BIG finish with small pieces

 I am so excited to get this quilt DONE.   For the past year, I have been merrily sewing all these pieces to make my 9 patch WONDER!  It has been fun to have it on the side, idly making little 3 inch 9 patch blocks. Then I would assemble the bigger 9 patch blocks, followed by sashing  one row at a time. Sometimes it was just the best project to not have to think about as you assembled groups of 9 patches. 

 I want to thank Gretchen Weaver for her inspiring quilt which spurred me on.  Here is her quilt.  The original pattern was in American Patchwork and Quilting which I did find in my stacks of magazines. 

( Notice the photo is taken outside! Yeah to warm weather.)

And for this beauty, I only had to purchase the blue solid fabric, the red border fabric and the backing fabric. All the little pieces were from my stash cut from the variety of colors; I used as much as I could from my scrap container. But alas, they seem to have multiplied again.  And even though I used up a wealth of backgrounds, I still have many pieces left. 

History of the quilt began here. Followed by additions: here and here and here.   Piecing the borders were here.   If you are so inclined to see the enlargement a bit at a time. 

Here you can see the beautiful red print on the back and the quilt design.

And here you can see the setting better as well as the paper pieced borders.

The quilt is 7 blocks in each of 7 rows. Plus it has sashing with one 9 patch block in the middle of each. 

Total size of 96 inches square !  

I can breathe again.

 Today, Thursday, is the first day I slept without numerous cold/cough medications. And I can breathe without the stuffiness in my nasal passages.  There are still some residual effects, but such a welcome difference. 

So I am trying to get back to my New Year's goals. 

Great News!!!!!! I have finished my 9 Patch Pretties!  All borders are on and all the papers are removed.  

Hooray!     Hip Hip Hooray!    Hip Hip Hooray!

Sorry only indoor photos without an assistant.

And I get a cold!

 Sidelined,  literally.....

I pushed myself to do tooo much on Monday, Jan. 8. It was a busy day with 2 meetings and I squeezed extra errands on top.  It was so good to get so much done. My New Year's Goals were finally starting.  But after a long day, I felt tired. I even pushed myself to undecorate the Christmas tree. We had done the outside and various other adornments. I sat on the couch all night, and deteriorated slowly. Even my husband noticed after he came home from his concert. 

I have been sleeping, drinking lots of fluids and just doing nothing....DARN COLD.        For 4 days. 

Today is the first time I am actually thinking about things.  So I have been going through my stack of magazines to select patterns I still want to make. And making a pile to DONATE.  This is part of my decluttering...Yes!

And rethinking my ambitious goals.    I think I am dropping my crazy patch cats. It just isn't speaking to me.

It is now the next week Jan 15. And we have SNOW, and  more SNOW.  15 inches of it.  And it is beautiful!  I have never seen it stick to the woods for such a long period of time.  So pretty and magical when the sun shines.

We are talking 15 inches. And I don't shovel.  My husband is a God send.  Even 3 times in one day with the snow blower. I have been in this house 25 years and this is the MOST ever. And here it is Wednesday and it is still stuck to the trees. And this has branches falling everywhere impacting power lines. And it is VERY cold. We are up to single digits with chill factor added. 

OK Now it is a week.  I have cut out 2 valentine blocks for my Mom and sister. This is an adaptation of the American Patchwork and Quilting for this month.  I have reduced the blocks from 3 inches to 2 inches. 

 And I have attached my pieced border to my 9 patch pretties. with the last borders as well. 

Slow progress....especially removing half of the paper pieces. 

Catching up!

 It is so nice to be home.  After a while gathering my thoughts and catching up on news and such, I got into a mood to clean. And it feels good to do those things that I have put off for some time. So each day I have made a list to accomplish a few tasks. Some are easy tasks like baking cookies; others are not so much fun like washing windows that I never got around to this summer.   But all in all, things are getting accomplished. And it keeps inspiring me to do a little more.  

I wish I could say I have been on the sewing train to finish up a few of those oh, so close projects. 

I did make a door hanger for Mom for Christmas for her new place.   And I hope to do a monthly one as the calendar progresses.   12 by 23 inches I think in my stash fabrics. Buttons and hanging ribbon to be attached.

This is a new pattern I found at Quilts Plus in Lebanon, Indiana.  They were my first quilt store in Indianapolis at the time on 86th street way back in 1978. 

Other progress on projects:   borders of flying geese finished    14 out of 28

Cornerstone square in a square blocks:   Also paper pieced all 28 DONE!

    

Little Pieces

 For the first in a few weeks, this is not a finishing week for quilts.  It does feel so good to get 2 quilts off to the quilter though.   I just need to get to quilting my smaller tops. 

I am working on my paper pieced borders for all the 9 patches that were made:

In the meantime, I have started a medallion quilt for the spring quilt show.  This is my 1 dollar find at a book sale. 

And an awesome Jen Kingwell pattern. 

So for the piecing I am working on: 

These are 4 1/2 inch blocks with hand appliqued orange peels.

And these are 3 1/2 inch churn dashes. I make 2 at a time with the colors reversed as I use the 8 at a time half square triangle method. 

Funny how little blocks take as much time as big ones. 

It has been a messy week with family and such.  My mother's husband in Canada has regressed so and is frustrated and angry taking it out on everyone especially now that he has moved into a nursing home himself. But he is preventing Mom from moving here to be with us. He is 2 hours away from her , himself leaving her behind. 

And to top it off, we were cat sitting for our daughter's talking cat whom we have had here regularly. And this weekend, she went downhill fast and we had to have her euthanized. She was 15 years old and probably had cancer.  Oh, the tears! 

Fourth of July finish

 It feels good to be sewing again.  I have been working on several projects trying to get things in gear. 

