Category Archives: quilts

Little 9-Patch Blocks on Point

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The 9-patch blocks are just so much more fun set on point that I couldn’t resist. They’re very quick to stitch, and give me the look I wanted for these little blocks.

Earlier this week, two new Inklingo collections were released with the triangles needed to set 4.5 inch blocks and 6 inch blocks on point, and that helped give me the idea for the 9-patch blocks. I have a little stack of 4.5-inch blocks that were made years ago but which have sat all this time. Now that the math has been taken out of figuring out what size QSTs and HSTs I needed to set them on point, I’ll get them out once the Twinkling Stars top is finished.

I’m still on schedule with this year’s baseball playoffs quilt. Although I’ve had a couple of evenings when I really wanted to work on something else, I have managed to resist and now am really glad I did.  There’s not too much hand piecing left to be done, maybe another 25 or so of the 9-patch blocks and then their setting triangles.  The rest will be done by machine.

Baxter seems to have decided my computer chair is a favourite spot — after walking over the keyboard on his way to the chair, that is. A couple of times he has almost managed to send an e-mail while marching over the various keys and the trackpad, but none have been sent … yet.

Colourful Little 9-Patches

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Almost half of the 9-patch blocks i need for the Twinkling Stars quilt are done. With any luck, I’ll have them finished before the end of the weekend and then can get started putting the top together. I’m piecing them by hand, as that’s the perfect thing to stitch while watching baseball games, and they finish at 3 inches.

There were quite a few good ideas in the comments yesterday and I’ve followed up on all them. So far, no luck but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that one of the avenues I’m exploring will result in a find of the fabric.

Baxter was insistent on getting in the picture of the 9-patch blocks. He climbs up beneath the board on which the background fabric and blocks are laid out. We think he’s curled up under there, but then all of a sudden his head appears.

Later on, he had to go rest in the hallway.

Help Needed Finding Fabric

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When I started the red and white feathered star/sunflower blocks, I thought I probably had enough of the white on white but wasn’t really worried about it as it seemed to be a staple WOW fabric at the LQS. That was, as it turns out, a silly assumption on my part and I had totally under-estimated just how much I’d need.

Over the past few months, the owner of the LQS has been trying her best to find me more of this particular white on white but hasn’t been having any success. Now I’m thinking that perhaps it’s out of print and my only hope is going to be that someone has it in their stash and is willing to part with it or knows of a store that has it in stock. I’ve put some of the other white on whites that I have next to it and they are just not going to work — the difference is quite obvious.

This picture is really only for scale with the penny on it as the colour isn’t quite right, although white on white is next to impossible to properly photograph anyway. It’s a very small-scale all-over print.

This picture is a bit closer as far as the tone of the white on white goes. It’s made by Santee Print Works and is what I think of as a very icy white on white. There’s almost a bit of a shimmer to it, although it’s not a metallic.

Six of the blocks are made but I need at least 6 more yards of it to make the remaining 7 blocks and pieced border to finish the quilt. I can use anything from FQ size on up, so if you can help and/or know where I can find this fabric please let me know!

Baxter was resting after another busy day on the windowsill, watching the squirrels and birds and falling leaves. We’re not sure what he was calculating, but his paw was firmly planted on the calculator.

Stars, Stars and More Stars

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All 80 of the Twinkling Stars are made and ready to be stitched into the larger 15″ 9-patch blocks. My goal was to finish them before our long Thanksgiving weekend was over and I got it done!

Hybrid piecing worked out really well for me once I worked out this method of pinning the skinny triangles to the half tumblers. My previous attempts at machine stitching have usually resulted in seams that seem slightly distorted by the pinning.  So rather than pinning through matching points or crosshairs, I used a fine pin as though I was using a needle and thread. Checked the front and back of the seam and as long as my pin was right on the stitching line, I was off to the races. That’s how I reached my goal of finishing the stars. I don’t know how well that pinning idea would work on long seams, but for these skinny tris it worked like a charm for me.

Our Thanksgiving weekend was perfect – warm and sunny. The weather felt more like Labour Day weekend than Thanksgiving. So much so that people were out on the roof garden sunbathing. I’m hoping this is a sign that we’ll have a mild winter.

A few leaves have been dancing by the window and Baxter has been busy watching. Here he was resting up after a long afternoon of leaf chasing and bird and squirrel watching.

More and More Twinkling Stars

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Much as I’ve wanted to steal time away from making the Twinkling Stars and work on something else, I’ve managed to stay on course and now have slightly under half the stars done. I’m hoping to finish them off by the end of this long weekend and then will only have the little 9-patches left to make before I can start putting the top together.

They’re hybrid pieced. I’m joining parts of the blocks by machine and then finishing it by hand piecing. I know the blocks can be totally made by machine, but I enjoy putting them together by hand and they’re relatively quick to stitch. For those who have asked, I’m using shapes from the Inklingo Tumbler Collection. It’s easy to get the long skinny tris perfect when one has the stitching lines and matching points.

This is our Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and our weather sounds like it’s going to be much more like summer than fall, with humidex readings in the 30C range on Saturday and Sunday. Makes me wonder how many people will have barbecues for Thanksgiving rather than heat up their homes cooking turkeys.

