It's a Finish! Even Nine Patches in Uneven Nine Patches

Even Nine Patches in Uneven Nine Patches 

or

Puss in the Corner with 3 Inch Nine Patch Centers

It's a finish!

59 x 72

Finally I have a finish! This one has been pin basted for quite awhile. This time of year I spend more time in the gardens sowing than I spend in the sewing space sewing.  So all month long I've quilted on this one on my DSM a little at a time. 

This quilt started with some swapped 3 inch nine patches. Long ago I used to belong to a group that swapped the little Nines quarterly. I've used them in several quilts over the years but still to this day have a small bin of them.  

I added sashing between the blocks that made little Nine Patches with light corners.  I finished the top back in 2021. 

I quilted it on my DSM (Brother PQ1500SL) with diagonal, vertical and horizontal lines. 

The backing and binding are the same fabric. 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

***

CELEBRATE! (My word of the year)

May 4 - I've been seing a fox on my property off and on for awhile now. To me that is a good thing because I was thinking it would take care of some moles and voles and mice and rabbits that do damage to my gardens. Then one day I saw two foxes in the early morning when I looked outside my deck door. They were in the bushes in front of the tumble down barn. Maybe they live here. If I'm going to have varmints around I prefer fox now that I don't raise chickens anymore. 

May 5 - Oh, what a beautiful day!  We have had such beautiful weather for several days. I have most of my veg garden planted and seeds sown.  I just have to plant the tomatoes I started from seeds and am hardening off now as well as a few squash and cantaloupe seeds.  I've also sown a few seeds in the cutting garden like zinnias, sunflowers, calendula and planted some delphinium, foxglove, larkspur and love lies bleeding plants I started from seeds early in the year. 

May 6 - Received a box of this and that! Oh, what fun! I have taken a picture and since the theme this month in my sewing space is "WITB and SAR" - the WITB being "What's in the Box/Bag/Bin" I will work on making blocks/tops and document what I made from the contents in the box to share in a later blog post. 

 

May 7 - Rain! I was trying to get a lot of my seeds planted before the rain. The gardens needed it and it showed. And because of the rain I was able to spend a little time in the sewing space as well as catch up on some housework. 

May 8 - Sun came out and dried up all the rain and I did a little more planting. Finished sewing binding on a quilt! And I finished another book -- Secret Photograph by Siobahn Curham. It is a WWII historical novel set around true historical events in WWII Paris and resistance fighters who photographed some of the horrific events that took place like children thrown from a window during an orphanage raid. 

June Leaders and Enders

"Brown Stuff"

My June leaders and enders were little brown three inch

 Nine Patches

in civil war reproduction fabrics

for my Whirl quilt.

I think there's 42 of them. 

And sew on...

 

Using More Reward Points (A New Start)

I needed a break from all of this month's hearts, pinks and other sweet stuff that has been the theme here in my sewing room so I made some 3 inch finished Nine Patches in civil war reproduction fabrics. 

I'm going to make this quilt that I saw on the Temecula Quilt Company blog from the early 1900s (maker and region unknown).   Sheryl is calling it Whirl and making it by hand and welcomed others to sew along.   I'm not going to approach the making of the quilt the same way she is - from the center out so I won't really be sewing along.  I'm first going to make a whole bunch of little nine patches and then assemble the quilt in sections.   I really like the quilt because it is vintage and it is unusual. 

                                 I started out by cutting up a bunch of small chunks of civil war reproduction fabrics into 1.5 inch strips and I'll strip piece some nine patches as leader/enders. 

This year I want to try and finish up lots and lots of UFOs. I'm going to try assigning a theme of the month in order too motivate me to move UFOs that fit that them forward. January's theme was KIDS! KIDS! KIDS! and I moved forward 20 UFOs that fit that theme plus 2 others.  I also told myself that this year for every 5 finishes I could reward myself with 1 new start. So in January I earned 4 reward points.  Of course this is just a game of solitaire and the rules may change at any point. 

