A Detour And Back On Track With The Framed 9 Patch

I was starting to cut the backing sections for the Framed 9 Patch quilt when I decided to move some things out of the way in my sewing room. I needed to move my table away from the wall so I could work around it when I started to layer up the sections.  I piled some things on a chair and pushed them into my bedroom. I looked at one corner and it struck me that maybe a 16 x 22 tall chest that is in my sewing room closet would just fit in that corner. I made the mistake of asking Jack what he thought, fully intending to think it over and do it another time (or maybe not at all). The next thing I knew we were moving furniture. That involved more than moving one chest because we had to move his bedroom dresser and desk a few inches. We could not budge the dresser without taking the drawers out so we did and moved things over. He measured the space for the chest and then I measured a slightly different way and we discussed it. Hmm!!   There is baseboard heating that runs along the wall and turns the corner that had to be taken into consideration and we each had a different idea about how to measure. We decided it would work and began the process of moving the chest after taking all the drawers out and emptying one drawer that was too heavy to take out with all the stuff in it. We had to move some furniture in my sewing room in order to get the chest out of the corner of the closet We finally moved the chest and IT FIT.  This was a no small thing for us to do.  We are both over 80. It's done and we are both no worse for wear but next time I want something moved I will ask one of our kids or grandkids.

It took me two hours to get the sewing room in order, not perfect but I gained a some closet space that will make things easier.


I cut all the backing sections and got the 3 bottom sections of the quilt layered up and pin basted. I even got started on the quilting. This morning I finished one section.

I quilted in the ditch between the blocks in both directions. On this section, I quilted all the way to the edge on all 4 sides. I will trim away the batting and backing on all 4 sides when I am ready to join it to the next section.



























This is a close up of 2 adjacent blocks.

I quilted inside the frame strips and on the diagonal across the solid squares in the 9 patch.  After quilting a couple of blocks I determined the best way (for me) would be to quilt around the 9 patch and across one diagonal and then decide which side I would stitch over to get to the diagonal line that would take me closest to the next block, about 2 inches. I quilted inside of one block at a time and I stopped and started my ditch stitching with tiny stitches.  I do not be bury my threads I cut them after the tiny stitches and I have never had anything come apart.  It looks good on the front and the back.

Now that I have some of my basting pins free I am going to layer and pin baste the left top section. I want to get the left top and bottom together so I can determine the exact length of the side borders. I want to alternate between the quilting and the other things that need to be done to finish this quilt. I helps to give my fingers a rest from the pinning and my neck a rest from the quilting. I will want to give myself a break once I start doing the hand sewing on the back when I get as far as joining the sections. I will also be taking bits of time for adding things to my laundry basket of things to say goody bye to, We'll see how it goes.