Let the pin basting begin!

Between laundry and cooking last evening I got 2/3 of the JB piece pin basted. The printed fabric is a thin cotton so I need to put my pins a bit closer together to keep the layers from shifting.

I am taking Thursday and Friday off so I will not post again until Monday. I want to get some stuff done around the house and will go and visit a couple friends.

AHIQ report - the JB quilt

The JB quilt was not my named improv project and I am not sure it fits the criteria, but it is what it is for now. It is now ready to be pin basted.

Here is a close up of the ocean that I pieced together with what scraps I had left.

I will be linking with Kaja and Ann at for the AHIQ monthly post.

JB top, more boxy pouches, and a show

I made more boxy pouches. I am getting faster at making them. I sew them in groups that use the same colored thread.

Saturday the band had a private party to play at. It was at an VFW hall. It was an easy load in and out. Everyone had a good time and the food was great!

I didn't get to bed until after midnight, but I made my self get the JB top done. I had to add to the ocean in the lower left and square it up. I didn't have enough ocean fabric left, so I used a piece of sky fabric in the corner. It is the same colors so it blends in fine.

I went out and worked in the yard for an hour. It was tough as I was tired. I worked on cutting back the ornamental grass and raking up the leaves in the front flower bed. Here is what it looked like before

It looks better now, but I still need to cut down the ornamental grass on the right of the picture. The grass needs mowed to, but one thing at a time.

Cutting it close

I dug out all the ocean scraps and I will be cutting it close in having enough for adding to the ocean at the bottom left to get the piece close to the size I want it. Here is the area that I need to add a couple inches to

and here is what I have left to do this with. I will be cutting the ocean pieces in half and the floral solid ocean will not be cut.

I am still so wiped out when I get home no sewing happens. This morning I did fix a shirt that needed some repairs so I could wear it to work.

Trimming

I got the JB top sewn together and trimmed the top, but I am going to have to do a bit of tweaking to get the size I want. I may have to add a bit more ocean at the bottom.

A living hell

That is what my life is now. I am now at the home office and doing administrative work. The admin person resigned and now instead of hiring someone to take her position, they have split up her work until they hire someone. Instead of me moving up and I'm being kicked back to doing entry level work. The worst part is all the different software that is being thrown at me all at once and everything needs done now. The computer I have to use now is not set up the same way as the one I have at the job site and it is hard to figure out where stuff is - I hate that. The instructions that the admin person left are horrible although she said she was OCD which I guess was her declaration that everything was perfect. I am the unhappiest person on the planet right now.

I did get the zippers sewn in 9 pouches.

I also got 5 pouches made.

I only have one more seam and the JB piece top will be sewn together. I will free machine quilt it first then let the embroidery begin.

Progress on the JB piece

Not much progress, but progress. Here it is laid out ready for me to sew the white t-shirt section to the divider/sashing strip.

I was lucky to get this much done and I have been so tired from the long hours at work. Yesterday I got to work at 5:30 a.m. so I could start cleaning before the workers arrived. Last week the infectious control lady for the hospital was not happy with the dust in the corridors and elevators. The corridors and elevators are public spaces that we have to use to take demolishing crap out to the dumpsters and for workers to take their tools from floor to floor. The ground floor is where the rebuilding is going on and demolition is underway on the second floor. On the ground floor there was all this grit and dust from drilling the concrete deck for the hangers for the new domestic water, medical gas piping, HVAC duct, and hydronic piping. This grit get drug out on everyone's shoes and on the wheels of dump carts and tool carts. I vacuumed about half way down this corridor and the area to the left picking up trash while I was at it

Vacuumed and swept down this corridor which is the route the guys take their carts of demo debris to the dumpster

And cleaned out to the dumpster door

I cleaned up this mess on the way

After four hours of cleaning, I was hot, sweaty, dirty, tired, and unhappy, but the area where the infectious lady will travel looks better. Areas I didn't get

The hospital staff gave me a nifty swivel mop to use in the public spaces and a bottle of quick drying neutral solution to help the microfiber pads pick up dust.

I already did the elevators and the corridors on ground, 1st and 2nd floor. I will have to go and pull the sticky mats in an hour or so to make sure they are somewhat clean looking. We have those on the ground floor and the 2nd floor. I pulled the one mat this morning and took a picture so you could see how bad they get from the grit, dirt and dust.

The guys on the 2nd floor are finally getting the message and now have their own Swiffer so they are doing a better job of keeping the corridor to the elevators clean. I hope the infection lady is satisfied today.

Have a great weekend.

It takes courage ...

to improv piece! At least I think it does especially when the fabric is limited and I don't want to make a mistake. The border print fabric was custom designed for shirts for the Coral Reefer Band and I want to not waste any of it since it is all I have. I like the way this is going so far. I added the sky piece to the white t-shirts and stitched together leftovers to make a strip to separate the black t-shirt section from the white t-shirt section. I like the way it looks.

