Unique batiks............

I bought some unique batiks in the 1990s that make very interesting backings. You can see the look of the large scale stripe backing and the quilt top I'll pair with it. 

It's time to start basting again. I'm excited to finish this one because its a sample for my class. 

It's been almost two years since I've offered my Colorwash class (which is how to master color and value). A lot of you have been asking when it would be offered again...and I'm happy to say, very soon. 

I created a die cut kit...quite a few kits...for students with limited fabric supply. This quilt top is made from one of those kits. I always test the kit to be sure it's sufficient to complete the project. No two Colorwash are alike because it's not a formula quilt, it's a process of intuitive design that I teach. 

The next top I will baste after this one is bigger. It has 31 more pieces, also a class sample and kit. 

We have a waitlist you can get on if you are interested in taking Colorwash 360. 

4 more blocks............

After looking through my pile of Kaffe yarn dyed woven stripes I decided that 2 of my favorites were the ones to add.  I saw this stripe in the Rowan book from 2000 which shows Kaffe's earliest fabrics.  I knew they were the older fabrics because they are woven with a rougher thread.  The bottom one is more red-purple than it looks here.  I then chose the 3 strips that would go with each of the stripes.

Once the blocks were sewn it was design wall time.  In this first layout 4 blocks make an O shape.  There are 12 large blocks made of 4 blocks for this design.

Then I moved the vertical row on the right to the left side to make all X blocks and I like this much better.  There are 2 blocks alike now at the lower left with the row from the right moved over there so I need to move one. 

And then I came up with another idea.  Since every block has all bias edges and these fabrics are very soft maybe I should sew 4 block sections and use some of the shot cotton solids for sashing and a border.  The design wall is showing white between blocks but the shot cottons would be intense colors like the rest of these fabrics.  The straight of grain strips would help control the stretch of the bias in 20" lengths instead of 60" and 80" seams.

Sunday only continued to Monday...........

I didn't want to fold all of the freshly pressed rows and put them into a project box so I continued adding some horizontal strips and finished sewing the rows together.  The wider strips are 2" and the narrower ones are 1".  Now the top is around 56" x 66".  I didn't measure, just calculations from the number of pieces.

Now the only question is whether the border will be scrappy also or all one color.  I have the top hanging on a padded hanger now ready for next Sunday's decision.

For my other project I sewed the last 2 sets of strips that I had chosen and pressed them, cut the triangles and sewed the blocks.  This #6 was the last idea I wanted to try with half of the blocks (one of each combination).  I'm not sure where I would go with this one as I made it into a rectangular shape.

I know that I want to keep this quilt so it has to be sewn with my favorite layout which is #2.  All of the others are so predictable, but also great designs.  I could make this quilt 6 times and use all of the layouts.  #3 had the most votes as favorite (go back to yesterday's post to see the first 5 layouts).  I will have to sew 2 more stratas to get the number of blocks I need.  I have 44 made and I need 48 so it will finish about 60" x 80".  Thanks for all of the input of your ideas and votes.  About half of you are no reply bloggers so I couldn't thank you personally so here is a group thank you.

 

Sunday only project...............

I got busy early and decided on a layout for this project. For anybody new wondering what is a Sunday only project, it is one I pull out to work on only on Sundays.  It went back in a box each Monday morning to be brought out again the next Sunday.  In this photo I have sewn all of the horizontal rows.  There were 3 blocks with 8 triangle strips and one block with 4 strips in each horizontal row.  Since it is only 2" off of square I need to add something to make it more rectangular.

This is one idea I am considering.  I just grabbed some strips that were on a shelf and put them in for a visual.  This project is mostly Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics and the rest is batik and yarn dyed woven plaids.

I decided to add the photo of the antique inspiration quilt.  I think I will add a border all around mine too to contain the chaos.

I came up with a couple more layouts for the other project so I made collages.  Click on photos to enlarge them.  This is layout 1 and layout 2.

Here are layouts 3, 4, and 5.  This is just a small portion of the blocks that will be in the quilt.  Layout 1 is out of the running, the other 4 would all make nice quilts.  Layout 4 could have ths zigzags running horizontal or vertical.  Layout 5 would have a mirror image of zig zags at the bottom with the squares across the center of the quilt.  I think there is one more layout that I might like but my design wall isn't free right now so I couldn't try it.

3 layouts to choose from................

I got more of the stratas cut into triangles but still have 5 more to cut and 2 more to sew into stratas.  Since there are 2 blocks of each combination I could try 2 layouts.  This is layout one and two.  Number one is like the photo on the Tapas pattern.

This is layouts one and three.  Both of these will take time to match the ends of the strips because they meet from block to block on both of them.  Layout 2 would be a simple one to sew.  Indecision could stall this project.  As much as I liked the photo on the Tapas pattern, I think layout 2 or 3 will be the one I sew.

Sewing stratas............

This is 3 and a half hours of sewing.  I have 4 more sets lined up to sew and then I'll press them and cut the triangles. 

I'm down to my last 2 tomatoes from all of the green ones I brought in before the first hard freeze.  I gave a container of them to my neighbor and another to my son about a week ago because they were all ripening at once.

I found some really good Romaine lettuce on my grocery run earlier in the week so this has been my lunch 3 days in a row.

The orange cactus is in full bloom.  A lot of the others have finished their first round of blooming.  The red one is the only other one with fresh blooms right now.

Last night it was 50 degrees, today is going to struggle to get out of the 20s.  Sounds like good weather for quilting.

November 2022 monthly recap..............

 

Two finishes for November and again one just squeaking in before midnight of the last day of the month.  The mottled batik 16 patch quilt is 55.5" x 71", a nice throw quilt size.  The Sunshine and Blackbirds is 36" x 45.5", a crazy pieced wall hanging made of all batik fabrics.

Thanks to one simple, less than 24 hour quilt top, I finished 3 tops, all with Kaffe Fassett yarn dyed woven stripes and one with his shot cottons added.  The Other 16 Patch on the left is 63" x 81", the very simple 12 fabric quilt top in the center is 61" x 72.5".  The most complicated top was partially started many years ago and I just continued with the same block and came up with a border that could be pieced right along with the blocks instead of adding long strips at the end.  It is 48.5" x 65".

For closer photos of any of these check back to previous posts in November.