Working on the TAW............

I sewed the last seam in all 5 stratas and pressed that seam.  Then I cut a strata into loops.  I have unpicked the first strip and put it on the design wall.  The arrow points to the seam that needs to be unpicked on the next loop.  All you have to do is look at the seam between the top and second piece and identify that seam to unpick in the next loop.

Second piece unpicked and placed on the design wall.  Identify the seam between the top 2 pieces of that strip and find it on the next loop and unpick.

I got 8 loops unpicked and up on the wall.  I decided to stop there and cut the other 4 stratas into loops.

The lilies are doing well this year.  The first 3 years they were in this location they didn't bloom and I was afraid I would lose them.

The Lemon Lily is pretty but doesn't photograph very well.

Just playing with stash............

I need to plan ahead for another Trip Around the World quilt to use for demo in my January class.  I am working with all Westminster/Rowan fabrics here, Kaffe, Phil, Martha, and Brandon designers.

Since the fabrics make a complete loop I needed to see the 2 end fabrics meeting in the center of the group too.

Progress on the Trip Around the World quilt.....

Now I am working on the right quarter of the top half of the quilt.  This means the fabrics are stepping down one fabric at a time.

I also auditioned the center to be sure I like it by pinning some loops for the bottom half on the wall in the color sequence.  I decided I liked it so I continued unpicking the rest of the loops.
 










To make the fabrics move down one at a time you look at the bottom 2 fabrics of the previous strip on the design wall and unpick the next loop at that seam (where my thumb is).

Now all of the loops for the top half are unpicked and on the wall (18 fabrics is 35 strips, 17 on each side of a center strip).

The bottom row of squares is the center row from top to bottom on the quilt.

For the bottom half of the quilt, look at the bottom square on the first row and you will pick that square totally out of a loop.  You don't want 2 center rows and you do want the same fabric at the bottom of the quilt that is at the very top.

I unpicked 3 strips on the bottom half last night and quit for the night.

Years ago my son in law travelled to Australia and he brought me two tablecloths.  Neither one is large enough for the back of the quilt but I figure out a way to use one or both on the back.









 

Stratas sewn.........

I took all four sewn stratas after I had pressed them and laid them out to simulate the effect I will get on this quilt.

The next step was to sew the last seam that makes the strata into a tube.  I trim the selvages off to have a straight edge at the left.

Next I cut as many slices as I can get out of the strata.  I usually have to do another straightening cut when I am about half way across the strata.  The next step will be to unpick one seam in each of the tube slices.  I do this at the design wall where I can easily determine which seam to unpick.  

The pink cactus bloom is almost all open.  It seems to be a darker pink than last year.

This colorful tree is in my backyard neighbor's front yard.  I used the zoom feature to shoot between the branches of my Redbud tree.







 

From strata to beauty

Here is the HO HUM strata from the Kaffe Fassett fabrics. It's ok, but not very interesting. And then.....just like magic, when the strata is cut and moved look at the beauty. I am really loving this one, but I have another planned already from Kaffe fabrics.
Here are some of the leaves I scanned 2 years ago. When they are printed on the inkjet fabric they look just as real.