Nine-Patch in Furrows

My Nine-Patch in Furrows quilt top is still on the flannel wall. I experimented with my camera  to get the best picture and this is it. It turns out I don't want the sun to shine because it lights the quilt  unevenly.  Best to go with the flash on the big quilts.

I'm hoping to get some serious time in on the long arm for a while. Not sure what I want to piece next. But I do like having both some piecing and quilting going on at the same time.



I'm also hoping for the best for north eastern US as hurricane Sandy blows through. It's threatening to be pretty wicked. I hope you're all safe.

Going to check out the posts linked to Judy's at Patchwork Times.

I'm at it again!

Quilted in the studio this weekend. It felt pretty good, but I see I still need to slow down a bit. Does that mean I need a heavier machine??? Oh, that's right, I'm just rusty from not quilting for 2 months.

This is a comfort quilt that Lois put together. She always adds her own fabric to the bag she picks up at church. Here she added the blue sashing and border fabric. She sure makes our scraps look good. I used a circle template for the sashing and quilted the rest freehand.

I need to decide which top to put on the frame next. Should it be mine or one for church? I have the backs and batting ready for half a dozen. I think I'll be quilting a panto (edge-to-edge) design on most of them. Maybe I should just take the first one on the pile. Duh.

Uneven 9-patches

It didn't take long to make these blocks for the next step of the mystery quilt I'm working on. I'm thinking I shoulda been smart enough to predict this outcome. Of course, it isn't finished yet so maybe I should refrain from expressing an opinion till it's further along.

I also finished the quilting on the 9-patch comfort quilt. As I suspected, I was a bit rusty. I hope I can put a little more time on that machine now that it is cooling off outside. Once Mark retires I suspect I will be spending lots of time  hiding working in the studio. Time will tell.

Out and Back

 I've been gone so I haven't had a chance to sew. Before I left I cut out the fabric for a mystery I am doing with the Oconomowoc shop. I rarely join in the fun, but I thought once I followed directions and chose my fabric, I wouldn't have to make anymore decisions for that quilt. So I chose these fabrics and did my cutting. I will NOT try to solve the mystery, but instead do what I am told. Will it be fun??? I chose some orange prints and some older fabrics. Wish I knew how they will be used.

 The Stringtown Quilters of northern Kentucky are a bunch of fun quilt-loving ladies. I hauled my two trunks of quilts for a program Thursday night with workshops following on Friday and Saturday. I think we found each other equally inspiring.  As usual, the ladies in the "Savor the Scraps" workshop were very enthused about my Thirtysomething techniques and encouraged me to get going on the block book. All along my goal has been to get a book proposal accepted by the end of the year. I guess I better get going.

On the way to the airport, Mark asked what town I was going to, but I couldn't remember.  Did I ever feel dumb when I realized I was going to Burlington, KY. How could I forget that when Burlington, WI is just 10 miles from here??? I stayed at the lovely Willis Graves B & B in a home built in the 1830's. Breakfast was absolutely the best of my life. I'd be thrilled to go back.

It's cloudy and rainy today and that is fine with me.  I finished my nine-patch quilt but didn't get a picture yet cause it is so dark inside and out. Check later this week for that picture. We are sure to get more sun and I'll try to get a good one then. Meanwhile I will start sewing  on the mystery - and putting together that proposal.

Things I could do better

I had hoped to finish my nine-patch in furrows quilt tonight, but I didn't count right. I needed one more nine-patch and 72 more large triangles! I can't imagine where I went wrong. Good thing it doesn't matter. I have no deadlines and LOTS more fabric. I could cut a gazillion more triangles.

I should be thinking ahead of what I want to work on next. Maybe it's time I make a new list. I think some long arm quilting should be at the top. I ought to warm up with a few comfort quilts before I dive into doing any custom work on my quilts, don't you think? Notice I am still inspired by Judy's masterpiece. When she gets pictures up on her website, I'll let you know.

I missed the meeting at church this week. I had other things on my mind.  I am sure the ladies would have liked a report on how well we sold at the Fall Festival at church on the 7th. I know they were thrilled that they sold as well as they did. I think it means we could up our prices (They already decided to do it again next year) especially since people hardly even looooked at the prices.

Well, back to my sewing.

