Two HST Quilts

Because I am already set up for quilting,  I decided to see what I have to layer up the HST quilt that is on my wall.  I have this 4 blocks wide by 6 blocks long section sewed together.  I am going to quilt it in sections.

I have 12 more blocks made that I will sew into 2 strips for either side to complete the pattern. I am going to add the borders to those 2 strips and quilt them in 2 sections for right and left sides. I am thinking about making 8 more blocks for the bottom of the quilt and adding a border to that and quilt that as a section, Can you tell I am making this up as I go along? I have a plan for using this quilt so It may not have borders on all 4 sides.















When I pulled out the basket with batting in it I found another HST flimsy that is in 3 sections all ready to be layered up and quilted in sections. It is a similar layout but the individual HST's are 4 inches finished instead of 3 1/2 inches.










These are  4 block sections showing the pattern of the 2 quilts.
The one on the top is what I came across yesterday. A 4 block section is larger by 4 inches; I am not sure what I will do about borderers for it. I will finish both of them and they can be used in the extra bedroom.

I need to decide on backs for these two so I am going to clean up the sewing room and look through some of the hiding places to see what other UFO's are lurking. I need to make a list of thing that need to be finished or given away and then get it done in some sort of organized way.

Maybe I should make a rule "NO NEW PROJECTS UNTIL ALL THE OLD ONES ARE DONE OR GONE.  I wonder if I could stick to it. Over 15 years ago  I finished all my UFO's when I wouldn't let myself start anything new until I had made/finished 7 Log cabin Christmas quilts for my family. It was a year long project and when I got bored with making log cabin blocks I worked on something that was waiting to be finished.

Hmmmmm.

A Finish

I finished the Disappearing Nine Patch today.

I spread it out on my bed for a photo shoot and Jack said, "This is our quilt for the bed for the rest of the summer".  Well......OK; it really does look  good in our bedroom. The white background print lightens up the room.











 I never thought about using it in our bedroom until I put it on the bed and saw how well it goes with the curtains. And, how could I not have thought about how well it would look with the "Red Flowers blog banner" quilt that hangs on the wall above the bed? I have a plain green coverlet on the bed and the quilt will go across the long way and just curve over the edges on the foot and sides. I have a little bit smaller spiral log cabin quilt across the foot of the bed now and I need something different to cover the pillows. I know Jack will say what I have on the pillows works fine. It does NOT so I am rolling it around in my mind.


 This is the back of the quilt. I had 6 blocks left over  and used them in 2 sets of 3 to make the backing longer.











No matter how I angled my camera I wasn't able to get a good photo of the quilting. Maybe it will show up if you click on the picture to enlarge it. It is pretty simple, quilting in the ditch around all the 6 inch blocks and then using the #4 Bernina serpentine stitch across all the squares

I did the binding on the machine; arthritis in my hands makes it a long drawn out and  painful process by hand.
I stitch the binding to the front and press it away from the quilt.  I then pull it around to the back to cover the stitching and press with steam. I use 1/4 inch Stitch Witchery to fuse the binding to hold it in place and stitch in the ditch on the front. When I come to the corner miter I stitch along the edge of the miter fold to the point and back and then continue on down the next side.
These next 3 photos show the binding and stitching. The true color is closer to the corner photos.

Binding - Corner front

Binding -  corner back

Binding - along the edge

I am minus Lucy's company today. She is at the vet's today getting spayed.  I can't say I will miss her "suspicious" behavior. We have had 2 separate weeks of her rolling on the floor making sounds that bordered on singing. Oh, and then there is her unusual posture. One of the 9 year old great grandsons asked his cousin what she was doing, the other 9 year old looked at her and said " She's catching mice". I'm glad he didn't ask Jack!

Quilting the DNP

I rearranged my sewing room for machine quilting on Friday and started quilting the Disappearing Nine Patch. This is the first machine quilting I have done that needed a rearrangement since we relocated some of the furniture. I spent most of the afternoon and early evening fooling around with different configurations. My original plan would have blocked the 3 drawers on the left side of my desk.

This is the arrangement I settled on. I turned my sewing machine around in the table to give me 2 less inches on the left  so I can sit closer to the table and small chest that is supporting the quilt. It is a little more difficult changing the bobbin but all in all it is working well.

Lucy has turned out to be a very self possessed, independent, friendly little cat. Likes to hang out with her people and she seems to have a need to inspect EVERYTHING.

She was fascinated with the moving parts of the machine.
















She crawled inside the folded over corner of the DNP quilt I am working on and thought she was going to settle down there. I had to banish her from the sewing room so I could move the quilt around.

Pinning and HST Blocks

 I am giving my back a break from pinning the Disappearing Ninepatch quilt.  It is about 1/3 of the way pinned and bending over the table isn't as easy as it used to be.
I  am going to have to do some cleaning up and rearrangement of  furniture to get set up for the quilting.
Wow! I just noticed that the angle  from which I shot  this photo distorted the squares that are flat on the table top. The are really square as in the forefront where they hang off the table.




















I have this back up on the design wall again. The six blocks on the right are not sewn on to the rest of  the quilt yet. They are blocks I just made and I have 3 more to put together and then either 3 or 9 more to make. I am mulling it over in my mind; I am not sure how big I want to make this one.

Here's Lucy again. She had a big morning, watching the birds, chasing her shadow,  laying under the bed and grabbing toes as we walk past, tearing around the house like a streak of lightning and slipping out the door when I went out to the garden and I couldn't get the door closed fast enough. I caught her easily because she is more interested in inspecting everything than she is in running away.
I had to shut her in the bedroom while I  spread and layered up the quilt. She thought it was a game. I hope I can get it done before she wakes up and Jack opens the bedroom door.

Four Blocks

I have been cutting 4 inch squares and 3 1/2 inch squares and making 3 1/2 inch half square triangle units. This is what I have up on my design wall.

I have been tweaking these blocks all week as I make more HST's and cut more 3 1/2 inch squares. I have to sort through everything and organize my squares and HST's by color so I can finish the rest of the blocks.
I have part of one more block up on the wall; it is pink but it may not stay that way. I keep changing pieces as I look at these blocks for a  while. The quilt is a scrap quilt and really random; everything is mixed up as far as color goes on the 24 block section I have sewed previously. However, I do  fuss around trying to make each 12 inch block cohesive. I'll bet that in the end I am going to have enough HST rejects to make another "something".







I would be further along it it were not for distractions.

I have been planting flowers and weeding and watering. Some of the flowers have gone into pots on the edge of the patio.

Some  along the walk to the patio and front door.

And then there is Lucy. 

Here she is on the her footstool on which there is a 24 inch hand pieced hand quilted "Mariner's Compass" made before I knew about paper piecing.

She was the star of the show yesterday at the family picnic. Everyone made a fuss over her. Our son's dog is apparently enchanted with her and  won't leave her alone. She was afraid of him initially but soon got over it and now she only considers him a nuisance; he gets a hiss and a swat when she has had enough attention from him. He does get an occasional show of affection when she rubs her head on his chin or legs.