australian fabrics

4 patches won........... from Exuberant Color

The main problem with the corner decision is that 2 corners have light outside strips and the other 2 have dark. If I did triangles there wasn't any way to contrast with the strips and still have all 4 corners alike. Even the 4 patches had a problem. To alternate dark/light of the 4 patches with the strips, all four 4 patches would have had to be in the same position and that looked goofy to me. I needed all four of the 4 patches to have the dark squares pointing out of the corners. If you look ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 1 month ago. under australian fabrics

Partial border...................... from Exuberant Color

I hoisted this up as high as I could reach and stuck 3 pins in to hold it up there. The bottom is laying on the floor.

I got all of the strips for the border sewn on the quilt top. I left the ends unsewn on the top and bottom borders so I can add the corners. I originally thought I was going to put 4 patches there. Now I'm wondering if a square might look better.

I put the narrow strips of a black print on the right side to simulate the binding. It definitely doesn't ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 1 month ago. under australian fabrics

Bear Paw progress........... from Exuberant Color

I took the Australian fabric top off the design wall so I could use it for the Bear Paw blocks. I started sewing the sashing onto left and top sides of blocks.

I got 2 columns of blocks prepared. They need to be pressed and then I can sew those 2 columns together.

Look at all of the fun in this project box, all Australian fabric scraps. I need to go through them and organize them by size before I cut some triangles out of the larger pieces.

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 1 month ago. under australian fabrics , batiks , quilts made with triangles

Working on two.................. from Exuberant Color

The first thing I did yesterday was pair the Australian fabric strips for the border pieces for the current quilt project.

That became my TV time sewing. Ready for trimming to size and sewing onto the quilt.

I still had a little time left so I sewed cornerstones onto 30 strips for the Bear Paw quilt sashing.

While I waited for the weather forecast on the 10 p.m. news I finished this dishcloth. It is a departure from the pattern I usually use just for a little variety.

It was 12 degrees Friday morning and supposed to be 50 ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 1 month ago. under australian fabrics , batiks , knitting

Decision made........... from Exuberant Color

I did a mock up on the design wall with more strips pinned in place and a narrow strip cut to show how the binding will finish it off. I need to pair the strips that are already cut to make 20 sections and I'll need four 4 patches for the corners.

Yesterday was more thinking and planning. I have 2 more quilt tops waiting for completion. The Australian16 patch needs its border and I need to decide how to cut the large print. The batik Bear Paw is waiting for the sashing and cornerstones. The sashing strips are ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 1 month ago. under australian fabrics

24 blocks sewn together.......... from Exuberant Color

I sewed the 24 blocks together yesterday, turned on the iron and pressed it. I'm really happy with it without sashing. I like the corners meeting and creating hourglass blocks. I didn't measure it but it should be close to 48" x 72".

I have been thinking about making pieced borders that can be sewn to each block instead a long strip of border. I used this on my pink heart quilt and liked it a lot. I had 2 left over 16 patch blocks so I folded them in half and put them up there so I ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 1 month ago. under australian fabrics

A little green for St. Patrick's Day............ from Exuberant Color

Before I can hang a finished quilt on the design wall for its portrait I need to use the lint roller. I don't want a lot of threads on the back of a finished quilt.

I think this is the only quilt with this much green in all of my shelves of quilts. I love green but haven't made an all green quilt for many years. This one will have to do for the Irish celebration. It is 50" x 70", Kaffe collective and Martha Negley fabrics in the top, quilted in a wavy crosshatch with yellow variegated ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 2 months ago. under australian fabrics , binding , kaffe fabric , machine quilting

5 blocks instead of 4.............. from Exuberant Color

I had many pieces cut and I was sewing away and ended up with 3 light centers and 1 dark when what I needed was 2 light an 2 dark centers. I made one more dark center from the extra pieces and I will get them pressed this morning and decide which ones I will use.

I was moving one of my cactus pots to make room for another one and there was a surprise bloom on the plant. I inspect them every morning so I don't know how I missed that bud. This one is by the west ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 2 months ago. under australian fabrics , nature

20 blocks, 4 more to go................ from Exuberant Color

I wasn't happy with some of last groups I had put together so I only got 5 more blocks sewn last night. I'll be searching for some more fabrics for the large squares. I have enough triangles and rectangles cut for 4 more blocks. I have 3 blocks with blue in them into the mix now and 2 more will have some blue pieces.

When I first started making these blocks I thought maybe I would put sashing between them. I'm liking them edge to edge but I'll still try a black background Australian print and ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 2 months ago. under australian fabrics

15 blocks............. from Exuberant Color

Six more blocks were added yesterday and I can't tell you which ones they are. I keep moving them around so I don't have 2 with the same center fabric next to each other. I need to cut some more of the 6.5" squares. It looks like I might end up with 24 blocks, a 4 x 6 layout. The blocks will finish at 12".

Here are 3 more groups matched and ready to sew. I have to find some fabric with blue in it for the centers of some of the rest.

