colorwash

December 2023 monthly recap................ from Exuberant Color

December was my best month for finishes. Three were just waiting for binding so that was pretty fast. Four of them were gifts that needed to be finished. On the left are the two I Spy quilts for my two families of great-grandchildren. (64" x 80.5" and 67.5" x 79"). Next to them are Soft Colorwash and Small Colorwash (20" x 33 and 18" square). Next is layered churn dash, 77" x 101" and below it flannel baby quilts, 38" square and 39.5" square. At the right is Batik Stars, 73" x 99".

Only one quilt top ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 10 months, 1 week ago. under colorwash , monthly recap , nature

First and only quilt top for December 2023 from Exuberant Color

This month is quite a contrast with most months with only one top and many finishes. Usually it is fewer finishes and as many as 5 tops made in a month (Jan and Apr this year).

This top is called Rosy in the Kaffe Fassett books, first shown in 1997 and made with other commercial prints because he had only designed the yarn dyed woven stripe fabrics at the time they were writing the book.

In the book the blocks are 9". Mine are 6". This top is about 52" x 70".

I thought about taking this block out but ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 10 months, 1 week ago. under 9 patch , colorwash , kaffe fabric , nature

Finish # 7 for December 2023................. from Exuberant Color

I finished the binding on the Soft Colorwash early in the day yesterday. It is made of all batik fabrics and it measures about 20" x 33".

It is ditch quilted in the vertical seams with Invisifil thread.

I mentioned yesterday that I put squares folded diagonally on all 4 corners so a hanging rod/dowel can be slipped into any 2 on a side to display it in the orientation that is desired.

The next in line project was pressing all of the edge blocks for the Rosy quilt.

Then I started sewing this top together. By 7 p ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 10 months, 1 week ago. under 9 patch , batiks , colorwash , kaffe fabric

Racing to the end with 2............ from Exuberant Color

I started working early yesterday and got all of the top row blocks sewn. I also have all of the 3.5" squares chosen for the bottom row. I think I'm going to go ahead and sew this now and I'll add the bottom row to it when I get it finished.

I sewed the binding onto this small soft colorwash last night (only a portion of it is shown here). I have had the quilting done for several weeks but couldn't decide which edge was the top and couldn't decide between a facing and a ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 10 months, 2 weeks ago. under 9 patch , binding , colorwash , kaffe fabric , one color quilt

First finish of October 2023............ from Exuberant Color

I feel like I'm finally making some progress this month. I had so many side projects to take care of this month that I really haven't gotten much stitching time. This colorwash is all batiks, no fabric repeated, and the squares finish at 2". It is 31.5" square.

It got up to 77 degrees yesterday and our normal high is about 60 degrees right now. We may hit 70 a few more times this week and then 40 next week. While it was nice and warm I took my shovel out to the back garden and started ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year ago. under colorwash

Binding............. from Exuberant Color

I didn't look any farther; I liked one of the binding choices in the first round. I got it sewn on and have started the hand stitching. The hanging sleeve is sewn on too.

This is the orientation of the other colorwash as I designed it.

When my daughter was here we tried it horizontally and thought maybe that was a better choice for art over a piece of furniture.

I put the leftover piece of backing fabric there to analyze whether it might be a good binding choice.

I flipped it 180 degrees to see if I like ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year ago. under binding , colorwash , nature

Quilting on two............ from Exuberant Color

The top of my sewing cabinet was finally cleaned off and I quilted both of these colorwash quilts yesterday. Today I will choose bindings and prepare hanging sleeves.

While I was sitting at my computer a little after 5 p.m. I noticed the tree a little farther north of me glowing in the sunlight. When I saw the color of the partially dead tree next to it I figured it is the golden hour.

Here is another view while the sun was hitting it and just a short time later after the sun had gone down behind the houses ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year ago. under colorwash , machine quilting , nature

Cross seams sewn........... from Exuberant Color

All of the seams are sewn and this colorwash has been pressed. It will be the next to hand baste and should only take about a half hour. It is 18.5" square. The majority of prints are Kaffe Fassett collective and other fabrics added in as needed. This one is not as smooth but has a lot of interest in the fabrics. I sometimes describe this type of prints as chunky/bumpy. It was fun to make and just what I needed as I contemplate the next to be added to the African elephant quilt top.

I brought the ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year ago. under colorwash , kaffe fabric

Progress.......... from Exuberant Color

My layout got more crooked the farther down I got on the small portable design wall. I did come to a final decision though and it was ready to sew.

Last night I started the webbing process of sewing it together.

That was finished about 11 p.m. Ready for pressing now so I can sew the seams in the other direction.

I printed labels for 3 boxes and 2 clear plastic drawers and got them cut down to size for their containers. These are ready to go up on a shelf now.

We got 2.85" of rain in ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year ago. under colorwash , organization

Geese are done............ from Exuberant Color

I finished sewing the Flying Geese blocks yesterday afternoon. I decided to try 3 mock ups for possible use for them so I can refer back when I'm ready.

This Dutchman's Puzzle block would be 12" finished. I think I have 120 Flying Geese blocks so I could make 15 blocks.

This is the layout that was on the little scrap of paper on the tray holding the triangles.

