Last finish for March 2024.............

This Marcia Derse Stars quilt top was finished in November 2018 and now it is a finished quilt, thanks to Robin Diaz who quilted it for me.  It has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it and I hand stitched the binding.

The front, back and binding are all Marcia Derse fabrics from the beginning of her fabrics up through November 2018.

It is 65" x 80".

 

40" left to hand stitch.............

Almost done, just 40" left to hand stitch on this Marcia Derse Stars quilt.  I may do a second post today with the stats for this quilt on it.

I think this will be the very last bloom on the pale pink cactus for this winter/spring season.

There is one more white bud to bloom.  There is another small bud but I can't tell if it is going to grow or dry up.

Happy Easter!!

 

First quilt top for March.....and the only one..........

The first order of the day yesterday was to sew this top together.  Spa Quads free pattern from Windham fabrics.  The fabrics are by e bond.  I had to go to Free Spirit's website to see the correct spelling of her name.  The lines are Root and Ravel and I used most of the medium and light fabrics.  The dark narrow strips are dark teal and 2 of them are Marcia Derse fabrics.  This top is 60" x 80".  This was a fun fast quilt top.

I got the binding cut and sewn onto the Maria Derse quilt and started the hand sewing.  The background of the outer border is a very dark brown and the quilt backing is a black background print.

It got up to 59 yesterday so I went out to the back garden again and broke off a lot of the flower stalks from the Rudbeckia plants.  There is more clean up to do but we were in for some heavy rain early this morning and and lighter rain over the weekend.

Another quilt trimmed................

I decided to trim this Marcia Derse Stars quilt to prepare for binding so I could get it off my work table.  Once again black could be a choice for the binding but so could a shade of brown work on this one.

I tried several shades of brown and beige and this one is the best choice.  It had to be a piece that was at least 1/2 yard which eliminated some other choices.

I'm pretty sure this is the winner.  I had hoped I had more of the stripe in the second border but didn't see any in my 2 boxes of Marcia Derse fabric.

It was only 48 degrees yesterday but there was full sunshine so I did a little clean up in the back garden.  I cut off all of the old stalks of peony plants that I missed last fall.  Then I picked up twigs and branches that blew down with all of the wind we have had lately.  Yesterday was calm for a change.

I have all of the quarter blocks made for the Spa Quads quilt so I'll press the last batch and design the final layout today.

 

Another finish...............

This is my version of "Sunlight in the Forest", a quilt in Kaffe Fassett's "Quilts in Sweden" book.  I used my own choice of fabrics but used the same inner border fabric as the original quilt.

I used Hobbs 80/20 batting and it was quilted by longarmer Robin Diaz.

It is 67.5" x 87".

Here is a photo from a 2018 post showing the quilt in the book.  (click on the photo for a closer view.) I finished making the quilt top in June 2018.  

I used 2 fabrics on the back because I didn't have enough of either one of them for the whole back.  I mentioned I would show the whole back when it was done but it is large and was a struggle to get up on the design wall.  I didn't have the energy to take it down, turn it over and hang it back up again.  The second photo on this post shows the Hydrangea fabric the best.

After I filled the birdfeeders I checked to see if anything was growing in the back garden.  I found this one Peony peeking out of the ground.  Only one other was up and not as high as this one.

This Lungwort/Pumonaria plant is snugged up next to the rocks along the edge of the path through the garden.

This is the first bloom open on the third Lenten Rose plant.  Most of the buds look pink but it is on the outside of these petals and around the edges.  This one was barely open so the center of the flower isn't fully formed yet.

I need to keep documenting the progress on these plants.  This is their third blooming year in my garden.  At the left behind them are pots filled with Hostas that I dug out of my front garden.  I hope they survived the winter tucked up next to the house in double pots.

This is the third plant.  I haven't trimmed off the dead leaves from last year yet.  I think I'll be out doing some clean up next week.

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

I made some more blocks for the Spa Quads quilt. I have one more set of 4 quarters cut and need to cut enough pieces for 3 more large blocks (12 quarter blocks).

I have fat quarters of these 2 e bond fabrics that might get used.  I only get 2 quarter blocks out of a fat quarter of fabric so I need to go through the stack one more time and see if I can see another couple pieces that will work.

I had 3 hours of TV last night so I did a lot of hand stitching on this binding.  It sure is easier and faster than a batik binding.  I have about 50" left to stitch.  Maybe I'll get the other quilt trimmed and cut binding for it.  It is a Marcia Derse fabric quilt so it will also be easy to stitch.

I was a little worried about the binding next to the pink roses on the back but there is enough pink in the binding print to make it look okay.

We got an inch and a half of rain from Monday through Tuesday morning.  We need the rain after a fairly dry winter.  My Sedum plants are getting big and I haven't been out there to break off last years dry stalks.  Maybe one day this week will be good.  It has been so windy on most of the warmer days so I'm hoping for a calm warm day.

Binding choice...........

The binding choice ended up being the same one I used on another Kaffe quilt this year.

I'm really glad I decided to go with red instead of a black background print.  It's easier on the eyes and I think the better choice of color.

This is the other print used for the back of the quilt.  I'll show the whole back when I get done with the binding.  Large prints like this one work well for borders and backings but don't cut up well in small shapes.
  

 

A lot accomplished.............

One of the two quilts back from my longarm quilter has been trimmed.  I used 2 fabrics on the back.  This is my Sunlight in the Forest quilt, one of Kaffe's designs but my choices of fabrics.  I did use the same first border that he did.  Colors are more accurate in the next photo.  As I trimmed it I was thinking I would have to use a black background binding and the back is dark....so that wasn't sounding like much fun.

