Trial colorwash...........................

By doing a trial layout of the 1.5" squares I can judge whether I have enough of each color cut.  I knew there weren't enough in the red before I started.  This layout is 11 x 11 and I wanted 12 x 12.

I analyzed where the problems were and moved the left and bottom rows out.  Then I started playing with a rearrangement.  I will cut reds today and figure out what else I need.

I spent over an hour outside yesterday breaking off all of the dead coneflower stalks and other stalks that were littering the back garden.  I also realized I hadn't trimmed the Annabelle Hydrangea in front of the house last fall.  it got up to 82.  We have had the most 80+ days for the beginning of a year up to this date in Chicago's history of weather records.  The closest contender was 2012 which had one of the hottest and driest summers in the records.  I hate to think we are headed for one of those again.

One decision made................

After a little prodding by a friend I realized I didn't want to find separator strips like I used on the original quilt I made 10 years ago.  Last night I sewed the three sections together.  After trimming the side points it will be about 46" x 62".  I'm thinking about adding a border, but we shall see how long that takes.

 I also cut 1.5" purple squares yesterday and added them to the few that were cut previously.  

It was warm enough to open all of the windows yesterday and low humidity.  We had a 1 minute thunder and rain drops in the middle of the afternoon, and then it was sunny again.

Not much inspiration............

I put this medallion piece back up on the design wall and tried a few pieces for continuing borders, trying to figure out if it needs medium or dark or bright fabric.  I have a box full of 4" Broken Dishes blocks that might get used for a border.

I also have the other Maria Derse tall triangles quit top in progress that needs a decision on the insert strip fabric.  I think this one will come down and that one will go up on the wall.

I cut 20+ more green fabrics in 1.5" squares but I see I need more mediums.  I'll look for those today as well as purples.

I got a new color of yarn for dishcloths.  It's a little more toward turquoise than others I have used.

We got up to mid 50s yesterday and now they say high 70s for today.  They originally said we would have 4 dry days but now there is rain in the forecast again a couple times.

  

 

Slow day................

I didn't have anything lined up to sew, so I sorted the 1.5" batik squares by color and value so I could check on my inventory.  Red, orange and yellow filled one tray.

Another tray was all blue and turquoise, and it looks like it is mostly turquoise.

This assortment was pulled from one box of batik scraps to do more cutting today.

Here are the remaining squares waiting to be sorted.  It looks like I need to cut some more purple and green.

It was chilly and breezy yesterday so I spent the day inside relaxing.  The overnight into this morning was predicted to get down to the high 20s.  Later this week we will be in high 60s and 70s for a few days.

 

Doing some cutting..................

A lot of small pieces of batik fabric are now cut into 2" squares.  Most of these are from previous cutting sessions but new ones were added.

I also added to the 1.5" squares.  I made a lot of 9 patches from this collection over a year ago.  I mostly used the ones that aren't good for colorwash.  I will continue with some cutting while I make decisions on some other projects in progress.

We got 3/4" of rain from the storm Friday night.  My rain gauge collections for the month total 4.25".  Now we have a few dry days in a row, although some of them will be in the 40s and low 50s.

 

Finish # 2 for April 2026.................

This quilt wasn't even on the radar for this year.  When I discovered the drawer with 2.5" and 4.5" strips (cut many years ago), I started sorting them and realized I had almost enough in these 2 colors for a quilt.  I think I cut a few new strips to get to a nice number of blocks.

The backing is one of my favorite purple batiks, and I must have gotten it on sale because I had 5 yards of it.  The binding is a purple batik irregular stripe.  It has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it and was longarm quilted by Robin Diaz.  It is 55" x 78.5".

It was a beautiful day yesterday, sunny and nice blue sky.  The Redbuds are fully blooming ahead of schedule because of so many 80 degrees days in a row.  I expect to see a lot of petals on the ground this morning because we were in a severe storm area for several hours last night starting a little after 7.  Regular programs were stopped and weather people were on the air for over 3 1/2 hours because there were several tornado watches and warnings.  I'll have to catch the shows I normally watch on one of my streaming channels.

Violets are plentiful in the grass this year.  They have been in my backyard for many years so I was surprised how many of the white ones showed up in my front garden this year.  Last year it was a Lungwort that mysteriously showed up in the front, now this year it is violets.  Once again, my nature photo matches the quilt in the post.

Purple/green Double 4 Patch.................

While in the basement doing laundry I trimmed the purple and green batik Double 4 Patch quilt.  I searched for a binding and cut the 7 strips I needed.

I chose the binding that looked best with the backing fabric since there were many shades of purple on the front and fewer in this batik fabric.

Machine finishing the binding was my choice for this quilt.  I have 19 needle positions on my Pfaff so I moved the needle 2 to the right and I lead the folded edge of the binding through the center opening of the presser foot.  I usually change to a 3 length for the topstitching.

And....it was finished at 10:45 last night.  Photos today.