More Nine Patches

I did a lot of short periods of sewing this week. Five minutes here, an hour here. Yet, at the end of the week I had accomplished quite a few nine and sixteen patches. I made a mistake and mixed the new blocks with the old blocks and did not get an accurate number count. So I decided to show you all my blocks.

The blocks are on the sashing material I am going to use. On Memorial Day weekend JoAnn's had Kona Muslin on sale for $1.49 per yard with 10% off you total purchase. I bought 14 yards. I have used this before and really like it. I have bought Moda Muslin and did not care for the way it unravels. Plus the price is right. I like all the blocks so much. As I finished a block it became my favorite. They are all my favorites.

The purple block really squeezed my heart. The center circle was not planned. It just happened that way.

I like all the color combinations. They look even better in person.

This may be one of my favorite quilts.

I noticed I have a lot of yellow in my blocks. But I also have a lot of blue and red. I think it will all work well together.

I was thinking about making sister blocks for each one of my blocks. When I was trying to decide which color to put in the corners I had a had time making a decision. A lot of the colors work well both ways. I still may make sister blocks. A decision I will think about this week.

For every nine patch block I have a sixteen patch block to match.

I did not make any Happy Houses this week. I will concentrate on them next week.

My Straggler Calender Quilt is coming along nicely. I will work on it this week also.

I need 30 blocks for the Stash Pot Pies quilt. I will try to make a few this week.

I will post my To Do List tomorrow.

Happy quilting until we meet again.

Jeri

Happy Houses on the Way

Kathy at the Humble Quilter e-mailed me to let me know that my Happy Houses were in the mail and on the way. I know what I need to do next week.
Between being on call, waking up to the phone going off every morning this week, working 3-11 3 days this week, I think I did pretty good with my nine and sixteen patch blocks. I did do a little sewing on the pink and white disappearing nine patch blocks but not much.
No progress on my Happy Houses.
I hope to have photos of all my nine patches to post Sunday.
Happy Quilting.
Jeri

Nine Patch Day

I worked two shifts yesterday and got today off. I got home around 12:45am. I hate on-call.
So today (between sleeping and listening for the telephone) I will be making nine-patches and sixteen patches. I went over to Crazy Mama Quilts and if my calculations are correct I need to have 31 blocks made by tomorrow.
My sewing machine will be humming.
Jeri

Stash Pot Pie Progress

There was not much sewing in my house this week. I worked overtime this week. I will be working overtime next week for turnover on the first of the month.
I did accomplish half of my goals. I completed the Disappearing Nine Patches plus I did extra.
I completed the required number of blocks for the Stash Pot Pie. I am being to like this quilt.

My Stash Pot Pie Pie Quilt is coming along quite nicely. I have been piecing the blocks together each week. Below is seven rows of the Stash Pot Pie. I need three more rows. The quilt should measure approx. 90x100 inches. They are 10-inch blocks. I love the yellow and gold highlights in the quilt.

I promised you photos of my trip to Lancaster, Pa. I was looking through my photos when I saw the photos I took at The History Center Chester County Historical Society. They have all types of antiques (furniture, household items, quilts, etc.). I did not notice the sign not to take pictures until after I had taken three photos.

Below is my favorite quilt. If I get a chance I would like to make this quilt. I love red and to me this is what a quilt should be.

I also liked the quilts in the two photos below. I think the half square triangle is very interesting. My camera (or any camera for that matter) does not do the quilts justice. You have to see them. They are beautiful. It inspires you to go the extra mile. To take that chance and be creative.

I just love red in a quilt.

My To Do List will be short this week. I am on call and may have to go in to work if someone calls out and I cannot find a replacement. Every night I dread the 11p-7a shift. I cannot stay awake after 4am.

So here is what I want to accomplish this week.

To Do List

5/24/09

14 Nine and Sixteen Patch Blocks
14 Happy Houses

Read another chapter of PC Quilter

I hope I can accomplish this. I am behind in the nine patches and I need to have some Happy Houses made before my swap blocks get here.

