"Downtown" is finished, 39.25" x 51.25". This the third and final finish for March 2020 so I wanted to post it before midnight on the 31st.
The backing is a batik from the early 1990s when Hoffman fabrics started making the batik fabrics.
Here is the view as I was approaching the design wall to photograph the Blooming 9 Patch quilt top. I don't think the color is perfect but is close. It ended up 88.5" x 107". Even though it is huge, on a queen bed that has a 15" deep mattress it wouldn't be large enough.
The design wall is only 84" tall and I'm not tall enough to get the quilt all the way to the top so there is about 12" laying on the floor. But the good news is that it is all sewn together. Click on the photo for a closer view of the fabrics.
I sewed the binding and hanging sleeve on downtown and the hand stitching is started. I will have my monthly recap tomorrow. I'm thinking maybe next month I should hurry up and have all of the finishes in the first 10 days instead trying to meet this self imposed deadline at the end of the month.
I had 3 hours of TV to watch last night so I got the last rows quilted on "Downtown". I also pulled all of the basting threads out. Now I need to trim it and find a binding fabric. The race is on for this finish for March. I also wanted 3 quilt tops sewn and I don't think that is going to happen. I should be able to finish the Blooming 9 patch quilt top though since I have just 4 more rows to sew and then add the 2 large pieced corner sections.
My childhood friend called yesterday and we talked for 2 hours. I was walking by my cactus shelving while talking to her and noticed there were 3 more blooms. Two were next to each other so I captured their beauty in this photo. I see there is one more bud on this plant and one on my peach/orange one.
Since I am starting at the top edge of the quilt for every row of ditch quilting I have to continue to roll up the right side edge to go through the machine.
By last night I had 3/4 quilted. The roll at the right is getting larger but this quilt is only 39" wide so it is very manageable.
A couple months ago I bought a mini-Belgian waffle maker, 4" waffles. I haven't had a wafflemaker for at least 40 years and this looked like fun. I finally got brave enough to open the box and take it out and I had purchased a mix a couple weeks ago. I made a small batch and it made 9 waffles of which I put 4 in the freezer for later.
This table runner has been waiting on my cutting table for several weeks for finishing. I originally made it for a wedding shower gift but then decided it was too busy (for anyone other than me) and made a different one with 2 matching mug rugs for the gift. I used a fusible batting so the 3 layers were connected and it just needed quilting and binding. It was a perfect project for yesterday morning.
The backing has coffee pots and I don't drink coffee....it was originally chosen and cut when it was going to be a gift. So now it is done and on my kitchen table.
I had my next quilt chosen to load on my longarm but I wanted an upstairs project last night while I watched TV so I started ditch quilting this quilt. All lines of quilting will be vertical and I have 11 of the 42 lines quilted now. Severe weather is predicted for later today so my sewing time will probably be early in the day.
Binding is the same paisley as the back. It is a Liberty fabric from a series that Kaffe did the coloration on a few years ago. Kaffe Meets Plaid finished around 70" x 95".
The fabrics in the triangles are from the Kaffe Collective and date all the way back from the 1990s until August 2016 and plaids I have collected for 40+ years. There are a couple Martha Negley fabrics in there too. I am SO happy this one is a finished quilt.
Click on the photos for a closer look at the fabrics.
Quilting is finished on my Kaffe meets Plaid quilt. I got it trimmed and will look for binding today. I had trouble with thread shredding about every 2 passes for awhile and I finally decided to make sure the needle eye was centered since I had changed the needle a couple weeks ago. With the longarm there isn't a flat side to the top so you are guessing whether you have the needle in the correct position. After I changed it slightly I got all of the rest of the quilting done with no problems.
I used my channel lock and stitched lines with random spacing between them. So Fine thread by Superior on top in a camel brown color. Hobbs 80/20 batting. I plan on doing the binding all by machine to have a second finish for this month in a day or two. Now I really need to pick one more to quilt to have 3 finishes for the month.
All of my sewing time yesterday was masks for the cancer patients, 10 here in child size.
I used some of my least favorite batik fabrics for the 16 adult size masks. Now I need to get them ready to mail so someone can get them to the post office for me.
My daughter in law was my grocery angel yesterday. I was out of all of the fresh veggies.
I haven't had a salad for several days so it really tasted good.
In a town close by there was a call for masks for cancer patients, ones who use these on a regular basis. With the shortage they haven't been able to get the ones they need. This batch is the beginning of the ones I'm making for children.
I got a batch of batik pieces cut for the adult size. I have seen several different styles in the last few days. This is the style requested by the lady who is collecting them. 1149 have been delivered to her since I saw the original post 2 days ago.
I also got a backing pieced and loaded on my longarm. It is a large quilt. I have 16 large ones waiting to be quilted and I hope to get 3 of them done in the next couple weeks.
I took a few more early morning photos yesterday. The 3" of snow is mostly melted now.
The snow was piled high on the tree branches.
Lastly, 3" of snow piled on the Sedum blooms. I hope this is the last time I will see this until next winter.
I really didn't intend to work on this Blooming 9 Patch yesterday but I needed to do a load of laundry so I was in the basement. My washing machine is 46 years old so I'm never far away when it is running. I got the last 2 sets of 3 rows sewn together and sewn onto the corner triangles.
