charm square ninepatches

Ages ago I saw this quilt in a book of New Jersey quilts, and decided I'd like to make it using my charm squares. 

So I made a heap of 3 inch 9patches, and added corner triangles made from a 3 inch square cut diagonally. 

It turned out to be a very random, muddy looking top, because I chose muddy colored charm packs in the first place. I had so much trouble distributing the light and dark blocks that I threatened to chuck the lot in the bin. 

I finally got it arranged to my satisfaction, and then started pondering the borders. 

I really love the border on the antique quilt, but I didn't really think my version needed it.

This is what I've decided on. 

It will be a simple job to add them next time I'm home, and that will be another UFO to cross off the list. I'm aiming to finish 12 tops this year, and I'm on target for that. Even with so little time to spare, I'm achieving things this year. 

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This cold has been really hard to shake off, and it's not done with yet.  The antibiotics are helping with the secondary infection, but the viral part just won't go away.  Every day I tell myself I feel better than the day before, so I'm grateful for that at least. It hasn't stopped me, just slowed me down to a walk, so the list of finished things is disappointingly small.  I'm hoping I can pick up the pace over the weekend.

There has been more sorting and cleaning and organising of stuff.  There has been some socialising and drinking of coffee,  And finally there has been some quilting!

Yesterday I felt good enough to load a quilt and get it stitching.  It's not a big quilt, so I knew it would only take a couple of hours.  I used that time to put the binding on the Scrappy Mountain Majesty, and choose a backing for the next top to go on the machine.

I still haven't finished this binding, I'll do that while the next quilt stitches out.  I sew it down by machine, so it won't take long and then that will be another quilt completely finished, my third for this year.  It's been a long while since I had a string of finishes.

I love that the Statler stitches away while I'm getting the next top ready.  If I had my act together I could always have a top ready to load, and yet I don't have my act together.  I live in hope....

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Mereth has been quilting a lot of quilts lately, and I rarely have an opportunity to use the machine for my own quilts.  When I'm home I have to wait for Mereth to finish the quilt she's doing, and I have to have a quilt top pressed, the backing made, and the batting cut.  I'm rarely that organised.

 However, I did manage to get all the pieces ready a couple of weeks ago, and quilted a Scrappy Mountain Majesty that I finished  in February 2016.

 It's been sitting around with its backing for more than three years, so it was time to get it done.  I got it all set up while I was quilting another quilt, then it was quilting away while I did the binding on the first quilt.

It's a pretty little panto of mine called Denim Feather, and I think it suited this quilt really well.  Those curves and plumes helped soften the jagged points of the blocks.

I'm hoping to get a few more tops quilted while I'm home, but that means being organised and sorting out the backing and batting.  It's warming up now, so there's no better place to be than the workroom on a hot day. Alas, I'm also battling a truly horrendous chest infection, so I have very little energy.  Tomorrow I hope the antibiotics start to kick in, and I can get another quilt loaded on the machine.  It might take all day, but I'll just keep at it, one tiny step at a time.

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Another completed top joined the pile too.  The Country Cousin blocks have been around a long time, I was using them as leader-enders for ages, until I got sick of the working with the same prints and colours for so long.

All along I meant to set the blocks together like this;

I even drew it up as an EQ8 project.

I have no idea why I then proceeded to sew it up in an entirely different orientation.  Maybe it was during one of those 2am sessions where I wasn't really paying attention.

Anyway, I only realised what I'd done when half the blocks had been sewn together.  I could have unpulled it, or made more blocks, but I didn't have the heart to do that much extra work, when I liked this way as well.

Sometimes I just wonder what is going through my head as I sew?  Not much, apparently.

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I've been sewing away on my projects every time I come home, and there has been progress on several fronts.  I've formed a bad habit of staying up late when the sewing is going well, so a lot of times I stay up till 2am.  This is fine when I can sleep in, but not so good when I wake up at 6.30.  But my sewing time is precious, so I'll just have to learn to deal with the random sleep.

I finished the second quilt made out of tiny Puss In The Corner blocks.

