Strata cut and sewn................

I sliced the strata that was sewn into a tube and unpicked a seam in a different place on each of the 20 slices.  This is the layout on the design wall before I started sewing them together.

I decided I will make 2 table runners and have sewn one together.  It lost 4.5" in width with the seams sewn (compared to the layout).

Many of my cactus plants have buds and I saw the first blooms yesterday.  This is a piece I saved off a dying white cactus 2 years ago.

I decided to move the other two that are closest to blooming over to the coffee table to join the white one.  One of them is a champagne color and the other a deep rose.  After I took this photo I moved a pale pink one over there too.

#2 finish for November 2024

"Memories - 1956" is finished, just a couple months after I made the quilt top.  The gray dotted fabric is a Kaffe Fassett fabric, "Spot", the pinks are Kaffe's and Tula Pink's fabrics.  It is 64.5" x 76.5".

The backing fabric is by Kaffe Fassett also.  The batting is Hobbs 80/20 and it was quilted by my longarm friend, Robin.

I think the stripe with flowers worked really well for binding.  It is also a Kaffe fabric.  I just realized I didn't rotate this photo.

I hadn't checked the tomato plants for a few days and was surprised how many tomatoes were ripening.  Most of these will need a few days on the windowsill.

I picked 2 large green ones from the Big Beef plant by the driveway last week and they are both ripening nicely now too.  I didn't end up working outside much yesterday.  I did a load of laundry and then I had a friend coming over to choose 2 baby quilts.  Afterwards I went out to buy bird seed because it was on sale.  I filled the bird feeders which had been empty for 2 days....empty because of the squirrels.  They have to work a little harder to get the seed now so I'm only having to fill the feeders about twice a week.

2 goals..................

I had 2 goals yesterday: renew my driver's license and finish the binding on the pink/gray quilt.

First the driver's license;  Illinois is the only state in the country that requires adults over 75 to do a driving (road) test every time they renew their license.  I was 78 the first time I had to do the road test, 82 the second time and now I will be 84 in a week for the 3rd time.  So I got a 4 yr. license the first time, over 80 they only give a 2 year license and starting with 87 you have to do the road test every year.

Now on to the fun stuff.  I worked on hand stitching the binding in three sessions and only have 11" left to stitch.  I stopped at 10:45 p.m. and will resume today.

When I went out to get my mail, I noticed the Violas are still doing well.  They like cooler weather and got some nice rain early this week.  The chipmunk or squirrel that digs in the pot has so far stayed over on the other side where there is just dirt.

The close up shots changed the yellow part to orange so even though it isn't accurate in coloring it is still so pretty.

Above normal temperature is predicted for the next 10 days. 52 is the normal high for today and 56 is predicted.  With sunshine that should feel warm.  I need to start picking all of the tomatoes and finish ripening them inside.

 

Sunday Only finished........................

I named this quilt "Sunday Only" because it was a project in 2022 that I worked on just on Sunday evenings.  I did do cutting of triangles on other days but all of the sewing was on Sundays.  If you check back to this post and scroll down you can see the antique quilt that was my inspiration.  I was about a third of the way into the quilt when I realized that all of the triangles in the antique one were marching right and I had been making them marching both left and right.  At that point I knew mine wouldn't look like the original quilt so I just did my own thing for the overall design.

The backing is one of my least favorite Kaffe prints but it was perfect for this quilt.  The binding is assorted lengths of many different Kaffe fabrics.  The quilt is 62" x 74".  It has Hobbs 80/20 batting and was quilted by my longarm friend Robin.

Last night I started the binding on "1956" and shown here are 3 different cuts of the fabric and how they look with no flowers, lots of flowers, and just the edge of the flowers.

 

Binding done, next in line.....................

The binding was finished a little before 10 last night.  I'm looking forward to seeing it open and checking out the scrappy binding.  Photo shoot today.

Earlier in the day yesterday I trimmed the pink/gray zig zag quilt and cut the binding.  I'll start prepping this one today for the hand finishing of the binding.

There was almost 2" of rain in my gauge from 3 days of storms.  I'll check it one more time this morning.  We really needed the rain and I'm thankful we got that much.

Many different fabrics in binding.............

I have about 60" left to hand stitch on this binding.  Six of the different fabrics in the binding are shown here.  There are 3 more fabrics in the last 60".  I hope I can finish this one today and then start on the binding on the pink/gray quilt.

I decided to open up the panel that came with the Charley Harper fat quarter selection I showed a few days ago.  It might end up as part of a backing for a quilt.  It is 36" x 45".

 

Backing, binding...................

I was happy to find I had enough of this print for the back of the butterfly quilt.  It is used as the large wings on 2 of the butterflies.

I trimmed the 'Sunday Only' quilt and found the group of partial width Kaffe strips.  Some are over 30", others as short as 10".

After sorting through them, this the batch I decided to use.  I pieced one long strip and when I sewed the binding onto the quilt, I didn't need the last 3.

I originally planned to sew the binding on this quilt all by machine, but when I decided to use a scrappy binding, I think hand stitching is the better choice.  I got one short side and part of one long side hand stitched last night.