Half sewn.................

Two sections of 7 columns are sewn together now and that is half of the quilt top.  I unpicked the rest of the cut loops, and now I need to cut loops from the next strata.

I was in the basement doing a load of laundry and decided I should check the top shelf in the bathroom to see if I had any other older irons I can use.  Surprise!!  There was a new iron in a box.  I think I must have used my expiring Kohl's cash for it when there wasn't anything else I needed.  I'm guessing it has been on that shelf over a year.

I mentioned the new pots in my back garden line up and here they are.  Starting at the far right there are 2 black containers that I planted cucumber seeds in.  The square pot between them is a tomato plant.  Next left from the middle black container is the new tomato plant with 10 tomatoes on it.  The next photo will show the whole line up.

Starting at the far left is the dilapidated raised bed with 3 tomato plants + 3 tiny volunteers from last year's tomatoes.  Next are the 4 big pots with tomato plants.  Continuing on are the pots shown in the photo above.  My neighbor who mows my grass should be able to get fairly close to the pots and I'll just keep hand cutting whatever grows close to the pots and between them.  My son came over with his weed whacker last Saturday and cleaned up the area pretty well.

Rain was predicted for yesterday but we only got a trace, barely enough to wet the bottom of the rain gauge.  Once again, areas around us got a half inch or more.  More rain is predicted for 3 or 4 days so I hope some of it materializes.  In the middle of next week they are predicting three 90 degree days.  I'm not ready for that.

TAW progress and nature walk................

I had 2 choices: move all of the pieces farther to the left on this design wall, or start unpicking bottom half pieces.  I will be sewing the top and bottom half of each strip together and then start sewing them into sections of 7 long strips.  I can then just hang the sections farther left on the wall to make space to do the rest of the unpicking.

Now lots of the Evening Primrose plants are blooming.  They look great mixed in with the Hosta plants.

In another flower bed they are blooming near the first Stella D'oro Lily.  There should be more lily blooms if we get the rain that is predicted.  We are headed back into a drought with very little rain since the end of April.

The Petunias in the porch pots are filling out.  The self watering pots are working out pretty well.  I got 2 new little Begonia plants for 2 of the pots on the bottom shelf and got them planted yesterday.

When I was shopping for the little Begonias, I saw this tomato plant with 10 tomatoes on it and it was half price.  It had to come home with me.  I had just given away the last 4 extra tomato plants because I didn't have room for them. but...I made room for this one.

This was one of the special brand plants so half price was a deal.  I know the friends I gave 2  of the plants to read my blog, so they should get a chuckle out of this.

While I was at it I added 2 more pots to plant cucumber seeds in.  I'll have to get a photo of my garden row soon.

I planted the two red pots yesterday.  One has Coleus and the other has 3 different plants.  The pot in front with Coleus was a gift from the same friends I gave the 2 tomato plants too.  Coleus plants grow pretty fast so they should be filled in and growing taller soon.

Unpicking.......................

I cut one strata of the William Morris Trip Around the World project and got 16 loops.  I need 14 to have one complete sequence (because I have 14 fabrics).  I unpicked a different seam on each loop to see what one quarter plus center row at right and bottom will look like.

As I explained in my tutorial last week (label is Trip Around the World tutorial on my label list and also at the bottom of this post), I could now move strips from the left one at a time to see what each fabric looks like at the center (bottom right corner).  In this photo I have moved 3 strips and already I know this is what I want.  There are 2 things to consider here, the center and the breakpoint - the fabric that will make the complete diamond touching at the center of all 4 sides.  I like a larger print for the breakpoint.

I took the remaining 2 loops and pinned them to the wall to show the center better.  I sewed the last seam in the other three stratas and after pressing I will be cutting loops from them.

 

One off the wall, another up......................

I needed one last photo of this group of blocks because I needed to take them off the design wall.  I can continue to cut more squares and when I have enough, I will put all of them up on the design wall again, and then it can be sewn.

I got the seam sewn in a backing for a flannel quilt and got the fold line and seam pressed.  Then I had 3 errands to take care of.

I took the 4 stratas for the William Morris Trip Around the World to my ironing table (30" x 60") in the basement and started the pressing sequence.  In the middle of the second strata, my iron died.  I bought that iron at least 15 years ago.  When I was teaching quilt classes in my home, I had 2 irons in the basement and one in my main floor studio.  I never cared for this particular iron but I started using it again about 11 years ago.  I use steam and this iron has always been a good steamer and has never leaked.  I have a fairly new iron to use now and it has to be coaxed to steam.

