Thursday, June 22, 2017

Oreos and Milk

A Saga

Do you, like me, have trouble getting your Oreos to last as long as your milk?


Or maybe it's chocolate cake, or apple pie ... but you know how it goes.  You finish the cookies/cake/pie and there's still a bit of milk left.  So you get more of said treat, then run out of milk.

My quilting is much like the Oreo-milk situation -- I need a bit more to finish a quilt, make too much, then I have too many leftovers so I upcycle them into anther project and it all starts again!

This saga begins in 2014.  I was scheduled to teach at Peg Bingham's Fall Quilt Camp.  One of the classes was Wink & a Smile.  The pattern shows the quilt in 30s fabrics and I was using a friend's quilt in brights to promote the class.  When I taught I always liked to show alternative fabrics as inspiration, so I stopped at Whittle's in Bowling Green, KY on my way to West Virginia to pick up a few half yards of something I could use for demonstration purposes.

I selected a lovely Vintage Farmhouse collection by Kim Diehl for Henry Glass.

Wink & a Smile
I think I only got a quarter yard of each piece, certainly no more than a half yard, and proceeded to cut them all into 2-1/2" strips for the 9-patches.  I had no clue how many I would need; I just needed something to demo and also something to work on during the 2-day class.

That quilt is yet to be finished -- story of my life -- but I had so many excess 9-patches that I was able to throw together this quilt, recently back from the LAQ (yet to be bound):

Chexx Mix
In order to get the proper mix of light and dark backgrounds with the fabrics I had on hand, I had to make a few more 9Ps.  I decided to make the remaining 2-1/2" strips into 9Ps so there were STILL more than 20 9-patch blocks left over, not to mention partial, unfinished blocks.


I asked my loyal readers to make suggestions on what I should do.  In the end I decided to run the excess pieces end-to-end for an inner border, but I was afraid I didn't have enough to go around the quilt I was planning so I used some excess strips to make stripsets which I cut into twosies, then made foursies.  And while I was at it I made a few more 9-patch blocks!

Bear in mind this was the last thing I had planned to work on this week.  It just kinda fell off the shelf and wouldn't go back.  Does that ever happen to you?  I just wanted to do something quick to get it out of the way so my plan was to do a straight set with 2-1/2" sashing so that my scrappy inner border would fit without any exotic math.


I had seven rows of six blocks sashed together and started working on the horizontal sashing.  BORING!  Even though this is likely to be a charity quilt, I just couldn't make myself continue with something so uninspired.  

What if I set it on point?  Well, of course, that has involved some disassembly and reorganization.  This is the current status:


I tried to use the finished rows as-is, but in the end I've had to break apart some of the rows.  

The excess 9-patches are going on the back or they may become hot pads.  I PROMISE!




10 comments:

  1. You really did make a lot of 9 patches, Libby! I like the on point setting for the last quilt. What will you do for the setting triangles?

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  2. I'm going to use the same fabric as the sashing. Then the scrappy inner border. I have a couple of the Vintage Farmhouse fabrics in yardage that I will audition for a final border. Hope to get it done this weekend.

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  3. I always like a block set on point... it seems to jazz them up a bit IMHO... love all the blocks/quilts you are working on... and while it isn't what you thought you should be working on, it is the right project for this week. As for those thin vanilla Oreo cookies...those things are sooooo good... I have to hide them from myself as I could eat the whole package in nothing flat...LOL...and I've come close to doing that! happy stitching!

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  4. It's just an endless supply of nine patches, isn't it?
    I love them on point. That's a setting that always makes the blocks dance!

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  5. I refer to this as "the domino effect"....one thing leads to the next and the next and.... All of your quilts are beautiful. The nine patches set in rows is so calming and soothing to me, but they look great set on point. Have fun with your pot holders. :)

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  6. Exotic math...that is exactly the phrase I was looking for when trying to make the patchwork bits for my Kathy Schmitz blocks. I wish you could drop over and help me with this. Drooling over your perfect points and lovely 9 patch blocks. But alas, anyway, I know what you mean about how the fabric just seems to keep multiplying even after (for me) two large projects using scraps. Every quilter seems to have the same problem.

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  7. Like chips & dip, you can't eat just one....
    Looks like you're having fun!

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  8. ROFL!!! You are TOO funny!!! Will you EVER just take the "easy" way out??? :P

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  9. Magic fabric - you might be using those 9-patches for ever! I like the final setting though have to admit that exotic maths would have me running for the hills.

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  10. I will be making some 9 patches soon with the leftovers from a current project also. You gave me a lot of options to consider and I have decided to make Honey Bee blocks with mine. It is amazing how many choices there are for such a simple block.
    Marlene
    marlene@coveredinstitches.com

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