New Nine-Patch

Our 10" of snow melted within 4 days and now it is just cold and rainy. Still good weather for quilting. The cats are getting along fine and rather enjoy chasing each other around a bit every morning. They aren't as much of a distraction now so I was able to get my new 9-patch quilt done. Okay, the top anyway. I still go with "The quilt is finished when the top is done".

  It's about 100" square. A bit generous for my queen bed so I don't plan on adding any borders.  I admit I kinda jumped into this project with out thinking too much about it. I mighta made smaller blocks otherwise. Maybe with the next one.
Actually I have been thinking about what I want to work on this winter and more and more often I think I'd like to work on something with smaller pieces.

Dear daughter was over the other day. I rounded up all the orphan blocks between here and Studio 3 and we spent the afternoon sorting them again into piles for potential comfort quilts. We made 8 piles with at least a dozen blocks each.at least. Some piles had less - those we filed away till we collect or make more so we have enough. As it is those 8 piles won't likely be finished quilts real soon. We have a shortage of fabric for sashing or borders and especially backs. But we had a good time.

I also have my tree table topper top done. Unless or except for any stars I may decide to add. I am thinking little ones just at the top of the trees in the corners. I didn't want it to scream Christmas so no red.  Center is intentionally left bare figuring there may well be a centerpiece placed there. I plan to quilt it this week. Wish me luck. 

Speaking of Christmas, we don't plan on putting up a tree this year cause Rudy would have a field day with it and the ornaments. I can't seem to find someplace to put a small one up high out of his reach. One morning I woke up to find him munching on the end of a spool of thread. He had at least a foot of the thread end in his mouth. Another morning he chewed the end off my husbands hearing aid. It was under warranty. Another morning he'd knocked my glasses to the floor and the patches for my next block into the trash. And people couldn't believe that I didn't want a kitten. Imagine that. Like I said, a bit of a distraction- but fun.

I think I will check out the linky party at Judys and postpone bills till tomorrow. 

A Little Distraction

I wanted to get a second cat after I felt Buster had adjusted to living here. It took him a while, but about 2 weeks ago, after more than 3 months here he finally started sleeping on the bed during the day without us. I thought that said something. So about 10 days ago we brought another cat home so now Buster has a brother. We're calling him Rudy. He's supposedly 2 years old but plays like he's only 6 months. Buster got bent out of shape for a while but he's pretty much accepted him now.

 
I wasn't really looking for a distraction from a new cat. I was looking forward to some serious sewing time. This weekend's storm dropped about 10" of snow, a little more than the guys wanted to see for opening weekend of the gun deer hunt. Usually when we expect snow I plan to do a bunch of sewing. I know I will have long stretches of time alone when Mark goes out to clear the 5 driveways he always does.  And it used to be the guys would head to the north woods for a weekend of deer hunting. I was looking forward to that when he retired. It hasn't happened yet cause they don't go north anymore. All this means is that I haven't been able to sew like I expected. But maybe that's a good thing, since I got a bit of a sore back with all the sewing that I did do.

I am actively working on 3 different projects. The blue and gray 2 block quilt I plan to finish putting together at Studio 3 so I didn't work on that one. I'm also working on a Christmas Tree table topper. That was a Studio 3 project I can finish there as well. At home this weekend I decided to work on a quilt with using the Album block.

  If you recall, I made a sample block about 2 years ago and decided against doing a whole quilt with the block. I couldn't stand constructing
the thing with those weird diagonal rows of patches. Silly me. That is not the easy way to construct it. One day it came to me that it would be far easier to make the 9 patch in the center and then construct 4 identical corner units to surround the 9 patch. So much better.

I made 25 blocks and  didn't want to stop. Considered making 2 quilts. Whoa. What would I do with a second quilt using the same blocks???  So I stopped to consider how I was going to set the blocks.  Here's a few.
 

 It's Design Wall Monday at Judy's.
See me there.

Float Your Star Points

The next raffle quilt for church will use this 8 pointed star variation.
 I call Catchfly.  I've modified it a bit so the star points float. This will allow us to trim all the blocks to the same size before joining them together. We won't lose our points and there is an added bonus of less bulk in the seam allowance. We all like that. Make yours either 9" or 12".



             Block finishes 9" x 9"


      From the light star fabric, cut:

1 center square

3 1/2" and
4 rectangles, 2 1/2" x 4 1/4".
Place pairs of rectangles Wrong Sides Together,
and cut once diagonally to make 8 triangles.














  From the medium or dark background fabric, cut:

4 equilateral triangles 4" tall (see below)
and 4 corner squares 3 1/2"

      You can use any 60 degree triangle ruler or your usual ruler with a 60 degree line on it.  Place the 60 degree line of your ruler on the long edge of your fabric strip and make the first cut.

   Rotate the ruler and place the 60 degree line of your ruler on the angled cut. You will see an equilateral triangle under the ruler. Cut your first triangle.  Rotate your ruler between these two positions to cut the 4 triangles.

Sew the star point triangles to the background triangles, matching the angles at the top center of the unit. It doesn't matter which side you sew on first, which piece is on top or which end you start sewing from. You will need to press the first one back before you add the second triangle.

Square up these units next. Center the unit in the square by placing the 1 3/4" line on your ruler at the points where the two seams meet. Trim away the excess. Be sure not to trim off the seam allowance at the top.

 Rotate the unit and measure a 3 1/2" square. Trim away the excess.

 The units are ready to go in the blocks. Join with the squares in rows, pressing seams toward the squares. Sew the rows together and press.

For a 12" finished block, cut
background equilateral triangles 5" tall and  corner squares 4 1/2"
star center 4 1/2" and star points from 3" x 5 1/4" rectangles cut once diagonally WST.
Trim the units to 4 1/2" square.

 Here you can see how the points of the star meet at the edge of the block when using the Tri/Recs tools. The floating points in the star made with this method will finish 1/2" from the raw edge of the block.

 I call the units in this block Sixtysomething units, since there are three 60 degree angles that come together at the top of the unit. Check out my Thirtysomething Block Book to see more quilt designs using 30 and 60 degree angles in square patchwork blocks.

It's cold outside. Time to join some linky blog parties and quilt. Let's check out Judy's first.