Choosing neutrals.........

I needed to choose some light neutral fabrics for an upcoming project.  I pulled some old fabrics, some new.  I'm thinking I may use them in the next Fractured quilt too.  I didn't get as far as pressing and cutting but maybe that will happen today.

Last night while watching TV I quilted 11 of the mug rugs.  These 4 are from the left over ends of strata from the 16 patch quilts.  They are still pretty ugly with the batting edge and no binding.  They will be pretty soon.

Cleaning up..........

I wanted to do some major cutting yesterday for the next Fractured quilt but instead I ended up cleaning up the cutting table, doing yard work, and cutting backings for mug rugs.  I now have a large brush pile for the last pickup of the summer and clear paths to the windows that are getting new combination storm/screens.  Maybe today I can get the fabric cut.

Nostalgia...........

Just a little nostalgia today.  These were a couple of the pillows from my daughter's room in the 1970s.  I made dozens of the Holly Hobbie pillows and sold them to an antique store in the Chicago suburbs.  I also did craft shows during the 1970s and 80s. 

 

Thanks everyone for your positive comments yesterday about my "Fractured" quilt.  I didn't answer any comments because it was a family day, the memorial service and burying of my parents' ashes and a long leisurely lunch with family members.  Lots of nostalgia there too.  Wonderful memories were shared by many family members at the service.  The weather was beautiful and it couldn't have been a nicer day.

Fractured, a quilt top.........

The top is finished!  I made it one row smaller all the way around than the one in the book.  I need more lap size quilts, less queen size quilts.  Now I can start my scrappy one.  Click on the Fractured Quilt Along button on my right side bar to see how everyone else is coming along on theirs.

My goal on this piece was to see if red was strong enough to continue the pattern when the gray fabrics ranged all the way from almost white to charcoal gray.  I am going to consider it a success.

Purple.........

I kept noticing how beautiful the asters are while I was mowing and knew I had to share them with you.  These are all volunteers.  I didn't plant them where they are located.

Cutting while watching TV......

The new shows have started on TV so I need to have a project ready each evening while I'm watching them.  Last night was NCIS and NCIS-LA.  I decided to cut some pieces for another project instead using the sewing machine.  I won't be sewing on this one for awhile so I'll stack the pieces in a plastic box. 

This is going to be a busy week with out of town company coming, the burial of my mother and dad's ashes, and some legal loose ends to take care of.  Hopefully I can mow the grass today and clear the last patch of weeds and volunteer trees.

Playing with parts............

 

Last night I played with some of the leftover parts from Fractured.  5 blocks are alike all angle left cuts and 1 block is angle right cuts.  You can see they don't work together unless you want mirror image blocks. I could make 10 pinwheel blocks with the leftover parts.  For now they will just stay on the design wall.

I had 2 people ask me yesterday about rooting the Coleus.  I just cut a piece off with scissors and then put it in plain water.  In about a week I see roots starting.  I think I cut these about 2 weeks ago and there are enough roots to plant them.

I am almost finished with another 2 tone dishcloth.  It is fun pairing up some of the partial balls of yarn and even more fun when they actually look terrific together.

Sewing, reading.............

Yesterday I totally finished 8 of the tote bags for the Presbytery mission project and cut handles for 5 more.  I'll work on them a little this morning and what doesn't get done then will be done at the church sew in this afternoon.

Then I sat down and looked through the latest Kaffe book.  There are several interesting quilts in it. I rarely use the same selection of fabrics that he used if I make one of them but I really enjoy seeing how he uses his fabrics.

It's that time of year again to bring in cuttings of the Coleus.  I'm going to plant them this year after they root.  I have too many varieties to fit on the windowsill all winter.

Outside work......

While I was out running errands yesterday morning the 'produce fairy' came by and left me some bounty on the front porch.

That meant I had to have a BLT for lunch.  It was yummy!

I spent 4 hours outside digging out at least 2 dozen volunteer Rose of Sharon which my son will plant at his house.  I also dug out goldenrod and day lilies and other assorted things.  There is a another pile of volunteer trees I cut for pick up the first of Oct.  I'm getting some more combination storm and screen windows in a couple weeks and I needed to clear the way for a step stool during installation.  I have one more area to clean up today.  Last night I started working on the last batch of tote bags for church sewing circle on Monday.  I got 8 sets of handles made and will work on the other part today.

Third finish in September.......

I got the binding sewn onto this quilt yesterday.  I did it all by machine since it will probably be a baby's quilt.  It is 41" x 48".  I also moved the Fractured blocks to a double design wall and have decided on a final layout.  I made a small version of it because I knew I would get tired of working with just 2 colors - red and gray.  Now I can start on some multicolored blocks.

It was cooler yesterday so I got the lawn mowed.  Now I have to attack all of the weeds along the side of the house while it is still cool.  It will be back in the 80s by Wednesday.

One more row to add.............

I just need to add 6 more blocks on the right and it will be ready to sew together.  I have all of the blocks made (made 8 last night).  I just was too lazy to move it over to a double wall so I could finish the layout.  Click on the Fractured Quilt Along logo on the right side bar to go to Vicki's blog to see how everyone else is doing.

There is another quilt in the book that does a large spiral of pieces laid out like this.  I see they have to be all angled the same direction and I have been cutting mine angled in both directions for the first quilt.

I played around with some other layouts too.    This one would make vertical columns but kind of boring.  The one below is wonky pinwheels, REALLY WONKY pinwheels, hardly recognizable.  Again I think they need to be all cut at the same angle and I have them cut both ways.

