Tic-tac-toe

November is always a good month for quilting for me. Not just because it has gotten colder outside but because it is hunting season and I dare not go into the woods.  The month isn't over and I still hope to finish a quilt on the frame.  It may not seem that I have been very productive, but I have planned a lot of projects and begun to cut and kit them up. I also did a little work on some Comfort quilts for the St. Peter's group.

 I finished my tic-tac-toe quilt this morning.  I thought I would wait and do the pieced border at Studio 3 but instead decided to just get it done and out of the way. I can't believe how much I enjoyed the silly little 9-patches. Even the checkerboard border went together very quickly. As you can see I did not round the corners with little squares.   That was because I didn't plan the border I just started sewing.  Like I said it went together quickly. The lights and darks don't match up in the 4 corners in a way that I could use a 4 patch unless I rip.

         

The 9-patches were strip pieced using 2 strips. Lots of people don't like strip piecing, but I think it's the best. The leftovers from a strip set are never wasted around here and go into anything from 4-patches to crumb quilts. If you don't like the leftovers from a strip set, then simply cut the strips to the length you'd cut the squares from before you begin.

What I did for the little 9-patches here was to start with 1 3/4" strips. The light strip was 7" long and the dark was 9" long. Stitch with top edges even and sew a 1/4" seam allowance with right sides together. Press toward the dark. Then I sliced the strip set into 1 3/4" wide segments. The longer dark strip had a square cut off the end.  The pieces were then rearranged to create the units shown. I didn't bother with the last seam because I like to keep you guessing or some such thing.



I had Mark help me pin the tic-tac-toe  top to the flannel wall so that I could plan the last border width and measure for it. If the quilt fits I like to spread the top on the wall to measure for borders. I don't know what he was thinking but as soon as it was up on the wall he stood back and proceeded to tell me just what shade of blue I should use for the last border. I don't know where he got the idea I wanted some input from him so I got a kick out of that. In the end he agreed that the same blue I used for the sashing should be used for the outer border but not to make it any wider. I just love that he's expressing his opinion about my quilts these days. When I began quilting  over 30 years ago, he couldn't have cared less.  Maybe this is the winter I can get him started on his own quilt project.

I'm planning on doing a tutorial on joining the ends of binding strips once it has been applied to the quilt. So check back in the next few days to see that.
 Never mind. Here's a tutorial that shows how I do it. 
 http://piraterodgers.com/tutorials/ending-double-fold-binding/index.htm

I planning to do some blog hopping,

starting with the blogs that have joined this linky party.
Quiltingismorefunthanhousework.com
and smallquiltsanddollquilts.com

Crumb Quilt done

Yes! I survived the heat wave of 2012 while hubby was home on vacation. Must be cause I was able to sew. And yes, I was able to sew cause of the heat wave. He was bored. It was toooo hot even to go to the lake.  Sew, I was able to get the crumb quilt together. Too much fun.

It's rare that I put a sashed quilt together without cornerstones. Getting the blocks lined up isn't easy, but I succeeded here.

I discovered a trick I will have to try again. I was working at a sunny window and could easily see through the fabric to see that the seams were lined up. Great tool, the sun.

The crumb quilt is now in the stack to be quilted. The stack is only 6 quilts high, not counting my personal tops.The raffle quilt should be done today, too. I intend to make a bigger effort to quilt a little every day. That's opposed to piecing. I tend to do that while I talk on the phone.


I hope you were able to quilt through the heat. Check out the links on Judy's page to see what everyone else has posted on Design Wall Monday.

four-patches found a home

I played around with the four-patches I made and decided to put them in the corners of scrappy stars.

Then I tried this arrangement too.

Let's see, what else can I come up with. Oops, I can see I will need to be careful that I turn the four-patches the same way in each block.

I don't keep quarter-square triangles precut and waiting from scraps, so I had to cut those. I am making 12" blocks, so using 3 1/2" strips and the companion angle I cut 4 triangles for each star. Anytime I use the companion angle, I always cut a half-square triangle from the end of the strip first, otherwise that scrap is wasted. Here I am using the Omnigrid 96L ruler (The Easy Angle ruler works the same). I will finish the strip cutting half-square triangles too. If the scrap isn't big enough, then I will cut a smaller triangle or square. Those get filed  for a future project.

I'll get these large flying geese units sewn up quickly. I want to get back to the Birds in the Air blocks.