Sister's Choice Quilts

My interests are quilting, reading, cooking, family, decorating, and matters of style. I post regular quilting tutorials and book reviews of current fiction.

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What Was I Going To Do With All These Nine Patches?

9 patches

I must have made all these 9 patch blocks for a reason, right?  Then I took a blogging/sewing break, spent hours with Eva at the pool, and went to Ireland and England to visit my son, and completely forgot what the heck the point of these blocks was.  Do you ever do that?  Well, I'm not as young as I used to be, and sometimes my memory isn't what it should be.  Thank goodness for this blog however.  I was able to go back through a couple months of posts and refresh that foggy memory.

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I had purchased this book not too long ago, and there is such a pretty quilt in it, designed by Kim Diehl, called "Oak Patch".  I didn't want a quilt as large as hers was, so I made some alterations.  Basically I just made one 12 inch appliquéd block for the center and surrounded it with a lot of nine patches.  Her quilt has four appliquéd blocks, some sashing and a border of nine patch blocks.

This book is full of great patterns, some designed by Kim and other designed by Jo Morton.  If you enjoy their style of design, you cannot go wrong.  The patterns have some simple appliqué, but by no means do all of them include it.  I highly recommend the book, and think it is worth purchasing, and I don't buy many quilting books anymore.

I ended up not going to Lake Tahoe with my husband this weekend.  Last week I had some place I had to go every day, which resulted in no sewing for me.  I was desperate to just stay home and recharge in my sewing room on Saturday, so I begged off going on the day trip up to the mountains.  I was intending to get back to my Triangle Gatherings blocks, but when I opened up my closet in the sewing room and saw all those lovely fall colored nine patch blocks, I thought I might make them my project for the day.

Once I figured out what I had meant to do with them, I began making the center appliqué block.

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The block finishes at 12 inches, so those center black and cream nine patch blocks are super tiny.  They are 1 1/2 inches finished! But you know what?  I used my new Block Loc Strip Set ruler and those tiny little checkerboard strips came out straight as an arrow.

The block above is of my appliqué pieces all prepped and ready to sew.  My machine appliqué technique is a combination of Kim Diehl's Invisible Machine Applique method, and Edyta Sitar's technique.  I do raw edge appliqué, with an invisible thread and blind hem stitch.  I use Heat and Bond double sided interfacing to hold my pieces in place before and during stitching.

One more tool that was super useful was this:

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My Ott Light magnifying light was so great for being able to see where every stitch of the needle was going.  If you have trouble seeing close work on your machine or when hand sewing, this magnifying light was invaluable.  It has a flexible "neck" which you can bend around to just the right position to peer through while sewing.

Check back tomorrow and see my finished little quilt!

39 responses to “What Was I Going To Do With All These Nine Patches?”

  10. You’re lucky to have your blog posts to look back on and refresh your memory! Some time ago, I had decided on the “perfect” pattern for a layer cake that I had, but when I went to start on it last week, I couldn’t remember what the perfect pattern was. Now I know to put them together right away while it’s fresh in my mind.
    Your quilt will look great for the autumn season.

  11. You’re lucky to have your blog posts to look back on and refresh your memory! Some time ago, I had decided on the “perfect” pattern for a layer cake that I had, but when I went to start on it last week, I couldn’t remember what the perfect pattern was. Now I know to put them together right away while it’s fresh in my mind.
    Your quilt will look great for the autumn season.

  12. You’re lucky to have your blog posts to look back on and refresh your memory! Some time ago, I had decided on the “perfect” pattern for a layer cake that I had, but when I went to start on it last week, I couldn’t remember what the perfect pattern was. Now I know to put them together right away while it’s fresh in my mind.
    Your quilt will look great for the autumn season.

  13. What a delight this little quilt will be! Eye candy for Autumn!!
    I leave a note to myself with the fabrics and it includes the notation of where to find the pattern (book, magazine) or my ideas if I thought up a quilt mysef. That works for me.
    Hugs!

  14. What a delight this little quilt will be! Eye candy for Autumn!!
    I leave a note to myself with the fabrics and it includes the notation of where to find the pattern (book, magazine) or my ideas if I thought up a quilt mysef. That works for me.
    Hugs!

