Slow day..............

Some days have slow starts and yesterday was one of them.  I did go down to the basement and brought up the Fractured blocks, but never got around to sewing them together.

Instead I finished sewing the 8th pink Bear Paw block.  It will look a lot better when it gets its final press (I hope!).  I like the combination of the 3 fabrics.

I put it up on the design wall with the rest.  At this point I'm wondering if 14" blocks look too large for a baby quilt.  It would only take 9 blocks for a 42" square quilt with no sashing.

A friend wants to reproduce  a quilt I finished 15 years ago and she asked if I had any fabrics she could buy.  The quilt used 1.5" batik strips and I knew I had a box full of them, double layer.  With all of those strips, there are hardly any in the right color and value range.  So, next I will look through the yardage in the colors she would need.

 

Back in the pink..................

I decided I wanted to work on the Bear Paw blocks again.  I looked through my Tula Pink fabrics and decided I needed the bunnies in one block.

That makes seven blocks so far.  The first 6 were made with just 2 fabrics in each.  I'm running out of some of the fabrics so the rest of the blocks will have 3 or more fabrics in them.

I chose the fabrics for the next block but only got part of it sewn.

This is the final layout of the Fractured quilt and after I took this photo, I took the blocks down in numbered rows, ready to sew.

We had rain off and on all day yesterday.  I think we are in for another overcast day today.

Final layout, or maybe some changes......................

After I made the decision where the final 2 rows needed to be, I put the blocks up on the double design wall.  I did change 2 blocks with each other after I took this photo. In the 4th row down I changed blocks one and three with each other.  I'll look at it again this morning and decide it will stay that way or get changed back.  Since there are 2 different blocks I was limited on which blocks could be moved to new locations.

I was intending to wash a load of light color clothes so I am glad I walked past my living room window first and saw that they were flushing hydrants.  That means you might get rust in the water shortly after.  I did a load of dark clothes instead.

It was a gloomy morning yesterday but I wanted to record that the Redbud tree leaves are mostly yellow now and lots were dropping all day.

The smallest trees have the most yellow leaves.  The rest of the leaves will probably drop quickly, especially since they are predicting rain for today.

When I went out to pick tomatoes, I also picked a few Marigold blooms.  I planted them by the tomatoes and some of the plants are 2' tall.  I couldn't find any seeds for small plants.  Next year I'll probably buy little plants at the nursery instead of planting seeds.

 

Playing with stash................

This block is made from the other pieces on the Fractured Studio die.  I cut them a couple days ago and sewed them yesterday.  I have made a table topper in the past with these blocks.

I have had a quilt in the back of my mind for a few months, to be made with batiks.  I started sorting through them last night while I watched 3 hours of NCIS.

The pile in front is the pieces to be put back on one shelf.  Behind it is the pieces I have pulled for the quilt.

Even my knitting is green right now.

I wasn't ready to work in the basement yesterday but maybe today I'll get the Fractured blocks down there and play at the design wall.  I need to do a load of laundry because I'm running out of clean clothes.

Last night we got a little rain at 10 and more was predicted to come through overnight.  It is only predicted to be in the mid 60s today.

 

Not much accomplished..............

All I got done was assembling the last 3 blocks for the Fractured quilt.  I realized yesterday that if I add a row on the right side of the quilt it will place the circular part at the center from side to side.  Right now it is off center.  I have to decide if I want it off center in both directions before I go to the design wall because the blocks will fill the whole double wall.

The tree across the street has more color every day.  It's not going to change completely though until we get some cooler weather.  It wa 86 here yesterday and still 70 when I went to bed.  It was 88 in Chicago and broke the record all the way from the 1880s by 4 degrees.  84 degrees predicted for today.

I wanted to have another photo of the Geranium because it is so pretty.

I had to get new tires for my 22 year old Chrysler van because the old ones were 12 years old and starting to rot from age.  I also got a new battery so I hope I get through this coming winter without calling for a jumpstart.  I only drive about 50 miles a month so it is hard to keep a battery charged up.

 

20 blocks plus 5..........................

The 20th block was finished first to fill in the spot on the bottom row.  Now the blocks need to be moved to a larger design wall to finish designing.  The decision I need to make now is where to place the last 2 rows: top and right, or bottom and left.  If I choose top and right, the 'center' will move in one row each way.  If I choose bottom and left, the 'center' will stay where it is and the design will just continue as it is.

Meanwhile I got 5 of the last 8 blocks sewn.  All of the pieces are chosen for the last 3 blocks so it shouldn't take long to sew them.

We have been in a period of 80 degree days (2 more to go) and by Saturday they are predicting 56 for a high. 

4 blocks ready to sew, 3 got finished..................

Sorry for the odd angle.  I should have held the camera lower.  I couldn't convince myself to go to the basement and get that large Kaffe Zipper quilt up on the design wall for its photo.  Instead I pulled pieces for 4 more blocks and worked on them.  I got 3 finished and up on the wall.  I also counted the pieces that are cut and I think I have enough of the dark ones and need a couple more sets of light pieces for the next 8 blocks.

The pieces for the 4th block are all sewn and I got started fingernail pressing and the rolling the seams.  It was getting late so this is where I'll pick up today.

I ended up with an hour plus on the phone with my cable company and hope my problem is solved.  The bird feeders are filled, tomatoes picked. 

Working on two..............

Yesterday afternoon I sewed one more Fractured block, bottom right.  When I get all 20 blocks sewn, maybe the ones with the darker backgrounds will end up on the edges of the layout.

Then I cleaned off my cabinet so I could sew the binding on the Kaffe Zipper quilt.

