On schedule and the tree is gone

The quilt top is sewn back together and trimmed. Whew!

I got the backing washed and here it is in the dryer.

When I got home from work, the tree was gone. Yeah! Here is what it looked like before and after. The tree was not in good condition and the needles were very sharp! It was a lot easier to remove it now with the skid steer than me having to cut it down! Getting rid of it will make it easier for my neighbor to regrade the lawn from removing that abutment. There was some weed barrier fabric under the tree with junk growing on it left in a wad in my yard. I told my neighbor I would get rid of it, but I got too busy last night with the quilt to deal with it. So, I got out there at 6 A.M. this morning, rolled over the trash bin, laid down the bin, and shoved the stuff inside the bin. I had cut down the ornamental grass - you can see the tan debris laying in the pictures - so I cleaned that up while I was at it. It reminded me of a R.E.M. song "Gardening at Night." LOL!! I wanted to get that cleaned up since guys were coming today to spread topsoil.

Have a great weekend and have a wonderful Easter!

One step backwards

I got the bottom row sewed on and then began to trim the sides. I did the right side first - no particular reason. I flipped the quilt around to trim the left side the same width as the right and ran into a problem. The amount of black between the seam and the designs is too much. If I would cut it the same width as the right side, I would end up cutting right along that bottom motif. Ugh! So I lined up the big ruler

and cut a good 2" off.

I ripped off the excess from the body of the quilt top.

I already pressed the seam flat. Tonight I will have to restitch the seams along the body of the top, then I can sew the side back onto the top. After than I can trim the side. I already cut the batting that I will need. Once I get the top put back together, I will have a better idea of the lengths of backing I need to cut and toss them in the washer. I figure if I get the backing sewn together Friday evening, I can then start pin basting. I hope to start quilting on Saturday. Sunday will be quilting except for the time I will be going to my brother's house for Easter for a couple hours. What will be nice is once I get the 9 shirts in the middle quilted, everything else is black so I can just keep quilting until the bobbin runs out. Well, at least that is the plan!

May have a deadline

I did good last evening and got both the top and bottom rows sewn together. Then I even sewed the top row on to the three rows!

Tonight, I will make the final decision about the size. I pulled out two pieces for backing and there will not be enough of the piece with the skulls wearing headphones if I make the quilt top any bigger. Since this is a giveaway, it doesn't matter what size it is so I think not making it bigger will be my choice. I need to trim the sides so that will take off a few inches for the width.

I sent a text this morning to see if the lady that I am making this quilt for will be at a show my nephew is playing where she lives on April 8th. It is the Eclipse show to entertain people during the eclipse that will happen in this area that day. If she is going to be there, then I can send the quilt with the band, so she doesn't have to drive almost 2 hours to pick it up from me. I can't work the show because I have mandatory training at work. All this means is I now have a deadline and need to get the quilt done in 11 days. I was inspired to take this picture this morning from the one Wanda took recently. I took it quickly on my way to work thru the windshield. Not great, but I tried! LOL!!

Harley quilt is progressing!

I got the three rows sewn together now! Tonight, I will try and get the shirts sewn together for the top and bottom rows.

To give it more length I could go two ways: 1. add a plain black border out of t-shirt fabric or 2. go thru my stack of shirts again and pull out the ones that have a narrow design. I think it all depends on how much I need to add to get the length I am looking for.

Did what I could

I was a busy weekend getting things ready for company on Sunday and having to make a trip to the optical office an hour away. I bought new prescription sunglasses, and I was seeing double especially on the left side. Turns out there was a mix-up with the prescription and since my eyes are really bad, where I see thru the glasses was off a bit. The optical fellow said the worse a prescription is, the more precise where you look thru the lenses has to be. They will get the lenses remade and we will try again. By the time I got home from errands and the optical place I was beat so I chilled out all afternoon. Butter and cream cheese were on sale - butter $3.46 and cream cheese two for $5.00 - so I stocked up

Here is my plate for Sunday's dinner: Honey Baked ham, green beans, mac and cheese and little red potatoes. It was all good.

Sunday the neighbor's brother showed up to remove a retaining wall that was failing and a brick abutment that was a useless design element. This was some entertainment for my company. LOL!!

Both have been removed. My neighbor was really lucky that there was no type of fasteners between the house and the abutment. That annoying pine tree that belongs to me is also going to be gone. His brother said he would get rid of it stump and all!

The brother is also going to move the back steps at my garage. When I get my new deck, I will have them build a smaller lower deck so these ugly steps have got to go!

I did get a bit more done on the Harley quilt. Three rows are ready to be sew together.

Harley is coming along!

Made some good progress on the Harley quilt last night. I had three shirts that I needed to add fabric to make them the size I needed

I then got the light colored t-shirts sewn together in their respective rows. I wanted to get this done so I didn't have to keep changing the color of thread in the sewing machine.

I don't know how much I will be able to get done this weekend. I am hosting Easter dinner for a few people, because everyone is busy on Easter. Have a great weekend!

