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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Bring in the Sunshine!

Even a gloomy day can be forgotten when working with such a variety of florals and sun-shiny yellows! ((I’m back to ADDING words to the dictionary – it said “Florals” was not a word. WHAT?! It is NOW!! HA!))

I posed the question last night on Facebook if I should spend the evening with my feet up in the recliner, or spend some time kitting quilt parts for my next trip --- I’m driving up to Norfolk,VA on Sunday and want a project with me.

I had finished all the Florabunda blocks while in Florida --- well---all but THREE----how did I miscount that? But that project just isn’t travel-able anymore. And as happens to all of us, I got sidetracked and instead of feet-up-in-the-recliner or kitting up ANOTHER project, I decided to kit up the 3 missing blocks instead.

florabunda 013

And then I sat down to sew them.

And then I laid out the missing blocks, spending the next long while moving things around.

You know how it goes, as soon as you move one thing and think you like it there, you see something else that shouldn’t be too close to the one you just placed, and on it goes. Finally I gave up. I mean, this is supposed to look like random placement!

I tried to separate the light light ones with the darker ones…it’s not quite a checker board look, but I liked it better than all the other ways I tried.

florabunda 016

I’ve got blocks set 8 X 9. I know it’s an uneven setting top to bottom, but that never bothers me. As long as it is an even setting set side to side – it’s going on a bed, so if it fits the bed, it’s good enough. I didn’t want to make one more row, I don’t like quilts that are too long and skinny –the corners may be symmetrical, but the scale looks off to me if I do that. This way it is one row longer than square ---works for me!

florabunda 017

And so much for feet up in the recliner OR kitting up something to take to Norfolk ---I sat down and started sewing blocks together into rows!

florabunda 019

The rows are now chained together….assembly line style. Thanks to this, I can NOT get blocks out of order and turning the wrong way -----and I can clip each row off one at a time to press before joining rows to rows. The best part? It is off my floor in a quick amount of time this way.

Maybe this evening I’ll get the rows sewn together and start thinking about borders. BORDERS! Do I really want to spend time putting MORE time into this quilt? The one that inspired it, the antique one from Florida had no borders, just a simple binding --- but you see --- there is more fabric, and I’d rather see it go into THIS project than hang on to it for another project that just might use it --- some day. If you want to know more about “Webbing The Top” click HERE!

All the pattern section re-edit’s for the next book are done! Today I tackle the re-edits on the front matter ---while trying to ignore the bright sunshine outside of my window. I’d like to be out in it, but there is work to be done.

Happy "ALMOST" Last-Day-Of-February, Everyone! I was just told it's Leap Year, so we get one extra day!

What are you going to do with your extra February day this year? Make It Count!

23 comments:

  1. Your quilt is turning out very nice. I love florals.

    But Bonnie, it's leap year, we have one more day of February. I love leap year. One of my Mom's close friends was born on leap-day. I celebrated her "21st" birthday by taking her a bottle of sparkling cider, since she didn't drink alcohol.

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  2. Judy D in upstate NY8:51 AM EST

    Bad news Bonnie! It is Leap Year so we have one more day of February : ( Oh well, it is just one more day to quilt this year and that is a good thing.

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  3. Oh, Bonnie....I was going to tell you that there is one more day in February, but others beat me to it! I am doing all kinds of fun things with my class tomorrow to celebrate Leap Day....we are going to leap from "lily pad" to "lily pad" (otherwise knows as hula hoops), eat some flies (other wise known as M&Ms) illustrate leap phrases (like "Hop to it!), and do a word search. Let's spend our extra day having fun, not doing more work!

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  4. I love this pattern. I have a quilt that I need to finish machine quilting and putting a binding on by Thursday. It is a king size being done on my home machine, and since the only other thing I have quilted was a wall hanging, it is a slow process. I also need to make and decorate the birthday cake to go with the quilt for a surprise 50th birthday party.

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  5. Bonnie, you mentioned wanting an even setting from side to side. Is this just a matter of personal preference or is there some other reason (which I don't know about - yet) why we should have an even setting?

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  6. Bonnie, I love the Florabunda pattern. You should just call that your 'sunshine quilt'. :-) My leap-day is supposed to be spent participating in a virtual quilt retreat. I am currently planning to machine/free motion quilt a small quilt I did last year. It was part of another sew-along, and will be a good one to get some extra machine practice on. If I mess it up, it won't be anything I would cry over. LOL

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  7. Good Morning Bonnie--

    I love how the Florabunda quilt looks all sewn together...it just seems to smile! The yellow color does remind me of a sunshiny day!

