batiks

Staystitching the quilt top edges............... from Exuberant Color

Someone asked a while ago how I do the stay-stitching around my quilt tops. At the time I didn't have one to demonstrate on. What I do is put on the zigzag foot and move the needle to the right. I have 9 needle positions from center to right on my 22 year old Pfaff and I set it at 7 to the right. This allows the whole foot to be on top of the edge of the quilt top and still stitch less than 1/4" from the edge.

This shows that the stitching is approximately 3/16 ...

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

Looks better sewn together...................... from Exuberant Color

A quilt top always looks so much better than just blocks on the design wall. I love the rich colors in this one. I think it would look great thrown over a leather chair in a wood paneled library.

It would have looked a little better with one more row in length for a better rectangular shape, but I was done working on it. It is 64" x 72", a nice throw quilt size.

How did I choose the fabrics for this quilt? I was looking for some no-brainer sewing so I opened 2 boxes full of 2.5" strips ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 weeks, 3 days ago. under batiks , strip piecing

First layout................ from Exuberant Color

All 32 blocks are sewn and pressed now. This last group of 4 will add more color to the group.

Last night's layout. There is one block I want to exchange with another but I haven't made the decision which one yet. I thought I would wait until this morning to look at it again.

These are definitely the colors of the outside in my town. Still lots of green but more colorful trees every day.

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 weeks, 5 days ago. under batiks , strip piecing

Prepping time...................... from Exuberant Color

I continued cutting batting and backing for quilts that I will do the quilting on. I think this might be the first time I have used a non-Kaffe fabric as backing on a Kaffe quilt. The top is 48" wide which would have meant piecing a back. I had this 58" wide fabric that looks great with it so no piecing required.

I was able to get both battings from one width of batting off the roll. I decided on a large print floral for the back of this small quilt.

Next I searched through my batik stash for the ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 weeks, 6 days ago. under batiks , strip piecing

A little progress................ from Exuberant Color

Four more strip sets are ready to be pressed and then made into blocks. This is my favorite of the 4.

I added the other 4 blocks of the original 24 to the design wall. I need to take this to the basement for a larger design wall before I add any more blocks.

This one that might look like pink on your monitor is actually a coral color and goes well with the other orangey/rusty spots in other blocks.

I got one more batting cut and a backing pieced so my longarm quilter can pick up 2 to ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 3 weeks ago. under batiks , strip piecing , zig zag

Testing.................. from Exuberant Color

This is 18 of 24 blocks that are sewn so far. I just had to see them on the design wall and confirm that I want the blocks to run horizontal instead of vertical.

I have strips chosen for 4 more blocks. I need at least 32 blocks so I need to choose 4 more pairs.

I covered a few of my tomato plants last night, hoping they will make it through the freeze.

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 3 weeks, 1 day ago. under batiks , strip piecing

One more step................. from Exuberant Color

All 24 strip sets are at this stage now, ready to cut into 2 strips of rectangles. I need to find 16 more fabrics for 8 more pairs. I'm trying to decide whether to repeat some of the fabrics.

The new NCIS shows were on last night so I had 3 hours to sew.

One of my white cacti has 2 buds on it. This is the time of year that the first buds form. I need to get busy and repot a couple of them. This morning I have my wound check from pacemaker surgery and then I ...

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

More green strips.............. from Exuberant Color

I needed to take one final look at all 11 pairs of strips to see if I needed to change anything. Then I started sewing them while I watched the first 'Tracker' show of the fall season.

I sewed 10 out of the 11 pairs. I decided to look for 2 new fabrics to pair with the 2 strips in the 11th pair. I now have 24 sets sewn which will only make 48 blocks so there will be more fabrics chosen.

I finally remembered to take some photos of the fall color in my neighborhood. This tree is straight ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 3 weeks, 3 days ago. under batiks , nature , strip piecing

6 more batiks................ from Exuberant Color

I had many things to take care of yesterday so the only time in the studio was to find more green fabrics for the current strip piecing project. A lot of my batik stash is 1/2 yard or less so there is a large variety on every shelf. I only need a few more fabrics so I'll spread out everything I have so far and see what I need to add.

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 3 weeks, 5 days ago. under batiks

A change of plans............... from Exuberant Color

Yesterday I started the day by baking chocolate chip cookies. I was planning the next thing to bake when I got the news that one of the travelers wasn't feeling well so they aren't coming. (Poor photo, they look much better)

To free some space in my freezer for cookies, I baked half a package of cinnamon rolls. It was only 65 degrees inside because I haven't turned on the heat yet. We're supposed to get up to low 80s today and then only high 50s early next week. They are even talking a frost or ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 3 weeks, 6 days ago. under batiks , food

Miscellaneous.................. from Exuberant Color

I have 10 more strip sets up to this point as of last night.

This is my favorite set so far.

In addition to a 16 patch I could make any one of these 3 patterns with my strip sets.

