Tiny sampler, new project, and the 4th!

Last evening no sewing happened. I had dishes to do, plants to water, and my neighbor came over to put the last coat of mud on my foyer walls. I have been stitching this new little piece. the chart is dated 1983 and I just think it is cute. I am stitching it with my favorite red floss on natural 28 count linen. It measures 3 1/4" x 4 1/2". I have only worked on it a couple hours.

Today a lady I work with brought a quilt that she found at her late great-aunt house. She knows her aunt did not make it, but that it might have been made by her great grandmother. I think I must have influenced her because when she saw it she just couldn't let it go to the auction. I am going to finish it for her. It's a gem. It is all hand pieced very nicely and will be easy to quilt. I will get a picture of the entire top and post it next week. The blocks are 3 inches. Those are some tiny bow ties! I would guess the fabrics are from the 40's. Looks like some feed sack fabric was used.

I am taking a day of vacation tomorrow. The electrician is coming to install a light, I have cookies to make for a 4th of July party, and I need to clean the house because a quilting friend is coming for a couple days. Have a safe and fun 4th of July!

Gas, crows, and a small

We had some excitement at work yesterday. At two o'clock we were all told to leave because there was a gas leak. I called my beautician to see if she was busy so I just head there instead of going home. Work is about half way between my house and the salon, so there was no sense driving home. She wasn't busy so I headed there. There is so much road construction it took longer to get to the salon and going home at 4:30 was even worse. After I get outside town there is a 4 lane limited access highway. They are widening the road from two lane four and so all the traffic only has two lanes to travel. If someone needs to make a left turn it backs up traffic just awful since there is no longer a left hand turn lane. I made a quick stop at Michael's and the library on the way home and I didn't get home until 5:15. I got something to eat and then it was outside to water the plants. I think the first zucchini is coming!

My neighbor was outside and came over to say hello. We talked about my mouse and chipmunk traps. He said he could use a couple mouse traps for his garage so I gave him two since I had six and didn't need that many. For the traps he gave me this piece of homemade carrot cake his Mom had made him for his birthday. I had it for breakfast and it was delicious!

I finished stitching this small.

I think the murder of crows that we have in the neighborhood are raiding the sunflower seeds from my chipmunk traps. We have never had crows in all the years I have lived here, but these 7 or 8 birds have made themselves at home this year. Last evening one was walking in the driveway and headed toward where one of the traps is located. I moved one of the traps to a different location since I hadn't caught any chipmunks where it was.  I just know that in the future I will toss the dead chipmunks in the woods instead of in the garbage.  Man, did my trash bin stink from those two dead chipmunks.  

T-shirt quilting and guitar wall hanger cover

Good grief my evenings fly by so fast. It doesn't seem like I can get much done when I get home from work before it is time to hit the hay! I spent a bit of time in the kitchen then headed to the studio. I now have the first t-shirt almost all quilted. I ran out of bobbin thread and called it a night.

I received a text invite to a 4th of July party! How fun is that? I have needed to make the host of the party some covers for his guitar wall hangers.

I don't know what brand of hangers he has, but the issue is the hangers interact with the finish on the guitar and the guitar finish peels off. I had made a bunch of hanger covers for my nephew and now this fellow who helps out with the band wants some. I didn't have any fur fabric like I used before, but I found some nice thick waffle weave sweatshirt weight fabric in my stash. I had the dimensions for the one's I made my nephew

so I whipped up one. I mailed this one to the fellow this morning and hopefully he gets it quickly so I can make a few more for him and take them to the party with me. The one I sent him is slightly different from this one; the spaces where the forks of the hanger go are thinner and the space between the forks is a bit wider.  I forgot to take a picture of the revised cover.

Trying weekend

Dang I have been tired. I keep pushing though. Saturday I started working on fixing the t-shirt quilt. I needed to replace the back of the safety town shirt with this blue shirt. As you can see the blue shirt motif is bigger than the safety town back.

I ended up tearing out the safety town front so I could trim a bit off the top edge as well as some at the bottom, I trimmed off a bit of the red shirt, and then sew it all back together. Here you can see I got it all fitted back together.

Next was to get this red shirt fitted in where the white back was positioned. Again, the red shirt is bigger than the white.

I trimmed out as much as I could from the front of the white shirt, but that still wasn't enough. I ended up ripping out that orange piece

I trimmed the orange piece and got it fitted back into it's spot.