Happy quilting.

Jeri

I am off to work but I wanted to check in and make sure you were ok. I know this has been a busy week for me at work and we did not get to talk much but it will end at the beginning of next month when the MARS and TARS are done. I did not get to sew much this week and I probably will not get to sew much next week either. Did you get any sewing done or accomplish any of your goals? I read your comment. Sign me up for the give-away. I will post more when I come home from work.
Happy quilting.
Jeri

To Do List-Week of 5/18/09

This is my third week having a To Do List and I could not be happier. Oh, do not get me wrong. I still surf the net and dream about other quilts I would like to make but it stops there. I put it on my Quilts I Want to Make Wish List. The list could reach from my house to yours and back.
This week is going to be a simple week. I need to do some things in my yard and garage so I have to cut back on my sewing, not to mention my quilting group meeting tonight. I also have a PC Quilter Side Mount for my HQ 16 and want to spend an evening or two this week looking over the material and getting it up and running. I have had it almost a year and never used it. I put it together but never quilted anything with it.
Here is my list:

To Do List

5/18/09

7 Happy Houses (without sides)

7 Stash Pot Pie Blocks

7 NinePatch Blocks

7 Sixteen Patch Blocks

You will notice I did not put the I Spy Quilt on the list this week. I plan on doing more than looking at it but I am not making any promises.

I am taking a free motion quilting class in June if enough people sign up. It is through my guild. I plan on taking all the items that I have brought to improve my quilting and try them out to see which works best for me. I like a lot of quilting on a quilt. Mostly I just do cross-hatching on my quilts. I want my quilts to dance and sing. I want to hop, skip and jump across my quilts. I want them to reach the moon, skip over to the sun, tap dance on quicksand, make loops in the air. I want them to fly and soar to places unknown and unseen. I want to make them say "look at me". I want them to touch my soul, feed my spirit, excite my senses. I can feel myself quilting. I can smell myself quilting. Quilting is not a chore, not a job, not an end. Quilting is quilting. There is nothing else.

I just want to quilt.

Jeri

I really need to learn how to blog. I am going to take a week to learn how to use all the tools and gadgets to navigate this blog. I would like to make some changes. Sorta like moving the furniture around in your house.
Ok, back to the job at hand. I think I made some progress in my quilting this week.
I went to JoAnn's and bought the gift for the guild meeting tomorrow. I hate buying gifts for people I know, so think how I feel buying a gift for someone I do not know. I always wonder whether they will like it or not. I bought a package of permanent markers in six colors.

On to my "To Do List". With my heart in my hand I come to you and apologize first. Once again I did not complete a single Happy House. I think I need to work on three quilts at a time/per week. And I did not quilt the I Spy Quilt. Sorry.
I did 24 strips (above) for the Straggler Calender Quilt. I was very pleased with my color choices.

My goal was 12 blocks for the Stash Pot Pie. I stopped counting at 17. This quilt is coming along nicely.

My goal for the 9-patch and 16-patch was 12 each. I made 16 each. I need to catch up with Amanda @ Crazy Mama Quilts. This week she posted how many we should have made. I do not think I have enough. Plus, I want to be ahead in case I ever have to work late and do not get to sew. I hate being behind.
I forgot to take a picture of the pink and white Disappearing Nine Patch sides. I did make 16 of them. Now all I have to do is turn them into blocks.
While washing dishes this morning I was listening to some Christian television show. He was talking about stepping out of your comfort zone and becoming a bigger, better person. It made me think of my life and how I love being in my comfort zone. I am not a risk taker. I admire people who do take risk but I just cannot seem to step up to the bat. My kitchen sink looks out into to my sunroom (which I turned into my sewing room). From that window I can see Belle (I named my HQ 16). I am afraid to quilt with Belle. I can load a quilt on Belle, position the pantograph, look at it every day and feel it in my heart to quilt but I just cannot seem to make myself quilt. I even go as far as following the pattern with the laser without the machine on. But I will not turn the machine on. It takes a lot for me to actually quilt. So, I need to step out of my comfort zone. I need to take the risk, no matter how the quilt turns out. I need to quilt.
Lots of love.
Jeri

