Cutting and sewing............

Yesterday morning was cutting time for the pink and green quilt.  This is the new batch that I cut.

There were a few pieces already cut that just needed something to pair with.  I got these ready to sew and then exchanged the pink ones from the top left and bottom right corners with each other.  All were sewn last night, 6 in each pile.  Now it is time to turn on the iron.

This is the before photo of the Lenten Rose area.... and

this is after I cleaned up the area and edged the bed with some cast stone pieces.  The white spots on the leaves is the sun filtering through the red Weigela bush from the right of this bed.

It was predicted to be in the mid 50s yesterday but it got up to 65 degrees here.  I pulled weeds in several areas in addition to cleaning up this bed.

Mostly outside yesterday...............

This is the view out my studio window from my computer chair.  I bought a couple huge pots yesterday to plant tomatoes in.  I used my 2 wheel cart to bring the 40 lb. bags of dirt around to the back and got both of them planted.  There are a couple small pots there that don't have anything planted in them. I think I'll plant flower seeds in them.

It got up to a little over 80 degrees yesterday.  I had a paper towel in  my pocket to keep mopping my face so the sweat didn't run into my eyes.  If I had known what the temperature was I probably would have quit working outside sooner.  The last thing I did was to start putting the leaf mulch around the plants in the front garden.  I have 3 more bags to go.

This view is from the corner of the house and garage looking forward on the same garden.  The plants at the bottom of the photo are new plants put in the ground last fall.  One is Veronica and the next one is the shaggy center red coneflower.  I took this photo before I started spreading the leaf mulch.

I found a couple Jack-in-the-Pulpit in the back garden.  I have 2 varieties.

I only found one of the striped ones.  I used to have a huge plant with them but it eventually died out, maybe because the Lily of the Valley is choking out some other plants.

One of my problems in the back garden is the Velcro weed.  I had never even seen it a few years ago and now it is rampant early in the growing season.  It's going to be cooler for a couple days so maybe I can get a lot of it pulled out.

Two of my Lenten Rose plants have shot up with a lot of new growth above the flowering layer.  It's obvious I haven't gotten the weeding done there yet.  

All I did in the sewing studio was to count the leftover green, pink, and blue triangles.  There will be a few more greens after I cut the last few fabrics.  I counted 318 of them which would make a quilt top 66" x 84".

 

Outside and inside.....................

I decided it was probably safe to put the tomato plants in the ground.  This is an Early Girl plant for my neighbor girls.

I have 3 plants in the raised bed in the backyard.  The front 2 corners have rotted so the big rocks are holding up the front board.  I have one Sun Gold in the back and an Early Girl and a 4th of July in the front.

3 of the plants I bought were the larger more expensive plants so they have fruit on them already.

There is one good size one on this plant.

My three lilac bushes have been blooming for about a week now.  The scent is strong on this variety and it is right outside my bedroom window.  The whole house smells like lilacs.

They aren't as showy as the old fashioned lilacs.  These are pale lavender but they look almost white when fully open.

I found another Columbine blooming in the back garden.  I have lots of weeds that need to be cleared out back there.  I can hardly find my paver path through the garden.

My daughter's family sent me roses for Mother's Day.  The photo of the whole bouquet didn't turn out but the close ups did.

It is a combination of white and yellow roses.

I sewed pink/green triangle blocks for 3 hours last night.  In 2 nights sewing I have 102 sewn and I need 120.

This is the pile of leftovers from the groups I have already sewn.  I think there are enough for another quilt.

 

Leftover triangles.............

There were 6 triangles left over of the two fabrics that I could use for the pieced border so I sewed them into squares.  In the book they have you cut large triangles for the border (the size of 2 of these triangles sewn together.  That means you would sew the center together and then have to sew on a border that was made separately.  If I do it "my" way, the square (at each end of the rows) will become part of each row being sewn together with no border strips to sew on at the end.  I'm still not sure I like the border.  I think it is the first thing you see when you look at the quilt and you miss all of the beautiful pink and blue fun in the middle.  Still undecided.

Here is a reminder of what it looks like.

Meanwhile I cut some more pink and green triangles and have started sewing pairs together (at the right side of the photo).

Last night I watched "Wonder Woman" on Peacock (free with Comcast) and I had no idea it was such a violent movie.  I would think children watching it would have a hard time falling asleep afterwards.  I have only seen one other super hero movie and it really isn't the type I enjoy.

Happy Mother's Day to my US readers.  

An everything else day..................

I took a daylight photo of the pink/blue layout and this is closer to what my design wall looks like but just a little bit light.  Yesterday's photos were too high of contrast which made the lights too light and the darks too dark.

This one was taken last night with lights on.  I get better color and contrast when I'm taking a photo from the side instead of straight on.  I turned one piece and the layout looks better (5th row in from the left, 4th piece down).

Yesterday was a day crowded with too many things to do and none of them were sewing.  I hope to get back at it today.

