Fabric chosen

I was exhausted when I got home from work. I had over 11,000 steps and 55 active minutes. I ended up having to climb this ladder just to the point where my head was up to that temporary wood railing so I could talk to the roofer. I was left alone on the job site for about 4 hours so there were thing like this I normally would not have to do.

When I got home I did managed to make some biscuits and a pot of chicken, brown rice, and bok choy for meals for the next couple of days, wash a load of clothes, shower off all the dust from work, then just sit down for a little bit. I dug thru my scrap bins of vintage fabric and came up with some pieces for the Dresden plate. The pieces have the same tone to them - kind of like they have a light tea dye to them. I am not crazy about that larger print so I may look again and see if I can find something else. I am guessing these fabrics are from the 40's because that dull tone is what I have seen a lot from that period.

The next layer that goes on the MRI walls and ceiling finally is underway. Here is the ceiling. I haven't seen how this is being installed or the reasoning behind the parts that are hanging down. I might figure it out over the next couple of days.

Dresden plate problem solved!

Thanks for all your solutions to my Dresden plate problem. Before I read any of your solutions I had been thinking about what to do. You know the saying great minds think alike? Well, Wanda and I are great minds as we both have the same solution. To try it out I just pinned four more pieces together and now the ring is complete! I just used four of the same fabric to try this out.

The lady that had cut these out would have run into the same issue. I wonder what she would have done? The cardboard template for this Dresden plate called for cutting 12 pieces of 12 different fabrics. It should have said 16 fabrics. So now I will have to dig into my stash of vintage fabric and cut pieces to fill in the space.

Yes, my bins are a bit messy, but I do have yardage in there to cut from. I do love vintage fabric. I need to hook up with someone who would be interested in producing a fabric line with some of these vintage prints. Some of them would fit perfectly into what is going on with fabric prints these days and don't look dated at all.

Houston, we have a problem

I spent the weekend sewing. I sewed together the first Dresden plate ring and we have a problem. The pieces are not the right size so I cannot make the ring

So now I have to decide what to do. One option is to cut them to the correct size. I have a template that I bought and used a long time ago and was able to find it. Here is the template laid on one of the pieces so you can see the size difference.

Another option is to see if I added more pieces so I could close the ring. Or maybe I could just make half circles or quarter circles and then I would not have to trim all the pieces. I will have to see what might work best.

It rained most of the weekend.

The only time I went outside was after my neighbor knocked on my door so I could show him and his cousin the small tree that we had talked about a couple of weeks ago that they could cut down. They were cutting down some other small trees and his cousin was looking for more to cut down. Men and their chainsaws! I haven't heard from the tree company about when they will be over to cut down that huge pine tree.

I spent most of the weekend working on the project I can't show you. I now have 6 out of the eight rows done! This is taking me a lot longer than I thought it would, but I like the results.

What a week

I am so glad it is Friday. It has been a crazy week. My sewing plans for the weekend are to work on the project I can't show you yet and to get started sewing these Dresden plate pieces together. Remember these? The pieces were in a bin of fabric scraps that were gifted to me. The pieces are just begging me to be made into a quilt. I need to go thru my stash and see what I can find as far as some vintage white/off white fabric to stitch the plates on.

I started marking the pieces where I have to start and stop the sewing. I plan on hand appliquéing the rings, so after they are sewn together I will press a 1/4 inch under at the centers and the curves.

I had to move my desk and stuff yesterday from one side of the construction area to the other. The contractors needed to get into the space we were at. Here is my space as of the moment.

Over the last couple of days I have been collecting rocks turned up by the contractors moving dirt around where the rest of the new parking lot will be. They are getting ready to pave the lot so the rock gathering will be over very soon. This morning I loaded the car. The rocks are not big, but they are still a good, useable size.

Here is a picture of the site from my window. You see where the cars stop at the center left? Just beyond that is the parking lot they are working on. The street is going to be repaved also.

I have been tired this week so I don't feel like I got much done. My arms and wrists are feeling much better so maybe it was a good thing I didn't do much. Have a great weekend!

Pressed and ready to go

I got the rest of the pink and lavender blocks pressed. Now I just have to get the project I can't show you off the design wall so I can start arranging these blocks.

I decided I wanted to bake some flatbread tonight, so I mixed up a batch of dough, put it in an oiled container and it is now sitting in the fridge at work. I have the lid opened enough for the gas to escape. I will take it out of the fridge about an hour before I leave work so the dough has a chance to warm up and rise. Since the rising time is an hour and a half, making after I get home is just too late for me. I have done it this way before and works great.

Last night I went and got my hair cut so I didn't have time to do much. I did stop on my way home at the Home Depot to get a space heater for work. The heat is not going to be turned on until mid-November - maybe- so after sitting here trying to type with very cold hands on Monday and Tuesday, the problem is now solved.

I also have been using my new tea thermos. It keeps the tea hot for a long time and I can get hot water from the hospital cafeteria.

The guys are finishing up adding another layer of fire resistance plywood to the MRI room. It is not pink because it is from a different manufacturer. Next layer - copper!

Back to the pink flannel blocks

I fired up the iron and started pressing the blocks I had sewn together last week. First I clipped off the corners of the seams. This help to reduce the bulk.

I still have a few more to clip and press

And yes I have tiny triangles all over my floor! LOL!!!

The construction guys finished up with the FRP sleepers and plywood in the MRI room. Today the copper is scheduled to be installed.

What I did this weekend

Let's start with sewing. I worked on the project I can't show you and I pieced together some scraps of some silk screen prints on a heavy cotton to make some potholders. The one potholder I have is awful so I needed some new ones bad! I got one done. It is a bit too big, but it works.

I used these buttons which were in my Grandmother's sewing stuff to attach a loop.

Here are the other five I have pieced, but I am going to cut them down. They are just too big.

I worked on trimming up Bubba Jr. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I just keep nipping away at it until I get it just the way I want it. I just keeping taking little bits off then stepping back and looking at it to see how far I want to take it. Here is what it looked at the beginning

and here what it looks like now

I brought three rocks home from work. When the contractors are digging around on the site, rocks show up! The big one was way heavier than I thought. Once I picked it up I wasn't about to drop it so I walked to the car as fast as I could. Oh my wrists were sore all weekend especially my left one.

The little ones came in handy. Here is where I put them.

I transplanted some Shasta daisies into the center flower bed.

and I move rocks to where I am going to need them to finish the edging around the center bed. I will have to dig out the edge a bit and set all the rocks, but having them moved to where I need them helps.

So all the rocks that I had in the driveway

are now down to this small pile