So first I am so happy to have finished the quilting on my Go Sparkly Fourth.  I finished the binding in front of television over a couple nights. And although it was not done for this year, it will be ready for next year. This was an old free pattern from a Fort Worth shop. More pictures in previous posts.  

I kept whittling away at all the 9 patches required for my BEAUTY.  I have my center completed! Way too many 9 patches to count.  It did make a dent in my background stash, but there are still many, many scraps leftover.  Anyone for a small bag of 1 1/2 inch squares?  Free to a good home.

Next step 28 paper pieced flying geese units. Oh, and the square in a square corners.  Need to find a good red border fabric. 

Fall is looking to be beautiful. Although I do agree with another blogger that the dry summer has initiated some brown early leaves. And we are now getting much needed rain. Good sewing weather!

It's SPRING!

 The calendar and the vernal equinox say that it is spring today. And I am truly jealous of more southern states that are lucky enough to feel warmer breezes and see daffodils and such. Wisconsin is NOT ready ready for spring. I can say that I have seen several robins arrive. Where they get there food is a complete mystery to me as we are between snow storms here. No buds, no blooms, no green here. 

Here are some lovely shots of the surrounding roads outside the city showing the current status of our weather.

And I did make some St. Patrick's Day crème puffs with mint green filling and chocolate and sprinkles on the top. Delicious!

So my sewing is progressing. I have my ocean waves back from the quilter and have made a scrap binding for it. My goal is to finish the binding this week. 

I also added a 3rd row to my 9 patch scrap quilt. Each row requires 64  3 1/2 inch 9 patches. And many units are already made for the next one. 

I was all set to assemble a quilt where I have made 60  hourglass units with 4 squares ( 5 1/2 inches)   and 110 mini ones (2 1/2 inches)  I ordered a blue fabric that was to be more navy for the setting. But it turned out to be royal blue. So now what to do with 4 and 1/2 yards of it???? And I have to find another navy blue. 

My quilting goals for the week:

Attach and hand sew binding Ocean Waves

Finish quilting  Mini trees and maybe mini hourglass quilt

2 blocks for Snowmen.

Another mini top

Last winter I made a quilt top needing 400 quarter square triangles.  Well I finished it, but without the last border and was left with over 240 of these hour glass blocks.  So this is my first use of them.  It is a meager 32 units.  But I enjoyed the wool, finding a design, selecting the colors and appliqueing it done. Then on to the assembly of a quilt. I utilized the Fat Quarter Quilting book for inspiration.  

10 by 16 inches

I have a 2nd block planned for it with a different layout.  So many creative ideas and not enough time. 

I have 60 5 inch broken dishes blocks made. 

I have been working steadily on my 9 patch scrap quilt. If I don't feel like working on anything else, I will just sit and sew 1 and 1/2 inch squares together randomly putting colors together Last night it was 20 of these units.   It is now 24 inches by 81; this is it folded in half. 

Stitching and stitching

 I am enjoying the methodical stitching on the machine each day.  And while I seem to slowly accumulate blocks, I don't get to the computer to talk about it. 

Something I am really like creating are my Sewcialites 2 blocks.  I have really liked using Christmas colors and made several blocks this week.  I am almost caught up with the block a week release by Fat Quarter Shop. And I keep looking for larger pieces of fabrics for the setting.  Although I won't be putting it together until this summer. 

And I am churning out my Ocean Waves blocks.  I am down to the last 2 weeks of my schedule to finish the blocks which will total 64.  My goal to finish it for our quilt show at the end of March.  I already have a reservation to have it quilted by my friend. She took some pictures of my blocks I had taken to guild for planning her exquisite work.

I bought some more off white wool for my snowmen and am getting a little done per week   Total 9 sections and the first is completed.  The 2nd one is heat set with hand work and machine applique to do.  The first half of the 3rd is planned. So I am getting there.

I have been marinating my ideas for my Stay at Home Round Robin all week. The idea started by Quilting Gail and then first row by the Home Sewn by Us was to frame your block with the them of spools.  I truly enjoy a challenge of selecting the block and making it fit the center block I started last week. I did need to change the width of the border to make it work.

While it is not all sewn together, I will complete it this weekend. This evening we are celebrating my daughter's birthday, cutting my sewing time down. 

The block was designed by Nancy Zieman found on Pinterest and my finished size is 3 and 1/2 inches. 

And lastly it is fun just to sit and piece scrappy 9 patches. No matter how many I piece and use scraps up, it doesn't make much of a dent in the fabric stash. 

 

And my January goal is COMPLETE.  All the machine quilting, binding and details are added.  And I hung the new wall hanging on the door!  The snowman top  was probably started 15 or more years ago and I was stuck adding the words below.  I just decided to finish it up as is, forget the words, and SEW I did.  Posted on Elm Street Quilts  One Monthly Goal. 

Startitis: the obsession of creating more quilting projects

 So my machine has been buzzing away.  I love having days home to sew.   Sometimes, I like to be a hermit. I have made 16 of my ocean waves blocks and am on schedule to finish for my guild's show. But I am getting worried at the prospect of matching all these blocks together.

And I am working on the 2nd blocks of my Merry Merry Christmas. 

I even started quilting my UFO for January: Ye Old Snowman.

I used a wool scrap batting giving it puffiness. 

Another block of the Sewcialites 2 completed.

So you think that would be enough?   Of course, not.  I started as a leader and ender 9 patches made of 1 inch squares.  Inspiration from Gretchen's Little Corner.  

And then I remembered the Stay at Home Round Robin. I loved making it last year. But got stuck after the 3rd round.   I pulled out the fabrics and have plenty.  First block made from the Grid Girls mystery.  I struggled  worked at the cat's cradle block and found I had a ruler to make it as well. Hooray. 2 versions: I can't decide.