nature

32 blocks..................... from Exuberant Color

I think it is going to be impossible to get a true contrast photo of these blocks. The camera wants to emphasize the light/dark contrast and in reality, it is much more blendy, closer to yesterday's photo. This is one of each of the 32 unique blocks, so there are 64 completed at this time.

Here are the 6 new combinations (daylight photo).

The tallest volunteer Sunflower is a full bloom now. I see I didn't catch it before a bug ate holes in one of the petals. This one is about 4 feet tall.

The smaller ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 6 hours, 15 minutes ago. under marcia derse fabric , nature , strip piecing

Moody 16 patch from Exuberant Color

I think this photo is a little dark, but this 16 patch is definitely a moody group of fabrics. I just put one of each that are sewn on the wall temporarily. I have chosen 12 more fabrics to cut and they are lighter than a lot of these.

I chose 4 of the new fabrics and sewed them but they aren't pressed so they aren't on the wall with the rest of the blocks.

I went out after sunset to take this photo. I kept meaning to go out earlier. This is the first of the Tiger ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 day, 6 hours ago. under marcia derse fabric , nature , strip piecing

Sewing stratas..................... from Exuberant Color

Even though I'm not done cutting strips from the Marcia Derse fabric, I had to start sewing pairs together. They all need pressing now before I can cut them into the segments for the blocks.

I like some pairs better than others, but the overall look is what I need to be concerned with.

These 24 stratas will produce 48 blocks (if I don't make any cutting mistakes) and that would only be a 48" x 64" quilt. I have a large piece for backing that I scored on sale so I need to make it larger.

The ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 3 days, 6 hours ago. under marcia derse fabric , nature , strip piecing

Outside..................... from Exuberant Color

It looked like there was a possibility of rain yesterday morning but I decided to water the tomato plants anyway. There were some red ones so I invited my 4 year old neighbor girl to pick them for her family. There were 3 red and one orange that needed a couple more days on the windowsill. I picked a couple orange ones for my windowsill too. We ended up getting .3" of rain by 2 p.m. I'm hoping we will get some more later this week since this was the first measurable rain this month.

When I went ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 5 days, 6 hours ago. under nature

Dropping Weight from From the Strawberry Patch...

We've had a time with our peach trees. It's been an uphill battle. A few years ago, when the trees were quite young, we harvested a few beautiful peaches that were every bit as juicy and sweet as they looked. Since then, though, killing frosts have taken a toll; despite Mr. G. staying up all night long to mist the trees with the garden hose. Last year we had, what appeared to be, a bumper crop

added by Mrs. Goodneedle 6 days, 21 hours ago. under fruit trees , nature , peaches

Dropping Weight from From the Strawberry Patch...

We've had a time with our peach trees. It's been an uphill battle. A few years ago, when the trees were quite young, we harvested a few beautiful peaches that were every bit as juicy and sweet as they looked. Since then, though, killing frosts have taken a toll; despite Mr. G. staying up all night long to mist the trees with the garden hose. Last year we had, what appeared to be, a bumper crop

added by Mrs. Goodneedle 6 days, 21 hours ago. under fruit trees , nature , peaches

New fabric.................... from Exuberant Color

There is a new line of Marcia Derse fabric, just released. I had to have a few new ones to mix in with my older lines. The line is called Sketchbook 21. Chris at Dye Candy Fabrics was the first to send an email that it was available so I ordered from her.

This is my favorite print in the new line.

And here is my second favorite.

I always love circle fabrics mixed into a project.

These 3 have possibilities so I didn't want to leave them behind. I didn't get any of 3 of the new ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 week, 1 day ago. under marcia derse fabric , nature , stash

Still hot.................. from Exuberant Color

It's been too hot for me to think about a new project so I'll just continue sewing these squares for Broken Dishes blocks.

With all that I sewed yesterday and Thursday, I have plenty to start sewing into blocks. I pressed all of them so I would be ready for assembly last night and today. I sewed 32 blocks last night and added them to the 39 already sewn. They are 6" blocks.

I watered the tomato plants and then went to the front garden and watered the bushes. This is the Zinfin Doll Hydrangea finally starting to ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 week, 2 days ago. under kaffe fabric , nature , triangles

Teeny tiny.......................... from Exuberant Color

I pieced the squares into this little top a couple years ago. This heat saps my energy so all I was able to get done was layering and quilting this. I will finish the edge soon.

I had this piece laying with the top so I guess it was meant to be the back.

A couple days ago I took this photo of the Creeping Bellflowers. They are getting closer to the time to be pulled out. These are actually in the grass along the edge of the flower garden.

I watered my tomato plants and then tackled one area ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 week, 4 days ago. under kaffe fabric , machine quilting , nature

Less humid, still hot.................. from Exuberant Color

The first shaggy red Coneflower is fully opened now. After losing the first one of these plants, I'm happy to say this one has survived 3 years.

I should have a bunch of blooms soon.

The yellow Coneflower is taking its time blooming. I think there will be several blooms at the same time on this one too.

The Blackberry Lily is blooming now. It is in a deep shady green area so the bright color is welcome.

