Nine Patch Split Finished!

One sunny day in a week of wet and rain!  I hurried back home in the late afternoon to grab my Nine Patch Split and get it photographed at my favorite quilt hanging tree before the sun went down.

The pattern is from Bonnie Hunter's website and it is her Nine Patch Split pattern (as opposed to another pattern that she has which is a Split 9 Patch.)  I started it in late June in hopes of using up some of the 2 1/2 inch squares that I have been collecting.  As all quilters know, this quilt only made a dent in my leaders/enders bin of 2 1/2 inch squares.

At the end I decided not to put in borders... just lengthened the outer scrappy strip rows.  I also chose not to quilt anything fancy there.  Just enough to hold things together.

I was especially pleased with the backing of 12 1/2 inch squares made from a lot of left over stuff that wasn't getting used in quilt tops.  Too bright, too much personality etc.  I have scads of fabric but not usually in cuts of a few yards at a time and so I always end up going out and buying more backing.  That seemed ridiculous and if the quilt is scrappy on the front it might as well be on the back too.  I plan to do this again (and keep some "leaders/enders of 12 1/2 squares handy too!)

The quilting isn't great.  I started in Stitch-in-the-ditch quilting around all the maroon star points.  and then I quilted the motif in the center of the colorful squares.  That was done in monofiliment thread.

When it came to the light squares I got fancy (not sure if that was the right decision or not...) and used maroon thread to do the same motif.  It sure stands out more than I thought it would and the quilting is a bit on the sloppy side...

From afar it is a really nice and cheery quilt!  It is getting a wash today (after being spread on that fallen down shed and of course, months of cat hair) and I will bundle it up for the Ronald McDonald House.

Moving along...

Let's see... I've started knitting this year's vest for Tetsu.  We'll see if I have judged the time allotted for it correctly. 

There were a few things I had to finish up before I allowed myself to get out the knitting needles.  I wanted to get the one Christmas quilt struck off my list of things to do and I promised to put on the binding last week.  Oh well, while I'm at it I'll just make binding for both Christmas quilts (identical) so one afternoon was spent making a roll of Christmas binding (from more Jelly Roll strips).  And since I was standing at the ironing board anyway I gathered up my left-over binding strips from past projects and sewed them all together too to make scrappy binding!  I'm BOUND OUT!

Mrs. Furui said she would do the hand sewing for the Christmas quilt but she has so much on her plate anyway what with an upcoming hospital bazaar and a Double Wedding Ring quilt to hand quilt and the basting of that other Christmas quilt, that I just went ahead and sewed the binding down.  One thing done!

And with the scrappy binding roll I got inspired to finish up the donation quilt too and I spent another afternoon sewing on the binding and hand sewing it down.  Unfortunately we have been having wet rainy days and I can't take the quilt out to photograph it...  Maybe later this week I'll have something to show you.  So that's another thing to strike of the To-do list!  Yeah!

And finally I have put away my tatting thread and shuttle.  In the evenings it has been nice to tat and as I've got the motif making down pat I wondered if I could keep my wits about me and connect the motifs while they are being made...  (Unlike the crochet that I finished, the tatting motifs need to be connected DURING the construction process.)  I spent quite a few nights adding one motif to the others until I had 16 motifs connected.  Good... good.  And the final step was adding filler to the already completed square of motifs.  Does that all make sense?

After nearly three weeks of nightly tatting I now have this.

"What is it?  How many more of those squares are you going to make?"

"How many more?  This is done!  I just wanted to see if I could do it!"

Tetsu was not very impressed.

"That seems like a lot of work for something that's going to go under a vase..."

Actually I sort of thought the same thing...  And I don't often have vases of flowers around either.

But the tatted doily is DONE!  Two quilts are DONE!  And that's why I felt free to get the knitting needles out.

Careless

My weekend didn't go so great after the bungee jumping viewing. 

Yesterday morning I went to get something out of my purse and set it on a low table.  Well the purse flipped over and out of it fell my camera with the telescopic lens still on it (from the bungee jumping photo shoot) and it must have landed on the corner of the lens because...

"Po-ka!"  (that's Japanese for something splitting in two)

... the lens broke apart at the camera joint.

Can you imagine me looking down at this lens that is suppose to be in one part?  Ligaments torn...  Innards exposed.  A moan from me and I picked it up and held it together as if trying to staunch blood flow from a wound.  Like holding it together might meld the parts again.

