Cleaning progress, knitting, and a bit of sewing

First room I started on this weekend was the guest room. The bed is great for putting stuff and the room had just become a dumping ground. Here are the before pictures. There are quilts piled on the bed as well as clothes that I need to make quilts out of.

The after! I killed two birds with one stone as I finally made the new window treatments. I have had the fabric for over a year. This job was on my UFO list so I get to cross that one off.

I was going back and forth to the fabric storage room with quilts from the guest room. The two rooms are side by side. The fabric storage room was a mess too so I decided to clean it up as well. The shelves weren't in too bad of shape so I didn't do a whole lot there, but the center table, the floor, and closet were a wreck.

Here is the after. Much better!

I did gather up all the bins of scraps - four big bins and two smaller one. Oh my have I got some scraps! I stacked all the bins together. The three smaller bins to the left are bits from my Mother's stash. This is all that is left as I have used her stash up to make the family Xmas quilts every year. I have a few more scraps in a basket beside my sewing machine and this doesn't include the box of African fabric scraps. I wonder how many quilts I could make out of just these scraps?

I did use a lot of my scraps a few years ago when I made this queen sized step zig zag quilt and a bunch of baby sized step zig zag quilts, but obviously it didn't make much of a dent in my scrap heap!

The other thing that bothered me in my storage room is the number of wall quilts I have made that just sit in a closet. I need to find homes for them, but I am not sure how to go about that.

The lower level of the house is in pretty good shape now so tonight I will head upstairs. I don't have a lot that needs done other than some dishes and running the vacuum.

When I would get tired of cleaning I knitted. This pattern is from Purl Soho. I reduced the number of stitches to 25 since I have a short neck. There are three colors of yard that you just carry up being careful not to pull the yarn too tight or otherwise the sides would curl up. Every row is k1, p1, k1, p1, .... Very easy to knit. The pattern called for a size 7 needle, but I am using a 6 since I knit loose. The pattern calls for the scarf to be 72" long. This one is now 23.5" long.

I also got two labels made and got one sewn on. This pink quilt will be heading to a fellow in one of the bands my brother works for that just became a father.

Airing my dirty laundry and knitting

I promised you that I would show you the before and after pics of my laundry/dye studio/utility room so here we go. My only excuse of how it got this way is that I was too busy sewing - that's my story and I am sticking to it! LOL!! I was just tired of tripping over the stuff!

3 - 3 1/2 hours later and at least four loads of laundry it looked like this. While I was at it I noticed that the furnace filter needed changed so I did that too.

Much better! I still have some more tasks to do - scrub the laundry tub and go thru the stuff on the shelves to eliminate things, but overall it is much better. I got rid of old cosmetics, empty boxes, stacked up the bubble wrap, and got rid of some old ratty painting clothes. After hauling one large and one small trash bag to the bin it was 8 p.m. and I was getting tired so I called it a day.

My next room to attack is my guest room since I will be having company next week. The bed is piled with quilts and clothes I need to make into quilts.

I did start another scarf yesterday at lunch. This one is not for anyone in particular, but someone may like to have it.

I haven't even thought about what I am going to work on this weekend besides labeling two quilts and cleaning. I guess we will both be surprised what is on Monday's post!

Have a great weekend!

Backstage, big clean up, and what's on my design wall

Tuesday night was the first time I got a tour of the backstage area for a Springsteen concert. My brother, Bob, is so funny. He said "stand here and don't touch anything." My nephew had a t-shirt on that said "Listen to Bob." Here is my nephew, my brother Mike, and my SIL Robin in the background.

Here are Nils Lofgren's guitars.

Soozie's guitars.

One of Bob's jobs is to take care Soozie's guitars and violins. He tunes them and runs up and down these steps all night switching out the instruments for each song and they do seem to change for each song! I sat where I could see him up and down these steps all evening!

We headed around the back and there were road cases and huge cables everywhere!

In the back center of the stage was an curtained opening to underneath the stage.

Underneath was Bruce's guitars and lots more equipment.

These are the steps the band uses to get to the stage.

As we walked to the other side of the stage Bob would introduce us to crew members. They were all very nice. Here is more guitars and equipment on the right side of the stage.

We turned around to walk back and we stopped at the back center of the stage area and Bob opened the curtain so we could see the art work one of the crew members put on the floor. He made this free hand with gaffer tape. He does this for every show and the band walks across it to head to the stage. It takes the fellow 4 hours to make this. Pretty cool! This is in the area between the stage area and the loading dock.

To the left and right of the floor design there was mountains of road cases! Yes, more! I can't imagine having to pack up all that equipment! I don't know how many semi trucks they were using, but my best guess would be at least four to six. I remember on the Pink Floyd tour my brother said they had twelve equipment trucks and that didn't include the stage!

So now you know what a back stage area looks like. And I didn't touch anything!

I was tired last night. I knew if I sat down I would fall asleep and after getting a bite to eat I did exactly that. I woke up at 5:30 so I made myself get up and clean up the studio. Here is the before

Here is the after. I also did a couple loads of laundry, but ran out of time to vacuum. I ended up with a garbage bag that was 3/4 full of bits. The room feels and looks much better. Tonight I will be getting after the laundry room. I had a pile of scraps I toss on the floor in there and well, wait to you see the before pictures tomorrow. I will be honest and show what two weeks of sewing and not doing laundry or cleaning up looks like!

I did dig out all my AC/DC shirts and they were in a pile in the studio, so as part of the clean up I cut them up, ironed on the interfacing, and hung them on the design wall. My Akron Art Prize entry this year will be a t-shirt piece with just AC/DC shirts and patches. I still need to get a few more shirts. I have bought some patches already. I want to get this piece put together so I can start the embroidery on it sooner than when I stated on the piece last year. Michael has some concerts already booked so I can take it with me to work on while I sit at the merchandise booth.

