nine-patch

As I await my shipment from Connecting Threads, I took the opportunity to work on my nine-patch quilt. 6.5″ x 2.5″ strips of sashing between each block, plus borders. Lord, that was a LOT of strips of bleached muslin. Aside from the vertical strips that went between the blocks in each row, I created an uber-strip for the rest. I cut, I don’t know, 15? 20? 2.5″ strips and just pieced every last one together. That way, less waste, less individual piecing for each part of the border.

All 35 of the nine-patches are now safely enclosed in their white sashing, and I have to say, it’s amazing what that white does to the overall look. Just sitting together, my blocks looked really random, messy, jumbled, and very, very busy. The white gives them each their own personal space. A little breathing room, separate from the others. Aaahhh.

With that first phase of sashing/borders done, I’m now at work making the pieced border. I kept a box of extra 2.5″ squares the whole time, and though I think I missed a few, I would say most of the fabrics in the blocks are represented in the box of random goodness.

I’ve just started pulling one square after another, chain-piecing all four strips at a time. By my math, the two side borders should each need 29 squares, and the top and bottom should each need 23. How likely do you think it is that they’ll match up the way they’re theoretically supposed to…?

I’m happy with the way this is turning out, perhaps happier than I feared I would (not) be. But I’m also very happy with my decision to go with the half-size version. This feels a lot more manageable.

And, by the way, Fabric.com is having a 30% off sale of their “last chance” fabrics (i.e. ones with a bolt or less in stock). I may have picked up some awesome stripes and polka dots… I have a problem! Someone stop me!

Right. So, I haven’t posted about the 9-patch quilt-along in about a month. And you would be correct if you interpreted that to mean I haven’t made a 9-patch in as long. Last night, however, I jumped back in and made four of them.

And I’ve decided that’s the last of them. This just wasn’t speaking to me, so I decided not to spend that much time and fabric to make that huge of a quilt that I’m just not sure I’m going to like all that much. I think it’s a great concept and a nice pattern, but I don’t do fully random very well. I need a theme, a unifying element, something. That’s just how I roll. And since I don’t have that in this quilt, I’m going to cut my “losses.” (Not that it’s really a loss!)

I’m not going to have it all go to waste, though. I made four last night so that my grand total would be 35, half of the intended 70. Instead of a gargantuan 7 x 10, my blocks will be 5 x 7. I intend to finish it just like a smaller version of the intended design. With sashing, it’s still going to be a very generous lap quilt, theoretically 50″ x 66″ (minus an inch or two here or there from my imperfect seam allowance).

I’m not sure when I’ll get to this, but hopefully it won’t linger too long. I’ve got the other quilt-along in progress, plus maybe four commissioned quilts for people in the hopper, not to mention the ever-lengthening list of things I just plain want to do. Could I order up some more hours in the day, please? Especially more hours in which my kids are sleeping…

Another week, another seven 9-patches.  Here’s this week’s contribution:

Honestly, not a single unifying feature among them.  Random as hell.  Ah well.  That’s the way of it.

I thought I’d try laying all of them out on the bed.  See how they look together.  See if there’s any one color that I have entirely too much of, or something I should make a point to add in.  The result:

Also random as hell.

Can anyone out there with fresh, objective eyes let me know what colors you think I should add or avoid in upcoming blocks?

In the meantime, I’m working on v.2 of the purple and green baby quilt.  Can’t talk much about it since I don’t know if the recipient reads this blog. But I’m hopeful it will turn out way better than the first.  Some of the same fabrics plus some new, entirely different pattern.

I also got my first ever order from Fabric.com and was quite pleased.  Not only were they having a 20% off sale, plus I got free shipping because my order was over $35, plus it arrived rather quickly…. PLUS, they were awfully generous in their cuts. I was ordering all half-yards.  Some look kind of generous, maybe closer to 3/4 yard. And one is at least a two-yard cut (of one of my favorites of the bunch, no less).  Mistake on their part? Perhaps. But hey, they charged me for what I ordered, so I won’t go and complain.

17 blocks down, only 53 to go… Hrm.  Here’s this week’s blocks:

Up to this point, I had been really good about doing one each day.  But this week I had to play catch-up, twice.  I made two blocks on Monday because on Sunday I was so focused on knocking out my stacked coins quilt that I just had to walk away from the machine before making the 9-patch.  And today I made two because on Tuesday I was a) exhausted and didn’t sew during naptime; and b) I actually had a night out with friends!  Yay when socializing wins over sewing.

My favorite blocks from this week are the purples and greens on the right, which were my two Monday blocks.  They’re leftover fabric from another work in progress, a baby quilt for a pregnant friend.  I adore the fabrics I got for that quilt, so I was more than pleased to use them in a couple of blocks.

In the meantime, my mom and stepdad are in town.  Lots of fun, but it means the kiddos’ naptime is now Major Organizational Project time with my mom, instead of Leisurely Sewing/Blogging/Chill-Out time by myself.  But at least they aren’t staying in my guest room, so I still have access to my sewing machine!  Heck, today I got to make my blocks while they played with my kids in the yard. Not too shabby.

My first full week of the quilt-along, and already I’m sort of throwing out my ideas of what kinds of fabrics I’ll use.  I’m now going fairly random, trying to take mostly from my existing stash (no, I didn’t pick up a bunch more fat quarters when I was at Joann’s the other day, why do you ask….?).  I’m trusting in the magic of white sashing to make it all look good in the end.

I’ve also already come to terms with the fact that I do not have to be head-over-heels in love with each block.  I can, and will, like some significantly better than others.  Again, trusting in the magic of white sashing… we shall see!

On other fronts, I’m nearly done with the custom doggie quilts for my friend’s sons. Waiting for two charm packs to arrive in the mail for my brother’s emergency baby quilt. And, well, a million others on the list.

How do you keep track of your quilting to-do list? Steps needed for works in progress, list of projects, list of things you’d like to do?  I feel like I need a white-board, but I’m not sure that will even cover it…

I’m doing the one-a-day 9-patch quilt-along (wow, that’s a lot of hyphens) with crazy mom quilts, one of my very favorite quilting blogs.  I thought I’d make it a point to check in weekly while this is going on.  Of course, I’m only three days in, so things are going great!

I really like this quilt-along.  One a day (or seven per week) is a totally manageable amount.  Much less daunting than starting a quilt and thinking, “I have to make SEVENTY nine-patches.”  Lordy, that would turn me right off.  But doing one a day is easy, takes very little time. Heck, I could probably knock one out while my husband gives the kids a bath.  And it’s a little like a sewing meditation.  A daily practice.  A habit-builder.

Here’s my first three days’ worth:

It’s all stuff I had in my stash, either leftovers from another project or miscellaneous fat quarters I picked up on a whim.  I don’t have any kind of theme, except that I’m trying to stick with “modern” colors and prints, whatever that may mean.  Also, though they’re supposed to be 6.5″ square at this point, they’re a little closer to 6.25″.  Not sure where I’m going wrong, whether the cut, the seam, or the pressing.  But hey, at least I’m consistent.

And if you want to see what other people are up to, check out the Flickr pool.