I started sewing on the binding in the late afternoon and then decided to go to the grocery store before it got dark.  I got home in time to pick some more tomatoes.

I finished the binding at 10 p.m.  You can see I went with the wild fabric for the binding and it looks good with both sides of the quilt.  I'll try to get it photographed today.  

We are enjoying nice weather right now, temperatures in the 70s and high 40s or low 50s most nights.  It looks like the hurricane rain that comes north might clip us but most of the rain will be east of us.

Keeping busy.........................

I trimmed the Kaffe Zipper quilt yesterday.  I like the straight line quilting on it, quilted by longarm quilter Robin Diaz.

Since the edge of the quilt has the lightest and the darkest fabrics, I'm not sure what I will choose for the binding.

Last night while watching TV I did some sorting.  The triangles are Marcia Derse fabrics.  When I discovered the tray I noticed it had all dark fabrics and some already sewn triangle pairs so I cut some new light ones for variety.  I'll use this as one of my mindless sewing sessions now that the new season of TV shows are on.

I'm still trying to decide where I'm going with this project.  In the original Fractured quilt each block has a different background fabric.  There are lots more dark fabrics to cut so they won't be repeated in blocks next to each other like you see here.

I started laying out the third background fabric and then it was time to quit for the night.

Today I hope to cut the rest of the dark fabrics.

 

Cutting some pieces................

I thought I was cutting enough for a block but obviously I only cut 6 pieces instead of 9 alike.  The pieces are 6" tall so they are way bigger than the ones in the original Fractured quilts.  That means 3 blocks across is 54" and 4 across is 72".

That made me wonder if I would rather have one background fabric per block and 9 different colors per block.  I think this is the way to go.  I'll be doing more cutting today.  The new fall shows are starting this week and I need TV sewing.
  

Still thinking..............

I spent a large part of the day yesterday gathering and packing things to take to the thrift shop in town.  What was on my mind though was still these fabrics.  I divided them by dark and light last night to check out an idea.

I thought maybe I would like to make another quilt similar to this one that I made in 2013.  In this one the angle is different in each block but I have a die for the block which would make them all the same angle.  I was thinking about cutting out a few pieces yesterday but just never got around to it.  If you want to see more like this, click on the Label Fractured quilt on the label list on the right sidebar. You can also click on the label at the bottom of each post.  On a cellphone to see the label links you may need to scroll to the bottom and click on View web version. 

Finish # 21 for 2017......

I finished the binding on this wonky 2 rail fence quilt last night.  It is  63.75" x 79".  

Here is the post where I was just starting this quilt and the book that has the instructions.

I bought this backing fabric on sale earlier this year with nothing in mind for it.  When I started looking for the back for this quilt I knew it was a good fit.

This is one of my favorite cactus plants with light pink flowers.  It is the plant that I accidentally broke a big piece off in the dark one night.  The piece I broke off is rooting in a glass on my kitchen windowsill and is the one that has 3 buds.

You can see the shade of pink better in this photo.

January finish #4

Last night I quilted this spiral baby quilt and put the binding on all by machine.  I was going to use a black with small white dot fabric for the binding but when I saw this narrow stripe I decided I liked it better.  The quilt ended up at 43" x 50".

I was pretty happy with the placement of the diamond print fabric.  

I went to see the movie "Hidden Figures" yesterday afternoon.  It was a wonderful movie and it would have been such a shame if that story had not been told.  The story behind events is such a big part of history and I'm glad this story was documented in a book and made into a movie so we could all know about it.

Borders and blocks.............

I sewed a border onto this little quilt top yesterday.  I took the photo on a gray design wall.  I'll photograph it on a white wall when it is quilted.  I last worked on this one in November 2013.  Now it is around 44" x 50" so when it is done it will go in the baby quilt stack.  I made several quilts with this block here and here and here.

I spent some Christmas gift money on a new die.  I have always wanted to make this block but with all of the different size triangles I never got around to it.  Some triangles have the grain on the long edge and some on the short edge so it seemed like too much work to cut it until I got the die.

This is the GO big die on top of an adapter so I can use it on my Accuquilt Studio die cutter.  I have 6 layers all face up so with one pass through the machine I have 3 blocks.

People who don't have a die cutter are always concerned with the waste fabric.  I used fat quarters cut into a 11.25" width x 18" so I have the long grain heading into the roller.  This is what is leftover.

After I cut away the skinny strips here are the scraps.  The 3.5" ruler gives you an idea of the size.  The piece to the left is big enough to cut a 1.5" strip, a 2" square, and two 1.5" squares (times 6 layers).  There are lots of shapes I can cut out of the 4" wide piece.  I keep similar size scraps together and after I'm done cutting with this die, I'll put on another die and cut up the scraps. 

It was a good day to work inside.  My driveway still had ice on it at 4:30 p.m. yesterday.  It was supposed to be warmer all night so today it should finally be melted off.  I talked to one person who couldn't stop on the ice and ran into a garage door.

2 down, 2 to go.......

For my 4 finishes in the second 10 days of January I decided to work on the smallest pieces needing finishing first.  This colorwash is about 19.5" square.  I got it quilted and bound yesterday.  I used a brown diagonal patterned fabric for the binding.

Next I sewed the binding on this Wonky Pinwheels baby quilt and did the hand sewing while I watched TV last night.  It ended up 35.5" x 44.5".

The back is a splatter print and it really doesn't show up much here so I took a close up shot of it too.

I have had this fabric for at least 15 years.  It is perfect for this quilt.  There was a nice width strip that I trimmed off so I cut that into 4" finished triangles with my Studio cutter.