I finished the basting and chose all of the threads for quilting the colorwash. The fabric at the bottom is the backing folded back so I could match bobbin thread to it. Today I really need to push to get this finished. I was feeling rather lazy yesterday and didn't accomplish much.
I did manage to get all of the top strips unpicked and only have 7 left to do on the bottom half. If I stay up until midnight to bring in the new year maybe I can get this top sewn together too.
The Amaryllis continues to bloom. You can see a lot of buds at the top that still need to open.
I started basting one of the rectangular shaped colorwash wallhangings. I had chosen the backing and cut the batting for this one almost a year ago.
I washed the Kaffe rectangles quilt and dried it in the dryer. It shrunk almost 3" in both directions. The heavier backing fabric softened quite a bit and I'm happy with the way it looks and feels now.
Yes, the top edge really is straight, it is the photographer who is crooked. This quilt is about 51.5" x 72" so it will wrap under my feet and go all the way to my chin when I sleep under it for my recliner chair nap. I hope to get it washed today.
I really love this Kaffe print on the back. The front is Kaffe collective with some Kaffes, lots of Philip Jacobs fabrics and one Brandon Mably fabric. The colors are more true in this photo.
I did the binding all by machine.
And just one more view of it.......... Now I need to finish just one more for my 18 in 2018.
I think the reason I like the double Amaryllis blooms so well is that it is like having peonies again in the winter.
I chose the binding for the rectangles quilt, Kaffe's Aboriginal dots in purple. I got it partially sewn on last night.
During the day I worked on finishing the first half of the Trip Around the World top. The left side is all sewn and pressed and I have moved the rest of the unpicked strips over next to it. Now I have room to finish the design.
I knew one of the buds was opening overnight but I was surprised to see one blooming on both of the other stalks. I counted 3 more buds on each of those stalks.
Later in the day I checked again and there are 5 more buds on one of the stalks, not 3. That will make a total of 17 blooms from one bulb. I should have about 5 open flowers by this morning.
I loaded this quilt on the frame a few days ago and finally quilted it yesterday. I'm keeping this one.
The backing fabric is the 54" wide Kaffe decorator fabric. It isn't a lot heavier than quilting fabric but it is a tight sateen weave type of fabric. I'm planning on washing this right away to see how much it softens. I need to decide on binding today and get that cut and sewn on.
The second white Amaryllis flower has opened and now I see there are 5 more buds. I have never had 7 blooms on one stalk before.
The buds on the second stalk are opening too.
It is such a treat to get double blooms too. The package showed single petals and either red or red and white. I'm very happy with their mistake.
When I went into Blogger to write this post I noticed that Christmas day was my 4400th post. I have been writing my blog since July 4, 2007. That comes out to 34.7 posts a month so I average more than one post a day for the whole time period. I'm putting this on my blog as a reference for myself since this is my diary of sorts. After a wonderful family party and a nap I decided to sew some columns together on my TAW quilt. This section probably won't get pressed until I have sewn the next section and can do them both at once.
I hope you all have good weather for safe travels to family gatherings. We have had frigid Christmases, icy ones, uncommonly warm ones, and this year just average weather.
In the studio: I got the last strata sliced into loops for my Kaffe 2 Trip Around the World.
I treated myself to a selection of Marcia Derse's new fabric line Art History: 101. I will mix them in with all of her other fabrics and use them in my next quilt.
I did a little more unpicking of loops on the Kaffe 2 Trip Around the World and now I will probably start sewing top and bottom halves of columns together and then sew the sections of 10 columns. There isn't room on the double design wall for the last 9 strips so sewing 2 sections will give me room to move it all to the left so they will fit.
I have used all of the loops from the first 3 stratas and now need to slice the last 2 stratas to finish up the design. I'm really liking this second attempt for my bed.
Surprise! The 2 Amaryllis bulbs I got on sale were marked red and stargazer which is red and white. Obviously the package was mismarked.
I really wanted a white one and was disappointed when they didn't have any so I got my wish with their mistake. This is the plant with the 3 bud stalks. The one to the left has 2 stalks and I'm wondering what color it will be. I gave another one to my daughter in law so I'm wondering what color that one will be too.
