After a month of being totally distracted by the holidays and then by knitting projects, I decided I had better try to turn my attention back to my 9-patch block swap. The queen size quilt calls for 144 of the 9-patches. I planned on getting started and completing 2 sets on Saturday, but a little game called Wii Play got the best of me. In my defense, we had a substantial snow fall Friday morning so I spent Friday afternoon clearing 6 inches of snow from our corner lot sidewalk and driveway. Saturday, I could barely lift a gallon of milk. Really sad. I know.
Being so muscle-sore Saturday, I was not very motivated to be doing much of anything. Sunday morning I woke up feeling quite better. I started sewing strip sets together around 10:00 am, took a break to cut my husband's hair, and by 3:30 I had my two sets of 12 9-patch blocks along with 2 sets of 24 2-inch squares finished and bagged with labels. I took them right out to the quilt shop which closes at 4:00. Each time I drop off 2 sets I pick up 2 swapped sets. I have not started sewing any of them together yet. I decided that I am going to wait until I have all 144 blocks before I start sewing.
The quilt shop has 2-fabric packs ready made with the fabric pre-cut in 2 1/2 inch strips. Twice a month participants pick up 2 packs of strips and turn in a total of 24 blocks. Each time I have had enough fabric left over that I have 3 9-patches to keep. I have been keeping these separate from the block swap patches. I am planning on making a throw or something with my leftover blocks.
This is the first block-swap I have ever participated in and it seems strange that I am going to end up with a quilt that I only pieced 24 of the 144 blocks for. I was having such fun carefully picking out the fabric packs and then I realized that these would make the blocks I was giving away and I would be getting back all the ones I didn't especially care for. My small quilt will be my security blanket. The one I know I like all the fabrics in and that I made all the blocks in myself.
I spent a lot of time and effort trying to make sure I got the scant quarter inch so that my blocks would have precisely the correct measurement called for. Once I started getting the swapped blocks back, I realized that not everyone was as worried about it. There were some that were way off. Really small and not square at all. I know everyone has their own stance on perfection/imperfection issues. I view it as a relief of sorts. I operate under a general assumption that as a new quilter, every other quilter is better than I am at piecing. Being the recipient of some imperfect squares have given me a little confidence boost that maybe I do a pretty good job. I am going to need that confidence when I am trying to assemble the quilt top with all of those different sized blocks.
I discovered that "Sewing with Nancy" episodes are available to view on line on her website, so while I was working on the 9-patch blocks I had a couple of episodes playing in the background. It helped to keep me in the sewing mood. I even made a start on another set. I finished another 11 blocks before calling it a night. Hopefully, I will get back to them today. I do have a mountain of laundry to do... but I'm going to try.
I did finish the first of the Valentine's Day-colored Ocean-toes socks and cast on the second one as well. I need to try to get working on that too. I also have had time to peruse the new Mason-Dixon Knitting book and am thinking I need to make the Every Day Sweater (I think that is the name of the pattern). Let's not forget the quilt that is folded up in the corner needing to be quilted and bound. I would like to finish and use that before winter is over. I always feel pulled in so many directions. I'd better get going...
Comments