nature

Slowly, getting there............ from Exuberant Color

Strips were cut, seams were sewn, but I stopped at the point where I have to turn on the iron. I counted blocks and need to choose one more pair to achieve 63 blocks for a throw size quilt, 56" x 72".

This purple is kind of a wild card. It has purple, green, red, and orange. The green fabric above it is a possible pairing for it. I can make blocks from these 2 and if I don't like them, I'll just choose 2 more fabrics.

The Amaryllis that I received the third week of November has ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 5 hours, 27 minutes ago. under batik , double 4 patch , knitting , nature

Finish #5 for December 2025 from Exuberant Color

The binding was cut yesterday afternoon and last night I sewed it on, finished by machine. This little quilt is 30" x 39.25". It is flannel and in the Bullseye Log Cabin pattern. It has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it and I quilted it on my Pfaff.

It took only a one yard piece of flannel for the back of the quilt. The binding is a medium tan, darker than the light fabrics and lighter than the dark fabrics.

It was so dark yesterday morning that I had to move this cactus plant to the bathroom to take ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 month, 1 week ago. under baby quilts , christmas , flannel quilts , nature

Quilting finished................ from Exuberant Color

I wasn't sure this one was going to bloom. It was a bud for more than 3 weeks. This pot is on my kitchen windowsill, west exposure.

Since I am only a little over 5' I am looking across at this pot when I'm standing at the sink. I kept thinking this pot had 4 pieces that had broken off my pale pink cactus plant, but when I looked closer it is just 2 pieces.

I did have one more thing to bake yesterday and then PT in the afternoon. Last night I finished the quilting on this ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 month, 1 week ago. under baby quilts , flannel quilts , knitting , machine quilting , nature

Great mail....................... from Exuberant Color

In my mail preview I saw a card from Vicki Welsh. This was my favorite of the three she made this year. It is so exciting to receive one of her cards.

I did a little rearranging of the cards from the previous 14 years plus the new one. They are up on my bulletin board year round and I look in that direction while I'm sewing so I'm enjoying them all of the time.

Also in the mail was a new book. The author contacted me a while ago and asked if she could use the image ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 month, 1 week ago. under food , nature , postcards

Bright and soft...................... from Exuberant Color

The binding is finished on this medallion quilt and full photos and stats will be on tomorrow's post. The repairman was supposed to come between 2 and 4 yesterday and he got here at 5. By 6:30 he had the oven and the dryer both working normally.

While waiting for him to arrive, I pressed all 10 flannel pieces and cut the squares. Last night I got the top sewn together. It is 32" x 40" so a 1 yard piece will be enough for a backing.

Jack Frost only did a little painting on my kitchen windows ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 month, 1 week ago. under flannel quilts , kaffe fabric , nature

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 ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 month, 1 week ago. under binding , kaffe fabric , nature

Baking again......... from Exuberant Color

I baked Kringlas in the morning and should have left the oven on and baked something else. When I turned the oven on later in the afternoon....nothing....no heat.

Since I already had chocolate spritz dough made, I had to go to plan B. My main oven is gas, but I have a countertop electric oven. I know things bake differently in the 2 kinds because my mother had electric and her cookies always turned out different than mine. It took many trays to bake since the oven is small but I got the job done.

After I figured ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 month, 2 weeks ago. under food , nature

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 ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 month, 3 weeks ago. under crazy piecing , flannel quilts , kaffe fabric , marcia derse fabric , nature

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 ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 month, 4 weeks ago. under kaffe fabric , nature , strip piecing

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 ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months ago. under 9 patch , kaffe fabric , nature , one color quilt

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 ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months ago. under 9 patch , kaffe fabric , nature , one color quilt

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 ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months, 1 week ago. under kaffe fabric , nature , one color quilt

Front entrance decor.................. from Exuberant Color

I took both daylight and night photos of the front porch.

My front porch lights are motion activated so there is no way for me to take a photo of the porch without them unless I turn off the switch inside. Then it would be too dangerous for me to walk out there in the dark. If you click on the photo and enlarge it you can see the lights on the greenery are on.

Even though some of the other cactus plants had buds before the red one, red was the winner in this spot by the east window ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months, 1 week ago. under christmas , nature

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 ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months, 2 weeks ago. under kaffe fabric , knitting , nature

Working on the binding.................... from Exuberant Color

I have started the hand stitching on the binding but didn't finish it last night.

Earlier in the day I finished the third of the last 3 dishcloths I had on the needles. Now I can start 3 more.

The big beautiful tree across the street lost all of its leaves on the last few windy days. My tree in the backyard turns color later so it still has a lot of leaves. This is the view from the north.

This view from the south shows a lot more bare spots because the wind was from the south.

There ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months, 2 weeks ago. under australian fabrics , binding , knitting , nature

Binding complete..................... from Exuberant Color

First thing yesterday I chose and cut the binding for the 16 patch quilt made with Nancy Crow fabric.

With 3 hours of NCIS to watch I got the binding sewn on and finished by machine.

Now it is ready to photograph and measure, today's task.

Petunias are still blooming but there is a hard freeze coming over the weekend. I hope I remember to pull this pot into the garage.

There are a few of the white with black veins petunias blooming too and that pot is too heavy to lug to the garage.

Inside I have my ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months, 3 weeks ago. under binding , nature

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 ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months, 4 weeks ago. under binding , kaffe fabric , nature

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 ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months, 4 weeks ago. under kaffe fabric , nature , one color quilt

Finish # 3 for October 2025...................... from Exuberant Color

It only took 8 years to get this quilt to the finish line. I made the top in 2017 and considered ditch quilting it but ended up having it longarmed this month. It is all batik fabrics and there are 3 sizes of 16 patch blocks in it: 4", 8" and 16". I paper pieced the star before 2017.

It has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it and it measures 38.5" x 51". Most of my batiks are a half yard to a yard so I was happy to find one that was a larger cut to use for ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 3 months ago. under batik , food , nature , star quilts

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 ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 3 months ago. under 9 patch , kaffe fabric , nature , one color quilt

What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?