Motorhome Repairs - Alternator and Isolator Replacement

As I promised in yesterday's blog...  there were MORE motorhome repairs to blog about.  I didn't want to add them to the blog until I was sure they were completely resolved.

As you know, we had alternator woes on our trip down to Florida and back.  Since that alternator was fairly newly rebuilt,  we were perplexed as to why it was not putting out enough amps. It was intermittant, sometimes 12 or 12.5... and other times 13 or higher. While down there, we first bought a kit to rebuild the brushes and regulator. Didn't help.  So then Steve ordered another alternator (rebuilt one) from Ebay and had it shipped to mom's house.  He installed that and it seemed fine, but about 100 miles into the trip home, it was acting funny too. We ended up running jumper lines from the four house batteries over to the chassis battery bank to keep the rig running. While we were driving, we have solar charging on the rooftop and also some of the route we had the generator running.  So between both systems, we had enough battery power to get home.

Well..... first off we had to remove the alternator and have it bench tested.  Remember..  I am Steve's Parts Girl while he is at work!

I ran it down to a local guy who rebuilt one before for us 2 years ago.  Sadly, he is going out of business and was only at the shop to sell off a bunch of old stuff to some guys coming in a truck.  I talked to him a bit and he said yes, he would bench test the one for us.... and hooked it up.  I got to watch and learn.  It was not putting out a charge.  He took off the rotor section to test on another machine and that was fine.  The regulator Steve just put in was shot as well as some other parts inside.  All the diodes were burnt right off, like over fried from something back feeding!

He said to go home and test our isolator.  That is an electrical unit that splits the power from the alternator and sends it either to the chassis batteries or the house batteries, but doesn't let them bleed over into each other.

In the meantime he would try to rebuild our alternator that afternoon. Even though he was going out of business, he was hanging around his shop for another truck to come by.  He also showed us a NEW larger alternator, 165 amp, that is brushless and is the newer type all the semi trucks run now. He offered to let us buy it at a great price if we wanted it.

Later on he called me to come back... he was unable to finish fixing our alternator as the regulator was shot, and he didn't have any new ones anymore in the shop.  But he gave us the other parts for free and didn't charge us a thing for trying.  Steve said to me over the phone to pick up the new bigger one he offered us, if the price was under $200.  Well, the guy settled at $160 with the promise to buy it back if it didn't fit or was the wrong type.  He even carefully drew on the case which wires went to which stud and if we needed an exciter wire or not.

The only problem we could foresee was that the case on the new one was about 2 inches longer than the case of the old one.  All the other tabs bolted in just fine, but not enough clearance due to a big air intake tube in the way.  Well, my brainy Steveio figured out how to cut down the boot of the air intake tube to shift it back 2 inches, move a big clamp, and now he had just enough room for clearance for the new alterntor!  What a guy!

The new one was in place and he did it so fast I never got a pic of it! But the new one is a Delco Remy in the $350-450 range!  So we did get a great deal!

At the same time, Steve tested our isolator. Yup... it was shot.  Using a voltage meter he should have infinity between two posts and swapping probes he should get no resistance.  Instead he got dead dead dead dead 0.

Now... this is late Wednesday, after putting in the waterpump so we had no time to get a new isolator.  Nobody locally carries them, so we had to place an order on Amazon to get one delivered in a few days.  So in the meantime the last thing we wanted to do was fry this alternator.  (the rebuild guy said that is how the others got fried, we went through three alternators in three months!)

Steve bypassed the isolator on the chassis battery post by putting all three wires onto one post just to hold them together.  He also disconnected the house batteries because they charge on their own by the solar power and don't need to be hooked up to the alternator for now.

At least we could go to Beaver Dam, Shopiere, and Beloit, WI and have our engine run smooth and not lose battery power.   And we did!

After my quilting shopping and friend luncheon on Friday, we drove on to Shopiere to spend the weekend in my friend's parking lot at her weaving studio... www.vavningstudio.com

(I will do additional blog posts about the studio visit on Saturday

and our friend's Anniversary Party on Sunday)

We did notice trouble with the inverter on board during the weekend... it would fluctuate, and then drop voltage output.  We turned it off and plugged into shore power for any 110 things we wanted to run during the weekend.

