Saturday, August 31, 2013

How Many Sandwiches Would it Take?

I needed some leaders/enders to work on while I made some piano key borders. I dug out the last of the nine patches I had sorted from my 2" cut squares, but hadn't had time to finish in San Diego back in June. All I had left fit in this plastic container, which is about sandwich sized.


 

I finished sewing these nine patches up tonight, and I counted the total that were in this small container. Are you ready? I had 45 nine patches in there!


Here are a few of the nine patches spread out, and the rest in a pile. Since these are made with 2" squares, they will finish in the quilt at 4.5"square. Forty-five of them could join together to make a 22.5 x 40.5 inch piece, and these fit in a container the size of one sandwich. Just think, in the space of two sandwiches, you have enough fabric to make a baby quilt top! Isn't that crazy?

I have plenty more 2" squares, but the nine patches I've made this summer pretty much used all the ones that I had either four of five of the same fabrics. I can't remember how many nine patches I made in San Diego. I was playing with EQ, and I think if I have 198 or so, I can make a large queen quilt if I use alternating solid squares and put it on point. Maybe navy for my solid squares? If I don't have enough nine patches now, I'm probably pretty close, I know I had over 100 made in San Diego, I just can't remember how many more than that.

I have the piano key borders done for one quilt, and I am working on a huge long chain of piano key borders in florals. Since I have three floral cream quilts needing borders, I decided to just make as long a chain as I can with what I have cut, and then just unsew the one seam where I need the breaks. It's not my normal working method, but I simply have too many projects going right now to count piano keys for three different quilts.

Tomorrow, if all goes well, I am hoping to get a quilt to top stage. I have two seams to sew on the center, I need to piece the inner border strips together and sew it on, then sew on the outer borders which are ready to go. It's doable depending on how many interruptions I get. The backing for that quilt is already pieced.

I may have sewing time on Monday too, and I'm hoping to be working on borders for Easy Street then. I have all the strips cut, and ready to piece together and add them on. I still need to figure out a backing for Easy Street.

Once those two quilts are tops, I need to start a quilting spree. I have three quilts pin-basted now, and I have more ready to go. I only have so many pins, so it is really a matter of quilting what is basted, so I can get to the others that need to be finished. I'm getting closer though!

3 comments:

Mary K said...

WOW! You are a sewing demon. Use the energy when you have it. I can't wait to see the tips.

Mary K said...

I mean tops. (autocorrect darn you!)

Stephanie Newman said...

GREAT quilt top Melodie, Love the thrice broken dishes.