I found a baggie of 3 inch (finished) nine patches in '30s reproduction fabrics. Some of them were from a long ago swap. There were 235 of them. Remember a few weeks ago when I mentioned I still had some 3.5 inch scraps left after making Economy Blocks from scraps? (If you don't remember it was the last sentence of my Nov. 19 '30s Thursday post). Well, I will now cut those into 3.5 inch squares and make some Snowballs to go with my little nine patches.
I figured if I used 225 Nine Patches and alternated with 225 Snowballs I could set them 18 x 25 for a quilt 54" x 75".
So I'll keep some 3.5 inch squares and some 1.5 inch muslin squares cut and near the sewing machine and sew and make a few Snowballs here and there in between other piecing.
I keep a notebook near my sewing machine and one near my computer. All kinds of things get jotted down here and there in my doodle books. This page is full of secret code for UFOs I have found that use '30s reproduction fabrics and what I might do with them. I've been trying to work on something in '30s fabrics every week and blog about it on Thursdays in order to keep focused on moving these UFOs forward.
One of the UFOs involves embroidery. I think it was two years ago that I used some 3 inch scraps left over from a Triangle Squares quilt to make these blocks with 8 inch muslin centers. I then used vintage embroidery transfers of whatever suited my fancy and embroidered the centers.
I have 8 blocks that have the embroidery finished, one block in the hoop almost finished and one that has been stamped for embroidery. I was thinking this would be a nice summer project - handwork for when it is too hot to hand quilt- but I never got around to doing any embroidery last summer.
I had a baggie of those 3 inch scraps and some muslin in the project box so went ahead and made 10 more blocks and I'll stamp them later. I was originally thinking I would make 30 blocks for a quilt 62'' x 75" but the scraps and muslin only made 10 blocks for a total of 20 blocks. That will make a quilt 50 x 62.5 and that's okay with me. So, now you may not see this '30s project again until summer when I start stamping and embroidering.
7 comments:
I like the idea of your 9patch and snowballs!! what fun that will be
Thanks for sharing your codebook! It's always interesting to see quiltmakers' jottings. I'm cheering for you in your push to get all these bibs and bobs made into quilts.
I keep notebooks by my sewing machine, too! Love the blocks with the embroideries mixed in.
I have notebooks too, containing a lot of your ideas and notes about where I can find that particular blogpost! It also takes me back to my Primary School teacher days when I always seemed to have my best ideas in the middle of the night. So I kept a notebook by my bedside and when I woke thinking of a wonderful idea for teaching I wrote it down. However, I didn’t want to wake my lovely husband so I wrote in the dark...... some interesting handwriting to decipher next morning but I always cracked it and was always delighted with the resulting lessons and learning.
Such varied projects with those sweet 30's prints!!
I'm constantly jotting down notes on the backs of envelopes saved from junk mail. Of course, there are usually so incomplete that I can't figure out what they go to later. I also sketch out blocks I see online, but don't label where I found them. A notebook might keep it all in one place, but I really need to remember to write down more detail. Your little embroidered centers are adorable.
Pat
I love these 30's fabrics and blocks that you are making together into something new!
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