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. 

Done enough

Once again I have a quilt top done except for the final border. I started this last spring but since the colors suggest autumn I lost interest in working on it. I finally attached the pieced border about 3 weeks ago. I left it at Studio 3 and since I don't have a big flannel wall there I haven't taken the picture till I brought it home. It was a struggle for me to use the big prints in these blocks. I am still uncomfortable with it. Anyone want to buy a quilt top? it's 78" square right now. Make me an offer.

The project I posted about last time is now at Studio 3 so I will work on that occasionally when I am there.  I have a pile of them there so when the mood strikes I can take my pick. That means there is nothing in progress here at home. Lots of ideas spin through my head and where it will stop no one knows. I want to put something on the frame downstairs too.

 Our church fall festival was this last weekend. We put out most of our quilts and managed to sell about a dozen for a pittance. Better than for nothing I am told. I have half a dozen tops here for church that I will consider quilting before I do more of mine. Once it gets good and cold outside .  .  .
Hmmm. Monday. Let's go check out the quilts at Judy's Linky Party.

Good Intentions

Hi everyone, This last month we've had a few hot days and a few unseasonably cool days and some rainy days. Those days were ideal for quilting. And yes I've done a little so I imagine I didn't post about it here because I am out of practice.

I started this last winter if you don't count making up the kit. I did that last year. I don't know what it is called, Stack and Slash or something like that.  I wanted one of those no-brainers to work on when socializing. It stalled when I cut a piece wrong. It would take some thought to decide how to fix my error. I needed to rummage through my scraps because I didn't want to introduce a new piece. I don't intend to border it.

I've realized that going back between here and Studio 3 slows me down a bit. I don't have the big flannel wall over there. Nor do I have my stash. So any time I need either one, work ceases till I get a chance to work here. Good thing it really doesn't matter.

 Since fall is right around the corner the sun will be setting earlier in the evening so I intend to do more quilting in the evenings. I am hoping to get caught up on the comfort quilts I volunteered to quilt. I've also got another big quilt planned. I can share those plans in the next few weeks.

I have been doing a little blogging again lately so I will link this to Judy's linky party on Monday.
And Quilting is More Fun than Houswork.

Penny's Single Irish Chain

I must be done with this top. I can't decide what else to do with it. Since I haven't much fabric for a decent border or more blocks it will stay like this.  I have more muslin, but available muslin doesn't mean I have to use it. I like it well enough the way it is and was thinking of just backing it for a summer quilt, though it wouldn't quite fit the bed at 66" x 72". Perhaps if it could have talked it would have told me to make it bigger. I'm so glad my things don't tell me what to do though it is nice when they make suggestions. Now if only I would pay attention. . .

As I look at this I am almost sorry I didn't arrange the colors to blend. I was so undecided, but decided to just get on with it and start sewing. As I began to stitch the blocks together I felt I was doing something wrong. It was hard to keep myself from rearranging them but eventually I had so many together that I wasn't about to undo all that work. Like the rest of you, I'm still waiting for someone to come up with that gadget that you can program to remove stitches for you that were made in error or just cause you  changed your mind.

The 1930's fabric I have left for the Bin Bust will make one or two more small quilts. It's pieces already cut in 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles and assorted strips. I have plans for the rectangles and one of the quilters at Studio 3 is interested in the strips.  I kept out a few pieces for binding a few quilts. And then I can declare the Bin's Been Busted. That will motivate me to get on with the next one! Cool!

Union Square

Yes you may have seen this before, but not with the border. I can't check anything else off the list.

I have planned a few more quilts and began sorting scraps. I misplaced my favorite ruler, so I am using my smaller rulers for 3" finished squares and triangles and cutting the scraps instead of the
1 1/2" diamonds I wanted to cut.

I sorted through a tub of fabric and comfort quilt kits and picked out a bag with 13 log cabins. So I  made 7 more blocks to finish a set. Set aside a couple of bags with pieces for a few more done with random strip widths. Maybe I will play with those till I find my ruler. 

Our snow is melting this week. We will be lucky that it should all be gone soon. I hope the snow doesn't melt too quickly causing flooding where you are.

Cracker Box

I feel a little behind on my quilting cause I didn't get much done this week, but I don't know why. It doesn't matter, as I have no deadlines. I finished putting together the Cracker Box quilt last night at Studio 3. It's a bit small - only 46". It was a spur of the moment quilt and I used all the yellow background I had, actually two different yellow pieces. I guess I could think about a border for this, or maybe a round of a different block. This one will stay "as is" till inspiration moves me to either quilt it or add something for a border.

I went to quilting at church on a sloppy snowy morning. The forecast was for freezing rain but we never got that. Of course we didn't know that so only a few of us showed up and then we left a bit early without going for lunch. The ladies got another 9-patch quilt together and a few others worked out the sashing for a sampler kit I bagged up. That means I gathered a bunch of orphan blocks the same size and they had to cut sashing and cornerstones. Our newest quilter needed a lesson on how those go together.

The oak tree block is done. I don't think I want to put a border on it. Just this brown for a binding. I don't have much wall space for it. So next I need to decide how to quilt it. I don't want it to look modern or artsy so I hesitate to quilt it to look too modern.  Mark suggested simply straight diagonal lines to simulate rain drops or sun rays. Talk about traditional.

This morning back at Studio 3, I prepped the binding for my star quilt. I will attach it here at home though. Earlier this week I cleaned out my drawer of Civil War prints. I'm trying to keep that in a certain order till I have all the charms cut for the Thousand Pyramids charm quilt I am working on. So I gathered all the smaller pieces  for that and cut those this morning. From the same scraps I cut a few bow tie blocks for that ongoing project and a few miscellaneous pieces - mostly strips for another log cabin. I counted the charms and I have just over 500. I've got a lead on a source for more prints for that quilt. It sure is putsy cutting one patch from all those prints, the cutting alone is a bit like an ongoing project. I found I need to plan another few quilts to cut  as I cut the next 500 charms. I am keeping the charms sorted by color for now to make it easier to check for duplicates. The other ladies are working independently right now and need only a little help with their projects. Tomorrow we are finally having the free-motion quilting class. Should be fun.

Sitting Pretty

I've finished the Sitting Pretty quilt made as part of my 1930's Bin Bust. I don't find the green sashing and cornerstones completely offensive. I am still not really keen on the quilt though. Someday I hope to quilt it up and be surprised at how lovely a quilt it is and how the quilting really enhances the image.

But first I am on to other things I am sure to enjoy more. The sashing and  Union Square blocks are all together. I used 4 1/2" strips for the sashing without cornerstones. I thought it would be a very fitting treatment for blocks made with my 1800's scraps since blocks were frequently sashed that way back then.

 Now I am auditioning triangles for a pieced border. The triangles I am showing are from my scrap box. I am only using them to see if I want to use this size. They work for me so I will plan to work on the pieced border at Studio 3. I think I will be able to get all the triangles I need from the same box of scraps I  took over there a few months ago.The same fabrics used in the blocks. Sometimes it seems it doesn't take much fabric to make a quilt.

Tonight I am prepping another quilt of mine for the longarm. That means choosing the quilting design and any preliminary marking and then pinning and rolling it on the poles. Actually I just have the border left to decide on. Before I am done with that one I hope to have the quilting for the next one planned and ready to go.

We have had some nice winter weather this week so I took a few hikes. I'm glad for the wintertime cause to me it means quilting time. In warm weather I have a hard time balancing my quilting time with my outside time. Sometimes the days seem so short. Does that mean in the end I will feel like life is too short?