The Weekend

I have two whole days to sew, sleep, sew, watch television, sew, garden, sew, clean my house, sew, sew, sew. Oh, I will snack and munch in-between but I will mostly sew.
My daughter said she is coming to spend Saturday with me from Orlando, so I may have to do a little entertaining in-between sewing but not a lot. She can fiddle around on the computer or watch television. I bought her favorite snacks to keep her happy (LOL).
I started my morning by surfing the net and I fell in love again. I do not know if I told you or not but I love antique quilts and any type of patch quilt (four-nine-sixteen-twenty-five, etc). So, I was doing my surfing-wishing for more time to quilt and dreaming of quilts I want to make when I have more time-when I came across Christine @ Once Upon a Quilt. She is having a nine patch swap using reproduction fabrics. Just me. The swap has one catch. It is for Australian quilters only. You know the postage thing.
Well, I am going to join in the fun as a straggler. I am good at that. It is a six month project. I should be through with my Straggler Calender Quilt in July and then I will start this quilt.
SometimesI feel like a child looking in the window at someone else's Christmas and wishing it was me. I do visit the flickr photos of the various swaps. I do not always want to join but I do enjoy looking.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Jeri

Another Bunny Trail

This morning I got up to do my usual one hour sewing before I go to work and was sewing along when I noticed that my stack of leader/enders was quite large (but not all of them done). So before I knew it I went from the above picture to

this

to this.

I love it.

I must explain about this leader/ender. I had a stack of very, very wonky teal and brown Friendship Stars. I could not square them up. Believe me I turned them every way I could and I still could not make them 4.5 inch square. I thought about using freezer paper or foundation piecing paper (expensive) to square them up. But I did not want to tear the paper off the back after I finished. Then I thought about hand basting them to white Muslin (I bought the muslin on sale at JoAnn's). The squares are not as nice as I want them to be but for a donation quilt they will be a lesson well learned.

I do not plan on making this part of my weekly "To Do List". I will continue sewing the squares together as a leader/ender quilt. One day it will move to the top of the list but not now.
Lots of love.

Jeri
p.s. I owe Bonnie Hunter credit for teaching me this method of leader/ender quilting. She has a wonderful website, Quiltville, with lots of nice free quilt patterns. She even has a book out.

Also, thanks to JoAnna for introducing me to Bonnie Hunter's blog and website. Thanks JoAnna.

To Do List - Week of 5/11/09

After much thought and agonizing I have made my "To Do List". You may have noticed that my "To Do List" did not leave me much room to play around. It is totally business.
Well, this week the list is about the same. Next week will be shorter (I think) since I have my guild meeting on Monday night.
Here I go.

To Do List

5/11/09

12 Nine Patch and Sixteen Patch Blocks

12 Stash Pot Pie Blocks

24 Strips for my Straggler Calender Quilt

16 3-Piece Sections for the Pink and White

Disappearing Nine Patch

7 Happy Houses (not the sides)

Quilt the I Spy Quilt

*Quilts I Am Working On*

I Spy (needs quilting)

Nine Patch (Quilt A Long with Crazy Mama Quilts)

Sixteen Patch Quilt (from a library book)

Happy Houses (from a swap I did)

Stash Pot Pie (from a class I took a couple of years ago)

Straggle Calender Quilt (I got left behind)

Pink and White Disappearing Nine Patch

I know that I had a rule of no more than three quilts at a time but I think with some task management I can do this.

Wish me luck.

Jeri

A Long Week

I had a long week at work and did not get to blog until this am. I will try to be on time next week. Also, I think I am going to have a shorter list this week. I want to inventory my sewing room.
Let us start with my list and what I accomplished. I was suppose to make 20 pink and white 9 patch blocks for my Disappearing Nine Patch. I made 6 blocks. I stopped making them after making the fourth one to get a handle on what I need instead of just sewing willy nilly. I knew I needed a total of 56 blocks to make this quilt.

