I had some light blue strip piecing that wasn't wide enough to cut the diamonds so I added to them. I haven't rearranged any diamonds yet. My 2 friends are coming over today to sew and I thought I would do it while they are here.
The top two blocks are sewn as of last night. I don't think I had shown the one on the left yet. If I make 3 more blocks this will end up square. If I make 8 more blocks it will be rectangular.
I didn't do a lot of rearranging diamonds, just added some in. I'm still not sure where this is going. I will take all of the diamonds off the wall and start over today or tomorrow.
Here is one photo I forgot to put in yesterday's post showing the contents of a drawer.
I started cutting diamonds with my die cutter. This is the leftover of one of the smaller stratas. I can sew those 2 ends together and cut another diamond.
And here it is.
This of course is creating a lot of leftovers too small to piece together for more diamonds. I wish I could make my hand drop them in the wastebasket, but I can't.
I just put the diamonds up on the design wall as I cut them. There were a few stratas not wide enough to get a diamond with crosswise stripes so I cut them lengthwise. I don't know if they will stay in the project.
I'm planning on looking through my batiks and cutting some plain diamonds from them too. I know I have one with bears and other wild animals in similar colors. I think I have some tree batiks too. I have no idea what I am making. I'm hoping the blocks will tell me what they want to be.
I was tired last night and didn't type my post and schedule it for 5 a.m. like I usually do so here it is a little later than usual. Yesterday I decided I needed to clean out one of these drawers.
I pieced these stratas from crooked strips back in 2008.
and these......
and these........
and now the drawer is empty. I already know what I will store in there. Tomorrow I'll show what I'm doing with the stratas.
The asters are in full bloom now and goldenrod makes a nice accent color with it. The asters are a little more purple than they look here.
This is the other color asters that I have. They planted themselves along the driveway by the bushes. They get too tall and fall over but they are so pretty.
As promised I sewed the last four seams yesterday. Everything fit perfectly, no trimming needed. I did a row of staystitching around the outside perimeter to keep seam ends from popping. It is 54" x 66" right now.
Then I experimented with borders. I have lots of pieces that are lengthwise grain and are leftover from either backings or from border fabric from another quilt. What if I did a scrappy 8" wide border? I will be looking for more of the pieces today while I contemplate this.
I sewed the quilt in 5 sections. I will get the last 4 seams done today. It looks like it is going to fit together OK. I had to measure it to be sure since I could trim the center section if necessary.
One more day and this first cactus bloom will be opened. I took this photo in low light rather than move the plant. They don't like to be moved once they start budding out.
I just HAD to buy this cute zebra fabric that was on sale a couple weeks ago. They said it was oxford cloth but is more like canvas. I think it would make a cute tote bag with black accents.
I finished all of the blocks last night. I'll check it several times today to see if I want to move any blocks. I see 2 dark ones in the top row and one of those could go to the bottom row.
This will be a nice nap size quilt.......not that anyone would be able to actually sleep under it! In fact it might scare a few people.
I needed to clear off my double wall by the best lights in the basement. This is what has been hanging there for about 4 weeks. I have enjoyed them all there so much I didn't want to take them down. That might mean I have to finish them...........
So.....last night I took them down and moved all of these blocks over there. I need 14 blocks to finish the top row and add a row on the bottom. I made 5 more blocks last night but haven't pressed or trimmed them yet.
With the change of the seasons today it is time to get organized. I need to finish some quilts this month.
Yesterday morning I pulled out some previously pieced groups of Kaffe fabrics. I want to slice and insert them in some of the blocks of the strippy quilt. Then I decided to clean off the sewing table which meant hemming the 2 pair of pants that have been laying there for a week.
You wouldn't have noticed it yesterday but there were some blocks already in the quilt that had a pieced strip.
Now that regular fall shows are back on TV I will be sewing a lot in the evenings. I made 23 blocks while watching Scorpion and Castle.
I also designed one more block for the other quilt. My 2 neighbors mowed their yards yesterday so I decided that was a clue that I needed to do mine too. It was a perfect day for outside work.
