Sunday's doings............................

I started out the day yesterday pressing a big pile of batik strips, usually end cuts from other project cutting.  I will be cutting these into pieces for my colorwash quilts.

Then I was in the basement looking for backings for several table topper pieces.  Photos later.  While down there I saw this book and decided I should donate it to the thrift shop on my next trip.

Look at that date!  50 years ago!  This was one of the few patchwork books available in that time period.  1975 was the beginning of my teaching career, first teaching speed tips for clothing sewing and the following year I began teaching quilting.

We must have had Marjorie as a guild program. I never met the other author.

This book was a valuable tool at the beginning of the quilt revival.

The pattern pieces in the book are without seam allowance.  The book suggests making the template, drawing around it on the wrong side of the fabric, then using a ruler, draw on the 1/4" seam allowance.  We have come a long way since then.

I sewed 14 more sixteen patch blocks last night.  

In the indoor garden I have 4 blooms on this champagne color cactus.

At the other end of this table there is another champagne color cactus with 2 blooms.

I have one more to bloom, one bud on a deep rose plant.

They predicted 67 degrees for today.  Will it happen?

 

New fabric...................

I usually preorder some of the new Kaffe collective fabrics in February and August.  There weren't many that I wanted but I thought this group would cut up nicely.  You can see here how they would look in a 2.5" strip.

I like Brandon's "gingham" which had some new colors offered.   I ordered 2 colors of one more print but there was a mistake on my order and one of them wasn't included.  It will be coming next week and then I'll show both of them.

I put the strip of Tilda's ladies on the design wall and then put the first 14 sixteen patch blocks up there with it.  

I got the next 7 stratas sewn for 14 more sixteen patch blocks.  I pressed them after this photo and they are ready to cut into segments.

I have a list of things I want to do today so I hope I have the energy to tackle all of them.

First quilt top in March 2025..............

The top is pressed now and ready for its debut.  I didn't measure it (and it's in the basement) so I'm estimating the size at 57" x 75".  I took photos with 2 cameras and this was the closest to the actual color.

I took a couple closer photos so you can enlarge these and see the variety of fabrics better.

I didn't use any of the prints that had green in them.  They will be in a future quilt.

I sewed more stratas for the 16 patch quilt last night.  I have enough of the ladies fabric left to cut 5 blocks to alternate with the 16 patch blocks (if I don't mis-cut it).  I'll show more on that on tomorrow's post. 

We had huge snowflakes falling yesterday but only a dusting on a few patches of bare ground.  I made a trip to the thrift shop with some more donations and stopped at one store while I was out.  It was in the mid 30s and didn't feel too cold.  

Top sewn, not pressed..................

The Tilda Whimsy top was finished last night and I'll press it today and take its photo.  There were only 5 seams in both directions but they were long ones so it took a few hours.

I got the next batch of strips ready to sew for 16 patches.  That project will probably be my evening sewing for several days.

I didn't have any dishcloths on the needles so I started one last night to use up the lighter blue and I'll finish it with the darker blue.  The lighter color is called Stonewash and the darker one is Blue Jeans.

 

Layout...........

There are 16 fabrics in the mock up of the Whimsy quilt and I used about 28 fabrics.  I'm not sure that was a good idea.  There are only 9 spots for each block (because there are 4 different blocks) so I was extremely limited in where I could place them.  I think this might be the best layout I can achieve and I'll decide that when I look at it this morning.

There were some cute selvages on some of the prints.

Last night I cut the 16 patch block pieces out of the stratas I pieced a few days ago.

There will be 4 blocks alike of each combination and I have 2 of each of these sewn.

We had snow flurries yesterday, more predicted for Friday and then in the 60s at least 2 days next week.  The local weatherman said we had one of the lowest low pressure readings yesterday that he had ever seen.  Lots of wind with it.

 

More decisions...............

Here are 3 more sets to make blocks, but there are 4 different ways the block is arranged so I can't just sew them together without having an idea which of the 4 blocks they need to be.  I'm pretty sure how the red rainy day ladies block will be sewn but I have to start a layout before I can decide on the other 2 sets of blocks.  Meanwhile I turned on the iron and pressed the blocks that are already sewn as well as the 16 patch stratas that are sewn.  I'll have to make decisions today.

This was my newest bloom yesterday.  Behind it is a bud on another champagne color cactus.

 

Tilda Whimsy blocks

 The Whimsy blocks so far; there are 5 identical of three of them and 6 of one of them.  I need to cut some new pieces of one of the shapes to have good contrast before I sew any more.  I have 21 of 36 sewn.

If you follow the directions, you would be sewing those 4 blocks into one big block (9 total).  But....you would have to alternate the pressing of the last seams to have them lock at intersections, and I don't know which block will go where until I'm doing the layout, so I wouldn't know which way to press them (and they won't stick to the design wall if the seams aren't pressed).  If I leave the 36 blocks as individuals, there are no seams to match as I web the quilt top together.  Today is supposed to be a rainy day so I'll have plenty of time to sew.