I found enough flannel scrap pieces to cut the last 4 tumbler shapes. I sewed the last 4 rows onto the quilt top yesterday morning. I will press it later. Since I can't do any machine quilting right now there is no hurry.
Last night I was looking for something and came across a bag of scraps from this quilt that I basted right before my pacemaker surgery. I paired the scraps and sewed these little wonky blocks. I'm not sure what they will turn into. They are small, about 4" x 6". They haven't been pressed yet.
I decided I need a mug rug for my living room in lavender shades. I took two 1.5" strips and sewed and cut and sewed and cut until I had this little 7 rows by 8 rows checkerboard. Fun sewing!
I'm always surprised by the color of the asters each year. I thought they were a darker shade last year. Maybe our lack of rain has affected them. The bees are loving them. They look pink here but they are a pinky-purple.
The volunteer plants along the driveway are in full bloom now. I cut down quite a few of the plants early in the summer but there are still a lot of them blooming there.
Last night I took all of the new improv blocks from the quilt along and the older blocks from over a year ago and put them all up on my double design wall. This space is 96" wide and 83" tall so it looks like the blocks take up about a 60" square area. I didn't do any planning here, just plopped them up there to see approximately what size quilt I could make with them. I have some other commitments and won't have time to play with this again for awhile. I might make some more blocks now and then before making any decisions on how to sew them together.
Debbie at A Quilter's Table blog hosted the quilt along and on this post she shows her blocks in several layouts as well as sewn together. At the end of the post is a link to the Instagram page where a lot of people have posted their blocks and layouts if you are interested in seeing more.
I needed more of the relaxing sewing of strip sets like I showed yesterday. I made 11 more blocks while watching 2 more episodes of a TV show.
Earlier in the day yesterday I planted the remaining perennials I got on sale for 62 cents each. On the left is the before shot of the area and on the right after 4 Asian Lilies were planted.
This is another area I worked on. The left photo is before starting and the right after I finished planting 3 Perennial Carnations which I thought were Dianthus. I moved the rocks out about 6" and dug out the Creeping Charlie, Violets and some grass. I dug out 2 tree roots from volunteer Redbud trees too.
Debbie at the blog A Quilter's Table announced a quilt along on Monday. I was itching to join in but had too many things going on earlier in the week. Last night I had to have some fun. I had starting making a bunch of the strip sets in January 2016 and had all of them in a project bag. Here is where I played with them on my design wall. I thought they were all too dark and just put them away for awhile.
This is the new batch I made last night. I am using the cutaway strips from when I straighten the edge of my batiks before I cut for a project. They are usually wider at one end than the other and slightly crooked. All of these pieces are a little over 10" tall so they could be cut in half for 5" wide pieces.
This is the old batch from over a year and a half ago. Soon Debbie is going to post again about the quilt along so hopefully I'll get some ideas of a direction to go with all of my strip sets. Meanwhile I had a lot of fun sewing while I watched 3 episodes of a Netflix show.
This is a new book from C&T Publishing with some fast projects. I rarely buy precuts but I have a couple boxes full of 2.5" strips that I cut with a rotary cutter and I have dies for my die cutter for 5" squares and 10" squares.
This is my favorite quilt in the book. I have a lot of strips from older fabrics, mostly from the 1990s that I need to use because they are getting ravelly in the box.
I am using all yellow prints for the light fabric. This is one layout with the fabrics matched within the 4 quarters of the block.
I had to try them mixed too. I think maybe matched will win on this one.
I wasn't paying attention and got the center strip sewn in wrong on 2 of the 4 quarter blocks in this combination. I unsewed them and fixed them last night. This will just be a small quilt, 20 twelve inch blocks.
Yesterday's photo was just blocks on the design wall. Today is the quilt top sewn together. It ended up 53" x 72". I have enough of two different backing fabrics that I could add a border if I want it larger.
Here is the first fabric. It is purple and green.
This is the second choice for backing. It is also in two blocks in the quilt top. I still have Christmas sewing to finish so I won't make any more decisions for a few days.
I sewed the final eight blocks and then started playing on the design wall. I had half of it up there previously after I sewed the first 56 blocks. I took photos and then rearranged a few blocks 3 times and then decided it looked OK. I started sewing the seams and have only 5 more cross seams to sew. I have to get back at a little more Christmas sewing today and then I'll finish it.
I didn't do any more baking yesterday but I'll have to do a little more on Saturday.
I made 4 Christmas gifts (can't show them) and more baking yesterday. I also was busy getting packages ready to mail today. Last night I chose the strips to sew the last 4 combinations to make 7 blocks for my 16 patch quilt. I sewed the strip sets and cut the segments to make the blocks.
Another red Christmas cactus started blooming yesterday. The blooms are red and white. Not much of the white is showing here from this angle.
The champagne colored cactus has lots of blooms right now. I have 28 cactus plants so there is something in bloom almost all winter. I have 2 orange/peach and one of them has one bud. They usually don't bloom until after the first of the year.
I quilted some mug rugs but haven't trimmed them or chosen binding yet. I have a huge stack to do but I have a couple Christmas projects to do too. I like to work on a variety of things so a little will get done on each.
I finished sewing the last 24 purple 16 patch blocks. I have 2 alike of every combination and this is one of each. I need to make some more blocks so I will be repeating some of the fabrics. This may be stalled for awhile while I do some deadline sewing.
I was so excited to receive a Christmas postcard from Vicki Welsh again this year. The one in the center is the new one with previous years' cards surrounding it. She uses her hand dyed fabrics to make them with an occasional commercial print on them. I have these on display in my studio.
My waxed Amaryllis bulb that doesn't need watering is growing nicely. Last week's photo is here.
Last night I sewed another batch of 16 blocks. One of the 8' fluorescent bulbs is burning out by my best design wall. I need to decide where I'm going to lay out this quilt.
Another of the pink and white cacti is blooming. The next one that will bloom will be the one I call champagne. It is a pale gold or beige color. I have 2 of those and they both have buds.
This is just taken at a different angle. I love the size of the blossoms. I have 28 cacti plants right now and I have 2 plants with these large blossoms. I love my indoor winter garden.