My first reward point was used on a Lil' Baskets new start. I posted about that the other day. 

My second reward point was used on a Broken Wheels new start. 

So now I have 1 point left to use on new starts AND if I finish just one more quilt for a total of 25 year to date then that's worth another point! 

Now back to this month's theme of Hearts and Flowers and the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color pink. 

 

Nine Patch November: Path and Stiles

I've found it helpful to move "stuff" forward in the sewing room to devote each month to a theme of my choice. In August I worked on orphan block reduction. In September I worked only on quilting. In October I worked on string reduction. Except for September when I only did quilting I did work on other things besides the theme. I declare it Nine Patch November here in the sewing room. I have a bin of 3 inch Nine Patches from years of swapping and I am already in the midst of three different quilts that will make use of them.  I also have a bin of  6 inch Nine Patches that I made last year as one of the blocks to empty the 2.5 inch scrap bin. I have also been making 6 inch Nine Patches when I have had 2.5 inch scraps left over from other projects. The bin is full and I have divided those Nine Patches up into several different piles for several different quilts. I will work on some of those in November too. 

I just finished all of these Path and Stiles blocks that finish at 9 inches. I've been using 3 inch Nine Patches for the centers and have been trying to match fabrics from my stash (scrap chunks if I can) to finish the blocks. 

I started these a few months ago and now have 55 of them. I think they would look good in a big bed quilt so am aiming for 100 Path and Stiles blocks. 

I think I'm also going to try to sneak in some work with rose themed fabrics in November. I've been assembling a top that uses rose themed fabrics and I have had a bin of dark rose themed fabric scraps just waiting to be used. I know what I'm going to do with those scraps. I just need to do. 

Finished OR NOT FINISHED Friday at Alycia Quilts

 

Report From A Fly On The Wall

After I reported on my string quilts to the Stashbusters Group  someone said they wished they could be a fly on the wall and someone asked how many hours in a day I usually spend sewing. 

Well, on average I probably spend about four hours a day in my sewing space sorting, cutting, sewing and ironing. And today there was a fly on the wall that will report on what I actually did in four hours in my sewing room this morning after my coffee, yogurt and toasted homemade sourdough bread. 

I made some HSTs in July for a quilt called Mystica. The top consists of 4 panels of 14 rows and columns of HSTs and squares. I have one panel sewn (1X) and just started working on another panel yesterday and sewed together pieces in rows 1-4.

. Today I worked on sewing together rows 5-9 for panel 2X. 

I was going to sew together webbed rows of  PSP20 (Postage Stamp Pandemic 64 patches) for leader/enders at the end of each column but that seemed too slow and like too much pinning. 

I decided instead to use waste triangles to make wonky HSTs instead. I blogged about these and the quilt I want to make inspired by a vintage quilt back in January. 

Panel 1X. I'm working on making another panel like this one which I've named 2X. 

So anyway, after I webbed together rows 5-9 of panel 2X I sewed together the rows 1-4 I webbed yesterday. Then pressed. And then I was tired of Mystica so moved on to something else. 

Double Irish Chain is one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) projects. I have 52 out of the desired 63 blocks made and I want to have all 63 blocks finished by year end. So I decided to work on those. I picked out fabric yesterday for a couple of blocks so cut the pieces for two Double Irish Chain blocks from those fabrics. Then I put the fabrics away where they belong. 

Then I started piecing the blocks. A lot of blocks can be chain pieced but not these. I make them one at a time and work from the inside out. 

I started with the green one and got so far along and was missing a green 1.5 inch square. I searched around for it and then noticed I put the center together incorrectly. The little center nine patch should have brown corners and not green corners. Oops! I haven't had that happen before. Well, I set that one aside and will take the seam ripper to it tonight while watching TV with hubby. 

I did continue on and make the second Double Irish Chain with the orange pieces. 

