A finished quilt top................

This is the cool color Kaffe collective quilt top that I started piecing in December last year.  All I had left to do was the inserted strip on both sides.  It is 60.5" x 80".

Now I'm trying to decide on the backing.  The Martha Negley large floral piece is long enough for part of the back.  Both other pieces are only 2 yards each and I need 84".  I need a piece 27.5" wide so I would have leftover that I could piece to fill in the needed 12".  Indecision........

I was trying to find a Brandon Mably fabric yesterday (part of the Kaffe collective) and the shelves were such a mess.  I decided to sort it by color rather than pattern.  The pile on the left on the second shelf up is the Liberty fabric that Kaffe did the colorations for a few years ago.  All of the rest on the bottom 2 shelves is Brandon fabric.  I was surprised how much red there is.  I found some fabrics I definitely want to work with.

 

Rows sewn one way.............

I sewed the rows one direction but I can't sew the rows together until I add the setting triangles to the ends of the rows.

I opened up both of the setting triangle choices and slipped them in behind the corners of the blocks on the right.

This is the first diagonal row in the top left corner.  If you enlarge the photo you will see the safely pin in the top left corner and the straight pins holding the blocks together.  By pinning the rows together I can take down 2 rows to run alternately through the sewing machine.

The blocks are overlapped and then pinned with a straight pin.

The safety pin in the corner reminds me that it is the left end of the row.

I start sewing the blocks together from the right end so the pinned row can lay flat on my sewing cabinet and the sewn end gets folded over to sew each block on to the row.  That way no pins come loose.

Here is a close up of the 2 choices for setting triangles.
 

2 candidates..................

I tried 2 fabrics for the setting triangles.  The top one is orange Shaggy and the bottom one is red Cactus Flower.  I'm wondering if I can use both of them.

It's really hard to tell how they will work with just one of each folded into triangles.  I just couldn't get motivated to cut them so I worked on something else.

I sliced one of the stratas for the Kaffe throw size Trip Around the World quilt.

I started unpicking one seam on each to make the sequence for 1/4 of the quilt.  There are 9 more to unpick after I took this photo.  Now I can go to a design wall and decide which fabric will be at the center.

Today my oldest great-grandson is 7 years old.  Time sure flies.
 

Maybe the final layout?...........

I changed blocks to different positions a few times yesterday and I think I might have the final layout.  I will know when I cut the setting triangle fabric and place it around the perimeter.  

 I had a deadline to bake a double batch of Kringlas yesterday and that took up most of the morning.  They will be delivered to my granddaughter's house a couple states away today.

Yesterday's Christmas card came from Spain.  A friend went over there last year in January to spend 3 months with family and then the pandemic hit so she is still there.  I miss her but she is safe and enjoying her extended visit over there.

All 59 blocks............

All 59 blocks are on the wall.  I had 4 left over because I made more than I needed.  I need to still move some blocks to new locations but it was too late last night to continue playing with them.

Here are the four blocks that I pulled out.  The 2 in the middle are too purplish to go well with the red, yellow and orange.  I like the one on the right so it might end up back in there.  The one one the left is my least favorite block so its duplicate may come out too.

This is the only cactus bloom I have right now.  No buds in sight either.

I have a new battery in my van now so I will be OK for awhile.  The guy across the street works at the dealership where I have my work done so he took it to work in the morning and brought it back on his lunch hour.  It was nice to not have to take it there myself and wait for the work to be finished.

Some might not work, some will................

 I got 8 blocks sewn, these 4 and their duplicates.  When you cut up a large print with many values in it you never know if it is going to work until it is auditioned with all of the other blocks.  They will get pressed today and then auditioned.

I also got the last 8 strips cut and the strip sets sewn.  These also need to be pressed before I can slice the pieces for the 8 blocks.

Here is the progress of both Amaryllis plants.  The bud stalks are growing faster now on the one in the front.

The small bud on the waxed Amaryllis is still pretty small.  The bloom at the bottom left will need to be removed soon as it is fading fast.

I'm getting a new battery for my van today.  The one that keeps dying is only 2 years old but I only drove 700 miles last year and that isn't enough to keep it charged.  A new one should give another year I hope.  I found out something I didn't know yesterday.  The young guy who jumpstarted my van said that the battery will charge faster if you let it just sit there and idle and will charge slower when driving because several things are drawing power.  That makes sense but I wish someone would have told me that sooner.

Progress in a restful day...................

I had a back up of things to press so I only got 8 of the fabrics for the 16 patch blocks pressed and sewn into 4 strip sets.

Some of the fabrics to press were light fabrics to continue my TV sewing project.  Then I cut 40 triangles and sewed the pairs.  I now have sewn enough for 17 twelve inch blocks and I will need at least 20 or 24 blocks.

On today's line up: pressing the rest of the fabrics for 16 patch blocks and cutting the strips.  Hopefully they will get sewn tonight.  Also cutting for another project.  When people ask how long does it take to make a quilt I think they envision already pressed fabric cut into shapes and appearing on the sewing table ready to proceed.  Choosing fabrics, pressing and cutting is probably anywhere from a quarter to a third of the time for making a quilt top. (And of course I'm not figuring  preselected bundled groups and precut fabric purchases in this estimation.)