I finished hand sewing the binding, label and hanging sleeve last night on "Blue". It is a joyous celebration of the blue Dutch Wax batiks which were hard to find back in the 1990s. There are a few regular quilting cottons used in the plainer pieces of the design. It is 39.5" x 50".
I took this photo of the back of the quilt in the morning with the light from the window coming across it.
I wrote a 6 part tutorial when I was making this quilt top. You can find it in my Label List on the right sidebar: Modular Quilt Tutorial.
The hanging sleeve is one of the regular quilting cottons and was used on the front too. The print is very similar to the batik fabrics. I took this photo before the bottom edge was stitched in place.
In the gardening department I dug up this hosta, pulled it apart into 3 plants and then replanted it closer to the rock edging. There are orange Tiger Lilies behind it and it was leaning on them.
Now when you enter the path you can see my 3 new plants, a little hosta and the replaced big hosta. I think I need to dig up the small hosta (just past the daisies) and move it back a couple inches. The Rudbeckia to the right is starting to form buds.
Finally....I am seeing little tomatoes on several of the plants. There have been lots of blooms but up until this point I couldn't tell if the dried up ones were turning into tomatoes or not.
A friend came over yesterday to bake a rhubarb/strawberry pie in my oven. Yes, she left 2 pieces for me......yummy!!! While it baked we went down to the basement to look for a backing for my purple quilt top (By the way for those who didn't catch the link in yesterday's post, here is the link for the book with the pattern and a photo of the ruler laying on the book). We went through my stack of purples first and found a couple that could work. Then we went to the big boxes of large yardage for backings. There were 2 that had purple in them and I think this was the best one we found. Now I just need some energy and enthusiasm to finish it. Yesterday was a gloomy rainy day and I really didn't do much of anything.
Here are some more photos from the back garden a couple days ago. I bought 2 hanging pots of wave petunias for a spot of bright color out there. They have started to relax and hang over the edge since this photo.
This is an area where I planted about 20 hostas that I had in pots last year. I added the 2 in the top left from my sister-in-law a few days ago. I have added one more since I took this photo. By the end of summer the area should be filled out. I need to get some pavers and lay a path between them while they are small.
I pressed the top last night so it is officially finished. It is about 62" x 88.5". It doesn't lay quite as flat as most of my quilt tops. That is due to trying to match the points as I sewed the blocks together with lots of stretching and easing. If you match the points at the center when sewing these blocks it is hard to get the edges to match too. Trimming the blocks would have only made it worse for matching. The first quilt I made was before the ruler came out and it matched better. Here is the post that shows the book and the ruler which is laying on the book.
I was happy to see the Dianthus re-seeded from last year. Creeping Charlie is everywhere and as much as I don't like it, it is very pretty next to the Dianthus.
Here are some more plants down behind the lilies.
Another variety of Cranesbill is blooming.
There are always a few blooms on one branch of the Viburnum bush.
More rain is predicted for later today and most of the day tomorrow. I dug up some volunteer Red Penstemon plants and planted them in the back garden. I also moved one Hosta back there. The rain should help them get a good start.
I put 70 blocks up on the design wall yesterday and took this photo. I did get the top sewn together last night but haven't pressed it yet. It will look a lot better when sewn.
I think this is the earliest my peonies have ever bloomed. This bush is always the first to bloom.
We had storms roll through last night with gusty winds so I don't know as I'm writing this whether the blooms are still standing up.
The other Jack-in-the-Pulpit is blooming now. The plant is not as tall this year as it usually is.
The pale pink Weigela was chopped back severely 2 years ago in the fall and it has the most blooms it has ever had this year. The petals were starting to drop yesterday.
My youngest grandchild turns 21 today, the one who made the Packers quilt last month.
While my 2 friends were here sewing I made one 6" strawberry block for my Farm Girl Vintage quilt. I started laying out the second one and need to cut 4 green squares before I can sew it.
Last night while watching 3 hours of TV I pieced the last 24 blocks to finish a quilt. I have 72 blocks made now and I think the layout will be 7 x 10 which will make a quilt about 61 x 88".
In the morning before my friends got here I rearranged a little more and this is an almost final layout.
I had 36 blocks and need 35 so I pulled out my favorite block to be used in another quilt.
I am questioning whether I need to pull out my second favorite block too and make a replacement for that spot. When I make my decision I will proceed.
My Columbines are blooming now. It was windy so the flowers are a little out of focus.
The pale pink ones are not as pretty this year as they usually are. The color seems a little more faded.
