Nine Patch One More Time

Here is a picture of the nine patch with the white borders. I have been looking at different border quilting designs. I haven't marked it yet though. The rest of it will probably be quilted along the sewing lines and maybe on some of the diagonals. I also have to find some fabric for the back. I might have enough fabric to make large squares of some of the pieces I used for the nine patches.

Meanwhile, today I washed and ironed all my new fabrics that I bought yesterday and they are sittting there tantalizing me. I have to look through some of my books and decide what to do with them. Maybe it's time to start my green quilt, although those pinks and purples are calling me too.

Half Price Fabrics

One of the fabric stores in our area is closing down at the end of December. They don't have a huge selection of quilting fabrics but what they do have is on sale at half price. I bought some today and I'm sure I'll be back before it closes. I am sad to see it go. I bought a lot of fabric there and more than one sewing machine.
After the fabric store I went to the thrift store and got three more pieces of fabric. The first one (orange flowered one) and the last two green ones are from the thrift shop. I have collected a lot of greens in the last few months so, since I have nearly finished my nine patch, I need to start thinking of what to do with them. I put a wide white border on the nine patch and am ready to start marking it. I'm not sure what I will put on the back. Maybe back to the fabric sale for that!

Back to Reality

I am finally back to quilting in earnest. I have done all the nine patches and sashing unless I decide to make it bigger. I must confess to getting a bit bored with all those little nine patches so I may just put a fairly large border on and call it a day. I suppose it will depend on how much it shrinks when I sew it together. I am always amazed how much smaller a quilt looks when it is sewn together. Those little quarter inch seams really add up. I'm not sure if I should spend some time arranging or just let it be. So far all I have done is to try to avoid having two colors the same touching.

Pillow Talk

About fifteen years ago I read an article that said feathers are nearly indestructible, can be washed and dried and will last for years. Pretty well the only thing that can damage them is dampness. A few days later I was at an auction and bought a dirty, horrible looking bag of feathers for a dollar. I thought it was a great chance to see if they are indeed washable. Well, I washed them, dried them in the sun (although the dryer on low heat will work too) and was amazed to see that they were indeed clean and looking like new. I bought a piece of ticking and made my perfect pillow. All those feathers were softest down and since I like a small, soft pillow I now had exactly what I like.

Fast forward to our latest trip. I always travel with my precious pillow and am always afraid of leaving it in a hotel. I thought that I should put a bright pillow case on it so that it would be more obvious when we were packing. In the hustle and bustle of leaving I forgot. We stayed one night in Santa Fe at a Days Inn. The next evening as we were leaving Denver, I had a horrible sinking feeling that I had forgotten my pillow in Santa Fe. Sure enough, it was not in the car. We stopped at a Days Inn again that night, and I asked what their policy is on forgotten items. Apparently they keep everything they find for six months. The manager dialed the Santa Fe Days Inn and I talked to someone there. They didn't seem very interested in my pillow and it sounded doubtful that I would ever see it again. The perfect ending to this story would be that it suddenly arrived in the mail. That hasn't happened and I doubt that it will.

So I went to the thrift shop, bought a ratty looking old down coat, and to the fabric store for ticking. Today I ripped each section of the coat and put the feathers (most of them anyway, not counting the ones in my hair, nose and clothes) into a new pillow. Luckily, it was warm and calm enough to do it outside on the deck. Now I have a new pillow that is almost as good as the old one. In the unlikely event that I do make it back to Santa Fe within six months you can be sure that the first thing I will do is go looking for my old faithful pillow.

We're Back!

We had a wonderful, if short, trip and saw a lot of new places that had always been on our to-do list. I will list them to save reading time. Lol. I have been trying to catch up on blog reading and know how long it can take!
1. Yellowstone park and Old Faithful. I especially liked the bubbling mud holes that you never read about but are just as amazing as Old Faithful. It was freezing cold though and if the mud hadn't been actually boiling I would have been tempted to dip my hands in.
2. Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This was a town full of boutiques and galleries but we were only able to window shop as it was a Sunday evening when we got there. Still, it was very interesting with lots of amazing wildlife art.
3. Utah Salt Flats. So very different from here and a restful nice straight flat road after the mountains of Yellowstone.
3. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. There is an art gallery every three steps which is wonderful if you are into art.
4. Las Vegas. Not my scene at all but something you have to see to believe.
5. Hoover Dam. Amazing but I prefer natural wonders.
6. Grand Canyon. You can see hundreds of pictures and movies but nothing compares to the real thing. I would love to hike to the bottom but I think I better start working out right now and maybe plan to do that in about 3 years. It is deep and steep.
7. Santa Fe and Taos. I really want to go back and spend more time in that area. We were already heading home and had spent too much time in other places so had to shorten our stay there. Next time we would go right there and spend at least a week.
8. Denver. Unfortunately we had to more or less pass through without stopping but would also like to spend more time there. We did have the best Yakisoba outside Japan there so the food stop was well worth it.

