Month: April 2023

I have put it off long enough. I absolutely had to get my tax materials together and off to my accountant tonight. He always saves a slot for me among his late actors. I’m grateful for this.

So after getting them all collected, photo copied, bundled up and sent off at the post office, I had a little bit of time to spend in my sewing room.

Since I sewed all the Wensleydale block kits that I had put together last week, it was time to cut a bunch of blue batiks so I can build more kits. I selected nine fabrics from my stash of blue batiks — three dark, three medium, and three light.

I’m excited to see these little pops of color in amongst all these blocks!

One of the things I love about cutting fabrics is just looking at the fabrics. This one from this set is a standout. Makes me remember why I love batiks the way I do!

The photo does’t do the colors justice. it’s pretty spectacular.

When I got down to the last four fabrics I finally realized that I could cut multiple fabrics at one time. Why didn’t I think of this before?

Sure saved a LOT of time! I’ll remember that for the next set I cut. I’m all about efficiency!

I cut enough fabric to make 18 blocks. that will bring me up to a total of 39 blocks.

Actually, I found one kit on my sewing table tonight that I didn’t sew up. So that will make 40 total blocks. Only eight more to cut later. UNLESS… I decide to make this quilt a little bigger… which is entirely possible.

I will have to cut more KFC scraps to complete the kits.

I’m having so much fun making these Wensleydale blocks I decided to order another set of the papers… 60 more sheets! I am really wanting to make another one… not sure what I’m going to do but I’m thinking Australian Aboriginal fabrics. I have several ideas and want to make sure I have the papers in hand while they’re still available.

I needed to get this quilt top off my design wall to accommodate the Wensleydale blocks so I tossed it on my bed to see how it looks. I love it. It’s definitely bright! I hope my brother and his wife aren’t horrified by how bright it is.

Well… if they don’t like it I’ll have another quilt for MY bed!!!

It was a beautiful day here in Portland today. Regardless of what the weather forecast says, I know spring is here when we’re finishing up our walk at 8 pm in the last remnants of the evening light.

Hello spring!

I had such a good sleep in this morning. I think my body really needed it. I slept more than ten hours and probably could have slept more.

Once I get up I didn’t expect I’d have a terribly productive day. I stayed around home all day. I did manage to wash and replace the bedding in my room and in my guest room. I also managed to take the. dogs for a walk late this afternoon.

I also managed to make nine of my Wensleydale quilt blocks.

I just love how each block is completely different. My favorite kind of quilt!

Before I started sewing these blocks I had to kit them all up using the fabrics I cut a few days ago.

Then I stacked up the paper plates and started sewing. I made these nine blocks in several different stints in my sewing room… interrupted by walks, meals, and breaks to sit on my butt!

I’m getting faster at making these blocks. I’ve built the habit of checking my coverage of the paper piecing template at specific places in the process by holding my block up to the light.

On one block I made today this step revealed that one area didn’t have full coverage of the seam allowance. So rather than junking the entire block, I sewed an extra piece of the fabric on.

You can see that little wedge sewn into the blue, right above that orange triangle. It’s a pretty good solution and will never be noticed when the quilt is done.

Here’s the 21 blocks that are done.

I’m really liking this more as I add more blocks.

I’m going to have to cut more fabrics before I sew any more blocks. Here’s what I’ve decided are in the “yes” pile.

that’s more fabric than I’ll need. I will need to decide how much variety I’m going to go for. I’ll probably start with two darks, two mediums, and two lights. Then I’ll cut more if that doesn’t make the remaining blocks. It likely won’t be the last group of fabrics I have to cut.

I have 12 blocks that still have the paper on the back. I was going to bring them with me into the living room tonight and pull the paper out as I watched TV, but I decided that I was too tired. So that will have to come later.

It looks like spring is definitely here. My daffodils are finally opening! it’s about time.

I saw a lot of other pretty blooming things around the neighborhood during our walk today.

While I was sewing today a little thunderstorm came through. We don’t get a lot of thunder here. But when we do, Rico is very unhappy. I had his head in my lap as I sewed for a few minutes because he needed some reassurance that everything was ok.

oor kid. Look how scared he looks.

Once he relaxed a little, he retreated under my sewing table and stayed there for at least an hour.

Bender is not bothered by lightning. But he does like to be comfortable!

Not much planned for tomorrow. I’m playing pickleball in the afternoon. I would like to get the remaining borders on my quarter log cabin quilt to check off that box. Let’s see if it happens.