I unpicked enough loops to create a portion of the bottom half of the quilt to confirm that I like the red in the center. I'll keep working on it between going out to eat with a reader of my blog and doing some more baking.
I received another very special Christmas card yesterday in the mail. It is from Linda from the Art in Search blog. Click on the name of her blog to go to her post where she tells how she made these. It is so much more beautiful than the photo shows.
Here is a closer view which of course is clickable for a larger photo.
Here it is with last year's card, also hand painted. They are treasures for sure.
Now the fun part comes, trying different fabrics for the center. The 2 lightest fabrics are in the center in this first photo.
Now the beige/brown fabrics are in the center.
Now the red is in the center and that is what I think I want.
I added a few more strips to see if this is what I want. I can always change my mind but I'll unpick the bottom half strips for the center next and then I'll know if this is what I want. Today is the day in the year with the least daylight. Luckily the daylight adds faster each day now than it decreased leading up to this day. I'll be happy when it is still light out at 5 p.m.
This is the second attempt at a Kaffe Trip Around the World for my bed. I wasn't happy with the first one so I sold that quilt top and started over. I'm much happier with this one. The Christmas packages have all been mailed to out of state family members and I won't need to bake again until Sunday and Monday so I can spend some time cleaning and organizing my studios and working on this quilt.
Here are the remaining slices from the first strata that are waiting to have one seam unpicked to continue the designing. I will get the next strata sliced today.
I was so excited to get another Christmas postcard Monday from my friend Vicki Welsh. It was in excellent condition after travelling over 1000 miles.
Here is my entire collection that she has sent me over the years. They reside on the little design wall in my main floor studio year round. I wish I could get as nice a finish on the edges with my serger. She has lots of practice since she makes LOTS of these cards.
I didn't get home from shopping until 2 p.m. I think I'm all done now...I hope anyway. Last night I baked the first batch of chocolate Spritz cookies. They are all to go in the boxes I'm mailing. Then I have to make another batch for the family here. I need to do a batch of plain (not chocolate) Spritz this morning and then start packing boxes.
I have 3 bud stalks started on one of my Amaryllis plants. I'm not sure what color this one is supposed to be but I think it is red and white.
I unpicked the seams to remove the piece I wasn't happy with and sewed in the new one. I am so much happier with it now. You can go back to yesterday's post to see the old piece and the new piece and the link to the whole quilt with the bad piece in it. I was in the kitchen most of the day yesterday baking for packages I need to mail early this week. I have a little more left to do today. I sewed the final seam in all 5 stratas for my Kaffe Trip Around the World so maybe I can start slicing them and unpicking one seam in each slice to start designing.
I still have my floral colorwash top on the design wall in my main floor studio and one piece is bothering me. It has kept me from finishing the piece. It is the blue rectangle in the center that looks like cracked ice.
I went down to the basement and found that piece of fabric and cut a new rectangle from a lighter value area of it. Now I need to unpick that section and sew in the new piece. You can go here to see the whole colorwash. It is going to be a better blend with the new piece in there. Yesterday my grandson from Colorado and one of his best friends came over and got my new TV mounted on the wall. The wall mount was a challenge to put together but they were a great team. I rewarded them with chocolate chip cookies and fudge. We were all happy!
I realized after I had taken the quilt off the design wall, walked upstairs and loaded the photos on my computer that I cut off the bottom inch of this quilt. Someday I'll remedy that but it was too late at night to fix it when I saw it. It is 57" x 79.5".
I love this backing fabric for it. Below are a couple shots of the binding. I think it was a good choice for it.
I quilted the African half hexie quilt with parallel lines about an inch apart, some a little more, some a little less than an inch. I used the channel lock for straight lines. This will be finish number 16 for this year and I really would like 18 for 2018 so I will need to figure out which ones to quilt.
Here you can see how well the backing fabric goes with the front.
I looked through my African fabrics for a binding choice but in the end decided I liked the backing fabric best.
