Another stash giveaway

http://turningturning.com/giveaway-granny-day-2009/

Great site and fun to read!

Bitten by the Hexagon bug

Today I worked on some 4 patches for an exchange from the Quiltville chat Yahoo group. I am about halfway done with the 100 blocks needed by May.

I have fallen in love with the EPP! (English Paper Piecing) I tried this when I was 11 (1961). I found the box in the attic. Then there was a demo at my guild's last meeting. I bought some papers off EBay and when they came I was bitten hard! Don't know when I will ever hand quilt again. This is supposed to be a take along project but all I want to do is make little hexes!

Give away of 30 FQ's

Here is the link to a great site and a super great give away!
http://www.pigtalesandquilts.com/2009/04/give-away-time.html

I love the primitive patterns that seem to abound today. This site has some great patterns!

Eyes on me

Check out this weird sunlight reflection from my back window onto Jim's man shed. Doesn't it look like an eye??? It did not come from the camera flash. I saw it as I was walking into the kitchen. It did not last very long. I wonder what made it. I will have to check tomorrow to see if "my eye" returns.

Bess posed for me today. She seems anxious. MaggieMae came home late yesterday after an overnight stay at the vets for spaying. MaggieMae is being so quiet and the rest of the cats seem concerned. There was no hissing when she returned. Sometimes kitties do not like the scents on a kitty who has visited the vet.

Black and White 9-patch assembled!!!!

Here are the rows being assembled this morning. I cannot believe how fast the assembly of this quilt has been!

Here are the rows on a hanger after pressing. I always do quilts this way. It keeps them clean and flat and I can just grab the next row off and the rest remain!

Here are the hourglass blocks during assembly. I used a chalk marker to extend the lines on the dark fabrics. I used pencil for the lights. And the blocks ended up being more black/gray than black/white as I had planned. But I think this will be a plus as the border fabric has gray in it.

easy, peasy sewing...just straight lines over and over and over. I made these blocks yesterday.

So, here it is on the design wall without the borders yet. When I made Amanda's quilt it turned out 66" square. This one is a rectangle and I plan on it being 72X90. Laura always wants bigger quilts. But since I plan on quilting it on my DSM I will not make it much larger.

Black and White 9-patch

Yes, I am starting another black and white 9-patch. My daughter #2 saw Amanda's black and white and went nuts over it.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgthdDk71N0VV-6lZevFimDVizv7Z73qp7L2CV7EBCQ2CakVSjkJQzxSgMmip-mmLE_gg032NymEW5T5vIuqauZE-7-waoxsZZWFdBs4hfCwIWRM5RhRx1TqGWNetG09tt6LP5FLb0BgvI/s1600-h/DSC02340.JPG

So I started on Friday with pressing and cutting. By Sunday afternoon I had 77 blocks made. I only need 50 so there may end up being a third black and white 9-patch. I used 18 different black and white prints and 12 white or white on black prints. I have a good selection of blocks so they will all appear different in the quilt.

I bought a beautiful gray/black/white oriental fabric that I plan on using for the back and border. I need to get that cut today. And I need to cut two fabrics for the hourglass alternate blocks. I may use the oriental fabric there too. Need to get them up on the design wall to see how they look.

Batik Virginia Bound progress report DONE!!!!!!!!

Yes it is done! Not on the bed yet as I plan on taking it to the guild meeting tonight. I do not want to take cat fur with me to show the quilt. SO I will do the bedroom tomorrow and add the quilt to the bed.
Hubby said I need to take a break from sewing after he saw how long and hard I worked on this huge quilt. I do not feel like I need a break. I did ask him if he wanted me to stop and do some spring cleaning. "No" he said....he fears furniture moving is involved in spring cleaning. HA!

Here it is all folded and waiting to be loaded into the truck. We are getting snow today. Just a couple wet inches. The roads are not slick but it is only 33 outside. BRRRRRR!

I accordion fold my binding and leave it on the bed of the machine. It feeds off as I need it. I have been using my binding this way for years. If there is a lull between making and using the binding I use selvedges to tie the bundle up neatly.

And as you can see I used many many different neutrals for the binding. I love multicolored bindings. They spiral around the quilt in a riot of color saying "look at me".

The only real pain besides the quilting was the joining of the three units. I used my big Board to cut and pin the backs. You cannot even tell from the front where these seams fall! Yep! That's the whole idea!