9-Patch Update

Doing 30 9-patches was a walk in the park compared to constructing 20 Burgoyne Surrounded blocks. And if it weren't for my blogging about this project, I would quit right now. Yes, I have reached the point of being tired of this project and I'm ready to start the next. I have always been this way. That's why I have so many starts and so few finishes. But I digress...

These 9-patch blocks, as I said, were easy and fast to finish. I am now taking a deep breath and getting myself ready for putting it all together.

I did the prep work just after breakfast. These stacks are ready to be connected. We have 60 in the top pile and 30 in the bottom pile. Easy-peasy.

After lunch, I headed back upstairs to finish them off, and in an hour I had them constructed, pressed and photographed for your blogging pleasure. *grin*

Looking pretty spiffy, aren't they? I have the sashing strip already cut, so the quilt top will soon be taking shape!

All quilters face housekeeping duties, so this is nothing new to you, but I wanted to show you how much gunk gets into my machine after just a day of sewing. I dust it out about every other day, and just look at all the bits of thread and dirt. Gracious! Quilts like this one with lots of parts sure puts the sewing machine through the works.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Twenty Blocks Done

Phew! If it weren't for all this snow and ice, I wouldn't be able to say this, but I've finally finished my 20th Burgoyne Surrounded block!! Whoo-hoo! That is truly worth a little celebration. Those are some intensely tedious blocks to make, as I've alluded to in prior posts. Yesterday, I cancelled my classes at OUC due to all the ice and snow we got on Tuesday night. This gave me a whole day to devote to making the final four blocks.

 The picture above shows the subunits needed for the final four blocks. Pretty, aren't they? I grumbled a lot while making them, but I am thrilled with how the colors work together.

This is my stack of 20 pretty blocks. Thankfully they are big ones, measuring out at 15.5". That will give me a nice big quilt, too, as these will be sashed with 3.5" strips.

Speaking of sashing, I need to make a plan for the 30 little blue and light 9-patches needed for the cornerstones. That might just happen today. Then it will only be a matter of putting it all together. Can you say "homestretch?" 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Another UFO

The closet in my sewing room is stuffed with quilt tops folded over hangers. Since this is a year of finishing some UFOs, I think I will try to get a few of them quilted, bound and finished. Sounds like a plan, doesn't it?

Here is one I took to Terry last Thursday. It is called Broken Dishes, a pattern by Kaffe Fassett. It is the quilt that made me fall in love with KF fabrics.

 

 

I don't know how far back I'd have to go to figure out when I started the quilt top, but I do know that I finished it in April of 2011. It can be found in the Kaleidoscope of Quilts book. If any of you have ever made KF quilts from his patterns, you know that they are not strip-piecing friendly. He uses templates; consequently, if you want to go with strip-piecing, then you have to do some figuring and planning. I've made several of his quilts, and I've gotten used to doing this, but for a first timer, it could be daunting.

Anyway, Terry has informed me that she has it quilted already! I will get it on Friday when we meet at JoAnn's. I can't wait to see it! And, I will get right to work on binding it, and before you know it, I will have a finish. That will feel mighty good, you know?

I will definitely show you the quilted top on Saturday or Sunday. Stay tuned!

On a housekeeping note, I have finally retired the 2013 Goals list on my sidebar, and have posted my 2014 Goals. It's about time, isn't it?

Happy Quilting, Friends!

My January UFO

Coming up on Friday, the Frankfort girls will meet at JoAnn's for our regular 9-noon session. Since it is the first get-together of February, we will be showing our completed January UFOs for the little UFO challenge we are having this calendar year.

Mine was to quilt and bind the little doll quilt called Pink Lemonade, which I made in a quilt along sponsored by Lori at Humble Quilts back in January and February of 2012. I have made several of her little quilts - there are teeny-tiny pieces, but who cares when you're making a doll quilt? I like the intricate nature of her little quilts, and then you throw in all that wonderful scrappiness and you have a winning combination!

On Friday afternoon, I sat down with the new Bernina and her walking foot and got right to work. It took me no time at all to cross-hatch quilt this little gem, and in the evening while watching television, I stitched down the binding.

The little doll quilts that Lori shares with us are such fun, and coincidentally, she has one going right now! It is called Midwinter Blues, and while I have not begun it, I do plan on joining in.

Here is a list of all the ones I've done with Lori:
1. Pink Lemonade (hand-pieced, machine quilted and finished)
2. Midnight Stars (machine-pieced, hand-quilted and finished)
3. Cheddar and Crackers (hand-pieced and still a flimsy)
4. Abundance (machine-pieced, machine-quilted and finished)
5. Faithful (machine-pieced, machine-quilted and finished)

If you want to see these, I am pretty sure that they will show up if you put the name in the search box over on my sidebar. Or if you like browsing, look through the year tabs at the top to see finished quilts since 2010.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

More Sewing With Friends

January was the month for sewing with friends, let me tell you. Terry had us to her house twice; the Frankfort girls met twice, and the Frienzies met once. It is just so much fun to make progress on a project in the company of other quilters.

