Sewing pieces and parts.....................

When I cut the triangles for the Hole in the Barn Door/Churn Dash quilt I cut extras.  I sewed 98 of the squares last night.  I'll be playing with them on the design wall soon.

There were also some strips left that I didn't need for the border on that quilt so I sewed the last 5 strip sets.

I don' t know where I will go with these parts, it was just mindless sewing while I caught up with 3 TV shows I missed last week.

There were 12 tornados in IL Friday night but none in my immediate area.  60 miles west a roof collapsed at a concert hall during a concert and 35 miles northeast there was another that damaged houses and trees.  More possible severe weather coming Tuesday night.

March 2023 monthly recap...........

Two finishes in March, one older one and one new this year.  The Hexagon Stars quilt top was made in 2016 and is 57" x 72".  Yay, it is a finished quilt now!  The green and yellow quilt top was made in January this year and is now a finish measuring 50" x 70".

All three quilt tops made in March required borders.  That always slows me down a little.  The Australian fabric 16 patch top is 61.5" x 77.5".  The Australian fabric Hole in the Barn Door/Churn Dash top is 57" x 81".  The Scrappy Batik Bear Paw quilt top is 71.5" x 85".

I thought I should make 2 collages of all of the quilts I have made with Australian fabrics so far.  These 3 are all finished quilts and I sold the one in the center.

These 3 are all quilt tops and I sold the one on the right.  I have pieces for one or two more quilts cut.  The pieces may all make it into one quilt, just not sure at this point.  I would like to do a half hexagon quilt with the fabrics too.  The scrap bin is getting full and I still have two 12" high stacks of the yardage.  Maybe I should make a quilt of all 8" or 9.5" squares.

We had some wild weather going through our area last night.  I was without power for a little over an hour and I spent a couple hours in the basement while we had tornado warnings but I didn't hear any thumps on the house.  I write this around midnight so I'll check out things in the daylight today.  I'm sure the news programs will show us any damage in our area.

Another border......

I had to finally make the decision how to cut this large print for the border of the Australian fabric 16 patch quilt top.  I decided on matching borders for the 2 long sides and liked it and did the 2 end borders the same way.  I like the way the border just blends into the 16 patch center.  61.5" x 77.5".

 This closer view shows the variety of colors in the border fabric.

Border, finally............

I put off cutting the border as long as I could.  After all, the end of the month is coming and you know I want to finish as many as possible.  This quilt top is 71.5" x 85".  The border is the leftover long strip from another quilt's backing and I was able to cut four 5.5" wide strips from it.

I took a couple close up shots so you can see how pretty the border fabric is.

The border is one of the prettiest  mottled batiks, almost a tie die type pattern included in it.

I have one more top that needs its border, the Australian fabric 16 patch.  I just have to decide how to cut the large print shown on this post, the fabric on the right.

I got a backing and batting for another quilt loaded on the longarm....not sure if I can get that one done too by midnight March 31.

 

Finished!........

The binding is done!  Yay!  This beauty is about  57" x 72".  I cut the pieces with my hexagon, half hexagon, and equilateral triangle dies with 4" sides.  A lot of time was spent designing this on the design walls starting March 21, 2016. (Archive on right side bar.)

I used Hobbs 80/20 batting, gold variegated YLI cotton thread on top, Superior Bottom Line thread in the bobbin.  The backing is a Liberty print colored by Kaffe Fassett.

The fabrics on the front are Kaffe Fassett collective and Martha Negley prints.

3 corners............

A lot of time was spent hand stitching yesterday.  I'm proving I have made it around 3 corners with just one long side to go.

The photo is too light but I couldn't get it to adjust any darker.  I'm trying to show here that there is purple in the backing fabric too so the binding is great on both sides of the quilt.

How about one more photo of the pretty cactus bloom.  

Sunny day yesterday and we did make it up to 50, almost to our normal high for this date.

 

Binding...............

 The binding I chose is an early Kaffe fabric from 2001....just think, 22 years old.  I snagged several yards of it from an ebay seller about 12 years ago.

I got one short side hand sewn and about 35" down a long side.  That amounts to about one fourth done.

My one lonely champagne color bud finally opened yesterday.  I have one orange and 3 red blooms ready to open on other cacti.  I sometimes have blooms all the way to the end of April so I'm still hopeful.

One photo just isn't enough so here is a closer shot from a slightly different angle.

Outside I have Sedums coming up in 3 gardens.  I'm hoping for a warm day with no rain this week so I can go out and break off last year's flower stalks.