I used a lot of different colour scraps in this, and used up all the leftover blocks from the Farmhouse quilt that started all this.

I'm pleased with both of them, and they were great leader-ender blocks, but I think I need a rest from tiny 3.5" blocks.  I'm going through my list of UFOs to choose another project  to work on.  It will be something with bigger pieces than 1.25" squares.....

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Earlier this year I had a quilt published in one of my favourite Australian magazines, Quilters Companion.  It seems that I need a deadline to work to if I actually want to get something completely finished, and having to meet a specific date certainly helped me finish my Economy quilt.  I managed to get it quilted on one trip home, and bound on another, in an especially busy time.

 I wasn't expecting it to be on the cover, so it was a nice surprise to see it on the Newsagent shelves.

I love seeing my quilts professionally staged and photographed, I've always been really pleased with the way the magazines present my work.

Over the years I've had quite a few quilts in magazines, and I've started to frame them ready to hang.  True to my nature of procrastination, I've not actually got them up on the walls yet. (What am I like?)
That quilt on the left below isn't mine, but I watched my friend Kaye quilt it with my feather designs, so I have a connection with it and it reminds me of a fun visit.  There are more to frame, but I have to dig them out of the magazine pile.

2 weeks of holidays are coming up soon, so maybe I'll make these frames a priority; it will take half an hour, and I'll enjoy seeing those photos up on the wall every time I'm home. I'm not usually a list maker, but I think I'll try; the two weeks at home will just fly by, and I need a plan to tackle everything I want to do.

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Remember that quilt I patched up for my DS Rhys?  Recently he sent me a photo of it on the couch.

Who is that wrapped up in it?

It's Daisy, my grand-puppy.

She's a Beaglier, a cross between a Beagle and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Rhys has wanted a dog since forever, and finally the time was right.  He says she's very sweet, already house-trained at 11 weeks, and is fitting in very well.  I'm so happy for him, and I can't wait to make Daisy's acquaintance on my next visit.

I did warn him not to leave that quilt where she can get it when he's not home.  I'm not sure I could fix it if she decides to chew on it with those puppy teeth. I'm going to make her a quilt of her own from old T-shirts of Rhys's, so she'll be able to snuggle to her hearts content.

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August was like a runaway train, the days just flew by so quickly until suddenly it was over, and here we are in September.  Winter is over for another year, and I'm not ready for spring, and I'm positively dreading summer. I should just live in the moment and enjoy the mild weather while we still have it.

So much has been happening, my head is still in a whirl.  The main events last month were Isla having surgery to remove tonsils, adenoids, lip and tongue ties, and ear drainage. She's always had trouble breathing through her nose, and was a terrible sleeper.  She never wanted to go to sleep, I think because she would often wake up struggling to breathe and that frightened her. I check on her every night before I go to bed, and I could stand in the doorway of her room and hear her laboured breathing.

 The recovery from surgery wasn't without it's own drama, she was a very sore and fragile little girl, but she seems to be over the worst of it now.  When I check on her at night I have to go in and put my hand on her to make sure she's breathing, and for the first time in her life she's sleeping with her mouth closed.  She's happier, more rested, her lips don't dry out from all the mouth breathing and she's much more relaxed about going to bed now.  So it's definitely been a success.

A week after that Hayden had knee surgery, and is laid up for at least 2 weeks while he recovers. Shonny is working extra hours while he's off work, so I'm staying more or less full time to help out.  I'm so glad I"m available to help, it's so much work looking after the house and 4 kids and the invalid.  Shonny attends college two days a week as well, so I've been getting lots of time alone with the kids, which I love, but it's tiring. I'm home for a flying visit, mainly to tidy up the garden a bit before the spring weeds take over, and then I'll be back to Adelaide to wrangle those kids.  We have 50% shared care of the two older girls now, so it can get a bit hectic at times.

I thought life might slow down a bit after Shonny finishes her studies next year, but something unexpected happened.

