Top half sewn, bottom half designed................

After I sewed the top half together, I folded it in half so only the bottom 3 rows are showing and pinned it back up on the wall.  Then I designed the bottom half, making sure I didn't get the same fabric near itself.  There are 3 blocks alike of each combination plus some strips were duplicated.  I started sewing the bottom section together last night.

The sixth pink Bear Paw block was sewn.

I put all six of the blocks up on the design wall while part of the wall wasn't covered with the 9 patch top.  These are 14" blocks and I'm not sure where this project is headed.  Hopefully I will know by tomorrow so I can continue working on it.

 

The chickens won............

The chickens will be the backing on this 16 patch quilt.  It's unlikely that I would make another quilt in the future that could use this fabric.  Now I have 2 ready for my longarm quilter.

I realized as I got more blocks on the design wall that there needs to be a double row of the spotted fabric all around the perimeter.

This is so much prettier than the camera wants to show you.  I still need 2 more rows at the bottom and I will start filling in the 9 patches today.

Here is yesterday's pink Bear Paw block.  I love the light fabric in this one.  I hope I can get two blocks cut today.

Fall has arrived here. It was only in the mid 60s yesterday and will be in the 60s for the next few days.  Unfortunately it will be partly cloudy all week too.

 

Layout preview................

I wanted to see how the layout was going to look, so I took one 9 patch block of each fabric combination and previewed them with the 2 alternate fabrics.  I figured out that I need to do 2 columns on each side with the spotted fabric plus one row top and bottom.  Then the floral fabric will fill in all of the center spaces.  I think it will be interesting close up.  I'm not sure about a distance view.

Downstairs I cut the batting for the 16 patch quilt and looked for backings.  From top to bottom they are 

Spider mums

Random dots

Chickens.

Do I want it serious and use the Spider Mums or fun and funky and use Random Dots or Chickens?

While I was down there I cut one more pink Bear Paw and sewed it last night.

Rain report:  from Thursday through Sunday we got 6.6" of rain.  This is the third time this summer we have gone almost a month with an inch or less of rain and then got caught in the ring of fire thunderstorms as the hot dome moved and got from 6" - 8" of rain.

Rainy Saturday..................

It rained most of the day yesterday.  I checked the rain gauge about 5 p.m. and it had 1.5" in it.  I didn't empty it so I'll have a 2 day total including today's rain.  We got 2.5" on Thursday after a month with less than an inch of rain.  Three miles west of us got 4.25" on Thursday.

I turned on the iron and pressed Friday's blocks and the last 3 stratas.  Then I made the 9 blocks from the stratas.  I have 63 six inch 9 patches made now.  If I use 60 of them and 60 of the two alternate fabrics I can make a quilt 60" x 72".  I didn't end up looking for fabrics to pair with the last 5 strips that I showed yesterday.

I cut one more pink block and sewed the first two.  I'm not sure what I'm making here.  There may be more than one size block or maybe just 6 of these 14" blocks.  I am making a small quilt.

I can't believe how fast September is speeding by.  I need to get focused on what I want to finish this month.

 

Trying the layout.......................

Trying out the 2 favorite choices together: I think they work pretty well.  I was able to get 36 squares from the spotted fabric. I haven't cut the other one yet, but if I don't make any mis-cuts I think I will get 24 squares.

The busy print has rust color in it with brown in the spotted fabric. Even though they don't match exactly they coordinate pretty well.

I looked back through the brown bin and found another piece and this one is brown.  The problem though is the light color leaves; they are so much lighter than the ones in the rust color.  I could probably just fussy cut some squares from the darker areas if I need a few more pieces.

I got 15 more 9 patch blocks sewn and 2 of the 3 stratas.  When I ran out of bobbin thread I quit for the night.

I also pressed some of the pink fabrics and got one block cut out.  Maybe I'll get that sewn today.

 

A day to slow down..................

I spent my time in the studio last night cutting strip lengths for 9 patches.  

All of my 9 patches will be 5 dark and 4 light squares.  I need to cut the dark strip into two 16" pieces and one 8" piece.  The light strip needs to have one 16" strip and two 8" pieces.  This will make three 9 patches.  I got 7 cut last night and had done 5 previously.  That will be 36 blocks.  I will be experimenting with some ideas of how to use these 9 patches.