I had this quilt ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 2 months ago. under australian fabrics , kaffe fabric , machine quilting

3 more blocks............... from Exuberant Color

It was a low key day yesterday. I sewed the bottom 3 blocks last night. I also cut several more large center squares and paired all of the fabrics for 12 more blocks so they are ready to sew tonight.

Once again we just got a bare covering of snow on the grassy areas overnight Saturday and yesterday morning. The end of actual winter is just a week away and we got off easy this year.

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 2 months ago. under australian fabrics

Top sewn, border auditions started........... from Exuberant Color

My Canon camera likes to make blue predominant, my Android phone likes to show warmer tones as predominant. (See IG photo @exuberantcolor if you have an IG account). The quilt top is somewhere between the 2 and very pretty if I say so myself. It is 48" x 64" now and I intended to add a border to this one. (sorry the bottom of the quilt is cut off by the bar on my longarm machine).

I ordered 2 fabrics from an ebay seller (at a really good price) that I thought might work for borders on Wednesday and I ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 2 months ago. under australian fabrics

Sewn not pressed............ from Exuberant Color

Over two hours, that is how long it took to get to the final layout of this Australian fabric 16 patch quilt top. I kept taking photos and loading them to my laptop, changing another block, another photo loaded, another block changed, etc. for over 2 hours. The camera emphasized the dark and light values so I could see trouble spots that weren't as noticeable just looking at the layout. I'm happy with the layout now and it is all sewn but since I finished at 10:30 last night I will press it and photograph it today ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 2 months ago. under australian fabrics , nature

Cleaning up this and that................ from Exuberant Color

The sewing cabinet had a lot of things laying on it, one of them being the end pieces of the Australian fabric stratas for the 16 patch quilt. I decided to trim them straight and sew them together. They were anywhere from 7/8" wide to 1 1/2" wide cut size. This little piece sewn together is 8.5" x 13", big enough for a mug rug or add borders for a placemat. I'll just put it up on the design wall for now, decisions later.

The next thing was the 1.5" light strips to use for ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 2 months ago. under australian fabrics , batiks , nature

The last 8 blocks........... from Exuberant Color

This is the last group of blocks for the Australian 16 patch and there are 2 blocks of each. I haven't pressed them yet so they can't go up on the design wall yet.

I pressed all of the other blocks after lunch yesterday and got them up on the design wall leaving openings for 8 new blocks. I will need to move some blocks to new places I'm sure as I get the last group mixed in.

I filled my bird feeders yesterday because we have snow predicted for late afternoon and through the night. I ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 2 months ago. under australian fabrics

Fabrics chosen........... from Exuberant Color

These are the 6 fabrics I chose to make the last six 16 patch blocks, 2 each of each combination. I did my grocery shopping yesterday afternoon so I didn't get these fabrics pressed and cut.

I did get most of the duplicate blocks made. There are 2 more to sew laying by my sewing machine.

This is one combination where I don't think both blocks will work. That means choosing 2 more fabrics so I will end up with 48 blocks. I looked through the rest of the Australian fabrics and don't think I have any ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 2 months ago. under australian fabrics , strip piecing

Australian fabric 16 patch begun............. from Exuberant Color

It was the day to turn on the iron yesterday. I took down the Bear Paw blocks and pressed each one and pinned the rows in order. I needed the design wall for the Australian 16 patch blocks. I pressed the stratas and then sliced the segments and sewed one of the 2 blocks from each combination.

Here is a closer view of a portion of it. I will be looking through the fabrics today to figure out which 6 fabrics will make up the last 3 stratas that I need to sew.

I showed buds on 2 of my ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 2 months ago. under australian fabrics , nature

All 20 blocks and final layout............... from Exuberant Color

Way too many rectangles were cut to finish the 20 Bear Paw blocks. More seeds for another quilt. I'm pretty sure this is the final layout of the blocks. There will still be 1" finished sashing strips added so I won't have to match all of the points when sewing the top together.

I remembered that I had a bag of 22" long 1.5" batik strips leftover from making a log cabin baby quilt top in 2009. I had just used half of every full width strip for that quilt. It is here in this monthly recap ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 2 months ago. under australian fabrics , batiks , triangles

Working on two............ from Exuberant Color

I finished the two partial blocks from a couple days ago and then made 3 more blocks. This is the amount of blocks I had in the first scrap Bear Paw quilt but I'm planning on either 20 or 24 for this quilt.

I like to make quilt blocks. Each one has its own decisions and becomes a mini quilt on its own. Would you believe I still haven't sewn the last batch of Bear Paw blocks from October 2021 together into a top yet? The fun is over when the blocks are made and final layout is ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 2 months ago. under australian fabrics , batiks , triangles

Counting, sorting, cutting............and baking.......... from Exuberant Color

The first thing I did yesterday was to count the pieces for one of the Australian fabric quilts and make sure I had even amounts of dark and light pieces. Also I needed to know if I had the same number of triangles as long rectangles. I have enough for 23 blocks and I'll need 24 so eventually I'll look for another fabric to finish up.

I put all of the pieces in a project box with the 9 big prints for centers. I need to cut 14 more of them.

I went ahead and sewed the first ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 2 months ago. under australian fabrics , batiks , food , triangles

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