Cheesecake, pink pants, and what a nest

Last evening I needed to get a cheescake made to take to the neighbor's tonight. As soon as I get home from work, I will make a sweet potato casserole to take also.

I finally remembered to take a picture of the huge nest in the neighbor's tree. We believe this is where the Barr Owls hang out since we hear them in this area all the time.

I got started on taking apart the pants I am going to alter for my nephew. I will need to take out about 4 - 5 inches in the waist. I don't know if I will have to do more than hem the jacket sleeves right now. He will come over on Friday to try the pants on and we will go from there.

I have done a lot of alterations in my lifetime. Not my favorite thing to do anymore, but after the disaster that happened a couple years ago when Michael used a professional shop to fix a pair of pants and they literally fell apart during his first song. He paid a lot of money and I think they sewed them with air. He hates asking me, but I cannot let him go thru that again. Here are some jackets I made when I worked at the shop that made custom clothes for people who showed Western horses. I didn't have to cut the lamb leather or put on the decorations. My job was just the jacket construction. I also did most of the alterations for the place.

Have a great Thanksgiving. I am looking forward to 4 days off.

Quilt, soup, and backing

The pink quilt is 100% pin basted.

I put the pot back on the stove with the ham bone in it to warm it up. I took the fat off first. I pulled off the meat and ended up with 10 cups of broth and a nice bowl of ham. All of this for $3.99. The ham bones were on sale because of the holiday. The only time I will buy one. This one was marked $15.00. No way I would pay that.

This morning before work I made a small pot of ham and bean soup. I threw some broth in a small pot and added some celery and bay leaf. The celery softened up while I jumped in the shower. I threw in a large can of Great Northern beans and some ham. I ended up with two quarts and I will have some of that for lunch today. I have plenty of broth and ham for another big batch.

The backing came for the t-shirt quilt.

Quilt progress and soup

I hate being tired. It slows me down. Friday after work I didn't get much done. Saturday morning, I was out and about hitting several grocery stores and picked up my order from JoAnn's. I don't shop at JoAnn's much anymore; they never seem to have anything I need in stock. They did have the interfacing I use for t-shirt quilts. I like to keep a bolt or two on hand and at 60% off it was time to get a bolt. I was also shocked I was able to get some large spools of thread. Last time I tried to get some I received one spool and the rest of my order was cancelled. I sat down and fell asleep being tired from shopping and putting away almost everything; what a wimp I am!  I did finally get the pink quilt top finished, the backing washed, and the batting cut late Saturday.

On Sunday, I got the quilt laid out and started pin basting.  I have another half hour of pin basting, and I will be ready to start quilting. I also got the binding ready.

I spent some time on Sunday working in the kitchen too. I want to make healthy soups and have them portioned out in freezer bags so I can just grab and go for meals at work. I got a batch of Stanley Tucci's bean soup made with a few alterations. I left out the pasta and onion, and added chicken. I have made this many times and this was a really tasty batch and so easy to make. It only made 3 quarts and that will get me thru the next couple of days for breakfast and lunch.

When I was out and about on Saturday, I stopped at the Honey Baked ham store to see if they had ham bones on sale. They did and I bought two of the biggest ones I could find in the freezer. I threw one in a pot of water to make broth for soup. I will reheat it tonight to get the meat off the bone; there will be more than enough for one or two pots of soup to freeze.  I also found a good deal on chicken, so I will work on getting all that cooked over my Thanksgiving time off so I have it for soup.  My neighbor, Dave, stopped over yesterday and had lots of questions!  First, I got invited to Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday evening.  They are having family over.  Second, could they use my oven Wednesday.  Dave's wife lost her mother about 6 weeks ago and her mom always brought green bean casserole.  Nichole is now making it, but there won't be enough room in their oven.  Of course, my answer was yes.  The third question was can the guests coming use my driveway for parking?  We are on a cul-de-sac so parking is limited and with two multi-generational families and another family with six grown kids - some still live at home and other do not - it limits the parking.  Of course, my answer is yes; I'm not going anywhere except to dinner at their house!  Now I just need to know what I can bring - a cheesecake?  Cookies?  

Pink quilt progress

The 10 rows are sewn together.

