Wonky Nine Patches

I started this quilt about 2 years ago after reading Block Party: The Modern Quilting Bee. The wonky

nine-patches looked like fun - and they were. I used some animal print obese 8th's that I have had for a while.

In my excitement to start, I forgot everything else I was working on. After the excitement of getting the blocks cut I went back to my other projects and the cut fabric sat there for an embarrassingly long time.

When I picked them up again over Christmas break 2011 I was faced with a puzzle of putting the pile of mismatched squares into order. That took an embarrassingly long time. But, I got the nine-patches assembled and I got started on the sashing.

Then they sat until 2013. In a marathon session, I got the rest of the sashing applied and the blocks sewn together. Then it was time for the annual sewing machine cleaning while I basted the quilt. With a freshly cleaned machine I stipple quilted.

The nine patches were different sizes so I added sashing to two sides to make all the blocks the same size. The sashing is all leftover fabric. I would never think to put civil war style prints next to animal prints but it worked. I also used some of my remaining indigo dyed fabric which added a nice cool touch to the quilt.

The backing I got on sale during the holidays. It's actually a Halloween print, but it's not too halloweeny.

Orange moons and stars - how perfect! I'm thinking of calling it "African Sky" quilt.

Since I've finished this, I've found another abandoned quilt project to finish. It's shocking how many of them I have.

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It's about time - the big reveal

My bright quilt was finished in June but I wanted to wait until both were done before sharing the pictures. Quilting the blue quilt didn't take long but finishing the binding sure did. I did procrastinate a bit as it was too warm to have a huge quilt on my lap for most of the summer. After this, I'll probably do all the binding on my sewing machine (and stick to smaller quilts). Notice the cut-out corners? That was a challenge. I found instructions here and it looked easy enough but I wished I had practiced some. After a lot of finessing I finally got good miters but I could have done much better. The cut-out corners allow the quilt to hang nicely over the edges of the mattress and it's a perfect match for a full sized mattress. But, the top edge isn't even close to the pillows. I wonder how the quilt fit on the bed it was made for. Here, at last, is the original quilt that I was copying. I just noticed - all of the baskets are

More Wildflowers of America

Since I have framed the stitched Bleeding Heart from Curtis Boehringer's Wildflowers of America I decided to track down the other 3 wildflowers that had I stiched earlier. I chose these flowers because they reminded me of the forests of Ohio where I grew up - Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Wake Robin and Bloodroot. The Jack-in-the-Pulpit and Wake Robin where both finished with fabric frames. This was a favorite finishing technique of mine for a long time. On the back they are dated 1999 - that was a while ago. I remember the quilt store where I purchased the fabric, but not its name. It's gone now but it was in an old Victorian house in Old Colorado City. The turrets where lined with bolts of fabric and hey had a great selection of plaids. I had never heard name Wake Robin before and it means nothing to me, but the flower is definitely a Trillium. Back then, I dutifully followed the pattern. Now I would have used the name Trillium or omitted the letters altogether. I do miss

Basted

A few weeks ago I was at the Local Quilt store basting my bright sampler. It's been ready to go for a while. I've been working on a baby quilt and it's now done. It's been a while since I've quilted so I'm glad I had a quilt to warm up on. Next I need to pull a folding table out of the garage and re-arrange my quilting space. This quilt will have a lot more drag than the baby quilt. I've also been looking at pictures of similar quilts looking for quilting pattern inspiration. I'm thinking of taking the easy way out and u se wavy lines like this quilt . I should start quilting next weekend!

Erica's Stitches

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