Monday, September 4, 2023

So much prep work and no sewing...............


This colorwash is finally ready to baste.  I'll do a few lines of basting each time I am in the basement.






This quilt is next in line to finish.  I need to replace the needle so that is my hang up on this one.  As I have mentioned before the tops of the needles don't have a flat side so it takes some fiddling to make the machine happy.


I have some fabrics with African motifs but they are printed by our regular manufacturers so they aren't officially African fabrics.  Some of these are Matters of the Heart by Kaye England.  A lot of them are fat quarters.  I decided to use them for a 16 patch quilt (or 2).  







In my drawers full of batik 2.5" strips I had one group that I cut from mottled batiks when I was preparing groups of the mottles to sell at one of my pop-up shops.  They will pair nicely with the African motifs.



I paired 12 of the 2 kinds of fabric and this group will make 24 blocks.  I have duplicates of each of these strips so I could do a duplicate pairing and there would be enough for 48 blocks. That would only make a quilt 48" x 64" so I'll check to see if there is something good to use for a border, and if there isn't, I can cut more strips.  Alternatively I could keep the duplicate set for another quilt and just keep cutting strips.....

8 comments:

Helenchaffin said...

What beautiful quilts coming together! I'm working on trying to make my RSC quilt have a colorwash quilts,that thought didn't come to me till midway so I may have to wait till I have more solid blended prints,either way it'll be a quilt lol

Julierose said...

Nice pairings on those African style fabrics...it is going to be a hot one here today--already 71.6 with 70 DP at 8 am!!! Definitely an indoor day for us...
Happy Labor day to you...hugs, Julierose

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

those are all such lovely fabrics.
It sounds like there is a bit of a trick to changing the needle if you have no flat side on them

JJM said...

Great post today Wanda ~ What a lot to look at ! Your quilt on long arm is striking stripes to see. Color wash headed for the finish line too. And all your pairings just dance off the screen right to my heart.

JJM

Barbara Anne said...

Love your colorwash quilt and your method for getting it basted a bit at a time. Yes, the prep is time consuming but it makes the sewing that much easier.

What great beginnings for your new 16 Patch quilt and those are such dynamic fabrics. Perfect!

No quilt police and no time constraints so just enjoy yourself.

Hugs!

Cathy said...

Oh, I love your pairing of African fabrics with bright batiks! I am going to have to “borrow” that idea!!

Linda Swanekamp said...

Love that fabric pairing- makes the prints clearer. When I change my long arm needle, I tape a piece of white paper behind it on the machine. Then I have a small LED flashlight I lay on the bar pointing it straight at the needle. When I put the needle in, I look at the eye straight on. The paper helps me see the eye and the flashlight beam helps me get the eye perfectly parallel with the front bar. Takes seconds and is better for me than fiddling around.

Mystic Quilter said...

Love the look of the bright batiks with the African motif fabric. Basting - good idea to work on a little at one time and if you have the room to lay one out for a while.