don't plan on leaving the house except to go walking.

Here is the sunrise yesterday. The sky was so red and this picture did not capture the color and the beauty.

Here is this morning's sunrise. So funny how it is so different from yesterday.

Have a great weekend!

Thirty done and ...

twelve more to go. Yes, I am talking about the blocks of the wedding quilt. Here is the one I finished.

It is suppose to rain starting sometime this morning so I don't know if I will be able to do my lunchtime walk. If it is not raining too hard I will go.

Back to the wedding quilt

The quilt is unpacked from its trip to Charm and is now ready for me to get the machine quilting finished.

Last evening I washed some of the fabrics that came from Hancock's, but they still need pressed. I was lacking energy last evening so I didn't get much done. I have to get myself motivated! I think a list and time line need to be made to help me get myself moving!

More raw materials

Oh you thought the fabric I bought at Charm would be enough raw materials, but NOOOOOOO! My friend on Friday brought me this

Yes, that is at least my fifth or sixth 40 yard bolt of batting. My friend got it for me at cost so it was a great deal! I was down to only a couple of yards left from my last bolt so I am getting this just in time.

Next, my music fabric that I had ordered from Hancock's arrived Friday when I was at Charm. The had some music fabric "Good Vibrations" for five and six dollars a yard plus a couple of skull and crossbone pieces that I just love (great for "metal" quilts). Here is the 18 yards fabric I bought.

I will get that washed and on the shelf with the other music fabric and I will have plenty to work with when I have to make more music themed quilts. So between Charm and Hancock's I have added 50 yards to my stash. I think that will be enough for awhile!

While I was straightening up in the fabric storage room I gathered up the fabrics and interfacing for my niece's graduation t-shirt quilt. She loves orange - always has.

On my walk last Thursday I saw a wooley bear. Yes, you have to look where you walk on the towpath this time of year. One of my co-workers and I walked yesterday. I decided to go back to the car and get the unbrella just in case it would rain and by golly it did. So glad I made the decision to go back and get it.