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November 19, 2025
Purple................... from Exuberant Color


I pieced a 10.5" nine patch block to try in the top left corner.  I don't like it with seams not lining up.  Next I folded the 5 row sewn part so I could see both the top and bottom edge and pinned it back on the wall.  I now could reach to design a top row and lean down to design a bottom row (minus corner blocks).  I sewed those 5 blocks together for both rows and they will wait for my decision on corners.

I had PT in the afternoon and stopped for grocery shopping on ...

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November 18, 2025
5 rows sewn together....................... from Exuberant Color




The lower 5 rows are sewn together, the top row is loose blocks and there will be one more row of border blocks across the bottom.  The border blocks are 9" x 10.5" so the corners will be 10.5" square.  

I have placed 2 9" squares up there to test ideas for the corners.  I have several 9 patch blocks left over and they would need 2 coping strips or a narrow border all around if I use them.  At the right corner is a fabric I didn't end up using in the center but I had ...

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November 17, 2025
Back to purple Rosy................ from Exuberant Color


The left column is all border blocks.  I finished sewing the last batches of them last night.  I just need to decide now if I like the position of each of them.  Next I need to move all of the blocks 9" to the left so I can work on the right border.


l have enough blocks made for the remaining 3 borders.  Last thing is deciding what I will put at the 4 corners.

We are back to normal weather for this date now, mid 40s to low 50s and mid to high 30s at night.  It was nice ...

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November 13, 2025
Unpressed progress.................... from Exuberant Color


I'm working on the border blocks for the purple Rosy and I can't press them until I know where they will end up on the quilt.  That is, if I want seams to nest, which I do.  There are 4 of each of these as well as 4 of the one I showed previously.


This is how they fit along the center of the quilt.  I have the larger squares all up on the wall and need to piece more of the sections of 6 smaller squares and sew them to the large square sections.  It is the ...

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November 11, 2025
Not much snow.................. from Exuberant Color


It was in the low 20s when I got up yesterday so I hurried to get photos before the sun melted the snow.

You will have to look closely to see the snow we got.  It is mostly on fallen leaves.



There was a little more snow in the backyard.  We rarely get much of the lake effect snow so I wasn't expecting much.





I sewed a few sections of 6 three inch squares for the border blocks.  There is lots more to do.







I started two of the next three dishcloths.  I will knit them all up to ...

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November 10, 2025
Back to purple Rosy................. from Exuberant Color


I was checking out all of the pieces for the last 2 borders on the Rosy quilt.  It will be pieced in sections of 3 squares.  The pieced strips were left over from making the 9 patches.




I got 15 segments out of the pieced strips so now I just need to add one square to each of them for 15 border strips. I will need 48 of them plus corner units (not figured out yet).  I have some leftover 9 patches which I could add a small border to, to fit the corners.  I'm not sure how that ...

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November 3, 2025
It's binding time................... from Exuberant Color


The 16 patch quilt made with Nancy Crow fabric has been trimmed now and I'll look for binding today.  The red stripe is the only Nancy Crow fabric that I had large yardage of so it ended up being the backing.



I ended up with a variegated 30 wt. thread for the quilting of mug rugs and a table mat.









First I quilted the 4 mug rugs that are the same size and then trimmed them to prepare for binding.







They will be nice used backing side up too.









I decided the same thread would work on the Kaffe ...

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November 1, 2025
October 2025 Monthly Recap........................ from Exuberant Color


 October was a good month with 4 finishes.  Top left with 3 sizes of 16 patch blocks and a paper pieced star was started in 2017, the star pieced in 2008, and finally a finish.  It is 38.5" x 51".  Bottom left was started in 2011, the border added in 2022, and finally finished last month.  I cut pieces with my new Bear Paw die and played with them for this layout.  It is 47.5" x 58.5".  In the center is a quilt that surprised me.  It is simple piecing with 2 sizes of strips of Kaffe ...

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October 31, 2025
A finish............ from Exuberant Color


This one was finished too late last night to get photographed up on the design wall.  I trimmed it and sewed the binding on last night.





I sewed 4 long strips together for the back of this one.  They were all cutaway pieces from piecing previous backs.  I'll have to photograph the whole back when I do the front today.



I have 3 compact burning bushes along the south wall of my house.  This one is usually the prettiest and sometimes it gets too cold for the other 2 to completely turn color.



This is the middle bush and ...

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October 30, 2025
Working on the border................... from Exuberant Color


On the left side is one row of 4.5" squares and a little patch of 3" squares, the components of the pieced border.  I need to move all of the blocks to the left to have room for both the left and right borders on the design wall.  I ended up grocery shopping and doing laundry instead of continuing to work on this.




The 4.5" squares were all sewn into sets of 2 to speed up the design process.




The tree across the street was glowing with the sun from the south beating down on it, but no ...

