Finally! Some Quilting

At long last, some quilting has finally been accomplished. The last few months have been incredibly busy and it's been quite a dry spell as far as quilting is concerned. However, now that that damn has been broken, I'm hoping it takes awhile to contain the "flood". There are several projects that have been "in the works" for far too long. I'd like to see some of the completed.

So, without further ado, here's the first of what I hope will be a long line of completions:

This spring when Quiltmaker came out with Bonnie Hunter's Christmas Lights Mystery quilt the QB's decided we would all make it. I was finally able to do some serious catch up sewing this weekend and here it is.

I also realized that I have yet to post a picture of our little teardrop actually camping. Since The Bearded One wasn't crazy about calling it Honey Bee, Ms. BackPorch Quilter suggested Woodstock -- it fits. So, here's Woodstock actually camping:

The Cool Factor

At long last.....our little "Honey Bee" trailer is more or less completed and, more importantly, it is inspected and licensed. There is still a list of several little things that need to be completed, like lining the inside, giving it the water test, making hatch props and those darned round fenders.

But, today we took it on it's maiden voyage down to Shelton, 1-1/2 hours away for the inspection by State Patrol. (It was Shelton today or closer by sometime in the middle of September.) We also wanted to stop and get Dad's advise/help on how to install/mount the new fenders. That issue is still being pondered.

Meanwhile, on the way south a commercial van passed us. As they passed, they honked and waved. The passenger also stuck her head out the window and gave us a big thumbs up and a huge grin!

Yup, THAT'S why I wanted a cool trailer. Or, as somebody on our WetWesties list said, something that doesn't look like a Rubbermaid container from Walmart. It's all about the "Cool Factor."

Crunch Time

So, last Friday afternoon, while picking up the new fenders for the trailer I learned from the salesman that I would probably have a long wait with State Patrol to have our trailer inspected. Great, this was NOT in the plan.

Monday morning found me making multiple calls to several of the inspection stations. You can NOT speak to a living, breathing human. You only get a recording and each different location gives you different information. I left countless messages and then sat back to wait and wait and wait some more.

Tuesday afternoon I finally got some return calls. The closest station had no appointments until the week AFTER we need the trailer. We are planning to leave on September 10th for the big WetWestie campout in eastern Oregon. Another somewhat close location could offer me September 8th. I took it, but it's a BAD day for The Bearded One to take off to get this inspected. (The first day back to work after a long weekend is always crazy with too many fires to put out.)

The 3rd closest location, 1-1/2 hours away offered me next Wednesday -- August 26th. I took it too. So now the big crunch to get this trailer finished by Wednesday so that it can be 1) inspected 2)certified weight & 3) licensed.

Here's what we have to show for 5 hours of labor yesterday:

The hatch is FINALLY skinned. What a pain! On Tuesday evening we realized our measurements were a bit off and we had to trim 3/4" off the length. With help from our wonderful friend Charles, that job was made much less painless than anticipated.

The Bearded One has off today and tomorrow as we are heading out camping for the weekend. Hopefully, today, things will go smoother than they have been and the rest of this thing can get skinned. Then it's just lights, latches and the rest of the trim. Why is it that everything takes at least 3 times longer than you had planned on?

Wish us luck!

Not Much To Show

Well, after almost 1-1/2 months, I have FINALLY managed to finish the curtains for the bus! Had to, we're going camping next weekend!

I think they look pretty darn cute. And, there's enough fabric leftover for me to make yet another quilt for the bus. Here's a closeup of the fabric -- note the yellow bus AND the teardrop trailer.

Other than the curtains, the only thing I've been working on is the trailer. It's coming along, slowly. We seem to take two steps forward and one backward. After getting the main portion of the trailer skinned with the masonite and everything worked just perfectly, we thought we were on a role. Skinned the hatch, using about a bazillion clamps. Let it dry for about 22 hours, like the trailer, then unclamped everything. We even took all the clamps back across the street to the neighbor! Came back to find that half the hatch had sprung!

We're hoping that because the weather was cooler and damp, it didn't let the glue dry completely. We will see when we unclamp it again later today.

Meanwhile, we discovered that the trailer will have to be inspected by the Washington State Patrol prior to being able to license it. We've also been told that it could take up to 6 weeks for an appointment. Grrrrrrrr! That is NOT GOOD. We've been working all summer to get this trailer done so we can take it on our 4 day campout to eastern Oregon, the biggest WetWestie campout of the year! I'll know more on Monday when I can actually talk to an inspection officer. They only work Mon-Thurs.

If you are really interested in viewing more pictures of the teardrop build, they can be found here: Teardrop Build Pictures.

It's Beginning to Look Like a Trailer!

