Top half sewn, bottom half designed................

After I sewed the top half together, I folded it in half so only the bottom 3 rows are showing and pinned it back up on the wall.  Then I designed the bottom half, making sure I didn't get the same fabric near itself.  There are 3 blocks alike of each combination plus some strips were duplicated.  I started sewing the bottom section together last night.

The sixth pink Bear Paw block was sewn.

I put all six of the blocks up on the design wall while part of the wall wasn't covered with the 9 patch top.  These are 14" blocks and I'm not sure where this project is headed.  Hopefully I will know by tomorrow so I can continue working on it.

 

Half way point................

The top 6 rows (of 12) are ready to sew now.  Then I can move the blocks up and design the bottom half.

I cut two more Bear Paw blocks and sewed one of them.  This one has the least contrast between the 2 fabrics in it.  After I sew the other one I can take the pink thread off the machine and change back to brown.

Marcia Derse has flannel fabric now and the prints are from a couple of her previous lines.  I didn't buy all of them, but just my favorites.  I'll mix these in with other flannels in my stash.  I'm hoping to make at least 4 flannel quilts this winter.  I may add to that when I cut up all of the scraps and make baby quilts with them.  

The chickens won............

The chickens will be the backing on this 16 patch quilt.  It's unlikely that I would make another quilt in the future that could use this fabric.  Now I have 2 ready for my longarm quilter.

I realized as I got more blocks on the design wall that there needs to be a double row of the spotted fabric all around the perimeter.

This is so much prettier than the camera wants to show you.  I still need 2 more rows at the bottom and I will start filling in the 9 patches today.

Here is yesterday's pink Bear Paw block.  I love the light fabric in this one.  I hope I can get two blocks cut today.

Fall has arrived here. It was only in the mid 60s yesterday and will be in the 60s for the next few days.  Unfortunately it will be partly cloudy all week too.

 

Layout preview................

I wanted to see how the layout was going to look, so I took one 9 patch block of each fabric combination and previewed them with the 2 alternate fabrics.  I figured out that I need to do 2 columns on each side with the spotted fabric plus one row top and bottom.  Then the floral fabric will fill in all of the center spaces.  I think it will be interesting close up.  I'm not sure about a distance view.

Downstairs I cut the batting for the 16 patch quilt and looked for backings.  From top to bottom they are 

Spider mums

Random dots

Chickens.

Do I want it serious and use the Spider Mums or fun and funky and use Random Dots or Chickens?

While I was down there I cut one more pink Bear Paw and sewed it last night.

Rain report:  from Thursday through Sunday we got 6.6" of rain.  This is the third time this summer we have gone almost a month with an inch or less of rain and then got caught in the ring of fire thunderstorms as the hot dome moved and got from 6" - 8" of rain.

Rainy Saturday..................

It rained most of the day yesterday.  I checked the rain gauge about 5 p.m. and it had 1.5" in it.  I didn't empty it so I'll have a 2 day total including today's rain.  We got 2.5" on Thursday after a month with less than an inch of rain.  Three miles west of us got 4.25" on Thursday.

I turned on the iron and pressed Friday's blocks and the last 3 stratas.  Then I made the 9 blocks from the stratas.  I have 63 six inch 9 patches made now.  If I use 60 of them and 60 of the two alternate fabrics I can make a quilt 60" x 72".  I didn't end up looking for fabrics to pair with the last 5 strips that I showed yesterday.

I cut one more pink block and sewed the first two.  I'm not sure what I'm making here.  There may be more than one size block or maybe just 6 of these 14" blocks.  I am making a small quilt.

I can't believe how fast September is speeding by.  I need to get focused on what I want to finish this month.

 

Trying the layout.......................

Trying out the 2 favorite choices together: I think they work pretty well.  I was able to get 36 squares from the spotted fabric. I haven't cut the other one yet, but if I don't make any mis-cuts I think I will get 24 squares.

The busy print has rust color in it with brown in the spotted fabric. Even though they don't match exactly they coordinate pretty well.

I looked back through the brown bin and found another piece and this one is brown.  The problem though is the light color leaves; they are so much lighter than the ones in the rust color.  I could probably just fussy cut some squares from the darker areas if I need a few more pieces.

I got 15 more 9 patch blocks sewn and 2 of the 3 stratas.  When I ran out of bobbin thread I quit for the night.

I also pressed some of the pink fabrics and got one block cut out.  Maybe I'll get that sewn today.

 

9 patch progress..................

I didn't get as much done yesterday as I hoped but I had some other things to take care of.

In the afternoon I stitched 18 more blocks.

Later in the day I got 5 more sets ready to be pressed and then cut into sections for 15 more 9 patches.

Three more sets were paired but not sewn yet.

I still need to find 5  more fabrics to pair with these.

Two of my little great-grands are going to visit this morning.  I made some Chex mix for their mom.  She is pregnant and is craving it.