4th finish for 2026, another show, and it is thread bed time

The pink quilt is done! It finished at 64" by 67.5". I used the leftover backs and a couple of gators for the backing.

I also made a bag for it. I will turn this over on Wednesday.

Saturday I was still tired from the Greensburg show, but I got myself together and headed out about 3:30 pm for a show at a private party. The house was only 2.4 miles away and what a house!

The house had to of had an acre of land. We set up a merch booth that was 75 steps away from the road cases with our stuff since it would have been hard to roll the cases up some stone steps and path. My SIL and I hand carried all the stuff we needed and this is the path we had to take. The merch booth

then down this path past where we staged the band's equipment next to the stage

the path continued

finally to the steps and our cases that were just past the port-a-jon. There wasn't any lights so when we were loading out, we had to be careful not to trip on the stones or steps. I did put on my headlight after my SIL asked me if I had brought it and that helped! Duh!

They had a bar set up

a food tent. Then a fellow was grilling hamburgers, hot dogs, and kabobs

I had a hot dog and some ice cream. People were bringing a side or dessert and someone had set out a half gallon of ice cream! Strange when it was 80 degrees outside, but I got my share and it was delicious!

The property was full of hidden spaces and nooks to explore.

Michael got on stage a little late because one of the other musicians who played earlier got back in front of a mike at the secondary stage and wouldn't stop playing. He played ok but his singing was not so good. Somebody finally had to tell him to stop so we got going about a half hour later than scheduled. Then Michael didn't get to play his whole set because he had to stop at 10:20 or the neighbors would call the cops.

The party guests were up and dancing the whole time Michael was playing. They weren't dancing for any of the other musicians that played.

If they invite Michael to play again, they will have to plan a bit better and have him start earlier! We got everything packed and since there was plenty of help to load the trailer, I went home. I got to bed a little before midnight. I was pretty tired on Sunday so I watched the remaining episodes of "Dutton Ranch" I hadn't seen, did laundry, put the label on the pink quilt, watched the final Stage of the Tour de France, and spread out the fabric that Wanda had sent me for thread beds or tote bags. Such beautiful fabrics! Most of the pieces are big enough to get at least one thread bed out of them.

I matched up the Wanda fabric with the more solid batik fabrics I have been buying. I like using the lighter solid fabrics for the inside of the thread beds. I think I have a pretty good plan and now I will get started on cutting tonight.

Pink quilt progress, Greensburg show, and Homer

Where do I start! The pink quilt. The binding is on and I have almost one side hand stitched.

I took vacation on Friday. I looked out the front and saw lots of bees and four butterflies having a meal on the coneflowers. One of the butterflies was this dark one with beautiful blue and yellow accents. It took me a while to get its picture. There were two Monarks and one other smaller butterfly.

The plumber make quick work of what I neweded done. He was very helpful! I headed over to my brother's house to head out with the band to Greensburg, PA for a show. Backstage during sound check.

The volunteers that run this event are wonderful! They helped unload and load the trailer, and supplied lots of food! They had some spinach and feta pizza bits that were so good! There were hot and cold subs, watermelon, grapes, chips, Cheetos, etc, a few sweets, pizza, and a variety of beverages. This was a real treat. Most of the places we play don't provide and food.

We had a good, lively crowd. Michaels always goes out and visits the crowd. The arrow points to where he was at one point. He went all the way to the top of the hill to visit the crowd.

Lots of people came to the merch booth after the show to meet Michael;many were at the show last year. A new fan is Homer; yes, that is a pet pigeon!

The weather in Greensburg was pleasant and there was a nice breeze. Greensburg is a 3 hours drive one way. I got to bed after a needed shower at 2:30 am this morning.

Binding has started

I had errands to run after work so my time to get much done was shortened. I did get the binding pinned on two sided of the pink quilt.

I needed to go over to my neighbor's and pick up their mail; they are on vacation for a few days. Since it was so nice outside I picked up the weed trimmer and wacked away on the grass growing in the joints of the driveway. That was not on the list of tasks I needed to get done, but it was just so nice outside!

