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October 17, 2024
A little progress................ from Exuberant Color


Four more strip sets are ready to be pressed and then made into blocks.  This is my favorite of the 4.






I added the other 4 blocks of the original 24 to the design wall.  I need to take this to the basement for a larger design wall before I add any more blocks.







This one that might look like pink on your monitor is actually a coral color and goes well with the other orangey/rusty spots in other blocks.





I got one more batting cut and a backing pieced so my longarm quilter can pick up 2 to ...

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October 16, 2024
Testing.................. from Exuberant Color


This is 18 of 24 blocks that are sewn so far.  I just had to see them on the design wall and confirm that I want the blocks to run horizontal instead of vertical.




I have strips chosen for 4 more blocks.  I need at least 32 blocks so I need to choose 4 more pairs.

I covered a few of my tomato plants last night, hoping they will make it through the freeze.

 

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October 15, 2024
One more step................. from Exuberant Color


All 24 strip sets are at this stage now, ready to cut into 2 strips of rectangles.  I need to find 16 more fabrics for 8 more pairs.  I'm trying to decide whether to repeat some of the fabrics.

The new NCIS shows were on last night so I had 3 hours to sew.


One of my white cacti has 2 buds on it.  This is the time of year that the first buds form.  I need to get busy and repot a couple of them.  This morning I have my wound check from pacemaker surgery and then I ...

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October 14, 2024
More green strips.............. from Exuberant Color


I needed to take one final look at all 11 pairs of strips to see if I needed to change anything.  Then I started sewing them while I watched the first 'Tracker' show of the fall season.








I sewed 10 out of the 11 pairs.  I decided to look for 2 new fabrics to pair with the 2 strips in the 11th pair.  I now have 24 sets sewn which will only make 48 blocks so there will be more fabrics chosen.



I finally remembered to take some photos of the fall color in my neighborhood.  This tree is straight ...

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October 12, 2024
6 more batiks................ from Exuberant Color


I had many things to take care of yesterday so the only time in the studio was to find more green fabrics for the current strip piecing project.  A lot of my batik stash is 1/2 yard or less so there is a large variety on every shelf.  I only need a few more fabrics so I'll spread out everything I have so far and see what I need to add. 

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October 11, 2024
A change of plans............... from Exuberant Color


Yesterday I started the day by baking chocolate chip cookies.  I was planning the next thing to bake when I got the news that one of the travelers wasn't feeling well so they aren't coming.  (Poor photo, they look much better)


To free some space in my freezer for cookies, I baked half a package of cinnamon rolls.  It was only 65 degrees inside because I haven't turned on the heat yet.  We're supposed to get up to low 80s today and then only high 50s early next week.  They are even talking a frost or ...

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October 10, 2024
Miscellaneous.................. from Exuberant Color


 I have 10 more strip sets up to this point as of last night.









This is my favorite set so far.










In addition to a 16 patch I could make any one of these 3 patterns with my strip sets.


I had a wonderful visit with my niece and her mom (my sister-in-law) yesterday afternoon.  Last night I started baking because some family a state away is coming to the area for a party for the first birthday of my youngest great-grandchild.

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October 9, 2024
Garden clean up and no-brainer sewing........... from Exuberant Color


The weather was perfect yesterday for doing yardwork.  I cut down many peonies and volunteer trees.  I was so tired last night I needed some no-brainer sewing.  I checked out the 2 boxes of 2.5" batik strips.



These 2 project boxes hold all that is left of the strips I started cutting about 15 or more years ago.  I took them out of the plastic drawer units (5 drawers that used to be full and was now down to 3 drawers) and put them in these boxes so I could get rid of those 2 drawer units.


In the ...

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August 25, 2024
A quilt top for August 2024............. from Exuberant Color


I have made 4 quilt tops with these neutral color 16 patch blocks.  I sold the first two, the third one is a finished quilt now and I think this is the largest one.  For some reason I don't have a photo of the first one I made and sold and I think it was larger than numbers 2 and 3.

This one is about 72" x 96".  It is a good size for a twin size bed.


I trimmed the Fonthill quilt and cut the binding strips.







When I was going through my light batiks for my June ...

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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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