Two Corners

I sewed the blocks together last night during the football game.  (Go Pack!) Now for the pieced border.
When I arranged the half-square triangle blocks for a border, I didn't like the design unless I added a single row of more nine-patches and triangle/squares to the two long sides of the quilt first. Because of the diagonal arrangement of the blocks, I will have two corners that look like this.

The other two corners will look like this. Sewn together, of course. I used 2" squares to make the nine patches. The triangles were cut from 5 3/8" squares cut once diagonally. The  blocks finish  4.5" and the quilt will be 72" x 90". Unless. . .You get the idea?

My friend, Judy called me over the other day to see this masterpiece Baltimore Album she quilted. Soooo inspiring. I've had the same  9patch comfort quilt loaded on the machine for the last two months. Obviously nothing exciting there.  I'll have to finish that thing soon so I can start working again on my own custom quilting. I'd love to do even a mini-masterpiece like Judy's. And no I won't applique one, but then neither did Judy. It belongs to her customer.
Thanks for visiting. Let's go check out some other design walls.

Peak II

Okay, it's not quilty. But who doesn't love these oaks?

This is a bit of the view outside my sewing room window. Yeah, yeah. The sugar maples are pretty. But around here they are usually more yellow than - this. I  have a few young oaks in my yard showing lots of color. Can't wait till they are bigger.  Did I mention that we have two peaks of autumn color around here?  This is the second.

I do have my blocks ready to sew together. Maybe tonight while the ball game is on. Enjoy.

It's a Life

I finally got an hour to sew tonight. I decided to make the nine-patches and triangle-squares into fourpatch blocks. I only got these 10 blocks together so far and I thought  it was great, cause I finally have something to post on my blog. Unfortunately, it's nothin' new, except that you can see the configuration of the units in the fourpatch needed to build this design. It's either this or photos of my patterns other quilters have made and sent to me.  I love that they send them to me, but there are clearly  favorite patterns and I'd be showing the same ones often.

 I've been a bit too busy to sew lately. Last weekend I was in Rockford visiting the guild there. They have an afternoon and an evening meeting, so that means two lectures. They requested two different lectures. Then the following two days we booked workshops. The classes were great fun as the ladies discovered how many different designs could be made with the two different Thirtysomething units. Click on the posts labeled "mystery" on the right to see what we worked with. After Friday's class, my hostess Teresa took me to the quilt shop Lucky 2 B Quilting in Pecatonica. I really liked the shop and Polly's taste in fabric. 


It sure would have been nice if Mark took care of the laundry while I was gone or . . .  Besides the usual household stuff to do, I have been finishing up paperwork for probate on mom's estate and Mark is retiring, so there is extra paperwork there and all that other stuff of life. Add to that, I have been getting some walks in with Sue. It's been soooooo pretty this fall, I can't resist. I hope your having better luck finding time for some stitching.

My 3rd choice

I've made enough of each the nine-patches and the half-square triangles to make a twin sized quilt. Is that big enough??? Then, as usual, I tried the blocks in different settings on my flannel wall. I liked the stars, but I'm going with my original plan. I usually arrange them all on the flannel wall before starting to sew them together. Though it would be easier if  I make these units into four-patches first.  Give me a few days to think about it.

I'm still spending time outside. The weather has been perfect for enjoying the beautiful fall colors. Fall is my favorite season and I far prefer going for walks in this weather as opposed to summer or winter. There are lots of places around here for taking hikes: County park, State Natural Area at Beulah Bog, Prairie Preserve subdivision, bike trail, farm fields and the woods. Sue and I often hit the trails together.  Yesterday we went for a walk and I musta stopped to admire the trees too often cause I just about missed my ride with Judy to the quilting meeting in Oconomowoc (Easier to spell than pronounce at first). More later, Sew long.

Ready to Fall

The leaves are ready to fall on this little tree. They've been ready for almost 15 years when I made the tree for a guild challenge. I forgot the guidelines for the challenge, I just remember that I never finished it and took it to the meeting. I found it a month or two ago in the cedar chest and finally added the border, quilted and bound it.

 The leaves on my Autumn Applause Ash trees are about ready to fall too. The trees in our area have reached their first peak this weekend. In a few more weeks the rest of the trees including the oaks will then reach their peak fall color. I love them all. I hope you get to enjoy the pretty leaves this fall. And now maybe some other design walls linked up at Judy's.