Flannel quilt trimmed..............

I got the pointy side edges of this flannel quilt top trimmed and did the staystitching around the edge.  I have a large piece of dark red flannel that a friend gifted to me so I think that will be the backing.  The top measures 71" x 90" before quilting.  The tumblers are 9".

The pressing and backing seam were completed yesterday afternoon and I loaded it on the longarm.  Then I added the batting and the Seed Packet quilt top.  This post shows the whole quilt top.  I did vertical straight line quilting with the channel locks to keep the lines straight.  I used a medium taupe SoFine thread on top and Bottom line thread in a soft rust in the bobbin.

The rows of quilting are an inch or more apart so I left the quilt on the frame overnight so I can decide whether I will go back and stitch another line between each of them.

 

Getting a quilt top finished..........

I finally cut an assortment of lengths off the 2" yellow batik strips and pieced borders.  I got them all sewn on but haven't pressed it yet.  This is somewhere near 36" x 46".

I also cut 2 lengths for a backing for an older quilt top and spritzed the creases. Today I'll press the fabric and get it sewn together and load it on the longarm.

Late yesterday afternoon I baked some Amish Friendship bread, top view of one loaf here.  This loaf is for a granddaughter.  I ate some of the other loaf; someone had to be the quality control tester.

20 blocks, 4 to go............

I chose fabrics for 5 more blocks but only got 2 of them sewn.  I have decided to make it one row longer (48" x 72") so I have 4 more blocks to make.  It isn't as dark at the bottom as it looks here and I will probably move a few blocks to new positions when I get the last 4 blocks made.  Before I sew it together I will test it to see what all dark blocks look like together (if I wanted to make another quilt) and then I'll try all light blocks.  I'm almost afraid it will have me making 2 quilts instead of one.

This is the first block I made last night.  I changed out the light fabric from the one I showed yesterday.

This is the second new block.  It is a lower contrast block than some of the others.

We had a heat wave Thursday, 30 degrees so I did grocery shopping for the next 10 days' supply.  Then it dropped down to frigid again with below 0 predicted for last night.  We got 2" more snow yesterday morning and it was light and fluffy again.  It makes it fast and easy to shovel the porch and sidewalk.

18 Winged Square blocks.........

Three more blocks were pieced yesterday and fabric chosen for one more.  I moved some blocks to new positions as I searched for the colors for the last blocks.

The pieces for this block were just waiting for assembly yesterday.

The triangles for this block were already sewn but I had to find the fabric for the 3 squares.  I think this Philip Jacobs feather print is perfect.

There wasn't an orange block yet and this fabric has orange, red, and pink in it.  I needed a lighter block to be near the 2 lightest blocks in the center.

The blues in this fabric pair are a little more toward turquoise and there is also purple in the dark print.  I'm pretty sure I'll be cutting these today and then I have just one more combination to choose.  I thought I wanted to finish this one this month but now I'm thinking maybe it should be 6 rows long which means 4 more blocks.  Since I don't rush my decisions this will probably go into February. 

15 blocks.............

I finally turned on the iron because I had pieces from several quilts that needed pressing.  I have 5 more blocks to make and 2 of them are in progress.  The last three will need to be planned to fill in the final spots.

Jack Frost visited on the -11 degree morning yesterday.  It looks like a row of trees along the window frame.

The sun was bright and the frost was sparkly but I couldn't capture that in my photo.

My orange cactus continues to bloom little by little.  I rarely have 3 blooms so close together.  I'm seeing little buds forming on my favorite light pink plant.  It usually blooms multiple times in a winter and it is now just setting its first buds.

12 blocks sewn, not pressed.............

I sewed 12 of the Winged Square (Cut Glass Dish) blocks yesterday but haven't turned the iron on yet so they are pretty wonky on the design wall.  Now that they are sewn I could turn the darks in one direction and the lights in the opposite direction.  Until I make the rest of the blocks I don't have a preference for a setting yet.

 I changed this block from a dark one to a light one by turning the triangle units 180 degrees and putting gray dotted squares in.  It previously had the dark purple with big flowers for the squares.

Yesterday morning by the time I got up it had warmed up to -1 degrees.  It was 7 degrees for a high with the sun shining all day.  This morning is supposed to be a lot colder.  But....by Thursday it is supposed to get up to 30 or maybe a couple degrees warmer.  And next week they are talking 50s by midweek.  I'll believe it when I see it.

Monday night sewing.........

I sewed the 5 sixteen patch blocks (6") and three more sets of triangle squares for the Winged Square blocks, two of which are shown here.

Here is the third set which made it up onto the design wall.

I also worked on the border for the yellow crazy pieced top but nothing worth showing yet.

We got another 2-3" of  snow early yesterday morning.  It was light and fluffy and easy to shovel.  Now we are going way down in the deep freeze for 2 nights so the snow won't be leaving any time soon.

 

More changes...........

I didn't sew any blocks together but instead kept changing the plain squares in several blocks.  The lightest block is too light so those squares will come out.  The one to the left, I keep trying that print but I think it is still too dark.  It doesn't help that I have the darkest block next to the lightest block.  Closeups below.

The too light block.  I'll probably cut the same light fabric as is in the triangles for the 3 squares.

The only way I can get this too dark block to work is having more dark blocks.  I need to make 8 more blocks so I'll try some more combinations.

The value change between the yellow and green triangles isn't crisp so this block is iffy whether it will stay in the quilt.

