Review of 2018 and Harley t-shirt progress

I like to take a look at things to see what I accomplished in the previous year and if I had made a dent in my stash and the amount of quilting thread I have. Overall I did ok. I made one t-shirt quilt and seven baby quilts, worked for months on that secret project, and finished out the year with getting the one very large t-shirt quilt ready to quilt and the Harley quilt top almost sewn together.

I reduced my quilting thread by about 19,000 yards

and with making all those boxy pouches, my stash was reduced by 67 yards. I had used up these spools which are both sewing thread and quilting thread

The amount of sewing I did last year was less that previous years due to exhaustion from the heat at work, but I sure did good with salvaging those rocks!

I managed to get the bottom row sewn on and the t-shirts for the top row trimmed close to the right size. I will trim the sides once I get the top row sewn on and then the top will be done!

This is the fabric I plan on using on the back.

Only working three days this week has been great! I could get use to that. Next week will feel so long with working 5 days - oh well. This weekend I plan on starting to machine quilt Sammy's quilt. Have a great weekend!

More progress on the Harley T-shirt quilt top

I got the row of four t-shirts sewn on to the left side of the quilt and started trimming the t-shirts for the bottom row. I should have this top done in the next day or so.

Next will be quilting and lots of it with two t-shirt quilts to quilt! I am guessing it is going to take me at least 4-6 weeks to quilt Sammy's quilt and at least 4 weeks to quilt the Harley quilt.

I'm back!

I had a busy and productive vacation. It took about three hours to just do the pin basting, but the t-shirt quilt is ready to be quilted. I don't know what I would do without my 8' x 8' table!

I went to Hartville with a girlfriend. They have a flea market - much of it indoors and a hardware store. We didn't have to go to the hardware store, but we had a blast at the flea market. There is a meat market and a grocery store that carry all kinds of interesting items. I ended up with some handmade perogies, bacon cheddar cheese, a two pound bag of beef jerky - the price was so reasonable, some chocolate covered pretzel rods for a lady at work, and a new wallet. I will definitely go back there again. Their prices were great.

I saw this quilt at one of the booths and the lady said it was ok to take a picture of it. It was a vintage quilt and the colors cracked me up!

I got started on this year's Harley quilt. The blue lines show the final three seams I will need to sew after I sew together the top and bottom rows of shirts. I make the center using lots of the small motifs that were on the shirts and sleeves. I think it makes for a interesting quilt and it is different than the other ones I have made.

My girlfriend from where I use to live called me needing help to make two cushion covers for her SIL's chair. She drove up the 31st and the 1st so I could help her. She did all the sewing; I just helped with making the pattern and on how to sew them together. She did a great job and they fit the cushions wonderfully! We managed to get two pillow covers out of the leftover fabric.

While she sewed the covers, I altered a pair of her late husband's p.j.s that I have had on my UFO list for 7 years! It sure helped that she could try them on for me instead of me working off the sketches I had made years ago. I got them done so that is one more thing off the UFO list!

I also showed her how I made those boxy pouches and she then took it home with her.

The two weeks I was off went so fast.

T-shirt quilt and a new pan

Vacation has been good. I managed to get the t-shirt quilt top sewn together! It ended up 92" x 104". I ended up adding another row which used up the t-shirts I still hadn't been able to work into the top.

I then cut up the Harley t-shirts and interfaced them. I will add these to the box of leftover shirts I have saved over the last three years that were leftover.

I made two pumpkin pies and a pecan pie for Christmas eve at my son's. I also used my new pan to make meatballs to go with the ravioli. The pan is 12" across so there is a lot of cooking surface.

T-shirt quilt progress and ravioli

Yesterday I was so busy I never had time to post. It seemed like is spent the whole day in the car - mostly for work - Barberton, to Sharon Center, back to Barberton, two places in Akron and two stops in Cuyahoga Falls - around 72 miles altogether. I did get a few errands run because I ended up on the east side of town where the Italian grocery store is located, the huge Giant Eagle where I found more peach Mike's, and I stopped at the other grocery store where I do the majority of my shopping. I needed eggs! I was exhausted when I got home.

But on Tuesday I did make progress on the t-shirt quilt. I got a few more sewn together.

