Slow non-nine patch

      I am slowly working on the non disappearing nine patch cat quilt for a friend's friend in a nursing home. Because I did not have green batiks the full 6.5" x 6.5", I had to use 3 1/4" x 6.5" rectangles to make it work. That means cutting lots of pieces and chain sewing. I wanted to have lattice strips in between the blocks. I figured it all out and then realized my lattice pieces were cut at 2", not 1.5", so I had to recut. I wrote the wrong measurement down, even though I was trying to be precise.
     It will be 3 blocks by 4. Each big block finishes a little under 19".

Kit all cut (fussy cut the cat blocks) and page of notes.

Laying out the big block for sewing as it is not a nine patch really.

Four done, eight to go.

Squirrel Time

     I thought I had my schedule all made up of what to work on. Our guild show is the beginning of October, so I have tops to quilt. I have an art show in September that I need a couple of small art quilts for. That was my priority. Changed.
     One of my friends, who volunteered to take care of my cat so he would not have to boarded,  told me of her friend who was stricken with an illness and is incapacitated in a nursing home at 63. He has refused PT/OT.  I knew I had to make him a quilt- Squirrel time. He loves cats and flowers. He was an avid gardner and cat owner. We chose some fabric online (wish I had some local quilt stores with choices) and when I got it, the print was smaller than I thought, so I had to rethink the design. 
     A while back, I made this Disappearing 9 patch with lattice and thought this would be a great idea.

     So, I thought I would use brown squares to repeat the idea of the window frames in the cat fabric. Well, big mistake- way too dark and overwhelming. Ripped it all apart. 

    I kept thinking about and thought green batiks might set off the squares.  However, my scraps were not quite the 6.5" I needed, so I used 3.25 x 6.5" scraps. Have a box of green scraps, so I cut those sizes. That means the quilt will not be assembled as a Disappearing 9 Patch, but chain pieced squares and strips.

   I like that much better, so that is the way I am going. A friend said the white looks like a hole, but I want a relief block in the quilt, so it is staying white.

     The quilt will be 3 by 4 big blocks, with some border, will have to see how it looks. Maybe florals.
     I wanted the back of the quilt to be interesting also. I can't imagine laying in bed all day and all night. I thought if the quilt reversed, it would be more fun. The back of the quilt will use this panel of cats cut into separate squares. I cut two of them, put a grey border on, and will use the Grunge Pear Green around all of the squares. 

A twist on Disappearing Nine Patch.

     In a couple weeks, I have to give a program at my guild called "Easy Scrappy Quilts" and talk about making precuts from scrap fabric, storing them, and turning them into quilts. One pattern that I revisited was the disappearing nine patch, but added sashing to the blocks. I got the pattern idea from a pattern on Interweave by Lisa Swenson Ruble called Disappearing Nine Patch. I made the quilt with 12 blocks instead of 20 (3 x 4) because it will be a comfort quilt for a child. I will show this quilt in my presentation. Yes, I made a big mistake in orienting the animals. I arrranged them like I would for a regular Dis9Patch, but they stay in the same orientation in this block. 

Making the blocks 

With sashing

Binding's on! Two down

     I finished sewing the bindings on (all by machine) the pink Disappearing Nine Patch and Little Boxes. They came out real well. Just waiting for a home. In the washer right now.

Last Quilt on the 18"

     The pink Disappearing 9 patch was my last quilt before the 18" Nolting exited. I did all the borders with l's and e's but each square I quilted a different pattern. I have to get better some how. Just needs binding now and a girl who needs it.

Quilting Detail

Quilting Detail

Back

Nominate and more Gold Star quilts

     I became aware that the National Quilters Circle is running a best blog contest with several categories. I urge you to nominate your favorite quilt blog. Blogging takes a lot of time and energy and those who do it consistently and contribute to the field of quilting should be recognized. I made my nomination in the Best overall category to Exuberant Color. There are a handful of bloggers who have helped me and encouraged me way beyond where I was and Wanda is the quilting queen. I am so grateful to them. Every morning I read them and learn from them. If only I could be on that level to reach others!
    Two more Disappearing Nine Patch Gold Star Quilts. Quilted by Chasen Dreams. Photos shot outside in sun!!

The blue sashing is a chambray that someone gave
me big irregular pieces that I was able to cut into 5" squares

The back done with quilted fish

Back with hearts

Quilted and bound

     I am not sure why I have such a difficult time getting photos off the camera and into the blog. The process seems painstaking- hooking up the camera to the computer, choosing the photos, renaming them before they download, download to the right folders, using Picmonkey to crop/touch up, and then writing the blogpost. I have split the newest quilt photos into 2 posts. The Gold Star quilts have been my focus. Also, I have been eeking small quilts off the Nolting. Boy, do I do a wobbly job on it.
     First photo is a Laurel Burch panel that I have had ready to quilt for a couple of years. I have loved Laurel Burch for many years. The back is solid black and you can see the quilting there better. Done on my Nolting.

Photo taken outside in the sun, finally!

The black looks gray in the sun

The back photo taken indoors, still doesn't look black

 

     The Gold Star quilts are coming back from the longarm quilters, Chasen Dreams (on Facebook), two sisters, awesome quilters, who are donating their services, the batting, the labels and coordinating all these quilts for the Gold Star camp in July. Here are a couple I bound yesterday.
      The Disappearing Nine Patch using 5" squares will be a tutorial in May at Confessions of a fabric addict for the Hands2Help drive.

