RIpping done

I finished ripping out the hand quilting and now the top has been separated from the backing. I think I will give then a gentle wash; they are quite dusty. After all this has been a UFO for 20 years!

How about those Indians! 21 in a row!

Ripping out basting

While I was watching the

play last night, I tore out basting and batting. Yes, they have won 20 in a row! That polyester stuff doesn't rip all that easy! Next I have to take out the hand basting.

I got the postcard for the High Arts Prize yesterday. I can go down on Friday night and see how my R.E.M. quilt looks hanging in a gallery setting.

UFO action

I had a very long and exhausting day at work yesterday. I ended up with over 13,000 steps from my many trips out to the job site. There ended up being a problem with a sanitary pipe. The drawing showed the line was connected into an existing line, but it wasn't. After many phone calls, visits from several people, and digging, the contractors fixed the problem so all is good now.

Today could be another wild one. There are two 70' light towers that have to be moved from where the band was practicing while the school was being constructed to the new site where I am working. The streets are narrow and the path the truck has to take is not anywhere near straight.

I was so tired after I got home there wasn't much I had the energy to do. This morning I decided I had a few minutes and thought about all the talk yesterday from Glenda and Swoozie about their UFO lists. I had been working on my UFO for a number of years as I report every month on Vicki Welch's blog. I decided to take a fresh look at it this morning and I am declaring this piece done. It is 35 x39 and was made with a couple of t-shirts and batiks.

I had improv pieced it and machine quilted it. I was adding some pearl cotton hand stitching in the narrow areas I left non machine quilted. As I looked at it, I decided it was quilted enough. In this picture you can see the hand stitching in the gray and the narrow unquilted areas in the blue fabric I had left to do more hand stitching in.

I pulled out this log cabin quilt which I have decided to pull out all the basting and what hand quilting I have done on it. Why? I want to get it done so I am going to machine quilt it and this quilt was basted together before I started using 80/20 batting as this quilt has 100% poly batting. Pulling out all the basting and hand quilting will be a good job to do when I come home exhausted from work.

There is hand quilting only in some of the blocks

Here is the fabric on the back. I just love this fabric.

I look forward to crossing off more completed UFOs off my list. I print out pictures of my UFOs so I can have a visual look at what I need to do. It makes it easier than digging thru a pile.

laid back weekend

I didn't have much of a plan this weekend; just messed around and got a few things done - laundry, dishes, and other little items I just never had the time to get to. I did cut some duck cloth into pieces for tote bags. I had enough for 17.

I sorted thru t-shirts for another quilt, stacked up some mending I need to do for my newphew

and packed up two bins of t-shirts that need to take back to my brother's house. I had gone thru them to pull out the ones for the R.E.M. quilt.

I had ordered some Lock n' Lock from Qvc via automated ordering. They were running a special and it was a really good deal. Well, I must have pushed the wrong button and I ended up with 5 sets!

It would cost too much to send them back so everyone is getting Lock n' Lock for Christmas this year! LOL!! Lesson learned - always open the order received email as soon as I get it so I have time to change my order. Here is what is in each box.

I did go to work a bit on Saturday to do some computer work. I have to move out of the job site trailer and will lose my server. Having the server makes life easier for me. My drives are set up that anything I save automatically goes to the cloud. The custodians found a space for me in the high school and I will have to go thru their internet to download stuff to the cloud. Saving files will be a lot slower.

When I was at work I went out to the car and found this

Now this week it is all about packing stuff up and finding a home for it. It is going to be a long week.

Stick a fork in me; I'm done

I finished up stitching the patches on the R.E.M. piece, adding the pin buttons, doodads, and a label so it is done. All I have to do is drop it off today.

It will have to be tomorrow

I stitched at lunchtime and after work. That is it. I have no more time. I was going to try and turn in my quilt today, but I will have to do that tomorrow.

The stitching I got done was the last of the denim
Before

after

I needed to get the orange bleeding out from the Crayola washable marker so - hold on - I threw the quilt in the washer this morning. Do I hear a gasp from anyone? I set my front loader on cold and hand wash then tossed it in the dryer on low. I took the quilt out before it was completely dry so I could block it. It came out fine and it now drying on my big table.

This morning I also made the label using an iron on that came in one of the R.E.M. fan packs I received one Christmas. I was happy that the paper peeled off and that there is good contrast with the shirt weight denim that was leftover from piecing the front.

So between lunchtime and this evening I will sew on the label, sew on the patches, and add the pin back buttons. I will deliver it tomorrow and be able to breath again!

The moon was high in the sky when the sun was coming up this morning.

Getting closer

I am getting closer to having the R.E.M. piece done. Last night I got two sections of denim shirt quilted. I used a dark fuchsia floss and a variegated lavender to pink floss. Here is the before and after