I had letters to mail and then went on to the hardware store where I purchased a product that will keep weed seeds from growing.  I spread it on all of the area of dirt in the front garden and hosed it down per instructions.  Hopefully this will keep most weeds from growing all the way into winter.  I will be spreading it again in the spring.

Other than that I just relaxed and dreamed of new projects.

Taking it easy..........

I had another steroid shot to my SI joint yesterday morning and they said to take it easy for one day and then resume normal activity.  I decided to sort the extra strips one more time by dark and light.  I could make 'the other 16 patch' with them if I cut a few more light strips.  I could also make 9 patches and do a layout with an alternate plain block (Single Irish Chain).  I could just put them away and do nothing with them but they would make a good sharing quilt to put into my inventory.

This was yesterday's bounty.  I'm staying ahead of the squirrels and the birds.  I shared 3 boxes of tomatoes with neighbors and a friend yesterday.

All kinds of plants have migrated from the back garden into this front garden.  Just right of center is some Goldenrod.  I pull it out all growing season in the back garden and didn't notice this one in front.  That's probably because there were so many Black-eyed Susans in here.  You can see they are all dead now.  I have a crew coming Sunday morning to clean out some of it for me.

First quilt top for September 2026................

Even though I have an ironing table 30" x 60", I was dreading pressing this 72" x 88" quilt top.  It wasn't as bad as I expected but I'm sure glad it is done.  It was hard to get a good straight on photo because my longarm bar is in the way.  This was the best of the 3 that I took.  I haven't looked for a backing yet but I still have 2 (of 3) that I pulled when I was making the Snail's Trail quilt with many of these same fabrics.  They are on this post (scroll down).  I think there is enough yardage of both of them.  I also thought maybe I should put flannel on the back so I'll check and see if I have a large enough piece.

When I went out to get my mail I noticed how pretty the Sedum flowers are. There are 2 different varieties here.

There were lots of bees visiting them.  I tried to get a photo with several of them and this was the best I could do.  They were very busy bees and didn't stay in one place very long.

Here is the bad news in the same flower bed.  The Zinfin Doll Hydrangea blooms totally dried up and never turned raspberry color.  Even though we had a lot more rain this summer, it was followed by long stretches of no rain and high temperatures with strong sun.  I should have watered it and I hope I don't lose the whole bush.  I haven't been able to do much gardening this year. 

Top sewn, not pressed.................

 

I wasn't sure I could get the last 10 rows sewn yesterday but I stuck with it and finished at 10:15 p.m.  I hope it will feel cool in the basement today when I go down to turn on the iron.

I planted Marigold seeds in the pots with the tomato plants.  Some pots only had 2 come up but this one has about 6 Marigolds in there.  I have a 6' tall stake in the middle of the pot to keep the tomato plant more upright this year.

I got a few Marigolds to grow in the raised bed too and they are too weak to stand up.  I was surprised it took 3 months for blooming.  They were planted the 3rd week of May.

Sewing 72" long seams..................

There were 10 seams the first direction, 72" long, and I got 8 of them sewn by bedtime last night.

This was the pile on the sewing cabinet when I quit for the night. There are storms predicted this morning and I hope we get some of the rain.  If it fizzles out I will have to be out watering the tomatoes and cucumbers today.

 

99 blocks on the wall.....................

After 2 hours at the design wall, this is the final layout for this 16 patch quilt.  There are 2 alike of each block except one and 18 of the alternate fabric blocks.

After lunch I went back down to the basement and took the blocks down in stacks and numbered them, ready for piecing the quilt top.

In the main floor studio I took the 71 extra strips and pulled out all of the duplicates and then paired them for a future quilt.  The 3 strips on top need a partner.  I need to cut a few more strips and they might be all greens and blues.  I had to get these stacked up and moved since they are on my sewing cabinet and I want to sew today.

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

I had errands to run in the morning before the heat became oppressive yesterday.  When I got to work this backing was the first project.  I have cut the pieces so maybe I'll get them sewn together today.

