I’m itching to get moving on my next quilt. I almost felt panicked Friday when I thought I hadn’t decided what to make next.
I’ve been busy cutting 2.5 inch strips from all Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics. Here are 133 2.5 inch strips. 133 unique fabrics.
I’ve wanted to make a quilt with a bunch of different fabrics for awhile. I’m excited to see how this will turn out.
It took a long time to cut all these strips. And now I’m wishing I had cut multiple strips of each while I was at it. Oh well. Live and learn. Look at this huge pile of slivers that I cut to even up the edges before cutting my strips.
All of these 2.5 inch strips will be made into a scrappy trip around the world quilt following Bonnie Hunter’s tutorial. I can’t wait to see how this turns out. I’ll start sewing strip sets tomorrow night.
I decided that my scrappy batik 16-patch needed one more row. I like a throw quilt to be nice and generous in length… I don’t want to have to choose between having my shoulders OR my feet covered. I want enough quilt to cover them both. So I dug through my scraps again and made a few extra blocks for the additional row and moved some other blocks around a little.
I’m pretty happy with how this looks now, but will take a few days before I start sewing the rows together so I can tweak a little.
Here’s the black and white version.
I can see some things in this photo that are bothering me. But overall, I really like this quilt.
Rico had his sheep herding trial debut today up near Olympia, Washington. He was such a good boy. It was a great experience for the first time out. Here’s a video of one of his runs.
Sorry for all the yelling. It’s very exciting and stressful when you’re out there and are sheer dog and sheep flying all over the place!
Here we are waiting our turn. I feel like we look relaxed, but my heart was pounding out of my chest! I’m pretty sure I don’t deserve this dog.
agilejack 
Great job Rico! What a great dog!
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He is a great dog. So sweet and laid back, with plenty of get up and go! I just love him.
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The Kaffe strips are beautiful and will make an awesome scrappy trip around the world 🙂 I couldn’t get the video to play. I have had another big loss, my Dad has passed away from Covid and I just don’t feel like sewing or doing anything – it’s sad. I hate this damn Covid!
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Oh Pam…I’m so sorry to hear about your father. I can’t imagine how difficult this is on top of every other difficulty this year. I hope you’ll be able to get back to sewing soon… it might be really good for you to do something for yourself.
I fear that we will all be this personally touched by this terrible pandemic before it’s over.
Be careful and take care of yourself.
Anne
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Thank you Anne, your sweet comments help 🙂
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I’m SURE you deserve your beautiful dog! Just wanted to say hello (I just discovered your blog and LOVE how you write and your gorgeous quilts) and thank you for the huge amount of inspiration and general loveliness of your blog. How you manage to cut out and piece so many fabrics at once is beyond me. I’m just making two quilts atm, one for my first grandchild, Mari and one for my goddaughter’s 30th birthday and I completely wiped myself out this weekend just cutting some strips!
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thanks so much for your lovely comments! I’m glad you’re enjoying the things that I share. It’s always nice to hear that people find my quilts inspirational!
I actually really enjoy the process of cutting fabrics for a quilt. it’s the first time I get to see the smaller pieces all lined up next to each other and it all sort of starts coming together. I also love the precision of pressing and cutting fabrics. I find it sort of meditative.
I am wishing I had cut several strips of each of these fabrics while I was at it!!! I’m sure I would have used them up eventually.
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Anne
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I try to cut for more than one quilt at a time but that sometimes stops the impulse creativity that is important too. Those fabrics will make a great scrappy trip.
Some colors just don’t read well in black and white photos, like orange for instance. Trying for the perfect combination of colors and values is what keeps me making quilt after quilt. They may all be pretty but I am always seeking an eve better combination the next time.
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I’m a little angry with myself that I didn’t cut at least a couple strips from each piece of fabric while I was at it. I know I would use them eventually. Oh well… learning for next time.
About the colors not reading well in black and white… I feel like I can trade contrast for strong colors. So even though there’s not much contrast in black and white, the colors are vibrant or interesting enough to make it work. I feel a lot better about my batik 16-patch in the color photo. I will keep making a few changes but think it’s close. And I actually really like it. thanks for all your inspiration!
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I see some beautiful OOP prints in those strips! Rico is a great dog!
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there are a few older pieces in there. They are the hardest ones for me to cut because I know I’ll never see them again. But then I think it’s better to include them in something beautiful than to leave them sitting in a drawer!
Rico IS a great dog. He’s so sweet and sensitive. I just love him!
Anne
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I love all your work. Thanks for sharing your wonderful talent! I can’t understand how you find the time. Would you mind sharing how much time in a day you spend and making quilts. Just wondering because it seems I have a hard time getting to it.
Kathleen
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I actually don’t sew every day! I tend to go on jags where I get really focused and productive and get a lot done in a sprint. Then I may not sew for a day or two.
I work full time so don’t have a lot of time during the day to sew. All of my sewing is done on evenings and weekends. I might spend an hour or so sewing in an evening, and several hours over the weekend days. But there are some weekends where I don’t sew at all.
I try to be really productive and efficient. So I do a lot of chain piecing. For the batik 16-patch on my design wall I sat down in one setting and sewed all 36 strip sets together in one long string. Then I pressed them all, cut them in half and got them ready to sew the second seam. I like to chain piece when I can because it saves a huge amount of time.
I’ve always loved finding systems and approaches that make a process efficient and quick while maintaining quality. I like things that are nicely made.
I also try to make myself finish projects. The fun part of a quilt for me is the beginning when the fabrics and colors start coming together. It gets less interesting and inspiring as I make more blocks. Sometimes I have to force myself to finish sewing blocks together. Often times I’ll set a goal to finish one top before I start another.
that often doesn’t work. I almost always have at least two projects going at one time. I have three going right now… not including a couple of unfinished quilts that are in boxes.
Anne
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Thanks for your detailed reply. A lot of good tips there. I am still amazed!
Kathleen
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