Another finish........

The Warm/Cool Zig Zag is finished.  I used the quilt top as a sample a year ago when I gave my color classes.  It is an example of contrast achieved by alternating warm colors and cool colors instead of darks and lights.  I would consider most of the fabrics as medium values with just a few dark prints thrown in.  It ended up at 58.5" x 69".

I should probably take a photo like this of every finished quilt so I will remember what the backing fabric is.

Today it is supposed to get up near 90 degrees again after a cool spell with nights in the 40s.  I will be inside working on my Fractured blocks so I won't mind it.

African quilt top, a little quilting..........

I finally sewed the wallhanging size African fabric top.  It is about 40" square and I'll probably ditch quilt both directions on this one.  More black thread in free motion would just make it darker and it doesn't need that.

This is the group of 16 blocks that are left over.  I see the second one in the bottom row is turned wrong.  I haven't decided whether to sew it or just save the blocks for a future project.

This is the quilt that I loaded on the longarm a few days ago.  It is the smallest one I had ready to do at about 40" wide.  You  might recognize it from my 2 rail quilt tutorial.

I put a wild fabric on the back.

Here is another find from the hall closet.  I had found the Crazy Daisy winders before I had my garage sale in June but couldn't find the directions.  Lo and behold I have a book for it.

This might give you a better idea of how the little tool works.  I have 2 sizes of the daisy makers.

They are used as decorations like yo-yos on a lot of the projects in the book.  I would say this is from the 1960s from the styles. Now I wonder where I put the crazy daisy makers.  I'm trying to get like things together this time around.

Another binding........

I chose this green/blue print for the binding on the Warm/cool Zig Zag quilt.  I got it cut, sewn on, and 2.5 sides hand sewn.

I had to get down on the floor to shoot this photo of the first cactus bloom this fall.  Last year the first one was on Oct. 20 so this is really early.

This photo was taken straight at the plant so you can see why I had to get down to get the whole bloom in a photo.  There are at least 5 more very tiny buds on the plant and I hope there will be more.

I spent a few hours yesterday afternoon going through a hall closet.  In one box were the paycheck stubs from my first job in 1958.  I sewed for a designer at a dress factory.  I started out at $1 and hour and worked up to $1.17 before I left for a higher paying job that I hated in an office.

Also in this box was an envelope with all of the receipts for my very first electric sewing machine.  Dad traded in the treadle on it.  3 cent stamp.  6 bobbins for 90 cents.

Another box had all of my report cards from grades 1-12 and my 8th grade diploma.  I think I need to leave these for my kids to throw away.  I can't do it.

"No Name" is finished........

I looked in Kaffe's book to see what he called this quilt.  He had "Earthy Frames" and "Sunny Frames" for the 2 colorways so I guess this one would be "Cool Frames" as opposed to "Warm Frames" that I made a few years ago.  It is about 50" x 61".

I chose the last four pairs for the Fractured quilt.  I'll make the blocks later this week.

We had a nice gentle rain for a few hours yesterday.  There were lots of sparrows darting between the feeders and the bush and then they started landing on my windowsill.  I have a stone house with extended cement windowsills.  There are 2 birds here although window distortion almost hides one of them.

Most of the birds flew away when I got close enough to the window to take a photo but a couple didn't seem to care if I was there.

A Special Day.......

When Dad passed away I requested that my art quilter friends not send flowers.  They are a very caring group and had supported me through the tough times.  I am blessed to have them as friends.  They decided they wanted to come to Sandwich and take me out to eat.  Most of them have to drive 1.5 - 2 hours to get here so this was very special.  Here are 4 of us.

This is all of us except the one who took the photo, the lady on the left in the photo above.  Yes the men are quilters too!  We had show and tell at my house first and then went down to the Bull Moose Bar and Grille.  Click on the link to read the history about the train car.  The weather was perfect for our outing and for their long drive to and from Sandwich.

Last night I got in a little sewing and the hand work on the binding is half done.  One more evening and I can call it a finish.

Binding.......

I finally found the fabric in my stash that I wanted to use for binding on this quilt that I quilted in May.  I quilted the quilt I showed a few days ago and loaded another one on the long arm.  I figured I had better get the binding done on this one before I get too many more quilted.

It has turned really cool, a 30 degree drop from a few days ago and cold at night, in the 40s.  I brought my cacti in last night.  I think they have been out long enough.  The bud on the pink one is just about ready to open and I see more buds forming.

Fractured quilt along........

I went to a sew in yesterday and took along the fabric for the blocks.  I got parts for 12 blocks finished but only sewed 8 of the blocks last night.  I have to add one more row on the right as well as finishing the 4th section.  I am making it 5 rows x 6 rows instead of 7 x 8 like it is in the book.  I have all of the duplicate blocks in this layout so I still have the option of making more blocks and using some of these for the scrappy version that I want to make.  Be sure to click on the Fractured Quilt Along button on the right sidebar to go to Vicki's blog for links to see how everyone else is progressing on theirs.

Preparations.......

I got a backing pressed and a quilt loaded on the long arm.  That's progress!  I might actually get some quilts quilted this month.

I chose some more pairs of fabrics for the Fractured quilt.

and more pairs......

Sneak Peak..........

Time to clean off the cutting table.  I trimmed all of these "ends" into straight strips and I'll use them for mug rugs.

Progress reports are supposed to be on Fridays for the "Fractured" quilt but here is a sneak peek of how my reds and grays are working together.  Each pair of 5" strips makes 2 blocks so I have to decide whether I'm using the duplicates in this quilt or just one of each.