Little things.....................

I spent time outside doing more garden clean up and didn't get a lot done in the studio.  I found a little pile of batik triangle squares and since there were 4 matching of each, I made 20 little Broken Dishes blocks.  Sewn together these would make a placemat size piece.  I could just save them in the batik orphan block box and use them as filler blocks.  I'll press them and then decide what to do with them.

I also cut all of the Kaffe sewn strips into segments for 4 patches and sewed them together.  Another pile to press.

I brought the Tilda Whimsy quilt and binding strips up from the basement, but no progress there.  I have a flare up of my sciatic nerve that has me moving around to calm it down.

If you look to the left of the rocks, Chippy is back this year.  I only noticed chipmunks around my front porch last year.  This year they are back going for the birdseed.

The Redbuds are getting pinker by the day.

the Lenten Roses are larger.  All of the green leaves around the bricks are the invasive Bellflowers that are coming up everywhere.

All of my violets are in the backyard....except this little volunteer that showed up in the front flowerbed.

There are two volunteer Columbines in the front garden too.  This one is over by my mailbox, the other is by my Hydrangea bush.  I need to move this one because it will start leaning over the sidewalk and get trampled if I don't.

First Tilda quilt finished........

The first of 2 Tilda fabric quilts is finished.  It is a little brighter in person.  It ended up at 55" x 70" and has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it.

The backing fabric was purchased in 1975 or 76 at a fabric store in my town.  They were selling clothing fabric since quilt shops were really rare at that time.  There isn't any name on the edge of the fabric.  It was only 38" wide and that was after being washed so it might have been 40" to start with.  The quilt was longarm quilted by Robin Diaz.

The redbuds are getting ready to bloom.  The buds are nice and fat.  It got up to 73 yesterday and today is supposed to be warmer.

I went out to take pictures of growing things and met my new neighbors south of me.

This is the white Bleeding Heart plant.  I'm happy to see it back again.

This is one of the largest Pulmonaria/Lungwort plants in the back garden.  The leaves are so tiny while the plants are blooming.  Then they get huge for the rest of the summer.  I love the spots.

One large Brunnera plant is blooming in that same area.  The tiny blue flowers are similar to Forget-me-not.

I have some more plant photos that I'll post tomorrow after I edit them.

Trimming................

I usually stay in the basement while the washing machine is running so I can transfer the clothes to the dryer before I go back upstairs.

Yesterday while I was down there I decided to trim the Tilda Whimsey quilt and cut the binding for it.  Also, look at that cute backing fabric.  I bought it on sale a while back thinking it would be perfect for some future quilt.  The background is gray and the bicycles are so cute.  It is not a Tilda fabric.  I couldn't see spending the money for a Tilda fabric backing.

I have about 10" left to hand stitch on the Tilda 16 patch quilt so I'll probably get it photographed today.

This is a collage from 2017 but it is still representative of my back garden now.  These photos were taken 8 days apart so you can see how the ground goes from practically bare to recognizable Hostas.  The photo on the right is just a little ahead of the way the garden looks today.  As much as I love the rocks around the edges of the gardens, they have become a tripping hazard so I'm removing them little by little.

This is another angle of the path that goes through the garden when the garden is grown at the beginning of July last year.  

I think I lost a couple plants in my front garden because we had the big freeze in the winter without a snow cover on the plants.

I put my rain gauge out Sunday near the end of the afternoon rain.  We had more rain at night and when I checked it yesterday morning there was 3/4" of rain in it. 

A day for binding.....................

I decided to spend all of my sewing time on the binding on this Tilda quilt yesterday.  I made it around to the 4th corner and a few more inches.  I have 40" left to stitch on one short side.

I realized yesterday that the backing fabric looked like a black print in my photos.  I put it under my Ottlite and took a close up.  It is medium blue and navy blue on a cream color background.  It goes really well with the blue Tilda fabrics.

We got some rain yesterday and I didn't get my rain gauge out until most of the early rain had stopped.  I'll check today and see how much rain we got in the later storms around 10 p.m.

Making progress................

I needed to clean off the top of my sewing cabinet so 11 Broken Dishes blocks got sewn and the rest of the triangles went back into the 3" Kaffe fabric parts box.  I will probably put these blocks in the Kaffe orphan block box for now.

Next up was trimming the Tilda 16 patch quilt and cutting the binding strips.

The backing fabric was a purchase around 1975-6.  It was 38" wide.  I always liked the woodblock type prints and the color of this one went well with the Tilda fabrics.

I always start my hand sewing a few inches before a corner.  I got 2/3 of a long side stitched last night.

Happy Easter to all who celebrate it.  I gave all of my 100+ year old postcards to a cousin but I had this photo from several years ago to share today.

 

Spring taking its time...............

I checked my post from a year ago today and we were way ahead of this year's growth in the garden.  I still have bare ground in some backyard gardens and last year it was almost half filled in with large plants.  The Redbuds show progress but it will still be a week or more before full bloom.  That is really the normal time for them to bloom so I think last year we had an early spring.

The earliest peonies are about a foot tall and I can see lots of the other ones starting to grow too.  It got up to 74 yesterday but now we will be back in the 50s for a few days.  

I cleaned the leaves out of one more front flowerbed where the Columbines and Cranesbill are.  They should grow faster now.

I really didn't do much yesterday but play with some of the triangle squares that I had already sewn.  None of these blocks are sewn, just pieces laying there.

Shopping and designing...........

I had a gift certificate to use at a local garden center so I made a trip there yesterday.  I got Pansies for the pot on my porch.  I was disappointed that they didn't have any orange ones since they are the scented variety.

