I love a simple 9-patch

When I was left with a pile of strips after cutting for a project, I just had to whip up a few 9-patch blocks. I have plenty of strips to make a bunch more, but these are what I stitched up during the news. In this photo I was auditioning a fabric for setting squares. I had first thought I would use a black print, but decided I wanted a sweeter look.

 

Did I forget to mention that the strips were under 1" wide and these blocks will finish at 3/4"?

I have made many 9-patch blocks this size before, but it has been a while and it took me a couple of attempts to remember the techniques.

During the Olympics I spent a lot of time doing the stitching on this.

I'm not sure I want to border it the way the pattern shows, but I haven't yet come up with something that clicks for me. Currently it has a place on my design wall, reminding me that Spring is coming.

Wendy (theconstantquilter blog) invited us to join her in making a mini a month. Since I am inclined to do that anyway, I figured it would be fun to join in. My feathered star swap quilt ended up being my January finish, though I had intended this to be finished in January. 

Instead, it is my February finish--almost. It looks all wonky because I haven't stitched the binding down on the back yet. The pins holding the folded binding down are distorting the quilt. Hopefully it will be completed very soon.
I have started my March mini, but it is a swap quilt that I won't show until the swap is completed.

It is time to get the sashing on Sasquatch. The last time I posted this quilt I said I still had something else I might do with the trees. 
















The photo on the left shows the trees as they were then. See how the trunks are all uniform in height? On the right I have shortened some of the trunks (I have just folded them under on the bottom while I decide if I like it or not). It adds one more factor of individuality to the trees, but I can't decide if it makes it look disjointed. Can a forest look disjointed? I know you have an opinion, so let me have it. :)

Until next time, 
Janet O.

We are finally getting winter, and this was the scene one morning just before the sun came up over the mountains earlier this week. 

Closure on a swap, a test, and a quest

I participated in Randy's (barristersblock blog) pincushion swap and I received mine today. I was gobsmacked! Look at this beauty made by Kevin (kevinthequilter blog! And the back is a gorgeous solid cheddar. The photo doesn't begin to do it justice!

Kevin had emailed and asked me about my favorite colors, etc. I told him I loved CW repros and purple was my favorite color. I liked to combine it with gold/cheddar, and I would often throw some black in, too. He already seemed to know that I dabble in minis.
Did he nail it or what? I couldn't be more thrilled! It has taken up residence right by my sewing machine and has already been put to use. Makes me smile every time I see it. : )
This brings closure to my first ever group swap, and it was a grand success on my end of things. I hope the one I sent has been received.

My fusible test turned out to be a much bigger venture than I had anticipated. Rather than bore you with a long, wordy post here, I placed it as a tab under my header. If you are interested in the results, you can read it on the "Fusible Review" tab.


I will share with you all of the projects that came about as I tested the fusibles.

 This little piece is a "Front Porch Quilts" design.









 
                                                                                        It finishes at about 3"x7".





One of the Buttermilk Basin "Banners Through The Year" series. The pattern recommended an orange border, and I love orange. But when I was auditioning fabrics, this older Sandy Gervais print just begged to be chosen.






















This is another Buttermilk Basin pattern. It will be a pillow for bowl filling. It is smaller than it looks. : )

















Another Buttermilk Basin design that will be another little bowl filler pillow.  






I have three of the four blocks stitched down on this Buttermilk Basin pattern. (Can you tell I have taken a few classes from Stacy? I sure have a stash of her patterns!)

I saved the most involved block of this pattern for last. Don't know if that was the smartest move I could have made. I'm really hoping to have this ready for the holiday next month. 

This is an adaptation of a pattern by Bird in The Hand Primitives. I wanted something that would fit on this piece of wool, so I consolidated it a bit. There isn't any stitching on this yet, but I believe it will really come to life when that is completed.

As for closure on a quest, some of you know that over 1 1/2 years ago I was diagnosed with celiac disease. This was quite a blow. I loved to bake.

My first attempts at gluten free baking were dismal. I lost my baking mojo and for months at a time I would do no baking. Gradually I started to assemble a very small arsenal of recipes that were tolerable, but as someone who used to volunteer to provide baked goods whenever they were needed, I now avoided having to share the gritty, starchy products from my kitchen. Oh, to have a really good chocolate chip cookie again!

This is a shelf in my fridge.

Well, I have accepted Nancy's challenge to spend 80  minutes a week learning a new skill or working on a goal. I have gathered my courage and my gluten free flours and tackled a few recipes that have been taunting me, and I finally did it!!! 
I have finally made a gluten free chocolate chip cookie that doesn't taste like it is gluten free! No gritty texture, no starchy aftertaste, and it is soft and chewy, like a chocolate chip cookie should be!
 

I was elated! I finally had to freeze the rest of them because I was going to consume the whole batch if I didn't. It had been almost two years since I'd had a good chocolate chip cookie. 

And on that sweet note, I will close--
Until next time,
Janet O.

Sewing machine is gathering dust

...while I play in wool. This is what I have pulled together in the past couple of days.

Nothing is fused yet. I just got all of the pieces cut out and laid on their respective backgrounds to see if they were happy there. I see that the crookneck squash doesn't have much contrast with its background, but I don't know if I will change it. I really like that piece of wool.


