July Collage and Happy Little 9-Patches

Busy, busy, busy in the quilting room the past couple of day, and what a joyous feeling of accomplishment! I will tell you all about my progress on Posies and Polka Dots after we review July's highlights.

TOP ROW: All three pictures across the top are from our 2-day mini-trip to Akron. We visited Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens, home of Goodyear co-founder F.A. Seiberling. It is a magnificent Tudor-style manor, so beautifully preserved and maintained. Then we located the magical quilt shop of fiber artist Sue Spargo. Learning of her work has opened an entire new realm of needle craft to me. We topped off the day by having dinner with my first cousin Sam, who lives in nearby Hudson.

MIDDLE ROW: Mid-month, we took a day trip to our college alma mater. In the distance there is THE Bob Evans Farm, where the two of us met on a September Friday night, nearly 48 years ago. *wow* Center stage is our darling Cate asleep in Gramma's arms. And on the right, a hand-quilted finish - Fall Foliage.

BOTTOM ROW: Cate is crawling now, and seems pretty excited to be mobile, it appears. She also had her very first taste of a family delicacy - home made ice cream! Her initiation to this traditional summer treat was met with eager enthusiasm. Finally, one additional finish was the Kaffe Fassett panel that I turned into a lap quilt.

Now, let me show you these 9-patches! I began with about 40 total  - 20 with blue backgrounds and 20 with white backgrounds. Then I decided that I really ought to have a sketch of what I was attempting to achieve, so I drew this diagram. 

I need LOTS more 9-patches. Making those has been my task today. I have them all ready to stitch and press before day's end. I have also cut out some of the squares needed to make the HST setting blocks, the side triangles and corner triangles. This resulted in my needing to go to Etsy to order another yard of the blue - Moda Essential Dots, it's called - which will be here next week. I was gonna' be short about 7 inches. 

With the blocks I'd already made, it was plain to see that my quilt was not going to be big enough. That's when I decided I needed a diagram. My mock-up has 5 blue columns with 4 white columns. I also added a row to the top for more length. Making it bigger might have resulted in the hassle of buying more fabric, but I have made quilts too small for bed use, and that's no fun at all. I won't be sorry for this extra fussing.

Happy Quilting, Friends!