I flipped the above photo to make a point about the order of the fabrics.  In a TAW quilt I tend to like the fabrics to blend up from light to dark as in this photo rather than blending down as in the above photo.  This is a decision I make before I start unpicking a seam in the loops.  I have the seam sewn in one strata so I'll be cutting loops and unpicking today.

Out in the garden................

This is the view of my front garden, viewed from the porch.  You can't even see the pavers that divide the areas.  There are Black-eyed Susans growing in the crack between 2 pavers for most of the width of the garden as well as a couple Coral Bells at one end.  There are many of the Susans coming up in other areas too.  If I don't clean it up, it is going to be a mass of blooms.

The first Evening Primrose blooms are in the back garden.  The original plant came from my mother-in-law's house back in the 1980's.  They spread easily so I have patches of them here and there.

These remind me of the buttercups I used to pick when I was a little girl.

At the beginning of May I bought one pot with two Cucumber plants in it.  I got it planted in a big pot when I was planting tomatoes.  The 2 plants are looking pretty good so far.

I was out close to sunset last night to talk to my tomato plants and encourage some fruit on them.  This branch of the Weigela bush is near the raised bed.

I did my grocery shopping yesterday and today I hope to be sewing. 

May 2026 monthly recap...........................

There was one finish early in the month of May.  I used strips that were cut many years ago to make the Double 4 Patch blocks and many orphan blocks in brown/beige/gold joined them for a nice throw quilt.  It is 63" x 70".

I completed 2 quilt tops in May.  The Kaffe Medallion has been a slow project for several months, and when I finally decided it didn't want any more borders, it was done.  It is a wall hanging and measures 48" x 53".  When I get to the edge finish, I'm planning on doing a facing instead of binding.  The small still life top is not in proportion to the Kaffe top.  It is only 1/4 as tall as the medallion top but I left it larger for this collage.  It's only 10" x 13".

So what else did I do in May?  I had company staying with me for 8 days and then planted my tomato plants, 3 to the raised bed and 5 in pots.

I also planted all of my new porch pots.  They are starting to fill out.  I think I lost at least one little Begonia on the bottom shelf so I might be out looking for a new one or two.

I also wrote a 4 part tutorial for Trip Around the World.  During the time I was composing that I got steroid shots in my SI joints and am finally getting relief from my pain that started 10 months ago.  I'm just hoping that the relief lasts a long time.

And lastly, I knitted three dishcloths, the best stress reliever, the most calming thing I do all month.

Trip Around the World tutorial 4....................

 As you read the following paragraph, you may start wondering what you are going to do with the piece you just removed from a loop.  It is just a scrap to be used in another project, or it can be used to create a full sequence of the fabrics into a strip to be used on the back or to replace a problem unpicked loop.  Now that you don't need to worry about that, here are the final directions for the Trip Around the World quilt.

For the bottom half of the quilt, you don’t want duplicate pieces at the center of the quilt (the horizontal center row).  Look at the bottom color of the first, left hand strip.  Unpick this color totally out of one tube segment.  This has created a strip for the bottom half of the first row which you now sew to the top half strip with the fabrics in mirror image and re-hang it on the design wall.  Do this for all strips.

In this post, 4th photo, shows where to unpick.

This post shows progress unpicking bottom half strips.

Here is another post with all loops unpicked and top partially sewn.

One more partially unpicked bottom half.

When all of the top half and bottom half of strips are sewn together you will now sew seams from top to bottom to complete your top.  Take your time and make the intersections match.  If you followed the pressing technique, seams should be going opposite directions at every intersection.  Ease or stretch as necessary to make them match.  You may want to sew groups of 5 -10 long columns together several times and then join them to have less bulk at once at your machine.  All seams are now pressed one direction across the quilt.  Staystitch outside edge before adding border.

The only thing I didn't explain in this tutorial is how to choose the fabrics, and what order to put them in.  I will probably have a post called Trip Around the World tutorial 1 A.  I think I will be able to make it post in order between 1 and 2 or before 1.

I'm happy to answer emails with questions you might have.  My email address is on the right sidebar.