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December 15, 2025
Still hand stitching................. from Exuberant Color


I worked on the hand stitching on the binding of this medallion quilt a few times yesterday.  I have about 40" left to stitch.






I have only one cactus currently in bloom.  This orange one is so pretty.  I don't see buds on any of the others in the living room and dining room.  I have one on the kitchen windowsill that is 4 pieces that broke off of one plant and I rooted them and planted them all in one pot.  There is one bud on one of them so I hope it gets to the blooming stage ...

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December 14, 2025
Binding started................. from Exuberant Color


I got the binding sewn onto the medallion quilt and got 1 1/2 sides hand stitched last night.  This one should take me 3 evenings to finish.





A couple weeks ago I got a package from Nann.  She went to Kay Sorenson's estate sale and got these 2 fabrics for me.  She knew that Kay and I were friends.  What she didn't know is that the fabric on the left is one of my very favorite African fabrics.  The one on the right is an Australian fabric by M&S textiles.  It is a lot different than ...

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December 13, 2025
Quilt trimmed, table piece finished................. from Exuberant Color


Another quilt is back from my longarm friend Robin.  I got it trimmed yesterday afternoon.


Since I needed to turn on the iron, I also pressed the binding fabric and cut the 7 strips needed.  It is Kaffe's Woodear fabric.












I also cut the binding strips for my Christmas table runner and got it sewn on and since it is for me, I hand finished the binding.  It is 14.75" x 34.5".


I also finished the second dishcloth from this color ball of yarn.  15 dishcloths have left my home since the beginning of November so I ...

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December 12, 2025
Finish # 3 for December 2025 from Exuberant Color


This quilt with Kaffe collective fabrics was finished on Wednesday.  It is 52.5" x 74".  It has 80/20 batting in it and it was quilted by Robin Diaz.  It is a nice throw quilt size.










The back is three strips of Kaffe collective fabric, leftovers from making backings for other quilts.












I treated myself to a fat quarter pack of Tim Holtz neutrals and 2 half yards.  I think I'll look through my Stonehenge fabrics to pair with them in a 16 patch quilt.  Or maybe a quilt of all triangles.  Or maybe Sawtooth stars and 16 ...

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December 11, 2025
Finishes.............. from Exuberant Color


Since this quilt is made with Kaffe collective fabrics, that is where I looked for the binding choice.  This one is a Brandon Mably design.





There are 3 fabrics for the backing, all leftover strips from previous quilt backs.  This is the second quilt recently that has used those strips as backs so the pile of them is getting smaller.








I'll get this quilt photographed today and share the details tomorrow.

The repairman yesterday confirmed that it is probably the igniter on the oven but he didn't have the right model with him so the part is being ...

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December 5, 2025
First finish for December 2025.................... from Exuberant Color




The quilting wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.  The story behind this is that the 4 star blocks were a little too large for the flying geese strips added around them.  That means I did a lot of easing and stretching and the center didn't lay as flat as most of my quilts.  I tamed it pretty well with only one little tuck. I named this one Game Board.


I'm glad I used the fun fish fabric on the back.  The fabrics are Kaffe collective.  It is 39" square and was quilted on my ...

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December 4, 2025
Quilting started..................... from Exuberant Color


I finished the basting yesterday morning and last night started the quilting on this small quilt I call Game Board.  This post shows the whole top.  I got the ditch quilting done in the 3 outer borders and then quilted the flying geese border.  I'll probably do the bow ties next and then proceed to the center.


I have tweezers handy when I am quilting.  No matter how many threads I pull out of the seams before I start, I always find more while quilting.  Sometimes as in this case, only about 1/4" of thread is showing and ...

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December 3, 2025
Playing............... from Exuberant Color


I added some more pieces to 3 of the Marcia Derse fabric crazy piecing blocks.  I'm testing whether I want white with black fabrics added.  I have at least 3 other prints I can try.



Occasionally I pull out the parts department boxes and check out some of the pieces.  These are from the 4" Kaffe fabric box.  They are now safely back in the box.






I finished this dishcloth on Sunday night.  I now have 3 in this coloration done and want to make 3 more.









I started two more dishcloths last night.  The bottom one is blue ...

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December 1, 2025
Last minute November finishes and more...................... from Exuberant Color


There is nothing better than an all day sewing day.  It was too cold to go anywhere.

This top is finally finished other than a little trimming of the bottom edge.  It ended up at 49.5" x 71".  There are 2 Martha Negley fabrics in it and the rest are all Kaffe Fassett Collective.






