Cleaning up, designs from the past, nature............................

Do you remember the Reader's Digest Condensed novels, 4 to a book?  I always intended to read them.

I have another use for them though.  I am starting to clean off the workbench at the far end of my basement.  It has been several years since I have gone through everything there.  I made it all the way to 3' in from the left end.  Back to my use of the books.  I don't like this window uncovered at night.

I use the books to prop up a 30" x 40" foam core board to cover the window.  Now the part where I got sidetracked and didn't make it past the first 3'.  There were several notebooks piled there (which I removed so I could clean the top of the table) and I decided to look through them.  2 hours later I decided I was done down there, but what did I find?

There were about 15 page protectors with all kinds of photos and notes about Kaleidoscope quilts and blocks.  Some of it was pages of colored in designs that use the blocks.  These are each made with 9 blocks.

I used to sit for hours and color in designs.  Now I want to cut more pieces and make something.

I tried to not get a glare on the plastic sleeves but wasn't totally successful.

Have you fallen asleep yet?  You probably won't want to see what else I find as I work myself down this workbench that is about 14' long.  I'm going to be spending about 3 hours a day down there trying to organize, clean, and move some things to recycling or trash.  I need to organize more than I need to be making another quilt right now.

I have another color of Gloriosa Daisy blooming 3' away from the others; nice Coral Bell flowers as a backdrop to it.

Here is the group of orange blooms.  These plants are growing in the crack between 2 pavers.

One of the tomatoes on the half price plant (that had 10 tomatoes already growing on it) is starting to change color.  Since it is nestled down in the plant I think it is safe from the squirrels, but I'll probably pick it in a few days.

We had another beautiful day yesterday with a nice breeze coming in the windows.  It sounds like possible rain today and very likely rain tomorrow.

 

April 2026 Monthly recap................

There were 2 finishes in April.  The batik Double 4 Patch was nice mindless sewing with strips cut many years ago.  I had to cut a few new strips to get the number of blocks I wanted.  I had a favorite purple batik waiting to be a backing for the right quilt.  It is 55" x 78.5".  The Diamond quilt, made with Wishwell Weather Report fabric was just needing to have a few more rows added to create a 47" x 71" quilt and then it was off to my longarm quilter, Robin Diaz.

I made 3 quilt tops.  I usually resize them to be the right proportion related to each other but the 2 little tops just wanted to be larger in this collage.  The top on the left is Kaleidoscope blocks made with Marcia Derse fabric and it is 51.5" x 72".  The 2 colorwash tops are just 12.25" square.  I had one more top made with Marcia Derse fabric close to the finish line so it will be a finish for next month.

I finished knitting 4 dishcloths.

I made a table runner top but it will wait for a finish to be show in the recap.
 

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.

  

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.

All twelve Kaleidoscope blocks............

Since I'm out of room on the main floor design wall, I put these up on the double wall in the basement.  After seeing this I can see I don't want to stop at an uneven number of blocks so 5 x 7 = 35 is out and I'll probably make it 6 x 8 = 48 blocks.

Here is my Sunday progress, 5 more Kaleidoscope blocks and the second section of the quilt above them is filled in.  I can see some that I want to move.

From the pile of tall triangles on the sewing cabinet I counted out the number of pieces I need to design the bottom section (like the top section).  Then I counted leftovers that will be used in the rest of the Kaleidoscope blocks.  I will need to cut more.  I have the rest of the strip I cut the first ones from and I think I can get 4 more from most of the fabrics.

On my way to fill the bird feeders, I pass the Lenten Rose flower bed.  The plants will get much larger by the time summer is over.  All three have blooms on them.

Since the flowers hang down, all you can see is the outside of the blooms.  I love it that there are two colors of blooms on each plant.

Over by the bird feeders, the Scilla is blooming.

I broke off dried flower stalks from one Sedum plant and trimmed my Zinfin Doll Hydrangea in the front garden.  It sounds like rain starting Tuesday and lasting a few days so I need to get out today and break off more of those flower stalks.

 

6 more blocks.................

I had to cut some more triangle corners before I could make any more blocks.  That is 60 triangles in the stack, one pass through the Studio die cutter with a Studio die, 10 layers at a time.  That is enough triangles for 15 blocks.  There is very little waste when cutting with the triangle dies.

After that I cut 30 tall triangles in one pass through the cutter, enough for 15 blocks.

I also cut 6 of each of these Marcia Derse prints so I would have some more variety to choose from for both quilts.

While I was in the basement I pressed the first 6 blocks.

I added some more pieces to the quilt at the top and the layout is subject to change as I keep working on it.  The 6 new Kaleidoscope blocks are at the bottom and they will get their final pressing today.  The blocks will be 10" finished so I need a minimum of 35 for a quilt 50" x 70".  That means I'm 1/3 of the way there.

It was 48 degrees for a high yesterday and may get up to the 60s today.  I need to trim my Zinfin Doll Hydrangea.  It says to do it in late March before it has buds.  My Annabelle Hydrangeas can be trimmed in the fall or spring.  I'll check both of them and see if they need any more cut off.

Playing with triangles....................

