Banner done and back to quilting

It didn't take long to hem the banner. I gave it a good pressing and rolled it onto a pool noodle to try and keep it from getting too wrinkled.

I got back to the butterfly quilt and it is now 85% quilted.

I have to keep on top of making sure we have water and ice for the guys out in the field especially with this brutal hot weather. I got a pallet of water delivered yesterday.

The guys were all in a meeting so I moved the 84 cases to where we keep the water. I was glad when I got down to this!

I can only pick up one case at a time, but it still only took me 25 minutes to move them from the dock to the storage area and it is good exercise. The arrow is pointing to the interior dock door so it is not a long ways from the storage area.

I did go out and water my flowers last evening to give them a bit of a drink. There is rain in the forecast almost every day next week which will be nice. Have a wonderful 4th of July!

Pillowcases, banner, and poor daisies

The other two pillowcases are finished

My neighbor has a design business and designs invitations, seating plans, and welcome banners for weddings. She needed some linen for a banner so I had her come over and look at what I had on hand. She picked this white linen and applied the information to it. I got the measurements for the stand it will hang from. The side hems and the rod pocket are done so all I have left to do is the hem. It will finish 37 3/4" X 64 1/2". In trade she will put my name on the back of my t-shirts for the band with her Cricketcut.

I watered last night and it was so hot even at 6:30pm! I was out about 15 minutes which was enough to give the plants a drink. I didn't water the Shasta daisies at the curb; I will give them a drink tonight. The daisies are already starting to die off and with the high being 96 today, they are going to fade a lot quicker.

Binding progress, pillowcases, mowing, and flowers

At lunch yesterday I got 1/3 of one side of the binding sew on the rail fence quilt. A few minutes here and there, and soon it will be done.

I needed to get some pillowcases made for my SIL. She had bought the blue background fabric at a garage sale. I had the vintage cream colored fabric in my stash.

She had also bought a small piece of bowling fabric. It was only 17" wide, but I was able to get two pillowcase bands. Usually, I cut the bands 11" wide, but I made this work! I will finish these tonight then get back to the butterfly quilt.

I needed to mow. It was very warm, but I was in the shade most of the time and there was a little breeze that helped. Not sure you can tell in the pictures that I mowed, but the grass was so much longer than I expected. I mowed the front and one side yard which took me 29 minutes. By then I had enough!

My California Poppies and coneflowers are blooming like crazy! I don't know why the poppies like to spread over the sidewalk.

Before I got home I stopped at the grocery store to buy butter since it was on sale - $3.29 a pound! Now I am stocked up on Land 'O Lakes! I think I will be making shortbread cookies for a couple of the shows coming up. I am out of chocolate chips. Ghirardelli are my favorite, but the price! Before the 11% off at Menards they are $7.15 for a 12 oz bag!  And I use to think they were expensive at five dollars a bag!  LOL!!

Progress on the quilts

The butterfly quilt is now 73% quilted.

I am now halfway done hand stitching the rail fence binding.

I am looking forward to getting these two quilts done!

Progress on the butterfly quilt and another show

I now have 23% of the butterfly quilt quilted. I wanted to get those two center blocks done so the rest will be easy.

The band had a show in Avon, Ohio Friday evening. I made oatmeal raisin cookies to take.

The show was at the minor league ballpark. We had some sprinkles, but the weather cleared and it was a fun night.

Michael opened for a Journey tribute band.

There was a pretty sunset

Binding progress, next project, food and games

The binding is machine sewn on the rail fence quilt. I can now take my time to do the hand stitching since the woman I work with who I will hand it over to once it is done is going on vacation.

My next goal is to get the butterfly quilt done. These both belong to a friend of a woman I work with. I was leery about doing my overall quilting on the butterflies. The quilting thread buries itself into the knit fabric and doesn't take away from the butterflies - whew!  I am using an off white thread. I plan on rotating between hand stitching the binding and quilting the butterfly quilt so I don't get bored.

Yesterday at work we had a 250th celebration with food and games.

