9 Patch Beauty

I spent last week hand sewing the binding on 9 Patch Beauty which I pieced last winter. It was originally called the 'Get Together' quilt and is a pattern from the April 2020 issue of American Patchwork & quilting magazine.

After quilting, she measures 92" by 102" which is a decent sized queen quilt.

One of the changes I made from the original pattern was to put the flying geese along the outside of the quilt instead of in the center. I think it looks better this way.

I really need a clothesline to hang my quilts outside for pictures, that is so much better than the bed.

Lori Null long arm quilted this quilt using the Raindrops on Water design which was created by Three Sisters Fabric. This is one of my favorite overall quilting designs and Lori bought it especially to use on my quilts. I told her to program her machine to quilt the circles 3/4" apart.

For backing I used this mottled beige fabric. It shows the quilting quite nicely.

I always try to make the binding when I finish piecing a quilt so I don't misplace or use the fabric I need for the binding. This binding was pieced last January, I didn't realize I was going to be playing binding chicken! Well, I did and I won, barely!

That little piece of binding is around 2.25" because I trimmed it to a 2" square for the box. Whew, that was a close call!

For the last several years I've donated a quilt top to a quilt auction that benefits the school my Pennsylvania grandchildren attended. I would piece the quilt, they would hand quilt it then auction it. 

Our son and his family have moved so I no longer feel obligated to donate a quilt top for that auction. Since I started piecing this quilt with the intention of donating it, I'm still going to do so. 9 Patch Beauty will be selling in the 2023 Michiana Mennonite Relief sale which will be held at the Elkhart County fairgrounds on September 23rd. 

Several months ago I sent an email to American Patchwork & quilting to make sure I wasn't breaking any copyright law. I did make changes to my quilt and it looks different from the quilt in the magazine. I never heard back from them so I'm going to go ahead and donate it. I will NOT receive any financial benefit for myself. I am stating that my quilt is a variation of the Get Together quilt.

Here is a link to all the posts I've written about 9 Patch Beauty.

One of the first things I moved to our new home was my Christmas cactus. They were here all summer but I guess they weren't in sunny enough place. They didn't bloom well at Christmas.

They're all sitting on the front porch now with plenty of bright sunshine. This plant is full of blooms. A couple of the other cactus have buds, all of the plants have new growth. Hopefully this winter there will be a bumper crop of flowers. 

Linking to Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Handmade Monday, Sew & Tell, Design Wall Monday, Craftastic Monday, Monday Musings, Magic Craft

9 Patch Beauty, a Flimsy Finish!

Nine patch beauty is now a flimsy! It only took a couple hours to remove the paper from the back of the flying geese sashing. I sewed the square/square blocks onto the sashing pieces then sewed them onto the quilt. The outside border is a red print fabric with no piecing, the quilt is busy enough without a busy border. At this point, the flimsy is 95" by 105" so he's a good sized queen. Some people call this size a king but it's not. We have a king sized bed and it wouldn't be large enough to hang over the sides and cover the mattress.

It's too wet outside to take pictures so I've done the best I can inside. Once the ground is dry, I'll take outside photos, the colors will look better.

The color in this picture looks better than the top one.

I could have set the flying geese different directions but decide to go with this way.

There are a lot of seams in this quilt! It will be a heavy bed quilt.

I hung the flimsy onto the bedroom curtains. Now I need to use the sticky roller on them.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this flimsy. Those who follow me know that every year I donate a flimsy that is hand quilted then sold in an auction that supports the school our Pennsylvania grandchildren attend. When the farmer and I visited them last summer, they told us of their plans to move in the spring to a new farm that is several hours east of their present location. Since they won't be attending the old school anymore, I won't be donating flimsies. I'll just keep this quilt in the to be quilted closet until it's needed then I'll have it longarm quilted.

9 patch beauty is my version of the Get Together Quilt from the April 2020 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. My version isn't better than the original, I just took the pattern and made changes to make it 'mine'.

Here are previous posts about 9 Patch Beauty, December 16, 2022, December 23, 2022,  December 27, 2022 and January 3, 2023.

I used to be able to juggle having several quilts in progress at one time but I'm tired of that way. For me, right now, I am planning to focus on one quilt at a time until it's a flimsy, at least that's my goal.

There were several questions about foundation paper piecing in my last post. I googled foundation paper piecing and found this tutorial. I hope it answers your questions. There is a lot of information on the web about foundation paper piecing, just google your questions and find your answers! Like any other skill, it needs practice to become easier.

Linking to Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Peacock Party, Whoop Whoop Party, Finished or Not  Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

9 Patch Beauty, the Flying Geese

All 30 of the flying geese sashing for the edge of 9 Patch Beauty have been pieced, I love the precision of foundation paper piecing!

The geese look nice sitting along the edge of the center.

Of course the next step is to remove the paper from the back of the sashing. Some people leave the paper on the backside then remove after they've sewn the pieces to the quilt. I never do, I think removing before sewing is much easier.

Sorry, the blue edge blends into the carpeting.

My 9 Patch Beauty quilt is based on the Get Together Quilt. Here is a link to a previous post so you get read about the changes I made. I'm too impatient to spend time rewriting something I've written before.

Linking to Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Magic Crafts, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down

9 Patch Beauty

The square in a square blocks for 9 Patch Beauty have been pieced. 

Now foundation paper piecing the flying geese sashing starts, that is going to take awhile. I need 30 sashing sections for my version of the quilt. 

The outside of the geese is the same blue used in the square/square blocks and the sashing in the quilt center. 

Various cream fabrics are used for the geese. I'm using leftover scraps and pieces for the triangles, time to get them used.

9 Patch Beauty is my version of the Get Together Quilt. Here is a link to the first post and the changes I've made to the original pattern.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Put Your Foot Down

9 Patch Beauty or Get Together

In December 2021, I made a list of quilts I wanted to piece in 2022. Number 15 on that list was called Get Together. Get Together is the cover quilt on the April 2020 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting. It was called Get Together because friends were supposed to exchange 9 patch blocks and sew along together. The name Get Together means nothing to me so I've renamed my quilt 9 Patch Beauty.

My year changed when we moved into a new to us house. In the process of boxing up all my sewing 'stuff', I found a bag full of 9 patch blocks with the magazine inside. I don't remember piecing those blocks but I did, sometime, I even have the fabrics for the sashing and outside border! 

The 9 patch blocks have been sewn into double 9 patch blocks. This is a good project to use random neutral fabrics left from other projects!

Besides changing the name of the quilt, I'm going to change the pattern. The first change is relocating the placement of the flying geese. My quilt is going to be larger than the pattern so my flying geese will be the outside sashing. 

Another change is to the sashing between the double 9 patch blocks. I had plenty of 9 patches left so I sewed 9 patches into the sashing and made a single Irish chain quilt.

This didn't turn out quite like I had envisioned. If you decide to make this change, make sure you don't have dark little squares against the dark blue sashing.

I don't know if this quilt will be finished into the flimsy stage in 2022 but I'm enjoying the process and it feels good be working on an UFQ (unfinished quilt) even if it hasn't turned out exactly like I thought it would.

Linking to Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Peacock Party, Finished or Not  Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant