the plan

Yes, Sue, we had a snow-storm here late last week, which was quite unpleasant at the time, but now the snow is gone again, and I'm hoping for sunny skies soon. 
I've decided to sew the 121 nine patches together into one unit, and to not keep making more nine-patches with the strips that I had already cut out.  Who knows what they will be for. 
I had a dream last night about quilts that I wanted to make.  Now I'm gung ho to do them.  I feel like a grasshopper, hopping from one thing to the next.  One of them seemed nice in the dream, it would be a little kid's quilt, with tiny paper pieced animals like ducks in the center of big white squares.  Has this been done already?
But, I know i need to sew my nine-patches together, and also get this weeks block ready too.  As Nancy says, "Focus!".
Maybe i'll make an espresso then I'll sew like a madman until the caffeine wears off...

nine-patch puzzle

Well, it seems to have happened again.  I started to make nine-patches without a definite project in mind, but not really intending to make it much bigger than a lap-size.  So, I cut some strips, and then a few more to match up some colors, and started sewing.  Now I realize that I will have enough nine-patches for a king-size quilt at least.  (Okay, I realize that those words have probably been voiced all over north america already) 

Nonetheless, it is my problem today.  So, I am trying to discover what is special about nine-patches, something that they do that four-patches can't do.
 I remember that at the quilt guild meeting someone asked me where I found inspiration for new quilts.  This is an example of inspiration-mystification, which might lead to inspiration-desperation.

I will use up these blocks,-- just not quite sure yet how that will happen (or how many new projects have been started).
Any ideas? Let me know!

3+3=5

I'm back at home safe and warm, after being in town and doing errands today in a snowstorm.  Now, I plan to sew some nine-patches. I picked out some greens, lilac, pink and blue to do some simple blocks.

I have mostly fat quarters in my stash, and I figured out that if I cut 2-1/2" strips x the 22" length, and used 3 of one color and 3 of another color together, and sewed 2 strip sets, of 3 strips each, I could get 5 nine-patches from each set.  So I've cut out lots of strips and now just need to do some sewing!

And, I'm wearing my happy day bracelet!

Absolutely gorgeous day out here in Asquith, must have been above 20, (don't know what that is in Farenheit, maybe 70?) Spent several hours out in the yard, organizing the outdoor building and its covered storage area, trying to move it into the direction of it becoming a new pottery studio for me.. Well, there, i' ve taken actual steps toward this, as it's been on my mind lately, working with clay again.  For those of you who don't know, I spent 8 years as a potter before opening Periwinkle.   Well, I also had some lily bulbs to plant in containers, since it is still much too early to plant into the ground, even though it feels so inviting to do so.
I've been sleeping a lot lately due to this darn cold, but have also been chipping away at a few projects.  Yes, Bernie, I do seem to have a lot of projects on the go.  Altho I have been crocheting another granny-squares afghan, I took a short detour to knit a little pair of socks out of some leftover sock wool.  They are pretty cute!!  I guess they'll just go into my gift trunk to pull out when some little person needs socks.

I've also sewn a bit on the double wedding ring project.  It is somewhat unsatisfactory in that it refuses to be flat.  I don't remember this problem the last time I sewed this pattern, really.  Well okay, just a little bit.  But this time it is more pronounced.  So, I have cut it down from 35 rings to 25 rings.  So there.

Blog Reading

Haven't had too much to say lately, been doing a bit of reading other blogs, trying to find some quilt-related ones.  I really like this one that shows projects that people are doing using selvage edges of fabric: selvageblog
and I like reading the Yarn Harlot so much that I added it to my sidebar, oh, and for another fun read, lollychops, who does various crafts.