Looks better sewn together......................

A quilt top always looks so much better than just blocks on the design wall.  I love the rich colors in this one.  I think it would look great thrown over a leather chair in a wood paneled library.

It would have looked a little better with one more row in length for a better rectangular shape, but I was done working on it.  It is 64" x 72", a nice throw quilt size.

How did I choose the fabrics for this quilt?  I was looking for some no-brainer sewing so I opened 2 boxes full of 2.5" strips.  There wasn't a great variety because this was what was left from 5 drawers of strips cut over a 15-20 year span.  As I looked through the strips, the ones that were green with orange/rust in them inspired me and I paired them with dark brown or black strips.  Eventually I had to go to yardage to cut strips in specific colors/values.  This is the way I usually work.  I rarely choose all of the fabrics for a quilt first, but instead just keep choosing fabrics to add as I realize what I am making.

In this case I started out thinking I was going to make a traditional 16 patch quilt and then veered off with the idea to make "the other 16 patch", the one with rectangles instead of squares.

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

This is not a great photo but it is my working photo in case anything gets mixed up during sewing.  It looks a lot different in person so I hope I can get a good photo when it is all sewn together.  I was lazy last night and just did clean up in my computer folders instead of sewing.

In the morning a friend came over to get the big rocks along the path in my back garden.  They are a tripping hazard for me now so they need to go.  She got quite a few for the first load and will come back a couple times to get some more.  I hauled all of the pots of dirt that didn't have anything currently growing in them to fill the spots where the rocks came out.  I have almost all of the peonies cut down now. 

First layout................

All 32 blocks are sewn and pressed now.  This last group of 4 will add more color to the group.

Last night's layout. There is one block I want to exchange with another but I haven't made the decision which one yet.  I thought I would wait until this morning to look at it again.

These are definitely the colors of the outside in my town.  Still lots of green but more colorful trees every day.

 

Prepping time......................

I continued cutting batting and backing for quilts that I will do the quilting on.  I think this might be the first time I have used a non-Kaffe fabric as backing on a Kaffe quilt.  The top is 48" wide which would have meant piecing a back.  I had this 58" wide fabric that looks great with it so no piecing required.

I was able to get both battings from one width of batting off the roll.  I decided on a large print floral for the back of this small quilt.

Next I searched through my batik stash for the last 8 fabric I needed for the current quilt.

I got the strip sets sewn last night but didn't turn on the iron.  I'll do that today and get the last 8 blocks pieced.

Carol C, you are a no reply commenter (your email is not enabled in your Google profile) and you asked for key words to search for posts where I have made quilts like this one.  I call this one "the other 16 patch" because the traditional 16 patch is all squares and this one has rectangles.  So the way to search is enter other 16 patch into the search box at the top left of this blog post.  If you read on a smartphone you have to go the the bottom of the post and click on view web version to find the search box.  It is tiny and is at the top left above my header photo.  This will take you to all of the posts for all of the quilts I have made with this block.

A little progress................

Four more strip sets are ready to be pressed and then made into blocks.  This is my favorite of the 4.

I added the other 4 blocks of the original 24 to the design wall.  I need to take this to the basement for a larger design wall before I add any more blocks.

This one that might look like pink on your monitor is actually a coral color and goes well with the other orangey/rusty spots in other blocks.

I got one more batting cut and a backing pieced so my longarm quilter can pick up 2 to be quilted.

 

Testing..................

This is 18 of 24 blocks that are sewn so far.  I just had to see them on the design wall and confirm that I want the blocks to run horizontal instead of vertical.

I have strips chosen for 4 more blocks.  I need at least 32 blocks so I need to choose 4 more pairs.

I covered a few of my tomato plants last night, hoping they will make it through the freeze.

 

One more step.................

All 24 strip sets are at this stage now, ready to cut into 2 strips of rectangles.  I need to find 16 more fabrics for 8 more pairs.  I'm trying to decide whether to repeat some of the fabrics.