Were we sorry to get home to the snow after sunny Calfornia? Not really. Snowy weather is the best for quilting! And it is so clean and fresh and bright outside. So, I will get of the computer and take poor neglected Simba for a walk.
Actually, I think hunting season just started so maybe it's not safe to go for a walk with a deer-colored dog. Our land is posted with no hunting signs but that doesn't mean there are no hunters around who could be shooting in any dirction. Oh well, I guess to the studio instead but how to explain to Simba that there will be no walk until Sunday when hunting is not allowed????

Holiday

I am surprised at how many people like snow or would like to have some! I shouldn't be because I am one of them. Ours has all melted though, so we get a bit more time without heavy winter clothes.
We are leaving for California again for a couple of weeks and I won't be near the computer so I won't be updating my blog. It's probably a good thing to have a computer break once in awhile. I'll see you all when we get back.

Quilting Weather

When I looked out the window this morning, this is what I saw. That is real quilting weather! There is not enough snow yet to look beautiful and pristine. There is no telling if it is here to stay but it certainly could be.


Simba was not keen to sit in all that wet, cold stuff so he got his treat without having to sit and be good. Well, he's usually good anyway so it was not a problem.

Green Fabrics

Today I have been making liners for crates to transport paintings. I used second hand bumper pads from cribs (cots for my Australian friends) and old blankets or bedspreads from the thrift shop. If you would like to see some of the paintings that will go into the crates you can go to Star Center Art


On a more quilty note, here are the green fabrics I have collected or dyed. On our recent trip to California I decided that as souveniers I would collect green fat quarters. We didn't stop at all that many quilt stores but I did get some. The left row is fabrics that I have dyed that I thought might fit. There are also a couple of thrift shop pieces and a bit of green left over from Summer's quilt.

New Dyes

Today I tried out some dyes that I have had for awhile but never used. The brown one is called Bronze and I really like the organic looking pattern that happened. The other is called Antique Gold but it looks like yellow to me. I guess that is what gold is, really. I might try to make the bronze a bit more intense the next time but I like it a lot as a neutral maybe with my green collection.
I have only one side to go on the Wonky Log Cabin and then the binding is on. I'll call it finished even though I haven't even made the label yet, let alone sewn it on.

Wonky Quilting

I have finished quilting the Wonky Log Cabin. It's a good thing the blocks are wonky because the quilting is certainly wonky. I marked the star on the front but the pattern was so busy that I couldn't see my marks properly. After the first round I quilted it from the back. In the squares between the points of the stars I used a pattern by Keryn Emmerson from her book Beautiful Quilts as you Go. The quilting is moderately successful but a bit lumpy in the middle. Luckily the quilting is mostly hidden by the wild colors on the front of the quilt. I have cut the binding but still have to sew the pieces together, iron it and sew it on. The end is in sight!

Clothespin Bag

Nines at Prairie Quilts asked to see my clothespin bag. Here is a picture of it with the approximate measurements. It is really like a double layered apron. My mother always had one so I made my first one soon after I got married. I used it for years and when it wore out I made this one. This one has velcro on the ties but I'm not sure I like that as well as regular ties. I have no idea where the pattern originally came from. I have never seen another one like it but I would be lost without it.
We had our first bit of snow last night but it is nearly all melted now. I don't think winter is here to stay quite yet.

Thanksgiving

I forgot to take a picture of the table loaded for Thanksgiving again. My excuse is that there were 7 ravenous teenagers (Well,6, because Micha is only 9, but she was ravenous too) filling the kitchen. I am just lucky I didn't lose a finger or two while getting the food on the table. They were barely able to wait until all the food was laid out. We eat buffet style,, so no fancy table settings.

Micha lost two teeth in the evening. That must be a record, in our family anyway. I think they had been loose for awhile so it was nice to get them out.




Finally, here is a picture of my laundry area. Like Darcie, I don't have a "room". This is in the back entry. I didn't get around to cleaning much. The bottles of water are there because we get our water from a well and don't trust it for drinking. I hate the wall color. We have a darkish antique brown in the kitchen. My daughter and I thought we'd be clever and mix in some white to lighten it a bit for the entry and save ourselves a trip to town for more paint. It turned out sort of pink but we went ahead with it anyway. I will repaint it some time. We also have an upright freezer in there and a lot of junk on the shelves. The stuff in the dryer is waiting to go out to the studio. I want to re-cover the pillow and I have a bag with thread there too. If I put things there I remember to take them out because that is the door we use going to the studio. The thing hanging by the door is a clothes pin bag. It looks like an apron but it has pockets to keep cloths pins. I have a clothes line out in back on the edge of the deck. I love the smell of sheets dried outside so I use the clothes line as long as I can until it gets so cold that they freeze while you are trying to hang them up. Then there is a risk of breaking the corners off and wrecking them. They do smell great though.