This is from a Buttermilk Basin pattern that I ordered a while back when Stacy had a sale. I've wanted a Thanksgiving wall hanging and when I saw this, I thought it was perfect. But I had not looked carefully at the size before I ordered.
With the sloping outer walls of our dome, the places where I can hang things are limited. Quilts need to be kept to under 3' square.
This pattern is for a 42.5" x 50.5" wall hanging.
I was sad, and stuffed the pattern deep in a drawer.
But as I have been up to my elbows in Kool-Aid lately, dying wool, I have come up with some rich colors that had me wanting to do something Fall-ish.

I have gone through so much Kool-Aid this week, I have had to replenish my supply twice. I wonder if the clerks at the store think I am addicted (I don't even drink the stuff). I have raised suspicions before when buying large quantities of lye for soap making (since it is also used in meth labs). But as far as I know there aren't nefarious activities associated with Kool-Aid (but even as I typed that, Jim Jones came to mind). (That was quite a parenthetical paragraph. Uh-oh, I am posting late at night again. Can you tell?)

I decided to dig out the pattern and reduce the designs. With the help of my scanner and printer, I believe it will work out to under 30" square once the borders are attached.

Excuse the glaring light over my kitchen island. Maybe this gives you some perspective, considering the pattern beside it is standard 8 1/2" x 11".  I think it will be very cute. : )
Half of the wools I used for this piece are from thrift store clothing, and then many of them were tea-dyed, or took a bath in Kool-Aid.

Another change I made, besides the size, is in Mr. Gobbler's coloring. If you compare the pattern with my Tom Turkey, you can see mine is not so pale.
Though the soft and creamy turkey on the pattern is pretty, we have wild turkeys in our area, and their complexions aren't that nice. Of course, I haven't seen one wearing a hat either, but I still included that.

For at least a couple of years now I have been wanting to run a side-by-side comparison of the fusible products different instructors use for wool applique. Lisa Bongean recommends Lite Steam-a-Seam 2, Stacy West is in favor of Soft Fuse, and Kim Diehl uses Heat'nBond Lite. Then there is one called TransWeb, that I hadn't heard of until my friend Kris introduced me to it.

So I divided a muslin square into quarters and used a different fusible in each one to attach an identical wool bird. I kept notes on the different properties of each one up to this point. Next step is to stitch around the edges and see what differences I can detect there. I already know from experience some of what I will find, but I am curious to get a feel for each of the four products. I'll let you know what I learn.

Until next time,
Janet O.

Stitchin' with Stacy--and having a blast!

I spent last Friday and Saturday with Miss Stacy from Buttermilk Basin, at the Village Dry Goods Winter Retreat. This is the third year I have attended and it has been fun to become acquainted with Lisa Bongean, Pam Buda, and now Stacy West. It was a 3 day event this year, but I only did the last two days. This was our project on Friday (this one is Stacy's, but mine is almost finished).

 It was designed to be a picnic basket cover, but I think I may make a wall hanging with mine.

 

Stacy demonstrated the necessary techniques and stitches, and introduced us to my favorite  new fusing product, Soft Fuse. I don't think I will be so hesitant to start prepping new wool projects now that I have learned about this.

This is the room full of stitchers Stacy managed with her easy-going, fun-loving style, and we did have a good time. The Village Dry Goods gals made sure we had plenty of peanut M&Ms, pretzels and Swedish Fish on each table to fuel our creative activity.

 We came away with near-finished pieces and good memories.

Friday evening was the dinner/trunk show at the event center of a local restaurant.

Good food and company.

Lots of fun--you should have seen Cindy (in the middle) dance as she helped display Stacy's little quilts.

And plenty of inspiration. I'm wondering now why I didn't buy that pattern on the right.

If you haven't already noticed, Stacy's pattern niche is small, prim-style, monthly themed designs.

One of the shop owners brought a cute little granddaughter helper.

So many tempting monthly pinkeep and candle mat designs.

I want to try and show you a year's worth of her banners. Blogger doesn't cooperate when I load this many photos, so I won't even try to put them in order. I think you can figure it out. You can click to enlarge any of them if you want to.

  

 These banners finish at just under 8x15"--a lovely size for hanging on a door or in a little space that needs brightening.

Here is our project on my second day.

Just some stitching on the black edge, buttons and a few decorative stitches and I can make mine into a pillow like Stacy's.

On the left Jamie is stitching her beautiful heart (love her wool), and across the table Stacy is helping someone with their project from the first day (which I didn't attend).

Everyone who attended the dinner/trunk show received a pattern with some of the wool needed to make it.
My friend, Kim, made time to start hers. It is one of the banners shown above, and it is so cute.

To the right, one of the shop owners (RoLayne) is trying to share her box of Peeps. She actually likes them, so it was very thoughtful of her. I passed. : )

 Stacy has so many wonderful patterns. Shall we talk about how many came home with me? Maybe not. We did receive some as gifts, and I won a couple in the crazy game we played each day, but I also did my part in emptying my wallet. If you'd like to check out her patterns click here. You can click on each of the categories on that page to see all of the patterns in each collection. And rumor has it that Miss Stacy will be sending some patterns to be given away on this blog, so stay tuned.

If you are still with me, you have earned a nap--or chocolate--or both. : )
Until next time,
Janet O.