So, I decided to make the side rows of the pink panels to see the direction my quilt was going. So I made 40 of the side rows. I am very pleased with these.

My "thorn in my side" Stash Pot Pie quilt blocks is turning into my favorite blocks. I had planned on making 15 blocks. I think I made about 24 blocks (some I just finished off and made into 9 block rows).

These are the blocks I just loved making. I used no color scheme. I just picked two colors and went for it. I love them. I made more than my goal. I have more strips cut out. I can make a 16-patch block in less than 10 minutes. My system is so cool. I love it.

I made 30 strips for my calender quilt. I also cut the sashing and sewed it into one long strip waiting to be cut into the columns. Which I will start next week.

This broke my heart when I realized my week was over and I had only made one Happy House (the bottom one). So to make it not feel so lonely I put some other Happy Houses in the pictures with it.

My BOM was done and mailed. She should have them by now. I am keeping the one on the right top row. I ran out of the blue I used in the other two.

I did not get to quilt the I Spy quilt or make any of the gray 9-patch blocks. I still have next week.
I hope you enjoyed my show and tell. I will post my "To Do List" tonight. I am going to spend Monday night cutting and getting things ready to sew.
More show and tell later.

Jeri

I want to say I have had a very productive week. I completed some of the projects on my list. Some I revised and set different goals. But what I really am trying to say is that by having the list I was focused and able to complete the task at hand. I plan on continuing this on a weekly basis. I may not have so much on my list each week but there will be a list.
Also, I made myself an ironing table for Christmas. Because I had so many plans and dreams of future quilts I started stacking everything on my ironing table (future quilts). I cleaned it off. I put the material that was not being used away and made bins for what I am working on. I work on it and clean up my work area when I am through for the day.
Yes, I will continue to visit my favorite blog sites and oh and ah, but I will not start planning another quilt while I am working on my current one(s). Also, I will not work on more that three quilts at a time. I think it this will help me with completing more quilts also.
I have come to realize that there are so many pretty quilts out there and I will never be able to make them all.
I think I need to write a "Quilter's Ten Step" to help me. Let me think about it.
My tip for the day-When all else fails, make a list and read it often.
Jeri

I know I promised to make a sidebar with all my UFOs and WIP on it, but I cannot. I just cannot show you my weaknesses. I have taken a lot of classes and not finished them. Example, last year I went to the Jacksonville, Fl quilt show and took a class on making a miniature quilt. I knew when I was in the class I would not finish it. It was not what I was interested in. It was not me. Do not get me wrong I enjoyed the class, had a lot of fun and learned a lot of things but it was not me. Maybe ten years down the road I will be. But not today.
So I decided to make a To Do List every Monday and see how much of it I finish by Saturday. On Sunday I will post my progress with pictures and start my To Do List for the next week.
Okay, so here we go. Please be aware I work full-time and this list will not always be completed but I will try my best. Hopefully, this will keep me off so many interesting bunny trails I seem to wonder down.

To Do List

5/4/09

7 Happy House Blocks-finish them off

20 Pink and White Disappearing Nine Patch Blocks

15 Stash Pot Pie Blocks

Sew two rows of the Stash Pot Pie together

Sew and trim another month of the Calender Quilt together

Measure and cut the sashing for the Calender Quilt

5 Blocks for Gray Quilt

8 Blocks for Crazy Mama Quilts 9 Patch Quilt Along

8 Sixteen Patch Blocks

3 Blocks for my Block of the Month group

(1 for me, 2 to mail)

Quilt I Spy Quilt (its on the frame and waiting)

Cross you fingers and say a prayer for me. I know it seems like a lot but most of the blocks are almost completed. The colors are chosen and cut. Just waiting to be sewn.

Will let you know my progress on Saturday.

Jeri