I also got a 4 pack of tiny tomato plants for $2.39.  I will plant them in the next size containers and keep them in my garage.  I'll might then move them up to another size container before they get planted outside.  It will depend on how fast they grow.  these are the Rutgers variety which I really like.

I kept moving pieces on the Kaffe colorwash but it still needs more work.  I looked for 2 pink fabrics to fill in the last 2 spots.

So far I have only found one that is the right value.  I will continue to search today.

 

Just playing...................

Yesterday was the first day this week without strong wind so I went grocery shopping and filled my gas tank.

When I got to the sewing machine I continued sewing triangle squares and then decided to play with some of the parts in the box.  If I decide to sew this block I need to start sewing more hourglass blocks.  I have a couple more ideas to try too.

This is one of the racks in the basement that I can see now that the excess design walls are gone.  On top is interfacing and fusible fleece, next shelf down is Australian/Aboriginal fabrics, then 2 shelves of black and white, followed by African fabrics and some miscellaneous.  On the bottom is pinks, pastels, some backing fabrics and one miscellaneous pile.  I'm just happy to not have to move a wall every time I need something from this shelf unit.

Last night I played with a collection of Kaffe 2.5" squares to see if I have a good selection for a colorwash.  There are too many golds and not enough greens for one thing and not enough medium/dark values.

 

Sorting......mindless work...........

Last night I decided to sort the triangles in the box of 3" Kaffe collective fabrics.  Since I cut them with my die cutter, and there are either 6 layers or 10 layers, depending on which cutter I used, there was a variety of fabrics in each pile.

Then I decided to divide them by stacks with less than 8 triangles and stacks of more than 8 triangles.  This photo is all of the ones with 8 or more triangles.  A sawtooth star would take 8 alike.

Next I paired all of the ones with less than 8 triangles and started sewing them.

Yesterday morning my son came by and he helped me take the flannel off all of the 1" foam insulation sheets that were design walls in the basement.  Then he loaded them in my van and I drove them to his business.  Now I have access to all of areas except one in my basement.  For any newer readers, I used to have 8 people who came for a workshop about every 8 weeks and I provided one 4' x 7' design wall for each of them.  I no longer have a need for all of those walls.  Some were in front of metal storage racks with fabric stored on them so I had to move the walls to get to the fabric.  

Then my son and grandson picked me up at noon for lunch at a local establishment I had never been to.  We used to call them taverns but I think most people just call them bars now.  This one is well known for their good food and they didn't dissapoint.

Very little sewing..................

I couldn't settle on a project yesterday so I decided to just sew some more components for the 4" Kaffe "parts" box.  I need to press the strips before I can cut them to make 4 patches.

I decided to check the 3" Kaffe "parts" box and I need to cut more light fabrics before I do much sewing with the pieces.  I don't have anything in mind for either box of pieces and hopefully I can zero in on a project today.

I can always trim the two Tilda quilts and cut the binding for them.

 

Twig border..................

The twig print border #4 was a good finish for this piece.  I started with the center block in July 2016.  Borders were added little by little over the years.  I wish now that the center was better looking.  I could unpick it and add something else in the center but I'll have to think about that for awhile.  It is 45.5" x 57.5" right now.  The overall size won't change if I decide on something else for the center.

I gave a final press to the other wild little quilt top.  It is 40" square.

The center section of this one was started in December 2015 and the center was completed in January 2016.  Then it waited for the next 2 borders to be added in a period of 9 years.  Ridiculous, I know.  This one is considered finished so I will get it quilted soon.

I had four 4 patch blocks leftover from the first quilt so I pulled out the box containing components for more 4" blocks.  There were some short strips left too so I can make some more 4 patches.

 

A finish..................

This quilt is all batik, made with 2.5" strips in a pattern I call "the other 16 patch".  The true 16 patch is made of squares.  There are 32 blocks each made with 2 different batiks so there were 64 strips total.

There is one full width strip and 2 leftover pieces from previous backings on the back of this quilt.  It is 62.5" x 70.5".  It has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it and it was longarm quilted by Robin Diaz.

I mentioned digging out ditch lilies a couple days ago.  They are day lilies that grow wild along country roads.  These are about 6-8" tall and look at those roots!  It's no wonder they are so hardy and such a pain to get rid of.

I got the old growth broken off of the 3rd Sedum plant and when I raked the leaves I found the Hosta to the right of it already growing.

I worked 1 1/2 hours and am only about half done in this flowerbed.

Here are 2 more Hostas starting to grow.  I haven't seen any in the back garden yet, but with it being 63 yesterday and today maybe warmer, I'm sure there will be some by the end of the day.

I moved a couple pots into my garage for the winter.  It is about 55 degrees in there all winter so this Begonia wintered over nicely and has new leaves.  I have windows in the overhead doors as well as on the side of the garage.

I should have taken this photo at a different angle so you could see how tall they are.  These geraniums were wintered over the year before and then I brought them in before the first frost for their second garage winter.  I watered them about once a month.  There are 3 or 4 in this pot and this tallest one has buds.  It's too early to put them outside because we still have nights in the 30s and 40s.

I sewed the last twig print border on the wild Kaffe quilt top and will press it today and show it to you tomorrow.

 

Binding finished, and more to start..............

The binding is finished on the batik quilt and I'll take photos today.  This is the time of year when the sunshine coming in the windows warms up the house and the heat doesn't come on.  That makes the basement quite chilly.  Since we are still going down in the 30s at night, the heat will come on in the morning and that's when I'll go down there to take the photos.

The two Tilda quilts are back from the longarmer and I have chosen the binding for both of them.

This is the last Sedum waiting for clean up.  I was surprised how much it is growing with all of the leaves still packed around and on top of it.  This weekend is supposed to be in the 60s so I need to get out there and get it done.  I need to rake this whole front flower bed.