Over the last few days, Baxter has spent more time on the windowsill than anywhere else. He has a tendency to wave one paw in the air, which we’ve dubbed his royal wave. Here I’m not sure what he waving at — perhaps a squirrel or bird.

Stormy Seas

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While the temporary design wall was up, I put up the 17 Storm at Sea blocks that are done so far. When I put them up, I was trying to put blocks that used the same 2 fabrics beside one another to see if I liked the effect. This has given me a slightly different idea about block placement in the top when all the blocks are done.

When will that be? After Twinkling Stars is finished (hopefully that will be when the baseball season is finished), the Pickled Ladies top is together and I hopefully find enough of the white on white I’m using for the Feathered Star/Sunflower to complete it. Then Stormy Seas moves to the top of the list.

There were some fabulous tips on removing quilting in the comments to yesterday’s post. After reading them and thinking about it some more, I’m now not sure if I will take out the machine quilting. I’ll spread the quilt out over the weekend and have a good look again.

Baxter in Pink Chair.  That’s what we’ve titled this photo after Mr. Q.O. played with some photo effects.

This one we’re calling “Kitty in the Hall”.

Taking Out Quilting

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A while ago I started quilting Ferris Wheel by machine. Then I got back into hand quilting and am now thinking about taking out the machine quilting and replacing it with hand quilting. The reason I want to replace it with hand quilting is that there’s a quilting design I want to use that will be easier for me to do by hand than by machine.

What I’m wondering is if there is a quick way to do this or if it’s just going to be a painstakingly slow process of taking it out stitch by stitch. Thankfully, only 3 of the blocks have been quilted so far. Has anyone done this? Any tips?

Baxter was lounging on the windowsill shortly after having had a drink of water. The wet fur on one side of his neck is a sure giveaway that he has been at the water bowl.

Colourful 9-Patches

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These 3-inch blocks will be incorporated in the design of the Twinkling Stars quilt as well. There are still quite a few of the stars to be made, but I couldn’t resist making a couple of the little 9-patches just because they’re so much fun to put together and they’re easy to stitch by hand when one is watching an exciting baseball game!

On Monday, after successfully adding the star points by machine to some of the half tumbler/square combination, I decided to try making one of the star blocks entirely by machine. Can you tell which block is machine-made and which by hand?

What has inspired me to try stitching more by machine? It’s the fact that I really want to get started on putting the Pickled Ladies quilt together.

Baxter spent a lot of time on the windowsill on Monday, watching the birds and squirrels. His tail was swishing and he was extremely intent on watching the activity. It’s going to be interesting when the leaves start to fall and are flying by the window.

Twinkling Stars Update

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The first weekend of the baseball playoffs meant a lot of stitching got done. This is the stack of blocks now ready to incorporate into large 9-patch blocks. I’m close to a third finished when it comes to making these.

I decided to try speeding it up a bit by partially stitching the blocks by machine. I put the half tumbler and 2″ squares together by machine.

Can you tell the difference? One of these blocks is partially done by machine while the other is totally hand pieced. I can’t tell the difference except, of course, by looking at the back of the blocks and am quite pleased with the result.

I realized on the weekend that my design idea was going to result in a square quilt of about 66″. For some reason, I always prefer my quilts to be rectangular rather than square so I’ve changed the design a wee bit to make it longer than it will be wide. I’m intrigued by the fact I’m so determined to not make it a square quilt. I can’t quite sort out why I have such a strong preference for the rectangular sizes. Do you have a preference when it comes to a lap quilt being a rectangular or square quilt?

Baxter has been very busy now that he has discovered the living room windowsill. On the weekend he started clambering up there with Cappy in his mouth. We’re convinced Cappy is his blankie and he doesn’t want to go anywhere without it. I’m hoping we can get a video of him getting up there with Cappy once it stops raining, which they say should be today.

Pickled Ladies Layout

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The stitching of the centre blocks is finished. There are 72 pickled ladies in total, although there will be a number of half pickled clams added around the perimeter to square it up.

Once the rows are together, I’ll audition fabrics individually for the half pickled clamshells that will go around the perimeter. I know there are lots of florals in my stash that will work perfectly as half clamshells and have enough of the black and white triangles already printed for the partial strips of triangles that will be needed.

It took ages to take them down off the temporary design wall as each one is labelled with its placement so that when I start stitching them together I won’t get them mixed up. I’m really excited about this one and can’t wait to get started stitching on it as soon as the baseball playoffs are over. There’s a rich blue floral in my stash that may be perfect as the border for the Pickled Ladies. There may need to be a small stop border as well, but I’ll sort that out once I get the centre of it completed.

There is no way I would have attempted this without Inklingo. With the 6-inch Pickled Clamshell collection, I knew it could be done. Having the perfect stitching lines and matching points is going to make putting the rows together a breeze. This is one quilt top I want to finish for sure before the end of the year. I’m already thinking of the quilting possibilities, perhaps quilting around each flower and possibly the white triangles.

Baxter discovered how to get up on the windowsill in the living room on Thursday. There was lots of activity out on the roof garden for him to watch as the birds and squirrels seemed quite busy. He went back and forth a few times and then settled down to sit and watch.