I folded that section in half and started placing the pieces for the final 9 rows. I was trying to spread around the pieces that I had the least amount of then fill in with whatever I have left.  I still have some spots to fill in.

We have a bit of snow coming down; it's really just a dusting. It is supposed to warm up to 47 on Sunday so maybe I can get outside and work a bit. My goal this weekend is to work on the pink quilt and I have a pair of pants for my nephew that need completely taken apart and sized down; that ought to be interesting. He will be coming over during Thanksgiving weekend to try them on. We have a show on December 7 and he would like to wear the suit. I don't remember what needs to be done with the jacket. The backing for the t-shirt quilt is schedule for early next week, but that will just have to wait until I get the suit fixed. I never asked for a deadline for the t-shirt quilt; I guess I should ask. Have a great weekend.

Pink quilt progress and 1st snow for winter 2024.

"If you want to be free, don't be dumb." - Bootsy Collins.     I forgot to post a picture of the piece I stitched for my sister for her birthday.

Here it is on her wall.

I made some good progress on the pink quilt top.

It was snowing this morning on my way to work. This the first snow we have received Winter 2024. I don't think much is going to stick on the roads; it has been too warm.

A bit of progress

I ran an errand after work. When I got home, I put some things away, sat down, and fell asleep. I had slept terrible the night before and was tired. I did get two rows (the bottom two) sewn together. The row didn't shrink as much as I thought it might which is a good thing.

The t-shirt backing dilemma is finally over. This was stressing me out. The fellow found this 108" wide backing fabric. I ordered it this morning and it is scheduled to arrive next week.

Pink quilt progress

I took down the t-shirt quilt top and started putting the pink pieces on the design wall. I want to make this look as scrappy as possible. Here are the first 10 rows. I wish I had a few more prints, but I am not about to spend any money right now so it is what it is! I will sew together these rows before I lay out the next 9 rows.

I did find a cone of pink quilting thread so that was good.

The saga continues with the t-shirt backing. I told him when he was over that panels would not work. So what did he send me a picture of that he liked? A panel. I finally did a little sketch and showed him what the back would look like using panels and he now finally gets why a panel won't work. Geeze! He is going to look some more. He wanted Harley Davidson fabric, but most of the places did not sell yardage - only FQ or some really odd sized pieces. Then the next thing was something with eagles. A lot of the fabric with eagles was either panels or fugly!

T-shirt quilt top, next project, and getting ready for winter

I tried to keep busy this weekend. The t-shirt quilt top is done. The neighbor that commissioned me to make this came over to see it and we talked about the backing fabric - again. He still hasn't made a decision - geeze!

Since the t-shirt project has come to a standstill, I decided to start working on a quilt that will be a Xmas present. She asked me for a pink quilt. Since I have to get this done fast, I decided to keep it simple and just cut 5 1/2" x 10 1/2" rectangles of every pink fabric I could find in my stash. I will lay them out in a running bond pattern. I am keeping the striped fabric for the binding.  I had got a great deal on a 10 yard bolt that I will be using for the back. I also cut a few pieces from that bolt for the front to tie things together. Not counting the stripe, I came up with 27 pink fabrics. I used up all I had of a lot of smaller pieces I found.

The deer were visiting again. I was at the iron when I looked out the window and saw one of the twins.

Mom and the other twin were near by and they all went together for a stroll looking for some dinner.

It was warm and sunny on Sunday, so I went and blew more leaves, secured a tarp over the A/C condenser, rolled up the hose and put it in the garage for winter, then cleaned up the garage where I saw mouse poop. I found the dead mouse and set traps in case anymore decided that my garage would be a good place to visit.

Moving along

As soon a I got home from work I dug up three Lenten Roses for my boss. 

While I was out digging up the plants, Momma deer was watching me. I was talking to her and she kept walking closer to me.  She seem very interested in what I was doing. I slapped my gloves together and she then moved away about 20 feet. Her twins were out back too.

I got the bottom two rows of shirts sewn together. As fast as this top is coming together, I will have it done this weekend. Now I just need the fellow who commissioned this to decide what he wants for backing.

I have no big plans for the weekend. Have a great weekend.

Center row is sewn together

The trimming and sewing went good on this and now the center row is done.

