Problem Solved

As much as I can't believe I'm saying this but it WAS our bladder tank causing all our water issues. The well guy didn't even head to the well when he arrived but immediately headed to the crawl space to check out the tank. Sure enough, despite what the plumber said, the tank was bad.

So far we have great water pressure, the water smells cleaner (another well guy said it was the bladder tanks that was causing the issue with our smell/salt content), and we are still clearing out all the mud from the days worth of usage without the filter. 

This is what I'm working on right now.

Diana's Dresden

Here is some of the quilting going into Diana's quilt.

The borders to start

Here is what is going into the actual blocks.

Feathers all around

After working well past quitting time I cut out and then pieced the next block in the Quilt Room.

Block #10

I jumped on DW and worked a full row in the Book Nook while I was talking to Andrew on his way home.

I had enough time to cut out for the next block in the Quilt Room before closing up for the night. 

This morning we have to run into town; I'm going to support mom at her art show exhibition and Jim is going to run errands. He'll meet me back at the art show later. I'll work this afternoon after we return and I get back into my comfy clothes. 😀 I remember when I used to like dressing up. It must be my age?

Well, Mud

So. Our water pressure/issue continues on. When the plumber showed up yesterday afternoon this is what he pulled out of the system.

Our pre-filter after a few hours

The plumber replaced the above filter the previous day when he aired up the bladder tank. We ran a pressure test and then Jim took a shower. No other water was used and the filter is already caked. We. Have. A. Problem.

This is the water coming straight into the house. It's not waste in there! That's the actual water we are getting out of our well. The plumber said to by-pass our softener because we'd kill it in a matter of days. 

Since the water heater still has fresh water in it (prior to the tank being aired) we were able to grab quick showers this morning. But there's no laundry today (or yesterday) and using water around the house is at a minimum.

We have three calls into well drillers to have them come out and look at our system. One driller is downstate. One driller has a service truck that's down and can't come. One sounded drunk when we talked to him last night and he'd see if he could get over in a few days. That guy wanted to just drill a new well. Jim called another company first thing this morning and they said they'd be out later today to have a look. 

In quilting news. I finished Diane's quilt on Bernie and now I'm heading over to Marty to start Diana's second quilt. No pics [yet] since I'm preoccupied with this water situation. 

Unexpected Disruption

Our water situation at the house is less than desirable. We have a high salt content in our well (running raw without the softener) and even after running through the softener the salt content is still very high. The only way we get drinking water is through our R/O system and even that is chewing through my granite counter tops. 

Our plumber was out to check the bladder tanks to see if that was the problem. We have two down in the crawl space and after he checked them both, deemed one completely shot. He unhooked it and aired up the second one (it only had 9lbs of pressure). All was good. Until it wasn't.

Jim was in the shower last night and the water pressure was about non-existent after only a few minutes. He called the plumber back and he'll be here this morning after another earlier appointment already scheduled.

Meanwhile, I took a little "shower" in the kitchen sink to wash my hair/face and did a small sponge bath upstairs. I hate not taking a shower in the morning. It wakes me up and I feel all refreshed; ready to go for the day.

I have a lot of visitors coming today. Jim is gone to PT and I'll be dealing with the plumber (when he finally gets here) and I have a customer coming to drop off sometime after 10:00 (???).

I'll be working on getting this piece done throughout the day in between all of that.

A little quilting eye candy

I had to move the bow to the screen door yesterday and so far it's holding. Once I was done working for the day, I cut out for the next Quilt Room block and then moved over to DW to get the second row done in Book Nook.

Then I started piecing the block in the Quilt Room and actually finished it before quitting in the studio. 

Block #9

I better get to it since it's nearly 10:00 now.

Spartan Bow

The bow was worked most of yesterday. Here I am quilting it with straight lines on my DSM,

Doing some quilting

My Spartan bow looks like camouflage. But it was up for a bit. 

It looks great here!

And then while relaxing for the night, I heard it fall. The Command hook isn't sticking to the bumpy siding very well. 

I'm going to try the door later this morning to see if it sticks better there. That's about all I did yesterday.

Today I'll be starting out on Bernie on this little winter quilt.  

Diane's second quilt

All while I'm frame ironing for Diana's next quilt on Marty. I have a Diana and Diane both and their quilts are going to be done on each of the Bernina's. Isn't that funny?

A Little Sewing

Prior to our having to head to the picnic I got a little sewing done on the bows. Then we were off to the dam. Here is a one-time-only pic as people are not allowed up here ever again (unless authorized).

Looking north off the catwalk towards our house

That's our first gate looking down over the catwalk

We buzzed home real quick to grab Ben's muffins and to let the girls out one last time before heading down to Lansing. Aren't my grandkids silly?

Hannah is so pretty!

From left to right: Zechariah, Hannah, Elijah, and Jacob

On the way home we picked up a new TV for the studio and I'm going to fuss with that most of the morning. And then more bow work since today is a holiday. 

On a Whim

The morning started out with the Temperature blocks and then I had to make a prototype of a notebook cover to see if I liked the pattern I've selected for that. 

This is the before

Here is the after. 

I messed up the measurement (which is why I always do trial run) wrapped cover. There shouldn't be any of the blue polka dot fabric peeking out of the right side. 

I made a fabric bow last year around the holidays and wanted to make a few larger ones for the door to the studio. There are plenty of free videos on how to make one of these. Kind of. They give you the general instructions, but aren't specific about cuts/amount of squares, etc. 

I purchased a pattern from a maker on Etsy (must support small businesses) for the full pattern since I plan on making many of these.

Here's where I left off late last night.

It looks like I'm making a camouflage bow doesn't it? It's all the left over Sparty fabric I have in my stash along with a few other fabrics that worked well here. Before the picnic I want to get started sewing these all together. 

From the picnic we have to head to Lansing for Bens birthday. Don't know what time we'll get home so this morning may be my only sewing window. 

Work After Work

I've mentioned this before. I don't just quilt customer quilts. I have plenty of work to do even before setting needle and thread into their fabric. I have even more work to do after the quilt is quilted even if they don't want me to trim their finished piece. 

One of those 'chores' is removing all the markings. Here is a before and after. 

After

Before

Because this customer wanted cross hatching for the background, the whole quilt was premarked before even loading. Not that I use the marks all the way through (because they become a little off during the quilting process), but they are a road map for me.

After I got done working, Jim announced that last night was the first Spartan football game under the lights at Spartan Stadium. Hmm?

Summer is 'over' since it's Labor Day weekend and the watermelon banner could be taken down. Jim and I made this together. 

That took a few hours to make and then Jim was ready to relax for the day. He wandered out to his man cave. I cut out the rest of the Santa top and got that ready to head to a retreat. I wasn't in a long arm mood so I cut out for the next block in Quilt Room.

I still had a lot of steam left in me so I started putting that block together. Here's the finished block. 

Block eight

Jim and Joe are at a Township/Association meeting this morning. I'll be working on the Temperature blocks until he arrives home and then I'll probably be on DW for part of the day. It's a holiday and I'll wander wherever I want to wander I guess.