I had a wonderful visit with my niece and her mom (my sister-in-law) yesterday afternoon. Last night I started baking because some family a state away is coming to the area for a party for the first birthday of my youngest great-grandchild.

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 4 weeks ago. under batiks , food , strip piecing

Garden clean up and no-brainer sewing........... from Exuberant Color

The weather was perfect yesterday for doing yardwork. I cut down many peonies and volunteer trees. I was so tired last night I needed some no-brainer sewing. I checked out the 2 boxes of 2.5" batik strips.

These 2 project boxes hold all that is left of the strips I started cutting about 15 or more years ago. I took them out of the plastic drawer units (5 drawers that used to be full and was now down to 3 drawers) and put them in these boxes so I could get rid of those 2 drawer units.

In the ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 4 weeks, 1 day ago. under batiks , strip piecing

A quilt top for August 2024............. from Exuberant Color

I have made 4 quilt tops with these neutral color 16 patch blocks. I sold the first two, the third one is a finished quilt now and I think this is the largest one. For some reason I don't have a photo of the first one I made and sold and I think it was larger than numbers 2 and 3.

This one is about 72" x 96". It is a good size for a twin size bed.

I trimmed the Fonthill quilt and cut the binding strips.

When I was going through my light batiks for my June ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months, 2 weeks ago. under batiks , binding

Four of eight long seams..................... from Exuberant Color

A lot was accomplished yesterday but only one photo. I sewed the long seams in 2 backings for quilts to send to my longarm friend Robin.

I got the last 2 columns sewn on the first direction on this 16 patch quilt and then turned the quilt and got 4 of the last 8 seams sewn. I'm hoping to get the last 4 seams sewn today and then do the staystitching around the edge.

I'm so happy to have the box of 174 neutral color 16 patches emptied out. I made one top with 63 blocks earlier this ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months, 2 weeks ago. under batiks

A quilt top in progress................. from Exuberant Color

I started early yesterday and had the layout finalized for the last neutral batik 16 patch quilt. I took down the columns and clipped them with numbers.

Next I cut a batting and backing for another quilt. Then it was time to start sewing this quilt. I have 9 of 12 columns webbed, 3 to go and then the cross seams.

Beautiful weather, cool with low humidity continues here. 90s return over the weekend though, at last 4 days of it.

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months, 2 weeks ago. under batiks

Binding and nature...................... from Exuberant Color

Yesterday I had the urge to clean/rearrange my pantry cabinet but I did get a few stitches in on the neutral quilt binding. I'm really happy with this stripe.

I'm so excited that this little yellow Coneflower has gotten as tall as it is this year. The past 2 years it was about 4-5" tall. Maybe I will see it get even taller next year.

This is the first year that I have had 3 big blooms too. When I transplanted it last year the root was so small on it that I wasn't sure if ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months, 3 weeks ago. under batiks , binding , nature

Small bits of time.............................. from Exuberant Color

I don't like days with an appointment in the middle, breaking up time to work on anything. In the morning before I had to leave I was looking through this bin of Cherrywood hand dyed fabric. It is all from broken up packages of gradations, usually 8 quarter yard pieces. I plan on grouping some of this for my destash next week. The back story of why I have so much of it: Dawn Hall, the inventor of the process of Cherrywood dyeing, was the niece of my friend who owned Quilting Books Unlimited. I went to Houston in ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 3 months, 2 weeks ago. under batiks , hand dyed fabric

Cleaning and organizing.............. from Exuberant Color

For the last few months I have spent the first week of each month doing clean up and organizing. This group of fabric has been laying in a pile in my studio for over a year. I had 2 leftover blocks from a quilt I made a few years ago and I really like the combination of gold, green and a little blue in them. I will likely put this pile and the 2 blocks in a project box now in case I get motivated to actually make a quilt from them. All fabrics are batiks.

I made a little ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 5 months ago. under batiks , star quilts

2 more seams to finish........................ from Exuberant Color

Two more seams and it will be sewn together. I was too tired to do any more last night. It was a day of errands, laundry, and a visit with my neighbor who I hope is moving in next week. She was planting tomatoes and peppers. She moved out while she had remodeling done and it is coming to a finish. I didn't get to the sewing machine until almost 9 p.m.

The sunshine was bright yesterday morning and my porch pots looked so pretty.

The pots on the steps are really filling in nicely. I'm glad ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 5 months, 1 week ago. under batiks , nature , strip piecing

Looking ahead................. from Exuberant Color

I need to use the double design wall in the basement for the pink/green layout but I also needed to be upstairs to watch the season finale of some TV shows. I decided to spend my time pulling the fabric for a couple new quilts. I have made this one before and really liked it. I decided to do one in mostly blue batiks.

This plastic drawer unit has 5 drawers and now all of the strips I have left fill just 3 of the drawers. I started cutting the 2.5" strips over 20 years ago and keep ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 5 months, 3 weeks ago. under batiks , kaffe fabric , stash

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