Category Archives: Dp9

The Blue Disappearing 9-Patch

February 19, 2017 10:26 am ⋅ Pam

bd9pwindmill

Yesterday was gorgeous – sunny, light breeze, 74 degrees – not something you see often in Kansas City in February, but it was perfect for a quilt photoshoot. Ever since we cleared the jungle, I wanted to hang a line to hang quilts on. It took two tries, as the weight of the quilt caused the first line to sag.

bd9pfront

This quilt is made from recycled shirts with the exception of the blue accent squares and binding. Even the back is from recycled shirts.

Bd9pback

I started this quilt January 5, 2016, finished the top February 24, 2016, then started working on the backing. I finished the backing some time in June 2016 — possibly at the quilt retreat I went on. Then the quilt sat, ageing, until I pulled it out this January and began quilting it on my treadle machine.

bd9pquilting

The binding was applied and stitched down on my main machine. I also made a pillowcase to go with the quilt using the binding fabric and a shirting that I bought a whole bolt of 10-15 years ago.

bd9pcase

This is my first finish for 2017 and is one of my 1st Quarter Finish Along Goals.

Posted in: Challenges, DP9, goals

What’s On My Design Wall

February 6, 2017 7:58 am ⋅ Pam

D9pBound

Saturday the final borders were put on En Provence — post coming soon. Sunday, I got the binding on the Blue Disappearing 9-Patch. Yes, with the exception of the blue, those are recycled fabrics from shirts I’ve picked up at garage sales and thrift shops. I still need to clip threads, make one, maybe two pillowcases then wash the whole thing before it’s ready to be delivered. But in the meantime, I’ve pulled out the UFO which was supposed to be a Christmas 2015 gift.

GandC

I’ll have to sort through this pile to see where I left off. My goal is to get this quilt finished by the end of February. Hum…just over 3 weeks. We’ll see.

See what others are working on over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Cream & Green Swap Sampler, designwall, DP9, UFOs

What’s On My Desgin Wall

January 30, 2017 8:10 am ⋅ Pam

dw0130

This blue Disappearing 9-patch might just become my 1st finish for January and the year. I finished quilting it yesterday afternoon. Diagonal lines through the squares and then horizontal and vertical lines through the middle of the blocks. There is one more edge to trim, then it will be time to bind.

See what others are working on over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: designwall, DP9, UFOs

Quilting on the Treadle

January 24, 2017 12:42 pm ⋅ Pam

bd9pquilting

The quilt is basted and the first two lines of quilting have been put in the quilt via the treadle. I’m using the treadle machine for two reasons.

My “new” 15 year old machine is getting harder to repair and it’s making noises that I don’t like.
The 100 year old treadle machine has 1/3 more harp space and it easy to repair.

Some time in the near future, hopefully several years out, I’m going to be in the market for a new sewing machine. Given my wish list, I may end up with two – an older mechanical machine that makes a beautiful straight stitch that is a workhorse and easy to repair and a newer machine which has needle up/down and a thread cutter. Then again, do I need a thread cutter if I don’t paper piece?

Posted in: DP9

What’s On My Design Wall

January 23, 2017 8:48 am ⋅ Pam

Over the weekend I joined another UFO Challenge. It works on a simple principle — saying no new projects until you’ve finished your UFOs is not realistic. Simply pick 4 UFOs you are going to work on this year and report on them. So I picked the following 4 UFOs.

2017 UFO Challenge Quilts

Green and Blue Strip Twist
Candy Sunflower Seeds (top only)
Blue Disappearing 9-Patch
Green and Cream Swap

Little did I know that I should have put En Provence on my list. I’ve stalled at the borders. The borders that I knew what I was planning to do.

EP-Center

The quilt, as designed, was finished Friday evening, and cat approved. Saturday the blue border and additional round of neutral 4-patches were added. That’s where I got stuck.

nutcracker

The nutcrackers are directional. Do I cut the borders so they all march the same direction, giving the quilt a top and bottom? March the nutcrackers vertically around the quilt counter-clockwise? Have them all stand at attention feet (not that they have any feet) in or feet out? There is only 3 yards of fabric, but still each of these options is an option — but I would like at least two pillowcases to match the quilt.

So, leaning toward feet out, I put the top on the bed and hung the border fabric to see what I thought.

ep-sides

epbed

I need the additional width on the quilt. It just hangs over the bottom of the mattress. But I’m not positive this is what I want to do. So, I folded up the quilt top, the nutcracker fabric, the blue, and the red that I used in the top and have set it aside, as I’ve want/need to finish the Disappearing 9-patch.

My main sewing machine was pulled from the table. The treadle machine opened up.

treadlesetup

A couple of orphan blocks became a practice piece.

treadlepractice

The backing was pulled out and pressed. The dining room table cleared, leaves added and covered. The backing rolled up on my 2 x 8. The batting spread out. That’s when I discovered I didn’t have any basting spray. I thought I did. But it has been a year since I used any. So off to WM we went. In and out with only the basting spray. Probably a first for me.

dp9back

The backing is now attached to the batting and the top is pressed.

