Still hand stitching.................

I worked on the hand stitching on the binding of this medallion quilt a few times yesterday.  I have about 40" left to stitch.

I have only one cactus currently in bloom.  This orange one is so pretty.  I don't see buds on any of the others in the living room and dining room.  I have one on the kitchen windowsill that is 4 pieces that broke off of one plant and I rooted them and planted them all in one pot.  There is one bud on one of them so I hope it gets to the blooming stage.

It was -4 yesterday morning and got up to 8 degrees during the day.  Relief is on the way.  6 of the next 9 days are supposed to be above freezing.

Binding started.................

I got the binding sewn onto the medallion quilt and got 1 1/2 sides hand stitched last night.  This one should take me 3 evenings to finish.

A couple weeks ago I got a package from Nann.  She went to Kay Sorenson's estate sale and got these 2 fabrics for me.  She knew that Kay and I were friends.  What she didn't know is that the fabric on the left is one of my very favorite African fabrics.  The one on the right is an Australian fabric by M&S textiles.  It is a lot different than their current fabrics and I wonder if it was one of the early fabrics by that company.

 A reader, Barbara, had received a box of fabrics from an estate sale and there were some Nancy Crow fabrics in it that she wondered if I would like.  I got them yesterday.  I have never seen this print before so I was very happy to add it to the NC stash.  My local quilt shop at the time stopped carrying the NC fabrics after the first few lines.

This was the other fabric in the box.  I had a piece in both rust and burgundy in this print but had never seen the blue one.  It's a little more of a dark gray-blue than it looks in this photo.

 

Quilt trimmed, table piece finished.................

Another quilt is back from my longarm friend Robin.  I got it trimmed yesterday afternoon.

Since I needed to turn on the iron, I also pressed the binding fabric and cut the 7 strips needed.  It is Kaffe's Woodear fabric.

I also cut the binding strips for my Christmas table runner and got it sewn on and since it is for me, I hand finished the binding.  It is 14.75" x 34.5".

I also finished the second dishcloth from this color ball of yarn.  15 dishcloths have left my home since the beginning of November so I'm playing catch up to fill the basket again.

While the iron was on I also pressed this striped flannel for the back of this baby quilt.  It will be the next one I baste to prepare for quilting.

I also chose this pinkish red check flannel for the back of the flannel tumbler baby quilt.  I need to press it and find a piece of batting for this one.

When I was cleaning the area around my dryer (for the repairman) I found this Raggedy Andy outfit.  It was for the first Raggedy Ann or Andy doll that I made, when my son was little (he's 64 now).  The dog we had in the 1970s totally destroyed the doll but didn't hurt the suit.  I'm not sure why I am keeping this other than for nostalgic reasons.

Finish # 3 for December 2025

This quilt with Kaffe collective fabrics was finished on Wednesday.  It is 52.5" x 74".  It has 80/20 batting in it and it was quilted by Robin Diaz.  It is a nice throw quilt size.

The back is three strips of Kaffe collective fabric, leftovers from making backings for other quilts.

I treated myself to a fat quarter pack of Tim Holtz neutrals and 2 half yards.  I think I'll look through my Stonehenge fabrics to pair with them in a 16 patch quilt.  Or maybe a quilt of all triangles.  Or maybe Sawtooth stars and 16 patches.

I quilted my Christmas table runner last night with gold metallic thread.  You never know if it will be a good day with metallic thread so ditch quilting was best in case I had trouble.  I changed to a topstitch needle with a big eye to give it a chance to work well.  It did break 4 times but not until I was almost to the end.  I'll get it trimmed today ad cut the binding.

 

Finishes..............

Since this quilt is made with Kaffe collective fabrics, that is where I looked for the binding choice.  This one is a Brandon Mably design.

There are 3 fabrics for the backing, all leftover strips from previous quilt backs.  This is the second quilt recently that has used those strips as backs so the pile of them is getting smaller.

I'll get this quilt photographed today and share the details tomorrow.

The repairman yesterday confirmed that it is probably the igniter on the oven but he didn't have the right model with him so the part is being ordered.  The dryer was a little more complicated because the bearings were burnt out and wheels flattened so there will be lots of parts in its repair next Monday.

I photographed the Interweave blue batik quilt yesterday morning.  This post shows the beginning of this quilt and the pattern.  I didn't follow the pattern, just the general idea.  It is 54.25" x 74.25".  There are 5 different batiks for the binding.  It has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it and was quilted by Robin Diaz.

The back is 2 batiks, one the full width of the fabric (light one) and a leftover strip (dark) from another batik quilt back added to make it wide enough.

 

Quilts back..........................

I got 2 quilts back from my longarm quilter and got them both trimmed and binding cut for both of them.  The blue Interweave binding was done all by machine.  I think its future owner will probably be someone who has no idea that some people hand finish their bindings.  I still hand finish my special favorite quilts.  This one has 2 fabrics on the back and they both show in this photo.  The widest piece is the light fabric showing at the top right in this photo.  The binding is 5 different blue batik strips out of my supply of strips.

I finished sewing the 22 Christmas fabric 1.5" strips into a strata.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet.  I got my Christmas table runner prepared for quilting.

The repair person for my oven and my dryer is coming today around 11.  I'm hoping it is just the igniter for the oven.  The person I talked to for the appointment was surprised it has never been replaced in the 21 1/2 years I have been using the oven.  I think the drum is just off balance somehow in the dryer.  Otherwise it is working fine.  It is 41 years old, Maytag of course. 

Miscellaneous..................

Yesterday's food projects were fudge and pink Spritz cookies.  I forgot to take a photo of the cookies.

I chose the backing (the light print) and the binding (red print) to finish the Christmas table runner.  I also found a piece of batting the exact size I needed.  Maybe I'll get it layered and quilted today.

In the box with the squares (that were used for the table runner) was a group of 1.5" strips.  I don't remember cutting them so maybe they were cut to use up the ends of some of the Christmas fabrics.  I'm sewing 22 of them together and will cross cut the strata and create some kind of a design for a table mat.  The pile at the left is waiting to be sewn on.