These two are going to be joined by a new brother or sister in February next year. The new baby might be unplanned, but it's definitely wanted.  We won't know for a while if it's a boy or a girl, but I'll be happy either way.   I would like another girl, but a brother for Thomas would be lovely too.

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This week is the last week of Shonny's break from college, it's back to school next Tuesday, and I'll be back to helping out three days a week.  It's been a lovely break, even though I've been down there every 10 days or so to help out and babysit for special occasions. I'm determined to actually achieve something in the next few days, I've started so many jobs and not finished anything, so I have to stop getting distracted.

I've moved cupboards that haven't been moved in 10 years.  I've opened so many boxes and sorted out the contents.  I've gone through my tax records and ditched anything older than 5 years.  I've been ruthless with clothing and linen and kitchen things, determined to pare down my possessions to a reasonable level.  It's interesting and a  trip down memory lane, and most of the time it feels good to get rid of things that no longer hold any appeal.  But now that I've sorted and thrown things out, I have to organise what's left.  That's where I'm coming unstuck, trying to categorise all this stuff. But I shall persevere.

My reward for all that has been some serious sewing sessions, and a lot of tidying up in the sewing room.  I'm finished with the Plaid top made from the leftover shirt scraps. 

The piano key border has used up nearly every skerrick of leftover strips, so it was worth it.

Of course I needed a leader-ender while I was putting this together, and I used up all the blocks I'd kitted in this Rail Fence variation.

 It's not very big, just a nice couch size, and I resisted the temptation to make it larger. I actually don't have any leftovers now, so last night I cleared away all the scraps of the shirts, packed away the two boxes of shirt pieces, and now I'm ready to go back to my reproduction fabrics.  The reclaimed shirt fabrics were a fun diversion, but it's time to get back to my other projects.

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I'm still cutting up the shirts, and kitting up blocks to use as leader-enders.  I like having a stack of simple block kits in a box by the machine, ready to add to the end of my chain piecing.  But all too often I get obsessed with the leader-ender project, and my main project gets pushed to one side.  That's why I'm in such a mess at the moment, working on four things instead of one.  But instead of putting aside all but the main project, I just sew faster on all four.  It's a bit exhausting.

I'm kitting these simple blocks, I'm up to 25 sets of pieces ready to sew. I have 20 finished, and I need 80, so I'm halfway there already.

I'll still need to cut more strips, but that's satisfying because 3.5" strips really take a chunk out of the shirt pieces.  I can see the pile growing smaller now.

After I finished the border of little squares on the Churn Dash quilt I realised that I had an awful lot of leftover light and dark squares, already pieced in pairs.  I also had a big pile of 2.5" strips, so I came up with this simple block to use them up.

It's incredibly quick to sew, and it does a nice job of using up the leftovers, and it's an easy leader-ender.  It's a win all round.  Except that it finishes at 5", and to have a decent size quilt I'll need at least 144, and the leftovers won't stretch that far.  So now I'm cutting up more 1.5" strips, and more 2.5" strips; maybe this time I can calculate how many I'll need and cut only that amount.  If I don't do that, I'm going to have a new quilt rise up out of the leftovers of this quilt.  It's never-ending.

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I love my Electric Quilt software, but I have one complaint.  With a few clicks of the mouse I can add a cute border to my quilt, like this little border of red and white squares.

Then it takes me two whole nights to make the thing and add it to my quilt. But I went with dark blue instead of red.

I really love how it turned out, and it's worth the extra work, so I"m not really complaining. This was so much fun to work on, I really enjoyed making all these little blocks. The shirts were mostly fun to work with; some were a bit limp and it was a struggle to make them behave, but I just starched them into submission.  Some weren't what they seemed; they were labeled as cotton, but they shrank and puckered when ironed, so they had some synthetic content.  Those pieces got pitched, except for one lovely green.  I took extra care not to iron it at high heat, and once it's quilted it will never be ironed again.  But it's nerve-wracking working with blend fabrics, so I leave them behind at the op-shop.