The first flower is blooming on the Speedwell or Veronica plant. The front garden is so burnt from the hot sun ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 week, 5 days ago. under nature

A day of playing with stash............ from Exuberant Color

I didn't do much yesterday, another day over 90 with high humidity. I picked the first tomato rather than leaving it to be completely red and to be squirrel bait. I had a golf ball to use for size comparison. Tomato plants like temperatures 72-80 the best and we have had high 80s and low 90s. The tomatoes haven't grown much but the number of days to ripeness was here.

There are a few sunflowers growing in the area of the bird feeders. This one is about 3 feet tall and has a bud. The squirrels sometimes climb ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 weeks ago. under nature

Finished a small one................ from Exuberant Color

I made the top for this quilt in February, using the 6" Bow Tie dies so the blocks are 3" finished. All of the fabrics in the blocks are Kaffe Fassett collective prints, a large variety in the larger piece and in the triangles. I think I would call this exuberant pastel because of the large scale prints which appear darker. It is 34.5" x 45".

The cute print on the back is flannel that I found on sale. The binding is a gray print I found in my stack of grays.

I used Hobbs 80/20 batting in ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 weeks, 1 day ago. under baby quilts , flannel quilts , nature

Quilting a small one.................... from Exuberant Color

This baby quilt is only 36" x 45" so it didn't take long to ditch quilt it in both directions yesterday. There is a lot of variety in the Kaffe collective prints for this one, small scale and large scale, very light pastel, and bold pastels. There is a variety of greens and turquoises in the little triangle corners too. I'll trim it today and choose a binding.

The tall Ox-eye or False Sunflower is blooming in the back garden now. They are at least 4' tall. There are purple Coneflowers back in that area too that will ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 weeks, 1 day ago. under machine quilting , nature

Nature walk....................... from Exuberant Color

I went outside around 4 yesterday to take a few pictures of my crispy plants. This Coral Bell was a pretty deep green and purple until 2 days ago. The plant will survive but it will be scarred for the rest of the summer.

The Hosta on the right is starting to show signs of crispy areas but the other one is still looking OK. They are in the east sun until around noon.

This Hosta is in the shade about an hour earlier than the other 2 and has a flower shoot already.

The porch pots are doing pretty ...

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

Quilting and nature..................... from Exuberant Color

I have continued quilting on this baby quilt and am almost finished. It is all ditch quilting and I just need to put a few more stitches in the background. I hope to get it trimmed today and choose a binding fabric.

I went out early yesterday morning and watered everything and cut some volunteer tree/bushes that have been bothering me.

These are the Creeping Bellflower spires. All of these are in the grass line along the edge of my back flowerbed. It will be a mass of purplish blue flowers for a couple weeks and then they will ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 weeks, 6 days ago. under machine quilting , nature

More nature......................... from Exuberant Color

I went out to see if anything needed watering and the cucumber plants have almost doubled in size since yesterday.

This is the tallest of the volunteer tomato plants. No blooms on this one yet.

The smaller of the 2 volunteer tomato plants has 2 blooms on it. Soon I should be able to tell if it is a Sungold plant.

I put the rest of the volunteers in small pots. There are 2 in one of the pots. I should have separated them.

I found one tomato started on one of the Rutgers plants. It is a little larger ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 3 weeks, 1 day ago. under nature

Crooked Cobblestone finished.............. from Exuberant Color

The binding was finished around 7 last night. I took many photos, and even though the sides and top are straight, they look curved or slanted in every photo. I finally had to give up and just select one to crop and post. I think this is #13 of the batik Crooked Cobblestone wall hangings. The blocks in this one were made in 2016 and this was the selection left after making #12. I finished designing and sewing the top in January 2024. I started quilting it in March this year but put it aside for awhile before finishing it ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 3 weeks, 2 days ago. under cobblestone series , nature

No more markers...................... from Exuberant Color

Do you see any safety pins marking centers not quilted? No, I don't either. I finished all of the quilting yesterday. Now I need to trim it and hopefully the piece of fabric for the hanging sleeve is still where I think it is. Right now I'm thinking some shade of green might work for the binding. That would go well with the backing fabric too.

I found 2 more small Peony blooms while roaming through the backyard garden. I didn't remember that I had a white one over by the southwest corner.

I'm seeing buds ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 4 weeks ago. under batik , cobblestone series , machine quilting , nature

Errand day.................... from Exuberant Color

Sorry, nothing to show for yesterday. I did grocery shopping and watered the volunteer tomato plant at my neighbor's house because she is out of town for a few days.

I had 2 sessions of quilting around the centers of the Crooked Cobblestone blocks, 23 for the day's total. 52 to go.

We had something between a mist and a drizzle yesterday. There was enough to wet the grass and the leaves on the plants but not enough to measure. We are in a moderate drought area and towns just 30 miles away have gotten rain when we ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 month ago. under nature

Odds & Ends from Becca's Crazy Projects

I haven't been sewing as much in the last week or two. I have done some art, like this collection of heart-shaped balloons.

I painted the background on this rock that I painted a heart on more than a year ago.

I took a walk by the pond and saw these turtles stacked up in the sunshine.

And I bought a box of So Fine thread from Superior threads to replace colors I had used up. What have you been up to?

added by Becca 1 month ago. under 2025 , adventure , art , nature , paint , painted rocks , painting , superior threads , thread

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