The new NCIS shows were on last night so I had 3 hours to sew.

One of my white cacti has 2 buds on it.  This is the time of year that the first buds form.  I need to get busy and repot a couple of them.  This morning I have my wound check from pacemaker surgery and then I can get busy on some projects.  I need to cut another batting and make another backing.

 

More green strips..............

I needed to take one final look at all 11 pairs of strips to see if I needed to change anything.  Then I started sewing them while I watched the first 'Tracker' show of the fall season.

I sewed 10 out of the 11 pairs.  I decided to look for 2 new fabrics to pair with the 2 strips in the 11th pair.  I now have 24 sets sewn which will only make 48 blocks so there will be more fabrics chosen.

I finally remembered to take some photos of the fall color in my neighborhood.  This tree is straight across the street from me.  There is still a lot of green on it with puffs of color arranged over it.

Looking north are 2 more colorful trees.

The burning bush in my south neighbor's yard is the earliest one in the neighborhood to turn color.  I'm not sure what his front yard tree is but the leaves turn yellow and fall off rather quickly.

I walked into my backyard neighbor's yard to get this photo of her tree at the front of her lot.  You can see lots of leaves have fallen from that one already.  

It's only going to be in the 50s the next few days with possible frost Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

 

Getting ready..............

Cutting batting and making backings has been on my mind for a couple weeks so yesterday morning I finally got to it.  I haven't pressed the backing yet but it is pieced.

Yesterday afternoon was the birthday party for my 1 year old great-grandson.  He didn't want anything to do with the cake that was put in front of him.  He started pushing the plate to the front of the tray on his highchair.  Luckily his mom caught it before it tumbled.  He is walking now, even outside on unlevel ground.

6 more batiks................

I had many things to take care of yesterday so the only time in the studio was to find more green fabrics for the current strip piecing project.  A lot of my batik stash is 1/2 yard or less so there is a large variety on every shelf.  I only need a few more fabrics so I'll spread out everything I have so far and see what I need to add. 

A change of plans...............

Yesterday I started the day by baking chocolate chip cookies.  I was planning the next thing to bake when I got the news that one of the travelers wasn't feeling well so they aren't coming.  (Poor photo, they look much better)

To free some space in my freezer for cookies, I baked half a package of cinnamon rolls.  It was only 65 degrees inside because I haven't turned on the heat yet.  We're supposed to get up to low 80s today and then only high 50s early next week.  They are even talking a frost or possible freeze warning Tuesday night.  I guess I'll have to turn on the heat Sunday or Monday.

Last night I looked through the shelf of 'batik quarter yard or less' for fabric for my current quilt.

I pulled these 4 to cut into 2.5" strips, one of each for the current quilt and the rest to go into one of the 2 boxes of strips.

Both of my kids celebrated 40th wedding anniversaries this year, one of them yesterday.

 

Miscellaneous..................

 I have 10 more strip sets up to this point as of last night.

This is my favorite set so far.

In addition to a 16 patch I could make any one of these 3 patterns with my strip sets.

I had a wonderful visit with my niece and her mom (my sister-in-law) yesterday afternoon.  Last night I started baking because some family a state away is coming to the area for a party for the first birthday of my youngest great-grandchild.

Garden clean up and no-brainer sewing...........

The weather was perfect yesterday for doing yardwork.  I cut down many peonies and volunteer trees.  I was so tired last night I needed some no-brainer sewing.  I checked out the 2 boxes of 2.5" batik strips.

These 2 project boxes hold all that is left of the strips I started cutting about 15 or more years ago.  I took them out of the plastic drawer units (5 drawers that used to be full and was now down to 3 drawers) and put them in these boxes so I could get rid of those 2 drawer units.

In the first box I saw several orange/green strips so I paired them with dark strips (black, brown, green).  I ended up with 20 pairs and got 14 of them sewn to this stage.

