Chisel Star sewn...........

I sewed the last four blocks yesterday and then spent a couple hours moving blocks around to distribute the fabrics.  Since there are anywhere from 4 to 8 pieces of each print it was a challenge.  I did the best I could and then sewed it all together.  The lighting is not even, the bottom half is farther from the light source.  It is approximately 54" x 72" and will get a dark Marcia Derse print for binding. 

This is just an observation about the new Kaffe collective line: there are so many more prints that read as a predominant color in this February 2021 collection.  Some of his fabrics in previous lines have had 2 colors almost across the color wheel  from each other (red and blue, green and orange) in the same print and they really didn't work well paired with either color.  I think this season's fabrics will be so much more fun to play with.

I will have my monthly recap post tomorrow.  If I can finish the Friendship star blocks and get that top sewn together I will have 6 finished tops for the month.  No completely finished quilts though.  I will have a nice bunch of easy ones to quilt in May with these new tops.  

Chisel star progress............

8 blocks are sewn and 4 blocks are just quarter blocks on the design wall.  After I finish sewing the last 4 blocks some of them will go to the top of the quilt because all of the new fabrics are in the bottom half of the quilt right now.

My backyard is turning pink finally.  We are getting a little rain but very light so it shouldn't knock many blooms off.

I forgot to take a photo of my little bouquet earlier so you get to see the reflection of my refrigerator in the window.  The little Narcissus are starting to bloom.  I looked them up online and they are called Pheasant Eye Narcissus and the site said they were fragrant.  I had to check that out and yes, they are fragrant.  That is the end of the Daffodils in with them.

Working on two...........

Four of the blocks are sewn now and 3 are just quarter blocks on the design wall.  18" blocks look so big when you see them individually but when they join together it looks like smaller blocks.

A couple more quarter blocks are sewn and lots of pieces are waiting.  I'm looking for one of the light fabrics that I have used so I can cut some more of it.

I had sewn some Kaffe blocks from scraps about 5 years ago.  I got them out yesterday and started adding more strips around them.  I don't have any idea where I'm headed with this one but it was fun to have some mindless sewing.

Some chisel blocks.............

I sewed 16 quarter blocks last night and put them up on the design wall with the 2 sewn blocks.  I can see a couple I need to move because a fabric is too close to itself in another block.  I will probably sew all of the rest of the quarter blocks before I come up with the final layout. The blocks are 18" so 12 should be enough for a throw quilt.  I need to sew 23 more center strips which are 2 darks sewn together and 6 more dark/light pieces.

It was a beautiful day yesterday so I spent an hour and a half digging out Tiger Lilies in a garden that is going to be redone.  If anyone who is close to Sandwich IL wants any, my email address is on my right sidebar.  I have them in water now and they will be good for a few days this way.  I plan to plant a few in the back garden.

Here is a photo of the orange Tiger Lilies from 2019.  They grow about 4' tall with a sturdy stem and many blooms on each plant.  They also self seed which is why I had so many to dig out.

It is getting close to the end of the month and I don't have any finishes yet.  I think I made 4 quilt tops so far.  I do a monthly recap each month (label on the label list, right side bar if you are curious) so I'm thinking ahead to how I want to spend the last 4 days of this month.

 

More pieces and parts............

Yesterday was mostly a day of rest but I did turn on the iron and got some of these fabrics pressed, cut with my die cutter and sewn. I spent a considerable amount of time trying to find the first 2 sewn blocks and finally found them under a couple fabrics on the end of my sewing table.

My Bleeding Heart is looking good.  

The big medium pink Columbine is getting big with a new shoot growing up the middle that I think is where buds will soon form.

The earliest Hardy Geranium with the pale lavender flowers has its first blooms.  The other 2 varieties in the front garden are just small plants so far.

The earliest Peony has good size buds.  I even saw some ants crawling on the buds.

The Redbuds are still at the same stage as last week.  We're due for a couple hot days so maybe they will open then.

 

Choosing pieces...........

I went through all of my small pieces of Marcia Derse fabric for candidates to cut the chisel shape from. Did I ever tell you how much I love my stash?  I have a lot of things to press so I'll turn the iron on today and these will get pressed and cut.

I cut the flannel backings for 2 of the pink quilts.  I looked through my other fabrics for the back of the largest pink quilt and I have 2 chosen and will make my decision when I'm ready to quilt it in May.

Then I mowed my grass.  The neighbors on both sides of me had mowed theirs Friday and yesterday so I have to keep up with them.  The neighbor on the north mows all the way up to my house and saves me mowing a section about 10' wide from my driveway to the back of my lot.  

A little sewing...........

Yesterday was one of those strange days where I was busy all day but had not much to take a picture of for the blog.  I was outside for awhile but didn't take my camera with me.  I was in the basement doing a lot of miscellaneous which included cutting the Marcia Derse fabric chisels for my ongoing project.

Here are the first 2 blocks for the project.  Since I found 2 more light fabrics to use I wanted to wait until they were sewn and ready to put into the next blocks before I made any more.

I want to make some more test blocks so I'm sure that will be done today.  Rain was predicted but now it looks like it will all go south of us.  We are at a rain deficit of almost 3" for the month right now.

 

Sewn together and backing.................

I spent a lot of time in the basement doing odds and ends and then sewed this zig zag together last night.  That is the backing flannel next to it.  It is more of a peach color but I like it with the quilt.  I only need about 1.5 yards for this one and that is a 5 yard piece so I'll have enough for another small quilt too.  I bought the flannel on sale at least 8 years ago and maybe longer so it is good to finally use some of it.

