Progress on the new pink scrap quilt, root canal, and concert

After looking at this ceiling for 1 1/2 hours

Having my mouth open with a mouth apron for an hour (what a selfie!)

the root canal was done. The only thing that hurt was the numbing shot that was real deep into the jaw area. Other than that I did not feel a thing! I am kind of embarrassed that I was a big baby about this, but I had heard nothing but horror stories about getting a root canal so I was psyched out over the idea of this. The dentist did a great job. I didn't even have any soreness. Now I just have to go back to my regular dentist and get the temporary filling replace with a permanent filling or crown - I am not sure which he is going to do yet. By the way, the root canal cost $1,095.00 and I still have to pay for the filling or crown. Thanks goodness I have enough money built up in my Health Savings Account to pay for all of this.

Once I got home from work I got my walk in and sewed part of the scrap quilt together. I finished sewing it this morning so now it is ready for pin basting. A simple quilt, but cute. I have enough of the same fabrics used in this quilt left to make the binding which will add a bit more color.

At work, we are gathering items for the Salvation Army and one of the items on the list are blankets. A quilt qualifys as a blanket in my little world so I may have to donate a couple of the recent ones I have made. I think I can scour the house and find a few more items just sitting around that I don't need - non-perishable food, toiletries - that I can donate too.

Last night, since I was feeling fine, I went to see my nephew play at a Christmas concert at his high school. Michael is the one with the red guitar and the ginger drummer, Jimmy, is the drummer in Michael's band The Michael Weber Show. Jimmy and Michael have been friends since kindergarten and have played music together since then.

The waiting

I received my nephew's blanket in the mail yesterday. This will be going on the back of the t-shirt quilt.

Since I now have to wait until my sister ships me another t-shirt that is to go in the quilt, I thought I would try to use up more of the leftover bits from those two pink quilts I recently finished. Here are the scraps on the design wall - the two on the right were trimmed. Yes, I have run out of design wall. I was not about to take down the t-shirt quilt so we are double layering! I need to figure out where I can put up more design wall.

The rest of the parts are cut out so it is just a matter of sewing the parts together.

I don't know if that will happen or not tonight. I have to go and have a root canal today and tonight my nephew has a concert with a school ensemble called the Gold Tones. What I get done or due tonight will all depend on how the root canal goes.

T-shirt quilt sewing and finally yard work

I was happy to get more of the t-shirt quilt sewn together. My plan was to get it done this weekend, but I received a text from my sister that she has another t-shirt for the quilt. Since sewing the top together, I realize I need another row of shirts which is a good thing. Now instead of the green guitar shirt going on the back, I have room for it on the front plus room for the additional t-shirt. Here is the top so far.

Sunday one of my brothers came over to have me fix his son's dress pants. The seams had come apart by the pockets. We talked as I was fixing them and I asked him if he could try and start my mower. Yes, on December 6th I mowed my grass! I have never in my life mowed grass in December! It was in the high 40's yesterday and wearing a hoodie was too much clothing! The last time I used my mower it sputtered and smoked so I thought I was going to have issues getting it started. A couple of weeks ago I had gone to the auto store and bought this stuff.

Well, the bottle was enough for 12 gallons, so we put a bit in the mower, fresh gas, and it ran like new! I could not believe how quiet the mower ran! It is one I bought in 1985 and is now running like new! That additive cost $9.00, but it was worth every penny! The fellow at the store said once it is opened it is only good for about a month, so he told me to put the rest in my car so that is what I did. I don't think I will have to mow again until spring. Since it was so beautiful out I decided to clean up the front. I racked up debris from the neighbor's arborvitae and moved it out back to the compost pile.

Here is what the front looked like before I got started

Then after mowing, doing some raking, and hauling two more wheelbarrow loads to the compost pile, this is what the front looks like now.

I need to get a bag of winter fertilizer since warm weather is forecasted for the next week and rain for Wednesday would be good. Maybe the fertilizer would help the yard next year since when I was mowing this was coming up!

Sewing rows together

I spent last evening trimming shirts and sewing the first two rows together. My process is to figure out which is the largest design in length in the row, and cut the rest of those shirt in that row to that length. I trimmed the sides square to the length and did not cut off too much as I wanted the width of the quilt to be around 6 1/2 to 7 feet. I played around until I got the shirts cut approximately the size I needed, sewed a few of them together, and kept laying them out on my big table. I would trim the sides bit by bit on the remaining shirts until I got the width where I wanted it. So even though I am using a ruler to trim the shirts, I am not concerning myself that the size of the shirts are the same in width - just length. This is the first time I am constructing a t-shirt this way. It is always interesting to try a new method. The shirts still look random and I like that.

I am planning on getting this top sewn together this weekend. I will have to wait until I get the Mickey Mouse "lankey" aka blanket from my sister before I can construct the back. She wants me to incorporate this into the back as my nephew took it everywhere with him. I gave her a hard time last night and told her she was slowing me down! I am sure I can find something else to work on this weekend.

Have a great weekend!

T-shirt qullt progress

Last night I got all the t-shirts interfaced - yeah! I did some rearranging and I now have a rough idea of what I am doing. That green t-shirt with the guitars hanging to the side - well, I have some plans on how I will work that in.

I starting making a list a few years ago of the t-shirt quilts I have made. As best as I can remember my niece's quilt I finished this past July/August was number 13 so her brother's will be number 14. I don't know why, but I do like making them. The quilts have ranged from wall sized to king size. The one I made myself from my 90's concert t-shirts is a permanent fixture on my bed. I have two more to make by May for graduation presents. I just need to get the t-shirts for the boys from their mothers! I also need to spend some time working on my house so I can hang up my rock t-shirt quilt from the Akron Art Prize competition. I have a good spot to hang it, but the walls need a final sanding and then paint. I unfolded it the other day to show someone and it just made me happy looking at it.

Nearly done cutting up the t-shirts

This is the few I have left to do. I also need to figure out how to incorporate these two oneses into the quilt.

Here are the t-shirts on the design wall. This design wall is 8' x 8', Once I start sewing the shirts together the size of the quilt top will shrink.

I saw this on 31 day blog posting challenge on Upstatelisa.blogspot.com and I thought I would join the fun. I don't know how to link muppin.com so you will just have to type that in if you want to see the other blogs that are taking on the challenge. I also can't figure out how to show the badge for the challenge. Pitiful! As you know I pretty much post 5 days a week. It seems I always have a project going on and therefor something to post! Well, my next 31 days will be mostly about this t-shirt quilt I am working on to get done by Jan. 15.

Making a dent in the pile of t-shirts

I made some progress on that pile of t-shirts last evening. It is fun to see what shirts are in the pile. Here is a child's size 7 in comparison to another adult sized t-shirt that was in the pile.

Here is what the design wall looks like right now. I would love to get all the shirts cut and interfaced by the weekend so I could start sewing them together Saturday and Sunday. We will see!