One of the lilac bushes is just loaded with blooms this year. They are a pale color compared to the bushes with larger blossoms.
Finish #5 for January. The camera is playing tricks again and not letting you see the red-purples as they look in real life. It is 54" x 71".
The backing was another of those great sale bargains that I purchased several years ago, knowing that I would someday make the quilt to go with it.
Three ladies are coming over to sew today and tomorrow I have the art quilters group here. I might get a quilt top finished but I will probably have to settle for 5 finishes in January. Maybe that will make me push for 5 finishes in February. I really want to see my unfinished top number down around 20. It is above 40 right now.
I had to try my purple blocks on the design wall. I'm not done sewing blocks so it won't go together any time soon. The angle of the cut with the ruler is deeper than the cut with the instruction in the book. When I made the first one I was using the book instructions.
While I had some company yesterday I brought out this quilt again and tried another border. This is actually the third color of this stripe that we tried.
Here is a closer shot. It is a Kaffe Fassett stripe and every fabric in the quilt (384 different prints) is his fabric too. I didn't have enough of this color so I ordered more yesterday. I'm not sure how wide the border will be at this point. Here is a previous border choice last year. We played with how that fabric would be cut and I finally made the decision it will go on the back of the quilt. Not shown in that photo is a vase from which the sprays extend. It was just too much planning of where the cut should be, whether the vase should be in it or not. I'm happy with this simpler stripe.
Jack Frost came to visit and I'm sure he will stick around for a couple more days. We're down around 0 at night.
The binding is started on the green Lady of the Lake quilt. I decided to hand finish this one. My goal is to have it done by Saturday night and post the photo of the finished quilt on Sunday morning.
I worked many hours in the basement again yesterday, choosing backings, doing laundry, ironing fabric. I also did the staystitching around the purple 16 patch and I was admiring the back with the seams so neat and tidy. I decided to post a photo of it. This is the result of following my 16 patch tutorial. I love tidy backsides on my quilt tops.
My two friends are coming over today to sew and I hope to piece several backs for the quilts next in line for finishing.
This is the small quilt I loaded on the longarm on Tuesday. I made the top in 2009. It is 42" x 56" so I didn't have to piece the backing.
I just did a large meander on it.
This is my choice for binding. It changes to many shades of green in the print so it will go with all of the greens in the quilt.
I had many inquiries about the ruler I'm using for the purple quilt. It was in the photo the day I showed the book and I thought readers would click on that photo to enlarge it to see the name of the pattern and at the same time they would see the ruler. I post my photos with a large number of pixels so when you click on them they enlarge twice in most cases. I have also turned off the Lightbox feature that so many people use. Photos won't enlarge if they are using that feature.
Here is the photo I posted previously. See the ruler on the book?
I have started the new year with a second purple quilt. It has the same fabrics as the 16 patch I finished last month. I only sew on the blocks at night during TV time so it will be a few days before I'm ready for the design wall.
I made this quilt once before with Kaffe Fassett fabrics but I didn't have the ruler at that time. It was designed after the book was printed. I bought the ruler at a blog garage sale several years ago and wanted to use it. This is in Karla Alexander's book "Color Shuffle".
This was one project on New Year's Day for me.
This photo was taken while I was still down on the floor after putting it together. I had seen the IKEA carts on many blogs and when Target showed one on sale in their Dec. 25 flier in the Tribune I decided I needed to check it out. I actually got 2 of them, one for the main level studio and one for the basement. They were $24.99 on sale with an additional $5 off reusable coupon. Since I was going by 2 Target stores that day I used the coupon twice.
This is a top view of the trays with a metal mesh bottom layer.
This is my idea for the one in the basement. It has GO dies and the GO adapter so I can use them on my Studio die cutter. Also there are some Studio dies and the plastic sheets that are used on top of the dies. Awhile back I moved my Studio die cutter to anarea with more room but I have found that the lighting is bad in that location too so I will move it again. This cart will have all of the smaller dies at my fingertips when needed and rolled over to a storage spot the rest of the time. AND, yes I have a lot of dies. I cut with my die cutter at least 3 times a week and for an average of 2 hours a week. I don't just own a die cutter, I use my die cutter. In 2 hours I can cut the pieces for a couple complete quilts. If I'm not cutting a quilt, I'm cutting scraps in shapes I will use later or I'm cutting pieces for my colorwash quilts.
The waxed bulb Amaryllis is still standing up straight. The first four blooms are fully opened.
I turned it so you can see the fifth bud is getting ready to open. I think the sixth one will bloom too.
