Rainbow Gradation Disappearing 9-Patch

There are always so many quilt-alongs and mystery quilts on-line that I read about and would like to join, but I know I can't do them all. However, sometimes one comes along at the right time that proves to be irresistible. The Disappearing 9-Patch QAL by Julie Cefalu at The Crafty Quilter proved to be one of those. I discovered the QAL just before I started a week of vacation time at home, and what could be easier than 9-patches? Count me in!

The most difficult part of this project was deciding on my design and fabrics. A photo in one of Julie's posts showed her blocks in a rainbow of colors, and that idea was very appealing to me. Instead of using a charm pack, I pulled a group of fabrics that I have been saving for just the right project for many years. They are the "Inner Light Gradations" line by Debra Lunn & Michael Mrowka for Timeless Treasures. The date on the selvage of the fabrics--2003!! I bought the entire line in 2005 when I was working in Atlanta for the first time. I also returned to the quilt shop a few days later and bought the pastel version of the same group of fabrics. Aren't these beautiful?!

The above photo shows four different pieces of fabric. Each fabric shades from one color at the selvage toward the center fold, then reverses back again. The magic comes when two pieces of fabric are joined together. The color at the selvage of one pieces blends perfectly into the center color of the next piece. Here are two pieces laid together--the fold at the center where they meet up is nearly invisible.

For my D9P quilt, I decided to scale down the blocks and work with 3.5" squares, rather than the 5" charm squares in Julie's version. I chose a black print as my contrast fabric to set off the rainbow prints. I made a sample block before cutting into all of my precious fabrics. To maintain the direction of the print, I rotated the squares around the center when making the 9-patch block. Here is my first 9-patch before and after cutting it up.

For most D9P quilts, after the 9P block is cut into four sections, they are rotated to end up with the small squares toward the center for two sections and at the outer corners for the other two sections. This makes a block that requires very little matching of seams. The following example is from The Crafty Quilter.

Instead of joining my units in this way, I wanted to keep them all facing the same direction. I had seen a tutorial for a quilt made this way at Jo's Country Junction. She refers to it as Self-Sashing Disappearing 9-Patch. Here are some of my blocks up on the wall in this layout.

When it was time to join the blocks together, I did it in sections to avoid having to stitch so many long rows together. I divided the quilt into approximate quarters for this process. I also added rectangles of the black print and small squares of the colors along the left side and top edge to complete the sashing design. You can see that the upper sashing is separate along the top edge. This photo shows the lower left corner completely assembled, top left has the blocks joined into rows, and the  blocks on the right side have not yet been joined together.

Eventually I had four sections, which then became a finished quilt top!

Rainbow Gradation Disappearing Nine-Patch
39.5 x 48

This little top will make a great baby quilt. I need to find the perfect flannel print for the back (my favorite finish for a cozy baby quilt,) and then I can get this beauty quilted up and finished!

Thanks to Julie at The Crafty Quilter for the inspiration with her Disappearing 9Patch QAL. I'm looking to forward to seeing all the different versions that have been shared. I'm also linking up with Let's Make Baby Quilts at Michelle's Romantic Tangle, Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

and Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts.

Happy quilting!

Julie in GA

Stitching and Stashing--Week 27, 2019

My stash numbers for the year had been steadily getting closer to even for the past several weeks. The last addition of new fabric was almost two months ago, but that streak is over now. I bought new fabric last week, and I love what I got! Somehow I will find space for it in the sewing room.

My purchases came from a lovely quilt shop called The Quilt Box in Dry Ridge, Kentucky. We had spent a couple of days in Cincinnati and were on our way to the Lexington area. Of course I had done my homework in advance and figured out where there were quilt shops to visit. The Quilt Box is only a few minutes drive from I-75, but it feels like you are very far from the rush of traffic. Such a quiet and peaceful place with very friendly people and beautiful fabrics--a perfect combination!

My purchases are not planned for anything in particular, just additions to colors that could use some freshening up. This first group are all from the line "Berry Nice" by P & B Fabrics. I was very tempted to buy a whole rainbow bundle of these fabrics, but limited myself to these few.

My other purchase was a panel that includes multiple prints in the same colorway. Altogether there are 8 fat quarters in this panel. It was very hard to pick just one color to buy. Here are the different prints included. I will cut them apart into separate fat quarters after the fabric gets washed.

Fortunately, it wasn't all about stash additions last week. I do have some usage to report too--5/8 yard for the borders on the "Practice What I Preach" quilt from the class I took with Pam Buda a week ago. I now have a finished quilt top!

Practice What I Preach quilt top, 43" square

I zoomed in on a section of the quilt to show the fabrics better. I'm especially happy with how that background fabric worked out.

2019 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                          .625 yards

Used year to date:                   24.750 yards
Added last week:                          3.0 yards

Added year to date:                   30.75 yards
Net stashed year to date:          6.0 yards

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. I spent some time quilting every day except one last week, mostly hand stitching in the car. Progress is slow but steady.

15 Minute Challenge:  

6/30 - 7/6                6 of 7 days

2019 Total         173 of 187 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. I'm also linking up with Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 27, 2019

The monthly color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge switched to pink with the start of July. I haven't had much time to play with my pink scraps yet, but I did get a few blocks made--two Orange Peels and two variations on Libby's Tiny Tuesday block. I changed the proportions a little bit for the second version of Libby's block.

I'm especially excited about my Orange Peel blocks at the moment because I received a special gift last week. My cousin's wife Sharon had two old quilt tops plus one quilt that she wanted me to have because no one in her family has any interest in quilts. This was one of the tops she gave me.

There is another row of blocks along the left side that didn't fit into the photo, 20 blocks total and they measure about 17.5" each. Most of the fabrics appear to be from the 30's, although some of the very dark prints might be earlier. I'm not very experienced at dating fabrics, so I would appreciate any other opinions. If anyone knows a name for this quilt block, that would be great too. Here's a closer look at some of the blocks.

I couldn't resist trying some of my Orange Peel blocks in the same layout. I don't have enough pink peels made, but I have plenty of red to play with.

I like it! It's too early for me to commit to how I will set these blocks together, but this might be a fun idea for them.

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 26, 2019

Yesterday I had the rare pleasure of spending the day in a quilting class. I don't know how long it had been since the last time I pulled out my little travel featherweight for a class, but I had to spend some time the night before making sure it was running well and getting used to how it works again.

Our class was called "Practice What I Preach" by Pam Buda. It was a skill-building class filled with lots of tips and hints for how to get the best results with different techniques for making basic units like quarter-square triangles and flying geese. There weren't many techniques that I hadn't tried before, but Pam shared tons of helpful suggestions. Best of all, we got to try out several different specialty tools/rulers that she recommends, and what could be better than spending the day with a group of quilters! The photo below shows Pam's class sample.

"Practice What I Preach" class sample by Pam Buda

The project is a small wall quilt, finishing at 43" square. When I got home from class, I finished making all the different units for the blocks and got three of the blocks assembled. I hope to finish the other two blocks today.

I was going for a Christmas look, and the dark fabric does have green in it, but it sure looks black in this photo. Everything in this photo appears somewhat darker than it does in person.

I'm counting all the fabric cut and used so far for this project since it is has all been stitched into units that are almost made into blocks. All that will be left to do is add borders. I also finished my Tiny Tuesday blocks for June, using 1/4 yard for them. You can see those in yesterday's post. My numbers keep getting closer to even. 

2019 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                        1.875 yards

Used year to date:                   24.125 yards
Added last week:                          0.0 yards

Added year to date:                   27.75 yards
Net stashed year to date:       3.625 yards

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. I was on vacation this whole past week, so I spent lots of time quilting, even though I should have been taking care of other projects around the house. It felt great to indulge in some serious quilting time!

15 Minute Challenge:  

6/23 - 6/29              7 of 7 days

2019 Total         167 of 180 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 26, 2019

Here we are at week 26, the midpoint of 2019! My projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge keep moving along, with more deep blue blocks to share today. One disclaimer this week--I'm trying out a new camera, and not too happy with the results so far. Plus the photos were taken at night... 

It's always a treat following along with the Tiny Tuesday blocks. Sometimes I get so inspired that I make more than one version of the weekly blocks. I tried two different color combinations for the first (unnamed) block, then made two versions of the Grandmother's Fan block with different numbers of segments in each. Instead of making an applique basket, I found a pieced one in EQ. The last block is this week's Monkey Wrench.

The blues in my Orange Peel blocks are more on the medium/bright side because dark blues wouldn't show up on the black and grey background fabrics. I'm still playing with ideas for how these will end up getting used--a quilt of their own, or maybe a border on a medallion style quilt.

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 25, 2019

My destashing efforts this week ended up with decent progress, 3/4 yard used for the week. I made 12 blue Stairsteps blocks for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge project, plus 4 additional red blocks to finish out that color. I've had so much fun playing with different layouts for these blocks, similar to the variations for log cabin blocks. Here are a few possibilities, all using the same 16 blocks.

2019 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                            .75 yards

Used year to date:                     22.25 yards
Added last week:                          0.0 yards

Added year to date:                   27.75 yards
Net stashed year to date:          5.5 yards

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. For the first time in many weeks, I didn't end up with a 7-for-7 week, having missed one day midway through. I don't even remember why I didn't do any quilting that day. My totals are still looking great--a 92.4% success rate!

15 Minute Challenge:  

6/16 - 6/22                6 of 7 days

2019 Total         160 of 173 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 25, 2019

There has been great forward progress on my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects over the last week. I started by making one dark blue Framed Crumb Star block.

 Here are all of my crumb stars in their different colors.

After that I made my blue Stairsteps blocks. I couldn't resist putting them up on the wall with the star block. If these blocks were all stitched together, this would measure 24". I'm trying to decide if that is a useful size for me, because I do love how they look together.

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 24, 2019

I have been working away on a few different scrappy quilt projects this week, moving them all forward and using up some stash fabrics in the process. I have mostly been making crumb blocks and string blocks, which make a terrible mess of the sewing room but use up plenty of scraps. If only I'd made one more blue crumb block to fill that empty spot!

2019 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                          1.50 yards

Used year to date:                     21.50 yards
Added last week:                          0.0 yards

Added year to date:                   27.75 yards
Net stashed year to date:        6.25 yards

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. I'm back to splitting my time between several different projects, which adds up to quilting time every single day!

15 Minute Challenge:  

6/9 - 6/15                7 of 7 days

2019 Total         154 of 166 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 24, 2019

The color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is blue, especially the darker blues. I've had blue scraps scattered all over my machine cabinet, a little side table, and my cutting table. The mess was making me a little crazy, but I did manage to produce a bit of order from the chaos, making 4 blue string blocks and 7 blue crumb blocks. These will all finish at 6".

There are still plenty of blue bits and pieces hanging around, but it felt great to use up so many of them in these blocks!

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

Stitching and DeStashing--Quilt Top Finished!

One of my quilting goals for last week was to finish joining all of the Woven Squares blocks together and add the borders. Believe it or not, it actually got done--I now have a finished quilt top! I'd hoped to get some good outdoor photos of it, but it has been too grey and rainy here.

Woven Squares, 59.25" x 75.25"

The Woven Squares pattern was originally published in Fons and Porter's Easy Quilts magazine, Winter 2016. It is also available on their website HERE. My version has 48 blocks in it, rather than the 80 blocks of the original pattern. I needed to add borders to bring mine up to the right size for a Quilt of Valor. There wasn't enough of the RWB stripe fabric for a wider border, so I ended up adding a pieced border that extends the blue rings around the outside edges of the design. You might be able to see the seam in the lighter blue segment next to the striped border in the following photo--that is where the pieced border was added. 

This quilt was made entirely from my stash! That is such a good feeling. The background fabric and the stripe in the border are now used up--I might need to look for some more of that wonderful RWB stripe. I'm sharing with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge since I used stash/scraps for this, and our color of the month is dark blue. Total fabric used for the quilt borders was 1.375 yards (yardage for the blocks was counted last week.) No new fabric was added over the past week! 

2019 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                        1.375 yards

Used year to date:                      20.0 yards
Added last week:                          0.0 yards

Added year to date:                   27.75 yards
Net stashed year to date:        7.75 yards

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. My push to finish this quilt top had me spending well over 15 minutes on quilting each day.

15 Minute Challenge:  

6/2 - 6/8                  7 of 7 days

2019 Total         147 of 159 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. I'm also linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge at So Scrappy, Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework, Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Monday Making at Love, Laugh, Quilt and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA