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August 22, 2024
Four of eight long seams..................... from Exuberant Color

A lot was accomplished yesterday but only one photo.  I sewed the long seams in 2 backings for quilts to send to my longarm friend Robin.  

I got the last 2 columns sewn on the first direction on this 16 patch quilt and then turned the quilt and got 4 of the last 8 seams sewn.  I'm hoping to get the last 4 seams sewn today and then do the staystitching around the edge.  

I'm so happy to have the box of 174 neutral color 16 patches emptied out.  I made one top with 63 blocks earlier this ...

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August 21, 2024
A quilt top in progress................. from Exuberant Color


I started early yesterday and had the layout finalized for the last neutral batik 16 patch quilt.  I took down the columns and clipped them with numbers.







Next I cut a batting and backing for another quilt.  Then it was time to start sewing this quilt.  I have 9 of 12 columns webbed, 3 to go and then the cross seams.

Beautiful weather, cool with low humidity continues here.  90s return over the weekend though, at last 4 days of it.


 

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August 15, 2024
Binding and nature...................... from Exuberant Color


Yesterday I had the urge to clean/rearrange my pantry cabinet but I did get a few stitches in on the neutral quilt binding.  I'm really happy with this stripe.





I'm so excited that this little yellow Coneflower has gotten as tall as it is this year.  The past 2 years it was about 4-5" tall.  Maybe I will see it get even taller next year.









This is the first year that I have had 3 big blooms too.  When I transplanted it last year the root was so small on it that I wasn't sure if ...

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July 20, 2024
Small bits of time.............................. from Exuberant Color


I don't like days with an appointment in the middle, breaking up time to work on anything.  In the morning before I had to leave I was looking through this bin of Cherrywood hand dyed fabric.  It is all from broken up packages of gradations, usually 8 quarter yard pieces.  I plan on grouping some of this for my destash next week.  The back story of why I have so much of it: Dawn Hall, the inventor of the process of Cherrywood dyeing, was the niece of my friend who owned Quilting Books Unlimited.  I went to Houston in ...

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June 4, 2024
Cleaning and organizing.............. from Exuberant Color


For the last few months I have spent the first week of each month doing clean up and organizing.  This group of fabric has been laying in a pile in my studio for over a year.  I had 2 leftover blocks from a quilt I made a few years ago and I really like the combination of gold, green and a little blue in them.  I will likely put this pile and the 2 blocks in a project box now in case I get motivated to actually make a quilt from them.  All fabrics are batiks.

I made a little ...

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May 29, 2024
2 more seams to finish........................ from Exuberant Color


Two more seams and it will be sewn together.  I was too tired to do any more last night.  It was a day of errands, laundry, and a visit with my neighbor who I hope is moving in next week. She was planting tomatoes and peppers. She moved out while she had remodeling done and it is coming to a finish.  I didn't get to the sewing machine until almost 9 p.m.


The sunshine was bright yesterday morning and my porch pots looked so pretty.






The pots on the steps are really filling in nicely.  I'm glad ...

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May 18, 2024
Looking ahead................. from Exuberant Color


I need to use the double design wall in the basement for the pink/green layout but I also needed to be upstairs to watch the season finale of some TV shows.  I decided to spend my time pulling the fabric for a couple new quilts.  I have made this one before and really liked it.  I decided to do one in mostly blue batiks.

This plastic drawer unit has 5 drawers and now all of the strips I have left fill just 3 of the drawers.  I started cutting the 2.5" strips over 20 years ago and keep ...

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April 15, 2024
Sorting.............. from Exuberant Color


I didn't have anything lined up to sew last night so I sorted 1.5" batik squares instead.  I sorted into colors and into light value.  Then I went through the light squares and pulled all of the ones that had at least 4 alike or 4 similar.  I have over 30 light groups ready now to pair with 5 darker squares for 3" finished 9 patches.  This will be TV night sewing.


I was going through a closet to find my father-in-law's slides to give to my son.  In there was a box of nostalgia.  In the ...

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March 15, 2024
More blocks................ from Exuberant Color


 I sewed one of each of the 13 new combinations and saved the other 3 of each to sew later.  I wanted to see the yellows and oranges on the design wall.

It was cool enough yesterday morning that the heat came on and I should have gone to the basement then and started quilting the flannel quilt.  I waited until afternoon and by that time it was warm out and cold in the basement.  Today it should be warm down there so I hope the quilting happens.

That left my "in between things" project as the only thing to ...

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March 4, 2024
A few things............. from Exuberant Color


 I wasn't very organized yesterday but I got a few things accomplished.  This quilt came back from my longarm friend Robin and it was time to trim it to prepare for binding.  This one is called Autumn Coneflower 2 and you can see the whole quilt here.   This one is made of batiks and it is one of my favorite quilts so I think it needs a hand stitched binding.  I need to look for a suitable fabric today.

I also added one more batting strip to a pieced batting to make it large enough for the bright color ...

