strip piecing

Social time........................... from Exuberant Color

My grandson and his wife brought lunch yesterday and then stayed long enough to help me with a couple heavy duty tasks. Afterwards I did some grocery shopping.

Last night I cut the last stratas into sections and made some more Kaffe 16 patch blocks. I love busy quilts, and I'm sure a few of you wonder why I'm not using white as every other square to "calm" it down. I love all of the patterns in the fabric running together. There are 2 of each of these blocks, so 18 total.

This group of leftover blocks has ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 5 days, 15 hours ago. under batiks , kaffe fabric , strip piecing

Catch up day...................... from Exuberant Color

There were lots of little jobs I needed to do to clean up the sewing studio. First was the staystitching around this quilt. Now it can be put on a hanger on the rack in the basement, waiting for its backing to be sewn.

While I had a load of laundry in the washer I looked for some leftover pastel 16 patch blocks in the Kaffe orphan box. If you enlarge this photo you will see the block on the left has selvage showing. I colored in the part that will show with permanent markers but I'm not sure ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 6 days, 15 hours ago. under kaffe fabric , strip piecing

Something easy................. from Exuberant Color

I sewed the right edge column of blocks together for the medallion quilt and made the half blocks to finish the length of both columns and now I need to just think about what is next for that project. Meanwhile I looked for an easy project to sew last night. I had some stratas sewn and prepared to cut 16 patch blocks, maybe made last year or the year before. This group of 10 blocks would be suitable for a baby quilt. I'll look in the Kaffe orphan block box and see if there are any more in there ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 week ago. under strip piecing

Mindless sewing.....again................... from Exuberant Color

Yesterday was a PT day so I have to be watching the clock.

One thing I did get done during the day was to layer several stratas, staggered by 1" and cut 2.5" segments from them. I had sewn the 2 strips together and did the pressing last week.

Last night's mindless sewing was making the 80 four patches which will be used in 40 double 4 patch blocks. I need to cut the 4.5" squares now from the 4.5" strips.

Part of the reason I didn't get much done yesterday was because of this ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 3 weeks, 5 days ago. under 4 patch , batik , double 4 patch , nature , strip piecing

Continuing on............... from Exuberant Color

The 4 patches for 24 more blocks are sewn and just waiting for me to cut the 4.5" squares to go with them.

I was pretty sure there was another box in the basement with more pairs of the 2.5" and 4.5" strips. I knew where it was (yes, really!!) so I retrieved them and counted 36, which will make 72 blocks. So far I have only sewn the purple/green combinations. If I sew all of these plus the ones left from the first group I showed a few days ago, I will have 138 eight ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 month, 1 week ago. under batik , double 4 patch , star quilts , strip piecing

Batik strips................. from Exuberant Color

I opened a drawer....and there were these matched 4.5" strips and 2.5" strips. I knew they would work for double 4 patch blocks. I have been needing a mindless sewing project for TV time.

I pulled all of the purple and green sets and started sewing the 2.5" strips together. Each pair of fabrics will make 4 blocks, 2 dark and 2 light.

I retrieved the bag with half rectangle triangles for yesterday's project and found there were 20 in the bag, but they all faced the same direction. I need both lefts and rights ...

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

Still searching...................... from Exuberant Color

I'm still having fun looking for UFOs so I haven't sewn anything for several days. The first few days of a new month are usually pretty low key for me.

The Farm Girl Vintage quilt was started in October 2015 and I think the last time I worked on it was in December of 2019. This post was probably the last time I put the blocks up on the design wall and I made a few more after that, more little chicks and a sewing machine.

When I started making it I thought I would have plenty of ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 1 month, 3 weeks ago. under batik , farm girl quilt , strip piecing

Quilts back.......................... from Exuberant Color

I got 2 quilts back from my longarm quilter and got them both trimmed and binding cut for both of them. The blue Interweave binding was done all by machine. I think its future owner will probably be someone who has no idea that some people hand finish their bindings. I still hand finish my special favorite quilts. This one has 2 fabrics on the back and they both show in this photo. The widest piece is the light fabric showing at the top right in this photo. The binding is 5 different blue batik strips out of my supply ...

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

Miscellaneous.................. from Exuberant Color

Yesterday's food projects were fudge and pink Spritz cookies. I forgot to take a photo of the cookies.

I chose the backing (the light print) and the binding (red print) to finish the Christmas table runner. I also found a piece of batting the exact size I needed. Maybe I'll get it layered and quilted today.

In the box with the squares (that were used for the table runner) was a group of 1.5" strips. I don't remember cutting them so maybe they were cut to use up the ends of some of the Christmas fabrics ...

added by Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson 2 months, 3 weeks ago. under christmas , food , 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 3 months 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 3 months 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 3 months 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 3 months 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 3 months, 1 week 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 3 months, 1 week 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 3 months, 3 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 4 months, 1 week 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 4 months, 1 week 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 4 months, 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 4 months, 2 weeks ago. under knitting , strip piecing

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