 

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

The contrast is not as high as it looks in this photo.  I even re-took the photo to try to get a better color and contrast.  This is the first layout, 6" finished blocks (48" x 60").  The quilt in the book has a border of triangles of 2 prints.

I looked through all of the blue fabrics and found 2 that I have enough of.  I just have to decide if I would rather just make more blocks or do the border like the book.

Here are the photos again of the 2 quilts.  The blue one has the pieced border and the green one has no border.

I can start sewing the pink/green blocks while I think about it.  I didn't get all of the new pinks and green cut yet so I just matched up pairs of the ones that were already cut.  Some of these may change as I get the rest cut.

Deep diving the stash...............

I pulled a stack off my shelves of Kaffe fabric and went through it piece by piece.  I found a few more pieces for my pink and green Tussie Mussie quilt.

I could go through some more stacks but I think I'm good now.

I showed my Kaffe Fassett stash last June when I brought it all up to the main level.  The empty crate at the right is filled now.  The shelf that I searched through is at the bottom of the black shelf unit on the right behind a small crate.  On the left on the bottom is the Spot fabric, dots in many colors.  I pulled one from that stack, the pale green with pink dots.

I also went through the Tula Pink stack and found these 4 that should work.  The turtles and rabbits are pretty large so they will be sliced into pieces.

This is the Columbine in the back garden.  I bought it at a garden club sale about 15 years ago.

The center is a very pale yellow.  The wind was blowing so I had to hold onto it to keep it in focus.

I thought my white Bleeding Heart got trampled last year but it came back.  It has one stem with flowers and more to bloom later.

There were a few white star flowers in the grass.  There are also lots of Violets and Creeping Charlie in the grass.  It's all green and in a shady area where the grass is sparse.  I would rather see something green than bare spots.

On the way back to the house I noticed the red Weigela has a few blooms.  The medium pink one is about done and the pale pink one has a few flowers on it.

I'll try to remember to get a photo of the whole bush with the red blooms.  It is pretty showy.

Still pairing and sewing triangles..................

I finished sewing 84 pairs of triangles last night.  I have only sewn the pink/blue combination so far.  There are 6 squares of each combination of fabrics.

I opened up one square so you can tell what this pile is; they will finish at 6".  If I follow the pattern I will need 80 squares and the rest would be the pieced border, shown on this post.  It will depend on whether I can find enough of 2 blue Kaffe collective prints for consistent border fabrics.  I would be just as happy making more squares in a variety of fabrics but I'll give it a chance as I look for fabrics today.

I have 14 pinks and 14 greens already cut into triangles.  I have another pile of 11 greens that I intend to cut so there is a dilemma.  Do I repeat some of the pinks or look for some more?  I could easily find 11 more that aren't Kaffe collective, such as more Tula Pink fabrics.  I know there are some more pink fabrics in that pile.

Look closely and you will see my squirrel deterrent in this pot.  Yesterday morning I opened the front door to check my rain gauge and there was a squirrel with a walnut in his mouth, sitting next to the pot.  He was just as surprised as I was and he ran away.  When I checked the pot I could see where he had been digging, right between the plastic pieces.  I found some more of them in the garage so I'll put a few more around the perimeter.

It looks like all three Columbine plants are the burgundy color.  The leaves on the front shorter plant look a little strange so I'm wondering it it was frost bit.

Behind those Columbines it looks like a whole bunch of new plants coming up.  There is a good chance all of the seed from the dried flower heads fell back there last fall.

My pale pink Columbine in the backyard is blooming too so I'll have to get a photo of it next.

 

Finding more fabrics for triangles.............

Yesterday was errand day so I didn't get any cutting done but I had a lot of fun searching for more fabrics for the 2 quilt plans from yesterday's post.

I was looking through the Philip Jacobs stash and found 2 more that I think will work.  The pink should work in both quilts and the other 2 in the pink/blue quilt.

I found quite a few more greens with the triangles from yesterday here with them.

I sewed some of the triangle pairs last night but haven't pressed them so there is nothing to show there. 

Cutting and planning.............

I cut a lot of 6" finished half square triangles yesterday.  I have had the pile of pink and blue fabrics sitting on a cutting table for more than 6 months.  The greens were leftovers from another quilt and were already pressed.

I cut 10 layers at a time with my Accuquilt Studio die cutter so the piles of 10 were layered with many different fabrics.  It took 1 1/2 hours to sort them while I watched TV last night.  All are Kaffe collective except for one Tula Pink.

Here is the variety of greens.  I have some more to cut today.

Here are two of the inspiration quilts for my projects.  I'm not using all of the same fabrics as were used in the books.

Here are the two books those quilts are in.

This is the first pink/blue quilt of Kaffe's that I saw back in the 1990s.  It is in his Glorious Patchwork book and is made of lots of florals....not his fabrics because he had only designed the yarn dyed woven stripes when this book was written.

Look at what I found when I was watering my plants on Saturday.  It was on the side facing the window and I hadn't even seen the bud growing.