I am happy with the way it turned out. Next, I will start sewing together the row above and the two rows below. I do have to add a bit of fabric to the sides of a couple shirts that are not wide enough at the sleeve area where I chopped off the sleeves. I have plenty of scraps to do that. Sometimes I improv piece the curved area at the sleeve, but for this I am just going to stick on a 3" piece on both sides then trim it to size.

Trimming and planning

The marigold seeds I spread were ones I harvested from last years fabulous crop that I had. I still have some so I will try again next year. I think it was just too hot this past summer. Last evening was spent trimming shirts. The design wall looks a bit of mess, but I know what is going on.

I am working on the middle row with that oversized shirt. I need to sew together the two smaller shirts and then I will cut and sew those little motifs to fit.

Once I get this ovesized row together, I think the rest will go quickly.

Finally, a plan

I had to sit and think about how I was going to sew the t-shirt quilt together. That middle shirt what everything else will be based off of. I started trimming shirts and will continue trimming before I start sewing shirts together.

I have one clump of marigolds that bloomed out of the thousands of seeds I spread this past spring.

T-shirt quilt progress

It was a busy weekend. Saturday I headed out to go to the bulk food store to get some staples for the winter. I got organic oatmeal, organic raisins, and a bunch of spices so I could make more taco seasoning.

I also took my expensive prescription sunglasses back while I was back in my home turf. I was still seeing double on the left and I could not wear them to drive. I tried to make them work, but no success. They got me set up with another pair that were not wrap around in style. Apparently with my prescription which is very strong, the wrap arounds are harder to get the prescription doable. The next pair are a flat pair kind of like my regular glasses. I worked on the t-shirt quilt and the layout was given the ok by the fellow having me make this.

Sunday I spent about 6 hours cleaning and straightening up. I got lunch on the stove for company. My son showed up with a Roku stick for the upstairs TV and got everything set up. Now I just have to figure out how to work it. I have never had a working TV in my living room since I have lived here. That is going on 22 years.  Ugh.  I pretty much live downstairs in the studio. It will be nice to have a TV upstairs so I can have it on while I work in the kitchen; I can see it from there. Right now I just have a small 32" TV, but with some kind of perks he gets at work, he said he can get me a good price on a bigger one.  he said he would watch and let me know.

In the afternoon my company spotted this buck chilling out in the backyard. He was a big deer.

Jackie B. google did something to blogger and you came up as a no-reply. Planting the daffodils is a wonderful idea. I already have lots of them, but I will have to keep that in mind as something to look forward to as the possible chaos takes over. I am preparing for the worst case to protect myself as best I can. I guess that gives me something else to think about. Take care! You can always shoot me an email pattynubs at gmail dot com. We need to build a community of support so we can get thru this.

George Carlin and the t-shirt quilt progress

"If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders." This volunteer coneflower bloomed yesterday.

I have been working on the t-shirt quilt when I can muster up the mental energy. This is the current layout. The top row will be six shirts across and I will be using the smaller sized shirts to make up this row.

I stated cutting up the smaller shirts; they still need interfaced

Once I get the smaller shirts pinned to the design wall, I will call my neighbor to come over and look at it. Since he is the one commissioning this quilt I want him to give me the thumbs up before I start sewing it together.

Rambo II

To paraphrase a line from that movie - God must love stupid people; he sure made a lot of them.

I can't stop crying

Life as we know it is gone.

T-shirt quilt progress, joyful flowers, what a sunrise

I don't know what has changed with blogger that everyone's comments come as a no-reply. I have the email address of my core followers, but I have gotten a few comments from new people (which is exciting) of which I cannot respond to since they are no-reply. Thank you David C. for your comment. I press interfacing on t-shirts for about two hours last evening. I just have been putting them on the design wall without a clear plan.

I have these interfaced but not placed yet.

I still have the six small and medium shirts to cut apart and interface. I was thinking a bit this morning and I now have a plan on how I will arrange these or at least something I am going to try.

It was another beautiful day yesterday, so I had to check my California poppies and my coneflowers. That one poppy plant is still blooming like crazy and I have a flower on two different coneflower plants. I was hard to go inside because the weather is so nice!

There was a beautiful sunrise this morning.