First finish for May 2026...........................

 

It didn't take long to finish the binding on this batik Double 4 Patch quilt yesterday.

It has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it and was longarm quilted by Robin Diaz.

I used a lot of 16 patch blocks from the orphan block box as the border around the center.

I used a full width of the turquoise/brown print and a strip of stripe fabric leftover from another backing for the back of this quilt.

It is 63" x 70".

Here is a closer look at the batik backing fabrics and the batik binding.

I hang it sideways on the double design wall for its photo and then rotate the photos for my blog.

I had company yesterday and they picked a bouquet of Lily of the Valley and a few Violets.  The Lily of the Valley is a touch beyond its prime but still fragrant and nice in this little vase.

Last evening just before sundown there was a brief shower and then this rainbow over my neighbor's house.  The sun was shining across the treetops and looked like the golden hour and the sky above the rainbow was dark, just as it appears here.

This end of the rainbow was so intense you could see each band of color clearly.  I couldn't capture the intensity with my cellphone camera.

Finish # 2 for April 2026.................

This quilt wasn't even on the radar for this year.  When I discovered the drawer with 2.5" and 4.5" strips (cut many years ago), I started sorting them and realized I had almost enough in these 2 colors for a quilt.  I think I cut a few new strips to get to a nice number of blocks.

The backing is one of my favorite purple batiks, and I must have gotten it on sale because I had 5 yards of it.  The binding is a purple batik irregular stripe.  It has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it and was longarm quilted by Robin Diaz.  It is 55" x 78.5".

It was a beautiful day yesterday, sunny and nice blue sky.  The Redbuds are fully blooming ahead of schedule because of so many 80 degrees days in a row.  I expect to see a lot of petals on the ground this morning because we were in a severe storm area for several hours last night starting a little after 7.  Regular programs were stopped and weather people were on the air for over 3 1/2 hours because there were several tornado watches and warnings.  I'll have to catch the shows I normally watch on one of my streaming channels.

Violets are plentiful in the grass this year.  They have been in my backyard for many years so I was surprised how many of the white ones showed up in my front garden this year.  Last year it was a Lungwort that mysteriously showed up in the front, now this year it is violets.  Once again, my nature photo matches the quilt in the post.

Purple/green Double 4 Patch.................

While in the basement doing laundry I trimmed the purple and green batik Double 4 Patch quilt.  I searched for a binding and cut the 7 strips I needed.

I chose the binding that looked best with the backing fabric since there were many shades of purple on the front and fewer in this batik fabric.

Machine finishing the binding was my choice for this quilt.  I have 19 needle positions on my Pfaff so I moved the needle 2 to the right and I lead the folded edge of the binding through the center opening of the presser foot.  I usually change to a 3 length for the topstitching.

And....it was finished at 10:45 last night.  Photos today.

 

It's a quilt top......................

The last 3 seams were sewn yesterday and it's a finished quilt top, including the staystitching around the perimeter.  It is 64" x 72".  I really didn't think I was going to like it very much, but after it is sewn, yes, I do like it.  This is a bonus quilt, one not planned to be made.  It used 2.5" and 4.5" strips cut around 2009 and 26 sixteen patch blocks from the batik orphan block box.  That's a win!

Now I need to get back to cutting half rectangle triangles and get another quilt top finished.  Also on the agenda is basting a baby quilt to be quilted on my Pfaff.

They are predicting 60 degrees for Chicago but Weatherbug on my phone says 57 for us out in the boonies (60 miles west of Chicago).

Sewing long rows...............

These are the 2 new blocks I made yesterday, actually 2 of each of them.  I didn't take a photo of the final layout.

I had 3 sewing sessions and this photo is after the rows were webbed in one direction.

This shows a portion of the top after some seams the other direction were sewn.  There are three more long seams to sew.

Finally a couple of my cactus plants are setting buds for a new blooming season.  I love this white with pink edging.  I have another like this that has one bud on it too.  Also one champagne color has 2 buds.

I walked by the kitchen window at just the right time to see the pink/blue sky.  A minute later it was almost gone.

In honor of Valentine's Day I'm reposting my favorite red quilt, finished in 2019.  This one is a keeper.  I never show it to anyone when they are here to choose a quilt.
 

Some changes................

I decided to shorten the length by one row and took out the blues and brighter greens. That made it an even number of blocks across but not lengthwise....so I changed the layout to a zig zag.  Now the length is only 8" longer than the width, an awkward rectangular shape, but since this is a bonus quilt and will be gifted, it's going to stay this way.  I still need to make 3 more 16 patch blocks to finish the layout.

