5% and 5 days off

I worked a bit on the 9 patch flannel quilt and it is now 5% quilted. You could say I have a ways to go! LOL!!

When I got home I needed to give all the plants a drink. We might get some rain today, but the forecast for the next week and a half is HOT so it's time to try and get the plants hydrated a bit. I got another poppy flower and my one pepper is turning red.

There was a deer this morning who greeted me as I took my bag out to the garbage bin. She just kind of stood there, moved off about 10 yards, and then came back to the end of the driveway. She really wanted to go into my yard. I got in the car and she felt the coast was clean for her to go into my yard. She was probably headed to the Blackeyed Susan patch for breakfast.

I borrowed a book from the library that was nothing but scone recipes. There was one that had zucchini in it! I am going to have to try that out. I think I will use regular flour instead of whole wheat.

I am taking Thursday and Friday off and with the holiday I will get 5 days in a row off from my real job. The band has two shows which are the last two of the summer season. My to do list for the 5 days will include quilting the 9 patch flannel, mow the backyard, and WEED until I drop! Have a great and safe Labor Day. I will check back in with you Tuesday!

Flannel 9-patch, errands and things to do

I got a start finally on quilting the 9 patch flannel quilt. Yeah! I am using a light gray thread and I like the way it looks.

After work I needed to go to the post office to mail my sister her birthday presents and ship the pillowcases to my SIL. I couldn't believe the line at the post office

There were people with as little as a letter to mail to a lady that must have had at least 10 packages. The postal worker was working very fast even with the ridiculously long fake fingernails she was sporting. I waited 20 minutes for my turn. I then walked down the plaza to the grocery store to get a couple pairs of rubber gloves so I could do dishes. I usually always have a spare pair, but I didn't when I went to look Monday. When I got home the neighbor pulled in the driveway to pick up his jeans. I figured he would just get them and leave, but he was in a talkative mood so that shot another half hour. After he left I took some copies of recipes and a zucchini over to another neighbor. By now it was getting onto 6:00 p.m. and I was hungry. A load went in the washer then I finally got to sit down and get a bite.

My long weekend

I took Thursday and Friday off work to work the merch booth for my nephew and get some little jobs done. The show for Thursday was postponed to Saturday because of rain so I spent the day pin basting the flannel quilt. It is now ready to quilt.

I fixed my SIL's pillowcase. The white print border is fabric that came from a comforter that I redid for her a couple years ago. The comforter was made by her grandmother when she was a child and to say the least the comforter was in rough shape and the fabric was thin. I could quilt the heck out of the new quilted comforter, but the fabric had to stand by itself on the pillowcase. It ripped. I found a scrap of the flannel I used to make the body of the pillow and also was used on the back of the quilted comforter. It was just enough to repair the pillowcase. It is now boxed up along with six new pillowcases ready to mail to her for her birthday.

The show Friday was in Mansfield. The show went well and the weather cooperated. The worst part was that there was no ramp to push the equipment up to the stage so everything had to be picked up 4 feet to be put on the stage. Some of the stuff is heavy! Then after the show when the kids are tired, they all pitched in to get the stuff off the stage and roll it down the hill to load it in the trailer. When we finished loading, a few drops of rain started coming down as we headed home.

Saturday I fixed my neighbor's jeans that I have had for a few months. There were several places where the back pockets were tearing from the pants. Those are now fixed and waiting for pickup.

I finished stitching a small sampler and I fully finished a small.

The binding is made for the flannel quilt.

It was then time to drive to the next show. It was in Kent which is only a half hour's drive. Here is the merch booth and I have an arrow pointing to my car where I scored and excellent parking spot!

We had a nice crowd.  This picture was taken early and more people did come.  

The flowers were so pretty and the hydrangea bushes were huge.

Sunday I spent time cleaning up and figuring out what I needed to work on next. I bought a bigger sketch book to use for keeping track of the sewing I do for bands. I had a much smaller book and it just wasn't big enough for the pictures and drawings as well as figuring the measurements. All my notes were just a mess. Sometimes I do have to go back and remake a replacement cover so I need to keep the measurements. I decided I wanted a project bag to keep the book in so I whipped one up. It needed to be bigger than the ones I have made. It finished 15 1/4" x 13 1/4".

Here is the new book in it bag and the old book that was way too small. I don't have everything I ever made for bands in this book, but I am glad to finally get my act together.

To finish out Sunday I mowed the front yard, one side yard and did a bit or trimming. With all the rain and humidity, the weather has been ideal for growing grass.  I don't even want to talk about the weeds!

Backing, baking, and eggs

I have been busy! I got the backing pressed for the flannel quilt this morning, but I had to clean off my big table first. It is such a gathering place for stuff!

