Where is my sewing machine?

Well, it is in my car. I spent last evening at my sister-in-law's working on pants for Michael. We got the pattern made and the first pair cut out. Robin started sewing the pants together with my direction. Robin is a novice sewer, but she is picking up the lingo and skills quickly. I left her with a to do list for this first pair and when we get together on Sunday to finish them she will have put in the other front pocket and have all the side seams zig zagged.

This morning as I would think of tools we needed I would add them to my bag of stuff. This morning I added buttons, a seam ripper, marking pencil, and a point turner - all stuff she doesn't have. I will post pictures of Michael in his new stage show pants once we get them done. The fabric is wild!

So this weekend is working the concession table for Michael's band at a place he is playing at on Saturday. Sunday morning I will have to catch up on the Tour and then it is off to finish those pants. Gosh, this weekend is going to go fast!

Now that's a lot of rain!

It just poured all afternoon yesterday. Here are a couple of shots of the radar. You can see what time it was.

It was 4:30, still raining, and time to head home. It was hard to capture how much water was on the road. This is a four lane street and the water filled the lanes closest to the curb and was creeping into the left lanes. See the white area in the lower right corner in the second picture? That is not my windshield fogged up. That is splash from the cars going by.

I finally got to my neighborhood and this is what stopped me in my tracks

There are only three ways to get to my house, so I turned around and tried another way and was successful. Here is was the same area looks like this morning from the opposite direction. My garbage can was open while all this was going on so I measured the depth of the water in it this morning. There was 4 7/8" of water in it!

I did get a little sewing done. I finished up the second block and here is a shot of the front and back. I like the contrast stitching on the back.

I was suppose to go to my sister-in-law's house last night to help her with some projects, but because of the rain and flooding I didn't. After talking to the guys at work this morning that was a good decision. There was flooding everywhere. So now the sun is shining and I will be heading to her house instead of the museum tonight.

Seond block of the Halloween quilt ...

is not quite done. After work I had to go and have my car checked out. The tires were so noisy, but that wasn't the issue. I need to have the bearing replaced on the right front wheel which is causing the sound. That will get done some time this week, but I got home much later than usual so I didn't have much time to sew. I did get the white spider web pieces quilted, but I still need to do the stripes.

This past weekend I also finished my 15 minutes to play challenge piece. It was to be inspired by a photo of something architectural, 24" x 30", using made fabric, and be done by July 6 or 9th. Well, anyway here is my inspiration photo - Bret Michaels under the bridge in Cleveland.

Here is the finished piece. I had changed the sky above the bridge from a solid piece of yellow to made fabric after I had already quilted the bridge. I don't know where my head was!

Here is a detail shot of the free motion quilting.

I like to keep my calendar clear for July so that I can watch the Tour de France, but it is not going that way at all! I volunteered to work at the art museum at downtown at dusk - so that is every Thursday this month. Then I got an email that they needed help for an exhibit opening - I couldn't say no. I have to spend some time after work on Wednesday teaching my sister-in-law how to make pants for her son. He has gotten so tall that he can't find cool clothes to wear on stage. Then on top of everything else I am helping out with the band on the 13th, 20th, 21st, and 27th selling t-shirts, his first CD, stickers, fridge magnets, and posters. I am going to have to find a way to squeeze in some Patty time and keep up with the TDF!

7th finish of 2013

What a busy four days! Some expected and some not expected.

Here is the family xmas quilt done - yeah!

Here is the full view picture of the yellow and gray quilt I promised you.

I decided I needed a yellow and gray pillow case to go with the quilt so I whipped one up.

Friday morning I got up very early and weeded the front flower bed. It had rained so the ground was nice and soft - perfect for pulling weeds.
Before - what a mess!

After - much better!

Later on I put the second coat of paint on the office. Here it is with my stuff hanging up. I altered the one curtain I made too wide so that was another job done! I still need to go thru paperwork and get rid of old stuff, but the room is coming together. Once I get the floors refinished I will install the baseboard and my brother will help me install the closet doors.

I needed to paint just at the top of the closet, but I decided to remove almost everything so I could sort thru it. Here is the closet with some of the hanging stuff already removed.