I made the nine 10" blocks yesterday and tried out the 2 size blocks together. If I sewed it right now it would be 42" x 54". One more row of 6" blocks all around would make it 54" x 66". I think the large blocks are hardly noticeable right now and maybe would show up better with another round of blocks.
Thanks everyone for your kind comments yesterday. I decided not to respond individually to everyone and just do a group thanks.
I put all of the Kaffe strip pieced blocks up on a design wall to get an idea what I'm doing. I have used up all of the 7" scraps which were trimmed to 6.5" blocks when sewn.
I have a pile of 11" strips left over from this quilt. I was thinking about cutting them down to 7" but then I played around with math. The blocks I have made will finish at 6". If I sew the 11" strips I can cut blocks at 10.5" which will finish at 10" If I made the center of the quilt with nine 10" blocks (3 rows of 3 blocks, 30" on a side) I can add rows of five 6" blocks around it (also 30"). It will take 24 six inch blocks to go around the center 10" blocks once. I have 37 blocks made. So............the plan is: make nine 10" blocks and then cut the rest of the strips down to 7" to make more of the smaller blocks.
Yesterday was the twice monthly sewing day. I took my machine and more of the Kaffe strip scraps and pieced 24 blocks. Last night I started trimming them.
I thought they were so pretty for the tote bag and wondered if a bunch of them would be too busy as a quilt.
I worked on the lining of the tote bag (see yesterday's post) both in the morning and after I got home from the sew in. I had forgotten how long it takes to make tote bags. The pocket for the water bottle is a little short for the tall bottle but would be perfect for the little 8 oz. size. I used my favorite Martha Negley fabric for the lining, tree rings. There is some of the same red/orange color in it.
This was a social week, 4 days in a row being with people. I think I'll be a hermit today.
We had a lot of fun yesterday working on tote bags. I decided to make the same one I made as a store sample in 2008. This time I didn't make a crazy pieced block for the back. I still have to finish the lining and sew it in and make a bottom firm piece that will keep the bottom from sagging.
Here is the back. I'm planning on keeping this one. I usually sell or give away all of the tote bags I make. This one just feels like ME.
A friend and I both wanted to make some tote bags so she is coming over today. We will be experimenting with ideas. Last night I pieced these blocks with Kaffe scraps left from die cutting. Click here to go to a post where I made a tote bag with one side made with this type square. I'm not sure if that is what I'm doing this time so I pieced 12 squares so I can experiment.
I had great intentions of cutting more fabrics yesterday. By the time I got home from sewing circle and errands I was tired and only sewed together the last four blocks.
I am going to help a friend baste a quilt this morning. She had car trouble last week on the way here so this is the make up date.
Today is church sewing circle so I checked yesterday at church to see how many more school bags we needed for World Church Services. This is pieces and parts for 6.
First one almost done, just one more row of stitching needed at the top edge. I have stitching on the top edges of 3 to do this morning and then I'm done.
It was bath time in the backyard again yesterday afternoon.
It was in the low 60s yesterday morning so I planted all of my hostas that were in pots this summer. There were some left over from splitting them this spring and a couple new ones. I planted 11 altogether. This week it is going to heat up again so they have time for the roots to get established.
I got one new block designed. I really need to get some more cutting done before I design any more.
I got two more blocks sewn and auditioned Brandon Mably's babble print in black and white for sashing. I will try several more fabrics before I make a decision.
I designed the blocks at the left and the bottom right and reworked the middle one in the bottom row. Two of them are sewn together and that is why they look smaller.
The blocks are on point in the quilt and there is a narrow sashing between them. I decided to go ahead and sew all of the blocks as I design them. If there are any that don't make the cut, they will go into the Kaffe orphan block quilt.
A friend gave me a ride to the Sandwich Fairgrounds yesterday morning and I walked around for 2 hours and saw everything I was interested in and then I walked home.
You can click on these photos and they will enlarge so you can see the quilts better. I was so excited that one of my friends won 3 purple ribbons for the best in a category.
I didn't know anybody was still painting saw blades.
The wallhanging in the center and the one on the right were made by my friend Sarah, 2 of her blue ribbons.
The poppy quilt and the Trip Around the World are also Sarah's.
