Going to be busy

This weekend is going to be crazy busy. Saturday I have a father and son duo of plumbers coming to resolve all the annoying quirks I have with my plumbing. Much has to do with my drain lines that have been creatively piped over the years by different family members and friends. Since I will be selling the house whenever I retire, it is a good time to invest and get all the issues I have fixed. Right now I don't have any problems with the way things function, but if a family would buy the place (it's a four bedroom house) problems will occur. I have a hose bib that I can't use so it will be replaced, the bathtub faucet isn't installed correctly, my master bath sinks don't drain correctly, and the kitchen sink drain line doesn't have a vent on it for starters. I also need a new hot water heater. The one I have now works fine for me, BUT it is more than 17 years old and the plumbers both laughed when they recognized how old it was. The are going to do all the other stuff first and then come back another time to do the water heater.

I would like to get the t-shirt quilt pin basted this weekend. The backing has been washed and is waiting for me to iron it.

I would also like to have a few minutes to try out my new Le Creuset pan. The first thing I am going to try is eggs. Eggs stick horribly to my stainless steel fry pan so I am hoping with the enamel finish on this pan the eggs won't stick. I laid a 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper in the pan so you could get a sense of the size. I have never owned a piece of Le Creuset so I am interested in how it performs and if it lives up to all the hype.

Have a great weekend!

It is time ...

join in with the AHIQ group and get my quilt started with the theme being hourglass blocks. I have been so busy with other things that I have not spent time playing with the group and it is about time I do! I want to use scraps since that is a goal to use as many scraps as I can in 2020 so I pulled out my yellow and red bins

I found a piece of each color and roughly cut 10.5 " - 11" squares for no particular reason.

I layered the squares

free cut them corner to corner

then shuffled them into two blocks

I think cut free cutting was a bit too straight! Maybe I need to partake in a beverage or two in order to loosen up a bit! LOL!!! Anyway, these gray fabrics are going to be added in some way. I have a few ideas in my head.

Next - the backing

Thank you all for your well wishes! I am feeling so much better! I talked to several people that were sitting at the same table as I was with the guy that was spreading his germs at the company meeting we all attended. Out of the five people that were sitting at the table with the guy who was coughing and sneezing, four of us got sick! I told the guys at the trailer this morning, that the germ spreader ought to be banned from the job trailer until he is well. From what I heard the germ spreader is still sick.

I did get the backing fabric for the t-shirt quilt tossed in the washer. The woman who commissioned the t-shirt quilt picked this fabric. I think it will look good.

I got my sewing machine back last Friday. It is still sitting in the foyer. I haven't had the energy to carry it down to the studio. My other machine is working ok for now so I will just continue to use it.

T-shirt top progress

I felt horrible Monday morning; I ached all over. I made myself get up and take a couple of Excedrin. After it kicked in I was feeling better. I did some work on the computer and watched the Grammys that I had taped. By noon I decided to sew. I now have the top all sewn together! I still need to trim the top and bottom. I was pushing it to get that last seam sewn, but I just wanted to get this top sewn together.

I had sewn this top together in sections.

I will have to get the backing fabric washed tonight.

Thanks for all you good wishes that my cold goes away. I slept really good last night and will be back at work today. The coughing has subsided - thank goodness! I think I have turned the corner!

Where have I been?

I have been under the weather since Friday. This cold is a whopper! I thought I was feeling better on Saturday so I managed to get a lot of the t-Shirt quilt sewn together. The section on the left is done except for straightening the bottom and top. I will do that once I get the right side sewn together.

I was wrong about thinking this cold was not going to hang around long. I was tired on Sunday and Sunday night I tried to go to bed early and ended up coughing and blowing my nose for two straight hours which was totally exhausting. I just wanted to go to sleep. I was aching all over so bad this morning I texted in sick. I just don't want to give this to someone else so I just use another sick day. Let's hope the Excedrin I took when I got up will kick in and make me feel a bit better.

Doing some hand quilting

Yesterday I had some time at lunch and after work to get a few more stitches in this DWR quilt. I need to get this done so I can give it back to the owner.

It was kind of hard to quilt with my hands being so dry. I am now making an effort to make sure I used my Mango butter goat milk cream from Rose of Sharon Acres more often to get some moisture back into my hands.

A long day

Yesterday I was in the yearly company meeting. Glory it was a long day. I had to do something to keep my hands busy so first I mended the holes in a bunch of socks. I hadn't gotten around to fixing these and the pile kept getting bigger.

After that I knitted. This will be a baby blanket using up some yarn that was just sitting around. I knitted 48 rows. I have 112 rows to go, but I am not in any hurry. This is a good project to take along when I have waiting to do.

The company did feed us breakfast and lunch.

I had left at 6:40 in the morning and didn't get home until 5:15. The place we have the conference has the worst chairs. My back and hip were hurting from sitting all day. Maybe I will bring my own chair next year! LOL!!

Productive weekend

I did pretty good this weekend getting stuff done. I got all the t-shirts for the commission quilt cut, interfaced, and arranged on the design wall. The basketball jersey and the polyester scarf might present some challenges when I go to quilt this.

