Playtime Sewing Again......

I didn't have any project lined up to sew on while I watched TV.  The box of 1.5" strips was still sitting there so I pulled out 2 contrasting values and stared making 4.5" 16 patch blocks.  There are 3 blocks in each of the stacks and another 5 stratas that I need to slice and resew.  That should keep me busy this week until I come up with a "real" project.

October Monthly Recap

I'm pretty happy with my October sewing.  I finished three quilt tops, 2 that were in progress previously and one that was started and finished in October.  From left to right: Australian fabric Hunter Star 59" x 70", Batik kite star 61" x 76" and Australian fabric triangles 60" x 80".

Even though 2 of them are made from Australian fabrics I limited my choices in the Hunter star and had very little green and orange.  In the triangle quilt however I used all of my collection so there are golds, oranges and quite a bit of green in it along with the same fabrics that are in Hunter Star.

The month was busy with my daughter here for 2 weeks while we worked together on my new website and pop-up shop that was open for 14 days.  There were many trips to post office.  November will be busy too with my whole family coming for Thanksgiving.  I haven't seen all of my grandchildren together for many years so I hope the weather cooperates.

Last 5 Seams Sewn...

I needed my design walls for some photography so I took down this Australian fabric quilt top and sewed the last 5 seams on it.  It looks so much better sewn together than it did in the design stage.  It is just a little under 60" x 80".
 

Most of the intersections of the triangle seams were good.

There were a few that are off by a tiny bit.  The quilt is so busy that I'm not taking them out and doing them over.  There is one tiny pucker that I will fix however.

6 Sections.....

I worked on this top a few different times yesterday.  It had to be constructed in sections because of the big blocks. The top section is actually 3 parts, a top row, a double row and a bottom row.  All of the rest  are waiting to be joined together.  I'm determined to have this top done by tomorrow so I'll have a finished top for my recap of the month even though I have no full quilt finishes.  Hopefully I will have some finishes in December so my year will not look too bad.  I have 19 finished quilts so far this year.  I would be happy to finish 5 more.  That might be too ambitious but I can try.

More play time........

I sewed one more section on the Australian fabric triangle quilt and then decided to play with the blocks I made inspired by the work of Maria Shell.  I don't know at this point if I'm going to sew this or wait and make more blocks.  Maria's new book is starting to ship now so I will have more fun looking through it.

I brought in all of the lighter weight pots that have geraniums in them.  We are supposed to have 3 nights in a row of very cold weather so most of the pots are probably done for the season.  I wore my lightweight winter coat yesterday for the first time this season.  

Triangle fun.........

I got my Australian fabric triangles quilt designed yesterday while my 2 friends were here.  After lunch our committee of 3 did some fine tuning and then it was ready to sew.

I had to do some thinking about how to sew it together since the large squares broke up the rows.  I sewed the vertical seams to create many sections.

four berry pie.jpg

At 2:30 we took a break to eat some four berry pie that one of them brought.  This is my piece for today.

Last night I started at the bottom and sewed sections together, again with just vertical seams.  I have to figure out the pressing sequence before I can sew the horizontal seams.  I could have sewn one more section which is 3 rows that go continuously across the quilt but I knew my limits and stopped.

Playtime.........

It has been a little over 2 months since my 2 friends have been here to sew and they are coming today.  I am going to play with the Australian fabric pieces sooner than I thought.  It is great to be back at the design wall.
I have these pieces to play with too.  I may get 2 quilts designed; I may just play and have nothing ready to sew.  It will just be a fun day.

Alternate blocks...........

My littlest great-grandson and his mom visited me yesterday morning.  The little guy is a confident walker now and he moves fast!  I think he enjoyed playing with the toys without his big brother being here.  Later in the day I cut some 10.5" and 5.5" blocks to alternate with the triangle blocks that I have been sewing the last few nights.  Now the quilt should be closer to 60" x 80".
It was too dark and gloomy to take a photo of the first cactus bloom 2 days ago.  Today the sun came out for awhile so I had plenty of light.  This is one of my very favorite plants.  I love the pale pink.

 I have moved all of my shipping boxes, tape, etc. out of the living room now that the first pop-up shop is closed.  I will be doing the photography for the second one for the next few weeks, lots of detail shots.  I will still have plenty of time to play with my fabric and design walls.  The only question is what to work on first.......I have about 5 that I want to work on.

Pressing triangle blocks..........

It took almost 2 hours to press all 180 triangle squares last night.  They are 5" finished squares.  I was calculating how big of a quilt I can make with them.  If I do 12 rows across by 15 rows down it would be 60" x 75" using just these squares.  If I added some plain squares in I could make it larger.  I have a couple larger print Australian fabrics that I didn't cut into triangles.  Actually a 10" finished square would show off the print even better.

 I was gone for over half of the day yesterday.  I had to move my appointment with my eye Dr. in Chicago after I had my pacemaker surgery.  We traveled in rain both ways, 2 hours getting there and an hour and a half getting home.  My vision has improved since my last visit and I don't have to go back for 6 months so no winter driving.  The tumor (which was treated with radiation 5 years ago) is stable and has a good appearance.  No further radiation damage of healthy tissue at this point.

 My pop-up shop closes tonight CST and it will be a few weeks before the next one opens.  This gives me time to continue making quilts and do more photography for the next one.  Thanks to everyone who has visited the shop and to all of the purchasers!