Then I dug through scraps for fabric combinations for some more Double Irish Chain blocks. I may or may not cut and sew some tomorrow. But if I do feel like it I have some fabric combos ready. 

Then at this point I took a break - went upstairs, went to bathroom, got a glass of iced tea, chatted a bit with hubby and went back downstairs. 

Then I sewed together the rows of three PSP20 blocks I webbed together yesterday. 

Then after I finished the three PSP20 blocks I ironed them. I also ironed the Double Irish Chain I just made and the two I made yesterday. I have more blocks in the ironing pile but I only ironed these because I want to blog about these two RSC projects tomorrow.   If you are interested my iron is a cheap Walmart Black and Decker. I don't use steam. If I want steam I spray the fabric with a spray bottle of water.   

Then I took photos of the PSP20 and Double Irish Chain blocks for tomorrow's blog post. I don't have a design wall. I prop an old cutting mat covered with a piece of batting against the wall and put blocks on it for photos. 

After that I cut solids for three more PSP20 64 patch blocks. I was getting low on different solids but recently found a few different purple solids in with some pansy fabric scraps so have been using those. I have a gallon baggie of postage stamps (1.5 inch squares).  

Then I webbed together pieces for 8 rows of 8 for three blocks. 

Then I was tired of postage stamps. 

I've been working on Path and Stiles blocks and have been using 3 inch nine patches for the centers. For several years I used to participate in a quarterly 3 inch 9 patch swap and even though I have made several quilts that used them I still have a bin of them. For the Path and Stiles blocks I am using nine patches made with two colors and then trying to match up scraps to the blocks to make the blocks.

 I picked out a few nine patches in two colors that had reds in them. 

Then I dug through my red scrap chunks for some possible fabrics to match the colors in the little nine patches. 

After I found some red scraps to match (I only need a 3.5 inch width scrap) I dug through scraps of other colors for the second fabric match. So when I feel like working on Path and Stiles blocks my fabrics are ready. 

So that was about four hours today in the sewing room. Doesn't seem like I did a lot but every little bit adds up!

Then hubby called me for lunch- last night's leftover chicken vegetable soup made with garden veggies (onions, green beans, carrots, tomatoes and potatoes) and some homemade crackers. 

 

Gayle's Squirrel Mutated And Ran Through My Sewing Room

I saw Gayle's (Mangofeet) squirrel was a six inch Framed Star. That squirrel mutated into a nine inch Framed Star with a three inch Nine Patch center and ran through my sewing room. 

Good thing because I've been looking for new and fun ways to use up a lot of three inch Nine Patches that are made with two colors.

A Path and Stiles squirrel came through my sewing room last month and it also uses those cute Nine Patches. 

Perhaps the squirrels found their nut in my sewing room!

 

Lady Sings The Blues

I've been making Economy Blocks with 3. 5inch centers out of '30s reproduction scraps.  The thought occurred to me that I have a 16 quart bin of little 3.5 inch unfinished nine patches so decided to make another quilt of Economy Blocks with the little nine patches as centers. 

At first I was going to use blue, red and purple nine patches but after I dug through the bin I found I had lots of them in blue (maybe 125 or so??) so decided I would just use blue nine patches for the centers...

 ...because I have a lot of blue scraps I can use too. 

I'm aiming for a twin sized donation quilt. 

It's a Finish!

 Another Nine Patch

No clever name comes to me for this one

78 x 78

Machine quilted on my DSM 

 It's basically a little Nine Patch within another Nine Patch  (or Puss in the Corner) with striped sashing.    I used 2.5 inch scraps to frame the little nine patches. 

 I used to participate in a quarterly 3 inch nine patch swap so had lots of those on hand. I still have a lot of them and am always looking for new ways to use them.  I think I've made five different quilts that used nine patches. 

 The quilt was inspired by a picture I saw of a Susan McDermott quilt in Quilt magazine. 