Another New Pincushion

I admired a pincushion on Katja's blog and she kindly sent me the pattern. I made the dark one and then, unable to stop at one, I made the other one. The first one is done in metric and for the second one I switched to inches so I could use my quilting rulers and squares. Lucky Canadians, we have both types of measuremnts on most of our rulers and tape measures (but usually not on quilting tools for some reason. I guess there would be just too many numbers and it would get confusing.) so it was easy to switch. I did a better job on the second one. I love this pincushion for my hand quilting because it has room for scissors, thimble, thread, etc. Thanks, Katja, for sending me the pattern.

Red and White Blocks

Here are three red and white blocks that I am sending to Clare in France for her quilt for Leukemia. Nothing very fancy but hopefully she will be able to incorporate them somehow.
Hopefully, they will be on their way today because I have to go to town to shop for Thanksgiving dinner. We had turkey a couple of weeks ago so on Sunday we will have a ham and I am working on a Jamaican theme to go with it. Maybe I will remember to take a picture this time.

Yin Yang Bag

I took a break from nine patches today and made this bag. It is from a pattern by Jamie Kalvestran. I just used whatever pieces I had around and it turns out to look a bit Christmassy so I guess I am getting ahead of the season.
I am a bit stalled on the nine patch quilt until I get some light fabric for the sashing. I tried marking the wonky log cabin. I think I will outline the star and then quilt it from the back with one star inside the other getting smaller. Then I might meander the dark areas outside the star. I need to get some thread to match the backing though, and decide what to do on the border, so stalled on that one too.
Maybe it's just too nice outside to be in the studio quilting. I guess it's time to make the dog happy and go for a walk.

More Nine Patches

Thanks to all the comments on my last blog, the snarky chicken is completely "cowed" and that is not easy for a chicken!



I have probably finished all the nine patches I will do for this quilt. I now have to decide how to do the sashing. THe one in the book has a darker strip between two lighter ones. I am thinking of making the light strips all the same and possibly the darker ones as well. I have to buy some fabric for the light strips. I have none on hand that really works. Once I have this much sewn together I will know if I need more nine patches. I think I will have a fairly wide border and have been toying with the idea of some letters on the border but not sure what they should say.




And these are some fabrics I dyed a couple of days ago. When we went to California I bought some fabric at Dharma Trading Company. I always go to their web site so it was thrilling to actually go to their store. I have never seen so much white stuff anywhere in one place. From their web site I was expecting a colourful store but when you think of it, white makes sense. All the colour is added at home. The fabric I bought dyed beautifully and I wish I had been able to buy more of it, especially considering that cotton costs more than twice as much here in Canada. Unfortunately, the car was packed to the roof with no room for a bolt of cotton. I will definitely go back there when we are in the area again.

Hand Quilting Continued

Here is the first motif hand quilted on my Double Irish Chain. This is the first of 20 so it is going to take awhile. The green border fabric is very hard to quilt through so it took me a long time to do the first row. The chicken is looking on in horror at the poor quality of my stitches. Maybe its not a maveric chicken. Maybe it belongs to the quilt police!

A Long Hike

We took a long hike this afternoon down into the Pembina Valley near here. There is a beautiful trail on a razorback, which is like an inverted v. The land slopes down sharply on both sides and the views are magnificent. It goes down into the vallery and at the bottom is a little creek with a small beaver dam.


I am standing at the entry to the razorback trail.



Here is a view of the valley.


And here is the little beaver dam. Too bad I can't add the sound of the water trickling over the dam. It was so peaceful.

Some Progress

I have made some progress on my little nine patches. I seem to be spending a lot of time debating about colors and placement. The placement is still in the playing around phase, the most fun of all. I am not sure if it will be 4x5 blocks or larger. I guess it depends on how tired of making these nine patches I am.

BTW, has anyone else had problems seeing the photos on other peoples' blogs? I seem to have to reload again and again to see them on many blogs. The next day they come up at once but I hate waiting a whole day to see the pictures. Maybe it's a problem with my computer, but I sure hope not!

Back to Business

I am temporarily over my chicken fetish and back to the nine patches. I have sewn some together and have more placed on the design wall to see what I need to make. I love trying different color combinations and I want to try to get a graduation from blue to pink and red or dark to light. I have to decide about the sashing but I am thinking of making it all the same so there is some cohesion. The other option is to make the sashing part of the gradation. I'll try both when I have more blocks made.