I also made 5 dozen meat and cheese ravioli. I ran out of dough so I will make another batch of dough to use up the filling. For these I used my mold instead of free forming them. I got better at it with each dozen I made.

I received another fabulous postcard from Vicki of Colorways by Vicki Welsh.

It now hangs on my design wall with the other handmake postcards that I have received from her. I have my own forest going on! I love looking at them when I am in the studio working.
Thank you Vicki!

I am on vacation starting tomorrow for 12 days! I will try to post when I can. In the meantime, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and safe holiday season!

Progress on the t-shirt quilt and candy

I am having fun sewing this quilt together. Here is my progress so far:
Row 1 - nothing changed
Row 2 - I cut all the pieces the same width - 7" - but none are sewn together
Row 3 - the blue and black shirt pieces are sewn together and the tan and orange are sewn to each other
Row 4 - the teal and purple shirts are sewn, and the gray and orange shirts are trimmed

The reason why I am jumping around is because I need to get somethings sewn together so I can figure out how to work in the shirts I still have in a pile. With sewing small groups of shirts together it gives me the flexibility to adjust as I go. I am not one to measure things out and draft it out on paper. I like to fly by the seat of my pants, I like to throw it on the wall and see what happens, I like to wing it - ok, ok, you get the idea. LOL!!! The way things are going so far, I think I can add one more shirt to each row. Right now I have left some extra fabric that can be cut off at the top and bottom for adjusting the length of the rows. I can trim that off to get another shirt added.

Yesterday at work I got a box. What was in that box was a four pound box of candy, candy that evokes memories of childhood. Included was box of candy cigarettes! I can't believe they still make those! It was fun to look thru the box.

Sewing and cooking

I only managed to get a small amount of sewing done this weekend, but I got some things accomplished. I have the row on the left mostly sewn together and the next row I have trimmed a couple of shirts after I figured out the width I wanted them to be. Now that I have gotten started, this should go quick.

After I got the kitchen cleaned up on Saturday morning, I started cooking. I am making homemade ravioli for Christmas to take to my son's house. I haven't made pasta in quite awhile, but it went fairly smooth!

I ended up with 32 cheese and 17 butternut squash raviolis. The ricotta cheese I bought at that Italian store a week ago tasted so much better than the stuff I bought at the grocery store. The ravioli is now frozen and ready to go.

I roasted a big pan vegetables in a little olive oil for meals - zucchini, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and yellow squash.

Next I wanted to make sauce. I have some ground chuck for meatballs so I needed sauce. So off I went to find Glenda's recipe. Well, that led me down a path that I hadn't planned on. I figured while I was looking for the recipe, I would clean up and downsize my recipe hoard. I have figured out I am a recipe hoarder. After hours of sorting and organizing, I ended up with almost everything in these folders and a bag of recycling.

I decided to take it one step further. I found a three ring binder and some index dividers. I punched holes and got mostly everything put in the binder. Now I can find my cookies recipes for baking this upcoming weekend and I found the sauce recipe! I bet I spent at least 6 hours over two days getting this almost done. Yes, I say almost because I ran out of steam and didn't want to deal with the few odds and ends.

So here is the sauce which I made in the crockpot

I made a pot of butternut squash soup using the squash I had cooked last week in the crockpot. I had the soup for breakfast this morning and it was tasty!

The last thing I did was to make the filling for the beef and cheese ravioli. I will make them either tonight or tomorrow.

I spent a couple hours on Sunday loading up the car with file boxes of stuff I needed to take to my new office. I had 8 boxes with two of them being office supplies that were left over the school project I was on. I am trying to get all the work stuff out of my garage although I had to bring my four drawer file cabinet, small fridge, and microwave to store. Here is a picture of my work space right now. I will probably be moving again into a cubical once the intern leaves. This is a small conference room.

I hadn't posted a picture of the MRI room lately. Here they have started putting on the last layer which is drywall. For all the plumbing, heating, and electrical, everything had to be attached to the framing as no one was allowed to pierce the copper. They had special clips that attached the wood framing to the copper. Since this picture was taken the floor was installed and well as the cabinets. The magnet is being delivered today; darn I will miss seeing that.