Harley quilt top progress and banana bread

Last evening I got the rest of the t-shirts trimmed. I did leave extra on the shirts at the sides for adjustments. Once I sit down and figure what the current size will be, I will decide my next move.

I had some bananas that needed used up, so I made two loaves of bread and took them to work.

Dog tired

I don't know where I picked up the phrase "dog tired" but that is how I felt when I got home from work yesterday. I got something to eat, sat in front of the space heater and fell asleep for a while. I had no ambition to get anything done. This morning, I was up early enough to make a pot of soup for meals today. I had found a recipe and I had everything on hand I needed, chicken broth, chicken, quinoa, frozen spinach, and celery. Add in some Rosmary, thyme, garlic, a little salt, and a can of drained Canelli beans and like magic I had a big pot of soup. I did drizzle in some parmesan cheese that was beaten with an egg for a finishing touch. If you beat the cheese with the egg, the egg helps distribute the cheese throughout the soup. I had some for breakfast and it was pretty good.

I didn't have much for lunch yesterday and so I think I was tired from lack of fuel. I will have soup today whenever I want and see if I have the energy tonight to get something done.

Harley quilt progress

Work was busy and after work was busy. Once I got home, I had dishes and sheets that needed washed. I finally did get to working on the Harley quilt. I started cutting the shirts. I am cutting them on the big side - 18" wide by 19" long. The center shirts are all trimmed.

One of the yellow shirts was short so with the cut offs I lengthened it. The seam will never show after it is quilted.

Harley quilt top resolved

I finally figured out how to layout the shirts for this year's Harley quilt. Thank goodness my friend brought me that lovely mustard shirt when she came to visit recently. It did the trick! I had no other non-black shirts left. I just had to make the skull t-shirt a focal point. Being tie dyed and the skull made this one of the coolest shirts ever! I will get the top together and if I need it to be a bit longer, I have lots of black shirts with smaller designes that I can make a band for the top and botton.

I also made the zipper panels for more project bags just to gather those up and get them in one place. I even got a bin to keep them in along with the extra zippers. I will work on these from time to time just to try and keep them on hand.

It snowed here Sunday afternoon for a bit but nothing stuck especially after the sun came out. I was suprised this morning that it snow overnight a bit. Spring is tomorrow.

So glad it is Friday!

Yesterday was a heck of a day - I needed to be in three places at the same time which of course didn't happen! I had to go with the mandatory meeting which took longer, but they at least took us to lunch. Here is what is left of my sushi which I will have for breakfast.

I got back to the office long enough to finish up a task that had to be done then headed to a doctor's appointment. When I got home all I wanted to do was to sit and chill. I did take this photo of the daffodils outside my studio window. They are so pretty!

The box of interfacing I had ordered arrived. It was sitting in the rain. I was hoping they had put the interfacing in a plastic bag, but they did not. Luckily the rain had not soaked thru the entire box so the interfacing was dry. This is what I use when I make boxy pouches and project bags. HomeSew only had 6 yards on hand so I will have to keep checking for when they get more in stock.

I did straighten up a bit doing dishes and gathering up the fabrics I had earmarked for making project bags but ran out of time to finish. I will go ahead and finish those, so I have some extras on hand.

This weekend I have got to get back to working on the Harley quilt. Have a great weekend!

Did good!

I got all twelve of those small bags done!

So here is the final tally of project bags completed in one week - 30 large bags and 22 small bags. I also had 18 previously made bags laying around so there will be 22 sets of bags (one large and a matching small) and 26 large bags that the retreat ladies have to choose from.

I want to go ahead and stitch up the other bags that I didn't have time to finish rather than trying to find a place to keep the pieces.

Project bag progress

I didn't do too bad last evening although I was really tired. I got the 8 large bags done out of the sampler fabric.

The eight matching small bags are trimmed and ready for pressing the fold over binding.

Tonight is the last night I have to get what I can done. I will pack up all the bags and hand them over tomorrow when my co-worker comes to the lunch and learn tomorrow at the home office. She will be coming from a town 2 hours away. My goal tonight is to get those eight small bags done plus these four. I didn't realize it until this morning I was short two back pieces. I have plenty of that sugar skull fabric.

Yesterday there was a mandatory lunch and learn I had to attend. For lunch they had a variety of box lunches. I took the salmon wrap and unwrapped it to just eat the salmon. I don't eat salad so I picked out the cashews and edamame to eat. The fruit was really good; the pineapple was so sweet it was like eating dessert! I would have eaten the rest of the chicken that was on the salad, but I was just too full.

Project bag progress and daffodils

I managed to get 16 zipper panels made last evening. It took long than I thought it would between doing two loads of laundry, getting a bite to eat, and talking to my neighbor. He was over to pick up their mail since they were on vacation last week and I kind of watch their place. I was short on a couple pieces of fabric so there was a bit of cutting involved too. I have tonight and tomorrow evening to get as many bags finished as I can.

When I went to get my mail these daffodils greeted me. The ones in the yard beds have not flowered yet.