Working on the rock/metal t-shirt quilt

I have to get crackin' on this quilt. Like I said yesterday, the deadline will be here before I know it. I worked on the Motley Crue shirt last evening. I need to finish the chain stitch on one side. I don't know if I will add more stitching or not. I have no plan with the stitching. It has been hard to start this random stitching without a plan as I have fears of making a mistake. I trying to just let go, have fun with this, and see where it takes me. I used number 12 pearl cotton for this. I will probably use some regular embroidery floss in this piece also.

I took another picture of the teal and purple quilt with a bit better lighting and now you can see the entire back too.

Big gig this afternoon. I will have to take a half day vacation so I can help unload the equipment and get the tents set up. There is a chance of rain this afternoon and evening. Keep you fingers crossed that the rain doesn't fall!

11th finish for 2015

I am late posting today as I forgot my phone cord this morning. I go home everyday at lunch so here we go.

Yeah! I finally got the teal and purple quilt done! The pictures are a bit dark as I took them at 7 this morning and it was very overcast so there was not much light coming thru the windows. Maybe I will take a better picture tonight after work. It turned out 90" x 90". Square quilts are not typical for me, but for this design it works.
I really like the back too now that the quilt is done.

I stopped at the library and picked up a couple of books on embroidery stitches for the rock/metal t-shirt quilt. I need to get crackin' on that. It is due August 24, but I remember last year they wanted them early so they could take pictures. I only have about 4 weeks so I had better start stitching while I watch the Tdf.

Speaking of the tour, Froome is still in the yellow and my man, Peter, is back in green.

Almost done

While watching the TDF which I had taped, I continued to work on hand sewing the binding on the teal and purple quilt. I now have only 61" left to sew or two-thirds of one side left to quilt!

Right now it is overcast and looks like more rain, but the fellow I work with said it is going to clear up. If it does clear up and the grass dries out I will have to mow tonight, but I think I still can get the rest of the binding sewn.

Binding

I spent my evening doing a bit of straightening up and hand sewing the binding on the teal and purple quilt. I have one side done and 1/3 of another. It is a long way down each side - about 95".

I might have gotten more done if I wasn't watching Top Gear and texting my sister. Last evening was the last Top Gear with Clarkson, Hammond, and May. I will miss those guys. The new Top Gear hosts have very big shoes to fill.

10th finish of 2015, TDF and the gig

Here is my 10th finish for the year. This baby quilt turned out 38" x 47". I used King Tut thread to quilt it and warm and natural for the batting. It will be given to the new father on Friday at the band's next gig.

Saturday I left the house at 1 p.m. to head over to my brother's. Michael had a gig in Tallmadge on the circle.

We got to the circle or roundabout at 2 and unloaded the equipment. We set up the two tents, one for the sound board and the other for the merchandise and then my job was done for a while. Since the band didn't play until 7 I had time to walk the roundabout and get my steps in. We had a decent crowd and sold 13 CD's and 12 t-shirts. That was more than we were expecting. Michael and the band put on a great show and the crowd seemed to love it. The couple that organized the event were very happy. The best part is that it wasn't raining!

While I sat at the merchandise booth I worked on embroidering the rock t-shirt quilt. I added some stitching around the U.S. on the Rolling Stones shirt and did some quilting around the stars on the Clash shirt.

We have another gig on Friday.

While I worked on the baby quilt Sunday morning I watched the TdF. It was the Team Time Trial. My man Peter Sagan is now in the green jersey. The boys have the day off today and tomorrow will start the mountain stages in the Pyrenees.

I was really tired on Sunday because I didn't get home from the gig until 11:30 Saturday night and we had made a lot of trips back and forth from the trailer to the stage and visa versa that evening. I forced myself to working on the binding for the teal and purple quilt instead of just sitting doing nothing. It took me about 4 hours to get the binding on because for each side I needed to measure and cut the purple binding to fit the space. I just thought the binding would look better if it matched the blocks.

The TDF, Salem show, and the baby quilt

Looks like the tour is losing another yellow jersey. Tony Martin got the jersey Tuesday and crashed in the last kilometer on Wednesday's stage. His teammates got him back on the bike and helped him pedal to the finish.

Martin was holding his left arm so I would guess he has a broken collar bone. It was all he could do to hold it together to get thru the award ceremony. As soon as he got his yellow jersey, he was taken to the hospital. I won't know until I watch today's stage after work to find out what actually happened. My man Peter is still in white and is closing in on the green jersey.

I took yesterday off to go with the band to Salem, Ohio for a 45 minutes set and I spent the morning watching the TDF and making oatmeal raisin cookies for all of us to eat on the trip. This was an unpaid gig, but if they liked the band they would hire them for next year. It rained and there was no crowd. Thank goodness I wore my old shoes. My feet were soaked.

We have another gig on Saturday so I need to get my old shoes washed and dried out. There is grassy areas that we will be in so that means mud.

I also worked on the baby quilt a bit while I was off yesterday. Here is what it looks like now. I still need to sew a few blocks together. I have a few blocks I will be moving around also.

Sewing and a cloud of dust

Last evening I finally got around to fixing the neighbors jeans. Two of the rivet buttons - one at the waist and one at the fly - had ripped out. I found some scraps of denim and zig zagged a patch over each hole.

I found some buttons the right size to fit the buttonholes. I used a toothpick to elevate the buttons slightly when I machine sewed them on to give a bit more slack since the buttons did not have a shank. The fellow was happy to get his jeans back and was impressed with my fix.

The boys at the TDF had 7 sectors of cobbles to ride over yesterday. Thanks goodness it didn't rain as predicted. Riding the cobbles stirs up the dust!

After stage 4 there is another rider, the 4th, in the yellow jersey who is Tony Martin.

My man, Peter Sagan, is still in the white jersey and closing in fast on the green sprint points jersey. He is second in the green jersey competition right now about a dozen points behind Andre Greipel.

We had a hard rain yesterday evening and the flowers are loving it. Look at the size of my zinnias!

So far this year the deer have not eaten the flowers off of this daylily.

Here are my canna growing in buckets. Maybe I will get them planted soon!