Little decisions..........................

From the remaining 4 contenders for backing, I chose the fish, mainly because its best use would be a backing.  The other 3 could be cut in smaller pieces for patchwork where the fish print is pretty large.

I'm getting ready to cut the purple Kaffe collective fabrics for the next Rosy quilt.  This is 4 fabrics stacked and I have decided on 3" finished squares for 9" nine patches.

While cleaning off a table I found 13 pinwheel blocks.  There are duplicates of some of them, 3 in each of 2 colors, 2 in each of 3 more colors, and one of the green.

I grabbed a piece of paper and sketched out an on point setting that uses 13 blocks and it will end up about 33" square.  That means it will be a baby quilt or a table topper.  If I find a cute black and white print for the back, it will be a baby quilt.  I know I have a zebra print but I'll check to see what else I have.

I'm hoping I will have some help today to hang the Marcia Derse fabric quilt on my design wall so I can take the photos for the monthly recap.

Second finish for September 2025..........................

For binding, something in gray, taupe or black was going to look best with the back of this quilt.  I still had enough of this black and taupe Marcia Derse print to cut the 9 strips of binding.

I did the binding all by machine.  I used a dark taupe thread to topstitch the binding.  I didn't want to struggle seeing black thread.  This quilt is big, too big for me to get it up on the double design wall right now.  If you want to see the whole top, this post shows it.

I was happy to see so many responses to the digitally printed fabric.  I haven't heard anyone speak up that they do like it.  Since most online shops are not mentioning the printing type, it is definitely going to slow down any purchases for me and I will use the good older yardage.  Some of my favorite designers have gone all digital and I don't know if they have a choice in it.

There are still a lot of days in the 80s predicted for this week.  Not exactly autumn weather.

 

Trimming time................

I had to do a load of laundry yesterday because I was running out of clean essentials.  While I was in the basement I trimmed the huge Marcia Derse 16 patch quilt.

I had 6 yards of this large Marcia Derse print so I used it on the back.  I bought the two 3 yard pieces at different times and possibly from 2 different stores.  When I went to match the backing seam, I realized that one of them had slightly smaller motifs so by the time I got to the bottom of the seam they were a little off.  I can tell this is digitally printed because the back of the fabric is white, no dye coming through.  It makes me wonder if there is more than one machine doing the digital printing at the factory and the settings for the design are slightly different.  I'll choose binding fabric today in daylight since I didn't get it done yesterday.  I did some outside work instead.

Since I'm on the subject of digital printing, I'm wondering how many of you are happy with it.  From some companies the fabric is silky, almost slippery, like satin.  I'm not too happy with it and prefer the old fashioned way they were printing fabrics.  I like the feel of the older fabrics. 

Counting pieces...................

There wasn't time yesterday to sew on any project so I counted pieces of flannel, both pieced and cut.  This pile is 35 flannel 16 patches.  I need to make 28 more blocks for a decent throw size quilt, or mix these with some of the pieces in the following photos. 

There were several boxes of cut pieces.  In this one there are 53 of the 4.5" x 8.5" rectangles, 45 of the 4.5" squares, and I didn't count the strips since there are only a few of them.

A lot of my flannel quilts have been made with several different shape pieces so these may end up in a quilt with some tumbler shapes.

This box has 14 six inch tumblers and 221 four inch tumblers.

Also in that box were 6 strips of 6 four inch tumblers.  These were leftovers from a baby quilt I made a couple years ago.  These strips are just laying next to each other, not sewn together as a chunk.

In this box there were 5 nine inch tumblers and 84 three inch tumblers.  I have made quilts with more than one size of tumblers.  Here is one of them.

I have made a couple of baby quilt with the 3" flannel tumblers.  This one is the largest.  I sewed the tumblers together after I had my first pacemaker surgery.

These 3 boxes are on a top shelf in my main floor studio.  

I won't show you all of the flannel yardage on the shelf unit in the basement.

I think I need to start sewing my flannel quilts in October.  I also have one top already pieced waiting for quilting.  My flannel quilts are the first ones chosen when I give people a choice so I definitely need to finish some this year.