Then I came to my senses and realized tat a red would be nice.  I made a trip to my stash and pulled 4 to try.  No decision made yet.

I sewed the leftover scraps together to cut some more skinny strips for the Spa Quads blocks.  I had enough for 4 and now I need to find another fabric for the rest of the blocks.  I also got 28 nine patch blocks sewn.

One of my white Cactus plants has a bloom and 3 more buds.  2 of them are small so I don't know if they will bloom.  I also have one bud on my pale pink plant.  In previous years I have had blooms all the way into April so I won't give up yet.  

Progress on 2 plus something new.............

The last flannel16 patch blocks that I made yesterday are now added to the previous ones for a total of 38.  I haven't come up with a final plan for them.

I sewed the blocks from the Friday strip sets and sewed 3 more new strip sets for the batik 9 patch project.

I added 5 new blocks to the design wall and rearranged a bit.  I made it one block wider and need to have 12 rows top to bottom.  This first quilt will have all different blocks, one of each of the 4 alike of each combination.  The other 3 blocks go into a project box for a larger quilt with duplicates in it.  I'm not quite half way there so this will continue for a month or so.

I downloaded this free pattern and printed it a few years ago.  I knew I wanted to use large prints for it and finally decided to make it.

These fabrics are from 2 lines by one designer, e bond.  The dark skinny strip is a deep teal color and I only had a fat quarter of it so I need to find something else so I can make the rest of the blocks.  I might use a Marcia Derse fabric or two because they go well with these fabrics.

Last night when I was closing the blinds on my front windows the moon was shining through the huge maple tree across the street.  It was too striking to let it pass without taking a photo.

A better day..............

I did more organizing with the flannel fabrics but am not done yet.  I found a light fabric to match with 3 strips that were cut for 16 patches.  I'll have to count how many 16 patches I have now.  These need to be pressed before I go any farther with them.  I have a huge box of flannel scraps.  The last time I sorted them was early 2017 and I cut lots of tumbler shapes and tossed all of the small pieces.

I selected 11 more pairs for 9 patches last night and sewed 3 of them.

This is the stack ready to go to the ironing table today.

9 more blocks were added to the design wall.  The other 3 of each of those went into a project box for the next quilt.  The blocks will finish at 4.5".

This is all of the snow we got yesterday.  About 60 miles north of us got 4-6".  It may not be the last blast of winter.  We have had snow the first week of April many times.

 

Planning, cleaning, and a lot of other uninteresting things to post about......

Very little sewing, just one of each of the combinations of the 9 patches.

Thursday mornings are drop off times at our local thrift shop so that was yesterday morning's task.

Then I decided to look through my flannel stash and make a decision on my storage of it.  It is a bit of a mess after pulling pieces for 4 quilts.  I made some decisions but didn't get it all straightened out so I'll be back down there today.  

I spent time with my many notebooks full of notes and don't have a clue if I made any progress there.  It's a good thing I have these 9 patches lined up to sew.

I have 2 quilts to trim and binding to cut today.  Maybe I'll get some other cutting done too.

Fourth finish for March 2024..............

The last 2 strips were cut for the binding and sewn onto the Hugs and Kisses flannel quilt.  I finished the binding by topstitching by machine on the front of the quilt.

The channel lock straight line quilting shrunk the quilt 3" widthwise so it ended up at 57" x 82.5".  I used Hobbs 80/20 batting and a medium tan thread top and bottom.

The backing and binding are the same flannel.  I'm really happy with the variety of colors in this quilt.  My flannel collection started in the mid 1990s and some of those original fabrics are in this quilt.  I sold quite a bit of flannel yardage a few years ago and I still have enough for at least 5 more quilts.
 

Partial binding and 9 patch progress................

I started out the day getting another huge backing made for my Charley in the Forest quilt.  You will see the fantastic backing fabric in a few weeks.

I salvaged some of the cut off backing strips on the Hugs and Kisses flannel quilt and sewed them together.  I went ahead and sewed it on the quilt and I'm short about 55".  I have a little yardage left so I'll cut the remaining 2 strips from it.  I should have the binding finished today.

For the rest of my 3 hour sewing session last night I got the 3 groups of 9 patches sewn and 3 more strip sets sewn.

Then I spent some time finding pairs for the next batch of 9 patches.  There aren't many purples in this first box of batik 2" strips so I'll check the other box today.

 

Lazy day.............

This Hugs and Kisses flannel quilt was unpinned from the longarm frame and trimmed and that was it.  No ambition to do any more.  Some days are like that.

I pressed the 9 patches from yesterday and put one from each set of 4 up on the design wall.  I sewed 3 more strips sets and pressed them too and cut the segments for 9 patches.  I need to get busy today and cut some more batting to match with tops since I didn't get it done last week.  Then I can get the roll of batting off my tables to makes space for something I am working on.
 

Another quilted.......................

The flannel Hugs and Kisses is quilted, not without a few problems which I won't bore you with.  I'll get it trimmed today and cut the binding, which will probably be the same as the backing fabric.

I sewed 9 patches while I watched TV last night.  I laid all 4 of the orange ones out separately so you can see the variety that a mottled fabric creates.

My largest Columbine which is pink is getting big.  I'll have to check and see if the Columbines in the front have come up yet.  We're in for some cold nights so I'll wait to rake the leaves.

I'm seeing more of the Lungwort/Pulmonaria now.  I think the Brunnera is growing too.  It is another early bloomer with tiny blue flowers.