    I also like how your kitty has to inspect the quilt while you have it laid out on the floor...my cats do the same thing...LOL It just seems that quilts and cats just go together, don't you think?

    Have a fun day!

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  8. I am so glad you posted the original quilt and that you have gotten your's put together.
    Mine is a favorite in this house and I find it moving from bed to bed.
    Think of all the yellow quilts out there that you have inspired!
    (My extra day--I am so looking forward to it. I love February.)
    Thank you!

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  9. Oh, I got a chuckle out of your description of trying to make the placement look "random"! I didn't think that would happen to the Scrap Quilt Queen! I thought it was just my problem!
    I do like how you have mixed up the lights and darks of your yellows. That way the quilt sparkles.
    And I'm not surprised that the quilt demanded to be made. That stuff just happens sometimes, right? For me it was the opposite--last night I had big plans to get the binding made and sewn onto a quilt, but I ended up soaking in my relatively new (Dec.) jetted tub! Ya gotta do what you gotta do!

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  10. I am using my 'extra' day to drive across the state to my quilt retreat and an opportunity to see my sister, both daughters, both grandkids, my niece and tons of quilting friends! A worthwhile use of the extra day! Today however, I need to finish quilting my Harry Potter quilt and get things ready to go for tomorrow!

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  11. Looks like the Bernina is back! :-)

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  12. I will use "Leap Day" to work on Birds of a Feather Applique quilt by Adams/Allen. And, of course, continue to be inspired by you!

    Renea in Tennessee

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  13. The Florabunda looks awesome! I'm trying to use my extra florals up on the back, cuz I really liked it without borders, like the antique one. And thanks, again, for putting this challenge out there......I loved every minute of working with those gorgeous floral prints......that were just sitting around waiting for something good to happen to them! :o)

    And Leap Day.....it's our anniversary! 28 years in real-time, 7 years of the actual day! Hubby loves to mess with people with that! And we usually don't do much for it, except on the actual-day ones, hence the cruise in March that we're taking! Woohoo!

    Can I just say, you've created a cruise-monster here.....that's all I want to do now.....well, that and quilt! lol

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  14. I finally get the whole 'webbing the top' thing, thanks to that final photo! Yay! The finished blocks looks great together. So sunshiney and happy.

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  15. Last night we had hail in San Diego about 10:30pm. Imagine that! Like your project...use the scraps in the back instead... Beverly's in San Diego has a 30% off for LEAP DAY. They have a great blenders wall. Need I say more? Happy Tuesday Bonnie! Sandi

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  16. Yesterday there was snow to greet me when I woke- today I see the SUN! Your Floribunda Blocks are shining bright like the sun. You can work on the border units as a Travel project. Have you seen Judy L's new Border book? I'm sure whatever you come up with will be beautiful!

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  17. I love that webbing. Thanks for the teaching me that. It really adds time and accuracy to finishing my quilt tops. All that yellow makes for a very sun shiny quilt, and borders are very highly overrated.

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  18. Bonnie, I think you should move the block 4th row down..two in from the right to the 5th row down, 4 in from the left. :-) Jus' kidding! I make myself crazy with block placement then confuse myself and mix them up when I'm sewing them together.
    Love your sun-shiney florals and yellows! Perfect fabric to spend time with waiting for spring.

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  19. Floribunda is looking fantastic! Looking forward to seeing what you decide to do or not do about borders.

    I was just laying out a scrap quilt at a retreat last weekend, trying not to get the same fabrics near each other. Not only did I manage to get two blocks of the most obvious fabric touching, they're in the DEAD CENTER of the quilt. Oh, well. That's what happens when you're laying out blocks at 2am. :)

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  20. Sunshiny indeed! I have found that I sometimes just have to set a timer while playing block Switcheroo, and then STOP!

    We tall girls like the longer than wider quilts, right?

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  21. My goodness! I could swear you have stolen my cat! That looks just like my Gray Soufflé on your quilt in the first picture.

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  22. I think the technique of webbing the top is genius. I just started using it and it makes the assembling step so much easier and more organized! Did you invent this technique or did someone teach you? I do have one question: after the blocks are sewn together, you have the top webbed, and it's time to sew the rows together, what is the next step? You mentioned in your blog post you were going to cut the rows apart, iron them, then sew them together. I've been sewing the rows together while they were still webbed. I thought that was part of the webbing process?? (I thought I was following your instructions....). Please let me know. It might be easier to cut apart, iron, then sew....

    Thanks.

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  23. Marie-Louise11:18 PM EDT

    I feel as if I have just fallen put of the quilting bus. What do you mean with webbing the quilt top? I am a new subscriber to your blog and I am seeing a long and fruitful road ahead.

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