Sorting the clothes on the sofa

Everything put back, well not everything. I found a hair dryer I didn't know I had so that went downstairs. I found a couple of shirt that would make good painting shirts, a shirt that would make a good sleep shirt, and a couple of t-shirts of my son's that I may use when I get around to repairing his t-shirt quilt.

The unexpected event was to help with the band on Saturday. They were playing at a private event - friends of the base player were renewing their vows. This was a casual event. Shirts with cut off sleeves were the standard attire. The couple renewing were very nice and threw a great party! Here is Shinny and Pete - Pete is the wife's name - renewing their vows officiated by the band's bass player who is also a minister in front of the band's banner. It was all very sweet.

They had set up two pop up tents for the band and here is a shot from behind the band's tents. To the right is a tan tent for the food and to the left the yellow and white striped tent for guests.

They had these inflatable tubs for the icing the cold food, but the ice was melting fast. It was hot and humid. This was held in Huron which is right on Lake Erie.

Just as the band was finishing their last song, it started to rain. Even though they were under the tent, stuff was still getting wet. We had to scramble to get the equipment packed and loaded. Once that was done the rain really came down hard. We were all soaked. It was a good thing I didn't waste my time that morning washing and fixing my hair! I had left my house a 10 am and didn't get home until 8 pm. It was a long day and I was beat!

I did get one block on the Halloween quilt quilted

and had another visit from the doe and her twins

Getting ready for some time off

Look who was in the backyard having a snack around 5 p.m.? They are getting big!

I worked on hand stitching the binding on the xmas quilt. I am a little more than half way done.

While I was hand stitching I watched the 4th stage of the TDF. I was the race of truth otherwise known as a team time trial. Here is one team on the start line

Here is my boy Peter Sagan, wearer of the green jersey, waiting with his team to take off.

Here is a different team on the course all lined up in a row pedaling like crazy!

This stage took place in Nice, France.

I am taking a day of vacation on Friday so it will be a four day weekend! I plan putting a second coat of paint on the office and then tearing the closet apart in that room and painting it. I want to get another room done. Then all that will be left to do is get the floors refinished, install the closet doors, and install the baseboard. I have some other projects in mind, but I always have more on my list than one human can possibly get done in four days. I do plan on pin basting the Halloween quilt and try to get started on machine quilting it. I need it done by Oct. 31, which seems like a long ways away, but when it took me 36 days to get the yellow and gray quilt quilted this one will take a bit longer. The Halloween quilt has 30 blocks just like the yellow and gray quilt, but I added a bottom and left border which will add to the time. Without counting the borders, I am looking at getting the block quilted by Aug. 7. I still need to make two quilts for the beginning of Oct. for birthday presents so no messin' around for me. The time will go quick!

Take care and have a safe 4th!

The binding is on

I machined sewed the binding on the blue family xmas quilt while I watched Stage 3 of the Tour de France. I did my mitered corners, trimmed the backing, and now it is all ready for the hand sewing.

Even with all the machine quilting I did the quilt lays very flat. I am very happy with the way this quilt came out. While I was quilting it I was wondering what was going thru my head years ago when I made this, but now that it is almost done I am digging it.

Last day in Corsica - still so beautiful!

My favorite rider, Peter Sagan, came in second yesterday by a hair. He is the rider at the top of this photo finish picture. He is second in the green jersey competition and will continue to battle and gain more points in that competition.

The tour and quilting

No I did not spend my weekend in Corsica. That is where the Tour De France started this year. What a beautiful place! The big story was one of the team buses getting stuck under the finishing banner. When this happened the riders were only about 20 minutes from the finish. There was a lot of scurrying around and they finally got the bus out with less then 10 minutes to spare.

I spent the entire weekend quilting except for making a quick trip to the grocery and three loads of laundry. I started and finished quilting this 81 X 97.75 quilt using approx. 2800 yards of thread. I had wound 40 bobbins. I used a blue variegated Star thread for the center portion and the middle border. I switched to a dark blue spool of Essential thread for the blue borders. This adds 7,917 square inches to my previous 11,002 for a total of 18,919 square inches of free motion machine quilting for the month of June. This will be the family xmas quilt and it feels good to have it done now and not be pressed at xmas time trying to get it done. I will post a picture of the full quilt once I get the binding on it.

I have the binding cut. I thought the red binding would be fun.