That had me really worried, because an inverter (a device that changes 12v DC power to 110V AC power) we use it to run things like our tv's, some of the lights, our coffee maker and grinder, curling iron etc.  We can do without them, but it makes it much more comfortable to have them on board. Replacing the 2000 watt inverter would cost more than all three other repairs we had done combined! The water pump, the alternator and the isolator are small potatoes compared to a 2000 watt inverter!

We got home on Sunday without incident and the alternator charged flawlessly.  Yippeee Skippeee!~ but we still had to install an isolator and figure out our inverter problem.  

On Tuesday the mail-lady brought Steveio his nice big box with his isolator!   

This is a Happy Man! 

The isolator has to be larger than the alternator's amp output.

So even if the old isolator had been good, we would have had to change it anyhow

to meet the higher output from the new alternator. 

Here is the old isolator... it is mounted on the wall in the engine compartment which is open to the dusty road and dirty diesel engine.  That is probably 20 years of accumulated dirt on it. LOL... If there was a better spot to relocate it to, Steve will think about it.  For now, he would just mount it where the old one is and use the same cables and wires.

 He held the new one over the area where it would go...

 just so I could take a pic! 

Imagine that.. a man reading INSTRUCTIONS! 

He doesn't do that too often.  

But he had to be sure or else ruin both the isolator and alternator,

and probably our inverter too? 

 He hooked up the wires and double checked and triple checked each one....

•  2 wires on the left are to the chassis batteries and solenoid boost switch on the dash...
•  (next post is skipped)
•  the center post is the alternator and the engine clock. 
• The far right post is for the chassis (house) batteries.

Steve then took out his voltage meter and tested while I fired up the engine. 

I was ready to turn it off if anything was wrong or arcing or heating up. 

Soooo we fired it up

and all systems are GO! 

What a beautiful sight on our Silverleaf readout display.!!!

Everything is working properly... even the inverter!  

Whatever was back-feeding with the old isolator is now corrected.

Whew....   we don't have to replace that now.

My next blog post will be about our visit with weaving friend Juanita and her studio in Shopiere, WI. 

Motorhome Waterpump Repair and Meeting Nancy Zieman

Last week got so busy, I never got around to blogging!

Steve has been working diligently on the motorhome, so we could take it for the weekend to Beaver Dam on Friday, then on to Shopiere and Beloit for Saturday and Sunday. We are lucky that the entire king sized bed lifts up to give ample access to the engine compartment. We are even MORE lucky that Steveio is able to work on our engine himself.  I am the gopher for parts and holding the flashlight.

By looking at the motor while the engine was running, he could see where the water had been leaking during our whole drive home from Florida (we had to stop every 100 miles and add a few gallons of water) ....   Upon observation, he had diagnosed that the water pump was only leaking at the gasket, and fortunately not out the end of the seal or the bearing etc.  

1. He first removed the belt.
2. He pulled off the alternator,
3. then he pulled off the air conditioner pump, 
4. next the waterpump's tension pulley
5. now the fan belt tension pulley.  

Yup, all that just to get to the water pump!

He pulled it off, and took it apart.  He cleaned off the old gasket and removed the O-rings.  I ran up to Green Bay to Fabick Cat to get the new parts for him.  Soon he had it all reassembled and put back into place.  Now... for the test....


DANGNABBIT!  There was a leak!   A small tiny bead of water kept appearing on the top side of the water pump.  We looked all over for a leaking hose above it, around it, under it... heck... NO hoses leaking anywhere. Where was it coming from? The bead of water would just appear on the metal case of the water pump. The new gasket was fine all around, the o-rings were holding fine.  The leak wasn't coming from that area at all.  I dabbed it all with a clean fresh piece of paper towel and watched it close.  Another bead of water appeared in it's place. Sure enough.. there was a TINY crack right in the curve of the outer cover of the water pump!!!  You couldn't even see it with your eyes, but it was leaking a bit at a time... drip drip drip!

