strip piecing

Playing at the design wall................... from Exuberant Color

I have a box full of 2" x 4" Flying Geese blocks made with Kaffe and Martha Negley fabrics. I tried a row flying all the same direction, and maybe because they are facing the opposite direction than the triangles in the center panel, I didn't like this.

I thought maybe going both directions might work. I still needed to try some more ideas.

Two geese joined into a diamond shape is an improvement. I wasn't sure how many I would need to go across the bottom. The strip on the right isn't sewn on yet.

Since ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 weeks, 1 day ago. under kaffe fabric , strip piecing

First finish for October 2025................. from Exuberant Color

I love this little quilt. I made blocks from my supply of cut Kaffe fabric strips and then hoped they would all work together at the design wall. It's pretty simple, 1.5" and 2.5" strips sewn together to make the blocks. Lots of the strips were cut 15-20 years ago so there are a lot of early Kaffe fabrics in this one.

The backing is a Brandon Mably fabric and the binding a Kaffe fabric. I used Hobbs 80/20 batting in it and it finished at 47" x 67".

It was quilted by Robin Diaz.

The ...

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

3 quilt tops................... from Exuberant Color

I finally turned on the iron and got all three quilt tops pressed and measured. Then I staystitched around the perimeter of this 16 patch made of Nancy Crow fabric. This photo was taken with my Canon camera and is the closest to the real color. My previous photos were too light. This one is 64" x 80".

I am so happy these simple borders worked so effectively to make this medallion into a rectangular shape. It is 61" x 81". It is now a shape to cover a body. No one will ever convince me that a 61" square ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 weeks, 3 days ago. under flannel quilts , kaffe fabric , strip piecing

Sewn, not pressed........................ from Exuberant Color

I finished the layout of the last 5 rows during the afternoon yesterday and sewed it all together last night while watching the new season of NCIS. I haven't pressed it yet so I'll give details on it later. It looks a little darker in real life. It was a stretch to get it up on the design wall.

I also finished the first of the latest 3 dishcloths that I had started. I'm going to try to use all of this yarn for Christmas gifts this year.

It got up to 72 yesterday so I had ...

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

Top half sewn....................... from Exuberant Color

I sewed the top half of the 16 patch top made with all Nancy Crow fabrics. I moved 2 blocks after I showed the layout yesterday.

I made 5 piles of duplicate blocks for the bottom half. Each stack has the identical blocks from each row above.

Then I took the blocks from row 1 above to make row 6, changing the positions of the blocks, then row 7 and 8. I have 2 more rows to lay out but I ran out of time yesterday. I may still move some blocks to new positions before I sew the second ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 3 weeks ago. under strip piecing

2 projects................. from Exuberant Color

Awhile back I showed the triangle panel and mentioned it was going to be the center of a medallion quilt, that I would be working on slowly. I found the 6" snowball blocks in the Kaffe orphan block box (left over from this quilt top from 10 years ago) and they were on my design wall for at least 10 days while I tried to decide if they would be a border. I said s.l.o.w.l.y, so I think I'm following my plan. I sewed them together yesterday and sewed the border on. Now I ...

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

The last 8 blocks...................... from Exuberant Color

This strata has the last two Nancy Crow fabrics that I chose for the 16 patch quilt. I had eliminated these in the beginning but I didn't have many choices left. There are 59 different fabrics in the pieced blocks.

There are 2 blocks of each of these combinations, the last 8 blocks. Now I need to spend some time at the design wall.

Here are the next three dishcloths that are all at the same spot, ready to do decreases.

I baked scones yesterday to warm up the kitchen, and also to give me some breakfast food. I ...

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

Getting closer....................... from Exuberant Color

I went back through the Nancy Crow fabrics to try to find some more fabrics for stratas for the 16 blocks. I still need to find one more pair of fabrics.

I was able to get 20 blocks out of the alternate fabric so I have 52 blocks sewn, 6 more ready to cut from stratas and sew and 20 alternate blocks for an 80 block quilt. Now I need to search for those last 2 fabrics for the last 2 blocks.

I repotted several of my Thanksgiving and/or Christmas cactus plants last week and there are some buds ...

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

Backing fabrics..................... from Exuberant Color

As I looked through batiks on the multicolor shelf, I was surprised that I had pulled 2 colorations of the same design. Because the color changes so often, they are harder to use in a project where a color needs to be consistent. This is 2 of the 3 new mug rug tops laying on them. I haven't made any decisions which ones will get which backing.

I also had some older little strip pieced pieces that are mug rug size. This is first 2 of 4 of them.

And here are the last 2. That gives me 7 ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 3 weeks, 4 days ago. under batik , strip piecing

2 projects........................... from Exuberant Color

It was time to trim the little strips that I sewed a few days ago. For some of them the 2.5" ruler and the rotating mat worked well. A few of them were too narrow so I had to move the ruler.

I got all three sewn together but haven't pressed them or squared them up. They will be 3 nice little mug rugs soon.

I got one of each of the last four sets of strips sewn into blocks.

Strips were cut for 3 more stratas and they got sewn last night. I need to press them ...

