My sister's stuff, cookies, taco seasoning, cactus, and a site tour

I made good progress on my sister's project bags and thread beds. The project bags are done.  They measure 12" x 14"

These two thread beds are done except for the velcro closure.  These measure 10" x 13".

I had to make one thread beds all red since I used up all the Braves fabric. This all that I had left.

The other two thread beds need quilted, the flannel attached then the self-binding pressed and sewn. I did learn one thing; I added interfacing to the flannel. I like the way the interfaced flannel looks so much better. One of these is almost all the cream speckled fabric since I didn't have enough of the Braves fabric. They still match the project bags and I am glad I had enough fabric to add one piece of the Braves fabric to the zipper unit.

I was asked the purpose of a thread bed. Good question Vicki! Once you cut a piece of floss and pull a strand to use, you need some place to keep the other strands. That is where the thread bed comes in. You can stick the piece of thread to the flannel. The pocket is handy for keeping the skeins or bobbins of floss. You could also put your scissors in it. The green felt is good for storing needles. Here is my smaller thread bed for my John Wick sampler. I even used a P touch to make labels for the floss colors and drew what symbol they were on the chart; you need to keep your floss organized! The labels will peel off and I can use it for the next project.  See how the flannel is wrinkled?    Hopefully that doesn't happen with interfacing the flannel now.  

I picked this little piece of Christmas cactus up off the floor at the store. It was just going to be thrown away so It came home with me. After sitting around for almost a week, Wanda recommended I start it in water. I needed to find a something small to put it in and found this cap. It is getting roots!

I made a batch of chocolate shortbread cookies. I overbaked them, but they still taste good. Took some to work and they guys like them.

I made some taco seasoning to give the guys at work. I forgot to take a picture, but I filled four of these jars and three of the empty spice containers to give them plus the recipe so they could make more and the recipe for Salsa chicken.

Friday one of the superintendents took me out for a job site tour. I hadn't been out there for months. It was cold and snowy, but we were in the truck so no big deal. Here we are going south on the old northbound off ramp which leads up to the bridge. Those stacks on the left side are slabs of bridge decking. There is a aggegrate company right beside the job site. The guys built an access road so we can move the slabs over to their yard and they will then crush the slabs, remove the rebar, and resell the processed concrete.

Here you can see an area where the deck slab has been removed.  That is the new southbound bridge where the cars are driving.

Next we drove under the bridges. We are going up the hill. The guys made this access road for the crane that will be used to help demo the old bridge. They had to put in two switchbacks since the hill is very steep. We are headed up to where I drew that blue line.

Here we are at the top of the hill. The blue dot is where we were in the last photo. The bridge on the right is the old bridge for both the north and southbound lanes. The new bridge on the left is for the southbound traffic although it is now being used for both the north and south bound traffic until we get the northbound bridge built.  From the ground to the deck of the new bridge is 120 feet. 

Here is the crane that will be moved up the hill. Right now it is sitting at the bottom of the second switchback.

The northbound bridge will be open in early 2028.