June UFO Challenge pick #7

Judy of Patchwork Times chose #7 for June's UFO project.  On my list, I'm choosing a UFO to send out to be quilted.  There are four quilt tops currently hanging in my closet that need to be quilted, two of which I will quilt myself.  The others are just too big for my small harped Husqvarna Lily.  The oldest--and largest--is an oversized version of Bonnie Hunter's Rick Rack Nines. 

Years ago I was in a Yahoo Group called Quiltbiddies and we did a lot of block swaps.  These 9 patches were made with 3.5" squares so the blocks are pretty big.  I loved Bonnie's zig zag setting and used her free setting triangle chart for the tan solid. I'm thinking a Baptist Fan would be nice for the traditional scrappy fabrics and colors.

I ended up having to make a few half blocks for the top and bottom of the quilt as some of the swap blocks were not usable or I didn't care for the colors.  This top is 92x105 and will cover our CalKing bed.  I purchased a 108" wide backing at Road to California, so will need to add leaders to the top and bottom, at a minimum, and find a quilter with a long arm large enough.  Speaking of Bonnie Hunter, who used to also be a member of Quiltbiddies long before I joined, she is coming to a local quilt guild this month and I snagged an open spot for her My Blue Heaven workshop.  There is a lot of cutting to do before then but I am really looking forward to it.  It was a "Biddie" who led me to Bonnie's Quiltville blog in 2009--before then I had never heard of quilting blogs.  It wasn't long until I started my own blog, and here I am all these years later.

The other quilt is also constructed of 9 patch swap blocks in reproduction fabrics; these are 6" finished.  There were so many swappers that we each received about 80 blocks.  This is the third project I made from my cache, which I'm calling Cheddar and Cinnamon, and it is 72" square.

The pattern is from a Thimbleberries book and is called Nine Patch Criss Cross.  I altered the square in square blocks using two colors to make stars appear around the nine patches.  I tried to emphasize the stars by placing red nine patches with the Cinnamon star points, and green nine patches with the Cheddar star points.  Squint a little...

Can you see them now?  I'm thinking this quilt will need some custom quilting to bring out the stars and minimize the background fabric.  A backing and even the binding has already been made.  Perhaps I will send them both out!