Pull the thing allll apart again, yup... all five of those steps again.  The only good part is all the bolts and nuts are nice and easy now to remove compared to the first time?

This is the water pump cover:

and THIS is the tiny crack!~!

Well, it was another trip for me back up to Fabick Cat in Green Bay. I do the runs for parts because Steve works 8-4 Mon-Fri and unable to go for parts.  That makes it My job!  Luckily they had the part in stock!  Amazing for an engine that is now 20 years old!  PS we also just got our Collector Plates for the motorhome, as it qualifies for them now.  We don't have to pay for plates now for the rest of the time we own the motorhome.  Just not allowed to operate it during the month of January with a Collector Plate.  

Thursday evening Steveio got the water pump with the new cover put back together, then did all five steps again to reassemble things.  We filled it up with plain water to do a test.  YAYYYYY it held!  No leaks!   We even slid cardboard underneath (my idea) to make double sure it was not leaking.  

He drained out the plain water and then put a mix of distilled water and the long life coolant (known as ELC)  which runs about $80 but is good for a long long time!  Hopefully as long as we own the rig? 

I loaded up the rig and we started up the fridge and brought on board enough food and stuff for the weekend.  We had made plans for Friday with our friend Connie, then Saturday with our friend Juanita, and Sunday with our friends Jim and Norma.  Now we were able to keep our commitments. 

Friday morning we got up early and headed out in the rig after tossing in the dogs and our coffee cups.  Steve had taken a day of vacation so I could do the once-a-year warehouse shopping with my friend Connie at the Nancy's Notions Warehouse Sale in Beaver Dam, WI.  It's only 60 miles away, and we arrived at the edge of town in an hour or so.  

Quilters had been there all week taking classes and listening to programs and taking part in workshops and events.  I was not attending any of those, I just came for the bargains. 

We parked the rig at the local Walmart a mile away and set about making some breakfast and putting a few things away that we tossed in at the last minute.  Steve unhooked the Tracker and brought me over to the Nancy's Notions location for 10:30 to meet with friend Connie.  She had been in a class until 10:30 and we were going to meet up to shop the warehouse sale together!

Steve dropped me off right at the door, because the parking was at a premium around the warehouse location.  They had parking in far off lots, and shuttle buses running with all these quilting gals coming and going.  A few guys popped up here and there, but it mostly women as far as the eye could see inside.  

Connie and I connected at the door (aren't cell phones great for locating people in crowds?) We enjoyed watching demonstrations of new machines, cool tools, and great new ideas that have come to the sewing world.  There were some good bargains on needles, fabrics, books and supplies.  We roamed up and down the aisles, filling our arms with goodies.  Finding some things we never thought about before, and learning along the way. 

Then, we happened to meet Nancy Zieman herself!  She is the famous lady of the quilting shows on PBS Sewing With Nancy...   We chatted a bit and shared a story of teaching grandchildren to sew. Said it's our job as grandmothers now to do that with the lack of home-ec classes in schools and cuts in budgets for children's education.  I told her I have coffee with her every morning at 9 am on the tv in front of my sewing machine in my sewing room!   LOL... she graciously posed for a "selfie" with me.  It was kinda close up, so she grabbed a passing shopper, handed her my phone and asked for a nicer one from a bit further back.  Ahhhh  I am so star struck meeting a famous quilter who took the time to talk to ME! 

Nancy has battled various health issues throughout her life, and now recently is recovering from bone-cancer and been rendered cancer free. She has a "bionic leg" as she calls it and is healing well and getting out and about. She is quite a lady and has a lot of get up and go.  She is admired by many for all that she has taken on and growing a successful business.

