Tying to decide on size.................

I'm designing this one sideways so it will fit on the design wall.  I have been figuring out estimated finished sizes.  As it is seen here, it would be approximately 44.5" x 72".  If I add one more row for the width, it would be approximately 55" x 72".  Another option would be to take off one row on the end and it would be approximately 44.5" x 63.5".

So while I think about that I searched for more gold toned Marcia Derse fabrics for the triangles.  I got 3 of them cut to try out.

Those 3 new ones are in this photo.  I'll cut the rest of the candidates today.  I only have a few triangles of one of the fabrics because I have used almost all of it in the last quilt I made with Marcia Derse fabric.

This Amaryllis is on the top shelf of my plant stand and I think it is almost 30" tall.  I have to look way up to see the beautiful blooms.  This is the one with the tiny red edging around the petals.

I only have one cactus blooming.  It had 3 buds and this is the first one to go to full bloom.  I'm hoping more of round 2 blooming will start soon but I don't see any buds on the other plants yet.

Relaxing day.................

There was a pile of strips I had cut a couple years ago to cut some more elongated hexagons so I die cut 2 from each strip.  I put one of each up on the design wall and also added more triangles for the centers.  I need to decide how many different centers I want.  Maybe just 2 types would be best but I'm not sure I could stick with that.  Other than this I made a placemat top with the left over triangle squares left from the last 2 baby quilts.  I attempted to consolidate the info in my 6 notebooks to 2 and that took 2 hours.  More work needed there.

We went from -15 yesterday morning at 8 a.m. to -9 for a high in the afternoon.  The only time I was outside was when I walked out to get my Sunday newspapers.  It was a sunny day, a nice bonus.

#4 quilt top for 2024..............

The last seams were sewn by noon yesterday and then the zig zag baby quilt top got its final pressing.  It is 34.5" x 40".

These 2 will be a nice addition to my available baby quilts when I get them quilted next month.  Right now I'm thinking a white with black print for the back of both of them will keep them gender neutral.

Two or three years ago I cut a pile of elongated hexagons from older Marcia Derse fabrics.  I saw this layout somewhere online and decided to test it.  This is one that would have to be totally designed before I could sew on any side triangles.  The edge pieces will only have 1 larger side triangle and will have 2 smaller triangles on their outside edge.  I tried 2 combinations of triangles for the light square.  I think I have some more strips cut to die cut more of the elongated hexagons so I'll check that out today.

We're into the really cold weather now, several degrees below 0 last night.

Added at 8 a.m.- It is -15 degrees.

6 more seams to sew..............

Only 6 more seams and this baby quilt top will be finished.  It had 13 seams in one direction and then I sewed 9 of 15 seams in the other direction.  I'll finish sewing the seams this morning and then press it.

We got 4-5" of snow in the very early hours yesterday and then it stopped for a little while and then light rain for most of the day.  I measured the snow on the sidewalk and it was 5" of heavy wet snow.  I think we have about 8" total of snow on the grassy areas now.  I'm hoping the driveway will dry off today because we're going to be in extreme cold Sunday-Tuesday, below 0 at night and a high of 0 on Tuesday.  If it doesn't dry off it will be a sheet of thin ice.

The snow piled up on the baffles over the bird feeders.  By afternoon the snow had slid off the one on the left.

The branches on the trees had piles of snow too early yesterday.  The end of the storm was predicted to only drop about an inch of snow overnight and then clear out. I hope we have some sunshine today.

The unexpected............

Yesterday was one of those days where all of the little things eat away at the hours and by evening I hadn't done anything in the studio.  I went over some lists I had made of things I may want to make but nothing was calling my name.  Then...this little thought came into my head....maybe I could made a zig zag quilt with the leftover triangle squares.  Since I hadn't counted them yet I had no idea how big it would be.  I just started putting rows up on the design wall and there were enough pieces for a 30" x 35" top.  I decided to try a row of the light squares all around to add 5" to the measurement.  I would have preferred one more row of zig-zag but there were only enough pieces left for a half row.  There is a pile of light triangles that I could have cut colored triangles to match with but I didn't have that much ambition.  So.....here is one more unexpected baby quilt top in progress.

One of my organization problems is having several notebooks and tablets with notes.  This isn't even all of them.  I was looking for one and I found all of these instead.  I need to choose one, choose the space where it needs to be at the end of each day, and transfer all of the notes that are likely to be needed into that one notebook.

I'm hoping to get some cutting done today for a couple projects.  We are expecting the second snowstorm this week and this might be the big one.  I ran all of my errands yesterday so I'll be home all day today.

#3 quilt top for January 2024............

Another baby quilt top completed this month. It is a fraction over 37" square.  This was a fun one to make.  It is a combination of the Donut Hole block and 9 Patch blocks.  It is made from pieces in small project boxes, leftovers from this quilt top.  (Scroll down for details about it.)

There are still more pieces left in the 2 boxes.  I need to come up with another idea for them.

I counted the squares and put notes in the box.  I haven't counted the triangle squares yet but I probably will do it.

Here are the 2023 empty spools from the machine I use for piecing my quilts.  It doesn't include longarm cones because they have so much thread on them that I rarely empty one.  i quilted 23 quilts on the longarm last year.

19 blocks................

I need 6 more blocks for my 25 block baby quilt.  I hope when it is sewn together that the diagonals that are formed by the 9 patches are more prominent.  I thought about grouping some of the donut holes together and some 9 patches in groups so the layout is more random.  But then I thought I'll have this done a lot quicker if I just leave it alone and sew it together the way it is.  The baby isn't going to care.

I got 2 pieces cut for the backing of my batik pineapple log cabin quilt.  Today I'll get the center crease lines ironed out and seam them together.

The Amaryllis from my sister-in-law has finally bloomed.  There is a little red edge around all of the petals.  It is so delicate and pretty.

From the top you can see all 5 buds/blooms.  There is another bud stalk on this one so I'll be treated to some more flowers in a week or so.

We had 7" of snow predicted for yesterday but we were too close to the rain/snow line and had about 2" of slush with an inch of snow over it when I got up.  My snow plow guy came and cleared that.  Then off and on all day it snowed and rained so there is another couple inches of slush and snow to clear off the driveway today.  Our next snowstorm is coming Friday and then we plunge down below 0 a couple nights over the weekend.

I had to move the Amaryllis with the double white flowers down to the floor and tie it to my plant stand.  It was too top heavy for the table even though I had it tied to a chair.