Flannel progress

I didn't get home until 6:20 p.m. which makes for a long day at work, but I managed to find a little bit of time to work on the flannel quilt. First I dug up a picture of the one I had made earlier this year for reference and realized that there is no border. I guess I had forgotten what the quilt looked like!

So I took the gray flannel and cut it up into 8" squares for the alternate blocks. Now I didn't have enough of the gray for the whole top so I did the same thing as I did for the first quilt. I had some navy print and used that for the center alternate blocks. Here is the top ready to sew together laid out on the design wall.

I still have a few 9-patch blocks left.

I am taking tomorrow off and I am looking forward to a 4 day weekend. The husband of a woman I work with is coming over on Friday to cut up the tree that has been laying in the backyard all summer. It will be good to get it removed. I will just roll the chunks down the hill into the woods on my property and it can just rot. Then let's see how far I can get on the flannel quilt. Maybe my new mower will show up and I can try it out as the grass needs a haircut!

Have a great weekend and a wonderful Labor Day! I can't believe it is almost September already!

Score!!!

I had a few minutes between the time I got home from work and leaving to have dinner with a friend. I used that time to dig around in the fabric storage room for flannel and I found a container of 9-patch blocks! I didn't remember I had this many.

Of course I had to start sticking them up on the design wall.

I also have this stack of yardage

This piece of gray flannel is two yards so it will be for the border. I can always piece it if it is not long enough.

For the alternating blocks I will use what is left of the gray flannel and this dark blue printed flannel. The gray looks lighter in this picture that is does in the previous picture.

This red print will be the binding. It is not as bright as it looks like in this picture.

I have light gray for the backing so I am all set as far as materials go. I now just need to get this made.

New project

Last evening I had to catch up on household stuff that I didn't do because I felt so lousy this past weekend. I did some laundry, cooking, dishes, etc. I did find a bit of time to sew. I started sewing together the pairs of strips.

I also spent my lunch time quilting on the double wedding ring quilt. I am finding just an hour day is leading to some good progress!

Tonight I need to put a label on a baby quilt. The project executive that I have worked with for 15 years, his daughter is having a baby.

I also need to start a new project and get it done quickly. One of the fellows I work with is going thru some medical stuff and so I think he needs a quilt! I will have to dig thru my flannel and see if I have enough fabric to make a quilt. I know I have enough flannel for the backing, but for the front I am not sure. There is always another quilt that needs made isn't there?

I did get a new stamp pad for making quilt labels. My old one was just worn out. My big problem right now is to try and find a replacement stamp for the one I use when I make labels. The stamp says "One who sleeps under a quilt is comforted by love." I have had mine for over 15 years and it is worn down to the point it is hard to get a good impression. I have been looking on ebay, but no luck yet.

The weekend

This weekend was a bit rough. I did managed to get the rest of the paired up 2 1/2" strips sewn together and pressed. Next I need to sew the pairs of strips together.

Saturday I didn't feel good so but I did manage to finish up sewing the binding on the double wedding ring quilt. Yes I am doing this backwards according to tradition. I have all the melons on the outside edge of the quilt quilted so why not go ahead and do the binding? This is not the first time I had put together a quilt this way so I have no fear.

I spent some time rolling change that has accumulated. I found a small box to put the rolls in when I haul them to the credit union.

I still have more pennies to wrap.

I went to mow yesterday, but the mower would not start. I went out a few hours later and tried again but nothing. I have had it with this mower. It works fine if it starts, but I can't take yanking that cord 20 or 30 times anymore. I guess I have gotten my money's worth out of it. I bought it in 1985 which makes it 33 years old. I am sure someone could work on it and get it running, but I am done with messing around with it and not knowing if it is going to start when I need it to run.

Yeah it is Friday!

I got a few more strips sew together last evening. I am hoping that I can get to the point where I can start making a few blocks. Here is my pile of sewn strips

And here is the pile of the ones paired up that are left to sew together. I still have some strips hanging on the design wall that needs a solid fabric cut to pair up with them.

I spent some time last evening fixing up my fence for my squash to keep the deer from eating the leaves. The had been at them again. I also made the enclosure bigger so the plants would have a bit more room to expand and wander. I am finding that the butternut squash wander more than the zucchini and yellow squash.

I had to cut the fence in order to get some of the butternut squash stems back inside the fence. The deer have been chomping on it pretty good. I didn't want to have to redo the lower part of the fence so some of the stem and leaves are still hanging out. It is better than it was.