Three of them are sewn like this now.  There are many combinations that I could cut these sets into but remember, this was no-brainer sewing, so no further decisions were made, just wonderful long seams to sew.

The weather will be nice today too, but I think 2 days in a row outside would be too much.  In fact I may wait until next week when it will be even cooler to finish the garden clean up.

Checking outside..................

If you look at the left side of the pot, that is a hole dug by a critter, most likely chipmunk.  It's amazing that he left my 2 little Viola plants alone.

This is the yellow Coneflower plant.  This is the first year for such good growth.  What amazes me is that it has sent up 2 new buds.   The rest of the blooms are dried seedheads at this point.

The red Coneflower has been sending up new buds for about a month now.  There are 2 small buds in this photo as well as full blooms and dried seedheads.  We have had above normal temperatures for several weeks.

I was excited to see I have a bonus Columbine over by the Hydrangea bush.

There are two late season blooms on the Cranesbill.  Most of the plants are going into their fall stage now.  

I cleaned up the area around a small scroungy Weigela bush.  I broke off all of the dead branches and now a friend is going to cut it off close to the ground.  My other 3 Weigelas do great but this one has always been spindly.

Pinwheels................

It looks just like yesterday's photo but this is the sewn top.  Right now it is 60" x 72" which falls into the size quilts I prefer to make now.  If I add borders (to please someone who would like a larger quilt) it will be in the size range that I no longer want to do the quilting on.  I have the fabric that would work for a border, I just don't know that I want to push myself to do it.  This will hang on the design wall for a few days.

Meanwhile I was putting the leftover triangles back in the project box.....and surprise!....there are way more green triangles in there than I remembered (I counted 108). The leftover blues are mostly pairs, not enough for pinwheels.  There are a few pink ones hiding under the blue ones too.  Maybe I should add purple to the mix and make a zigzag quilt. 

A little magic trick....................

New layout!

Yesterday morning it dawned on me that I could move the column on the right over to the left side and that would keep the blocks in order.  I like this layout so much better.  I sewed the top together last night but haven't pressed it yet.  I need to decide if I'm going to add a border to it, one of the large floral prints.

This is the layout from yesterday for comparison. 

A layout, maybe not the final.........................

I had a plan....since there are 10 different combinations of fabrics and there are 5 blocks in each row, all I had to do is design the top 2 rows and then offset the next set of 2 rows 2 blocks to the right, and repeat for the third set of 10 blocks. Now when I see the photo I can see I have a diagonal path of the plainer prints and the busier prints are also grouped together.  I could say I did that on purpose to give it a focal point....but I didn't.  I have to decide if I like it the way it is, or do I want to change it.

The two little neighbor girls are getting a makeover for their bedroom.  I had been planning on giving them some larger quilts since they only had small quilts from me before.  Their mom told me what she had in mind and I showed her several choices.  She chose these 2.  Neither of the quilts is a twin size quilt but instead they will be used as toppers, or folded at the foot of their beds.

These 2 quilts were sold at the beginning of September.  That makes a total of 8 out of my guest bedroom and into new homes.

3 blocks and quilts gifted.....................

Yesterday turned into kind of a social day so I only got 3 blocks sewn.  The 2 light fabrics on the left haven't been used in the previous 27 blocks but the one on the right is a repeat.  I now have 30 blocks.

A friend in town has lost several family members in the last year so I told her to come over and pick out a quilt.  I asked what her favorite color was and she said green.  I pulled out the one on the left and she loved it.  Then I pulled out the one on the right and she loved it more.  She couldn't decide which to take so I gave both of them to her.  They both have green prints on the back too.

I had a surprise visit from my niece last month and I sent home the one on the left for her and the one on the right to her son and wife.  The 2 nieces had each gotten 2 quilts and their brother had only gotten one so I needed to even things up.

I have 4 more I'll show tomorrow that left my house last month.