Next I cut 19 squares from the alternate block fabric.  I will have to design this quilt sideways on my double design wall in the basement.  It will have 99 blocks to make a top 72" x 88".

I braved the heat late in the afternoon and filled the birdfeeders and picked tomatoes.  Most of the tomatoes are up high on the plants now so the squirrels haven't bothered them lately but the birds are pecking holes in a few of them.

I have 71 extra strips that I cut when cutting for the 16 patch blocks in photo above.  There are duplicates of some that I cut when there was only a little fabric left and I could get another strip out of it.  I might add more blues and greens and make "the other 16 patch" quilt from them. It would be a smaller quilt and would be my mindless sewing while between planned projects. 

Turning on the iron..............

I knew it would take a while to press 81 blocks plus iron a few other things piled on the ironing table, so I started a load of laundry and spent a couple hours in the basement.  I have the blocks sorted into 2 piles since there are 2 alike of each combination except the one at the bottom.  I will be designing half of the quilt with one pile when I get around to it.

I got this quilt back from my longarm quilter so I trimmed it and then cut the binding strips, the same fabric as the border.

Last night I prepared the binding and got it sewn onto the quilt.  I'm going to hand finish this one because this William Morris fabric quilt is special.

It was a beautiful day yesterday with lower humidity by afternoon. Today sounds even better with a few degrees cooler and dew points in the high 50s, low 60s.  That's a big change from the 71-76 dew points last week.

Playing with blocks.......................

A few days ago I showed some fabric that might work as alternate blocks sprinkled through the new quilt I'm working on.  I tried these 3 yesterday.

This is the one I thought would be most likely to work.  The idea is to have a print that blends with the blocks, not one that stands out as "here I am".  The purpose of the blocks is to enlarge the quilt without having to piece more blocks.

This one is still a possibility but I think it might be too obvious.

I thought ths one was too busy but I kind of like it.  I can get 16 blocks for sure out of a yard of fabric and on some could get 20, depending on how wide that white selvage is.

Then it was time to layer 10 stratas, staggered by 1" (following lines on the cutting mat) and cut pieces for the next 20 blocks. I actually did that twice and got the last 20 cut also.

This is one block each of the first 20 blocks (there are 2 alike in every combination) which equals 1/4 of the quilt top.  The lightest block is in the top row and I think it is going to be fine with the darker blocks.

I sewed a lot of blocks last night, with just 6 left to sew today.  I have a lot of decisions to make.  Do I want a quilt 72" x 88" or do I want to make 2 smaller quilts (and piece a few more blocks)?  I could add in more blues and greens if I made more blocks. 

20 more blocks.....................

I didn't get to the sewing machine until quite late so I was out of steam and didn't even get them up on the design wall.

This is the lightest block in the bunch and I hope it plays nice with the rest.

I had an appointment at the pain clinic in the middle of the morning yesterday so I didn't get anything done before lunchtime.  In the afternoon I had a couple phone calls and then filled the bird feeders and watered the tomato and cucumber plants.  The weather was beautiful and I had all of the windows open.

Today I should be able to spend more time on my quilt.

Blocks started.................

Yesterday I made the decision to make the traditional 16 patch blocks with my stratas.  I pressed all of the stratas and cut enough pieces to make 20 blocks, 2 each of the ones in this photo.  I'm happy with the way it is looking so far.  Today I'll cut 20 more and lay out some of these blocks on the fabrics I showed yesterday for possible alternate blocks.  

Today is supposed to be the best day of the week for low humidity.  I hope the prediction is right because I would like windows open. 

Last two..................

There was just one strip to cut yesterday to complete the stratas.

This is all 40-1/2 stratas, ready for me to decide which 16 patch to make.

I decided to look through my larger print brown fabrics to see if there was anything I would want to use for a few alternate blocks sprinkled through.  This photo shows 22" top to bottom.

This photos shows 1/2 yard of the fabric.

This photo shows 22" top to bottom.  I think this might be the best candidate.

This is showing 1/2 yard of the fabric.  I think this one might be good too.

I didn't get any farther on decisions because I was invited to a family dinner at my son's house and had 2 little boys to entertain us.  They are 15 months apart in age and the oldest just turned 4 last month.