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July 25, 2023
Squares changed......... from Exuberant Color


I changed out the squares on the design wall to a gold color and it looks a lot better.  I'm trying to stay with the value changes that are in the original Fonthill quilt so I didn't want them to become too dark.  That is all I did on the quilt yesterday.  The dust bunnies in my house were threatening to become full grown rabbits so it was time to do a little cleaning.

Then I worked on the table that my Studio die cutter sits on.  It had piles of fabric everywhere, a lot of it scraps ...

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July 24, 2023
Border strips sewn............... from Exuberant Color


The second and third border strips are sewn together but not sewn on the center/first border.  The top and bottom purple/red borders fit but the side strips are about 1/4" short.  I should be able to ease that in.  I'm not sure if those corner squares are the ones I will use.  In the book they are a light value. I think maybe these are a little too light.  I won't know if the pinwheel borders fit until I get the purple/red border sewn on.


I also sewed all four of the 5rh border ...

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July 17, 2023
It's quilted................... from Exuberant Color


I was calling this strippy quilt the beast yesterday.  It is the largest I have quilted for quite awhile.  It was 79" x 99" before quilting.  I expect it to be a couple inches narrower but probably still 99" long when finished.  I planned all along to do organic straight line quilting free hand on this one since the piecing is so wonky.


The first 2 threads I tried shredded and broke but the third one made it all the way through only breaking 3 times.  That isn't bad on a batik front and back and all of those ...

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July 9, 2023
Prep time................ from Exuberant Color


This is laying on a table in the basement almost ready to load on the longarm.  I cut the two lengths of backing (black with leaves batik) and trimmed the batting to the correct length.  I need to press the backing pieces and sew the seam now.  Here is a full photo of this quilt top.  This one will take up almost the whole length on my longarm frame.


I have completed 12 more pinwheel blocks for the Kaffe Fonthill quilt.  Seeing these together is making me want to make a whole quilt top of pinwheels.

Just when I figure ...

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July 5, 2023
More light blue................ from Exuberant Color


I see lots of light blue in the pinwheels and I didn't have any more cut.  I went through the stack of quarter yard or less blue batiks and found a bunch to cut.  Maureen and I both decided that with little 2" triangles that batiks would probably work better than most Kaffe prints.  The one in the book is made with stripes and small prints and maybe some solids.  There is one Philip Jacobs fabric in this group and I have already included a couple Kaffe prints in previous pinwheels.


Earlier in the day I sewed 5 pinwheels ...

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June 7, 2023
Plugging away.............. from Exuberant Color


I chose some more fabrics to cut into 2" triangles for the Fonthill quilt.  These are for the pinwheel blocks that form the last border.  There are 132 pinwheel blocks in the quilt as is and with my alteration in shape it might be another 4.  The outside border is more dull than bright with soft blues, browns, beiges, soft golds and more.







I sewed the first 2 pinwheels last night.  At least 130 to go.  

While in the basement I moved 2 shelf units and vacuumed the area under and around them.  They hadn't been moved for over ...

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June 6, 2023
Pinks and oranges................. from Exuberant Color

I sewed roses and soft med. purples to the dark purple dotted batik yesterday.  Then I looked for some orange and red-orange fabrics to add.  In the photo I'm working on the dark single row borders first.  Any pieces not used in them might end up in the mix for the center section.


I keep looking at this batik trying to decide if it will work.  I'll probably go ahead and cut a strip of it and die cut some triangles.





I went out before noon to see what is blooming.  The yellow Evening Primrose is just starting ...

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June 5, 2023
Many triangles from Exuberant Color


If my calculations are correct I need 2104 two inch finished triangles for the Fonthill quilt.  I went through the box of large batik scraps and pulled colors I thought would work and cut for over an hour.



Since I was cutting single layers of a lot of the fabrics and I could cut 6 layers at a time with my die cutter, I needed to sort the triangles into piles of like fabric.  I have started with batiks but will add some Kaffe fabrics in soon and also other regular printed quilting cottons.  I will likely overcut so I ...

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June 4, 2023
Still playing with stash............. from Exuberant Color


I'm going through batiks in my main floor studio now, pulling ones that I want to use in the Fonthill quilt.  The triangles are 2" finished so I need smaller designs.  I will cut a 3" strip off most of these and cut the triangles with my die cutter.

I'm still moving my Kaffe fabrics upstairs, taking my time and enjoying looking through them as I work on it.  When I get them all upstairs I will then need to shuffle other fabrics back onto the shelving in the basement.  Right now most of the fabric is still ...

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May 2, 2023
Free day.......... from Exuberant Color


The first day of the month is a free day after meeting my quota of finishes the night before.  I just wander around and look through things, dream of new projects, explore pieces and parts in storage boxes.

While the daylight was bright I got a good photo of the pink elephant fabric by Tula Pink.  It is such a happy fabric.