This is from the Sewing With Nancy website:

Founded in 1979 by Nancy Zieman, the company has grown from one-woman, mail-order operation (working off a kitchen table) to a multi-channel organization that:

• Ships more than 300,000 packages per year to customers around the world
• Hosts educational events that draw enthusiasts from across the country to its flagship retail store
• Produces the most popular sewing, how-to program on public television
• Develops and introduces new books, patterns, embroidery design collections, and sewing supplies each year under the Sewing With Nancy brand

The company headquarters are in rural Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, not far from the renovated chicken coop that served as the first dedicated offices and fulfillment center for Nancy's Notions.

http://www.nancysnotions.com/

After we had shopped till we just about dropped (and blew all my budgeted money) ... Connie drove us in her car back to the motorhome at the Walmart lot. Steveio and the dogs were patiently waiting.  Connie had a cooler packed up with an already prepared meal for us... and we fired up the generator to heat it up in the convection oven/microwave. She had a great dish of homemade chicken stroganoff, then some sweet corn she had cut off the cob last fall.  She baked it in the oven and then froze it to preserve it.  She topped off our meal with her homemade applesauce for dessert!  It was such a nice way to settle down after all of our shopping.  Much better than running out for fast food restaurant stuff.  

I forgot to take a pic of us or the food... so you will have to take my word for it, it was great! 

We did our hugs goodbye and she went on her way to a family obligation. Steve and I hooked up the Tracker to the back of the motorhome, did our safety checks, started the tire pressure monitor system and hit the road....

NEXT STOP --- 

VAVNING STUDIO 

SHOPIERE WI 

and MORE motorhome problems!!!
stay tuned......

Good News For Once

It seems like so much of my blog has been bad news lately, with family illnesses and so many struggling with cancer.  So I wanted to share my good news.....

Mammo time: 

Spring is finally trying to poke it's head around the corner and take a peek at us.  Although this morning it is bitterly cold, complete with sleet pellets.  Brrrrrr We had high winds last night that shook the house, but the weathermen are promising that we WILL get up in the mid fifties by the weekend.  Hmmmmm


Three years ago we planted this weeping cherry tree as my Mother's Day present.  The first two years we some had blossoms on it and even some small cherries.  This year, despite a cracked trunk from the winter cold, we have an abundance of blossoms!

The cascading blooms are so thick on the branches,

and the tree is just buzzing with honeybees! 

On the topic of Steve's new cuckoo clock hobby, well---- he has one completely working already and is awaiting some ordered parts on the other one. So much for waiting for retirement to work on them??? He has this one proudly displayed in the front porch. It can stay out there for the spring, summer and fall months.  In the winter months we will relocate it back inside to a spot on the landing of the staircase in the foyer.

This one chimes on the half hour with one bong and one cuckoo.  But then on the full hour it will sound off with the cuckoos and the bongs for the number of the hour.  Then as a special surprise, a music box kicks in with a lovely tune while four little dancing couples come out and twirl around!  It's delightful and I can not wait until the grandkids come to see it!

Steve figures we will keep rotating cuckoo clocks as he finds them, fixes them, and then sells them again.  Someday we will inherit my mother's cuckoo clock that she brought back from Germany.  That will have a permanent place in our home.


I am working on five different rug orders here...  some are in multi colors with random striping. I achieve this look by weaving in two strands of thin rags in the same opening, with starting and stopping various patterns and colors mid stream.

I like using a multi-colored weft (string) that matches with any rug I choose to weave.  Since I wind on enough string for 50 rugs at a time, it's nice to have an all-purpose colorway.  Next, I am going to sew up the red, white and blue rags today for the last rug on the order list.

I picked up new sash cord the auction loom I bought last weekend. I have not had time yet to tie it all on and snug everything up. Perhaps next week.  For now it's fully assembled in the loom room in front of the window, kinda blocking up the open area.  Once I weave on it, I will decide to keep it, relocate it, or sell it as a fully functional weaving rug loom. 

In between the other stuff, I have been working on a quilt for the front porch.  It's all together now, I sandwich quilted each square, then joined the blocks and sewed in between rows called sashing.  All of it is free motion quilted and completed except for the border.  When finished, it will be queen/king sized.  But I want it to cuddle up on the front porch together.  Maybe later today I can get to that part and finish it up?