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

Sewing................. from Exuberant Color

Four more stratas were sewn with the Nancy Crow fabrics. Those 2 stripe fabrics are favorites and I have used them in other quilts in the past.

I pressed the stratas I had sewn previously and cut the segments to make 2 blocks of each combination. I decided to sew one of each and see how well they play together. Since a lot of the Nancy Crow fabrics are geometric, it looks like plaids in some of the blocks. There are several stripes too.

We got a half inch of rain before 8 a.m. yesterday, much needed since we ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 3 weeks, 6 days ago. under strip piecing

Appointment, errands, and a little sewing...................... from Exuberant Color

Only one photo today. It was a busy day yesterday. I had a dr. appt. in the morning, scheduled more PT for my left leg which was injured last year. Then errands until after lunch time. Late in the afternoon I cut down the rest of the peonies and some small volunteer trees. Finally last night, some sewing time. I made 10 more stratas for the Nancy Crow fabric 16 patch quilt. Also I got batting cut for another quilt. By 11 p.m. yesterday all of the predicted rain had split and went north and south of us. More ...

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

First quilt top for October 2025............... from Exuberant Color

It took less than a half hour to finish this little quilt top. It is 34" square. It will be put with next month's pieces to be quilted.

I had to clear off my table top so I sewed the last group of tiny pieces into 4 more strips. This set isn't as colorful as the first 2 sets shown yesterday

Yesterday morning I did some more cutting for the Nancy Crow fabric 16 patch and for the purple Rosy quilt. I started sewing the stratas for the NC 16 patch. This is all 1990s fabric. I have ...

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

Sidetracked, or is it derailed............................. from Exuberant Color

There is a table in my main floor studio that I have been slowly cleaning off (we're talking piles here) and when I say slowly, it is like 2 items a day. One of the items yesterday was a little 4" x 4" bag of small batik pieces.

The 7" ruler gives you an idea how small the pieces were. They were all end pieces when I was cutting some project a few years ago and I couldn't throw them in the trash.

I decided to piece them into strips, 4 of which would make a little mug ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 month ago. under batiks , black and white , strip piecing , triangles

MIndless sewing results.................. from Exuberant Color

After I cut 2 more 4.5" sections off the strata, I cut the remaining strata into 1.5" strips. Then adding 2 sections to the end of one of the table runner tops I had enough left to make a mug rug top about 7" x 8.5". I had originally intended to make the table runners like the mug rug, but I came to my senses, remembered this was mindless, soothing sewing, and cut larger sections. This table runner top is 12" x 30".

I had enough sections of strata to make 3 table runners the size I ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months, 2 weeks ago. under batik , mug rugs , strip piecing , tablerunner

More mindless sewing........... from Exuberant Color

My reaction to the hot weather? Do more mindless sewing. I am so tired of heat and humidity.

Last night I stacked the mindless sewing stratas, staggered every half inch so seams wouldn't be on top of other seams. This is what is left after cutting off 2 sets of 4.5".

I decided on table runners and this is the first one I sewed. It is 12" x 24". Since there is more to cut, I could make a longer table runner.

This is the second one I sewed. Same size as above with options to make it ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months, 2 weeks ago. under batik , strip piecing , tablerunner

Just a little mindless sewing............... from Exuberant Color

I did my tomato plant trimming yesterday morning before it got too hot. There should be better air circulation now through the plants.

After lunch I decided to use some 1.5" batik strips in a bag that were left from a previous project. Here is that project on this post in 2009. (I quilted the quilt in 2016.) There were 170 strips originally in the bag but over the years I have used some strips out of the bag for other projects. The strips are all half width (20" approx.) and I used 60 so far for this group ...

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

A quilt top.......................... from Exuberant Color

I got the 2 halves of this Marcia Derse fabric 16 patch quilt top pressed and sewed the final seam. After pressing that seam I struggled to get it up on the double design wall. I reached as high as I could but the last few inches still ended up on the floor. I had to hang it sideways and rotated the photo. The part on the floor is on the right edge. It is 80" x 96", large enough for an oversize twin quilt. With the deep mattresses on the new beds we need to make bed quilts larger ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months, 3 weeks ago. under kaffe fabric , marcia derse fabric , strip piecing , triangles

Second finish for August 2025............. from Exuberant Color

It's a little hard to see the border since it wants to blend into the white flannel on the design wall. This quilt has only 7 Martha Negley fabrics in the quilt top. It is 67" x 83.5". The binding is the same light fabric as the quarter square triangles in every block and the border. It has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it and was quilted by Robin Diaz.

The back is also a Martha Negley fabric, the same print in lavender as was in pink in the front of the quilt. I didn't have enough ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months, 3 weeks ago. under marcia derse fabric , strip piecing

A side project....................... from Exuberant Color

I decided to wash my bathroom curtains yesterday and when trying to slide them off the tension rod, they tore all the way down the side, sun rot. I checked back on my blog and those curtains were made 10 1/2 years ago. They were so faded they didn't look anything like when they were new.

Here is a close up of the new fabric. I bought it several years ago on sale. It is an Alex Anderson design for P&B fabrics. It is so much heavier weight than most new fabrics are. It only took about ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months, 4 weeks ago. under home repair , marcia derse fabric , strip piecing

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