Back

Front, Disappearing 9 Patch

Diagonal pattern from jellyrollfabrics.net

Back

Spring? Not! More Gold Star Dis9Patch

     Last Saturday, my husband and I went to Plantasia, a plant and landscaping show south of Buffalo. It was heavenly to see real green plants with real luscious flowers. In my excitement, I bought a new pair of garden shoes, Sloggers, made in the USA. However, this is what my garden looks like this week.

My garden

     My guild members and I have been making the Disappearing Nine Patches self sashing quilts in an I Spy theme still for the kids Gold Star camp coming in July. My friends at Chasen Dreams (on Facebook) are long arming them. We will put the bindings and labels on. More to come. I just got back the first batch quilted, so I need to make bindings quick. Below are more that just went to be quilted

My boy's chambray one, thanks, Edna for the chambray scraps!

Marcia and Mary's team effort

One of Elizabeth's many contributions

Children's Disappearing 9 patch yellow version

       I have been cutting and collecting children's prints from scraps from others and trying to buy some pieces. The Creative Grids Stripology ruler and June Tailor Shape Cut Plus are getting a workout cutting 5" squares and 2 1/2" squares from scraps. I am trying to do an I Spy theme so no two squares are alike. I have enough to do another quilt in all boy theme and not quite enough all girls ones. I need 63 prints to make a 40" x 60" quilt. I tried buying some squares on ebay but I am disappointed in the quality of the fabric. So, hey, if you have kids prints you don't know what to do with, scraps and whatever, I will turn them into Gold Star quilts for the kids camp in July.

Nine Patches all sewn and pressed with fold so I know where to cut.
Takes 16 Nine Patches

Nine Patches cut both ways

All in a stack waiting for the design wall

Arranged on the wall

     All the columns are clipped in order. I will sew pile 1 and pile 2, starting with the top two, continuing sewing 2 together. The pairs are joined at the top and bottom with the chained threads.
     Then I will take pile 3, and sew them one by one to the first pair, second pair, etc. This leaves all the rows sewn held by threads so that each long row can be sewn the next. I have Wanda to thank for this brilliance in putting a quilt together. Everything is in order and together.

All sewn together, backing is ready also

Kids Disappearing Nine Patch

     My good friends have committed to make 100 kids quilts for the Gold Star camp program for children of active servicemen and women by June. They are generously longarming them. I am trying to interest my guild in making and contributing some. I have a selection of children's fabric that I have cut into 5" squares. I thought if I used black and white prints, it would be a quick and attractive way to make I Spy type quilts for them. I labored through all the math and took process photos. 
     If there is enough interest, I will do a tutorial. For now, here is the quilt with the blocks on the wall, not yet sewn together. The wonderful thing about Disappearing Nine Patch is it can be self sashing, with only sashing to add at one edge and the bottom. The black and whites I think make it more interesting than all just one color sashing. I would like to think of other color/patterns to make the sashing. It is about 40 x 60". I will take this to my guild meeting on Monday to show and hopefully enlist enough of them to do a sewing Saturday for these.

Hands2Help quilts in the mail to Happy Chemo!

     On the blog, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Sarah has posted about Hands 2 Help Challenge and donating some quilts. I made two and they went to USPS today on their way to Emily and then to Happy Chemo. I have had the logo in the border for awhile and it is finishing this week. Thanks again to Sarah for asking me to be a guest blogger. Here are the two quilts, newly washed and in the sun.

Children's prints, Double Nine Patch, flannel back

Exploding Squares as per tutorial,
notice the plants not potted yet so I can get the quilts done and out.

Some finished progress

    I just love to create quilts. I have a lot of them going. People look at my accumulated starts a little amused. But I do finish quilts. I just get excited and start new ones. If I did not have the passion, I could not finish quilts. 
    The kids disappearing 9 patch is all quilted and bound. For the binding, I used leftover binding strips pieced together. I had been saving them in a basket and this quilt seemed like it could use scrappy binding. It was great to use these leftovers to create something new. The backing is flannel someone gave me for tuning her machine.

Final

Backing and binding, quilting visible

Quilting with Singer 301

    The animal skin jelly roll strips from Liz, along with white on white strips from her, are making two lap size comfort quilts. It is a pattern from Liz where one set of strips is cut in half the long way and alternated with full strips. Then they are sewn into a tube and cut into triangles that open into a square. The first one used borders from scrap backing strips someone gave me and leftover black and white strips from a black and white quilt I made (still not quilted). The second quilt has yet to be sewn together.

Only one border

Second Black and White scrappy border

Sample blocks, trying on for size

     I have been collecting scraps from generous people and cutting them into either WOF (width of fabric) or smaller size scraps, 2 1/2, 3, 4, 5 and 6" squares. I love the 5" size, called charm square, so I have been searching for easy patterns to make for the comfort quilts. I love the disappearing nine patch. I made one kids print one, but the other prints made it busy, so I am trying a black and white plus kids print one. Unfortunately, I did not read the ebay listing correctly and bought 4" black and whites and have to cut new 4" blocks for the kids prints. So I will also need more blocks. Grrr.
 

Just needs binding

Closeup of FMQ

Two sample blocks of Disappearing nine patch, kids prints center,
black and white borders, 4" squares.

     Other samples I have tried are from dontcallmebetsy tutorials. I sewed the sweet girlie quilt and double flip HST blocks to try out using 5" squares. I like both of them so I need to buy some plain white for these. 

Sweet Girlie

Double Fip HST blocks, two arrangements