I'm happy to say that with everything else that has been going on I have still been able to finish my leader/ender 9 patch top.  And I couldn't be happier with the results.

This is a picture of the 52 Ohio star blocks before they became a border.  I just wanted to lay them out to see it this would be something I'd want to do next.  It's not. 

These are both terrible pictures.  And I couldn't decide which was the better of the two so that left me no alternative but to post both of them.  Be sure to click on the pictures to get a larger view.   I love the way this quilt turned out.  If I started over again I don't think I would change a thing.  This has not been measured yet but is around 86" so will fit on MY queen size bed.  Instead of stewing over it, I've just decided that I'll do yet another quilt with just an all over meandering for the quilting.  That way maybe I'll get this one done.  The quilt rack for unquilted tops is to the point of overflowing. I'm afraid one of these days it will just fall over. So the last thing I need to do is add another top.

Keep my mom in your prayers.  Last Thursday the 16th she fell and broke her right hip.  She has had surgery and is now in Kansas Rehab for a few weeks.  I'm happy to say she is doing much better and is in good spirits.

While at the hospital I actually started working on some hexies.  I really don't expect that project to get very far. But you never know.

I've certainly got a lot of yard work to get to.  Thanks to my sister Joyce for doing Mom's yard.  Just wish she had time and inclination for mine.

Happy sewing,

Julie

 

Saturday was the day we (Mom, sister Cathy and I) head to Quilting on the Square in Holton for our block of the month.  This time I invited my five year old granddaughter Grace to go along.  I don't really think she was very impressed with the hour long ride to get up there but she never complained.  We did read ALL of the signs along the highway for a good stretch on the way back home though.  I think even she was getting bored with reading the mile markers.  When I asked her to go she got all excited because she wanted to buy some fabric to make her sister Allison a "warm, soft" blanket.  Well that meant fleece and I knew we weren't going to find that at the quilt shop.  So a stop in Topeka at Joann's was next.  We went through all of the fleece skipping over anything that wasn't pink.  Surprisingly, leaving quite a bit to select from.  Grace chose the front and back herself. She was smiling the entire time.  Then when we were back in the car and ready to leave she looked through the front window of the store and saw the black and pink zebra stripe.  We had somehow missed it.  After being told she might be able to make another blanket sometime she forgot all about that and moved on to the next thing her five year old mind took her to.

By Monday evening this is what she had.

I understand she had quite a bit of help from mom.  But to me that will always be her first big project.  The next is to be a changing table cover for the baby's room.  We picked out flannel from my stash for that.  She got a little sewing machine for her fifth birthday and can't wait to use it.  I must admit I was a little disappointed to hear that she already had one.  Two years ago during an after Christmas sale I picked up a sewing machine for her.  The box said age seven.  So I was patiently waiting.  Little did I know she'd get the bug at age five.

Happy sewing,

Julie



 

Well, the center of my nine patch quilt is done.  I've been having trouble making a decision about what border I want to put on it.  So I decided to make some blocks, take a couple of pictures and see if that helped.  It did.

Since this quilt is designed around my leader/ender nine patches I was leaning toward putting the nine patches around as a border.  Ignoring the star in the corner this was one of my ideas.  It actually looked better in person than in the picture. But to end up with a queen size quilt was going to take almost 2,000 squares.  I really would have done that if it would have been what I thought looked the best.  Thank goodness it wasn't.

This is what I am going to use. It will take 52 Ohio Star blocks for this border.  As of today I have 20 finished.  I do plan to make more with orange fabrics for the background.  I chose the Ohio star because without the sashing the blocks in the quilt are Ohio stars.  Now if I could just quit making nine patches.  It is very hard for me to make anything anymore without using a leader/ender and since I haven't come up with my next plan I'm still making nine patches.  Guess what will probably go on the back of this quilt:)

Well, those twenty Ohio stars were my weekend in a nutshell. One more weekend like that and I'll have this top done.  Then I can add it to the "needs to be quilted" stack.

Happy sewing,

Julie