Time for progress………

I finally decided this top wasn’t going to finish itself so I got the borders done last night.  First I added the strips to the 2 sides so the color wasn’t touching the edge of the quilt.  then I added the 3 rows of strips to the top and bottom.  I wanted just a touch of color in the first 2 strips with the outside one being just the light neutrals.  Now it is about 76″ x 95″.  In the book it didn’t have any borders.  I wanted it to be more rectangular so it could be used on a twin bed.

I think these two fabrics will be on the back.  I’ll probably divide both pieces into 2 different width strips and sew them together alternating.  Then I don’t have to worry about getting anything centered when I quilt it.

Sashing fabric, and blooms………..

I like this black/white fabric for my sashing.  I haven’t decided how wide to cut it yet.  I think I’ll use hand dyed fabric for the cornerstones.  I made 4 more stars so I’ll show them all tomorrow after I press them.

The hot weather has caused the wigiela to bloom after only showing buds a few days ago.

I have rose colored columbine in several locations. 

I have 2 varieties of pale pink columbine.  This is the palest one, almost white. 

The art quilters are coming today.  It sounds like the big storms are going to wait until late tonight into Tuesday morning.  That is IF they have the forecast right.

Stars and pinwheels…………

I cut 6 sets of triangles and squares from the white/black prints and sewed 2 more blocks.

I decided to put the umbrella fabric up on a design wall and pin some of the pinwheel blocks over it.  I love how busy it is!!  I have 21 pinwheel blocks to use in this quilt.  I’ll probably have to make a few more.

 

Stars and pots……….

I showed the star points and pinwheel blocks laying on the white/black prints last week.  Yesterday I cut the triangles and squares and sewed them.  They are 16″ square and I think they need some black/white sashing so I need to make at least 9 more for a lap size quilt (or more if I decide to make it bigger).

I had a gift certificate to a local nursery so I bought plants for my porch pots yesterday afternoon.

I was able to save a few coleus cuttings from last year.  I keep them in water all winter and then plant them in the spring.  If I planted them as soon as they rooted I would have had larger plants.  Some of the stems were getting woody so I hope they survive.  The whole idea was to save some money on plants this year.

 

 

Another 80 degree day……

I should have taken my camera outside with me since that is where I spent a lot of time yesterday.  I dug out lavender Rose of Sharon volunteers from one flower bed, raked another, pulled lots of Periwinkle Vinca vine (and there is still way too much there), and dug some offending plants out of the front flower bed.  All of that fresh air and heat did me in.  I did get this one quilt basted in an hour while watching TV at night.  For new readers who wonder about my basting method check here and here.

This is what I wanted to sew on but I was just too tired.  I took a close up shot here so you can see some of the black and white prints better. 

One more quilted…..

I quilted the third QOV quilt made from the kits that I cut.  Our sew-in is on Tuesday so I want to be able to deliver the quilts.  I trimmed the edges but haven’t cut the binding yet.

I need to make 30 more of the black and white wedges before I can continue on that project.  I am using up all of the left over strip piecing from a Strips n Curves quilt made several years ago and adding 2 chunks onto it.  I’m still looking for my bag of black and white scraps.  I hate to cut off yardage when I know there are a bunch of scraps somewhere in my house.

From the archives…….

My program last night at the library went well.  I have a lot of quilts to put away but that will have to wait until I get home from the QOV sew-in today in Batavia and visiting my dad.   Since I didn’t sew anything yesterday I scanned these 2 photos from 1992 to show to you.  I know I made the top one for a challenge in the bee I belonged to.  I think the one on the bottom was made to use the leftover blocks.  I guess you could call this a deconstructed pinwheel because only a few blocks have all of the pieces.  The rest are using just portions of the block.  I gave the top one to my daughter-in-law because she loves black and white and I sold the bottom one.

Other things I am working on……

I didn’t want to put anything not relevant in the modular quilt tutorial so I will have 2 posts on some days. I chose more strips to go with diamonds and actually sewed a few but forgot to take a photo.

I also got the green border cut and sewed on and then about panicked when I opened up the black and white border piece and I didn’t think there was enough of it to cut the design lengthwise on the sides and crosswise on the top and bottom.  I had to piece the 2 crosswise ones but luckily I found the pattern match in a piece that was large enough.  I don’t know if this piece is done or if I should look for another green to make an additional border.  Or maybe a green and black border, or maybe it is done.

Black and white, and a little color…….

I’m playing with border ideas on the black and white piece I showed yesterday.  No decisions yet.

I picked the first tomato from the 2 plants I have in pots.  It is Early Girl and they are a medium size tomato.

I purchased the large diamond die for my Studio die cutter.  So far I have just cut from scraps.  Now I need to get into the yardage.

Here is one idea for them in Kaffe’s book “Simple Shapes, Spectacular Quilts”.

I bordered one diamond to see how I like it.  I pinned the yardstick up there so you have an idea how big this is.

Not a stitch all day……..

I couldn’t get  motivated yesterday to do anything so I’ll share some photos I took last week.  I have a box of pieces and parts that maybe will be made into something, maybe not.  I had made a strata of 6 fabrics white to black and then made 2 different kinds of blocks from slices of it.

I think I can safely say that I made the strata and blocks more than 15 years ago so I think they have aged properly.  I decided to lay out both kinds of blocks together since there weren’t enough of either to do much.  After I took this photo I sewed them together and it is about 18″ x 30″.  I think it might become the center of a baby quilt or small lap quilt.  I thought I would just play around with borders.  I hope it gets finished before another 15 years though.