  15. What a delight this little quilt will be! Eye candy for Autumn!!
    I leave a note to myself with the fabrics and it includes the notation of where to find the pattern (book, magazine) or my ideas if I thought up a quilt mysef. That works for me.
    Hugs!

  19. Anxious to see the finished top. I tried machine appliquéing with invisible thread years ago and heated the thread. I think I will try it again. Also, I never would have thought of using my magnifying light for this. Thanks for,the tips Nicole!

  20. Anxious to see the finished top. I tried machine appliquéing with invisible thread years ago and heated the thread. I think I will try it again. Also, I never would have thought of using my magnifying light for this. Thanks for,the tips Nicole!

  21. Anxious to see the finished top. I tried machine appliquéing with invisible thread years ago and heated the thread. I think I will try it again. Also, I never would have thought of using my magnifying light for this. Thanks for,the tips Nicole!

  22. Super cute! Last week, Sherri McConnell had her fall parade and now you have this fall quilt and so this morning I’m in a pity party cuz I don’t have even one fall quilt!! LOL! BH has completely taken over my sewing table and I feel like I need to get that done so I can move on or maybe I’ll pack it away and take a bit of a break from it?? How are you keeping your BH fabric organized?? Have a great week! When will you head up to LT again?

  23. Super cute! Last week, Sherri McConnell had her fall parade and now you have this fall quilt and so this morning I’m in a pity party cuz I don’t have even one fall quilt!! LOL! BH has completely taken over my sewing table and I feel like I need to get that done so I can move on or maybe I’ll pack it away and take a bit of a break from it?? How are you keeping your BH fabric organized?? Have a great week! When will you head up to LT again?

  24. Super cute! Last week, Sherri McConnell had her fall parade and now you have this fall quilt and so this morning I’m in a pity party cuz I don’t have even one fall quilt!! LOL! BH has completely taken over my sewing table and I feel like I need to get that done so I can move on or maybe I’ll pack it away and take a bit of a break from it?? How are you keeping your BH fabric organized?? Have a great week! When will you head up to LT again?

  25. Love your appliqué block and yes it happens to me too that I sometimes forgot why and for what projects I made blocks or (even more often) I bought some fabrics for a quilt I had in mind and then forgot all about it.

  26. Love your appliqué block and yes it happens to me too that I sometimes forgot why and for what projects I made blocks or (even more often) I bought some fabrics for a quilt I had in mind and then forgot all about it.

  27. Love your appliqué block and yes it happens to me too that I sometimes forgot why and for what projects I made blocks or (even more often) I bought some fabrics for a quilt I had in mind and then forgot all about it.

  31. “…sometimes my memory isn’t what it should be.” I hear ya’ on that one! If it’s not on my calendar or a very prominent note there’s a good chance I WILL forget! And, that’s depending on if I remember to LOOK at the calendar & notes!! Your center appliqué is really pretty. Checkerboards are so cute on a quilt!

  32. “…sometimes my memory isn’t what it should be.” I hear ya’ on that one! If it’s not on my calendar or a very prominent note there’s a good chance I WILL forget! And, that’s depending on if I remember to LOOK at the calendar & notes!! Your center appliqué is really pretty. Checkerboards are so cute on a quilt!

  33. “…sometimes my memory isn’t what it should be.” I hear ya’ on that one! If it’s not on my calendar or a very prominent note there’s a good chance I WILL forget! And, that’s depending on if I remember to LOOK at the calendar & notes!! Your center appliqué is really pretty. Checkerboards are so cute on a quilt!

  37. Does this lamp make you hot when you sew? I have a smaller one and have wondered about getting this size but wasn’t sure if it would create too much heat right up by my face.

  38. Does this lamp make you hot when you sew? I have a smaller one and have wondered about getting this size but wasn’t sure if it would create too much heat right up by my face.

  39. Does this lamp make you hot when you sew? I have a smaller one and have wondered about getting this size but wasn’t sure if it would create too much heat right up by my face.