The deer ate the one little 1" butternut squash, but I did see a couple more forming. This one is about 3/4 of an inch. I will have to wait and see if it gets big enough to eat before the cold weather sets in. It is tiny right now! I have learned a lot this year so next year I will try and do a better job. I did see several bees last night as I was working on the fence going from blossom to blossom. Maybe I will still get some zucchini yet this season!

Your questions from yesterday about the hospital equipment. The company I work for is not installing the equipment. That is outside our contract and the hospital purchased that equipment. The space my company remodeled was designed to hold the equipment and all the plumbing, steam pipes, electric and ductwork was done by my company's subs. There is a dirty side and a clean side to this space. All the equipment is on the dirty side and the clean side will store the medical devices so they are ready for surgery and procedures.

Have a great weekend! With the cooler weather I hope to get the weeds pulled out of the flower beds and maybe get the garage cleaned out a bit.

Better than nothing

Yesterday was my long day at work. Left the house at 5:40 am and got home at 6 p.m. UGH! I only managed to get a few strip sewn together

Remember my stack was 4" tall? We now it is 3" so I am making some progress!

Installation of the equipment has begun at the hospital in the area they call Central Sterile. This is where they clean and sterilize procedural equipment and carts. This is a cart washer. It is big enough to walk thru. The second picture is the guts of the machine.

Some kind of a steam sterilizer

Another type of cleaning machine

A machine for drying

and one of the several sink units that are being installed. Wouldn't this make a great sink for dyeing fabric?!

This is not all that is being installed in this area. They have another week of installation.

Better than nothing

I got a little bit of sewing done on the 2 1/2" strips. It is better than nothing! LOL!!

I waited around to mow for it to cool off a bit. Next thing I know the sky was getting very gray. I looked at the radar - yikes!

The grass was looking bad.

I got the mower started and mowed as fast as I could. The wind was picking up and lighting was starting. I got most of the front done in record time, before the lighting was just getting too close for comfort. When I quit the rain was just starting to come down. Here is the grass - it looks better - and the stormy sky! The temperatures are suppose to drop tomorrow so I will get the mower out again this weekend and mow what I missed. Thank goodness I had at least trimmed the front last Sunday.

Before the storm I checked on the squash and saw the deer had eaten some of the leaves and stems. I think they got that tiny butternut squash - darn those deer!

I did pick two yellow squash.

Another show

Three shows in four days! Last night we were in Youngstown. Very nice venue. An ok crowd for a Monday night. The kids put on a great show and I was kept busy at the merchandise booth. It was hot and humid which wore me out. Here is a picture at sound check

The merch booth

and my view of the stage from the booth

I desperately need to mow my grass. I just have not had time and Sunday it rained. We are forecasted to get rain this afternoon - 30% to 40% chance - so maybe I can get it done tonight. I hope I have enough gas in the mower to at least do the front. I forgot to throw the gas can in the car.

Busy times!

I tried to squeeze in a bit of sewing these last four days. I did get top #6 sewn together.

On Sunday, despite how tired I was, I managed to get the 2 1/2" African prints strips paired up with the solid strips. Now they are ready for sewing.

The stack is 4" tall!

I still have some strips hanging on the design wall. I will need to cut a few more strips of solid fabrics to pair up with these. I am glad though to have gotten the majority of these strips organized and that they will be turned into quilt tops soon!

Friday the band had a show in Mentor, Ohio. The venue was beautiful, but the crowd was very small. They usually have a lot of tribute bands which draw big crowds. This event was original music night. They supplied us with drinks and a food truck voucher which was nice, because it was hot and I was thirsty! They also had 3 cameras and had two big screens which was pretty cool!

I had made little banana breads as the snack. They went over really good with everyone.

I got to bed at midnight and then Saturday's show was in Vermillion, Ohio. Again it was hot. The venue is a restaurant with an outside patio that is on the small side. The kids put on a heck of a show and they crowd was great.

Vermillion is right on Lake Erie so I took a quick walk while the band was setting up to get a picture of the lake. I got to bed at 2 a.m.

I was going to try and mow last evening, but it started to rain about 4 p.m. The sun peeked out again and I thought it might dry out enough, but then another storm blew in. My grass is so long! I did trim it and that helped, but it is looking pretty wild.