I did get that blue and white checkboard scrap quilt top pieced so I could use the design wall for the t-shirt quilt.

Saturday I had clean the snow off my satellite disk because it was blocking the signal. Since I was out there I went ahead and attacked the snow. We got 4" and it was as very wet snow. It was like shoveling concrete. While I was shoveling it was pouring rain. If the rain would stop and with dropping temps, I was afraid the driveway could end up a real mess.

I went to do a bit of grocery shopping and bought a whole loin of beef. It was on sale and I had a gift card. The butcher cut it up for me and handed me a small package of the trimmings that they had ground. It was enough ground beef to make two good sized burgers. I cooked them in the air fryer and they were delicious! I put them on the top rack and turned them once. They were juicy too. I had cut this one to see if it was done enough. I think I cooked them about 15 minutes since they were thick burgers.

All packed

I have two Pfaff 1475CD machines. Machine #2 is acting up and Machine #1 the spring broke that is attached to the integral walking foot. The foot just dangles now so I can't use the machine. I packed it up last night so I can ship it to my repair guy. I don't feel like driving three hours one way to get it fixed so I am shipping it. I have a heavy, sturdy box that I saved from tools that were delivered to the chemical plant where I worked years ago. The box is the perfect sized and is now layered with tape from its many trips back and forth to my repair guy over the last 20 years.

Machine #2 is working, but is doing some strange things like continuing to sew after I take my foot off the foot pedal, the control panel doesn't light up correctly sometimes, and the presser foot doesn't quite sit on the feet dogs like it should. I am hoping that it will work until I get Machine #1 back. I got a quote for Machine #2 and replacing the mother and control boards, plus a cleaning (which I know it could use!) would be over $500. Throw in shipping and the possibility of something else that needs repair and I don't think it is worth putting that much money into this machine. I got this one off of ebay for a negotiated reduced amount and had to have it repaired because the seller did not pack it well at all and it arrived damaged. I had to file a claim and the ebay buyer protection people really came thru for me. I may sell it for parts. I love my machine and don't want to even look at a new machine.

This weekend I am staying home except for maybe a trip to the grocery store. After the last couple weekends filled with activities, I just want a couple days to myself. I am going to hunker down, catch up on Project Runway, and sew! Have a great weekend.

Better than nothing!

I had a late day at work and I was tired so I didn't get much sewing done, but at least getting the first row sewn together on this baby quilt is better than nothing! LOL!! I want to get this top sewn together to free up the design wall for the first of two t-shirt quilts.

Wednesdays I head over to the hospital for the Owner's meeting so I looked in to see how the operating rooms were coming along. The terrazzo floors are done and covered with material to protect them. The walls were primed, painted, and the plastic wall covering was installed. They didn't take off all of the blue protective film; that will come off when the rooms are done and we do our final construction cleaning. That opening is for stainless steel cabinets.

The ceilings are still open.

I think we are to have these ready for turnover to the owner at the end of March. There is still a lot of work that needs done in all the adjoining support rooms.

2003 Christmas quilt

Years ago our Mom started a raffle at Christmas. All the sibling's names would be put in a tin and every 15 minutes when a timer would go off a name was drawn. The name pulled was a loser and had to pick from a pile of loser gifts. The loser gifts were pretty good! Mom loved to shop at Sam's Club at Christmas and pick out gift sets, gift baskets, or special packaged items for gift giving for the loser prizes. The last name in the tin was the winner.

As I was helping my brother pack up his house for his big move, out of the closet came the quilts. One of those quilts was the 2003 Christmas quilt. Mom had passed away I think in 2001 (yes, it is terrible that I'm not sure of the year) so I took over making the Christmas quilt trying to use either her leftover tops, orphan blocks or stash for the Christmas quilt. For the 2003 quilt I made some crazy quilt blocks from Mom's stash.

I had forgotten this quilt so it was nice to see it again.

Time to regroup

Sunday I got to stay home for awhile and get some laundry and cleaning done. I hadn't been home much the last three days with working at my brother's house so I was a bit behind. I hadn't even had time to open the mail!

I had to put away all the tools I had taken to his house to fix things and dumped out what I had brought home. I tried not to come home with anything, but I did. Everyone was collecting loose change and I ended up with it to roll. I found a few pins that I will add to my rock quilt wall hangings along with a few picks and some laminated passes. There was also some foreign coins.

As I was cleaning up I found another bag with more change that I had picked up when cleaning out his basement for the mold guys.

I got these two groups of coins wrapped.

Next was labeling two quilts for him to take back with him for a fellow he is working for. One was that lap sized quilt.

Then it was off to another brother's house to have lunch with my SIL, their son, and the brother that is selling the house. Once I got home I finished cleaning off my big table by putting away all the scraps I had been working on. I am switching tasks to t-shirts quilts. I have to have two done by May. That seems so far away, but it takes me up to two months to make one so I have to get started on these. I am going to work on the top for the commission first.
Here is the pile of t-shirts and the interfacing ready to go!

