Looks better sewn together......................

A quilt top always looks so much better than just blocks on the design wall.  I love the rich colors in this one.  I think it would look great thrown over a leather chair in a wood paneled library.

It would have looked a little better with one more row in length for a better rectangular shape, but I was done working on it.  It is 64" x 72", a nice throw quilt size.

How did I choose the fabrics for this quilt?  I was looking for some no-brainer sewing so I opened 2 boxes full of 2.5" strips.  There wasn't a great variety because this was what was left from 5 drawers of strips cut over a 15-20 year span.  As I looked through the strips, the ones that were green with orange/rust in them inspired me and I paired them with dark brown or black strips.  Eventually I had to go to yardage to cut strips in specific colors/values.  This is the way I usually work.  I rarely choose all of the fabrics for a quilt first, but instead just keep choosing fabrics to add as I realize what I am making.

In this case I started out thinking I was going to make a traditional 16 patch quilt and then veered off with the idea to make "the other 16 patch", the one with rectangles instead of squares.

Final layout...................

This is not a great photo but it is my working photo in case anything gets mixed up during sewing.  It looks a lot different in person so I hope I can get a good photo when it is all sewn together.  I was lazy last night and just did clean up in my computer folders instead of sewing.

In the morning a friend came over to get the big rocks along the path in my back garden.  They are a tripping hazard for me now so they need to go.  She got quite a few for the first load and will come back a couple times to get some more.  I hauled all of the pots of dirt that didn't have anything currently growing in them to fill the spots where the rocks came out.  I have almost all of the peonies cut down now. 

First layout................

All 32 blocks are sewn and pressed now.  This last group of 4 will add more color to the group.

Last night's layout. There is one block I want to exchange with another but I haven't made the decision which one yet.  I thought I would wait until this morning to look at it again.

These are definitely the colors of the outside in my town.  Still lots of green but more colorful trees every day.

 

Prepping time......................

I continued cutting batting and backing for quilts that I will do the quilting on.  I think this might be the first time I have used a non-Kaffe fabric as backing on a Kaffe quilt.  The top is 48" wide which would have meant piecing a back.  I had this 58" wide fabric that looks great with it so no piecing required.

I was able to get both battings from one width of batting off the roll.  I decided on a large print floral for the back of this small quilt.

Next I searched through my batik stash for the last 8 fabric I needed for the current quilt.

I got the strip sets sewn last night but didn't turn on the iron.  I'll do that today and get the last 8 blocks pieced.

Carol C, you are a no reply commenter (your email is not enabled in your Google profile) and you asked for key words to search for posts where I have made quilts like this one.  I call this one "the other 16 patch" because the traditional 16 patch is all squares and this one has rectangles.  So the way to search is enter other 16 patch into the search box at the top left of this blog post.  If you read on a smartphone you have to go the the bottom of the post and click on view web version to find the search box.  It is tiny and is at the top left above my header photo.  This will take you to all of the posts for all of the quilts I have made with this block.

A little progress................

Four more strip sets are ready to be pressed and then made into blocks.  This is my favorite of the 4.

I added the other 4 blocks of the original 24 to the design wall.  I need to take this to the basement for a larger design wall before I add any more blocks.

This one that might look like pink on your monitor is actually a coral color and goes well with the other orangey/rusty spots in other blocks.

I got one more batting cut and a backing pieced so my longarm quilter can pick up 2 to be quilted.

 

Testing..................

This is 18 of 24 blocks that are sewn so far.  I just had to see them on the design wall and confirm that I want the blocks to run horizontal instead of vertical.

I have strips chosen for 4 more blocks.  I need at least 32 blocks so I need to choose 4 more pairs.

I covered a few of my tomato plants last night, hoping they will make it through the freeze.

 

One more step.................

All 24 strip sets are at this stage now, ready to cut into 2 strips of rectangles.  I need to find 16 more fabrics for 8 more pairs.  I'm trying to decide whether to repeat some of the fabrics.

The new NCIS shows were on last night so I had 3 hours to sew.

One of my white cacti has 2 buds on it.  This is the time of year that the first buds form.  I need to get busy and repot a couple of them.  This morning I have my wound check from pacemaker surgery and then I can get busy on some projects.  I need to cut another batting and make another backing.