strip piecing

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

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

Interweave top finished............... from Exuberant Color

It didn't take long to finish this top yesterday (Interweave - free pattern from Timeless Treasures). It is all batik fabric. I used 56 fabrics instead of the 42 called for. I also didn't use the side borders which allowed me to cut the strips for top and bottom longer and to have more squares in each column for the center of the quilt. It is 55" x 74" compared to the 48.5" x 56.5" quilt in the pattern.

In this collage you can see the difference between the measurements I used for cutting on the 2 ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 5 months, 1 week ago. under batik , kaffe fabric , strip piecing

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

12 more columns............... from Exuberant Color

Two hours of sewing created 12 more columns sewn together, 6 to go plus sewing the 3 sections together. There is one green strip and one lavender strip in this second section. I should be able to finish this top today.

Rain was predicted for yesterday afternoon and evening. I check the radar on my phone app and every storm either split and went north and south of us or dissipated before it got here. Same forecast for today........I wonder if we will get any rain.....

I spent the morning going through my blue and turquoise regular print fabrics ...

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

A finish for May 2024................. from Exuberant Color

I needed a break from my other project so I sewed the binding on this Shoo Fly quilt. (directions for the block on Lynn's blog, Solids on prints on her label list.)

I'm considering this a child's quilt because I used several novelty prints in the blocks.

It is 36.5" x 56" so it could be a big sister or brother quilt when gifting a baby quilt.

I used Hobbs 80/20 batting.

I have had the backing fabric for quite awhile and I'm sure it was on sale for a good price.

There are ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 5 months, 2 weeks ago. under batik , i spy , solid color fabric , strip piecing

Quilting............. from Exuberant Color

This quilt has been loaded on the longarm for over a week and is finally quilted.

I decided on loops on this one with a light color variegated thread.

I chose a multicolor stripe type fabric for the binding. I cut it but haven't sewn it yet.

I finished sewing all of the columns for the center of the Interweave quilt and I think this is the final layout. I sorted the strips that will be sewn to the top and bottom of each column to be in the same order as the center strips.

One batik was narrower ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 5 months, 2 weeks ago. under batik , binding , machine quilting , strip piecing

Second quilt top for May 2024............ from Exuberant Color

The last seams were sewn on the pink/blue quilt top in the middle of the afternoon yesterday. I got it pressed shortly after and took its portrait. It's a small top, just 48" x 60". I like to have small quilts available to gift to others.

Last night I started sewing the center columns for the blue batik interweave quilt. This is 15 of 27 that will be in the quilt This isn't necessarily the order of the strips. That will be decided when I get the next 12 sewn and added to the group. The strips ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 5 months, 2 weeks ago. under batik , kaffe fabric , quilts made with triangles , strip piecing

A quilt top for April................. from Exuberant Color

I really like this quilt top, but then I like all of the quilt tops I have made with these neutral color batiks.

This one is 55.5" x 72". The next one which will use the rest of the blocks will be larger.

Here are 3 of the others made with most of the same fabrics and a few different in each quilt. Unfortunately the lighting on the one on the right is bad and I sold it so I can't take another photo.

I mowed grass for a half hour and then went to the garden center ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 6 months, 2 weeks ago. under 9 patch , batik , strip piecing

63 blocks on the design wall.............. from Exuberant Color

I sorted the 174 blocks into matching blocks and couldn't find 63 different ones so there are a few duplicates in this layout. After I took this photo I sewed the top together but didn't finish until almost 11 p.m. last night so I'll get it pressed some time today and post it tomorrow.

We were in the freeze warning area last night so I'm hoping the Redbud blossoms can withstand the cold. It usually gets the coldest around 4 a.m.

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

Decision made................. from Exuberant Color

I made these neutral color 16 patch blocks in 2018 and there are 174 of them. I had been trying to decide if I should make one almost king size quilt or 2 smaller quilts. I did some figuring (for about an hour) last night and decided on one quilt 72" x 96" and another one 56" x 72". There will be 3 blocks left over. Now I can start playing with layouts. I think I'll start with the smaller one because it will fit on my design wall on the mail level.

This is a quilt top I ...

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

Layouts............... from Exuberant Color

There are more little 1.5" batik squares to make more 9 patches but I decided to play a little with layouts. Edge to edge isn't very spectacular. Since the blocks will finish at 3", this would only be 12" x 18", about the size of a placemat.

Spacing the blocks out with plain blocks between would stretch this to 18" x 24".

With the blocks on point they measure about 4.25" across so this would be about 21.5" square. After sewing 400 of the 4.5" 9 patches I'm not very anxious to sew a ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 6 months, 3 weeks ago. under 9 patch , batik , stash , strip piecing

Still organizing.....or was I playing with stash............... from Exuberant Color

I'm still moving things around in the basement and I came across a selection of darks and lights and decided to expand on it and add reds. I have used 20 of these fabrics in 2 other quilts and added 17 more for variety.

These are the 2 quilts with 20 of those fabrics plus more that are gone now. I gifted the quilt on the left but still have the one on the right so I could match up fabrics in my stash. I have an idea percolating for the next quilt.

Last night I sewed strip sets ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 7 months ago. under 9 patch , batik , stash , strip piecing

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