I was surprised when this one happened when alternating rows of dark geese and light geese.

For now the blocks will go into a labeled box for later consideration ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year ago. under colorwash , stash , triangles

More little things........... from Exuberant Color

I have made so many larger projects earlier this year that I'm enjoying just working on small things right now. I sewed more flying geese with Australian fabrics in an effort to get my sewing machine cabinet cleaned off. I need to quilt a small colorwash that is already basted and the table top has been a mass of clutter for awhile. I have 110 sewn now and then I found another group of half square triangles that had fallen off the tray. That means I need to cut some more quarter square triangles for geese. I hope to ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year ago. under australian fabrics , colorwash

No decisions, just play.......... from Exuberant Color

I had a lazy day yesterday. The only sewing I did was the staystitching around the African/batik 16 patch quilt top.

In the last 3 weeks I have been cutting 2" squares of Kaffe fabrics plus a few others from scraps. I cut a few more squares yesterday and then decided to put the pieces up on a small design wall to see what is missing to make a colorwash. I will probably add non-Kaffe fabrics and make this larger.

It was a partially sunny day yesterday with periods of clouds and rain and high 40s and low 50s ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 1 month ago. under colorwash

So much prep work and no sewing............... from Exuberant Color

This colorwash is finally ready to baste. I'll do a few lines of basting each time I am in the basement.

This quilt is next in line to finish. I need to replace the needle so that is my hang up on this one. As I have mentioned before the tops of the needles don't have a flat side so it takes some fiddling to make the machine happy.

I have some fabrics with African motifs but they are printed by our regular manufacturers so they aren't officially African fabrics. Some of these are Matters of the ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 2 months ago. under batiks , colorwash , machine quilting , stash

Hand stitching done................... from Exuberant Color

As usual, the last hand stitch went in at 10:30 p.m. so no full photo to be taken until today. I knew I had to clean off the threads from the last quilt top on the design walls before I put up a finished quilt so it was too late to start that last night.

Today I have to cut the border for the I spy quilt and sew it on. What would I rather be doing?

I would rather be designing a colorwash, also called watercolor by many people. This photo shows all of the different kinds ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 2 months ago. under binding , colorwash

More prep work........... from Exuberant Color

The first project of the day was to find a backing fabric for a colorwash wallhanging. i looked through 2 stacks of multicolor batiks and decided on this one.

Next I cut 2 more batting pieces for quilts that are next in line.

From my kitchen window I could see some orange flowers that were taller than the Brown Eyed Susans and had to go out and investigate. There are 3 Cosmos that came up from seed. This is the same location where the Four o'clocks were but I don't see any of them this year.

I think ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 2 months ago. under batik , colorwash , nature

One top finished, another started.............. from Exuberant Color

The last 2 seams were sewn on this colorwash, the iron turned on for a final press and staystitching done around the perimeter. It is 32" x 51".

I finished sewing all of the Australian fabric triangles into squares and during TV time I did this layout. This one is going to be small. When sewn together this will be about 36" x 45". I have the leftover long strips left from the border fabric on the 16 patch quilt so I'll audition it and see if I want to add borders or just keep it small.

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 7 months ago. under australian fabrics , batiks , colorwash , quilts made with triangles , triangles , zig zag

Almost done................... from Exuberant Color

Just two more seams and a good press are my first project today. Then I'll do the staystitching around the edge so the many seam ends can't pop open. It is 51" tall. Width will be measured soon. It will just need one width of fabric for the back.

Some quilts left my house this week. My granddaughter's friend had a new baby girl and she already had a little boy so these 2 went to baby and big brother.

Another of her friends had a baby boy and the parents like yellow so the one on ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 7 months ago. under batiks , colorwash , family

A long day............. from Exuberant Color

I'm not an early riser so yesterday's cellphone weather alert of a tornado warning had me up at 6:15 and in the basement for 30 minutes until the storm weakened and the warning was dropped. This was the same storm front with tornados that went through Missouri while people were sleeping.

With the extra hours added to my day I did a load of laundry, went grocery shopping and sewed 4 more columns and added the three sections together on the colorwash. There are 9 more columns left to sew.

Yesterday afternoon I cut some more triangles ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 7 months ago. under australian fabrics , batiks , colorwash

An unsettling day.............. from Exuberant Color

The first storm came through before noon with a little hail. The largest ones at my house were about ping pong ball size and smaller. Other people in my area had some golf ball size but it only lasted a few minutes.

Later in the afternoon I cut the squares to fill in the top and bottom at the ends of the columns of rectangles in this colorwash. Last night I started sewing columns together and there are 2 sections of 4 columns each at the left. The seams will take up 8" in height and 10" in width.

The ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 7 months ago. under batiks , colorwash , nature

347 pieces on the design wall....... from Exuberant Color

I have been playing with color again. The yellows aren't as bold as they look in this photo. There are 347 rectangles on the design wall and no pins....don't sneeze! Luckily I don't have forced air heat so there is no breeze coming by. I have a little more tweaking to do and then add all of the squares to fill in the top and bottom edges. The dark prints have a lot more personality than they show in a photo too.

This is probably the last orange cactus bloom of the season. I have 2 ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 year, 7 months ago. under batiks , colorwash , nature

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