Day 1 - weeding, garage clean up, baby quilt, log cabin quilt

To start out the 4th of July I weeded for about an hour. I didn't get outside until 7:30 am and by 8:30 there was too much sun. It hasn't been that long since I weeded the big flower bed so to see as many weeds as I did was crazy. The newest problem is crabgrass. Here is one spot I cleared out. It is slow going when I have to be careful to pull just the crabgrass and not the California poppies.

There was a decent breeze so I stayed outside and worked at straightening up the garage. Along the right side I just put things away and swept. Here is the before and after.

At the back of the garage - more of the same.

In the pile on the table was a yard sculpture that needed it's base glued on. Every time I moved it the base fell off. I got the Loctite adhesive and now it is finally fixed. After two hours in the garage I called it quits for now. The garage is about half done and looks so much better. I hope to get a bit more done today.

After all that I was inside in the A/C and time to get some sewing done. I turned on the Yellowstone marathon to keep me company and got to work. I pressed and topstitched the 62 handles I need for the next group of tote bags.

I sorted the hand dyed strips to figure out which ones I wanted to pair with the floral fabric.

I got the floral fabric strips cut. The strips are cut at 2 1/2".

I started making 16 patch blocks and cut adjoining 8 1/2" blocks out of the floral. Here is the top so far.

I really need to free up the design wall so I sewed together the top three rows of the log cabin quilt.

Round out the day with three loads of laundry and it was a pretty productive day.

Three day weekend!

I am so looking forward to a three day weekend. No shows with the band so I am looking at staying home to get some stuff done. I want to get some quilting done on the pinwheel quilt

Spend some time working on tote bags

get a start on some baby quilts. I pulled out the pink and green hand dyed strips that my friend cut for me from a bunch of FQs when I went to visit her back in February. I pulled a floral print, which there are several yards, to go with the pink and green strips. I am going to keep it simple and start by making 16 patch blocks.  Those brighter green strips won't be used with that floral print.  

I have a lot more hand dyed strips to turn into quilts.

I also plan on trying to get the back yard mowed. When I was watering the flowers last evening, I noticed there were some weeds that needed pulled. I need to get to those before they get out of hand! I think I have come up with enough projects to keep me busy for three days. LOL!! I spent some of my evening reading the new issue of Bake From Scratch which I borrowed from the library.

Here are a few more pictures of the deck pour. The intern took these as the sun was coming up. The hose laying on the rebar in the second picture is called a dragon line. At the end of the hose where the concrete comes out, there are a couple guys that hold on to the hose. As the concrete gets placed, they shorten the dragon line by removing sections.

Have a wonderful and safe 4th of July.

A question

How many pounds of fabric strips can you get in a medium box? The answer is 5! I took this bin of strips

and stuff as many as I could into this box

and this is what the bin looks like now. I just need to confirm the address and it will be on it's way to someone who will put them to use in one of her fabulous, fun quilts.

I laid out the tote bags pieces and parts for assembly over the holiday weekend. The five on the right have the handles already folded and topstitched.

I went out to the job site this morning before it got too hot. I wanted to see the deck pour. This is the 3rd out of 6 pours for the southbound bridge. That sure is a lot of rebar!

Flowers, Wick sampler, and bills

I took a walk in yard to enjoy my flowers. The coneflowers are blooming profusely!

I did get a package. Superior Threads had a small group of King Tut thread colors for 70% off! I got $175 of thread for $52. I have two blue flannel lap sized quilts to make so this blue will come in handy for that. 

I got a bit more stitched on the John Wick sampler. I stitched in the stems down the right side and got a few stitches for the leaves at the bottom of the right side. Here is what it looked like the last time I posted it and what it looks like now.

I was tired after I got home from work so I didn't get any quilting done. I did have to spend some time paying bills. July is real estate taxes and insurance.

Progress on the pinwheel quilt

This quilt is going together a bit differently than normal, but I am makaing good progress. Yesterday I did a bit of laundry, mowed the front and side yards, then quilted the rest of the day. I got the pinwheel border quilted and got the binding done on the right half to match what was already done on the left half.

Next I will quilt the middle. Here is a shot of my big center flower bed from my sewing studio that I see when standing at my pressing area.

As I was getting ready for work this is the sunrise thru the trees.

Progress on the black and white pinwheel quilt

I was up by 8 a.m. Saturday. The sun was out so I just couldn't sleep any longer. 6 hours would have to due! LOL!! I received an email from a friend that her altered dress got delivered to her and that she needed another girl baby quilt. I sent her a couple pictures and she picked one. I don't have much of a stash. I only have 5 baby quilts left in my stash! I got the label sewn on the quilt and she stopped over and picked it up. It is much prettier in person.

I spent the rest of the day working on the second quilt for my friend from PA. The top was sewn together so it was time to join the batting.

Next I sewed the backing together, pressed the seam then taped and used binder clips to hold the backing in place. Thank goodness for my big table!

Spread and smoothed the batting

then pin basted the top

Next I stitched in the ditch the narrow print border

and I now have 2 out of the 27 pinwheel blocks quilted.   I am free motion quilting them so I have to really concentrate making straight lines around the outside of the pinwheel and then outlining the four black triangles.