strip piecing

Snow is the big news.......... from Exuberant Color

Yesterday there was a little snow on the ground when I got up and it was light snow in the beginning. This photo is from 10 yesterday morning. By noon there was heavier snow. By afternoon, there was a break in the storm and we were under that area.

This photo was at 6:30 last night when we had around 6" of snow. On Chicago news they said my town had 7.2". The snow total for a day in November may be broken in Chicago's records.

I spent the day sewing the columns and then sewing them ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 4 days, 14 hours ago. under kaffe fabric , nature , strip piecing

A few changes................ from Exuberant Color

Still playing with this one......

I moved the 2 tone green strip one column to the right, oh, and I cut it into 1.5" segments. I'm not sure that dark strip will stay in there. After an hour or so I left this project and checked back at it a couple times during the day.

There wasn't room on the design wall for the flannel blocks so I laid them on the floor to see how they look together. This probably isn't the final layout.

I needed to do a load of laundry, so while it ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 5 days, 14 hours ago. under batik , kaffe fabric , strip piecing

All blocks.................... from Exuberant Color

Yesterday morning I got all of the strippy blocks up on the design wall. I think I might have moved 2 of the blocks after this photo was taken.

I decided to sew the columns I'm happy with so the three at the left are sewn, but not sewn to each other. I need to do more playing with the insertion strips. I don't like the grouping of the strippy block columns right now, 3, 2, 3, and 2. After I sew some columns I can move them around and also move the narrow strips to new locations ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 6 days, 14 hours ago. under flannel quilts , kaffe fabric , strip piecing

Auditioning ideas........................ from Exuberant Color

The morning yesterday was spent making a backing for an older quilt top. I'm using a full width piece and a cut away from another back for it. Now I just need to cut batting.

I have a bunch of ideas on the design wall to audition what works and what doesn't in this strippy quilt.

This is my favorite new block. The stripe is Twigs by Martha Negley so now there are 2 Martha fabrics in this project.

In the middle of the afternoon I had a PT session for my weaker leg.

I bought the Kaffe ...

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

One more audition.............. from Exuberant Color

More fabrics were auditioned yesterday for the coping strips and this is the only one I'm considering.

I cut some more strips for my other project and sewed them last night. I pressed the first batch made previously while I was in the basement doing laundry.

We've had some gray days and today they say we will have sunshine and 50 degrees.

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 week, 6 days ago. under 9 patch , kaffe fabric , one color quilt , strip piecing

Auditioning corners.................. from Exuberant Color

The center of the quilt is still folded up and pinned on the design wall and I tried 3 fabrics as coping strips to use with some of the leftover 9 patch blocks for the corners.

I don't want the corners to be what catches attention first. Still no decision made.

I pulled out some strips for some mindless sewing while I glance up at the design wall.

I will eventually figure out how to finish the purple Rosy.

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 weeks ago. under kaffe fabric , one color quilt , strip piecing

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

The 16 patch made with Nancy Crow fabrics is finished. This looks like a perfect fall and winter quilt to me. It is 62" x 78.5".

The backing is also a Nancy Crow fabric. This was my goal, to only use her fabrics for the whole quilt. I used Hobbs 80/20 batting and it was quilted by Robin Diaz.

I still have a considerable amount of Nancy's fabric but I have been mixing some of it into my color stacks. I have a pile of quarter yards I cut while I was cutting for this quilt so ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 4 weeks ago. under 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 1 month, 2 weeks 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 1 month, 2 weeks 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 1 month, 2 weeks 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 1 month, 2 weeks 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 1 month, 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 1 month, 3 weeks 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 1 month, 3 weeks 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 1 month, 3 weeks 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 1 month, 3 weeks 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 1 month, 3 weeks 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 1 month, 3 weeks 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 1 month, 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 1 month, 4 weeks ago. under batiks , quilts made with triangles , strip piecing

What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?