Boxy pouch progress, poppies and a coneflower

I have been busy working on the boxy pouches when I have a few minutes. So far I have the handles topstitched and the zippers installed. It is a bit fussy to sew the zippers, but it's not hard. Tonight, I will press them and top stitch them along the zipper. After that, finishing them will go fast.

I checked out my California poppy plants again after work. The flowers only last one day, but they continuously bloom for months. This plant has bigger flowers than any I have ever had. The flowers are a good 3" across. It was hard to get a good picture because the wind was gusting hard yesterday.  See the ones toward the top of the picture? Those are the typical sized flowers and are 2" across.

This is the furthest along bud on the coneflowers. I think I will give it a drink tonight to help it along. Other than the little bit of rain we had the other day, the weather has been dry and mostly sunny.

I know Wanda mentioned all her comments showed as no-reply. Mine are showing that was too now. Google must have done something.

Boxy pouches next, project bag bin, and color in the yard

I had six boxy pouches that I had cut out the same time I cut all those project bags. I got the interfacing ironed on to the boxy pouches and the handles interfaced, pressed and ready for topstitching.

I thought you might like to see my bin of finished project bags.

I walked around the yard when I got home from work looking for any color I might have left. This clump of California poppies greeted me

The bees are still enjoying the lavender

A few of the trees still had leaves. I have several trees that are already bare and with the wind and rain this morning, I am guessing the rest have lost many of leaves overnight.

Project bags, a new t-shirt quilt and filling holes

I'm tired. A lot of fresh air and yardwork. First, I will show I did get four more project bags done. These are the last ones that I had to sew together from the big pile. I just love this dandelion fabric. I wish I would have bought more. I am keeping one of those for myself.

I did spend some time on Saturday stitching on that new sampler. I was still tired. Here is where I was last Friday and where I am now.

As I just started watching the Notre Dame game, my neighbor called. He was ready to help me out with some yard chores. I forced myself to get dressed and headed out to help. We moved a good portion of this Sweet Peat mulch to where I store it in the back yard. I kept some here in the front to put on the front flower beds once I get them weeded. No sense pushing it back up the hill!

The mulch tucked away for winter.

On Thursday I had stopped and bought more soil and sand to fill in ruts. We mixed all the material I had - 5 bags of topsoil, 4 1/2 bags of potting soil, and used 2 1/2 bags of sand. We filled in the skid steer ruts and some other miscellaneous holes in the back yard. I had blown the leaves off the grass so we could see where the ruts were.

My neighbor has a battery powered hedge trimmer and cut down a bunch of high weeds toward the tree line while I blew more leaves. After a couple hours we called it quits. He then asked if I would make a t-shirt quilt for a friend of his and brought over the shirts.

Sunday, I went to the home improvement center to get more soil and sand. Picked up a few groceries while I was out too. I mixed up another bag of topsoil, a bag of potting soil and 1/3 of a bag of sand to start filling in some the holes along the side of the house. I had blown the leaves first, mowed, then threw down the mix.

As I come across more holes, I will have material to fill them. It is hard to mow and just walk in the yard with all those depressed areas.  I am going to get a can of marking paint so anytime I am walking around the yard and feel a hole, I will mark it.  That will make it easier than trying to go back and find it.  This is enough material for four more batches. 

New sampler and traffic jams.

I started on another little reproduction sampler. Here is what I have done so far.

Work was fine, but the evening was a nightmare. I went to my chiropractor appointment and stopped to get more top soil, potting soil and sand for filling in ruts. Then the fun began. NOT!  It would normally take 20 - 25 minutes to get home from the home improvement store; last night it took an hour! I have no idea why traffic was backed up. Once I got down the last hill and turned left to go up the hill to get home, traffic was all backed up again. Once I finally got close to the front of the line, the road I would take was blocked off! No wonder the line to turn left was so long! I got stuck when I tried to go around a trailer and ended up having to go right. This took me at least four or five miles out of my way. I was exhausted by the time I finally got home. I unloaded the dirt and sand then went inside. I turned on the TV and it wasn't working! Geeze!  By that time I was ready to punch someone! My neighbor came over and pushed some button and got it working again.  He and his wife were leaving to head to a funeral in which they were running late.  Where they were going was to the  direction I just came from.  At least I could warn him which was not to go.  With the TV fixed I got  something to eat I sat down and saw that Bruce was going to be at Kamala's rally.