I first searched my box of 2.5" batik strips and was surprised there were hardly any brown strips in there.

This is the total yield of anything remotely resembling brown.

Next I searched the box of quarter yard or less pieces of batik.

This is the collection I will choose four from and make 2 blocks from each combination of 2 fabrics.  

It got up to 45 yesterday and today is predicted to be 50.  This is such a relief after the long cold spell we had.

 

First finish for February 2026.............

Purple Rosy is finished and I am so happy with the binding and backing as well as the top.  It is 65" x 82" and has Hobbs 80/20 batting.  It was quilted by Robin Diaz.

All of the fabrics are from the Kaffe Fassett Collective, the trio of designers.

The photo above was taken with my Canon camera and this photo was taken with my cellphone.  I think this one is truer color, but something halfway between is probably the closest true color.

This backing fabric has a lavender background.

I cut batting for these two quilts, the next to be quilted.  The top one in flannel and was started last year.

I used these 3 fabrics for the back of this quilt.  They are all leftovers from previous backings.

I will work on the back of the flannel quilt today.

I wanted to try the barn raising layout with the double 4 patch blocks.  I can't say I think this is pretty, other than pretty bright.  It will be okay for a quilt to gift.

I am trying the 16 patches as a border.  I will be short 3 blocks if I use them like this.  Since the center is an even number of blocks both ways I could do the layout where 4 squares make a diamond design, like I did on the purple/green one.

 

Binding finished.................

The binding was finished last night, too late to take it's final photo.

I still can't believe there were so many purples in the Kaffe collective fabrics.  Seeing all of the fabrics on my shelves, stored by number, there didn't seem to be that many.  I sometimes think I should store them by color, but so many of the collective fabrics are multicolor without one clear color standing out.

I love the fabric on the back and I was lucky enough to find it on sale.  It is also from the Kaffe collective group.

While in the basement I decided to check the batik orphan block box for leftover double 4 patch blocks.  These 4 are possibilities to use with the new batch I have been making. The one with 3 different fabrics might stand out.

There were 3 blue and one green block that could possibly fit in too.  I could make a few more with brown and blue and brown and green if I wanted to cut some more strips.

Also in that box were 27 sixteen patch blocks in brown tones.

There are duplicates of some of them.

These blocks are the same size as the double 4 patches and maybe they could all be used together in a quilt top that would measure 64" x 72" or if I added a few more (from newly cut strips) it could be 64" x 80".

Monday night sewing.................

I had two sessions of hand stitching last night.  I'm approaching the 4th corner now and part of the next side (a short side) is already stitched.  One more night should do it.  I'm done with PT until the last Friday of the  month so I will have more time at home in the studio for a while.

This is what I worked on between those 2 sessions, 16 more double 4 patch blocks.

There are two blocks alike of each of these, 4 in each combination of fabrics.

And two of each of each block in these combinations too.

It got up to 39 yesterday and should be a few degrees warmer today.

I think I'll search for backings for a couple quilts today and cut some batting.  Then I can use that table for basting a baby quilt.

Decision made......................

Either one of the fabrics I pulled to audition for the binding choice on Purple Rosy would have worked but I ended up choosing the diagonal stripe.  This is the original fabric, not the archive reprint.  I only got about 24" hand stitched last night.

I sewed 2 more combinations of fabrics into Double 4 patches.  There are 2 of each of these, so 8 blocks were sewn.

We got up to 37 degrees yesterday, the first time above freezing in almost 3 weeks.  Now we have 2 colder days over the weekend and then 30s and 40s next week.

Machine fixed, cutting and sewing...............

These are the blocks I was trying to sew when my machine had no tension.  When I worked at the sewing machine store, the boss showed all of the employees how to take the top off of our Pfaff machines so we could find errant threads.  I did that 2 nights ago and couldn't find any thread but cleaned out some lint.  I did some flossing of the tension discs with a folded strip of fabric and kept testing the sewing but nothing was working.

Yesterday morning I opened the top of the machine again and finally the thread that was causing the problem was visible.

I got the other combinations sewn last night too.

I got all of the rest of the strips ready to cut the final batch of 4.5" squares.  This is a total of 40 blocks, so not enough for a throw size quilt.

All of them are cut now so I have one more evening of mindless sewing ready.

Yesterday the weather people were saying we could have a wintry mix falling and making slippery roads so I did my grocery shopping in the afternoon.  Maybe today I'll get the binding cut for Purple Rosy too while I stay inside for the day.