First finish for April 2026..............

I finally stopped avoiding the last 54" of hand stitching and finished the binding on this quilt last night.

It's hard to see the beauty of this quilt in a photo.  I think the colors are prettier in person.  The fabric is Wishwell's Weather Report, a line from several years ago.

The quilt ended up at 47" x 71" and I think it will be my recliner quilt.

I only had a couple pieces long enough to use for the back, also from the same line of fabric.

Storms rolled through around 10 last night.  Chicago had over 5" of rain already in April but some of the storms missed us and I have had a total of  3.1" so far in my rain gauge.  It sounded like fairly heavy rain for a little while so I'll check this morning and see how much more we got.  

Sewing and garden.....................

I made the third block (not pressed) and added it to the other two for a table runner top.

I changed to 60 weight 2 ply thread and put the single hole plate on my machine to make a couple of the tiny bowties.  I didn't turn on the iron yesterday.

I will need to cut some more pieces to make some more blocks.  I was happy they really came out to the right size.  Sometimes with tiny pieces the blocks come out a bit smaller than they are supposed to.

After 3 days near or above 80, everything is growing fast.  This is the Columbine in the back garden.  I have 2 in the front garden that are good sized also.

There are a lot of Lungwort plants here and there all over the back garden.

Three days ago I didn't see any Hosta plants when looking out my kitchen window.  Now they are about 5" tall.

The three Lenten Rose plants have grown a lot in the last few days too.  All of those other plants are the invasive Bellflowers.  Between them and the million Lily of the Valley, they are choking out a lot of other plants.

The Redbud trees might bloom quicker than normal too because we have a couple more warm days coming up.  I'm still getting used to the white fence backdrop to my nature photos.

 

More about the new die..................

I made several test blocks, using a layer cake 10" squares.  On the first two I didn't keep the small pieces in the right place a couple times.  If they were right, there wouldn't have been bias on the edge in a couple places.  Once I realized that, the next 2 blocks were better....except the center pinwheel is spinning the opposite direction (2 blocks on the right).  I should have known better but somehow it slipped past me.    Look at the 2 blue blocks, darks shouldn't be touching darks when the 2 blocks are next to each other.  The 5th and 6th blocks went together really well.

I have one more block ready to sew and I'll have the pinwheel center matching the 2 that are wrong and those 3 can become a table runner.

Now I need to decide what fabric I will use to make a quilt with this block.

Some die cutting...............

I took my pile of small batik scraps and cut some pieces for the 2" bowtie blocks.  I have pieces laying out for one block but I haven't sewn any yet.  I need to change to a lighter weight thread on my machine.

I have always been intrigued with this traditional block and the die was 57% off and free shipping so I bought it. It is a 12" block so the largest pieces will work nicely with larger prints.

I sewed a sample block but haven't pressed it yet so I'll have more to show tomorrow.

Sewing yesterday was the hand stitching on the binding of the diamond quilt.  I have about 54" left to stitch. 

Not much............

 My mind yesterday was busy with new project ideas and thoughts of what I should be finishing but all I accomplished was a little more stitching on the diamond quilt.  I have about 2 1/4 sides finished now.

I was looking at the dies for my tiniest bow tie blocks.  This one is the little corners that sew onto the pieces in the next photo.

There are 4 pieces on the die on the left.  After I took this photo I marked them with a black permanent pen.  This bow tie will finish at 2".  I have some tiny batik scraps to make my test blocks with.

First quilt top for April 2026...................

Kaleidoscope 1 top is sewn.  I'm thinking of 2 and 3 so this could be a series.  I won't use Marcia Derse fabric for the next 2.  This one is 51.5" x 72".  I ended up with the 35 blocks like I originally planned.  I usually don't use the same background fabrics all through a quilt but this time I had 2 nice light ones, also Marcia Derse fabric.  There are over 70 different fabrics in this quilt top.

Here are 2 of the worst matches of points.  They are both about 1/16" off and I'm not going to fix them.  Once it is quilted and washed, they won't be noticeable.

I noticed yesterday the start of the pink buds on the Redbud trees.  It will take a couple weeks for full blooms.

  

Final layout, time to sew...................

This is the final layout for this quilt top.  I could move pieces forever trying to not have the same fabrics near each other, but I decided this is good enough.

I started webbing it last night and got the 4 long seams top to bottom sewn and am now sewing cross rows.  Three done, 3 to go.  I need to finish this top today so I can get back to the other one and get the last 3 fabrics chosen for it.

Most points are matching well but there are a few to go back and take in a tiny bit. 

Another warm day yesterday with windows open to air out the house.  Today and tomorrow are going to be a little cooler, in the mid 50s. 

Cutting and third layout...................

All three sets needed more pieces.  I actually cut a few more than I needed so if I need to make a substitute block I'm all set.  I ended up finishing the 2 partial blocks and made 6 new blocks last night.  I haven't pressed them yet so they haven't made it to the design wall.

This is the assortment of new pieces plus the leftovers from the day before.  I had a strip of fabric that I had previously die cut 6 triangles of each fabric from and I put the ends of the strips back on the die to cut 4 more of each of each fabric.

I came up with one more layout and it reminds me of the hungry caterpillar story.  I first thought earthworms when I made it.  I think the diagonal shown yesterday is still my favorite.

Lots of progress..............................

I took the three sections to the basement and gave all of them a final pressing.  There are different lights down there so the color looks a little different from previous photos.

Then I started working on the Kaleidoscope blocks using the same triangles of Marcia Derse fabrics.