Here are the pieces for the last 4 rows. The small corner triangles will be sewn on after all of the rows are sewn together into a quilt top.
Here is the fix a friend suggested for the Spring Star quilt. Two little points are sewn onto each of 4 squares. I'm not sure if I like it any better than all low volume prints but I had to try it. I decided to do it in a lighter print rather than a bolder one. You can go back to this post if you missed some of the others that I tried.
Winter came back for a day yesterday. The squirrel is trying to uncover seed on the ground under the feeder.
Here we have a crow in the snow.
This is the view at dusk out of my kitchen window. I got a little glare from the kitchen light. The temperature is supposed to be 60 at mid-week so this snow will be a fleeting memory.
I intended to work on the sashing on the Spring Star project. I started out the day yesterday looking for something and opened my dad's briefcase. He passed away in Aug. 2013 and I just put everything pertaining to him and my mother in that briefcase. 2 hours later I had cleaned out and recycled or shredded about half of the contents. Didn't find what I was looking for. One thing I did find was my paternal grandmother's obituary. She died at the end of the Spanish flu pandemic 1918-1920. All 5 of her children were sick. My dad was 6 years old. That particular flu was deadly for healthy 20-40 year olds and she was 37. We have come a long way in medicine in the last 100 years.
I went to the basement to get the fabric to work on the sashing and the Blooming 9 patch caught my eye. I decided to sew some more rows and now have the 3 rows for each corner section sewn but didn't turn on the iron so I couldn't sew them together. That took up most of the afternoon and into the evening.
I had these boxes of small Kaffe scraps out a couple days ago and they were still on the table in the basement and I looked through them but didn't put them away.
I knitted a little on another dishcloth while trying to decide what to do next. I decided to just take my photos and write my blog post. Day done.
I got a 4th block designed and sewn yesterday and then went back to playing with the sashing ideas. This idea didn't have quite the effect I thought it would have. A friend across the world gave me another idea to try so I'll work on that today.
Here is a closer view at the intersection of pieced sashing strips. More play today......
I'm starting out with a photo I showed yesterday as I contemplated whether to add sashing between the blocks. Here I show one color square as a cornerstone.
In a comment Jan from the Colorful Fabriholic suggested making the sashing strips from the low volume squares so the stars would look like they are floating on a low volume background. I had overcut the number of squares I needed so I thought it was a great idea. Here I tried something different at the joining of the strips but I think it looks too clunky.
Then I exchanged the squares with triangle blocks but I'm still not sure it adds anything.
For the last one I just filled in with low volume squares to create the floating stars.
Since I have to think about this I went back to the Blooming 9 patch and started working on the remaining rows.
Right on cue, Mr. Robin appeared in the back yard on the first day of spring.
Yesterday was spent designing and sewing 3 of the 20" star blocks (a Carpenter's Wheel traditional block variation). There are 32 color triangles and 12 color squares in each block so the same fabric is repeated in a block sometimes.
I need to made a decision whether the blocks will be right next to each other or if I will use a white with black print sashing strip between them. This photo is simulating a sashing the same width as the squares in the block. I could also just do a 1" sashing for a slight separation.
My lovely squirrel friends have to decide which of the suet cages they want to raid. This squirrel tried all 3.
I hope all of my readers are staying safe with this pandemic all around us. I'm used to being home a lot anyway so that part isn't much of a change for me. There haven't been any cases reported out here in the farm area yet.
I got three more rows sewn for both opposing corners and sewed those sections together. I got one section added onto the other corner but this one is just pinned to the design wall. I will sew 3 more rows for each of the corners and sew them into a section to be added too. That will leave the 4 identical center rows to be sewn. To sum that I up I have the 20 shortest rows sewn and have the 10 longest ones left to sew. I also have some 9 patches left to sew and 4 triangle corners left to cut. I'm not sure if I have any more of the green corner fabric but I do have some strips I could sew together to make them.
Same star as yesterday but with Broken Dishes center.
The blocks will finish at 20" so I only need to make 12 of them for a 60" x 80" quilt top. That is assuming I won't add sashing or a border.
Two changes on this one. First the center is a pinwheel. Second the 3 colored squares together on the top half of the block and 2 split squares and 1 whole square on the bottom half of the block. I originally planned to do them with whole (not pieced) squares and since I have over 400 cut that is the way I will handle those corners.
In other sewing, I sewed all of the strip sets that I need to finish making the 9 patches for the Blooming 9 patch. Today I will press them and cut the segments so I can finish them.
I finally have my light fixture back in my main floor studio where I usually do my night sewing. Just in time for spring I am going to start the quilt that I'm calling Spring Star with lots of spring flower colors.
On this one I reversed the center squares and added some 2-print triangle blocks near the corners. It will mean some more piecing if I do this version because all of the squares sewn had been a dark/light triangle combination.
This one is the same corners as number 2 but another different center. I just have to decide which one I like best and then I can start assembling blocks. Maybe I'll do more than one of the styles. I could also make the center a pinwheel. So many options.....
A couple months ago I bought a mini-Belgian waffle maker, 4" waffles. I haven't had a wafflemaker for at least 40 years and this looked like fun. I finally got brave enough to open the box and take it out and I had purchased a mix a couple weeks ago. I made a small batch and it made 9 waffles of which I put 4 in the freezer for later.