Zig zag time...............

I got my zig zag after all on the third pink quilt.  It is a little brighter than this photo, deeper pinks.  I had a lot of the pink and red heart print and wanted to use as much as possible.  I ended up with 7 blocks leftover which can go in the orphan block box.  It should be about 40" x 48" when finished.  I have a big piece of flannel by Valerie Wells with huge peachy-pink roses on it that may go on the back of this one.  I have another more mottled pattern pink flannel for the back of the Hugs and Kisses pink quilt.

I cut down most of the black raspberry canes last year when my painters were here painting the window trim.  This is 3 canes that I left there and they have lots of leaves so I'm hoping there will be raspberries this year.  There is one more cane leaning into a bush and it has leaves too.

My Brunnera is so big this year.  There are a few more scattered small plants so it self seeds in addition to being a perennial.  It blooms for quite awhile while the ground around it is bare, waiting for the Hostas to grow.

Tonight is the last below freezing night so I hope my Redbuds will still look this good this morning when I get up. (This was written 11 p.m. last night.)

 

Pink again.............

When I cleaned off my sewing table I saw the pile of pink squares leftover from the second pink quilt.  I counted and there were 65 sewn plus 40 light triangles.  I decided to cut more pink prints to match up with the 40 triangles and got them sewn last night.

Here is another fabric from the purple shelf.  I have a half yard of it and think I need to use it this year. 

My Hostas are still at several different stages of growth.  This one is just barely up.

This one is right next to the one in the photo above and it is way ahead of it.

The Lungwort/Pulmonaria continues to bloom with the green and white Hosta behind it.

No snow so far but cold predicted overnight.  
 

Colorwash sewn...........

I finished sewing the floral colorwash last night.  It is 30" square.  I had the iron on beside me and pressed after I sewed each row and that worked so much better than pressing after it is all sewn.

I wanted to show you some of the fabrics that were on the purple shelf.  The leaves on the one on the right are more of a periwinkle lean toward purple than they show here.  It is from the 1990s.

The one on the left only has a little purple in it but it ended up on that shelf.  The one on the top is purple and pink in the background and I bought it at the end of the 1970s at one of the first quilt shops in our area.

I bought it in 3 colors but I don't remember right now what the 3rd color was.  I'm thinking maybe brown.  Back in those early days of the quilt shops some of the fabrics didn't have any company name printed along the edge and most did not have the big white selvages that are prevalent now.

This was probably created to be garment fabric because most of the available quilting fabrics in the late 1970s were little calicoes.  The owners of this particular shop chose lots of unusual fabrics for the quilters.  

My earliest peonies are getting really tall.  They have about another month before they will bloom.

We haven't gotten any snow yet.........but it is still in the forecast.

 

Partially sewn..................

I have the floral colorwash 2/3 sewn in one direction.  Maybe I will get it finished today.

I went through the Kaffe flying geese box and pulled out all of the ones in the colors of the orphan blocks.  I don't know if they will remain on the right edge or if they will stay in the order they are now.  Just in the gathering stage right now.

The Redbuds are just ready to open and we have a small amount of snow predicted for tomorrow.  It is going to go down below freezing two nights so I'm hoping it won't freeze all of the buds.

My white Bleeding Heart has flowers forming.

Two of the Dianthus plants had one bloom.  It is such a hardy plant and comes back year after year.  There are usually Columbines right near this and I don't see any signs of them.  
 

Final layout............

After going through over 150 purple fabrics I found 4 to cut and try in this floral colorwash.  I did some rearranging in the brown/rust/red area and think I have done the best I can for a smooth transition.  Now I will sew it.

I removed a quilt top from this double design wall so I put the friendship star blocks there.  The last 5 blocks are mostly duplicates to these so I might not have to do much rearranging.                                                                                     

I picked a small bouquet and it shared the windowsill with some newly potted cactus starts.  They are the ones that have been in a cup with an occasional drink of water for about 3 or 4 years.  So far I only see one that might not make it.  The bigger cactus is one that has been looking a little sick and I thought maybe being near the sink (and extra moisture in the air) might perk it up.

A fun close-up shot.
   

 

TV time sewing...............

 I didn't get all of the new colorwash squares cut or any more Marcia Derse fabric cut so the only thing I had ready to work on last night was the scrappy Friendship Star blocks.  I have 15 sewn now but they aren't pressed yet.  I need to clean off a design wall to decide on the layout.

I found a few more Kaffe fabric orphan blocks in the same color scheme as the arrangement I showed last week.  The 4 patches on the right aren't necessarily in the order I would sew them and also the plain blocks might change to another fabric.  I have a box of flying geese to look through to see if there are any in this color range.  I might make a few new test blocks in this color range with cutting dies that I haven't used yet.

Colorwash filled in, star block progress..............

I finally came up with enough pieces to fill in the holes in the floral colorwash.  I can see one place I might need to change but I'm fairly happy with it.

I am really low on purple fabrics that work well and I haven't seen any online that I would want to order.  I'll go deep diving in the purple shelf one more time.

I got in my exercise yesterday mowing the front yard.  Two neighbors had mowed so I decided to join the crowd.  The back yard won't need mowing for a week or more.

Last night I sewed two of the blocks with the Marcia Derse fabrics and I really do like them so I'll cut some more pieces. 

I found 2 marbled Benartex fabrics from way back in the mid 1990s that I can use for light colors in the blocks above.  I won't sew any more blocks until I get them cut and sewn to a partner so the variety will be spread all through the blocks.  6 light fabrics will make it more interesting than 4.