2 days of gloom..............

It's hard to get motivated when it is dark and rainy out, having to turn on lights during the day.  The last I checked we had 2.5" of rain for the 2 days but we got quite a bit more after I checked.

I needed to do a load of laundry so while I was in the basement I cut the batting and pieced the backing for the fall color 9 patch quilt.  The backing is an early batik, probably late 1990s and has always been a favorite.  I have used it for the backing on one African quilt in the past so I had quite a bit of it.  I still need to press it and it will then be ready to travel for quilting.

I was looking through a pile of blocks in the studio and there were these 3 stacks pinned together from the last time I played with them.  I contemplated whether to make more blocks.  The fabrics are all by Marcia Derse.

This is the layout I had on the design wall in March.  The blocks will finish at 8" so 20 blocks would make a nicer size small quilt.  Or.....I could scatter them irregularly and fill in with odd sections of piecing.  It was a bright spot in the day to see color as I listened to the rain falling.

Sunshine is predicted for at least parts of the days of the rest of the week and into next week.
 

First finish for July 2026......................

Yes the flannel is back on the design boards and my photography wall is back.  You can see here I stand behind my longarm to take the photos.  I'm hoping to get the longarm working again soon.

The 'other 16 patch' (not the traditional 16 patch) is made of Marcia Derse fabrics.  The top was finished in March.  I used Hobbs 80/20 batting and it was longarm quilted by Robin Diaz in vertical parallel lines.

The backing is a wide back gifted to me by a friend when she realized she wasn't going to use it.  The binding is a blue stripe.  It is 61" x 79.5".

I always take some close up photos for my Instagram post.  This quilt is a mix of Marcia's fabrics spanning almost 20 years.

One of my favorite newer prints is in the center, the light background with 2 tone lines.

Many years ago Marcia had the graffiti print in the top right corner in one of her lines in yellow.  A few years ago she added a lot of new colorations of it.  I love this magenta version.

It was 91 yesterday with a feel like temperature of 99 so I only went out to check the back garden once.  There are 2 tomatoes starting to turn color on this 4th of July plant.

 

Finally sewing again..................

I did some die cutting and then came up to the studio and started sewing the binding on the Marca Derse Other 16 Patch quilt.

I was thinking about hand finishing the binding on this one, and then I asked myself, do you really want to do that?  The answer was no, so I have 2 sides finished and 2 to go today.

I ran into an old friend I used to share plants with and she mentioned she had a bunch of hostas die.  I had been looking for someone to come and dig out some hostas because they are crowding each other in my back garden.  They were covering part of my path through the garden too.  They purchased bags of topsoil to fill in the holes where they dug out some plants.  I used to dig them up myself and pot them and give them away.  This time I didn't have to do any of the work.

First finish in June 2026...................

It didn't take long to finish the binding (by machine) yesterday.  We had some hefty storms again so my machine was unplugged most of the afternoon. There were tornadoes north and south of me.  This was one time I was happy the storm split and didn't touch us. 

 The rain didn't finish until 8 p.m. so I don't know the total for yesterday.  The dew point started dropping (from 73) after 8 and was down to 60 by bedtime.  Now we will have some cooler and drier weather for a while.

This quilt finished at 45" x 62.5".  All of it is Marcia Derse fabric, including the back and binding.  A friend who realized she wasn't going to use this backing fabric, sent it to me and it was the right amount for this quilt.

I die cut all of the pieces for the quilt top.

Now it is time to figure out what is next.  I'm waffling on the border fabric for the William Morris TAW quilt, wondering if it should be a lighter color than the red I already have.  I can always use it on the back.

 

Binding started................

I didn't get started on anything early in the day and my machine was unplugged for a few hours in the afternoon while storms rolled through.  Another .9" of rain.  A second round came through in the evening so the machine was unplugged again.  Finally later in the evening there was just light rain so I got busy on this binding.  Since the binding is black and the background of the backing is black, I decided it was best to do it all by machine.  I should be able to finish it today.

I'm glad I got a photo of the mounds of Cranesbill a few days ago because they are laying down after the rain.  More storms are predicted for today and then the high humidity should leave tomorrow.

Trimming and choosing binding................

Monday I got two quilts back from my longarmer and the one made with Marcia Derse fabric was trimmed yesterday. 

I chose one of Marcia Derse's Marble Run fabrics for the binding.  It is cut and ready to sew onto the quilt.

I had company most of the day yesterday and we went through a lot of old photographs.  We were joined by more family for pizza in the evening.

It was 88 yesterday with a dew point of 73 which is considered tropical humidity.  Hopefully a front coming through with some rain late today and into tomorrow will drop the humidity for the rest of the week.

The error is fixed on the Wm. Morris TAW so now I need to decide how wide the border should be.

Lots going on................

I started the day by calling the plumber for 2 problems, then went grocery shopping.  When I got home they called and said the plumber would be here in a half hour.  That's amazing...so soon!  He was done in an hour and a half and I have no more leaks.

When I went out to close the garage door, I had to take a photo of the Columbine in the corner of the sidewalk and driveway.

I spent part of the afternoon sewing the long seam in two backings and cutting batting.  The first one is this quilt made with Terrie Mangat fabric.

The second one is a top made with Marcia Derse fabric.  The backing fabric was sent to me by someone who decided she wasn't going to use it.  It was just the perfect amount for the back of this quilt.

This is the front garden and you can't even see the paver path here.  It is 2 pavers wide and there are Black-eyed Susan plants coming up between 2 pavers almost the whole length of the patch.  I know they re-seed, but I didn't expect this many of them.  In the back, the yellow plant is a Coral Bell.

Another Coral Bell is blooming with pretty red flowers.  There haven't been any Tiger Lilies in the front garden for 5 years but there are 3 of them in there now.  Also Violets. They all grow in the gardens behind the house so I'm not sure how they got here.

Meanwhile I have all of these plants in the garage (with lots of windows) waiting to go in the porch pots.  Hopefully I'll get started planting today. 

One decision made................

After a little prodding by a friend I realized I didn't want to find separator strips like I used on the original quilt I made 10 years ago.  Last night I sewed the three sections together.  After trimming the side points it will be about 46" x 62".  I'm thinking about adding a border, but we shall see how long that takes.

 I also cut 1.5" purple squares yesterday and added them to the few that were cut previously.  

It was warm enough to open all of the windows yesterday and low humidity.  We had a 1 minute thunder and rain drops in the middle of the afternoon, and then it was sunny again.

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.