It is a week after setting out plants in the garden. The plants are growing nicely and we should have lots of veggies to eat this year if the critters stay away.
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I had the opportunity to spend a few hours piecing the blocks for my spring quilt, finished cutting out the white background pieces, and spent some time playing with the arrangement of the completed blocks to see how they would look. I still like these happy colors, which is a good thing since I am spending a lot of time with them. At this rate, summer will be over before I finish my Bordered Nine Patch quilt.
I have not worked on my quilt in a few days. Besides working a full-time job, I spent my free time putting in the vegetable garden. (and I did a little reading too) I love spring-time to be out-doors and playing in the dirt. This year we planted our herbs in pots that we can see from the dinning room table. It is so enjoyable to sit there in the early morning and have a cup of coffee. We also planted our favorites, tomatoes, squash, peppers, spinach, and onions. For the first time, we planted garlic. I am looking forward to seeing how the spring planting of garlic does. I garden in zone 10a and we rarely get frost so it can grow as long as it wants. And, of course, I had to have marigolds. They are just so happy (and I hear they help keep the pests away - we'll see about that part).
Putting together the block, I found I needed to square-up the nine-patch to make it easier to sew on the borders. When I square it up things are so much easier.
Here are some pictures of putting the nine patch center of the block together. I prefer to make nine patches with strips, it is faster and easier to match up the corners. But here I am making it with 2 1/2 in squares.
First I cut the jelly roll strips into 2 1/2" squares and 6 1/2" x 2/12" strips. I also cut my white background fabric into 2 1/2" squares. It is so fast and easy to cut these pieces using the jelly roll. My only difficulty with this part of the process was finding my spare rotary-cutter blades. I searched high and low all over my sewing room and finally found them -- in the drawer where they were supposed to be -- go figure... I got busy sewing up the blocks, first the little nine-patch in the middle and then the borders. The most difficult part of sewing them together is determining where the edge of the pinked fabric is. I found that I needed to include all the fabric out to the edges. I just love the cheerful colors and prints of this fabric.
I loved this pattern by Jenny Doan from the Missouri Star Quilt Co. She made it in shades of gray and white but I could just see it in bright colors for Spring. I had a jelly roll by Riley Blake, Backyard Roses, that I thought would be perfect and proceeded to cut my strips and background from white fabric I had on hand.
This post is about a quilted pad I made for my grandson. It has a denim fabric back so that it can be carried around and put on different surfaces. It has ties so it can be rolled up and tied to keep the front side clean even when it is carried around and used in many different places. This little quilt is 30"x 30". The top is 100% quilting cotton, the back is denim, and the batting is Warm and Natural cotton. It was quilted on my home sewing machine using a walking foot. I just sewed diagonal quilting lines across the top. It has denim ties sewn into the denim binding. It can be folded in half and then rolled up. I made the top with alternating 9 patch and solid print blocks. I am very happy with the way it turned out and I hope it gets a lot of use!!
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AuthorI enjoy quilting, knitting, gardening, and reading. This blog is a way to share quilts and the process of making them. ArchivesCategories |