This little top turned out to be cheerful and colourful; my first blocks were quite boring, but once I found the pink, purple and orange shirts, they came to life.  I started this after seeing the blocks on Jo's Country Junction, and she got the idea from Floating On A Quilted Cloud.  I wonder how many of these quilts are out there now, all inspired by Jo and Regan. These little blocks have spread all around the world.

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Back home again, and looking forward to some time in the sewing room. The little people wore me out this visit, Thomas in particular is very high energy, I spent most of my time keeping him out of trouble.We have epic battles over what he should and shouldn't touch, and whether he should stand on chairs or beat on the windows in the playroom.  I win, but he puts up such a fight!

Last week, before I left, I quickly added the borders to the sampler quilt. 

I'm pleased with how it turned out, I love that I got to use so many of my blue and red fabrics together.  There are still a lot of them in the stash, but at least I've begun to use them instead of passing over them all the time. 

I have another set of blue blocks in a project box;

the sashing is chosen, and pieces cut.  All I have to do is get it all sewn together and I will have another finish. 

But I'm more interested in making progress on my shirt quilts, so these blocks will have to quietly wait their turn.

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I've departed from my usual focused way of quilt-making, and adopted a more scattergun approach. I'll be sewing madly on one thing, and another project will pop into my mind.  I want to see that other project on the design wall, so I sew even faster, trying to get whatever I'm working on in one piece, so I can rip it off the wall.  Yet I'm not finishing anything.  I'm very busy in the sewing room, but there's no finished items.

I'm trying to decide, while I keep sewing, whether I need to amend this way of working and concentrate on completing something.  It's good that I'm getting things further along, but I cant seem to clear the decks of all the associated fabric and scraps.  No time! Got to keep sewing!

But I need to stop and take stock.  A little organisation would probably make me even more enthusiastic and determined.  So...

The sampler quilt just needs borders, so that should be the first priority.

The Churn Dash shirt quilt is close to being finished, just needs the rest of the blocks sewn together and a little border added.

The little Puss In The Corner blocks need to be sewn in to blocks of 4, and arranged on the design wall so I can make decisions about setting triangles and borders.

The Country Cousin blocks need to be finished, and the borders attached.

I need to cut 3.5" and 1.5" strips from all the shirts, so that I can kit up a heap of blocks to use as leader-enders. Then all the shirts can be packed away till the urge to use them strikes again.

I could go on, but that's more than enough for now.  I've been home a week, and today I'm off to Adelaide again, for a bout of baby-sitting while the parents do various things.  Shonny sent me a video of Thomas saying 'Nan-Nan-Nan', so I'm keen to hear it in person.  I don't miss my sewing room much at all, when I have such delightful little people to keep me company.

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Whenever I go to opshops I keep an eye out for good quality shirts to add to the collection.  They need to be washed, then when I have a large pile I'll sit down one night and pull them apart.  I usually do this when I'm tired and don't feel like sewing, and I just watch TV and cut the shirts into usable pieces.  I finished Tumelo Trail last year, and had a pile of 5" Churn Dashes cut out, but then I seemed to stall.  Other projects appealed more and the shirt fabrics and scraps were packed away.

A couple of weeks ago I cut up the latest batch of shirts, and dug out the Churn Dash blocks to see if I wanted to go on and finish them.

They looked better than I remembered, so I started cutting strips from all the new shirts, and kitting up blocks. After  while I felt a bit lost, I had no idea what size quilt I was trying to make, and how many blocks I'd need.

EQ8 to the rescue again.

72 blocks would make a decent size quilt, so I went back to the cutting board and cut even more strips.  Then I cut those strips into 2.5" HSTs, and 1.5" squares, and kitted up the 40 or so blocks I'd need.  I had fun, but what a mess!  And it didn't even make a dent in the shirts.  That's when I decided to cut out enough 3.5" strips for another quilt.

And then I sewed a few blocks to make sure I liked the way it looked.

And now I have another whole quilt to kit and piece.  The pile of shirts hasn't gone down at all, I think I'll have to piece the backings for these quilts out of them too, but I'm really enjoying working with this reclaimed fabric.

