cobblestone series

Sorting by size...........

I mailed the crooked cobblestone quilt so it was time to clean up the rest of the blocks.  The sizes had gotten all mixed up so I sorted them by size up on the design walls.  I might make a few more to add to these so that I have a good variety.

We had a rainy morning yesterday.  This is the view from my dining room window while it was still sprinkling.



The Cannas have started growing.  The leaves were broken off all of the rest plus one in the photo.  I haven't seen a raccoon lately but they are big and would break  off the leaves by walking over them.
I have 6 tomatoes on this Early Girl plant and these are the 2 largest.  I also have some on the Grape Tomato plant.  

Sewn together...........

The photo on the left is the blocks on the design wall before sewing together.  The photo on the right is sewn, with spacers added to tops or bottoms of columns to get them all the same length.  It ended up 25" x 32".  

My friend Donaleen is purchasing it.  See here how she added big stitch quilting to the other one she purchased.  I think it adds a lot of texture to the quilt.  Click on her photos to enlarge them.

Lunching and designing...........

Two friends I used to work with at a quilt shop came to see me yesterday and we went out to eat.  It is always fun catching up on their lives.  

Later in the afternoon I got out over 200 Crooked Cobblestone blocks and started playing with them on the design wall.  I think this one is ready to sew.  Some columns have more seams than others so it is always a surprise what length they turn out to be.  I will add spacers to the top or bottom of the shortest rows.
I trimmed some of the larger blocks to make them fit in narrower columns.







My neighbor planted some roses about 12 years ago on what they thought was their lot but it is actually on mine.  Their son mowed both of our yards so they really never paid attention to the dividing line.  They moved and now it is a rental house.  The Redbud tree planted itself there about 10 years ago right next to the roses so now the roses climb up the tree.

Playing around...........

I got my hair cut yesterday morning so I don't feel like a shaggy old woman any more.  I cut some backings and battings for 3 table runners and figured out the border for a quilt.  I pulled 2 pieces that could be the backing of the quilt too so I'll decide which one today.  Last night I just wanted to play so I got out all of the African fabric scraps and made some crooked cobblestone blocks and some scrap strip piecing.  I know the photo looks like a mess but it is scraps on the left, cobblestone blocks in a pile at the top  and then the 3 strip piecings that might become mug rugs.
My heating problem is fixed so now I need to finish sorting all of the stuff that was in that corner of the bedroom and get the furniture back in place.  I just wasn't in the mood to do it yesterday.

24 blocks........

Yesterday I finished sewing the last 10 blocks.  I had to move a third design wall over to be able to get all of the blocks of both quilts up.  I have the identical block designs in the same position on both quilts.
Then I decided to move 2 blue fish blocks to the quilt on the left and 2 gold fish blocks to the quilt on the right.  I'm not sure this is the final layout but at least I have all of the blocks up where I can see them together.
I needed to do something different last night so I trimmed the 50 crooked cobblestone blocks that I have made in the last 2 months.  I think I have over 200 now to play with.

A little progress........

I worked on smoothing out the light center on the right and added a few more greens.  Actually everything in the bottom right corner is green but a lot of them are blue greens rather than bright greens so the photo doesn't capture the real look.  I also moved the bottom row down one space again and added in more pieces to fill in.  I have several more days working on it but standing on the cement floor in the basement is getting to me so I'll have to pace myself.

I took a break in the afternoon and sewed some more Crooked Cobblestones.  I actually made 22 of them but the rest didn't get in the photo shoot.
5 years ago today I started my blog so our nation and my blog share the same birthday.  Happy 4th of July to my US readers.

Strips added, bonus blocks..........

I added the dark strips on the right side and bottom and now this top is complete and will be a wallhanging.
I ended up with a lot of short ends from the strips when making the above quilt and its partner.  I decided to go ahead and make more crooked cobblestone blocks with them instead of putting them away and getting them back out later when I would be making more blocks.  There are over 20 in this pile.
This will be the center of the third quilt which I will be chain piecing with the second one as I finish it.  Maybe on this one I will alternate light rounds and dark rounds for the target effect.

A little playtime........

I took the 130 Crooked Cobblestone blocks with me to NC but all I did with them was sort them by size.  I played with them a little yesterday but I can see I need a little more variety in color.  I decided to just read for the rest of the day instead of making more blocks.
I am planning on painting my living/dining room this month.  My cousin is coming to pick up a china cabinet that has been in the family a long time.  He wants it for sentimental reasons and I want it gone so it's a good fit.  He won't get here for another week and a half so I have plenty of time to prepare the room for painting. The room is L shaped and is 30' on the 2 longest walls, 15' on the other walls.  I think I have myself convinced I can do it by myself.