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February 18, 2024
Trimming........... from Exuberant Color


I trimmed the second quilt I got back from my longarmer last week.  I wasn't sure if I wanted a black batik or a red fabric for the binding.  Finally I came to a decision.




I decided on one of the reds that is in the quilt.  This is one of my favorite Martha Negley fabrics.  I needed a break from being in the basement so I didn't get it pressed and cut yet.



There were 15 more blocks ready to sew last night.





I did get some flannels chosen for more blocks so today I'll turn ...

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February 10, 2024
First finish for February 2024............ from Exuberant Color


The scrappy batik Bear Paw quilt is finished.  I trimmed the edges yesterday and sewed the binding all by machine.  It has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it. 

It is 70" x 85".  The top was finished in March 2023.


Since the top is made of many colors I decided on a neutral color backing and binding.

It was in the mid 50s yesterday, the second day in a row, kind of unusual at the beginning of February.  It's way too early for any outside work here because we will still have another month of winter.

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February 3, 2024
View from the sewing chair............. from Exuberant Color


I opened the box of batik orphan blocks again.  I do this a couple times a year and end up just putting the blocks back in the box again.

In October last year I sorted all of the blocks by size and clipped them together.

Here is the design wall the last time I played with them.  Very underwhelming.

This time I decided to try a row quilt since they were already sorted by size.  A column quilt with long batik strips between columns might be nice too.


Not up on the design wall is a stack of 16 patch ...

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January 24, 2024
On the design wall..................... from Exuberant Color


At the left are all of the rows of the Marcia Derse fabric quilt I was working on.  No decisions made on how to finish it.  I decided to put some columns of Crooked Cobblestone blocks on the design wall to see what I have available.  I used 5 different widths of blocks for this.




I spent the earlier part of the evening hand stitching the binding.  I have 3 corners done and 1/2 of a long side and 1/2 of a short side left to stitch.  Batik binding and batting make it a slower process of hand ...

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January 23, 2024
Old blocks................ from Exuberant Color


While I was in the basement doing laundry I started looking for a bag of crooked cobblestones.  Since I have emptied 4 project boxes so far this month I thought I should continue looking for blocks already made in past years.


In the bag were all of these separate bags of crooked cobblestones that are measured and packaged by width.  On the sidebar of this blog is a photo of a Crooked Cobblestone wall hanging, the first one that I made.  Here is a post when I was sorting them by size, 2016.  They have been waiting a long time ...

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January 22, 2024
Still hand stitching....................... from Exuberant Color


Not a lot of time was spent on the hand stitching yesterday but I do have one long side and half of a short side stitched.  I may take a break from it this morning and trim the second quilt and choose a binding for it.



The red double Amaryllis has one open flower now.  There are only going to be three blooms on this one.






There is hope for more blooms though because there are more bud stalks on this bulb.  The third one is still pretty short but they grow pretty fast.

My internet provider sent me a ...

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January 20, 2024
Trimming............. from Exuberant Color


I got 2 quilts back from my longarm quilter and they are 2 favorite quilts.  I got this one trimmed so it is ready for me to choose binding.  It is all batik fabric so it will be a batik binding and will be hand finished.



There are lots of colors in this quilt so almost any binding color will work.






The back is a batik too.  I think I will look for a medium value for the binding since there is a light end and a dark end to the layout of the blocks.

I finished pressing another huge ...

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January 19, 2024
All rows sewn............... from Exuberant Color






I tried to straighten the rows many times but they still ended up on a slant.  The good news though is that all of the rows are sewn.  I put a few gold triangles in the spots at the right side but still am not sure how I will finish this.  It may linger on the design wall for a few days...  I think maybe it needs dark triangles and maybe a border.




For the last 2 days I have been working on batting and backings for 2 more quilts to send out for quilting.  The pattern for this quilt ...

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December 30, 2023
Finish # 7 for December 2023................. from Exuberant Color


I finished the binding on the Soft Colorwash early in the day yesterday.  It is made of all batik fabrics and it measures about 20" x 33".


It is ditch quilted in the vertical seams with Invisifil thread.









I mentioned yesterday that I put squares folded diagonally on all 4 corners so a hanging rod/dowel can be slipped into any 2 on a side to display it in the orientation that is desired.











The next in line project was pressing all of the edge blocks for the Rosy quilt.







Then I started sewing this top together.  By 7 p ...

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December 7, 2023
Beginner-friendly modern batik quilt from Pieced Brain

Beginner-friendly modern batik quilt

Make this beginner-friendly modern batik quilt using your favorite collection or as a scrap buster! One easy quilt block is all it takes!

Use with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting®. ©2023 Meredith Operations Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Nature Study is my latest quilt, published in the February 2024 American Patchwork & Quilting issue. It measures 67″ x 82″, and the blocks finish at 6″. I used greens and blues from my batik fabric ‘collection’ – I still have enough fabric to make five quilts in the same palette! The photographer, Adam Albright, always transforms my quilts into works of art when he ...

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