I have a quilt waiting for binding so that is today's task.  I think it will be all by machine so maybe I'll have a finish soon.

Time for a fall quilt........................

I'm not into seasonal decor most of the time.  One thing I do change is the quilt on the bench in front of the fireplace.  This quilt has all of the colors of the fall leaves: yellow, gold, orange, burgundy/purple and some golden brown.  I'm only missing red.  The back has leaves of all the same colors.  A tree 2 houses south has the deep burgundy/purple leaves.  I first showed this quilt in August 2007 and it was already finished then so I'm not sure what year it was completed.

I baked the chocolate chip cookies mid-morning yesterday.  I tested them, and they passed the test.

Shortly before lunch time I baked the frosted creams.  The whole process takes time because they have to cool completely before I put the frosting on so it was mid-afternoon by the time I had them cut and in 3 boxes.  If you are curious about any recipes, you can search using the word recipe in the search box at the top left of my blog page.

We're going back into a string of 80s again.  I think this is too early to consider it the last hot spell we will have.  I was enjoying the 70s.......and I'll enjoy the 50s overnights while it's in the 80s during the days. 

Some more 1990s fabric................

There were lots of Nancy Crow fabrics that didn't make it into the 16 patch selection on yesterday's post.  The one on the right is folded so you can see the whole gradation across the 44".  The sunset in the middle doesn't show the other half which fades to pale apricot.  This is 22" showing from top to bottom.

Again this is 22" from top to bottom in the photo.  It's pretty obvious why they wouldn't work in 2" finished squares.

This photo shows about 11" from top to bottom.  There are more.....  I have more colors in several of these.  These 3 photos show the group called "what am I going to do with these?".

This is a pretty sad photo showing shadows from the top of the box on the cookies.  Yesterday I baked one batch of these shortbread and mixed up a batch of chocolate chip dough to bake this morning.  Then I have one more thing to bake mid-day.  My second grandson is getting married Friday so family will be visiting. 

Fabric from the 1990s..................

I spent the day yesterday pressing 32 Nancy Crow fabrics from the 1990s.  A friend wants to make a 16 patch with them.  While I cut for her I cut for 2 quilts for myself.  I have more of her fabrics but some just weren't suitable to be cut up in small pieces.

I stopped at 40 stitches on this dishcloth because there wasn't much yarn left.  It looks like I could have gone to 41 stitches...but I'm happy I stopped when I did.

I now have 6 great-grandchildren.  The newest baby was born yesterday, a little girl.  Now There are 4 great-grandsons and 2 great-granddaughters.  This little one lives on the east coast so I won't see her for a while.  

 

Still going through boxes and trying to organize........

When I was in the basement going through things I found a stack of 4" Kaffe squares and some hourglass blocks.  I had this box in my main floor studio so I brought the blocks upstairs.  This box is 7" x 11" x 5.5" and it was quite full already.

Here is a peek inside.

I started pulling out piles to see what was in there.

Then I took everything our of the box and separated them by like sizes.  Curiosity got the best of me, so while I watched Antiques Roadshow I started counting pieces.  There are 189 squares, 52 hourglass blocks, 41 four patches, etc.  There are enough pieces to make about 180 more blocks.  All in all I estimate there is potential for 482 four inch finished blocks which could make a quilt 76" x 100".  Wow!  I don't need to cut any more scraps in that size.

The only decision I made on backing from yesterday's post, was to eliminate all that I was sure I wasn't going to use, and that left these 4 as contenders.

I decided there won't be enough left from backing fabric (left) for binding so I looked for another piece from the same time period, that would look good for binding.  The one on the right is what I came up with and there will barely be enough.

Flitting from one thing to the next................

Instead of working on any project I decided to look for a back for this little 40" quilt top.  I only looked in the Brandon Mably stash (Kaffe collective).  Since this is 40" I can use one width of fabric for the back but I need more than 1 yard.  I did the "feel test" on the fabrics on the shelf.  I know what 1 yard feels like so I was feeling for a thicker fold.  My first run through produced these 5 fabrics.  The criteria is that it has to be a print that is not as effective cut into small pieces.