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I got so sick of the little Puss In The Corner blocks that I sewed up the 70 kitted blocks, just to get them done.  I get so bored with the same thing again and again.  I need to move these old projects on and get busy with new things.

This is all 220 blocks.  That doesn't look very impressive, does it.

That's better, that's quite a stack of blocks. I will sew them into sets of four, then start arranging them on the design wall.  There's still a long way to go, but the end is in sight.

My Chicago Peace rose put on a beautiful display of flowers through autumn.  The poor plant is spindly and ragged, the only potted rose to survive my frequent absences, but it still managed to cover itself in huge blooms like this.  I'm going to try and nurse it back to health, and grow it into a strong bush.  Maybe one day I'll have a lovely garden again.....

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I spent a week in Adelaide, babysitting, cooking, playing with the grandkids. I came back on Wednesday, and I've been trying to make some sewing progress ever since.  Two things have helped; limiting my computer time, and not bothering with an evening meal.  It's wonderfully freeing not to have to cook something, eat it, then clean up afterwards.  At Shonny's place I'm still doing dishes at 8.30, but at home I just grab something at 4 pm, then sew through till 10 or 11. I'm getting so much done, so it's definitely worth it, and I don't get hungry at all.

I put some blue and red sampler blocks on the design wall, made a lightning fast decision about a setting, and got to work.

 I needed a mountain of 1.5" strips, luckily I could cut them with the strip die on the Go Cutter.

It took a few sessions to sew them all into the strip sets needed, and then quite a few hours to set the blocks together.  I have the border fabric cut and ready to piece, so one evening of sewing should see that finished.

I really want to tackle my stack of half-finished projects and see some progress.  Giving up a few meals and some computer time is a small price to pay.

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I'd like to finish the Country Cousin blocks and get them sewn into a top fairly soon. I'm not desperate for another finished top to add to the pile, but I would like to clear away all the brown fabrics I'm using and start cutting something more cheerful. I've collected quite a few Kaffe Fasset fabrics over the years, so it would be fun to try using those.  And my batik stash is quite decent now, so I could definitely start a batik quilt.  Kaffe, batik, modern fabrics; seems I'm moving away from just the reproductions at last.

I used up several pieces of black from the stash, making HSTs for the first small border of the Country Cousin.

It feels good to be actually using blacks, I have a drawer full and yet I rarely add them to quilts.  They will help tie the quilt together, I used black in the centre of the blocks as I had lots left over from my Grey Havens quilt. Those leftovers are 11 years old now, it was time to use them.

It shouldn't take long to finish this top; I have kitted up 27 of the 30 blocks needed, so I just need to find time to put them together.

Once I have the units in the kits partially pieced it all goes together so quickly, it will probably only take a day of sewing.

I bought this piece of fabric many years ago, and have hoarded it jealously.

I think it's perfect for the border of this quilt; it 's momentous that I even pulled it out of hiding to audition it.  Maybe I can be brave and finally use it at last.

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Progress on two projects

There has been some productive time in the sewing room lately, which is very pleasing.  It only happened because I limited my computer time; it's so easy to check blogs and follow interesting links, until all your free time has been frittered away. So I allowed myself a few minutes in the morning to catch up on my favourites, then it was into the sewing room to actually get something done.

There were piles of fabric everywhere, waiting for pieces to be cut for the latest projects, and piles to be put away in the stash drawers.  I decided to have a massive cutting day first, so that the ironed fabric could be put away, or used up entirely.  That resulted in a lot of triangles for the Country Cousin quilt, so I have plenty of variety to finish them.  But in the midst of this mad cutting spree I realised I had absolutely no idea how many I needed, so it was off to EQ8 to decide on the finished number of blocks,

While I was there I roughed out what I wanted for the little Puss In The Corner blocks, because I was flying blind on that one too. Then I printed out a copy of each to file in the project box with the pieces.  That really helped me work out what I needed to cut and kit, so it was time well spent.

Turns out I need 72 of the Country Cousin blocks, so I got to work packaging the pieces in ziplock bags.  When I was tired of that I sewed some blocks together, and now I have 38 on the design wall.

