Second quilt finish for March 2026..............

This one has just been called Kaffe Strippy 2 since I started working on it.  You can see Kaffe Strippy 1 here.  I need to make a collage of them side by side since the strips run in opposite directions on the 2 quilts.

This one is 47.5" x 71".  It has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it and it was longarm quilted by Robin Diaz.

The backing is leftover strips from other backings.  I was so happy to find three that looked nice together.

The binding is a zigzag print that worked well with both sides of the quilt.

Neither of the Strippy quilts were planned.  I was merely trying to use up 1.5"and 2.5" strips that were cut many years ago.  I might have cut a few new strips so I would have enough blocks to make a nice size quilt.

All of the strips are Kaffe collective fabrics, that is Kaffe Fassett, Philip Jacobs and Brandon Mably.

Yesterday we got up to 71 degrees and broke the previous record in Chicago.  Today severe storms are headed this way.  We are in the large hail area, south of us is in the tornado area.  I hope the storms weaken before they get here.

First quilt finish for March 2026.................

Photographing flannel is a little tricky.  It looks blurry but actually is just soft.  The top was made 2 years ago and finally it is a finished quilt.  It is 53" x 70".  It has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it and it was longarm quilted by Robin Diaz.

The backing is a flannel I found on sale.  It is a little heavier than most flannels and it is a yarn dyed woven design, not a print.  One long panel has the stripe running vertical and the remainder was cut into two crosswise strips and sewn end to end to make it wide enough, thus the stripe is running horizonal on that edge.  The binding is a yarn dyed woven flannel stripe.

I had one more quilt needing binding so I chose that yesterday and cut the strips.

Last  night I sewed on the binding and finished it by machine.  I'll do its photo shoot today.

 

Binding finished................

I found a flannel stripe for the binding on this flannel quilt.  I didn't get the binding done until 9:30 last night so I'll do photos today.  I made the quilt top in 2024 but didn't have anything I liked for the back.  I found a good match for it on sale last year and now it is finished this year.

I'm so happy for each and every one of the cacti blooms since there are so few of them in this second blooming time.

This white with pink edging looks mostly pink in the low light in the morning by the west window.

We ended up with another quarter inch of rain so there was 1" total.  We need a lot more than that and there is some more in this week's forecast, but first we will have 2 warm days in the 60s, sunshine predicted.

 

The table runner...............

I knew there were several rust color Nancy Crow fabrics that might work for the binding and this one is the winner.

It took over 2 hours to hand finish the binding last night.  I pieced the Hunter Star blocks in October 2014 and sewed them end to end for this table runner.  I have had the batting cut for it for several years.  Some things just don't take priority and this was one of them.  It is 12" x 35.5".

The backing is the remainder of a fabric I used for a quilt back many years ago.

I mentioned earlier that the pieces were all cut from one Nancy Crow ombre fabric.  Here is a piece in another color range so you can see what I was working with.

We got a little over 3/4" of rain in the daylight hours yesterday.  More rain was supposed to come overnight so I'll check the rain gauge this morning.

Trimming and ditch quilting..................

This quilt came home from the longarmer yesterday and I got it trimmed last night.  I'll choose binding today.

I chose the thread to quilt the Hunter Star table runner.  All of the fabrics in the runner are from one fabric, an ombre print by Nancy Crow.

With two TV shows to watch last night, I finished the ditch quilting on the table runner.  I'll trim it today and choose its binding.

Rain expected today in 2 waves.  I hope we get more than we got 2 days ago which was only a few hundredths of an inch in the rain gauge.

Prepping for quilting.............

It was time to prep two more quilts to be sent out for quilting.  This quilt top is only 53.5" wide so this 58" black and white fabric is sufficient for the back.  It was nice to not have to piece a backing.

I had already searched through the Wishwell Weather Report fabric and found 2 pieces that would work for the back.  The apricot is full width and the green is about 14" wide for this backing.  Batting was cut for both quilts and then I turned on the iron and pressed the 2 backings.

I knew I had already cut the black strips that will border all of the placemats.  It didn't take long to find it and I think I have enough cut for all of the projects.  Now I just need to get busy.

 

First quilt top for March 2026..................

I love it when I can take a bunch of parts laying around and make a quilt top.  For this one I just needed to make 2 more flannel 16 patch blocks.  There was a box of squares and rectangles that make up the scrappy border.  It is 47" x 71.5", close to the 50" x 70" size I like for throw quilts.  Most of these flannels are from the 1990s when the browns were very popular.

I decided to put these blocks and sewn panels up on the design wall.  The last time I had them out was 6 1/2 years ago.  I have totally lost interest in making these into a quilt.  My daughter-in-law wants a table runner the length of her table and I need to measure it to see if a column of this quilt will work.  I can see making placemats out of the loose blocks, 3 to a placemat.  They would end up about 14" x 20".

This is a picture of the pattern.  It was fun making the blocks in 2013 but once the assembly started, I lost interest in it.  I have other things planned, fun things, so I want to salvage these blocks in other projects and move on.

I pulled out a ball of cotton yarn a few days ago and started this dishcloth.  I couldn't tell from looking at the ball what the colors were.  It is a very subtle change between the 4 colors.  This was a newer ball of yarn, and I had been reading the reviews online by previous buyers.  Several of them mentioned the yarn wasn't soft any more.  I had to agree with them on this one, but in reality, a little stiffer yarn is perfect for washing dishes.