The next two shirts I had as replacements were about the same size so I only had to trim a little of the shirts that were previously sewn together in order to fit in the replacements. Yes, I ended up having to replace four shirts instead of three. Here is the top all fixed and pin basted.

I stuffed the small that is for my sister's birthday in August. She reads my blog so here is just a bit of what it looks like. I used some vintage hand tatted lace to fancy this up a bit.

I stitched together the four project bags I had cut out last weekend.

I did get a few weeds pulled, but it was so hot and muggy out this weekend I didn't get any more of the deck taken down. Here is a shot of my front flower bed. My coneflowers are so tall this year! They have also finally spread after three years.

I managed to catch two chipmunks this weekend. I had bought some sunflower seed to bate the traps. I also found I needed to wedged the traps between the garage foundation and a rock to make sure they stay in place. A couple of time something flipped the traps shut and evaded being captured. The traps also ended up not where I had place them when they were sprung. The rock helps keep it in place. I think I will move my second trap to another location since I haven't caught anything in it yet. I have caught both in this spot. They run in front of the garage and head around this corner then BAM! The siding j channel helps wedge the trap in place. The rock the trap is sitting on is not flat so the rock to the left helps hold it in place. I always put a pair of gloves on when I empty the trap just because. The handle on the back pops up so it is easy to open the trap and empty it; I don't have to touch the clamping area where the chipmunk was caught. There is no blood or guts thank goodness.

TGIF

Lots of small stuff to talk about. I stitched on the JB piece before work and at lunch time yesterday. I was happy with my progress. I stitch this design in a two step process. First I stitch a line then I go back and stitch the spikes. Here is were I am right now.

When I got home from work my Intruder rodent traps had arrived. Here you can see how much bigger they are than the ones I previously bought. I will use the small ones in the garage for mice. I looked this morning and so far I have not caught anything. I am going to get some sunflower seeds to bait the traps and see if that helps lure those pesky chipmunks to their demise.

While I was out setting the traps my neighbor asked if I would let the internet guys into his house because he had to leave for a surprise party.  Of course I agreed and then looked around for some sewing to work on while I waited.  It turned out the internet guys weren't coming so I could water my plants instead. Before I watered I had to patch another hole in the hose. When I had pulled down the railing I didn't notice that it would fall on the hose. Oops! I got out my Gorilla tape and that fix it.  I bought a new hose this year and made the mistake of buying a medium grade hose.  It is a crappy hose.  Don't know if it will even last one season.  

I did get the replacement t-shirts to replace the backs. Now she wants all four replaced! Geeze! I also got the backing cut to size. I didn't remember that I bought 6 yards of that backing. I plan on using it for the binding too.

I got some fill in work done on the latest Keeper of the Pins small. The tomatoes are filled in so now I will work on the spool.

Good news: #1 My niece's house. The insurance company is taking the bull by the horns and is going to get the mess squared away. What a relief! #2 My covid test is negative this morning! This weekend I plan on getting the t-shirt quilt fixed, pin basted, and hopefully get started on the quilting. I want to get a few more board off the deck and got around the yard to pull any weeds that popped up since last Sunday. I can't believe the 4th of July is right around the corner! Where did June go? Have a great weekend.

Another small done, next daily project

Since I had to put the t-shirt quilt on hold until the lady gets me more shirts, I looked around last evening to figure out what to do. It was too hot to work on the deck demo so I decided to finish that small with the buttons. I am happy I am getting better at sewing the opening for stuffing.  I have had a lot of practice lately finishing these smalls!

While I was working on this my sister called. She wanted to update me on her daughter's situation. Her daughter's brand new construction house had a fire. She hadn't moved in, but was in the process of getting things ready to move in. She was having all kinds of problems getting anyone to care. It was an electrical fire and no one got hurt, but the house is a mess with the fire department breaking down the front door, tromping thru the house with muddy boots, and tearing up walls along with the 300 gallons of water they dumped in the house. It helps to bounce ideas and information off of each other and it looks like things are finally progressing in the right direction. Lending moral support is what we all need sometimes! After I got off the phone it was 6:15 and I needed to water. The Shasta daisies were drooping and needed a drink as they have been cooking in 90+ degree temps for the last few days. They look so much better this morning. Here is a shot of the center bed. The California poppies had already started closing up for the night, but when they are fully open this bed looks so pretty!

Now that the 2010 quilt is done, I needed another project to work on. I pulled out this piece I had started a number of years ago. This was to be the fourth in a series for the Akron Art Prize event. I made it using the Jimmy Buffett t-shirts my brother gave me from when he was on tour with JB and the custom printed Hoffman of California fabric the wardrobe lady used to make shirts for JB's band. The Akron Art Prize is no longer so there was no need to push to get this done, but now it will be a great project to work on 15 to 30 minutes a day to get this done eventually.

This piece is free motion quilted and I got started on adding the embroidery just like I did with the other three pieces including the one in my header. The needle was still in the shirt where I had stopped a few years ago.

I stitched a bit on it this morning and I definitely need to get my embroidery rhythm back. I stitched at least a half hour this morning and made some nice progress.  I am using three strands of floss.  The one in my header took me 5 months to embroider and that was working a couple hours almost every night on it so the JB one is going to take a while!

12th finish for 2022, deck demo, landscaping

I finished quilting the 2010 quilt after I got home from work. I only had one row to quilt. I already had the binding on the quilt which I did on my covid vacation so I toss it in the washer and dryer. It shrunk a little so now it is 46' x 62". I dyed all the fabrics for this a long time ago, and now it is done!

My deck has needed replaced ever since I bought this house, but having the money to do it was another story. I now can get it done. I found a contractor I can trust and a price. I am going to take as much of it down as I can to try and save a few bucks plus get some exercise.

I worked for about 45 minutes last night. One of my neighbors is letting me borrow his spud bars. I don't know that I will need them, but I have them just in case. He proceeded to question how I was going to demo the deck and after assuring him I knew what I was doing he left. Geeze! He is a very nice guy, but drives me crazy sometimes. I got the railing down to the left and then started on the long section across what I am calling the front. I hit the bottom of one of the balusters and noticed that the rim joist moved. This was not good. I got a long heavy duty extension cord - I didn't have any rope- tied it around two balusters, threw the cord over the rail then went to the backyard. I had plenty of cord to stand a safe distance from the deck and gave the cord a tug. I did not have to pull that hard and the railing, rim joist and first deck board came crashing down. Yikes! It came down way to easy! I circled where the rim joist should be.

Decks these days have a skirt board that is attached to the rim joist, but that is not how this was constructed. You can see in this picture there is nothing to hold the joists in place except for the deck boards so I am going to have to change my plans on how to remove the deck boards safely. I plan on taking out what deck boards I can while standing inside the house at the sliding glass door and not being on the deck.

I also won't take off the steps until the deck boards are removed. The steps are attached to the right side rim joint and if I take the steps off now I am sure the rim joint will come with it.

To me this is fun. Better yet, getting a new deck is even more fun! I will continue to go at this a little at a time, cut up the pieces so they fit in the garage bin, and do this safely. I need to get my hard hat out of the car and wear it anytime I am working under the deck. My Shasta Daisies out front are looking so pretty.

The ornamental grass I transplanted last year to along the neighbor's fence is looking good.

It is bent over because it is reaching for the sun. I need to get out my little electric chain saw and trim back all the junk from the neighbor's that is overhanging my yard to give the grass more sun. The fellow doesn't do anything other than mow his front yard. The back yard and the side yards are "natural".

Two steps back, 2010 progress and buttons

Thank you for all your well wishes! I am feeling fine and just have an occasional cough. I won't bother testing since they don't care at work. Yesterday I sent a picture of the latest t-shirt quilt top to the lady who asked me to make this for her son and she came back with some changes. Ugh! She doesn't like three of the backs of the t-shirts and wants me to replace them; they are circled in red. I wanted to start pin basting this, but I guess that will have to wait. 

I worked on the 2010 quilt last night. I needed to add more quilting to this area circled in yellow.  The lavender lines represent the end of the lines that I didn't get quilted last night.

The last area that needs more quilting is this. I drew in the lines I need to quilt.  I am anxious to get this done so I brought it to work on my lunch hour today.

I have been stitching the smalls in this booklet Keeper of the Pins

There was one small that didn't have much stitching on it and was an opportunity to add buttons. Here is the picture of what was in the booklet

Here is my version of that idea. It took me an hour to sew on the buttons. This will be a good project to finish up one evening this week.

I started another one of the smalls. Here is the picture in the booklet and my start.