Of course the reality is that I have an irreparable telescopic lens...  My reaction was so silent and emotionless that Tetsu jumped into action...  camera first aid?  The part still on the camera came off so that was good.  I put one of the other lenses on and took a photo.  Well, the camera works.  That's good.

So how often do I use a telescopic lens?  Not that often, but it was nice to have.  Do I want to go out and purchase a new one?

My mind isn't working enough to think about that right now.. Tetsu unwrapped his telescopic lens that came with his camera (same camera, remember) and handed it to me saying he hardly ever used it so I might as well keep the lens with my camera.

Still, because of my carelessness I'm minus one expensive lens and rather annoyed with myself.

As you can see...  the camera still takes photos.  Making this an educational experience.  This is what the inside of a camera lens looks like people...

Bungee jumping (not me!)

Tetsu and I spent most of Saturday driving around the prefecture next to us.  The fall colors are about fallen in our area but Tetsu wanted to check out a gorge in the next prefecture over. Another expansion bridge allowing people to cross the gorge and get a view of the scenery from the other side.  These expansions bridges rarely GO anywhere...  but they seem to pull a lot of money from tourists who just want to look down from the heights.

Yesterday's bridge was nice...  I think it was trumped as the highest in Japan. 

 The colors were beautiful so we hit the season perfectly.  I wondered what there would be to see during less colorful seasons.

Across the expanse, on the far ridge, were crowds of people all looking at "us".  And occasionally a cheer or a call would go up.  For that matter, from somewhere around me there were voices floating in the air.

"I can do it.  I'm not afraid.  I'm going to fly!"

Bungee jumping!  Not that we could see anything from the bridge but once on the other side we joined the crowds to watch the jumpers.

While we were on this side of the gorge we must have seen 6 or 8 jumpers and it looked like only one person chickened out and gave up (or let his friends go first...) 

A few jumpers stood there awhile needing to build up courage and the crowd would yell encouragement.  On the other hand, a few jumpers just stepped out and were off before people with cameras could get focused.

There seemed to be a professional photographer up there on the bridge hanging half over the edge and taking photos of the flight. 

"Excuse me, my camera didn't flash..  Could you do that again?"

I'm glad I don't have that job!

The flyers were actually very graceful.

This was a girl who spent some time hanging onto the beams.

"She isn't going to be able to do it."

Yes, she is!  And there she went!

 

The backdrop for the jumping was spectacular though I doubt that the jumpers took much notice of the scenery.

Great vicarious entertainment!

Fabric shop

Yesterday Mrs. Furui and I went to a fabric/yarn shop that was having a 20% off sale.  I needed to figure out this year's knitting endeavor for Tetsu.  Mrs. Furui needed basting thread.  We get to this shop only once a year and even with the discount, the prices seem high, but when that's all you have that's what you do.

I left Mrs. Furui at the entrance to the shop and checked out the yarn section alone.  I've been thinking to knit Tetsu a Fair isle vest this year and I'd brought along a couple of my old knitting books.

"Hmm...  This yarn looks nice...  Wait!  This variegated yarn is heavenly!"

Variegated would mean that I'd have to come up with a new plan...  And I started browsing the books...  Finally I went to find Mrs. Furui and get her opinion.

Mrs. Furui was pouring over green fabrics that might be of use for her hospital projects.  While I helped her choose a good shade of green, my eye was caught by a wall hanging display quilt.

"Isn't that lovely!  And look!  It says it's made from a panel!  Let's go check that out!"

We checked out the panel and both of us were smitten...  And it came in two color schemes...

"I like the blue/green version."

"I like the yellow/pink version.  I guess we could buy both...  What are we going to do with it if we buy it?  It looks like you could make a bag...  or that wall hanging.  This is just going to be more fabric on the shelf if we don't come up with a plan..."

But Mrs. Furui and I often work with no plan...  And we both bought the panel...  Me the pink."

Isn't this the cutest?  It is made by YUWA a Japanese company and it is called Days of Kids.  The fabric seems to be a linen blend so it is a bit heavier than regular quilting material.  Now the question is... what to do with it.

Back to the yarn section of the store, I filled my basket with the variegated and said I'd worry about a plan later...  But before I got to the checkout line I came to my senses and decided that all these no-plan activities were going to be my downfall and so I exchanged the variegated for some soft solids for a Fair isle vest.  (Returning to plan 1).

