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