Last Thursday we sewed at Terry's house. She is always so gracious in offering up her spacious family room. We sure get a lot done. Here are the latest projects.

Sharon O. worked on machine-appliqueing this holiday scene. She made good progress, too!

JoAnn worked so hard on some little blocks. There were several projects, one of which was Tag Sale, one of my favorite quilt patterns, and Tag-Along, the Schnibbles version of Tag Sale. Love them both.

Sheryll worked on a flannel project. The plaids are all her father's shirts. She is making a snowball quilt with them. Isn't that special? A labor of love, to be sure. It will be a wonderful keepsake for the generations to come.

Our hostess Terry spent the entire day making dog beds. She had huge sheets of foam, made lining of muslin and used a king-size fleece blanket cut down to cover each bed. It was a big job. She even put zippers in them!

I spent the day sewing (and unsewing) Burgoyne Surrounded blocks. I also made a back for a quilt that I left at Terry's for quilting. I will provide details on that in a future post.

And that about sums up our day of sewing at Terry's. I was pleased with what I accomplished, and I would say the others were, too.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Fixing Boo-boos

These daggone Burgoyne Surrounded blocks are so easy to goof up. I have spent more time than I care to admit ripping out those blended 9-patch blocks that I showed you a couple days ago. Click here to read about constructing them.

The mistake in the above 4 finished blocks is in the first one. The lower left blended 9-patch is turned the wrong way. The navy diagonal is not doing its job of keeping the larger navy diagonal going through the block.

 

It has happened 3 times and let me tell  you, they are not fun to fix! I have laid the blocks out with everything going the right direction, but somehow I get this block turned without even realizing it until it is all sewn in.

Other that that, these blocks have been a lot of fun to make. I have 13 blocks completed, and have just 7 more to make. I try to get a good bunch of sub-units made ahead, and that makes finishing blocks a lot faster. Fun, too. *grin*  I am getting close enough to 20 blocks to begin thinking ahead to the sashing and cornerstone blocks that I will need to make.

So back to the sewing machine for me!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Sewing With Frienzies

It's bridal quilt time again! Last spring and summer the Frienzies made a quilt for Hettie's daughter, Kaitlin, who got married in July. Now, the bride is my DD1, Erin, who is getting married in May.

Erin's request was for a blue quilt with hints of red and pink using Kaffe Fassett fabrics. We soon dismissed our plan to use the same pattern as Kaitlin's - we just couldn't see cutting the large beautiful prints into tiny bits. So we browsed a few KF books and found one we liked.

Big blocks in 3 sizes: 9.5", 6.5" and 3.5". The arrangement of each unit differs significantly; the one pictured above is just one of about a dozen different block arrangements. I'm not seeing much in the way of "pops of red and pink" - but with KF fabrics, you get pops of green and purple, too. We will make sure to distribute the colors as we put the pieces together.

Kay and I didn't mind a bit that we needed to look for a different pattern. Is there anything better than looking at KF books? And look at that sea of blue spread out on the table. Wonderful, wouldn't you agree?

Look at all the layers we are wearing! This was that Tuesday morning which for our area was the coldest on record in like 25 years. I think it was -15 degrees, and the wind chill temps were worse. All the schools were closed, as well as many businesses. We braved the frigid weather to meet at Sherrie's for this project.

On this particular day we got all the cutting done for the entire quilt, with a few extra blocks in case we want options as far as fabric placement. I am eager to get back together to begin sewing!

Sherrie's backyard was filled with wildlife!. As we enjoyed hot coffee and muffins, a pair of deer visited the birdfeeder for some sunflower seeds. They stood there and munched for a good while. I expect the snow cover and the below zero temperatures we've had make it hard for wildlife to find food sources, so neighborhood birdfeeders are a tasty alternative.

Back to quilts. Sherrie had some show and tell for us. It's always fun to see what the others have been working on. The first is a baby quilt in purple and white.

 

This star may be called a Bradford Star block. I like how the star is formed in the negative space of the darker purple chevrons. Whatever it's called, it is beautiful, and some new mom is going to be quite happy to receive it.

This is Sherrie's Stack'n'Whack quilt. The most interesting designs are formed when the blocks come together. I really like that green middle border. If you could see it close up, you'd note that it is pink polka dots on green. It's eye-catching, for sure. Then, if you could look even closer, the pink in the alternate blocks which reads as a solid is really pink with tiny green pin dots. Fun - a very playful quilt.

We had a great day together at Sherrie's; I can't wait to get back over there to sew on the KF bridal quilt.

Happy Quilting, Friends!