More finished pouches; now we're having fun!

19 more finished. 161 to go. That is almost 17% done! Once I get the zippers topstitched, then it is nothing but fun to get the final construction done.

My next group are the red pouches. I wound bobbins and changed the thread in the machine so I am ready to go! I have no idea how many are in this stack.

Zippers install and now the final construction

I finished up sewing the zippers in the last 14 pouches. In the past I would sew the one side in.

Next I would partially close the zipper and line the right sides together. I would stick a pin in the unsewn part of the zipper to line up with the outside edge of the pouch. Ignore that little mark; I will explain in a second

Then I would unzip the zipper and line the pin up with the right side of the pouch and move the pin over about an eighth of an inch

Finally, I would pin it so the zipper didn't move and then sew. Doing it this way made it so I didn't have to change the zipper foot from one side to the other.

This just took too long! I did come up with a better way! It dawned on me when I started sewing in the secone half of the zipper. The zipper was laying flat and was already sewn in just a few stitches. I measured from the edge of the pouch to the open end of the zipper. 8 and 3/8 inches. The zipper is curved and sewn in the picture but I measured when it was straight.

I then put a piece of tape in front of my machine and put two marks 8 3/8" apart.

Now all I had to do was lay the zipper face down and mark the side that is the second side to sew in. This was so much quicker! I would just grab a pile of pouches that I had stacked with the zippers for them, go thru the pile and mark the zippers as I restacked them with their coordinating zippers. What a time saver! That what that little mark was on the zipper I showed doing the old method.

So after I sewed in the last of zippers it was time to top stitch the zippers. I would topstitch a stack that I could use the same color of thread. Doing it this way saved me from changing the needle position if I did the topstitching then the final construction one pouch at a time.

Then I did the final construction on the pouch. Here is the first one finally done! It has been weeks of prep to get to this point! I bet you all are sick of seeing these posts!

I got 13 sewned together last evening.

After doing the topstitching, it takes me about 5 minutes to finish sewing the pouch together. Only 180 more to go!

More zippers, labels, poor daffodils, and snow?

Only 14 more zipper to sew in for the pouches! I am anxious to start the next phase of sewing the pouches into a finished product!

At lunchtime yesterday I cut the roll of labels which I will use for the pouches. I have no idea how many I have but I did cut what I had left on this roll.

We got hit with another cold spell so the daffodils that had made a pretty good recovery were now looking sad again.

I drove thru two squalls of grapple on my way home from work and then it snowed lightly all evening. No accumulation, but Mother Nature is sure being a grump!

Zipper mania and Harley t-shirts

Friday evening, I got 15 pouches quilted.

Saturday I woke up with a belly ache. I quilted anyway until about 3 P.M. then just had to quit and take a nap. I felt better when I got up three hours later and finished the last of the quilting. So Saturday I quilted 24.

Here are the trimmed pouches, all 200 of them!

I sorted them by color.

Here are the bags of zippers

I got the zippers installed in 149 of the pouches. It was taking me a half hour to sew 14 zippers in.

I matched up the zippers to the pouches I had left and was short 7 zippers. No big deal. I have 44 pouches that still need the zippers sewn in. That ought to take me less than 2 hours to accomplish.

Empty zipper bags

The next step will be to top stitch the zippers. I will be at the point to just go ahead and finish sewing the pouches together.

A box showed up

More Harley shirts and lots of shirts that are not black!

The Christmas cactus is looking so pretty!

I had a couple errands to run after work, so I only had time to get six pouch sandwiches quilted. That's better than a stick in the eye!

My goal this weekend is to quilt pouch sandwiches Friday night and all day Saturday, then start installing zippers on Sunday. I found this note on my desk this morning

Yes, we have heat! Have a great weekend!

Back to quilting

I wasn't as tired from being in the cold all day so I managed to get some quilting done. Seven more pouch sandwiches are quilted and trimmed.

I still haven't heard from the HVAC company as to when our heat will be fixed. It did get up to 66 in here yesterday, but the draft is still cool. My little space heater died, but I brought my one from home.

Still no heat

The HVAC repair men came yesterday afternoon and found that our unit needs a new motor. That means we have no heat again today and I have no idea of how long it will take to get the new motor. This morning it was 59 in here.  59 wouldn't be too bad if it was 100 degrees outside!  LOL!

I'm at least better prepared today. Yesterday I had my lightweight jacket on. Today I am wearing my winter coat, a hoodie, and a long sleeve thermal shirt. I also brought a flannel quilt to wrap my legs up in.

I also brought the space heater I use in my studio to try and throw off a little warmth.

After work I went to see my wellness guru, stopped one other place, and headed home. After I got a bite to eat, I fell asleep in my sewing room chair. I was so much more tired than I thought fighting being cold all day. I didn't get anything done. At least I am better prepared today. This morning I did get the red pouch sandwiches pressed that were in that pile of pieces I made Friday night during the power outage

and put them with the few red ones I still hadn't quilted yet. I have got to get back to the sewing machine tonight.

My poor daffodils are so sad

but my Christmas cactus is so pretty!

The temperatures are forecasted to 49 as the high tomorrow and 58 on Friday which will help.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

My Irish great grandmother Nellie

and her daughter, my Irish grandmother, Helen

No sewing happened last evening. I had a hair appointment right after work. My new stylist had been a big help with dealing with my thinning and breaking hair. My hair is coming back in, but it seems to be breaking off. We had a long talk about products. I had changed my shampoo and conditioner months ago per her recommendations, but we think the styling products I am using are the problem. She recommended to start with a protein booster for after I shampoo and a water-based moose for styling. I will give those a try and see what happens.

When I got home I decided to make brownies to take to work for St. Patrick's Day. While the brownies baked, I did dishes.

It started snowing around 3 PM yesterday and the temps dropped into the 20's. Burr! After having 70 degrees weather, it was quite a system shock. We didn't get any accumulation. This is what is looked like this morning.

The roads had been heavily salted so no issues driving. I got to work and darn it was cold inside! The heat has gone out again. The system was blowing cold air so I shut that off and emailed the landlord. Here was the thermostat said

Thank goodness I have my little space heater. I am still wearing my coat and scarf. Let's hope the HVAC guy can get here soon.