I should have been working on the finishing of the Marcia Derse fabric table runner.  Instead I did my grocery shopping and then went back out to get birdseed that was on sale for a couple more days.

Last night I didn't want to go down to the basement where the table runner parts are waiting for me so I made a few more of the Kaleidoscope blocks.  I need to cut some more corner triangles before I can finish any more blocks.  I'll take these down to the ironing table today and press them and while I'm down there, cut the triangles.

Here is the whole design wall.  I started designing the part at the top on a design wall in the basement but I decided I would rather work on it in the main floor studio.  My friend and I both wanted to remake a quilt that we both had made and both had gifted to someone.  Here is the post with its finish in late 2016.  I made the first one with a tall triangle template but I'm making this one with die cut pieces, a little shorter than the triangles in the original quilt.  This quilt will be much smaller than the original.

When I brought the triangles upstairs they weren't sorted so I took time to do that yesterday.  I have gotten a couple new MD fabrics since I was working on this last year so maybe I'll cut a few triangles from them too.

 

Something new.................

This project has been on one of the design walls in the basement for about 8 months.  Here is the post where more of the layout is shown.  I decided it was time to start sewing some of the blocks to see if it would be an enjoyable project.  I need to cut a lot more of the light prints.  These are all Marcia Derse fabrics.

This is how the center of the first block turned out after 3 tries at it.  That is about 1/16" of an inch off.

The second block turned out better.  I used to make a lot of Kaleidoscope quilts so I know I can match the centers.

Another new orange cacti bloom yesterday.  They make me so happy.

The dark rose one is fully opened now.  I think I see a bud on the pale pink one so I'm hoping for one more bloom at this east window.

It was 70s early in the day yesterday and 36 at bedtime.  It was going down from there through the night.  All of the severe storms with hail stayed south of us.

July 2025 monthly recap..................

 I managed to get two quilts finished in July.  The one on the left was quilted by Robin Diaz so I just had to trim the quilt and add the binding on it.  The top was made in May so it was a fast turnaround.  It is 62.5" x 79".  The fabrics are Kaffe collective with most of the large prints designed by Philip Jacobs.  Most of the light fabrics are Kaffe and Brandon designs.

I quilted the flannel baby quilt on the right.  The squares were sewn together last year, so on this one I added the border, did the quilting and the binding.  It is 39" square.

I have several started projects, one just needing a border, one is blocks waiting for a sashing and border decision.  Right now I have 15 finishes and 11 new quilt tops for the year.  That is progress in the right direction for more finishes than starts.  I have 2 more quilts back from Robin that I need to trim and choose binding for so I'm hoping that is 2 finishes for August.

My friend was back yesterday using my design wall and I played with some pieces on the other wall.  Across the center of this layout is 3 Kaleidoscope blocks without corners (so you can see the break down of the design).  I saw this layout somewhere and wanted to try it out.  The triangles will be a second light fabric.

I showed this photo a couple weeks ago and it is using the same pieces as the photo above.  I have taken these pieces off this design wall and will bring them up to my  main floor studio to continue designing.  Are you counting?  That's 2 more new projects.

All over the place...............

I have too many days where I wander all over and do a little on a lot of things.  It doesn't feel like progress somehow.

I chose a batik backing for this crazy pieced wallhanging.  I needed a little under 1.5 yards and looked for a yellow but didn't find enough yardage on any piece.  Second choice was a black and white and this very early 1990s Hoffman batik is perfect.  It is one that isn't easy to use in a lot of patterns and there was plenty for a back with almost 2 yards still left.

If you look closely you can see the little imperfections that batiks have since they are hand printed.

I have a lot of the plastic project boxes and I decided to see what I have in some of them.  The first one I opened has leftover Kaleidoscope blocks and pieces.  There are 5 blue blocks sewn (minus corners) that are using leftovers from 2 quilts.

There are enough red/orange/yellow pieces for either 2 or 3 blocks. I should have put a note in there after I counted them....but I didn't.

I laid out one combination of color block.

There are enough pieces for 2 more blocks like that.  I can't tell you how many times I have pulled these out over the last 10 years, played with them and put them back in.  Do I really want to get sidetracked with this?

I really made an effort in this last year to put all of the leftover wedges in the same box.  There are 50 wedges here, enough for 6 blocks and 2 wedges left over.  They are 1/4" shorter than the previously shown pieces.  I don't have a good photo of the quilt these are left over from so I need to do that soon.

After all of that I went outside and pulled weeds along the rock edging of my backyard flower bed.  My knees weren't happy so I just did one large bucket full.

Then I went to the basement to put in a load of laundry and while I was down there I started rearranging my Martha Negley fabrics.  I started pulling the pretty pink prints.  They are really large prints so I think I need to cut 12.5" squares and then make 9 patches with 4.5" strips for every other block.  Maybe just a small quilt.......

Today I need to bake frosted creams.  My grandson from CO is moving back to IL (not sure of the date) and this is his visit before the move.  This was his favorite dessert when he was little and I think he still likes it.  It's actually a favorite of the whole family.  The recipe is at the bottom of this post.