I got 6 blocks completed before I ran out of corner pieces but got 2 more blocks partially made before I also ran out of variety of the tall triangles.

This is all that was left when I finished sewing last night.  Today I'll be cutting more pieces of both shaped triangles.

I pressed the 5 blocks I made a few days ago and added them to the 12 that were on the design wall.  I brought them all up to the main floor studio and when starting to put them on the design wall, I found another layout for the blocks.  With this arrangement I could have an uneven number of blocks in both directions.

Here are the 2 layouts.  Now I'm thinking I need to make one quilt of each layout.  Maybe the second quilt will be with a different group of fabrics.

The last 3 rows...................

I had great ambitions when I got up but it took me most of the day to get started on the last 3 rows of this quilt.  I finally got the triangles up on the design wall.

I continued working on them and got all three rows sewn and then the first two sewn together.  

Now I can make some more of the Kaleidoscope blocks from the same triangle selection.  I have 17 blocks already made.  I need to decide if I'm going to make it with 24 blocks (40" x 60") or 48 blocks (60" x 80").  If I make the smaller size I could add a couple borders to increase it to 52" x 72".

Last night was predicted to be high 20s or low 30s and today they are saying 41 degrees.  I don't have anything growing that can be affected by a frost.  Then 60s are back and 70s by Sunday.  This is typical April weather in northern IL.

9 rows...............

After lots of family fun yesterday I sewed the top three rows and sewed them together.  Now I need to design the bottom 3 rows and choose the fabrics that will be the separator strips and top and bottom border, if I'm still going to make it like the previous quilt.

I did a little hand stitching on the binding of the other quilt but no photo.

 

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

The 6 row section is sewn together now.  I didn't get any farther on it because I was making 2 batches of Chex Mix to use up all of the ingredients left from the Christmas marathon.  Later in the evening I made frosted creams since I have company coming today.

I haven't done the final pressing yet but my points are matching up pretty well.

I started the hand stitching about 6" before a corner and made it down one short side and around the next corner.

Happy Easter to all who celebrate it!  It's going to be sunny here but chilly.

6 rows..................

Two more rows were sewn last night but I didn't get them attached to the section of 4 rows yet.  When I get that done I'll sew the top 3 rows and then be ready to design the bottom 3 rows.  I need 69 pieces for the 3 rows and I have one piece each of 70 fabrics set aside for that section.

Earlier in the day I trimmed this diamond quilt and cut the binding for it.  I got the binding sewn on the front last night and I will hand finish this one.

Last year a Lungwort/ Pulmonaria plant migrated from the back yard to the front garden. I was going to dig it out last year and never got around to it.  When I went out to get my mail I saw it was blooming.  It is ahead of the plants in the back garden in size and blooming.  I checked it out online and it says it is rarely damaged by deer, so my readers with visiting deer might want to try it.  After it blooms, the spotted leaves get very large.  It spreads to other parts of the garden but can be easily dug up and planted where you want it.  I  love the spotted leaves as contrast with the other plants in the garden.  It is one the earliest bee loving plants.

Sewing two rows....................

I had little ones visiting early last evening so I spent a lot of the day straightening, cleaning and putting all sharp objects up high.  After they all left I started sewing 2 more rows together.  I like the combination of colors in this beginning of a row.

By 10 p.m. I had two rows sewn but was too tired to sew them together.

We had lots of storms roll through yesterday morning and again in the evening.  I had 1.5" of rain in the gauge from the morning rain.  I'll check it again today to see how much we got in the evening.  There were several severe storm warnings for the area and a couple tornado watches north of us so we lucked out and didn't get the severe weather.
 

Assembly started....................

I needed to start sewing this quilt together before pieces start fluttering off the design wall.  I had the window open a couple days ago and found 2 pieces on the floor when I returned to the room.  I can sew 2 rows at a time because the triangles are pointing in opposite directions from one row to the other as I work my way across the rows. While sewing I have the 2 piles in the position they are in, in this photo.  When I start the first row I have a little flag attached that reminds me that is the top row.  These triangles don't have nipped corners so I have to figure out the matching point.

Here is how much the rows will shrink after stitching.

All Marcia Derse fabrics in this one, at least 70 different fabrics.

I forgot to take the photo of the March dishcloths for yesterday's monthly recap, so here they are today.

March 2026 monthly recap....................

Three quilts were finished in March.  On the left a flannel quilt, the top made 2 years ago.  It is 53" x 70".  In the center is Kaffe Strippy 2, the top was finished last December.  It is 47.5" x 71".  On the right is Floral Hourglasses, made with mostly 1990s floral fabrics in December 2024.  It is 53" x 64.5".  They were all quilted by Robin Diaz.

I worked on several quilt tops but only two made it to the finish line by the end of the month.  The top on the left is all Marcia Derse fabrics, 70 different prints.  It is the "other 16 patch" made with rectangles rather than squares.  It is 63.5" x 80".  On the right is a flannel quilt top.  Most of the 16 patch blocks were made over a year ago and the rectangles were all cut and in a project box.  It was a fast and easy top to make.  It is 47" x 71.5".

I made the top of this table runner many years ago and it hung on a hanger all those years waiting for me to finish it.  As usual it only took a couple hours for the finish.  It is 12" x 35.5".

Finished last night, table runner with Marcia Derse fabric.  I hand finished the binding, finishing at 10 p.m.  It is 13" x 42".

The back is one of Marcia Derse's large prints that accompany her lines most years.