The Nine Patch Connection

When Barb Vedder

of Fun With Barb

organizer a nine patch swap in June of 2014,

I decided to join in.

And I'm glad I did.

My 3" reproduction nine patch blocks 

were mailed to her,

she did her magic of swapping them around,

and I in return received beautiful nine patches

made from 50 different quilters around the world. 

Barb's tutorial for making fast

and accurate nine patches can be found

on her blog Here.

It's a great method.

I wanted to do something special 

with these blocks.

Here's what I came up with,

nine patches side by side and 

 two borders of appliqued leaves.

The colors just say fall,

 especially with the cheddar fabric behind the applique.

 I did big stitch quilting using

 

both an orange mustard and a medium bark

Aurifil #12 

which is their heaviest cotton thread

 on a spool.

 

It was beautiful thread to work with

and never frayed as I stitched.

I had to order it online from

Pumpkinvine Corner

out of Georgia.

 It was a wonderful project to participate in.

Thanks again to everyone who included blocks.

 I feel connected with so many quilters

just by their sweet little nine patches.

I also wanted to show you the tree I was using 

for my photo shoot.

It was a magnificent old cottonwood tree

living in the field behind my house.

In the spring,

a storm gave it a mighty push 

and down it can.

It would take at least 4-5 people

to circle the circumference of the base.

It's sad to see

this mighty tree toppled over,

but I could tell other critters 

had taken up residence in the fallen branches. 

So her usefulness continues on.

As I age, I hope

that can always be said about me.

Until Next Time-

Sewing On the Move

 I discovered on our recent road trip

 that I was able to sew while riding in the car.

Now to many of you, you're thinking, what's the big deal,

but for me this is revolutionary.

I've never been able to do anything in the car

except look forward and
 try not to be a back seat driver.

For the past several years though, while flying,

I've been wearing these wrist sea-bands.

They work by applying pressure to the

acupuncture point on the wrists
that control motion sickness.

I've always been hesitant to try them
and then sew in the car.
I didn't want to ruin a good road trip,

but this time I thought, what the heck,

and Eureka!
  I could actually stitch while moving.

And look what I was able to finish.

I was able to applique all the leaves in the last
vine border to this quilt.

It's the quilt I made

 using the swapped nine patch blocks
that Barb had organize a while back.

 I couldn't believe what I was able to do.

Granted,
it was only when it was highway driving,
but it felt so good to be able to
use that time in a productive way.
I'm sure hoping that it will work again.
I feel so liberated!

Until Next Time-