Mrs. Furui remembered her basting thread just as were headed for the checkout counter... and she managed to get out of the shop with a bill of about $40.  Mine was closer to $80...  Yarn (Tetsu is a big guy), YUWA panel, Heat n' Bond, and basting thread for me too...  Well, for once a year maybe that wasn't so bad...

Abundance

On Sunday I was out walking Choco and went past my neighbors' chrysanthemum fields.  I haven't seen Mr. and Mrs. Y out there recently but this afternoon they were both dressed in their work clothes and were cutting back their flower bushes.  The bushes are still overflowing with flowers and Tetsu had wondered what Mr. and Mrs. Y were going to do with all of them before the winter season.

"I wonder if they'd let me take some to the Day Service Center to decorate the tables."

Choco and I asked if Tetsu could gleam the piles of thrown out flowers in the corner of the field.

"Have Tetsu-san come out now and clip all the fresh flowers he wants.  I've got the clippers right here."

Choco and I hurried back home and a few minutes later Tetsu was at the fields clipping flowers to his heart's content.

Mr. Y really needed someone clipping his flowers for him closer to the soil to get ready for winter.

He has a long way to go to get through all those rows of chrysanthemums...  Unfortunately Tetsu was more interested in choosing nice flowers with straight stems and a variety of colors.

 Do you think Tetsu got enough flowers?

Sunday night when I was ready to go to bed, I went to brush my teeth at our single bathroom sink.  This is what greeted me!  Whoops.  I guess I'm going to have to go use the kitchen sink.

Not having use of a bathroom sink is somewhat of an inconvenience.  Still, the bright flowers spilling over the sink were pretty enough to make me smile!
 

Fa-la-la!

Finally!  Something quilty!

But not the completion of that donation quilt.  That is still on the shelf.

On Friday Mrs. Furui and I worked hard and long on the two Christmas quilts that have been on our minds.  Last month we cut and sewed rows.  This month we got some cheerful borders around both quilts and at the last minute decided to add a dark border.  The plan had been to get both quilts basted so that I could take them home to begin quilting but our plans are too big for our time schedule and at 6:00pm we were still crawling around on the floor basting only one quilt.

"It doesn't matter.  I can only quilt one quilt at a time anyway."

Mrs Furui is so apologetic about leaving me two large quilts to machine quilt.  I seem to be the only person in our group that has the confidence to machine quilt something... if it is called confidence.  Mainly it is just dive in and hope for the best.  One quilt will go to the hospital and a nearly identical quilt will go the kindergarten. 

The velvet fabrics came from the kindergarten to begin with, just as Mrs. Furui and I were contemplating a Christmas quilt for the hospital.

"The beat up old box looked like it had some usable velvet in great Christmas colors.  Shall I ask for it?  Have you ever sewn with velvet?"

Nope and neither had I but it didn't stop us from asking for the box of fabrics and promising a quilt in return.  That's why we were making identical quilts.

And I had a fantastic array of Christmas strips from a Jelly Roll a blog friend had sent me!  That surely adds some color!  Mrs. Furui had the dark border fabric and she donated the backing...  My job is the quilting.

By the end of the day on Friday this is what our Christmas quilts looked like.  Sorry, I forgot to get the name of the pattern.  I'll try to include it in a later post.  CUTE!!!  Simple!!!  The plan is to let the kindergarten children make decorations (felt, paper) and pin them to the tree...  And at the hospital, the volunteers are going to use it as an advent quilt and pin decorations daily.  It may look sparse now, but with some hand made decorations I think it will be a great "frame". 

I took the one quilt home and started quilting the pieces down with invisible thread, (and I prayed about it before I started!  I could just see that thread breaking three thousand times as I tried to sew through the thick layers of velvet.)  Whew!  NO PROBLEMS!!!  The invisible thread really becomes invisible in that nap!  Saturday I put in a few hours quilting all the pieces down.

And yesterday I worked on the border which I thought needed a bit of Fa-la-la.  Gold thread and holly leaves!  I am rather proud of my holly...

I used a chalk pounce pattern that I had of leaves and berries.  I just ignored the leaf lines and made them pointed.  Another berry or two here and there and Fa-la-la!

I finished quilting around the border and 30 seconds later I was on the phone to Mrs. Furui.

"I finished it!  I think you'll be pleased!"

"You are a wonder..."

Mrs. Furui's words of praise makes the project all the more joyful.

One more quilt to go!