What a ride!

Monday afternoon I worked on binding the doggie quilts. It took me about 5 hours. Here they are done. The doggies quilts were for Nils Lofgren. On Tuesday when we got to the concert my brother told me he gave four to Nils because he has 4 dogs not 8. Alrighty then I made 4 extra!! He said he would give the others to some other deserving dogs and I was fine with that. Nils and his wife love the quilts!

Then I made the slide guitar cover (for Nils). I quilted flannel to the car cover fabric so that the flannel was the nice soft lining. I drew out the dimensions as sewed it together.

Done.

Next was the road case cover made out of Duvetyne which is a flame resistant fabric. This cover was for a case my brother uses. It was 10:30 p.m. and I called it a day.

I was up and sewing at 6 a.m. Tuesday. I made a large pedal board cover and one for Michael

and then started on the two smaller ones. I needed to get these done and delivered to my brother Mike's house by 11 a.m. so that his son could take them up early to the venue. Michael was going to hang backstage with his Uncle Bob. Mike, my SIL Robin, and I went up later. I had also made a pedal board cover for Michael while I was at it, but the one I made and tried on his board on Saturday was a bit small. I tried a new design and we tried the new one on before he left for Cleveland and it fit much better. Here is all the stuff he took up with him.

The two smaller covers were too big so I get a text with the real dimensions from Michael and was to bring them up to the show. Now this was at 1 p.m. and in addition he wanted one more cover in black. Here I thought I was done for the day! So it was back to the sewing machine. I thought we might have to hook up power to my sewing machine so I could sew on my way to Cleveland! I got these three done at 4, quickly got ready, drove to Mike's house, and we left a little after 5 for Cleveland. I know these don't look like much, but they fit perfect and my brother was very happy. They are about 11.5 x 5.5, 3" tall at the back and 2" at the front. I can feel it in my shoulders today from stretching the elastic. By the way, all the rest of the covers fit so that was a relief!

Tomorrow I will show the tour we got of the backstage area. The amount of equipment is mindboggling!

Tonight I am going to shovel out my studio. It is a disaster! I had no time to be neat! There are scraps, thread, and bits everywhere! I also need to check my inventory of car cover fabric. The tech for Bruce needs a new cover for his amps. I asked if there was a problem with the other one I made, and he said the cover has gotten pretty beat up from going around the world! I think I kept the dimensions.

I am living in Crazyville!

Too much to do and going on. I feel like I am running in place. Friday I spent all day at training for work. I thought the work day would never end. I was able to knit while I listened. I got my scarf done. I still need to weave in the yarn ends though.

I then worked on a baby blanket that I had started last year while the training continued. I would ask as question once in awhile so they knew I was paying attention. I knitted from the tie on and almost knitted the entire skein. I have about 16 more rows and the knitting will be done on this. I will crochet the edges to give them a pretty finish.

Once I got home I had to do some cleaning up, because my brother was going to be coming over on Saturday to deliver my new mattress that we were going to Cleveland to get Saturday morning. My brother and his wife needed to firm up the kitchen cabinet order and put some money down so I went with them, took my pillow to try out mattresses. The fellows at Northeast Furniture Direct said I was the first person they ever saw bring their own pillow! They got a big kick out of that. This was not a cheap decision to make so I wanted to make sure I was totally comfortable with which mattress I picked. Here is my old sad Sleep Number bed. Look how the sides have bowed out!

Here's the new one. It is comfortable. It sits much higher so it is a bit tougher to get into bed and I forget how high it is in the middle of the night so it is quite a jolt when I hit the floor!

So we are at the place in Cleveland, it's packed with shoppers, my SIL had an appointment but the consultant was running behind with the people from her first appointment so my SIL was a bit frazzled. Then she went with me to check out mattresses, then my brother checked it out and the back and forth just went on and on. It was nuts! We finally got the mattress loaded and headed back. It of course took longer than we thought and we all needed to get back. My SIL is a teacher and had work to do, I had sewing, and my nephew who we picked up on the way back to help get the mattress into my house (it was heavy!) had homework.

So I am back from Cleveland and I see deer in the backyard. Not just deer but bucks! I rarely see bucks and there were three! I tossed out the remaining old apples and pears to see if they would walk up the hill to my yard for a snack and two of them did.
Here is a very young buck and an eight pointer.

The third one in this picture it on the right side of the tree trunk and down the hill so you can see his head and rack. His rack kind of blends in with the brush. He looked like a 8 or 10 pointer. I probably shot an hour watching them! I should have been sewing.

I did get seven out of the eight doggies quilts quilted between Saturday and Sunday.

Friday night I had made a prototype of a pedal board cover for my nephew so I could try it on his board on Saturday since I was at his house anyway. I am glad I did this as there are a few adjustments I need to make.

Sunday I had to run to Jo Ann's and get more clear vinyl as I didn't have enough on hand.

I got some pieces and parts cut out for the pedal board covers and the steel guitar cover I am making for my brother, but have so much work yet to do. I haven't even cut out the fabric for the road case cover yet. I am taking a half day vacation this afternoon to sew and possibly vacation tomorrow morning too in order to get all of this done. I have to give all this stuff for my nephew to take up tomorrow afternoon as my brother is taking him up early so he can hang back stage with his uncle. That way I don't have to worry about getting this stuff through security.

My sister and her husband are coming into town next week so after this sewing stuff I have to get things ready for them. Maybe after that things will quiet back down.