Not much...................

Some cutting was done in the morning to prepare for evening sewing.  Then at night it started thundering as another storm rolled through so I unplugged  my machine.  I did get the stripe triangles sewn on the last 4 nine patches.  At the left are the 2 new colors of floral triangles to surround all of the rest of the blocks.  Once they are all done I need to made the decision of the layout and size of quilt.

It was dark and dreary for much of the day with one rainstorm earlier in the afternoon.

Even my choice of yarn for a dishcloth is dark and dreary.  I think I need to start a second one in brighter colors.

Storms are predicted to continue through Sunday and then finally a dry day on Monday.  Chicago weather records have been broken again.  This is the wettest summer in the history of the records and summer isn't over yet.  Those of us in the farmland 60 miles west of Chicago have been in the abnormally dry or drought for 3 years and I think we're back to normal now.

 

Still thinking...................

 As I navigated the day's adventures, I was continually thinking about the project.  I have mentioned more than once that I have a short attention span, which means I get bored if I work too long on something.  So here is where I am now: top left is 20 finished 6" blocks, all pressed, top right 12 more finished blocks not pressed, bottom left 4 more waiting for floral corners (need to cut more) and 4 nine patches that I may or may not use in this project.

Here are my options.  If I used sashing with the 36 blocks I could make a baby quilt 42" square.  If I use alternate squares I'll have 72 blocks. 8 rows x 9 rows would not be a good proportion of a rectangular quilt at 48" x 54".  If I used 63 of the blocks (7 x 9) it would be 42" x 54".  If I use the extra 4 nine patches I would have 80 blocks, 48" x 60".  Since so many of my fabric options would work, I think the final decision will come down to what size I want the quilt to finish.

Now, how yesterday went.  We had a big severe storm going through around 9 a.m. and when I heard the weather person mention the next town over for radar detected rotation that could turn into a tornado, I headed for the basement.  Luckily it didn't turn into one and continued on its way.  We got 1.1" of rain, added to .75" a day and a half earlier.  More storms predicted for the next few days as we are in the "ring of fire" which sets up north of a heat dome and south of a cold front.

My longarm quilter came an hour later than we originally planned.  I did some more sorting and organizing in the basement and then sewed the floral triangles on the 12 blocks.

That was fun!.........................

Thanks to everyone who chimed in with an opinion on the auditioning yesterday  I especially enjoyed reading the explanations why the commenter liked the fabric.  Every fabric got some votes with the random line fabric getting the most.  I think it was pretty evenly divided between sashing and alternate blocks.  I didn't make any decision yet and just finished sewing round one on 8 more blocks last night.  One of the biggest surprises to me in my choices was the first one, the dotted ombre fabric.  Even if I don't use that in this quilt, I can see its possibilities now, especially using the darker edge as the border.  Who knows, it might end up on this quilt!  I need to press all of these centers and then sew on the floral corner triangles today.

This might be easier to look at than the first photo.

I already had plans to work on an area in the basement yesterday, you know I love cleaning.....  I have about 3/4 of it organized but still have some sorting to do.

I got the long seams sewn on the 2 backings and will meet with my longarm quilter today.  I hope it won't be raining when she comes.  The severe storm missed us yesterday by a few miles but we got 3/4" of much needed rain.  The overnight storm has a large hail prediction and I hope that missed us too (written at 11:30 last night).

One thing I have a hard time pitching is the old Hancock's catalogs that I have covering 2008 to early 2018.  They are really the history of what was available every year in that time period.  I'm usually trying to date an older fabric and especially the Kaffe Fassett collective fabrics. 

This is one two page spread of Kaffe Collective in the earliest 2008 catalog.  I plan on looking through all of them, little by little, to refresh my memory on some of the fabric lines. 

Sewing and auditioning................

I cut some more 3" triangles and sewed the floral triangles onto a few blocks and cut more quarter square triangles.  I got some of them sewn on but a few more to go.

Now the auditioning.  I was looking through my stash for white with black dots.  I have several yards of this one. This is the 22" width of it as it is folded like it comes off the bolt.  I have plenty to just cut the center lightest area for sashing strips.  Maybe the darker area could be used as borders.

I found a half yard of this multi-size dots on white.

I have a couple yards of this one with random lines.

I also tried that one for alternate blocks.

Then of course I had to try it with a zebra print.

Any opinions?

 

Sunday's progress...............

The first thing I did was assemble some more little 3" nine patches.  This is going to be a small project so I wanted to have at least 36 blocks to work with.

Nest I pressed the 9 patches that had the quarter square triangles sewn on and then I added 3" corners to 12 of the blocks.  As I work on this I'm realizing one block close up is really cute.  Several blocks at a distance look like gray instead of black (charcoal) and white stripe.  Seeing the blocks edge to edge is not great.

They are much better with space between them so sashing is definitely needed.  I haven't tried anything yet but I'm thinking white with small black dots might be nice.  I have lots of white with black prints to choose from so I'll be looking at them today.

Once again, all of the rain during the daytime hours missed my house.  I'm wondering if other parts of town got any rain.  A big storm was brewing at 10:30 last night and we finally we got some rain.  I'll check the rain gauges this morning.

Florals and stripes...........

The more I looked at the 9 patches with the stripes, the better I liked it so I went ahead and started sewing the quarter square triangles on.

Then I went down to the basement and looked for candidates for the 3" half square triangles.  I am checking here to see if they will all work.  I think the lightest ones on the top row may not have enough contrast.

I cut lots of the quarter square triangles and some of the floral half square triangles.  I finished the first 3 blocks and have 17 more blocks started.  After I press them and get some floral corners sewn on I will play with layout and see if I need sashing strips or another fabric cut in 6.5" squares to alternate with these blocks. 

First quilt top for August 2026................

I finished sewing and pressing this top by early afternoon yesterday.  As a comparison with the pattern photo, I'm not completely happy with my fabric selection.  Not comparing, it's OK.  I wish I could have found a lighter orange fabric for next to the yellows.  It is 60.5" x 81".

I knew I had some 6.5" squares of floral prints left from a previous quilt that I could use for a mock-up.  I cut one strip of quarter square triangles and laid them on the floral square and then laid the 9 patches on top of them.  This is the idea I had in mind when I found that charcoal and white stripe fabric.  I did like it with the stripe as as the alternating squares with the 9 patches on yesterday's post too.  I'll have to think about this one for a few days.