I determined a final layout and got this flannel baby quilt top sewn together too.  When I was putting the blocks up on the  design wall, I realized the bottom left block was shorter than the rest.  Evidently 2 of the light strips were 1 ...

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November 30, 2025
Snow is the big news.......... from Exuberant Color


Yesterday there was a little snow on the ground when I got up and it was light snow in the beginning.  This photo is from 10 yesterday morning.  By noon there was heavier snow.  By afternoon, there was a break in the storm and we were under that area.






This photo was at 6:30 last night when we had around 6" of snow.  On Chicago news they said my town had 7.2".  The snow total for a day in November may be broken in Chicago's records.











I spent the day sewing the columns and then sewing them ...

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November 29, 2025
A few changes................ from Exuberant Color


Still playing with this one......

I moved the 2 tone green strip one column to the right, oh, and I cut it into 1.5" segments.  I'm not sure that dark strip will stay in there.  After an hour or so I left this project and checked back at it a couple times during the day.






There wasn't room on the design wall for the flannel blocks so I laid them on the floor to see how they look together.  This probably isn't the final layout.






I needed to do a load of laundry, so while it ...

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November 28, 2025
All blocks.................... from Exuberant Color


Yesterday morning I got all of the strippy blocks up on the design wall.  I think I might have moved 2 of the blocks after this photo was taken.










I decided to sew the columns I'm happy with so the three at the left are sewn, but not sewn to each other.  I need to do more playing with the insertion strips.  I don't like the grouping of the strippy block columns right now, 3, 2, 3, and 2.  After I sew some columns I can move them around and also move the narrow strips to new locations ...

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November 26, 2025
Auditioning ideas........................ from Exuberant Color


The morning yesterday was spent making a backing for an older quilt top.  I'm using a full width piece and a cut away from another back for it.  Now I just need to cut batting.

I have a bunch of ideas on the design wall to audition what works and what doesn't in this strippy quilt.





This is my favorite new block.  The stripe is Twigs by Martha Negley so now there are 2 Martha fabrics in this project.

In the middle of the afternoon I had a PT session for my weaker leg.  







I bought the Kaffe ...

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November 25, 2025
Starting a new one................ from Exuberant Color


There are 2 blocks of each combination except one so this is half of the blocks.  Getting them up on the wall helps me see what colors and values need  more representation.  After I make about 5 more combinations I'll continue with the design.  I ran the blocks crosswise on the last one of these and thought I would do a vertical setting on this one.  I'm just playing with some ideas here for a quick small quilt.

I need to make a list of all of my started quilts and see which one I want to work ...

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November 23, 2025
Sample block and other things............... from Exuberant Color


I made one sample block for the corners (bottom left corner).  This one is  made with just 2 fabrics but the 4 I will make (now that I know it works) will be an assortment of fabrics, just like the side border blocks.  I will be happy to have this quilt top off the design wall.  I don't know why the camera thought it should look pink in this photo.  It is very purple.





I finished sewing these blocks and got them trimmed.  This is one batch of them and there are 2 alike of most of them.





This ...

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November 22, 2025
Explanation of the corner blocks....................... from Exuberant Color


Thanks to everyone who has tried to help me with the dilemma of the corner blocks of my purple Rosy quilt.  Since several were no reply I couldn't comment back to them.  This post showed my first trials for corner blocks.  This photo shows a side border block.  The 2 larger squares touch the outside edge of the center and the rows of 3" squares are on the outside edge of the quilt.  I'm showing that the block will finish at 9" x 10.5".


The corner blocks need to measure 10.5" square.  This photo shows that ...

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November 21, 2025
One more audition.............. from Exuberant Color


More fabrics were auditioned yesterday for the coping strips and this is the only one I'm considering.












I cut some more strips for my other project and sewed them last night.  I pressed the first batch made previously while I was in the basement doing laundry.

We've had some gray days and today they say we will have sunshine and 50 degrees.

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November 20, 2025
Auditioning corners.................. from Exuberant Color


The center of the quilt is still folded up and pinned on the design wall and I tried 3 fabrics as coping strips to use with some of the leftover 9 patch blocks for the corners.  

I don't want the corners to be what catches attention first.  Still no decision made.


I pulled out some strips for some mindless sewing while I glance up at the design wall.

I will eventually figure out how to finish the purple Rosy.  

 

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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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