I quilted it with straight lines on the diagonal. I tried to quilt it so the little nine patches poofed out. 

I used a  100% cotton queen sized sheet from the thrift store for the backing. The tag was still on it - $2.  I was going to make a scrappy binding but couldn't decide on which scraps to use from the 2.5 scrap bin - they are all rather short. And I don't have many bright pieces in the leftover binding bin. So I used plain old red to match the corner stones. 

This was my goal #4

for 

Q4 Finish-Along 

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Pink 1.5 Inch Scrap Edition

This week I used pink scraps from the 1.5 inch scrap bin.  

I made two 6 x 14 Whatchamacallit blocks ( aka Chinese Coins). I didn't have quite enough different scraps for two blocks so I added in a few red scraps. 

Little 3 inch Rail blocks. 

3 inch Nine Patches

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

I Don't Leader/Ender But I Do Multitask

 Often when I post about Rainbow Scrap Challenge Projects I get comments that the blocks or units I am working on would make a good leader/ender.  Well, it probably would if I were a leader/ender kind of girl. But I'm not. I've tried and tried.  I prefer to say I multitask. When I'm working with scraps I'm normally really working with scraps and I arrange my scraps by size. Then I use the scraps in various projects based on size. So, for instance, this week I will dig into the 3.5 inch scraps and cut them for Snowballs, Bow Ties.   Then I will chain piece both blocks at the same time.  

But then sometimes I multitask by fabric or by color.  For example...I saw a block that involved nine patches on Nann's blog (With Strings Attached).  It's in the top row above.  I have a lot of nine patches and Nann is one of the ladies I have swapped with for years with the Block Swappers Yahoo Group. When I am inspired rather than pin to a Pinterest board or bookmark it a lot of the time I just make a block to see how it goes and to see if I really, really am inspired.   If I'm really, really inspired then I make more at some point and if I'm not the trial block goes into the orphanage. 

So, to see if Nann really did inspire me,  I grabbed a few of the bright 3 inch nine patches since I'm using the darker ones in a Jack's Chain and decided to use some tone on tone fabrics I would have to cut for the borders plus make the corners from 2.5 inch scraps.   

And while I had the tone on tones out to cut I decided to use the same fabrics on two other UFOs - Happy Blocks with 4 inch centers and 1-3/4 inch sides and 10 inch Owl and Pussy Cat Sawtooth Star blocks which requires a 3 inch tone on tone piece. 

So, as I pulled each fabric then I cut a 1-3/4 inch strip for Happy Blocks, a 2.5 inch strip for bordered nine patches ( or sometimes a 3.5 inch strip depending upon yardage) and a 3 inch strip which I then further cut into the pieces necessary for each block. 

Then I chain pieced them all at one time - multitasking.  Then I started over again with a different fabric and so on until I got tired of making these blocks. 

And three projects moved forward in no time. 

This is the new start that I saw on Nann's blog. These blocks will then get sashed with some kind of stripe (maybe or maybe something else to be determined) and corner stones and set on point. 

 I think I will have a wilder version than Nann is making. 

But we are both having fun, I'll bet. 

A few years ago I participated in an I Spy Happy Block swap. The blocks have four inch centers and 1 - 3/4 inch sides to total a six inch block.   Over the years I have participated in 4 inch novelty charm swaps too. So, from all the swaps I pulled the ones with critters on them and into Happy Blocks they go. 

I have a bigger pile of them now but to make a BIG quilt you need a BIG pile. 

Strange Bedfellows will be a quilt for me. The rest of the charms/blocks will go into donation quilts. 

And these are the new additions for the Owl and the Pussy Cat quilt. The centers are owl and pussy cat scraps. 

And now I've also made a few tone on tone scraps of various sizes that I will add to their respective scrap boxes. I don't have many 1-3/4 inch scraps to add to so depending upon the size of scrap I further cut those into 1.5 inch postage stamps or a 1.5 inch strip. 

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework