Saturday, July 6, 2013

Nine-Patch Quilting--What Shall I Do?

County Fair time is nearly here and I've been thinking about what I'd like to enter this year.  Deadlines being a good thing for me, I mentally ran through some unfinished quilts and decided starting on the one furthest along in being quilted was a wise place to start.


This poor project I'm calling Caramel Blues has been stuck at about halfway quilted for quite some time.  The CW print nine-patches came from a swap of nearly three years ago by Julie K and the pattern is Carefree Romance from AP&Q magazine.  Simple hourglass blocks make this a much more complicated looking quilt than it was to construct. The caramel and cream prints came from Temecula Quilt Company.  I think the caramel is a Jo Morton print.


I used a walking foot to stitch pumpkin seeds diagonally across each block's center and corner squares with variegated thread, and then cross-hatched the remaining squares.  But then I became stuck on what to do in the surrounding triangles formed by the hourglass blocks.  I want the nine patches to stand out and not be over powered so my original idea of using the same variegated thread in the cream triangles was ripped out--it was far too distracting and kind of looked dirty on the cream.  I did manage to purchase some matching thread some months ago but that was as far as I got. 

Out came the sketchbook.  I sometimes come up with great ideas while not really thinking too hard, just doodling and playing.

 I didn't want to repeat the pumpkin seed but did want some more curves to play off the patchwork. 

 Hmm, this is coming along. 

 A full size mock up of the triangle.  These are 6" finished blocks so not a lot of area to fill. 

Today I wandered over to my LQS and picked up some General Pastel marking pencils and scored a cool tool pencil sharpener for 15% off since it was the tester and the last one.  Now for the ITIS part of the quilting process: I'll Try It & See.  Future post to come featuring success or failure...cross your fingers for the former!

10 comments:

Janet O. said...

I wish you great success on your quilting! : )
Pretty little quilt!

Vivian said...

The colors in this quilt are yummy. It definitely has the right name. Good luck with the quilting! Deadlines -- love 'em or hate 'em, depending on how close we are to meeting them.

Joyful Quilter said...

Love the blues and browns in the quilt...I think your design for the hour glass blocks will look great, can't wait to see it finished.

Pokey said...

such a pretty quilt, Annie! I like the hourglass stitching idea, I bet you will, too. Either way, I hope you can enjoy the finish, and meet the deadline. Let's see a ribbon on it!
:-} pokey

antique quilter said...

love this quilt, great name too!
thanks for sharing your process I always love seeing pictures like this
good luck in the show!
Kathie

Mary said...

What a pretty quilt! I think it's a great entry for the county fair.

Abby and Stephanie said...

Love seeing the process and progress. :o) The pattern and colors say County Fair to me. :o)

julieQ said...

How gorgeous!! Those nine patches were made just for that quilt!!

Kate said...

Looks like you have a plan that should work. Good luck!

Shay said...

I think thats going to look beautiful!

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