Lots going on................

I started the day by calling the plumber for 2 problems, then went grocery shopping.  When I got home they called and said the plumber would be here in a half hour.  That's amazing...so soon!  He was done in an hour and a half and I have no more leaks.

When I went out to close the garage door, I had to take a photo of the Columbine in the corner of the sidewalk and driveway.

I spent part of the afternoon sewing the long seam in two backings and cutting batting.  The first one is this quilt made with Terrie Mangat fabric.

The second one is a top made with Marcia Derse fabric.  The backing fabric was sent to me by someone who decided she wasn't going to use it.  It was just the perfect amount for the back of this quilt.

This is the front garden and you can't even see the paver path here.  It is 2 pavers wide and there are Black-eyed Susan plants coming up between 2 pavers almost the whole length of the patch.  I know they re-seed, but I didn't expect this many of them.  In the back, the yellow plant is a Coral Bell.

Another Coral Bell is blooming with pretty red flowers.  There haven't been any Tiger Lilies in the front garden for 5 years but there are 3 of them in there now.  Also Violets. They all grow in the gardens behind the house so I'm not sure how they got here.

Meanwhile I have all of these plants in the garage (with lots of windows) waiting to go in the porch pots.  Hopefully I'll get started planting today. 

Nothing..................

We had a funeral last Tuesday and my daughter flew in to attend and stayed a week with me.  She left yesterday just before lunch and then I had company in the early afternoon.  Next a couple errands were taken care of.  I really have nothing to report but have to check in daily anyway.  I showed this photo a few days ago and felt it was worth repeating.  It might make it into its porch pot today. 

Backing and binding chosen.................

 

I didn't even have this top on my list of ones to finish because I thought I was going to add a border.  I made the decision yesterday to just finish it as is.  I chose a gray leaf print for the back and there is a pebble or mosaic type fabric on the left edge that I'm thinking will be the binding.  I need to carefully ditch quilt this one because I don't want quilting all over the top.  This batik top was made 5 years ago using the Hattie's Choice die from Accuquilt.  I have another top that also wasn't on the list and have chosen backing for it too.  I have 4 now lined up to quilt on my Pfaff.  The total number of tops waiting to be quilted is 17 and I'll be sending 2 to my longarm quilter this week.

Thinking ahead......................

I am thinking about making some more of the little still life projects with the 1.5" squares.  I'm wondering if I want to add some triangle squares to add a few angles instead of all square pixels.  It's never a loss to have pieces cut because they can easily make a different project if I don't want them in this project.  Those little stacks are 4 alike of about 12 different fabrics times 6 stacks.  That should give me a good variety to work from.  Do any of you use a program to pixelate a photo?  I did a search and there were so many sites I have never heard of and I was hesitant to open them.

Yesterday morning was spent going through the brown, rust, beige and green batiks and pulling some that I will be cutting this week (squares, triangles and rectangles).  It takes a long time to prep for a project. 

Mother's Day is cooler this year.  Yesterday was very windy so low 70s didn't feel that warm.

More prep work...........................

I have been cutting more 1.5" batik squares since there wasn't a good variety left on the trays.

One of these trays was miscellaneous and the reds aren't spread out on the other tray. I can switch them over to the pink tray and just stack the miscellaneous pieces that rarely get used.

I cut 15 more stacks of 6 layers and each piece yields 4 squares so this pile will be 360 little squares when cut.

It was a beautiful day in the mid 60s yesterday.  My company and I went to my son's house for pizza and saw the 2 smallest great-grandchildren.  I wish I had their energy.

 

Subtle changes depending on lighting..........

 The photo on the left was taken at night with the overhead lighting in my studio with one extra light shining across the bottom of the quilt top.

The one on the right was taken in full daylight from the west and north windows in the morning.  At first glance they don't look a lot different but the one on the right is warmer tones and more like the top actually looks.  If you look at the beige vertical strip that is to the left of the 5 octagon blocks and compare it in both photos, you can see the difference.

The design wall in my main floor studio doesn't allow me enough distance to photograph large quilts so I take them to the basement to a double design wall where I have more room to work in.  It is overhead lighting there too with the extra light shining on the lower edge of the quilts.  Sometimes the color seems true, other times it has a blue (Canon camera) or green (Cellphone) cast which makes the colors look dull.  It's frustrating that I can't get a true representation of the colors with some of the combinations of color that I use.

First quilt top for May 2026

The stripe bottom border was removed and a replacement fabric sewn in.  Then the borders were added and it is finished.  I don't think it needs anything else.  It will be wall art rather than a cuddle quilt.  It is 48" wide and 53" tall.  The light fabrics aren't as bright of a contrast as they look in the photo.

I have company staying with me for a few days and we went plant shopping for my pots.  I didn't remember to get a photo of all of the plants so we brought this one in for a photo shoot.  There was a brisk breeze yesterday and lots of sunshine.