Oh... on the RVing front:  the motorhome water pump repair, Steve and I are heading to the Cat dealer in Green Bay after work today to pick up the new gasket and O rings.  Hopefully that will fix it up and we can be ready to roll in 2 weeks for Mother's Day weekend. We are heading down to my friend Juanita's Vavning Studio in Shopiere and then to our friends Jim and Norma's wedding anniversary party in Beloit.  Nice to have the motorhome as our mobile hotel room, a place to keep the doggies, and have comfort in travelling there and back without hotels, restaurants and all that hassle.

Here's to hoping we don't get any more

 **S*N*O*W**

My Birthday Boy and a new loom!

OH yes, my Birthday Boy celebrated his very young 58 years.  He was born in 1958, so turning 58 should be a kind of Golden Birthday, right?

He woke up Friday morning to a nice hot breakfast before he had to trudge off to work.  He is in a countdown mode now to retirement, 36 weeks and counting.  YAY!  He loves the park very much, but it's a good financial decision time to retire by the end of the year, but still find some part time things to keep him busy.

He was showered with cards and gifts from family earlier in the week, but I waited until he got home from work to give him my gifts.  There were a few ummm "personal" gifts we won't talk about, also some special treats he likes. Then his last present was a big big box....


I had decided to help him find a "hobby" for retirement.  I knew he had enjoyed fixing my mom's cuckoo clock (twice now) and seemed to like the intricate workings of the clock.  Soooo I found a great deal on the local Buy/Sell/Trade pages of a woman with TWO cuckoo clocks she wanted to sell.  She said neither one worked, and she didn't know much about them. They had been gifted to her some time ago and never got used.

Steveio was quite excited to get his new "hobby" .... and darned if he didn't go RIGHT TO WORK on them!  Argghhhh!!!!   It was supposed to be a pleasant hobby to do sometime when he retired!  Nope, not my Steveio!


In ten minutes he had one fully operational and set and working and hanging on the wall.  The other one is almost workable, just needs one small part (a bellows for the cuckoo sound) and new pinecone weights for the chains.  Both parts are ordered off Ebay and should arrive next week.

 They are both valued in the $150 range, so he can now sell them and make some pocket change.

After I pried him away from his cuckoo clocks (unwillingly for sure) he chose the spot to go out to eat.  We have heard for three years now to go to a nice little steak house just a bit south of Chilton in a tiny village called Charlesburg.  It's called Roepke's Village Inn and features steaks, seafood, German cuisine and has a cocktail bar.  Off we went for a great dinner, and even better yet, a surprise dessert for the birthday boy!

 (we had told the bartender it was his birthday in hopes of a free drink.. 

and he must have passed on the word to our waitress!) 

Saturday morning Steve got up early and headed over to the Calumet County Historical Museum. We volunteer there in the summer months when the museum is open on Sundays.  The spring cleanup crew needed some help with a big Black Walnut tree.  Last week Steve went there and helped cut it down.  This week they cleaned up and chipped up all the branches and cut the wood into usable chunks.

He was done by 9:30 and rushed back home to me.  We had seen an auction in the paper with listings of many many farm tools and commercial machinery items. Hidden down in the fine print, Steve had spotted the word "loom"  and we decided to go have a look-see.

Like I really need another loom, eh?

We got there and saw lots of farmers, very few woman, and a lot of eager beavers perusing the shotguns, tools and farm machinery.  I found a pallet of assorted old wood and wires and rusty stuff.. Yup.. it was a LOOM, alright!

One elderly gal was poking at the pile, as well as a Mennonite gentleman.  She asked him if he fixed those kind of things. He replied that he had one at home that nobody used.   I jumped in and said it was missing parts and had broken pieces.  (which it did, I don't lie)   They turned away from it and never looked at it again.


We hung around the auction most of the morning....  Steve bid on a group of electric appliances, and he won them for $3.00   It was a commercial ice crusher worth over $100 new and a four piece waffle iron like new that retails for $39.00  Not bad for $1.50 each!  Margaritas and waffles???


I placed a bid on a long Rubbermaid box of quilting fabrics, which I won for $10.  The auctioneer threw in a big box of a dozen or more flannel-backed red polka dot picnic tablecloths and a dog bed and a seat cover.