I have 27 kitted, so just a few more left to package up, and then I can pack all the leftovers for the next quilt.

I have an idea for that, just need to let it simmer for a while.

The Puss In The Corner blocks are mounting up; there are blocks with light centres, and blocks with dark centres.  I have 60 of each, and I need to keep track of the numbers so I don't end up with too many of one and not enough of the other. 

I need another 30 of the dark centres, and 50 of the light centres.  That seems like a lot, but I can make 10 at a time easily, so it won't take too long.  I have them kitted up and in various stages of completion, so all I have to do is grab them and sew.

I'm hoping that this extra time spent organising will help me achieve a lot more in the time that I have at home.  I feel a lot more enthusiastic about sewing now that the mess is under control, and I'm glad to see the blocks going up on the wall.  Progress at last!

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There has been so much sickness in out family this year;Flu, colds and that ghastly virus Herpangina, which is responsible for Hand, Foot and Mouth.  Lily and Mia had it, and Lily was hospitalised for 4 days she was so bad.  Nephew John had it and was hospitalised.   Just as the Pirie family was getting over that they all went down with colds, then gastro which unfortunately I caught too.  Last week Thomas and Isla had Hand, Foot and Mouth, Isla for the third time (!) and now she has a UTI and suspected pneumonia. I'm not going down to visit this week, if I took the gastro bug down there I would never forgive myself.  So nothing much has been happening here, except nursing sick kids and trying to survive all these plagues.

Before I got sick I was organising fabric to cut more big triangles for this quilt, Country Cousins.  I have strips ready to run through the Accuquilt, which I should be able to manage tonight.

It's all looking too brown at the moment so I want to put a few greens and reds in there as well.  And I need more light triangles so I have to pull some of those out of the stash drawers.

I also sewed a few seams on my Carpenter's Wheel  block, and I nearly have the second one completed.  I've been playing around in EQ7 with setting options, and I think I've decided on that corner colour....

I'll have to take it easy for a while, but it's so good to even think about working on a project again.  Being sick certainly makes ordinary life seem wonderful by comparison.

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The end of April was hijacked by a visit from DS Rhys.  He and Isla share a birthday, and he decided to fly down so we could celebrate their birthdays and Easter all together.  It was absolutely wonderful to see him, and see him reconnect with Thomas and Isla.  He brought a new mountain bike down with him, and we visited many state parks and mountain bike trails that he wanted to ride.  The trip meter on the car said we did 1800 kilometres, from Melrose in the mid north, out to Burra, and all around the Adelaide Hills.  It was tiring (and I didn't even ride or walk the trails!) but it was a lot of fun to catch up with my boy.  I don't see him enough.

I finished his quilt, but I'll have to post it back because he didn't have enough room in his bag to fit it in.

I added new borders all round, patched all the holes and weak places, and added a binding.  I even had some of the original fabrics still in the stash, which was very useful.  I added patches of material printed with things to represent his interests; bikes and music, a coffee cup to remind him of me, and some palm trees because he spent most of his life in the tropics. It was fun to choose prints of things that meant something to him.  I figure there's probably 3 years left before it disintegrates even more, and when that happens I'll use it as the batting in a replacement quilt.  Rhys seemed happy to know that his quilt will live on, even if it has a new top and backing.

I was stitching the binding down when Isla came into my room.  'What's THAT' she asked, looking at the needle and thread.  I explained what I was doing and she leant against me watching intently.  'Can I do that?' she wanted to know, and I said yes she could, but not right now.  YES!! The chance to teach her to sew is precious.  We'll start with those sewing cards and wool, and see how she likes it.

Mereth and I were taught to sew very early, 3 years old.  I know that because I remember the house we lived in at the time.  Mum gave us some coarse weave fabric and tapestry needles threaded with wool, and we wove those needles in and out of the fabric for ages.  I can still remember the thrill of her showing us what to do; it was like magic, like a door opening on a world of possibility.  And we've been in love with sewing ever since.

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