Reading 1820 Blogs Daily!


July 25, 2025
It was binding day...................... from Exuberant Color


I had the binding sewn onto the flannel baby quilt before lunch time yesterday.  I need to take some blocks off the design wall before I can take its full portrait.





These are the blocks that need to be removed from the design wall.  I added the 4 new ones so I could take a photo of all 36 blocks (one of each combination of fabrics, two alike of each are sewn).  This wasn't necessarily the final layout but I have a photo of it now if I do want to start with this when I get the rest ...

read more
July 24, 2025
Another hot day.......... from Exuberant Color


Yesterday I found a flannel binding fabric that was lightweight and the right color for this little flannel baby quilt.  I hope I will get it sewn on today.

A friend came over and was designing a quilt on my design wall.  She brought Subway sandwiches, yum!


I had another dishcloth more than half knitted so I finished it late yesterday afternoon.









That gave me permission to start another one (or two).




I cut the black and white squares for another idea I have.

The overnight temperatures are staying up in the mid to high 70s, some close to 80 ...

read more
July 23, 2025
Quilting a small one.......... from Exuberant Color


This flannel quilt has been ready for quilting for a couple weeks so I finally quilted it yesterday.  It will get trimmed today or tomorrow and then I'll look for binding.








I pressed the stratas yesterday and sliced off the segments for 8 blocks, 2 of each combination.  They aren't pressed so they can't go up on the design wall yet.  I have 72 blocks made now.  That would give me an 8 x 9 layout but that is too close to square.  I would rather have 7 x 11 or 8 x 10.  I could still ...

read more
June 29, 2025
Finished a small one................ from Exuberant Color


I made the top for this quilt in February, using the 6" Bow Tie dies so the blocks are 3" finished.  All of the fabrics in the blocks are Kaffe Fassett collective prints, a large variety in the larger piece and in the triangles.  I think I would call this exuberant pastel because of the large scale prints which appear darker.  It is 34.5" x 45".




The cute print on the back is flannel that I found on sale.  The binding is a gray print I found in my stack of grays.

I used Hobbs 80/20 batting in ...

read more
May 1, 2025
Last day of April sewing............. from Exuberant Color


This isn't the prettiest table topper I have ever made but it will serve a good purpose anyway.  The top was made to demonstrate how to make the block for a class over 10 years ago.  I just used strips that were already cut, not fabrics chosen specifically chosen for a project.  It is almost 21" square.


The back is a pretty fabric so that side might be used more than the pieced side.  I hand stitched the binding last night while watching TV.









I also added a border to a small flannel quilt top so it is an ...

read more
March 31, 2025
Flannel quilt for beginners from Pieced Brain

Flannel quilt for beginners

Here’s a quick flannel quilt for beginners, perfect as a graduation gift or home decor. You can make it in one day!

Suede Satchel

My middle son turns 25 today! I had been collecting flannels for a few years to make the Suede Satchel quilt for him, and, while on a retreat at Lake Okoboji earlier this month, I finally put it together! It is smaller than my original pattern – it measures 48″ x 64″ with blocks that finish at 8″ – and I hope he will enjoy it as a throw as he hangs out with his cat, Junior ...

read more
February 15, 2025
It's finished! from Exuberant Color


I found a nice stripe in the mid-tone of the quilt for the binding and got it sewn on.  This quilt is 39" square.








The backing is a grayed purple even though it seems to be brown in some lights.  The quilt is much softer looking in person, not such high contrast.

I used Hobbs 80/20 in this quilt.





The close up shots show some of the colors in the quilt, like this green print.






There are browns, rust, blue and gold tones.








Burgundy check and a burnt orange are in this shot.







Up in the top left is ...

read more
February 14, 2025
A little fabric therapy................ from Exuberant Color


I made my first fabric purchase this year.  Yes, it's Tilda again and yes, it was pricey because it is a new line, but I needed a perk.  











I bought the smallest pack available, fat 8ths plus 1/2 yard of my favorite fabric.





I finished quilting the baby quilt last night but haven't trimmed it yet.  That will happen today and I'll find a binding fabric and hopefully get it finished.





I was just about out of the cookies in my freezer so it was time to bake something else.  I love this cherry topped cake ...

read more
February 13, 2025
Hanging sleeve #2 from Exuberant Color


I had been dreading sewing the hanging sleeve on the second quilt for my grandson and his wife.  Lots of black to deal with.  I finally decided how to stitch from the front to catch the top edge and used charcoal gray thread so I could see where I had stitched.  This side is going against a wall so it won't matter that it wasn't black thread.


I continued working on it and got all of the hand stitching done.  Now I have to get the 2 quilts in a box and mail them to the east coast ...

read more
February 1, 2025
January 2025 monthly recap................ from Exuberant Color


I'm happy to have one finish for January 2025 and I ditch quilted it on my Pfaff sewing machine.  I like designing with the little rectangles in my colorwash wall hangings.  I don't always work yellow into them but I got a good variety of it in this one.  It is 31.25" x 50.25".









I also finished 3 table runners.  I'm hoping to get a lot of little projects finished this year.  I have plenty of large quilts right now but I still need to make more baby quilts.  

