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March 4, 2025
Tilda Whimsy blocks from Exuberant Color


 The Whimsy blocks so far; there are 5 identical of three of them and 6 of one of them.  I need to cut some new pieces of one of the shapes to have good contrast before I sew any more.  I have 21 of 36 sewn.









If you follow the directions, you would be sewing those 4 blocks into one big block (9 total).  But....you would have to alternate the pressing of the last seams to have them lock at intersections, and I don't know which block will go where until I'm doing the layout, so I ...

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February 21, 2025
All cut............ from Exuberant Color


I finished pressing and cutting the rest of the fabrics for the last two shapes for the Tilda Whimsey quilt.  I have also cut strips for a 16 patch and one other quilt.








I spread out the fabric for each group and also added 4 fabrics at the bottom right that I can add if I need more contrast in one of the shapes.  I might not start sewing these into blocks until Saturday.


I worked on the hand sewing of the binding on this green Kaffe Rosy quilt last night.  I have about 3/4 of one short side ...

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February 18, 2025
2 quilts back home.............. from Exuberant Color


I got 2 quilts back from my longarm quilter friend so I'll be looking for binding fabric soon.






While she was here she helped me slide the bag off my new 30 yard roll of batting and get it up on the tables.  Now I can cut batting for a few more quilts.  





I spent a couple hours choosing and grouping Tilda fabrics for her Whimsey quilt pattern.  Then I made notes for each group with what I need to cut for that quilt plus 2 others.  There has to be a 16 patch quilt made from these fabrics ...

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February 15, 2025
It's finished! from Exuberant Color


I found a nice stripe in the mid-tone of the quilt for the binding and got it sewn on.  This quilt is 39" square.








The backing is a grayed purple even though it seems to be brown in some lights.  The quilt is much softer looking in person, not such high contrast.

I used Hobbs 80/20 in this quilt.





The close up shots show some of the colors in the quilt, like this green print.






There are browns, rust, blue and gold tones.








Burgundy check and a burnt orange are in this shot.







Up in the top left is ...

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February 14, 2025
A little fabric therapy................ from Exuberant Color


I made my first fabric purchase this year.  Yes, it's Tilda again and yes, it was pricey because it is a new line, but I needed a perk.  











I bought the smallest pack available, fat 8ths plus 1/2 yard of my favorite fabric.





I finished quilting the baby quilt last night but haven't trimmed it yet.  That will happen today and I'll find a binding fabric and hopefully get it finished.





I was just about out of the cookies in my freezer so it was time to bake something else.  I love this cherry topped cake ...

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February 9, 2025
Several backings.............. from Exuberant Color


After trimming the backing for the large Crooked Cobblestone wall hanging, I chose backing for 4 more pieces.  I was glad I had a large enough flannel piece for the flannel baby quilt.



These are the backs for the three smaller pieces.  I hope to get these all quilted and trimmed today.









Since these are all small pieces I used flower head pins to baste them.  The flower heads lay nice and flat.

We didn't get any ice early in the day yesterday but I think there might be a thin layer that occurred in the evening.  My Sunday ...

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February 8, 2025
Looking for a backing........... from Exuberant Color


This quilt top is next in line for basting to prepare for ditch quilting.  I needed to find a batik for backing yesterday.  It is 37 x 58" so I need almost 1 3/4 yards of fabric.











The first place I look is the 2 shelves of multicolor and large design batiks.  Most of them are hard to use because the color changes so often in them.










When I first look through the stacks I'm looking for larger yardage pieces and pull them out.  The one one the left is more blue, not green as it looks here ...

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January 14, 2025
Several things......... from Exuberant Color


First in the morning yesterday I made a couple new labels for boxes of pieces and parts. These are all strips, triangles and scraps.  They are on the highest shelves because I will be looking in them the least.  This is the top 3 shelves of a 7 shelf bookcase.


I put the pieces for one of the 20 dark blocks in Plaid-ish up on the design wall.  I have more than half of the pieces cut for those 20 blocks.







Last night's full moon is called the Wolf Moon.  I took this photo before dark, not knowing if ...

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January 7, 2025
Catching up.............. from Exuberant Color


I'm getting a slow start to my projects in this new year.  I had to do some catch-up, grocery shopping and laundry.

I'm looking for the dies that will cut some of the pieces of the Plaid-ish quilt.  One of them is a 5" square.  I'll get some fabrics pressed today and start cutting.  Some of the shapes will have to be rotary cut.  My right shoulder has been bothering me so I won't be doing a lot of cutting any one day.


I did some reorganizing of computer folders too and I enjoy doing that ...

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January 6, 2025
Sorting by value........... from Exuberant Color



As I was dividing the Kaffe scraps into dark, medium and light for the Plaid-ish quilt I decided the mediums will all be pinks, reds, or oranges. Because so many of Kaffe's fabrics are multicolor, a lot of them got eliminated from the selections. I didn't get all the way to the bottom of the bin.  I will look at the sizes I need to cut and decide how many of these I really need.


As I work on the Plaid-ish quilt I'll decide if any need to be removed, or if I need  more.






I might ...