I was texting my son and telling him that I hated this streaming crap; give me back my VCR!  You don't get any manual on how to get this stuff to work.  He said you'll get use to it.  Because he didn't understand my struggle, I gave him a comparison.  I told him what if I gave someone who didn't know how to sew a pile of fabric, thread, a sewing machine, batting and tell them to make a quilt with no instructions?  Do you think they could do it without any instructions?  That's how I feel.  After watching a bit of Obama's speech, I had to go to bed. I was exhausted.

Four more project bags done

I don't know where the time goes! I got part of my yard mowed last evening. My neighbor got home from Florida where he was organizing the effort to clean up hurrican damage. He works for a nationwide restoration company. At least I don't have to mow his yard or pu his mail everyday. I did manage to get four more project bags finished.

A busy evening

I managed to get those four project bags finished.  I think that fabric is fun.

I filled out my ballot and have it ready to take to the post office after work tonight.

I kitted up three cross stitch projects.

My neighbor came over to get his mail. He has been gone for a month helping his company coordinate clean up from the hurricanes.

My brain hurts

I didn't get a lot of sewing done, but I did manage to get four small bags finished. I have the matching large project bags ready for stitching.

I spent most of my weekend cleaning. My new Dyson cordless vac did a great job picking up the dust bunnies! I mowed the neighbor's front yard and the internet guys showed up Saturday afternoon. I was cranking thru the laundry and doing dishes too. On Sunday another neighbor showed up to help me hook up the internet and TV steaming service. I had no idea how to do that! So between work and learning how to use the TV, my brain hurts! At work we have a program to use to submit our expense report and another program to onboard new employees. The training was poor at best for each new program. So all of this in a short period of time was a brain buster. Another project coordinator had to help me finish out my new hire from last week. I have another new hire today and I am not sure what is going to happen.

Beautiful skies

Tuesday after work I had a hair appointment. It is usually a 40 - 45 minute drive, but it took me an hour and 15 minutes to get there because traffic was so bad. That made me late, which then pushed getting done later. I didn't get home until 7 pm! I had left work at 3:30! That shot my whole evening. I'm going to start looking for a salon closer.  I have been going to Carla for a long time, but the traffic just keeps getting worse so I'm done.  There was a pink rainbow and fluffy pink cotton candy looking clouds on my way home.

Wednesday I was just dog tired when I got home. I threw a load in the washer, sat down and fell asleep in my sewing chair. Put the laundry in the dryer and threw another load in the washer. At 6:44 pm I got up to close the drapes and saw this sky. Amazing! In a matter of a minute it was gone.

I have been working on a small cross stitch for a birthday card. It is almost done.

I got a good night's sleep last night so maybe I will have the energy to work on project bags tonight.

Better than nothing

I was tired when I got home from work yesterday. I managed to wash sheets and not a whole lot of anything else. I did get two small project bags done. I just love this whale fabric.

Progress on the project bags

I tried to stay home as much as possible this weekend. I did run out for some groceries, and I needed to get more vinyl for project bags. I did some straightening up in the fabric storage room and sewing room. I finished 8 large bags and 6 small bags.

I got the zipper units for 10 large bags and 6 small bags sewn together so I should be able to get the bags done in the next couple of evenings.

It rained Saturday and Sunday so I couldn't mow the neighbor's front yard. It is raining today, and rain is forecasted for Tuesday and Wednesday. After all that rain, I will probably need to mow my yard again too.

Bag progress and more mowing

I only had time to press the interfacing on the lining pieces and trim the zipper units for the next four large project bags. They are lined up and ready for the finishing fold over binding.

Last evening was more mowing and trimming, a bit more than an hour and half's worth. I'm tired! I have more trimming in the back yard where the yard slopes and it is too hard to mow. Then I guess I will have to go and mow my neighbor's front yard again sometime this weekend.  He works for Serv-Pro in a management position and he is down south helping coordinate cleanup efforts from the two hurricanes. He is not sure when he will get back. I am glad it is Friday for sure! I need to go on a road trip to my favorite bulk food store, hit the credit union on my way home, and get some more vinyl for project bags while it is on sale. Have a great weekend!