Making baby quilts gives me a ...

read more
January 19, 2025
A quilt top!............... from Exuberant Color


The flannel quilt top is finished!  It has been hard to get a good photo of this quilt.  It is a little more rust toned than it looks here.  The contrast between the light and dark is also softer.  If you go back to this post you can see the original quilt I planned this layout for.




I took some close up shots to better show the colors and patterns in the fabrics.









The colors in this photo are truer than the photo of the whole quilt top.









This photo is also truer color but the contrast if off.  The ...

read more
January 18, 2025
Now this is better......... from Exuberant Color


I cut several flannel fabrics into 4.5" x 8.5" rectangles and some into 2.5" x 8.5" rectangles.  I left a few of the darker pieces in it and added more medium value rectangles.  It flows much better now.  I sewed a lot of the triangles into squares last night and made more blocks.  I have to make two more blocks with 3 vertical strips of triangles to finish the layout.  This will be 40" x 40" when sewn together, a nice baby quilt size. 

I have one more baby quilt size top that I sewed last ...

read more
January 17, 2025
Cut, sew, cut............. from Exuberant Color


I needed to get the Plaid-ish pieces off the design wall so I sewed 3 of the 4 blocks, then sewed 3 more dark blocks.  After that I cut more pieces so I can  make more medium color blocks.  I only had about a third of the medium color pieces cut after an hour.




Last night I pressed all of the sewn blocks for the flannel quilt and did a trial layout.  I can see that about half of the rectangles that are already cut are too dark for this quilt so I'll cut some more light and medium ...

read more
January 16, 2025
Taking count.......... from Exuberant Color

 It was an errand day yesterday, in addition to baking a batch of cookies.  I didn't get much sewing done so I did counting instead.

Single columns of flannel triangles.  The original quilt I designed (shown on Monday's post) has 7 of these.



9 Double columns - most would be like this because I have 8 in most of the sets of triangle squares.  In my original quilt I have only 4 of these so I can add one more strip to 5 of them to make triple columns.






I only have 4 of the triple column blocks sewn ...

read more
January 14, 2025
Several things......... from Exuberant Color


First in the morning yesterday I made a couple new labels for boxes of pieces and parts. These are all strips, triangles and scraps.  They are on the highest shelves because I will be looking in them the least.  This is the top 3 shelves of a 7 shelf bookcase.


I put the pieces for one of the 20 dark blocks in Plaid-ish up on the design wall.  I have more than half of the pieces cut for those 20 blocks.







Last night's full moon is called the Wolf Moon.  I took this photo before dark, not knowing if ...

read more
January 12, 2025
Past quilt from parts department............ from Exuberant Color


To expand on my "parts department" post yesterday, this is a quilt I made in 2016.  I had a lot of batik 2" finished triangles that I had previously cut from scraps.  I made the star blocks as my mindless evening sewing for a few months.  Then the blocks got placed on a shelf.  One day I came across them and on the next shelf were leftover red 16 patch blocks from another quilt.  As I moved them and placed one pile on top of the other, I saw that the both sets of blocks were the same size and ...

read more
January 10, 2025
Another day of triangles......... from Exuberant Color


Yesterday morning I paired lights with dark for more flannel triangle squares.







I got 51 of them sewn last night.  Now my totals are 54 + 58 + 51.  I still have a bunch to sew from the morning pairing.





This is the assortment cut so far of dark squares for the Plaid-ish quilt.  I have 60 of 80 cut, 20 to go.  I'Il probably overcut since I'm not sure the ones with red in them will work because all of the mediums are red/pink/orange.  I also have most of one of the other shapes cut.



This is ...

read more
January 8, 2025
Triangle sewing........ from Exuberant Color


Last year when I was finishing my flannel quilt production I cut a lot of 2" finished triangles.  Most were dark so yesterday I looked for some light scraps to cut more triangles.  I got 54 sewn while watching TV last night.



There are lots more dark triangles waiting for their partner.  I'll look for some more light fabrics today.






I had also cut a lot of floral triangles from waste areas when cutting for my quarter square triangle last year.  I needed to cut light ones, so while I had the triangle die out, I looked for light ...

read more
March 24, 2024
Progress on 2 plus something new............. from Exuberant Color


The last flannel16 patch blocks that I made yesterday are now added to the previous ones for a total of 38.  I haven't come up with a final plan for them.





I sewed the blocks from the Friday strip sets and sewed 3 more new strip sets for the batik 9 patch project.






I added 5 new blocks to the design wall and rearranged a bit.  I made it one block wider and need to have 12 rows top to bottom.  This first quilt will have all different blocks, one of each of the 4 alike of each combination ...

read more
March 23, 2024
A better day.............. from Exuberant Color


I did more organizing with the flannel fabrics but am not done yet.  I found a light fabric to match with 3 strips that were cut for 16 patches.  I'll have to count how many 16 patches I have now.  These need to be pressed before I go any farther with them.  I have a huge box of flannel scraps.  The last time I sorted them was early 2017 and I cut lots of tumbler shapes and tossed all of the small pieces.


I selected 11 more pairs for 9 patches last night and sewed 3 of them.





This ...

read more