It's A Top! Path And Stiles

It's a top! 

Path and Stiles

90 x 90

A long long time ago I used to swap 3 inch Nine Patches several times a year for a lot of years. I love little Nine Patches and have used them in several quilts and although my stash of them is dwindling I still have a little pile of them left but those will be worked into a few UFOs one of these days. I will hate to see that bin empty but so it goes. 

I started making these 9 inch (finished) Path and Stiles blocks back in July 2021. I picked out little Nine Patches for the centers and then tried to match some fabrics from the scrap bags to the little Nines to finish the blocks. 

By November 2021 I had made 100 blocks and put the complete block set away in my SAR (Some Assembly Required) box. 

Matching up points is enough to drive me batty sometimes! 

Oh my goodness...points that don't match up! Well, that's okay. This quilt will go into the collection of quilts we use on our bed for warmth in this drafty old farmhouse and points that match or don't match really don't matter to me all that much. I had fun making the blocks.  

You never know what might show up in a scrappy quilt! 

And sew on...

 

Nine Patch November: Path and Stiles

I just returned home yesterday afternoon from a short trip to a state park. Five of my husband's seven siblings and spouses rented a cabin rented a cabin in the woods and a good time was had by all although I think some folks (mostly women but not me) were disappointed that internet connectivity was almost nil and they became rather anxious. I think it's nice to get away for a bit but I am always glad to be back home. Groups of people make me anxious and I'm not much of a socializer. 

Today I finished up the rest of my Path and Stiles blocks. I now have 100 of these nine inch finished blocks. 

It's Nine Patch November at my house. I chose to try to reduce both my inventory of six and three inch Nine Patches. I swapped three inch Nine Patches quarterly for a number of years and although I've made a lot of quits that use them I still have a bin of them. I used some of those Nine Patches as the centers of these blocks. 

I went through my chunk scraps and tried to match up my scraps to the Nine Patch centers. I actually had a lot of fun doing that. 

Now my three inch Nine Patch inventory is 100 Nine Patches lighter. 

After I finishing ironing the remainder of the blocks they will all go into the Some Assembly Required box where complete blocks sets rest until I feel like assembling a top. 

Now I have a little stack of 3.5 inch width pieces to deal with and my Shoe Box project box will be ready for another project. 

 

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

 

Oh, Those 39Ps !

A few months ago I decided to dig into my bin of three inch nine patches (39Ps) and make some Path and Stiles blocks using the 39Ps as the block centers. I pulled out blocks in two colorways and then tried to match fabrics to make the block. 

I think it takes me longer to pick through my scraps to find fabrics that "match" than it does to make the blocks. 

I'm also using the 39Ps in two colorways as the centers for some Framed Stars. 

I'm also using 39Ps as the centers for these blocks whatever their name. (How about Framed Nine Patch).  I'm using 39Ps in a color plus neutral; however I see I have an orange and yellow one in this batch.  These will have a neutral sashing with dark squares on each end and white/neutral cornerstones so a little nine patch forms. 

This year I've been trying to get all my new starts to flimsy stage before year end. If I don't get them to flimsy stage then at least I hope to make complete blocks sets so they can go into my Some Assembly Required (SAR) box. Year end will be here before I know it so I've been trying to make a few of each of these blocks every week. 

I used to swap 39Ps quarterly for a number of years. Even though I have made 4 large quilts with them I still have a 14 quart bin of them. The grocery bag has ones with light corners. With those I've been thinking I will make a quilt similar to the Framed Nine Patch with sashing but make it the reverse of the current WIP. 

Links to quilts I've made in the past with 39Ps:

 Zig Zag Nine Patch

Jack's Chain I 

Jack's Chain II (to be hand quilted)

Sister's Choice 

One of the next quilts I plan to make is inspired by this vintage quilt. I think one of the gallon bags in the bin is filled with possible 39Ps for this quilt but I'm not sure anymore. And I'm not sure what those numbers are I jotted down in the margin. Guess when I'm ready to make the quilt I'll figure it out. 

 

Nine Patch Pleasures

Paths and Stiles

Nine inch (finished)

Framed Nine Patch Star

Nine inch (finished).

I have a small bin of 3 inch (finished) Nine Patches. I'm using the two color/two shades of same color Nine Patches to make these blocks. I'm going to try to make several of each block every week. At the beginning of the year I told myself that if I started anything new I had to finish a flimsy by year end unless it was a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) Project. So far so good but I'm not so sure about these new starts. If it gets close to year end I guess I could turn them into RSC projects!

 

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!

 

This, That, And The Other Things

I cleaned up the leftovers from making the Coin Toss top the other day.  I cut the pieces I could into 3 inch squares and the other pieces less than a square were sewn into several strips. If I had 8 squares of the same color I made Hollow Nine Patches otherwise I put the squares in my Squares Bin. 

I made some pineapples and apples from 1.5 inch squares which was one of my goals toward my Asymmetry/Tea Towel Challenge. 

I assembled all of the sashing and cornerstone parts for Diagonal Bars blocks  I won in a 2014 Block Lotto.  I'm not going to put them in with the other block sets in my "Some Assembly Required" box. I'm going to try to get the top assembled in August. 

And I made a couple of "before I forget" blocks. I ran across a piece of Christmas fabric in with my scraps. I was too lazy to unstack my boxes to get down to the little box of Christmas fabric just to put this FQ into it. So I decided to use it. How about some Christmas Cactus Pots? I do love a play on words. The Cactus Pot block made in Christmas fabrics = Christmas Cactus! 

And also while I was thinking about it...I gathered some 3 inch nine patches from a big bin of the little cuties. I only picked out ones that had dark corners and center  and did not have a neutral for the other four squares. 

I tried them out in some Path and Stiles blocks. Ok. I like them. I'll carry on. 

And that brings me to a box of orphan blocks...

...and this box of orphan blocks. I've kind of sorted them into different groups of blocks I think would look good together. In August I am going to see how many 40 x 60 donation quilt tops I can get made. And hopefully I will be able to remove two empty boxes from the sewing space. 

My OMG (One Monthly Goal) for August is to assemble at least one top from those orphans. I'll give myself a smiley face, a big star and bonus points for any more than one top!

OMG at Elm Street Quilts

I thought I had better declare my August goal now because in a day or so I'm going to be gone for over a week of camping with some of my husband's family - a mini family reunion.