My Purple Crazy Nine-Patch Quilt

Some of you will remember that way back near the end of September, 2014, Marsha of Grandma's Quilts, gave away a nice prize, and I was the lucky winner of some beautiful fat quarters; I'm calling them "purple" though they are pastels of that color.  She also sent me a cute spider pin cushion and a nice ripper with a big handle.

Since Christmas I had been trying to decide on a pattern for the fat quarters, and finally decided on trying the Crazy Nine Patch pattern, at the suggestion of some friends.  I found two links for the pattern; both are years old, but here they are.  http://allsorts.typepad.com/allsorts/2006/10/crazy_about_qui.html    or www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransson/2010/02/crazy-ninepatch-lattice-quilt.html 

I gathered the fabrics on February 19, 2015, added more fat quarters, stacked them all up, and started cutting.  The nine blocks went together very quickly.  I laid them out, stood back, and said to myself, "I think I've just ruined those beautiful fat quarters that Marsha sent me."

I love all the fabrics, including those I added, but I don't really like that pattern!  I like more symmetry, and those blocks have none of that!  None of the seams match!  A friend reminded me they are not supposed to; that didn't help my feelings a bit.  I decided to add the darker sashings and white cornerstones, and it looks a little better to me, but I'll probably never make that pattern again.  I turned every block at least a dozen times, and still came up with two light sections next to each other.  Rats!  Too late now!  I finished the top today.  Six days from beginning to top finished.  That's got to be a record for me!  I think I just wanted to get it over with.  I'm still grieving that I cut up those beautiful fat quarters like this!

Here it is, all 58" square of it:  all of it is purple and white, except for the few green leaves.

Here's a closeup of the corner that shows the pretty fabrics better.  I decided to add the little corner blocks in the border which helped my feelings some.  All nine fabrics are in every block, in a different position each time.

Look at the center section.  I wish it were more symmetrical, like a kite!    Even that would help!

 I'll probably get it sandwiched tomorrow so I can begin quilting it.  The binding will be the dark sashing fabric.  I'll probably show it again after it's quilted.

Thanks again, Marsha, for the beautiful fabrics.  Sorry I didn't choose a prettier pattern for them.

By the way, I had to use that nice big-handled ripper only once on 3-4 stitches to turn a seam the other way where I had stitched over it.

It really was easy, but seems I remember hearing from my mother that sometimes the "easy" things are not as pretty, or as useful as more difficult things, .  I think maybe that could refer to this pattern.

---"Love"

"This Then Is Texas" is Finished and Hanging

I finally got my Texas quilt finished, complete with a label, and got it hung last Monday.  I decided to keep it in the sunroom but not in the place I had first planned.  It would have been almost to the ceiling over the sewing cabinet, and besides I really like my birdhouse quilt there between the windows.  I decided to hang it over the cedar chest on the closet wall.  It can't be seen until one is all the way into the sunroom, but I think it fits the space well there.

I am still determined to learn to free motion quilt, but I'm just not nervy enough I guess, and I surely do not practice enough!  Anyway, I did FM around the map (Texas has miles of rivers for borders!) and the flags in the stars and also around the bluebonnets.  They puffed up pretty well, even though I can't get the lighting right to show it very well.  I knew I had to do some quilting in the map block, more than just the borders, and finally decided to mark from each corner to the county line where I live.  Then I marked lines evenly dividing three times the "frame" of the map on each side, again up to the county line, and quilted the two lines into V's to highlight my county.   Again, it doesn't show well in the picture, but in person, I'm very pleased with the outcome.  Maybe you can see some of the stitching.

I'm sure there are lots of better arranged Texas quilts out there, but no doubt you know how bad I am about striking out on my own into the wild blue yonder!  Again, I think I lucked out.  At least, I can live with it.  How better, from my crazy mind, could I have better expressed "This Then Is Texas!"  ???

After hanging the quilt, it was time to get  out to the yard work while we had a couple of days near 70 degrees.  I needed to absorb some Vitamin D after all the cold cloudy days!  (Yes, I know it hasn't been nearly as bad as the northern states, but remember, this is Texas;  it normally is not dreary that long!)  So I pruned the rose garden to get ready for Spring.

On Wednesday two church friends spent the day here trying to design our next church quilt, and we were fairly pleased with the plan.  Hope we can start on it soon.  

Some of us are making plans to attend the quilt show and shop hop in Waco February 28.

Don't know what will come next from the stash!    I'll be thinking while pruning roses and crepe myrtles this week.

Have a fun week with your quilting.

---"Love"