Rain

So which border did I sew on?.............................
None! It was a gloomy day and I just couldn't seem to get started on anything. We had rain in the early morning hours and periods of clouds and sun and humidity. The only thing I did was bag and label a lot of cut pieces. In the back are 21" long strips of batik that were left from my spring log cabin. To the right of that 2" strips cut while I made my sunshine quilt. In the front are 5.5" squares of batiks and Kaffe and Philip Jacobs fabrics and to the right of that 128 four patches leftover from the beaded curtain quilt. I will put them in plastic bags with labels and hang them on the studio wall.


I took this picture with the super zoom lens from my kitchen window. I didn't want to get my shoes wet and the buds were starting to open.

I hope I have more energy today.

Free day

Playtime...............................................
Sunday is a day off from my project list, on which I can work on any project, start a new one, or just relax. I decided to relax and make some more strip pieced fabric from my clean up cuts. They are explained here.


I really don't NEED any more since I have this whole pile of them that I haven't used yet. But where does need fit into this anyway? I am driven to play with color.

Here is my daily list, revised.

Monday: Border day (I have at least 6 quilts waiting for their borders, including Rosebud)

Tuesday: Beaded curtain variation (I need to choose the fabric for the setting triangles, cut it and sew them on)

Wednesday: Vanilla 9 patch (I have 12 of 20 rows sewn together, 8 to go and then the cross seams)

Thursday: Basting or binding day

Friday: A flannel quilt started about 8-10 years ago (no I haven't shown this one yet)

Saturday: Since Rosebud moved to border day, I can choose another UFO for this day.

Border options

My original idea for the border was to add a 2" strip............
then a strip with the border fabric and assorted pinks pieced with triangles every so often, and then the same border fabric again only wider. This would make it look like the triangles are floating in the border. The pieces on there still have their seam allowances so they look too big right now.
A lot of you wanted the pink as a first border with choice #1.

Now I'll tell you that the frogs were my favorite and only one person chose them for the border, a few others said they were cute but didn't indicate that they would use that fabric. A lot said they would put it on the back. The reason I like the frogs so much is the stripey background that leads my eye into the quilt and it echoes the horizontal seams of the triangles. All of the other choices to me were just fabrics sitting there, safe and traditional. Of course there is nothing wrong with safe or traditional and I may still end up using one of them. I show it here with the pink as a first border. You may want to go back 2 posts and see it without the narrow border (and a bigger picture).

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I will stew in my indecision for another day. I wish I had another pink, a little softer color with a little green in it. I'll go through the stacks of batiks again today.

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Thank you everyone for your votes/opinions. A lot of times you point things out that I don't see because I am too close to it.

While struggling with my indecision I decided to start quilting this piece. I got all of the ditch quilting done around the plain borders and have started quilting in the striped area. I am using a very fine thread that just shows up as quilting but doesn't add a lot of color. In fact the color is taupe, very nuetral.

Have a good Sunday everyone.

Decisions, decisions......

OK here are 2 more....................
When so many responses were number one in the last post, I remembered this one with wildflowers with red/pink/rust in with the green.
Border choice 5
Border choice 6 (Rebel wanted to see more pink!)

Added at 3:30 p.m. I still haven't decided which one to use so I am going to sew on something else today. I can still work on this one on Monday which is borders day on my daily list. Keep voting!

Rosebud nears the finish line

Rosebud border time............................
Choice 1-pink and green mottled
Choice 2-green/lime mottled

Choice 3-small print med green

Choice 4-frogs on lily pads with stripey background

Here is a close up of the frog on a lily pad

Here is a coordinating frog batik that I can use for part of the back.

Which one do you like? I will choose and start sewing after lunch.

Late summer nature

Border accomplished........................
Now Fridays can be devoted to a different project since both Strips 'n Curves are ready for quilting. I have a flannel quilt that only has a little bit to do to be finished and it has been waiting for around 10 years too. Maybe that will be the Friday quilt next week.

This quilt has a lot of gold on it so the reflections don't show the real beauty of the fabric combinations. It ended up 49" x 58", a good size to throw over the couch.
Most of the hosta flowers are not that exciting but this is one of my favorites.

This plant has skinnier pointed leaves and most people that I tried to share it with didn't want any of it. What they didn't realize is that it has one of the most interesting blooms.

Here is a close up of 2 of them................

and a more head on view of one. I'll take more pictures when they open up.

I had a plant called Baby Goldenrod which was small for the first 4 years. This year it is over 5 feet tall like the regular variety. I am going to go out and cut it all down when the flowers start dying off so it doesn't spread seed everywhere. Lunch with sisters-in-law was fun yesterday. I have some leftovers for lunch today. I won't want to be cooking because it is going to be hotter and more humid all weekend. Next week though they are promising cooler weather again, my kind of weather.

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Dad's cardiac evaluation is next Friday to see if he is a candidate for hernia surgery so I should have a few days to relax now.

Nature's brilliant colors

Garden walk...........................
Coneflower center, up close and personal.
Anemone buds. I like these better than the flowers.

Anemone flower.

I have 2 different shades of lavender Rose of Sharon. It is easier to see the difference in person. The one above is a little bluer, the one below a little pinker. I have some favorite hosta blooms to show tomorrow.