After work I made muffins for work and did dishes while they baked.

Threw in a load of laundry and put away my eggs. One of the fellows at work had to go over to the home office so I put in my order for two dozen of those wonderful eggs from another fellow who works at the home office. Aren't they pretty?

I transferred the eggs to the plastic cartons I saved from store bought eggs, put the date on them, and I will return the cardboard cartons so they can be used again.

I am off Thursday and Friday so I will catch up with you on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Flannel progress, black-eyed Susans and more zucchini

I looked around in my fabric storage room and found this bundle of light gray flannel I can use for the back of the 9 patch top

I cut the yardage in half, washed and dried it, and now the two halves are sewn togehter ready for pressing.

I needed to water the plants last night since the tempretures are back up close to 90. With the rain we have had the weeds are now out of control! They are everywhere! It is going to take some serious time and work to get the flower beds cleaned up. I did see that I got my first black-eyed Susan flower. Upon closer inspection I also saw the deer ate about half the clump of stems. Grrrrr! I guess I won't be growing anymore of these.

I picked three zucchini off of that one plant that I put in the front yard flower bed last evening! Three! It sure is happy and producing a lot of zucchini! I saw two more zucchini each about 4 - 5" long and there are lots of flowers so I should be getting even more.

Another show, one more seam

We had a show Friday night in Broadview Heights. The weather was cool, windy, and it was the first night for high school football so the crowd was tiny. We couldn't set up the tent because the wind was so bad, but it died down and I was able to get the table and t-shirt rack set up.

I was set up next to the stage so I have a great view of the show from the side and front. Only four more shows for the summer season.

Back stage the venue had hummus, pita chips, veggies, and fruit for the kids. They were not interested in the hummus so that meant more for me! It tasted so good!

I think part of my leg pain was from some shoes so I went shoe shopping and got myself a new pair of recovery slides since my current pair were not cushiony any more.   I didn't like the feel of the new style of Hoka's so this time I bought Oofos. They are very comfortable and I put these on as soon as I walk thru the door. They are great in the studio since the floor is resilient tile over concrete.

I also bought a couple pairs of sneakers since mine are worn pretty bad especially with all the walking I have done for the past couple of months.

While I was grocery shopping I checked out the bargain area they have at the store and found a diffusor with six bottles of essential oil for $7.99. What a bargain!  I have always wanted one. I plugged it in when I got home and it worked great. It also lights up and I can change the colors. I already had a bottle of essential oil that is called Motivate. I love the smell of it and when I am dragging, I will put a couple dropping in the diffusor and see if it gets me moving!

I did pick the jalapenos from my one plant. One was starting to turn red. I wonder if that means it will be hotter?

I have one more seam to sew and the flannel top will be done! It was just getting too late last night and I wanted to vacuum the room before I dragged the top on the floor and then all the thread and crumbs of flannel would stick to the top. I will be digging in the stash tonight to find some flannel backing so I can get this pin basted. Looks like I will have this one done in plenty of time before Xmas! The blocks finish at 7 1/2".  The gray is washing out in this picture.

Another show, more zucchini, and getting things done

Wednesday we had a show in Cleveland. The weather was beautiful. The last couple of days my right thigh has been sore and it was really acting up. At times I was in a lot of pain. The biggest issue was I couldn't bend over or bend my leg. I would get a very sharp pain and the whole front of my thigh from my hip to my knee hurt.  It was hard to sit down because I had to bend my leg, but I managed and spent any downtime massaging my leg which helped a lot. It is a weird pain that comes then subsides after I rub it. We had a wonderful, fun crowd at the show.

I made a double batch of oatmeal raisin cookies for the band. They were really good if I do say so myself! The ones in the upper right are oatmeal cookies without the raisins. My brother doesn't care for raisins so I always spoon those out first then add the raisins to the dough.

I got to bed at around 11:30 which was a decent time considering the drive. I was pretty tired and needed to rest my leg. By morning it felt better, but I fought the pain all day Thursday so I didn't get nearly done what I would have liked to. I spent some time going thru some older piles of projects and deciding what I truly wanted to finish and what needed pitched, put a label on a baby quilt and made a tote bag for it

picked another zucchini

trimmed the front yard and I was going to mow until it started raining

washed and started cutting the fabric joining blocks for a flannel quilt for one of the ladies at work. She wants it for her husband for Xmas.

 The rest of the weekend my plans will be to mow, fix my neighbor's jeans, work on the flannel quilt, work the postponed show from last week, and probably run to the grocery store. My leg is feeling a lot better this morning, so fingers crossed whatever the issue was I am now on the mend. I did get my pants hemmed. Have a great weekend.