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A little help and future project............. from Exuberant Color


I had some help yesterday going through my quilts and dividing them up into keep, share/gift and sell.  It was quite a workout.

I downloaded the free Plaid-ish Quilt pattern from the Kitchen Table Quilting site a couple years ago and I have decided to use some of the large Kaffe scraps to make it since the bin is overflowing.  This will be a slow cutting project and sewing probably won't start until late this month or early February.

First I have to divide the scraps into light, medium, and dark.  That alone will probably take a few ...

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December 28, 2024
Finish #2 for December 2024........... from Exuberant Color


I chose a binding for this quilt yesterday, cut it and sewed it on, all by machine.  I found 2 pink Kaffe fabrics that I liked for binding but went with the pencils for this reason: It had to be cut lengthwise to get the stripe going the right direction and I had used it for another quilt.  That left a piece about 20" wide by 64" long, that was just waiting to be cut for another binding.


I think this is the first 'all Kaffe fabric' quilt that I didn't use a Kaffe fabric on the back.  I ...

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December 26, 2024
Cleaning off the table................ from Exuberant Color


I sorted the Tidla fabrics into 4 groups of value to prepare for cutting for the Whimsy Quilt (free Tilda pattern).  I haven't pressed them yet so now I'll press them by value groups and do the cutting of each group as soon as they are pressed.


Next to move off the table was the box of 3" finished triangles that I cut from waste pieces (from cutting quarter square triangles on the die cutter) when I was cutting for the hourglass blocks in the quilt top I finished last month.


I ended up with 19 stacks of ...

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December 25, 2024
Merry Christmas! from Exuberant Color

This is a photo I took in 2009 and turned into a Christmas card in 2013.  This is the white Christmas we rarely get any more so I enjoy this photo.


I have a couple cacti in bloom, technically the Thanksgiving cactus.  This is my orange one but the camera likes to make it more coral.  Whatever you call the color, it is pretty and I'm happy to still have some blooms.








When I buy a larger pot of Thanksgiving cactus it usually is just a big pot full of a lot of small plants.

I split my red ...

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December 24, 2024
Maybe a quiet quilt.......... from Exuberant Color



I am fascinated by the Tilda fabrics and the soft, quiet look of them.  I think a quiet quilt (or 2 or 3) might be next.  I can see most of the prints used in a 16 patch or an 18 patch, and maybe a quilt of a variety of pieces and parts with the larger prints fussy to cut to show off their designs.....maybe sawtooth stars and log cabin blocks and a few other traditional blocks and some 4 patches.  Some of these pieces are fat quarters, some half yards and a few one yard pieces.  I have ...

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November 28, 2024
Starting one quilt, finishing another.................. from Exuberant Color


The first two star blocks are made and I love them.  I didn't get any more pieces cut yesterday but I did pull some more light fabrics.



After cutting for 3 floral quilts I still have this much left.  None of this is Kaffe collective, it is mostly florals purchased from the 1990s to 2005.



This is a top view of the 2 big bins.  I need to sell a lot of it, probably for $5 a yard but need to decide how to group it and what size pieces to cut.  Any suggestions would be appreciated, especially if ...

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November 17, 2024
And still cutting.................. from Exuberant Color


This is one of each of the 6" finished floral squares.  There are 4 of almost all of them so I think I have 150 cut so far so I need 9 more fabrics (or duplicates) if I make 4 quilts.  I'm considering dropping one of my ideas and then I would only need 5 more. No final decisions at this point.




I need 13 more sets of 3" triangles and I can get then out of some of the smaller pieces of fabric.

Meanwhile I still haven't cleaned off the cabinet top so I haven't been ...

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November 16, 2024
Still cutting................. from Exuberant Color


I had a stack of fabrics to press before I could continue cutting 6.5" squares.  I got 13 more cut with a pile waiting to go to the die cutter.  There are 4 squares of each of most of these fabrics.  There are 2 or 3 quilts in the future to use all of them.  I will need 177 squares if I make all 3 quilts and I have 96 cut so far.


I'm also cutting 3" finished half square triangles for one of the quilts.  Lots more strips are also waiting to be die cut for this ...

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November 15, 2024
Cutting................ from Exuberant Color


I need to start cleaning up the floral fabrics on my table in the basement.  One (or two) other quilts need to be cut so I started with the 6.5" squares.  There are duplicates of some of these so there are 42 squares cut so far.




I also got the fabrics I showed yesterday cut into quarter square triangles.  I have to move all of the triangles off my sewing cabinet so I can sew again.




Another daylight photo in the morning in my living room, so you can see it was even more overcast yesterday.  I found another ...

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November 14, 2024
Not much progress.................... from Exuberant Color


I got a few strips cut for quarter square triangles while I did a load of laundry.  I didn't get any farther, too much else needed to be taken care of.  Thanks to everyone who weighed in on my dotted fabric question yesterday.



It was a cloudy day yesterday with rain late in the day.  I took this photo with just the daylight coming in the east picture window.  The medium rose plant has some blooms and the champagne color in the striped pot should be blooming today.

84 years, didn't that used to sound old?  Like ancient ...

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