So, after way more coats of varnish than I can count and then treating the inside and the floor to CPES (Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer), we did a "test fit" today. Actually this was a test fit of the brace that will be used to help hold the sides straight while we put the bracing ribs in. You can see the brace here:

We've located the yellow aluminum that we are going to cover the top in. Only problem, the aluminum is $75 and shipping is $65!!! However, the supplier specializes in homebuilt airplane supplies and they will be at Oshkosh. As it happens, The Bearded One will be heading to Oshkosh with his father in a few weeks. The supplier, Wicks has said that we could pick up the aluminum directly from them at the show. I'm guessing that this is what will happen.

So, next up, the ribs will be installed and construction on the hatch will also start. Thanks to the generousity of our very handy and knowledgeable neighbor, the vertical ribs for the hatch and the doublers for the side walls, just inside the hatch have all been cut.

As for sewing....sigh. Not much has been done. I think I have Storm at Sea burnout. But I am NOT going to put it back away to mellow for another few years. I am committing to working on it along with other projects. Everytime I get a chance to sew, I will make at least one SAS block before I work on something else. That should help the burnout factor.

And, since some people say I don't post nearly enough pictures of The Spotted One, here's one from a few months ago.

I really do need to make the boy his own quilt. During our last campout, we were sititing in the front seats of the bus playing cards and this crazy Spotted Dog was curled up on the bed with the edge of this quilt in his mouth, trying to cover himself with it. I SO wish I'd had the video camera.

More Productivity

At last -- the varnishing of the sides of the trailer are complete. 8 coats + countless little white Dalmatian hairs later and it is darn pretty if I do say so myself. The floor has been cut. The braces underneath have been glued & screwed in place. Once the glue is dry, the bottom will get at least two coats of roofing asphalt to protect it from water and road gunk. Then we can get on to more of the structural aspects of building this trailer.

Meanwhile I've been busy at the sewing machine.

I fell in love with the Moda Bistro line. Since it is a coffee based theme, it is rather appropriate for me since I freely admit I'm a coffee snob. My siblings also have the same addiction. This will be one of two Christmas gifts for them. I have the companion border print for an outer border.

Meanwhile, since I ran out of polka dot fabric that's been cut, I spent some time on my other "leaders & enders" project, my Confetti quilt. Don't get me wrong, I have NOT run out of polka dot fabric. There's still a rather tall stack that is awaiting cutting. I just wasn't in the mood to cut.

All the squares in this quilt finish at 1". Yeah, I know, I'm nuts! What can I say. I played around with this block with bigger starting squares, 2" but decided I liked the smaller size better. I haven't decided how large this quilt will be.

I also finally got tired of looking at the Blooming 9-Patch quilt top so I pieced the backing and loaded the top. Unfortunately I can't start quilting on it till the thread that I ordered arrives.

Today was one of those absolutely picture perfect days in the Pacific Northwest. The temp was a pleasant 68° with crystal clear, blue skies. From my deck, I can see the top of Mt. Rainier. It's not the prettiest of views since it's behind one house and a light pole blocks part of the view, but it is still an awesome mountain and I just love it when it's this visible. Most of the year you can't see it at all. Sometimes it just looks like a painted backdrop for a stage setting. Today, as we say here in the PNW, "the mountain is out" -- in all it's majestic glory.

So, that's what's new in my world.

Didja' Know...

....that when you own a Dalmatian, you CAN NOT get away from those little white hairs! They end up EVERYWHERE. And I do mean EVERYWHERE.

Case in point, we have started an interesting home build it project. We are building a miniature Teardrop Cargo Trailer. I know, what do you mean a "miniature" Teardrop. A Teardrop Trailer is already tiny! Well, we have taken the basic Teardrop trailer and shrunk it. A typical Teardrop is built on a frame roughly 5'x8' or 5'x10'. We have shrunk ours down to fit on a 3.4'x4' trailer frame.
See, isn't it gonna be cute? If all goes as planned, it will have pretty birch sides with a bright yellow aluminum skin for the top. For several years we have talked about wanting a small trailer that we could pull with the bus. Since the bus simply doesn't have much space for storage and we tend to bring a LOT OF STUFF when we camp, a small trailer just makes sense. But, we wanted a trailer that had some character and class, hence a Teardrop trailer.

Now, back to those little white hairs......As you can see, we have been working on this project in the garage. Arlo is not helping with this project. He doesn't get to come out to the garage when the door is open. Here The Bearded One is applying coat number 3 of the varnish on one of the sides. What the picture doesn't show are all the little white Dalmatian hairs that I keep picking out of the sticky varnish. You just can't get away from them, ever. I guess if this trailer is ever stolen, I can put "lots of little white Dalmatian hairs embedded in the varnish on the sides" as part of the description.

And here are "The Boys" relaxing. I think one's done too much varnishing and the other has been busy barking at all the kids outside walking on "his" sidewalk.