Just playing...................

Yesterday was the first day this week without strong wind so I went grocery shopping and filled my gas tank.

When I got to the sewing machine I continued sewing triangle squares and then decided to play with some of the parts in the box.  If I decide to sew this block I need to start sewing more hourglass blocks.  I have a couple more ideas to try too.

This is one of the racks in the basement that I can see now that the excess design walls are gone.  On top is interfacing and fusible fleece, next shelf down is Australian/Aboriginal fabrics, then 2 shelves of black and white, followed by African fabrics and some miscellaneous.  On the bottom is pinks, pastels, some backing fabrics and one miscellaneous pile.  I'm just happy to not have to move a wall every time I need something from this shelf unit.

Last night I played with a collection of Kaffe 2.5" squares to see if I have a good selection for a colorwash.  There are too many golds and not enough greens for one thing and not enough medium/dark values.

 

Sorting......mindless work...........

Last night I decided to sort the triangles in the box of 3" Kaffe collective fabrics.  Since I cut them with my die cutter, and there are either 6 layers or 10 layers, depending on which cutter I used, there was a variety of fabrics in each pile.

Then I decided to divide them by stacks with less than 8 triangles and stacks of more than 8 triangles.  This photo is all of the ones with 8 or more triangles.  A sawtooth star would take 8 alike.

Next I paired all of the ones with less than 8 triangles and started sewing them.

Yesterday morning my son came by and he helped me take the flannel off all of the 1" foam insulation sheets that were design walls in the basement.  Then he loaded them in my van and I drove them to his business.  Now I have access to all of areas except one in my basement.  For any newer readers, I used to have 8 people who came for a workshop about every 8 weeks and I provided one 4' x 7' design wall for each of them.  I no longer have a need for all of those walls.  Some were in front of metal storage racks with fabric stored on them so I had to move the walls to get to the fabric.  

Then my son and grandson picked me up at noon for lunch at a local establishment I had never been to.  We used to call them taverns but I think most people just call them bars now.  This one is well known for their good food and they didn't dissapoint.

Very little sewing..................

I couldn't settle on a project yesterday so I decided to just sew some more components for the 4" Kaffe "parts" box.  I need to press the strips before I can cut them to make 4 patches.

I decided to check the 3" Kaffe "parts" box and I need to cut more light fabrics before I do much sewing with the pieces.  I don't have anything in mind for either box of pieces and hopefully I can zero in on a project today.

I can always trim the two Tilda quilts and cut the binding for them.

 

Twig border..................

The twig print border #4 was a good finish for this piece.  I started with the center block in July 2016.  Borders were added little by little over the years.  I wish now that the center was better looking.  I could unpick it and add something else in the center but I'll have to think about that for awhile.  It is 45.5" x 57.5" right now.  The overall size won't change if I decide on something else for the center.

I gave a final press to the other wild little quilt top.  It is 40" square.

The center section of this one was started in December 2015 and the center was completed in January 2016.  Then it waited for the next 2 borders to be added in a period of 9 years.  Ridiculous, I know.  This one is considered finished so I will get it quilted soon.

I had four 4 patch blocks leftover from the first quilt so I pulled out the box containing components for more 4" blocks.  There were some short strips left too so I can make some more 4 patches.

 

A finish..................

This quilt is all batik, made with 2.5" strips in a pattern I call "the other 16 patch".  The true 16 patch is made of squares.  There are 32 blocks each made with 2 different batiks so there were 64 strips total.

There is one full width strip and 2 leftover pieces from previous backings on the back of this quilt.  It is 62.5" x 70.5".  It has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it and it was longarm quilted by Robin Diaz.

I mentioned digging out ditch lilies a couple days ago.  They are day lilies that grow wild along country roads.  These are about 6-8" tall and look at those roots!  It's no wonder they are so hardy and such a pain to get rid of.

I got the old growth broken off of the 3rd Sedum plant and when I raked the leaves I found the Hosta to the right of it already growing.

I worked 1 1/2 hours and am only about half done in this flowerbed.

Here are 2 more Hostas starting to grow.  I haven't seen any in the back garden yet, but with it being 63 yesterday and today maybe warmer, I'm sure there will be some by the end of the day.

I moved a couple pots into my garage for the winter.  It is about 55 degrees in there all winter so this Begonia wintered over nicely and has new leaves.  I have windows in the overhead doors as well as on the side of the garage.

I should have taken this photo at a different angle so you could see how tall they are.  These geraniums were wintered over the year before and then I brought them in before the first frost for their second garage winter.  I watered them about once a month.  There are 3 or 4 in this pot and this tallest one has buds.  It's too early to put them outside because we still have nights in the 30s and 40s.

I sewed the last twig print border on the wild Kaffe quilt top and will press it today and show it to you tomorrow.

 

Binding finished, and more to start..............

The binding is finished on the batik quilt and I'll take photos today.  This is the time of year when the sunshine coming in the windows warms up the house and the heat doesn't come on.  That makes the basement quite chilly.  Since we are still going down in the 30s at night, the heat will come on in the morning and that's when I'll go down there to take the photos.

The two Tilda quilts are back from the longarmer and I have chosen the binding for both of them.

This is the last Sedum waiting for clean up.  I was surprised how much it is growing with all of the leaves still packed around and on top of it.  This weekend is supposed to be in the 60s so I need to get out there and get it done.  I need to rake this whole front flower bed.

 

4 patch borders..................

I gave up on my idea for a new quilt and used all of the 4 patches for the border for this quilt top.  The sides were about 1/4" short for the 4 patch borders so I just trimmed the 4 patch on the end of the border.  It is 39" x 51" right now.

Now I have to decide if I am going to add one more twig print border around it.  Each border is wider from the center out so this last one (if I use it) will be 3".  The other option is to just have twig fabric as binding.  The collage below shows it before borders through audition for one more border.

I took my camera with me when I filled the birdfeeders.  From the kitchen window I could see the Scilla blooming and wanted a photo of it.

It was so nice out (sunshine and 53 degrees) that I stayed out and dug up the volunteer orange ditch lilies that had survived my digging the last 5 years.  I'll never get rid of all of them but there are about 20 less now.

The Lenten Roses are in full bloom now.  Two of the plants have 2 different color blooms on them.  This one is mostly pink.

The other is mostly white.  I'm hoping they will spread seed and more plants will come up.  

The third plant has lighter pink flowers.