Tuesday Archives--Nine-Patch Quilts

Val is hosting the Tuesday Archives posts over at Val's Quilting Studio, and this week's theme is nine-patch quilts. The idea is to link up an old blog post that fits the theme. I love nine-patch quilts, and I have made quite a few of them over the years. Since I don't really have any blog posts featuring them, I searched through my photos to find a few to share with you.

Nine-patch quilts are a favorite of mine because of the beautiful effects that can be made with this very simple unit. As you can see, I love making quilts with gradations of color and/or value. I agonize over my fabric selections until I am happy with the blend of colors. Enjoy the mini quilt show!

Volcano Island 2001
pattern is "Blooming Nine-Patch" from the book
Tradition with a Twist by Blanche Young and Dalene Young Stone

Evergreen 2009
variation on the pattern "Trip Squared"
from the book Batik Beauties by Laurie Shifrin

Over the Rainbow Disappearing Nine-Patch 2011

Radiant Sunshine and Shadow quilt for Mom 2011
from the book by the same name
by Helen Frost and Catherine Skow

"Blazing Hidden Nine-Patch"
top made 2001, quilt finished 2012
pattern is "Atlanta Commons" from the book
101 Nine-Patch Quilts by Marti Michell

I can't even begin to choose a favorite of these quilts. Each one is very special to me. I look forward to checking out all the other nine-patch quilt posts at Val's Quilting Studio. 

Julie in GA

Scrappy Green Crossroads

I was feeling a little lost at the beginning of the month when we found out that our August color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is light/bright green. I had already made my allotment of green LeMoyne Star blocks a few months ago, not realizing that lighter green would pop up again. 

I decided to go an entirely different route and try to make a small quilt entirely in greens. The Crossroads block is one I had been seeing for a year or two and wanted to try. I dug out my 2-1/2" light and bright green strips, plus cut more strips off stash fabrics. The background fabric is a leftover from a quilt made around 12-14 years ago. Here is my finished Crossroads quilt top.

Crossroads
45" x 57"

My quilt blocks measure 12" finished, and there are 12 of them in the quilt. I might have made this quilt bigger, but I was limited by the amount of background that I had. Now I have the rest of August to piece a back and try to get this quilted. 

Check out this week's Rainbow Scrap Challenge posts on Saturday--lots of amazingly beautiful rainbow projects to inspire you! I am also linking up to Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict and joining in on The Purge over at Stitched in Color. It's time to conquer those scraps!


Julie in GA

Santa Quilt

Val at Val's Quilting Studio is hosting the Tuesday Archives again. Each week, Val chooses two quilting themes, and bloggers link up with old blog posts that relate to those two topics. One subject this week is Christmas quilts. I have a very special Christmas quilt that I have shown on my blog, but haven't told the story of it's making.

The story begins with the fact that my husband collects Santas of all sizes and styles. We have Santa teapots, cookie jars, ornaments, figures, plates, mugs, nightlights, salt and pepper shakers, glasses, etc., etc....

There is no telling how many Santas live at our house.

Back in 2006, before we were married, I found this fabulous Santa fabric at a quilt shop in Edmonton, Alberta. The line of fabrics was "Good Tidings" by Diane Knott for Clothworks. I knew I had to make him a quilt featuring this fabric. My photo shows six of the nine different Santa figures.

I played with a variety of ideas for the quilt, and settled on framing out the Santa blocks, then alternating them with log cabin blocks. The finished quilt measures about 56" x 72". My friend Jan at Cat's Meow Quilting did the fabulous machine quilting on it, which you can see better in the detail photo. This quilt hangs on the wall every year right near our Christmas tree.

That is the story of my very special Christmas quilt. Visit Val's Quilting Archives for more Christmas quilts and also for Chevron/Zigzag quilts (I have one posted there too.)

Julie in GA