I had the border edge with the mountains and ocean left from the sky piece so I hung it at the bottom where I had been trying out several pieces of border print. I still haven't made a decision.

I watched the end of the Paris-Roubaix bike race and was excited that my current favorite rider, Peter Sagan won the race! The race always ends up with a lap around the velodrome at Roubaix and it was Peter and one other rider that fought it out for first place. Peter is a very strong sprinter, but after 257 kilometers or 169 miles legs were tired.

The trophy

Thinking and decisions

Last night I finally got to watch some bike racing - Paris Roubaix. This is a race from the outskirts of Paris to Roubaix. I had to tape the end of the race as I just couldn't keep my eyes open after a long day in and out of the cold at work. This is a one day race with the riders going over cobble paths that the farmers use.

I got a bit done on the JB piece. I sewed the border fabric to the black t-shirt section and rearranged the pieces a bit. What I am thinking about is having the blue cloud border fabric extend from the top to the bottom separating the black section from the white t-shirt section to the right to give the effect that the shirts are floating.

Another item that I am thinking about so I can make a decision is which border print do I want to put at the center bottom - the yellow print like what is shown above or the border print like in this picture which carries the blue sky and white clouds in this area?

I will probably join the next t-shirt section to the black t-shirt section then sit back and look, think, then decide my next move. I am leaning toward the border print with the blue sky.

Another pouch and next project

I made another boxy pouch this weekend and it has been gifted.

My next project is getting a start on my piece for the art prize. Yes, I am a glutton for punishment after last year's fiasco. Right now it is way too wide. My design wall is 8' x 8' and the biggest the piece can be is 6' x 6' according to the rules, but I have seen much bigger pieces displayed. I am going to stick to the rules. My brother toured with JB for 3+ years so these t-shirts represent that time period.

A read

I was beat when I got home after work so I decided I would read the book "Welsh Quilts" I borrowed from the library.

It answered the question which came first the Welsh quilt or the Amish quilt as 1. I live in a state that is heavily Amish and have admired the simplicity of the designs, and I have seen Welsh quilts that look very Amish. The answer - the Welsh came first. The diamond in a square in the upper left is Welsh and was made in 1850. The first document Amish quilt was made in 1869.

I love the tan and blue one on the right. Made in c. 1900

And this red and white checkerboard quilt c. 1880

Have a great weekend!

What's next?

I don't get much done when I get home from work as I am tired especially yesterday walking around in the cold and wind. The wind was howling (25 mph) and the snow was flying! Here is the snow that was coming down on my way home. It didn't really stick to the roads or accumulate.

I have finally decided I am going to get the t-shirts and fabric I have to make my yearly piece for the art prize. My brother toured with Jimmy Buffet for 3+ years so what I have is from that time period. The fabric was given to me from the wardrobe lady for Jimmy and it is what was left over from making shirts for the band. It was custom designed and each piece has images that are associated with Jimmy Buffet.

I have this pile to go thru yet and decide what I am going to use in this piece.

Boxy pouch updates/revisions

After making 10 more boxy pouches this past weekend I have revised three things. My original tutorial was posted on Feb. 21, 2018.

1. Originally I interfaced the outside fabric and the lining fabric. I tried interfacing only the outside fabric and with the interfacing I am using that is plenty of body so I will no longer be interfacing both.

2. 11" seems to be the perfect length for the handle. Now this is personal taste, but I am going with 11".

3. The corners. I figured out what I was doing wrong. First make a mark 1 1/2" from each side close to where you will be sewing the end of the bag.

After sewing BETWEEN the marks, mark the corner that will be cut out. I mark a 1 1/2" square. Where I made my mistake before was I set the ruler at the edge of the sewn end

instead of setting the 1 1/2" mark on the stitched line. DUH!!

Those are my three updates and here is the finished pouch. Let me know if you have any questions.

1st finish 2018

I can't believe this is my first finish for the year. I made a bunch of baby quilt tops, but those are not finished. I have some catching up to do! So here is the Harley quilt. I finished at 83" x 93".

The fabric on the back.

I also made 10 boxy pouches this weekend. I forgot to take a picture of them all together, but here are the three I still have.

I have some updates to my tutorial which I will post tomorrow. So where are the other seven? Well my brother and SIL had a bunch of people over for Easter and I always come away with some chocolate. I wanted to hand out something in return so I made a bunch of boxy pouches and they went over great. Here is my haul of chocolate.

Another brother of mine is on tour with Nils Lofgren and the tour van got broken into in Texas a couple of days ago. The guy stole three guitars and some kind of a harp. Nils was devastated, but people offered guitars for him to use and the last show went on. The latest news is that someone has been arrested and the guitars have been recovered. Good news!

Here is what happened last night - SNOW! This has got to be the last of it! The roads were fine, but it just seems like winter is dragging on and on. I sure hope we have some spring weather and it doesn't just get hot which is what has happened the last few years.