Tiny Nine Patch Update

Back in January, I started making Tiny Nine Patch blocks as part of a challenge issued on Instagram.  The details are in this blog post..  

I went cruising along, making my 10 blocks a week and posting them on Instagram, all along trying to figure out my ultimate goal for this quilt.  I decided that I wanted to make a rectangular quilt that would fit over the back of my recliner chair.  I came up with a preliminary design using Electric Quilt software.

This particular layout requires 122 nine patch blocks, so by week 13 I had all the blocks I needed with a few extras for good measure.

I have chosen a tone on tone beige print for my background fabric:

And I have a box of extra squares that I cut along the way to use in the border.

For the time being, I am taking a break from any more machine sewing because we are moving and I have had to pack up my sewing room.  The Tiny Nine Patch project will probably be the first in line to start working on  in the new space.

For now, it's been small projects like cross stitch that have been keeping me busy.  Wish me luck on the move.  It's been an eye opening experience to realize just how much "sewing stuff" I have accumulated over the years.

Crosses and Flosses

Progress continues on my Saltbox calendar series inspired by Melisa Vandergriff at Pinker 'n Punkin Quilting and Stitching.  

The next design I worked on was to represent July.  To start, I chose as my background a tie-dye looking printed Aida cloth that reminded me of Summer's blue skies and green grass.  

I wanted to go patriotic for July 4th, so I looked through Melisa's many patriotic designs and combined a few elements together. (You can check out her roundup of patriotic designs here. ) For the house, I started with "Candy Corn House", and then included a mashup of a couple of her stacked barn animals from her Christmas designs , then I tossed in a flag and a few fireworks to come up with this pattern for July:

As fun as it is to play puzzle maker with a variety of stitch patterns, it can be a bit of a challenge to make it all fit together.  So, for my next house in the series, I pretty much followed Melisa's pattern directly for my February block, aptly named "A Cold Winter's Day".  ( I did have to break down and add a few hearts for Valentine's Day, and I moved the snowman up in front of the house so he didn't get lost in the "February" label at the bottom). Here is February's stitch:

In between the Saltbox stitches, I continued working on my Nutcracker project.  I have 2 of the four nutcrackers finished, and today's slow stitching will be to continue working on number 3.  (There are 4 in all.)

Linking up to Slow Stitching Sunday at   Kathy's Quilts.