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October 26, 2025
Finish # 2 for October 2025.................. from Exuberant Color


This older quilt is finally finished.  It was started in 2011 so it is 14 years old.  The border was added in 2022 and then it hung on a hanger while I agonized about what kind of quilting and what color thread it needed.



There are 2 fabrics on the back, a wide piece of orange with roses and a narrow strip of the other fabric.  I love the Folk Art by Kaffe Fassett for the binding.







It is 47.5" x 58.5".  I used Hobbs 80/20 batting and the quilting thread color is Almond, which blends into ...

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Layout 2.................... from Exuberant Color


I took out the square that was too light in this purple Rosy quilt and cut another of the second lightest fabric.  I decided to try them evenly placed down the center.  Then I cut 2 more squares of "dream" fabric and placed them evenly around the center.  I usually use a random layout but I was having a hard time coming up with anything I liked.  I'll let this one simmer for a day or two.


Last night I counted the squares that will make up the 2 borders.  I only need 3 more of the 4.5 ...

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October 25, 2025
Binding choices and a finish................. from Exuberant Color


This quilt dates back to 2017 but it's going to be finished now.  I trimmed it yesterday and chose the dark blue at the bottom for its binding.





I also trimmed this one and chose the Folk Art Kaffe print for the binding.  I made the center of this quilt top in 2011 but didn't get the final border on it until 2022.  




This one became my sewing project for last night.  There is mostly the orange with roses on the back with a narrower strip of the other fabric.





My purple Rosy blocks are on the wall ...

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October 23, 2025
Layout one...................... from Exuberant Color


These are the two newest blocks I made yesterday for the purple Rosy quilt.




All spots are filled in on the layout now but I don't think this is the final layout.  I'm not sure about the light large square 4 blocks down on the right edge.  It is pink, blue, and lavender but maybe not a bold enough print.  I have nine 9 patches left over so I could make it a row wider and a row longer but I don't know if I want it to be that large.  I still have 2 or 3 ...

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October 22, 2025
Layout so far............... from Exuberant Color


I didn't get any more fabric cut but I did sew some new combinations of 9 patches from the remainder of the first cutting.  I have one more lighter fabric cut and will pair it with a dark and then remove a couple of the duplicates and put in the new ones.  I also need to cut 2 more fabrics into large squares.





This is one of the original photos I showed when I was pulling all of the Kaffe collective purples.  There are a few in here that I haven't used yet and some of them will ...

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October 21, 2025
Working on two again................ from Exuberant Color


 I sewed on the right border and hoped the bottom border was going to fit.

It did with a tiny bit trimmed off one end.










I haven't made a final decision on the top and bottom borders and these strips are just pinned on the wall.  I moved this over to the left on the wall so I had room to start working on the next quilt.








I placed a little of each part of the purple Rosy quilt on the design wall.  The center is the 9 patches and large squares, the first border is one row of ...

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October 20, 2025
Playing at the design wall................... from Exuberant Color


I have a box full of 2" x 4" Flying Geese blocks made with Kaffe and Martha Negley fabrics.  I tried a row flying all the same direction, and maybe because they are facing the opposite direction than the triangles in the center panel, I didn't like this.






I thought maybe going both directions might work.  I still needed to try some more ideas.












Two geese joined into a diamond shape is an improvement.  I wasn't sure how many I would need to go across the bottom.  The strip on the right isn't sewn on yet.









Since ...

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October 19, 2025
First finish for October 2025................. from Exuberant Color


I love this little quilt.  I made blocks from my supply of cut Kaffe fabric strips and then hoped they would all work together at the design wall.  It's pretty simple, 1.5" and 2.5" strips sewn together to make the blocks.  Lots of the strips were cut 15-20 years ago so there are a lot of early Kaffe fabrics in this one.  





The backing is a Brandon Mably fabric and the binding a Kaffe fabric.  I used Hobbs 80/20 batting in it and it finished at 47" x 67".

  It was quilted by Robin Diaz.











The ...

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October 18, 2025
3 quilt tops................... from Exuberant Color


I finally turned on the iron and got all three quilt tops pressed and measured.  Then I staystitched around the perimeter of this 16 patch made of Nancy Crow fabric.  This photo was taken with my Canon camera and is the closest to the real color.  My previous photos were too light.  This one is 64" x 80".


I am so happy these simple borders worked so effectively to make this medallion into a rectangular shape.  It is 61" x 81".  It is now a shape to cover a body.  No one will ever convince me that a 61" square ...

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October 17, 2025
Borders, sewn top................... from Exuberant Color


Thanks to a friend I decided on borders on a medallion quilt made 9 years ago.  I was stuck at 61" square and wanted it to become rectangular.  The borders are sewn on the top and bottom.  Here is the top and the inspiration for it.



Last night I finished sewing the flannel tumbler quilt top.  Now I have 3 quilt tops to press so maybe I'll turn on the iron today.

A friend started blogging again so check her out.  She mentions me in this post from yesterday.

 

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