Oh vey!  All I wanted was the fabric! LOL .....  heck, even the Rubbermaid container was worth the $10 and will go nicely in the basement storage compartment of the motorhome.

We sat patiently on our lawn chairs till noon... while people bid on farm stuff, lawn stuff, crazy stuff and junk stuff.  We bought a burger from the little cook in the motorhome who vendors for the auctions.  Soon they were coming up towards my little pile of pitiful lumber that constituted a loom, warping rack and spindle rack... with assorted tools in a box marked "Grandma Vetting's Old Rug Loom".

I looked to the sky and said to Grandma Vetting, now undoubtedly in heaven... "If you want someone to use that loom again, you can put in a good word for me, okay??"   I whispered to Steve that my top dollar budget was going to be $50 bucks.  He said I could go higher if I wanted to. Awwwww see what buying a guy a couple cuckoo clocks can accomplish???

Normally for our area of the country, a 2 harness rug loom goes for about $200 if it's in good working condition.  This one wasn't.

I held my breath as the auctioneer opened the bidding   

I raised my little number 74 card up high!   

"SOLD ... 

TO NUMBER 74"

We got what we came for, and loaded up the car. Steve's appliances, my fabric and the LOOM!  We loaded up the car to the hilt, and didn't need to run back home for our Tracker SUV.  It all fit!


The loom is called The Little Dandy, and was made probably in the earlier 1900's by the looks of it.  It has been used a LOT but made of solid hard rock maple and made to withstand the tests of time.

We got it home and laid out the pieces 

in the last available spot in my Loom Room studio. 

I quickly moved the coleus plants to the front porch to make more room.

I winter them over indoors and wait till May before I plant them outside again.

(Dont'cha love the rainbows from the leaded glass window overhead?) 

As much fun as it was getting the loom, also it was a lot of fun exploring the box of "go withs" that I won too. These are tools used by some long ago weaver named Grandma Vetting. This is a hand carved shuttle that was used to weave in the headers on each end of the rag rug.  There were assorted rag shuttles too, but I prefer using longer shuttle sticks for my rugs.

I wonder how many miles that thing traveled back and forth

 in the open shed of the loom warp, 

year after year, 

making more and more rugs? 

This is a very creative tension box!  

I have a nice newer one, but I think I will give this one a try. 

It's used to group all 24 threads from a rack of individual spools,

 and load the threads carefully onto the loom, 

one section at a time,  under correct even tension. 

Steveio helped me set up the loom.  I found out that a weaving friend in New York, Hilary, of www.crazyasaloom.com had once owned the exact same loom.  She had since sold it to a student.  She asked the student to take some quick digital pics and forwarded them on to me.  Ain't technology great?  In less than an hour, we had the loom totally together!!!

I want to replace the red and white poly ropes with some proper sash cord (no stretching)  and even out the harnesses after putting on new heddles.  The original ones are so rusty they will mark up the rugs during the weaving.  I just need to have Steve cut off one of my longer reeds to fit the beater, and we will be ready to wind on some warp thread and try this thing out.

I know it's kinda in the way here, and not a lot of room. 

I have to weave on it first and decide if I want to keep it,

or finish restoring it and make it work 

and maybe then sell it to some other weaver.

Maybe it's small enough to fit out on the front porch?

(Steveio would nix that idea!) 

Oh... as another bright item of our day: 

the poor weeping cherry tree 

with the trunk that split over winter has blossomed!!!!

 Wheeee!!!!

What an exciting day! 

Mammo Wednesday and Fibery Tuesday

Oooh today is my mammo day.  I approach the day with trepidation, since I had a tumor removed when I was 15. With all of the cancer issues cropping up in our family, this is necessary.  My younger sister deals with cysts and lumps all the time, and had repeated surgeries to keep her healthy and safe and alive!

I go regularly, but always seem to get called back for a second scanning due to the scar tissue.  No matter how many times I tell them of the previous surgery, and they mark the spots with an arrow, there always seems to be some new radiologist reading the scans. Erring on the side of caution, they insist on calling me back for a second imaging. Of course, I go.  I breathe a HUGE sigh of relief when the results come back as okay, just old scar tissue.