We got about 3-4" of snow early Sunday morning.  More snow predicted tonight.  It is so cold that the snow is light and fluffy.  My snow plow guy brought my newspapers up to my porch before he plowed.  It was nice to not have to walk out to the end of the driveway on the snow.

 

New blocks, changed blocks...............

This is a new block designed yesterday morning.  It is one of my favorites.  I like using the big prints in the plain squares in colors that complement the triangle squares.

This block is a little wild.  I'm not sure if those 3 squares will be used but I like the block.  I'm just not sure it will play nicely with the other blocks.

I changed out the 3 squares that were very dark and cut some to match the dark fabric in the triangles.  I think there is enough light in this print to work with the other blocks.

I cut 3 squares from Brandon's Babble fabric to finish designing this block.

This block was in the upper right corner of the group photo yesterday.  It is a favorite too.

What I am finding is that I like each of the blocks individually but not sure of them as a group.  I think I might have to try narrow sashing between blocks.  I might start sewing my favorite blocks together today.

 

More and more triangles.............

Yesterday morning I changed the dark blocks to flow in the same direction as the light blocks.

Last night I put some more pieces and parts of blocks up on the design wall.  I'm not sure if I want to continue with this.  Maybe I'll change out the dark 4" squares to a more medium color.  I'm glad it is still all in pieces and that the blocks aren't sewn together yet.

I have a few more sections sewn together, more squares sewn with 2 triangles and lots of matched sets of triangles left to sew together.

I may switch back to the yellow crazy pieced top and get the borders figured out for it today.

4 blocks...............

I haven't sewn the 9 pieces for the blocks together yet.  I'm trying to decide if I want positive/negative blocks or all alike in value placement.  I'll sew more of the 4 triangle squares together so I can play with more blocks on the design wall.

All 4 of the buds are open now on the red Amaryllis.

This one is such a pretty shade of red too.

The orange blooms are so pretty too.  A few more buds should be open today or tomorrow.

 

Back to mindless sewing...........

I have been sewing sets of 24 squares, some all alike in a stack, others similar fabrics and not all matched.

Some have been sewn to the next stage.

This is the block I will be making.  This is just 9 parts on the design wall, not sewn together.  The names of the block are Winged Square or Cut Glass Dish.  I will try it with the triangle parts turned 180 degrees and 3 dark squares to see if I like that better.  I thought I had a stack of 4.5" squares already cut but couldn't find them last night.  I'll keep looking today. 

Meanwhile I'm still cutting the next flannel quilt and I'll cut another Pickle Dish block. 

Final layout sewn...........

I moved the top small block section down in the right column from the photo yesterday.  I was happy with the layout now and sewed it all together.

Next on my list was to make a sample block with the pickle dish die.  There are little tiny notches to match every single piece when sewing the outside arc and inside melon piece to the arcs.  That is what sold me on it and I waited for a good sale to buy it.  I haven't decided what fabrics to use in a quilt yet but I think I will have the little pointy pieces in black and white.  End squares have to be decided for when the blocks come together.  

Yesterday it got up to 40 degrees so I left home for the first time in 3 weeks.  I had groceries delivered last week but yesterday did my own shopping in addition to mailing letters and taking my paper recycling to the drop box by a school near me.  After I got home I went out and filled the bird feeders.  It will be in the teens today and 20s after that so I will be content to stay in again.

 

Last block in place............

I had one more block that was too small so I added strips until I could trim it to 10.5" and now all of the blocks are made.  I can't see that this one would become any better by adding a lot more blocks.  It is only 30" x 40" so it will get a border of some kind.  After I decide whether I want to rearrange the column on the right I just need to sew this together and then it will move over to the side of the design wall for awhile.

The Amaryllis was so pretty with the light coming through the petals yesterday morning.

Today is supposed to be in the high 30s so I'm hoping some of the snow will melt, especially the amount that is left on the driveway.  Then we drop back down in the deep freeze again.

 

Analyzing an older project............

This project has been living in a box for over a year.  Since my design wall was empty yesterday was a good day to get it all out and see what I had.  The large blocks are 10" finished and the small ones 5" finished.

I wondered if it needed more black so I pulled several pieces that I had stored in the same box.  I think that might give it a little more life.  Now I have to decide if I want to make more than the one crazy pieced block and make it larger.

The second stalk of flowers finally grew on the red Amaryllis and 2 of the 4 buds have opened.  The pot in the back is the bulb from last year which I had out in the sun all summer and in the dark in my garage for 8 weeks.  It has finally sent up 2 leaves.  I sure hope there will be a bud stalk showing soon.

A couple stars.........

I love the Lemoyne Star cutting die but I never remember which color has to be face up and which face down to continue making stars like the ones on the left.  I finally wrote it on the die.

Here is a close up of one of the stars on the left and then the 3 on the right that are reversed in coloration.  Those 3 will go to the Kaffe orphan block box and I can finally continue on with all of the blocks being alike.

I have more blooms on the orange cactus.  Several buds are almost ready to open.

This is the only bloom on the white one which this year has a tint of pink.  This one usually blooms a couple times each winter with lots of blooms.  It has a slow start this year as this is only the second bloom for the season.

We got a little over an inch of snow from the storm that is supposed to dump heavy snow in the south and in NC.  We have only had 6" of snow total so far at the Chicago airport where the records are kept.  Last year we had most of our snow after this date.  With our dry summer last year we really need some moisture over the winter.