Trimming.....................

 

While doing laundry I trimmed Shock Wave.  This one is big, about 72" x 90" and I will do the binding by machine.  I have enough of the backing fabric to cut binding so maybe I can get this one finished today.

I don't always get a lot of blooms on my cactus plants so I'm really happy this year to have a good show.  The one on the left is the champagne color.

I still wonder if this is the color cactus that is called yellow (even though I call it champagne) or if that is a brighter yellow.  I'm happy I found this one several years ago.

I don't usually get this many blooms all on the same side of the plant.  They are a little neon in this photo but are paler in real life.

The white with pink edging is doing well too.  My other one this color is by the west window.  All of the early bloomers are by the east picture window.

The sky was a strange color late afternoon yesterday.  It had been raining for several hours.  Even with all of the leaves on the ground, the neighbor's tree is still full and pretty.

First finish for November 2026....................

Of the three quilts I made recently in fall colors, this one is my favorite.  Half of the blocks are 9 patches and the other half are split between 2 fabrics cut into 6.5" squares.

The backing is a favorite Bali batik from the 1990s.

The quilt is 58" x 71.5".  It has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it and it was longarm quilted by Robin Diaz.

I had just enough of the binding fabric with only a narrow strip left over.

When you see the blocks closer, you can see how many greens and blues are mixed in with the brown, rust and gold fabrics.

The large print in the center of the quilt is one of my favorites and I had it in 4 colors.  When it was cut into squares there were dark ones and light ones which made the layout challenging.

Yesterday I pulled out the tomato plants and got the cages put away for the winter.  It took over 2 hours because the plants were so large and tangled with each other.  It was the last day in the 60s with rain and dropping temperatures coming.  We will be in the 20s overnight by the end of the week.

I'm glad I picked all of the larger tomatoes last week.  Some of them are already ripening.

 

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

In spite of everything else I did, I finished the binding on the fall color 9 patch quilt.  I'll take it's photo today.

It was errand day, bank, post office, and grocery store.  Lunch was in the afternoon.  Then it was time to pick up the needle.

I sewed some of the 2" finished flannel squares.  I'm pressing the seam open on these.

Also the table runner top of Marcia Derse pinwheels is sewn together now.

I have household things to do today so I don't know how much sewing I'll get to do.

Random things............

I wondered where I had put the 2 batik star blocks with green and gold in them.  While cleaning up in my studio, there they were with some fabrics I had pulled to continue on.  This is the first block.

Here is the second block.  They weren't needed for this quilt.  I still want to make a batik quilt with green and gold/apricot in it  There may be an assortment of different blocks when I do it.  I'm putting them back in the same spot where I found them.

What's on the design wall?  The blocks for the table runner are still waiting to be sewn together.  I took all of the other blocks that were left to see if something could be made with them.

My TV time was split between knitting and hand stitching on the binding of the fall color 9 patch quilt.

I need to get outside and pull out the tomato plants and put away the cages.  I was planning to do it yesterday but didn't get around to it.

 

Prep work...........................

I pressed the huge pile of flannel chunks and started cutting.  This pile is 31 three inch tumblers.  They are joining the 84 that were cut last year.  I need to cut a couple hundred more for a small quilt, or use them in a quilt with lots of different shapes.

I needed a few more dark 2" finished triangles, but in the end I cut lots of both dark and light.

I paired the darks and lights and have enough ready to sew 58 little blocks.  

I could use them to make 8" star blocks, or 4" hourglass blocks.  I also could sew them together into a panel to use in the center of a medallion style quilt.  I have lots more scraps the right size to die cut these triangles.

As soon as the tree across the street loses all of its leaves, this tree 2 houses north turns color.  The shape of both trees is similar but they must be two different varieties.

I had a favorite pale pink cactus and a piece broke off when I bumped into it one day.  I had that piece in a little glass on the kitchen window sill for at least 3 years.  It even bloomed there.  Last year I finally planted it and it seems very happy,  The mother plant was repotted last year too and half of it has died. I'm so happy it's offspring is doing so well.

I got the white with pink edging cactus a couple years ago.  I knew there were several small plants in the pot so I pulled them apart and I have two of them and I shared the others with friends.  

 

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

I finally decided on the group of blocks for the table runner I need to make.

I didn't do much until the middle of the afternoon.  I went out to bring some pots into the house and others into the garage because we're expecting a frost or freeze.  I also picked a few more green tomatoes and filled a birdfeeder.  The Geranium on the front porch table is too heavy for me to lift so I covered it, hoping for the best.

Last night I hand stitched a short side of binding while I watched TV, so I'm halfway done.

Today I need to do some cutting for future projects.

 

Miscellany.....................

This is the group removed from the blue batik shelf that are getting moved to the miscellaneous batik shelf.

Yesterday morning I renewed my driver's license.  I didn't have to drive this time. They finally changed the age from 75 to 87 where you have to drive as part of the test.  We are the ONLY state that has this funny business.  I had to drive the last 3 times to get my license since we only get a 2 year license after 80.  The bottom line, I still have my independence.

Last night I finished one long side of binding on the fall color 9 patch.  I'm not in a hurry to finish this one so maybe it will be done next week.

I remembered to get a daylight photo of the cactus that is blooming.  I the background is a bud on a red one.

Farther down on the same table are these 3 almost ready to bloom.  One is white with pink, one champagne, and one pale pink.

I went through another big bin of flannel and found some interesting things.  The triangles on the left can be cut down into half square triangles, and the one on the right have the grain on the long edge so they will be cut into quarter square triangles.  The other option is to sew them together first and then trim them down to the largest size that I can.

I found a small bag with these 2" finished blocks.  It looks like I ran out of dark triangles so I will cut some more.

I also found more strips in that bin so they are going in the bag of random size strips.

We are expecting a frost 2 nights in a row (Fri. & Sat.) so the last 2 days I have been picking tomatoes.  They range from ping pong ball size to a little larger than a golf ball.  Last year I ate my final ripened tomato the first week of December.  Some of these are starting to turn color already.  There are 4th of July, Early Girl and Rutgers plus the mismarked one that I think is an heirloom tomato. There are lots more of even smaller tomatoes on the plants but I doubt I will pick them.