I went back for a second run through and found 3 more pieces.  I usually like to know what the end purpose of the quilt will be too.  Will it be a wall hanging or a cuddly quilt?  You can find its full photo on this post (scroll down).  I think it looks like a game board so it would be a nice wall hanging.  If it becomes a cuddly quilt, it would be a baby quilt since it is small.

I did make a decision on these blocks.  I need to make one more and it will be the center of a medallion quilt.  Here is a photo of the Fonthill quilt I made which has a similar center.  Borders will just be designed as I go and there is a chance that there will be 2 - 4 different borders in each round.

I picked up my knitting several times yesterday and have all three dishcloths at 40 stitches now.  I usually go to 44 stitches and then start decreasing one stitch each row.

We got 1.1" of rain on Saturday.  That is the first measurable rain all month.  Our grass has lots of brown spots and the weeds are looking pretty ugly.  This should perk it up a little.  All of the storms missed us yesterday but there are 2 more days of spotty showers predicted.  Maybe we will get lucky and get some of the rain.

My lucky day.....................

I pulled this quilt top as the next to baste for ditch quilting.  I looked through my batiks for a possible backing.

My lucky day!  I found a large enough piece of the same fabric as the outer row of squares.  If I'm really careful, maybe I can get the binding out of it too.  Maybe.....

I have been pressing my purple Kaffe collective fabrics, preparing to cut pieces for the Rosy quilt.  This batch is potentially the large plain squares and possible some would be used in 9 patches too.

This group would be for the 9 patches.

The only reason I haven't cut anything yet is indecision whether I'll cut 2" or 3" finished squares for the 9 patches.  The ones in Kaffe's books used 3" and I used 2" when I made my green Rosy.

These are possibilities for the 9 patches too.  I'm not sure about the one with red in it or the one with turquoise in it.  In the green Rosy quilt I did have some pops of red and pink so I'm not ruling these out yet.

Nothing new............

It was errand day which included grocery shopping yesterday.  When I got home I noticed a new flower in the front flower bed.  This is another volunteer plant and has just the one bloom.

Behind it is another plant with similar flowers.

This is the third volunteer plant, all grown from seeds from one plant last year.  These look more like coneflowers.  I tried to identify it back when the first plant bloomed and Gloriosa Daisy was one of the options.  They are from the Rudbeckia family.  I have more volunteer plants that haven't bloomed yet and I think some of them are Black-eyed Susan.

I showed these blocks a while back and the have been sitting in a pile ever since.  By mistake I grabbed the die for finished 2.5" triangles when I meant to cut 2" finished size.

I decided to just play with them last night since I didn't have the ambition to do anything else.

I have the option of cutting 5" finished squares to use with them, and cutting more of this size triangle.  For now they will go back in a pile.

 

Free entertainment.................

As I was walking through the living room yesterday afternoon I saw several trucks across the street.  Finally....the city decided to trim all of the dead branches that hovered above the driveway to this little house (that just sold at the end of August).  I missed seeing them getting cut off but got to watch the removal of the top of the tall tree.

He had a rope attached to the half he just cut off and he lowered himself and the branch to the ground.  He returned to the top and got the last section cut off.

Then it was time to cut off the tall section.  He cut several sections while I was out of the room.  Here he had just cut off a chunk and gave it a shove and it is starting to fall to the ground.

This is how it looked when they left.  I think the chainsaw he was using was too small to cut any more of it.  I wonder if they will cut more or leave this "beautiful" tree as it is.  It was great entertainment watching them and I'm so relieved that the new occupants of the house won't have to worry about their car being smashed as they pull into the driveway.  I was outside when a big limb broke off and landed at the end of the driveway several years ago.  Crack...thud!!  The occupants had just arrived home shortly before that.

This photo was taken 3 years ago, same tree before more branches died.

I started 3 more dishcloths.  They all have 25 stitches but the one on the left is smaller than the other 2. That ball of yarn is from several years ago and the other 2 are newer.  The newer yarn isn't quite as soft as the older yarn.  

No other fiber related activities took place yesterday.  I was going through stacks and sorting.  I have several storage boxes without lids and lids without boxes so I'm hoping to unearth some surprises as I continue working on this.