DP9

But I ran out of steam. Tonight I’ll finish basting the quilt and then start quilting it.

See what others are working on over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: designwall, DP9, En Provence

The Final Countdown – Task Three

January 3, 2017 11:47 pm ⋅ Pam

Shelly over at Prairie Moon Quilts is again hosting the Final Countdown — a set of tasks to clear the deck so to speak to get us ready to quilt in the new year.

Task Three – Get Committed

It’s a good thing she’s given us until the 6th to do this. As weird as last year was I really haven’t given it much thought and it doesn’t look like I was committed to anything. Blogging was minimal, no ‘quilt’ finishes, although I did make a bunch of zipper pouches and a Bionic Gear Bag — that was back in the summer and the fabric is STILL sitting out on my flat surfaces — you know the ones that were part of Task Two?

My UFO count – both tops needing to be quilted and tops I’m still piecing has gone up – by a total of 5 — if my notes are correct. Bottomline there are 25 quilt tops in the queue and another 32 quilts I’m still piecing, including En Provence which I started Thanksgiving weekend.

Scraps and fabric is all over the place — I have piles of fabric from both Allietare and En Provence sitting about as neither quilt top is completed. The fabric from the BGB is still sitting out as I planned to make some accessories to go with it. Shoot, my bag from the quilt retreat is still half packed.

Last year I started off in numerous challenges, but in the end I dropped out. So this year I’m going to commit to the following:

Complete the En Provence Mystery Quilt top – I’m working on the last two clues now.
Quilt the Blue Disappearing 9-patch. The top was finished in January and the pieced backing sometime the first half of the year. I’ve dug out the backing and removed the cat hair. Now both the top and backing need to be pressed and sandwiched together so I can quilt it.
The Green and Cream quilt. This was a Christmas 2015 UFO! I unearthed it while working on the space between the cutting board and the designwall.
The blue and green Strip Twist.
Process the boxes of fabric scraps into the Scrap Users System. This will need to be a long-term project as I have the equivalent of 4 or 5 book boxes (if not more) worth of scraps and my pre-cut scraps are getting thin. This task also includes putting away the fabric that is laying out and about.
Determine what I’m going to do with the upholstery samples I picked up off of CraigsList. There are 3 boxes in the garage and in the stack by the design wall. At first glance these are not as usable as the one I made the zipper bags from last summer.

If I can stay focused and get these six tasks done I will be thrilled. Stay tuned.

Posted in: Challenges, Cream & Green Swap Sampler, DP9, En Provence, Final Countdown, scraps, Strip Twist, UFOs

Ready To Sew

April 29, 2016 12:49 pm ⋅ Pam

shirts

Well, ready to sew may be a bit premature. But, I have 90 10-1/2″ squares – half light, half dark and a stack of 5-1/2″ shirt squares ready to layout into a backing for the Blue Disappearing 9-Patch. There’s also a stack of 2″ and 1-1/2″ strips for a future quilt.

Posted in: DP9

Changing Direction

April 20, 2016 1:08 am ⋅ Pam

ablock

Just to say that I have, I made one blocks for Alletore. The pieces are now packed away. I’ve also folded up the rest of the fabric, including that for the setting triangles and bundled it together. The project box and fabric bundle will go with me to the quilt retreat next month.

So, to the change of direction. I have two quilts that I really need to finish, and have picked the backing of the Blue Disappearing 9-Patch to work on next. What can I say? I really want to work on the Tumblers, but can only do that as a leader/ender and piecing the backing will allow me to do that. But first I have to cut the squares for the backing out of what’s left of the shirts.

Would you believe this backing will be the 12th top/backing I’ve made from the shirts? – Oh wait — I forgot about the Alphabet Blocks since they haven’t been set yet. So, that’s 13, not including the occasional use of shirting is various blocks. Needless to say, the there’s not much left to the shirts.

shirtscraps

Since, I’m a Scrap User’s System convert, there’s too much fabric to just throw away, but quite frankly, I’m not sure what to do with it. For now, it’s going into one of the shirt bins, nice and flat.

restofshirtw

Here’s my stack of cut fabric — 10-1/2″ square & 5-1/2″ squares for the backing and 1-1/2″ strips and 2″ strips.

shirtcut

I see a whole lot of cutting in my future. Perhaps I should change the blade on my rotary cutter.

Posted in: Allietare, DP9

20 hours 46 minutes

February 25, 2016 1:57 am ⋅ Pam

blued9p-1127

That’s how long it has taken me to stitch the above pile of fabric squares into a queen size quilt top. Now to figure out what I’m going to do for the backing. Next week it’s into the shirting boxes again. bluedp90225