Fabric bargains and rain

I didn't get any sewing done last evening because I got started on straightening up and didn't stop for 2 1/2 hours. All the trash and recycling was put in their bins for pick up today. I then straightened up as I vacuumed the laundry/utility/dressing room. This is a big room - about 9' x 12 1/2'. No, I did not take a before and after. Trust me, it needed some attention so now the plumber can have access to the space on Friday. Meanwhile, I did get some fabric from eQuilter and Lou Lou's. All of this was on sale for $7.00 or less. I wanted the more solid batiks to go with the batik prints for thread beds and project bags. I like using the more solid colors for the interiors. I just had to buy the cute scissor fabrics and those sweet pigs!

We got some rain yesterday! Here is the storm that rolled thru around noon.

Then it poured again at about 7:45 that evening. It was coming down in sheets, but it didn't last too long.

Temperatures have dropped which is nice! It is only 60 degrees right now with a high today of 70!

Pink t-shirt quilt update

The quilt it all quilted! It took me longer than I thought it would to get it finished. I took yesterday off work since I wasn't sure when we would get back from Painesville. I had also made a hair appointment, so it was nice to get that taken care off.

The binding is cut and ready to sew together.

I can't just work on the binding. I have a plumber scheduled to come later on this week so I need to get some tidying up done.

What a weekend!

I spent time making more tote bags for the merch booth. I got 14 of the 15" bags done to take to the show on Saturday which was local so I drove myself instead of riding in the van.

We got the band set up on stage and the merch booth all set up then about 45 minutes later the sky was getting dark. I checked the weather and it looked like we could get hit with a storm so we started putting a few things out of harms way. No sooner than we started and it started to rain. Then the wind picked up and the rain was coming down hard sideways. I had strapped down the tent, but one corner of the cover started to come off. We got that back on and several people helped us hold on to the tent. Then we finally got smart and lowered the tent down and that helped. We got a break, but there was a second storm coming. We put away what we could and braced for the next one. Everything got wet including all the band's equipment. We have covers for almost everything. but it was raining so hard! Finally, the rain stopped and we were all soaked to the bone. The band could not play because everything was wet so we packed up. My brother, SIL, Michael, Charley, and Michael's girlfriend took everything over to the studio so it could dry out because we had another show Sunday.  You can't tell but the tablecloth is soaking wet.

When my brother and SIL got home after the trip to the studio, they had no electricity! Their neighborhood got hit hard! There were trees and big branches down everywhere including on top of people's houses. Here is some of the damaged in their backyard. One of my SIL's fairy gardens got wiped out.  I took these pictures when we got home from Painesville. 

Sunday morning I finished up a few more tote bags.

Things were fine at my house and it looked like I didn't get that much rain. Sunday we headed to Painesville, Ohio for another show. I can't believe how everything got dried out and reloaded! They were beyond tired! The weather was beautiful for the show. Temps in the mid 70's, low humidity, and a lovely breeze. The venue had a tent set up for our merch so that saved us some work. The booth was next to the stage so I got a great view of the show. We had a good crowd that was very receptive! I got home sometime after 8 which was early!

A bit more progress

I only got the smaller t-shirt in the corner quilted last evening. I spent about an hour on the phone talking to my son which was great.

Here is a picture of my zucchini plant on the July 6th and what it looks like now. Since it is forecasted to be a bit cooler next week I am going to try and get it in the ground.

The air quality here is terrible because of the smoke from the Canadian wildfires. This morning the air quality index is 237 which is very unhealthy.  I can still smell it inside the office.  It is overcast, hazy and it smells like burnt wood. There is very little wind and it's humid. I am lucky I get to stay indoors.

Three more shirts quilted

I am feeling much better so I had the energy to get a lot done on the pink t-shirt quilt last evening. I finished the white shirt with the circle design and the pink shirt to its right, then quilted the gray shirt.

I also pressed a few handles for tote bags.

I did go outside and gave the flowers a drink. It was so hot and humid I just couldn't stay outside very long. No rain in the forecast until Sunday.

Back to the pink t-shirt quilt

I am now over halfway done with the quilting! I quilted the white shirt at the bottom and started on the white shirt with the circles of pink ribbons.

It was time to look for binding fabric and I found this dark pink fabric that will work great.