I drove to the home office for a lunch of hot dogs, hamburgers and all the fixings. I didn't participate in the games, but enjoyed my time catching up with everyone since I don't see them much. Being out in the field is somewhat isolating. Everyone received a t-shirt and a Yeti koozie.

It's binding time!

Yeah! The rail fence quilt is quilted! Tonight I will start sewing on the binding.

Progress is progress and binding

I was tired when I got home from work and wasn't motivated to quilt. I decided to cut the binding for the rail fence quilt and the butterfly quilt. I had been given a king sized sheet for each and there was plenty of leftover fabric for the binding. I didn't have to even piece the binding! It is pressed and ready to go!

I did get a little quilting done this morning. I am now 87% done with the quilting.

Tote bags, quilting, and wildlife

Saturday was all about making tote bags for the merch booth. I needed to get ahead on these. I sewed together 22.

My friend had brought me more bags cut to size at the show on Friday so I sewed those together.

There were eight bags so that gave me a total of 30 bags finished on Saturday.

I spent most of Sunday quilting on the rail fence quilt. I am now 84% done!

My front yard was looking like a Disney movie with a bunny and a doe hanging out.

I was on a mission this weekend to start to deal with the chipmunk problem. They are digging holes everywhere and the population has exploded even though I eliminated a bunch two years ago. This weekend I caught six. I couldn't set up the traps this morning since it was raining. I have learned not to set them up overnight, because if I catch something during the night then some other animal comes along for a free dinner and drags my trap away.

Quilting, gardening, tote bags, cleaning up piles, and another show

Thursday evening I was dog tired, so I spent a little time cleaning up the piles that had accumulated on two chairs in the studio. Wanda's workbench cleanup had inspired me to tackle these piles. I sorted out the batting and fabric then put it where it belonged.

Friday I took the day off of work. First thing I did was finish quilting the one side of the rail fence quilt. It is now 55% done!

Next I headed outside to do some more cleanup on the flower bed. Besides being tired on Thursday evening and not working in the yard, the wind was howling so trying to clean up leaves, etc. would have proved to be futile. I filled the yard wagon with more leaves, thistle, and other stuff.

I have worked my way around to the other side of the center bed and it is quite a mess! LOL! It is going to take some time on the hands and knees cleaning out the weeds between the California poppies.

After about an hour in the yard, it was time to make muffins to take to the show that evening. I made cinnamon muffin and triple chocolate muffins. They went over big!

I dug out some of the tote bags to try and get some made to take that evening

but I was running out of time so I only got two of the bigger drum head bags made. I didn't even have time to turn them right side out! LOL!

The show was in Lakewood, Ohio. The load in and out was one of the easier ones we have had. After we got set up I headed across the street to Voodoo Tuna Sushi. We had played this venue a few years ago so I knew that sushi place was there.  Delicious!

We had a great crowd! This picture was earlier before the full crowd was there. There were even people sitting across the street watching the show since there was shade over there. The music was plenty loud so they did not miss a note,

A friend and her husband came from PA to the show and it was wonderful to see them! There were many friends and family of the band that came to this show so it was like a big party!

A little progress on the rail fence, more clean up, and a free plant

I had to run errands after work so I didn't have as much time to quilt on the rail fence. I am now 42% done.

I still made time to head out into the yard to do more clean up. The yard wagon was loaded up after my half hour of work.

I wanted to clean up around this lavender to see if it was indeed a plant that had rooted off of the main plant that was pretty much dead.

The stem had been laying on the soil and yes it had rooted! A free plant! I carefully dug it up and moved it. I will have to keep my eye on it and make sure it stays well watered. Once I get the area around the lavender cleaned up I am going to find a couple stems to pin down and see if I can't get more to root. Any new plants will help replace the ones that are dying.  This bed is starting to look better!

In honor of President Obama's library opening today I am posting my quilt that I made to represent him. The front is Dutch wax African prints and the back is Hawaiian fabric. I made this back in 2011.