So that is my public service announcement for today.  

Go get a mammo! 

Yesterday was cold and damp in Wisconsin.  We had a cloudy day with no sunshine at all. I opted to stay inside and work on weaving some rugs.  I am doing these in a neutral theme of beiges, creams and browns.  I cut up recycled fabric, sew into strips and then weave them up into rugs.  This is one of my favorite patterns, "random stripes" I call it.

I weave my rugs on my Newcomb Studio Rug Loom. I have two of these looms, identical to each other that I love the way they work.  I have had so many looms over the years, but these are my choice for doing rugs.

My Etsy store ( http://kareninthewoods.etsy.com/ ) where I sell my rugs and other things, recently offered a new shadowing program called "Pattern".  This feature will update my own separate standalone www.kareninthewoods.com website with my current inventory.  So anytime I add something, sell something, or change info on the Etsy store, it will change it automatically on my own website. It has a shopping cart too. But the most exciting part is that there is also a spot that I can add a video clip of myself weaving and explaining how I weave rugs.  So ---- my brain is thinking I might do up a video clip one of these days.  

As it is, I have videotaped myself in two different instructional DVD's that I sell online.  One is the complicated process of warping up a sectional loom for weaving.  The other is how to run those frustrating, futzy, finicky antique sockknitting machines!   And it even ends up with a finished sock!

I self-produced and self-duplicate those DVDS and sell those on my etsy site too.  I would think that making a little video clip of myself weaving for the website should be a breeze. Maybe if I have a Good Hair Day and a clean studio, I can set up my video camera and make a clip of my weaving process.


After lunch, I decided to go upstairs to my sewing room and work on my newest quilt.  I don't make quilts to sell, because you can never recover enough financially to cover your basic materials and time per hour put into making a quilt.  This is one that will go out on my front porch.  

It started like this: 

It has now evolved into this so far....

(those are numbered stickers in the centers to keep them in proper order) 

It will be queen sized when completed.

All of the blocks are stitched, 

sandwiched with batting and backing, 

and free-motion quilted.

 I am now joining them with "sashing" 

My last blog talked about the 20 year old bird house which Steve built for me, that came back into our possession in a roundabout way.  I decided to clean it up and coat it with some clear poly.  For now.  

But first I had to vacuum out the "innards"   ---  Steve had never made a clean-out trap door on this birdhouse so I had to stick in the shop vac hose and hope for the best.  I had no idea it was packed that full inside!  It took quite a while of alternating the vac hose nozzle, along with stick-poking and pliers-pulling out the contents.  This birdhouse accumulated a LOT of stuff over the last 20 years!  

Besides the traditional grass used in nest building, I found fishing line, Xmas decor tinsel, birthday balloon ribbons, clumps of dog hair, pieces of plastic bags, and amazingly parts of children's toys like Legos and Barbie shoes and puzzle pieces!  I think those might have been from my own kids back in the 1990's because they were at the bottom of the birdhouse????   

I can just about visualize them playing in the backyard and stuffing small things in the birdhouse hole because it was within reach of the during those years.  Silly kids! 

One other thing I want to clear up was in the last blog, I might have left the impression that Steve had painted the birdhouse prior to giving it to me.  Nope... he hates painting.  He only built it in the shape and form of my home I owned while we were dating. It was up to me to paint it he said.  LOL So I was the one that painted it 20 years ago.  Now that it has a good sealed surface, I might just spruce it up with new paint again.  

One of my readers, Linda Sand, comment was: "It looks well weathered--just like we are. But, I have some newer body parts and new clothes so why shouldn't it get the same treatment? Oh, dear. I don't think I helped, did I?"

I think it is going to remain indoors and protected the rest of it's lifetime.  Perhaps out in my front porch.  Soooo I might just spruce it up with new paint afterall.  It's the structure that is the memory of Steve's thoughtfulness, not the paint job so much... because that was from me.

For now I will look at it and enjoy it.  

And smile.  

Well, off to get ready for the mammo!