Small project bags made, more dirt, mowing

I got another four small project bags done.

I mixed up another batch of fill for the ruts and got a bit more filled in. It takes so much more dirt than I thought it would.  I am out of sand so there is a trip to Menards in my future. 

Since it was so nice outside last evening, after doing the fill dirt I decided to work on mowing the parts of the yard that didn't get mowed a while back. I got one side yard and six passes in the back yard done before I quit at 7 PM.

My neighbor was out mowing too so I had a couple of things to talk to him about. He is more techy than I am so I asked for his guidance of what I need to do to get internet and switch from DISH to streaming TV. I also asked him to go shopping with me for a new smart TV. He was all about going shopping! I need to finally change from Dish to internet since Dish got bought out by Direct TV. Dish was in financial trouble and after talking to my son he figures they are going to raise the price. Well, I just received notice my Dish bill is due and it went up $15.00 since last month. They will probably just keep raising the price. No, they did not notify me that the price was going up.

Last evening's adventures

First thing I did when I got home was to finish the zipper units for the next 8 project bags.

Next I headed out to the garage to figure out what area to sort out next. I decided I needed to use these bags of topsoil and sand for the reason I bought them.

I bought this material to fill in the ruts in the backyard made by the skid steer that pulled out the old concrete steps. First, I needed to weed wack the grass short where the ruts were located then I got out the leaf blower to move the grass and leaves out of the way.

I mixed the topsoil with some sand to lighten the mix. I shoveled the mix and leveled out the mix as I went. I used up four bags of topsoil and 1 1/2 bags of sand. It was hard work lugging those bags around and getting them mixed!  It hardly looks like I made a dent!  LOL!!

It was almost 7 pm so I called it quits. I have three bags of topsoil left to spread, but I am going to need more topsoil and sand to get everything filled in. At least they are out of the garage now!

I finished the sampler. I need to make another card so I will be working on that this week.

Bag progress, sampler, and more floss

Yesterday the weather was beautiful. When I got home from work I started a load of laundry then headed out to the garage to do some straightening up and cleaning. After 1 1/2 hours I had gotten about 1/3 of the garage done then headed back inside to put the second load in the dryer. I did work on the zipper units for the next 8 bags.

The mailman brought me my second order of Pirate & Robin floss.

I got a little bit more stitched on the sampler. I am very close to being done. Here is where I was yesterday and where I am now.

Project bag update - completions and supply list, more brownies, and sampler status

It was a busy weekend! On Sunday I got 14 large project bags done and 7 small one done.

I should have included my sources with the project bag tutorial. I get my zippers from Wawak.com. I get the 4.5 bag zippers. I like the nice big zipper pull. The more you buy the cheaper they are. These are really nice zippers, and they come in quite a few colors. I order online; it's easy to navigate and their shipping is FAST! I usually get my order in two days!

The interfacing I use is a fusible woven from Home-Sew. It is 60" wide. Their shipping is quick and I usually get my order in about 4 days.  I have called to place and order and have placed an order online.  Home-Sew carries a lot of different sewing and craft items.

I have the next bags staged and partly pressed.  To make these bags you use the iron almost more than the sewing machine. 

Saturday I stitched a bit then went out to finish up my neighbor's front yard. I had a little more trimming to do. I then shoveled up the grass growing in the cracks and joints, swept up the debris in the gutter (dirt, leaves, grass), then used the leaf blower to finish it off. I did the same at my house so that shot a couple hours. I headed to a family event and took a batch of brownies for a birthday.

I took everyone to lunch and the best part were the gouda mac and cheese bites. I could eaten a lot more of those!

I got a bit more stitched on the sampler. I am almost done. Here is where I was last Firday and where I am now.

On Friday at work a new vacuum was delivered. The old upright burnt out from vacuuming up chunks of dirt and rocks; after all this is a construction office! Well, I had to put the thing together then there was the packaging I had to breakdown for recycling. The new vac works good, but let's see how long it lasts! LOL!!