Quilt back home.............

My Kaffe Blue Pinwheels is quilted and back home from the longarmer.  I'll be looking for binding today.

I sewed the last 10 stratas for Tilda 16 patches last night.  These are duplicates of ones already made into blocks.  There are will be 4 blocks alike of each combination.

It got up over 60 degrees yesterday so I did grocery shopping at 2 stores.  Friday is maybe going to be over 70.  I hope this doesn't mean a warm March and a cold April.

Progress, gifted quilts, and a thief.........................

A little progress was made on the Tilda 16 patch blocks, but the most time yesterday was spent cutting batting and piecing backs for two quilts.  I need to cut more batting today while the table is cleaned off.

In case you are wondering, the friend who came over yesterday to choose 2 baby quilts chose these two.  My son's friends are becoming grandparents for the first time so I give them one for the baby's house and one for the grandparents' house.  

"Who, me?  No, you must be mistaken.  I did not knock down the feeder, unscrew the lid, and climb inside to eat all of the birdseed."  This is the look I got when the squirrel saw me at the window taking the photo.  I tried to catch him inside the feeder but by the time I got the camera turned on and zoomed in, he had eaten all of the seed.

Not much.................

I had so many plans but only got 4 stratas sewn for more 16 patch blocks and the 14 already made were pressed.  I just couldn't get motivated to do anything and I'll blame it on the time change.

l put all of the finished blocks on the design wall to encourage me to get the rest of the stratas sewn.

It got up to 66 yesterday.  I went out to the backyard and picked up small branches that have fallen in the last month.  Today will be 20 degrees colder which is more like the average temperature for this day.

Today a friend is coming over to choose a couple baby quilts.  I hope I have something that she will like.

Sunday's doings............................

I started out the day yesterday pressing a big pile of batik strips, usually end cuts from other project cutting.  I will be cutting these into pieces for my colorwash quilts.

Then I was in the basement looking for backings for several table topper pieces.  Photos later.  While down there I saw this book and decided I should donate it to the thrift shop on my next trip.

Look at that date!  50 years ago!  This was one of the few patchwork books available in that time period.  1975 was the beginning of my teaching career, first teaching speed tips for clothing sewing and the following year I began teaching quilting.

We must have had Marjorie as a guild program. I never met the other author.

This book was a valuable tool at the beginning of the quilt revival.

The pattern pieces in the book are without seam allowance.  The book suggests making the template, drawing around it on the wrong side of the fabric, then using a ruler, draw on the 1/4" seam allowance.  We have come a long way since then.

I sewed 14 more sixteen patch blocks last night.  

In the indoor garden I have 4 blooms on this champagne color cactus.

At the other end of this table there is another champagne color cactus with 2 blooms.

I have one more to bloom, one bud on a deep rose plant.

They predicted 67 degrees for today.  Will it happen?

 

New fabric...................

I usually preorder some of the new Kaffe collective fabrics in February and August.  There weren't many that I wanted but I thought this group would cut up nicely.  You can see here how they would look in a 2.5" strip.

I like Brandon's "gingham" which had some new colors offered.   I ordered 2 colors of one more print but there was a mistake on my order and one of them wasn't included.  It will be coming next week and then I'll show both of them.

I put the strip of Tilda's ladies on the design wall and then put the first 14 sixteen patch blocks up there with it.  

I got the next 7 stratas sewn for 14 more sixteen patch blocks.  I pressed them after this photo and they are ready to cut into segments.

I have a list of things I want to do today so I hope I have the energy to tackle all of them.

First quilt top in March 2025..............

The top is pressed now and ready for its debut.  I didn't measure it (and it's in the basement) so I'm estimating the size at 57" x 75".  I took photos with 2 cameras and this was the closest to the actual color.

I took a couple closer photos so you can enlarge these and see the variety of fabrics better.

I didn't use any of the prints that had green in them.  They will be in a future quilt.

I sewed more stratas for the 16 patch quilt last night.  I have enough of the ladies fabric left to cut 5 blocks to alternate with the 16 patch blocks (if I don't mis-cut it).  I'll show more on that on tomorrow's post. 

We had huge snowflakes falling yesterday but only a dusting on a few patches of bare ground.  I made a trip to the thrift shop with some more donations and stopped at one store while I was out.  It was in the mid 30s and didn't feel too cold.  

Top sewn, not pressed..................

The Tilda Whimsy top was finished last night and I'll press it today and take its photo.  There were only 5 seams in both directions but they were long ones so it took a few hours.

I got the next batch of strips ready to sew for 16 patches.  That project will probably be my evening sewing for several days.

I didn't have any dishcloths on the needles so I started one last night to use up the lighter blue and I'll finish it with the darker blue.  The lighter color is called Stonewash and the darker one is Blue Jeans.