I found a stack of chisel pieces sewn into pairs so I tried a few of them up on the design wall to see what they want to become.  I think after sewing this together it will go ...

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April 23, 2023
What did I do yesterday?............. from Exuberant Color


I turned on the iron...that is a big event in my studio.  I either wait 5 days to turn it on or have it on for hours while I sew some days.  I pressed this wallhanging top and hung it back up on the wall upside down to the way I showed it yesterday.









Yesterday's photo as a reminder how it looked this way.  I like it both ways so that probably means a delay in finishing it.

While the iron was on I pressed a group of fabrics that I have been wanting to cut.

Also while ...

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April 22, 2023
A little quilt top............. from Exuberant Color


There were 2 TV shows on last night and 2 hours is what it took to sew this top together.  It is small, 20" x 33" so most likely a wallhanging.












This was an unlikely assortment of fabrics but it turned out pretty good.  It isn't really a colorwash because the colors don't flow together smoothly  because they aren't next to each other on the color wheel.  It looks more like a watercolor painting with little motifs drawn on the color puddles.  That is the practical side of my brain speaking.  The artist side of my brain ...

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April 21, 2023
Garden and design wall........... from Exuberant Color


It's hard to get a good photo of the Lenten Rose blooms because they hang down.  This is the most prolific plant this year, 2 blooms and 3 more buds.  There is more new growth on the other 2 plants.



This is one of my older Hostas and it looks like maybe the center of the plant is dead.  I really should dig it up and replant the good pieces.





This is the biggest Hosta so far.  I think this is the one with the big wrinkly leaves.  I know it is too big for the spot it is ...

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April 20, 2023
Rectangles.......... from Exuberant Color


When I made the last colorwash with rectangles I had several groups that just didn't work with the bright colors.  I started out with one idea of how to use them and it didn't work so I started this one.   I will move a couple pieces now that I see the photo on the computer monitor.

I spent time yesterday sewing labels on quilts, something I don't do very often.  Mostly I sew them on wallhangings rather than throw quilts which are used both sides up. 

We had a downpour yesterday afternoon around 4.  We haven't ...

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April 8, 2023
One top finished, another started.............. from Exuberant Color


The last 2 seams were sewn on this colorwash, the iron turned on for a final press and staystitching done around the perimeter.  It is 32" x 51".












I finished sewing all of the Australian fabric triangles into squares and during TV time I did this layout.  This one is going to be small.  When sewn together this will be about 36" x 45".  I have the leftover long strips left from the border fabric on the 16 patch quilt so I'll audition it and see if I want to add borders or just keep it small.


 

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April 7, 2023
Almost done................... from Exuberant Color


Just two more seams and a good press are my first project today.  Then I'll do the staystitching around the edge so the many seam ends can't pop open.  It is 51" tall.  Width will be measured soon.  It will just need one width of fabric for the back.








Some quilts left my house this week.  My granddaughter's friend had a new baby girl and she already had a little boy so these 2 went to baby and big brother.




Another of her friends had a baby boy and the parents like yellow so the one on ...

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April 6, 2023
A long day............. from Exuberant Color


I'm not an early riser so yesterday's cellphone weather alert of a tornado warning had me up at 6:15 and in the basement for 30 minutes until the storm weakened and the warning was dropped.  This was the same storm front with tornados that went through Missouri while people were sleeping.

With the extra hours added to my day I did a load of laundry, went grocery shopping and sewed 4 more columns and added the three sections together on the colorwash.  There are 9 more columns left to sew.


Yesterday afternoon I cut some more triangles ...

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April 5, 2023
An unsettling day.............. from Exuberant Color


The first storm came through before noon with a little hail.  The largest ones at my house were about ping pong ball size and smaller.  Other people in my area had some golf ball size but it only lasted a few minutes.




Later in the afternoon I cut the squares to fill in the top and bottom at the ends of the columns of rectangles in this colorwash.  Last night I started sewing columns together and there are 2 sections of 4 columns each at the left.  The seams will take up 8" in height and 10" in width.

 The ...

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April 4, 2023
347 pieces on the design wall....... from Exuberant Color


I have been playing with color again.  The yellows aren't as bold as they look in this photo.  There are 347 rectangles on the design wall and no pins....don't sneeze!  Luckily I don't have forced air heat so there is no breeze coming by.  I have a little more tweaking to do and then add all of the squares to fill in the top and bottom edges.  The dark prints have a lot more personality than they show in a photo too.


This is probably the last orange cactus bloom of the season.  I have 2 ...

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March 30, 2023
Border, finally............ from Exuberant Color


I put off cutting the border as long as I could.  After all, the end of the month is coming and you know I want to finish as many as possible.  This quilt top is 71.5" x 85".  The border is the leftover long strip from another quilt's backing and I was able to cut four 5.5" wide strips from it.


I took a couple close up shots so you can see how pretty the border fabric is.














The border is one of the prettiest  mottled batiks, almost a tie die type pattern included in it.

I ...

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