I will have to sew together that top on the design wall

so I can use it for the t-shirts.

Three days of packing

I have spent the last three days at my brother's helping him pack his house up. He has a buyer which is great that he didn't have to go thru a realtor. I am beyond exhausted. Yesterday we tackled the garage. Thank goodness he hired a couple college kids to help plus another brother and his family came over for a few hours to help out.

It was 67 degrees and it only sprinkled on us once. Since it was so warm my brother decided the college kids could help him with some yardwork. Pretty soon I had to run back to my house to get the pressure washer so we could clean up the driveway and sidewalks. By that time everyone else was gone and it was just the two of us. I finally got home at 4:45 and I was beat. We never even stopped to eat.

Meanwhile I now have to find the energy to get stuff done at my place. I have a few dishes, laundry, mail to deal with, and I have to cook something for lunches next week. Pretty much I was only home long enough the last three days to sleep. Yes, I am glad I will no longer have to take care of his house, but I can't even be joyful about that because of having to work so hard to help make it happen and I am so darn tired. It is going to be a long work week.

My new iron

On Wednesday my new iron showed up! That was fast and now I am back in business!

I spent all day Thursday at my brother's house helping him pack. He made me wrap all his vintage and expensive glass he has collected over the years. To say the least I used a lot of bubble wrap! When I got back to my house there were two boxes at the front door which puzzled me. I hadn't ordered anything. Guess what? One box was another iron!

Isn't that crazy? Now I will have a spare which is fine by me. Both of them came from the same place too. The other box was a bit heavy

In the box are Harley Davidson t-shirt for this years raffle quilt.

Looks like I might have to switch from working on scraps to t-shirt quilts. I have the commission one that has to be done by May and now the Harley quilt which needs to be done about that same time. Since it takes me about two months to make one, I had better get started on those.

I love all your comments about the grasscloth. I have had my share of removing wallpaper and it is a real pain especially when it is on the ceiling or glued directly on drywall! My brother has seen grosscloth in one of his buddy's houses and liked the look of it. The grasscloth changed the look of the two rooms we installed it in and elevated the look more than I thought it would. It was a challenge to cut and a scissors was easier to use than a razor blade for fitting it in tight spots. I just hope I don't have to do it again!

Blast from the past

My one brother was coming into town last night so I needed to go dust and vacuum his house a bit. I went right after work to his house. After getting the downstairs done, I then discovered I had forgotten his sheets that I had washed and were sitting on the shelf in my laundry room. I had to drive home and then drive back to his house so I could make up the bed. This picture is one of the pillows he had me make years ago when he was redecorating his bedroom. He gets to stay in some high-end hotels with his job, so thus lots of pillows to get that high-end look.

It was years ago that I also helped him hang grasscloth on this room and the other bedroom. That was definitely a learning experience. I had hung wallpaper, but not grasscloth. It is a different animal for sure, but looked so good when it was done.

Ready to sew

I have the second scrap quilt top ready to sew. I will probably bind it in a bright color - maybe orange, red, or yellow - to add a bit more pizzazz to it.

I had taped the Golden Globes and speed watched them last night. I have never seen so many unflattering, ugly dresses in one award show with weird sleeves being a theme along with plunging necklines that did not do a thing for the person wearing them. Then some of the colors! There were several green dresses, an orange one, and that brown one Gwenyth Paltrow had on made me scratch my head. Besides being brown it was tacky. I thought the best dress was Renee Zellweger. The color was beautiful, the style simple and classic, and she looked fabulous in it. The Grammy awards are next and that is where you expect some crazy outfits.

First scrap top, but ...

I managed to get one top sewn together using scraps and a piece of white Kona yardage from the pile I showed last week. The top is 40.5" x 48.5". Those are 4.5" squares which I sewed into 16 patch blocks. It wasn't quite wide enough so I added the yellow for a border using scraps from the yellow bin. Here is the top

I think I will put a scrappy yellow binding on the top and bottom edges and blue on the sides. I need to dig in my scraps and find enough to make binding out of.

I am not sure using the white is the way I am going to go after I get the rest of the blue squares sewn together. I don't feel like I used enough scrap fabric. I mean I need to make a dent and at this rate it will take forever! LOL!!! Using the white did use a bit from my stash so that at least is moving in the right direction of reducing the stash too. Here is the pile of blue pieces that have white sewn to them.

I will need to cut more squares of different colors so I have more to work with. I think the bigger squares does make a fun color impact. My iron died yesterday. I have a spare one that I used to finish out the day. It is a low end iron, but it will get me thru until the new one I ordered shows up.

I also am having issues with my #2 sewing machine. It is doing some wacky things like it keeps sewing when I have taken my foot off the foot pedal! I need to send it to my repair man. My other Pfaff 1475, #1, has a broken spring that holds the integrated walking foot in place so I can't use it. I should have sent that to my repair man when this happened, but I just didn't get around to it. Hopefully I can keep #2 running until I can get #1 fixed.