Breakfast first.............

It was cold enough in the house yesterday morning to bake something for breakfast.  Yes, I ate two of them before I thought about taking a photo.

The box mix was dated September last year but I knew it would still be good.  There were several ways to mix these and I chose the one with heavy cream.  Yum!!

I was clearing off a table in the basement and found this table runner top and backing already cut, ready to find a piece of batting.  I got it layered and quilted last night.  Trimming is next and then finding a binding.

I used 10" squares when die cutting the pieces for the blocks, but I had a larger piece of one of the prints.  It was actually a cut off strip from a previous quilt backing.

Today is a special day.  It is a granddaughter's 33rd birthday, a grandson's first wedding anniversary, and my 2nd pacemaker's second birthday.

 

Second quilt top for September 2026...............

I'm showing the close up shot first for the true color.

The greens don't jump out at you like the blues, but there are several of them in the quilt top too.  I'm happy the two alternate fabrics worked well together.  The leafy one had dark areas and light areas so it changed dramatically with the 6.5" cuts.

This top is so beautiful and peaceful looking, much better in real life than in a photo.  It is 60" x 72", the smallest of the 3 tops made with the same selection of browns.  More blues and greens were added into the 16 patch and this 9 patch.  It is definitely nature's colors.

With this series (Snail's Trail, 16 patch, and 9 patch) I was happy to use so many brown, gold, and rust color fabrics, and I was really happy to use up 3 large prints in the last 2.

 

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.

Sewing some 9 patches....................

 24 nine patches are sewn so far, lots more to go.  I had pulled some fabrics to try as alternate blocks so here are three of them.  This one of cheetahs isn't too great. I think it is too light.

This is my favorite but I only have enough to cut 24 alternate blocks.  That would only make a quilt 36" x 48".

I have two pieces of this fabric so it is a strong contender if I do this layout.

I decided to turn the camera to simulate an on point setting.  That is nice too.

I also chose some pink fabrics for a future quilt.  What a change from the fall colors I have been working on for the last couple weeks.

A day to slow down..................

I spent my time in the studio last night cutting strip lengths for 9 patches.  

All of my 9 patches will be 5 dark and 4 light squares.  I need to cut the dark strip into two 16" pieces and one 8" piece.  The light strip needs to have one 16" strip and two 8" pieces.  This will make three 9 patches.  I got 7 cut last night and had done 5 previously.  That will be 36 blocks.  I will be experimenting with some ideas of how to use these 9 patches.

I had letters to mail and then went on to the hardware store where I purchased a product that will keep weed seeds from growing.  I spread it on all of the area of dirt in the front garden and hosed it down per instructions.  Hopefully this will keep most weeds from growing all the way into winter.  I will be spreading it again in the spring.

Other than that I just relaxed and dreamed of new projects.

A little more clean up....................

It was a busy day yesterday.  My van needed servicing so my grandson and wife took me out for brunch after dropping it off and then we went back to my house.  Five sections were broken off the huge green Coral Bell and 4 planted in the center section and one in the section behind it.  Then they finished cleaning up the paver area and cleaned off the porch and sidewalk.  Also bottom dead branches of the hydrangea were cut off.  It is looking so nice now.  We went back to get the van afterwards.

This is the area where the new plants came from.  Now the little Coral Bell next to the green one has some breathing room.  It was almost covered up before.  Rain is predicted for several days this week but the radar maps last night look like a lot of it may miss us.  I'll keep watering if needed.

Last night I sewed a few more combinations for the 9 patches.  There will be 3 nine patches in each combination.  I'll sew a lot more combinations before I turn on the iron.
 

 

Two hours.................

Yesterday morning my helpers came to clean out all of the dead Black-eyed Susan plants plus weeds and volunteer trees.  I was hoping we could save some of the plants.  In two hours it went from this......

to this.  Now I need to find something that will grow in that center section.  The big green Coral Bell at the right front is overgrown and we could split 3 plants off of it and still leave a large plant where it is.  Since it has tolerated the heat it might be my best bet for that spot.  I have room to plant a few more things too so I need to decide whether to do it now or wait for spring.  I read that this is the perfect time to get perennials established before we get freezing weather.

In the studio I decided to make 9 patches with the remaining group of strips.  I sewed 3 sections and overlapped them to see how this first one will look.

This is one of the fabrics I chose to possibly use with the 9 patches.

 

New book..............

 The newest Kaffe Fassett book came in the mail a couple days ago and I finally had time to look through it.  I had seen a few kits for quilts in the book advertised at quilt shops that carry a lot of his fabric.

Here is a snippet of one of the quilts that I liked.  I like green quilts and that border fabric is one that I really like.  I have been thinking about making another quilt with lots of triangles in it.

It made me think about 2 quilts I made in 2022 and 2023.  I just made a lot of blocks, thinking they would all go in one large quilt.  In the end I decided I liked the darker blocks separate from the lighter blocks.  The lighter one is my favorite and I think I might need to make another one, maybe not in Kaffe fabric next time or a mix of Kaffe collective fabrics and other fabrics together.

I was pretty much pain free yesterday so I did some outside work.  I watered all of the pots on the porch and the ones in front of the garage.  There aren't many blooms on them but they are all still green plants so I have hope for a few more blooms.  Then I watered the tomato and cucumber plants.  They really needed it sooner but I just didn't get it done before I had the shot to my SI joint.  Then I had to take a day off so finally it happened yesterday.  We might have rain a few days this week.  This was yesterday's bounty, a little less than the day before.  Maybe the watering will encourage more to ripen.

Taking it easy..........

I had another steroid shot to my SI joint yesterday morning and they said to take it easy for one day and then resume normal activity.  I decided to sort the extra strips one more time by dark and light.  I could make 'the other 16 patch' with them if I cut a few more light strips.  I could also make 9 patches and do a layout with an alternate plain block (Single Irish Chain).  I could just put them away and do nothing with them but they would make a good sharing quilt to put into my inventory.

This was yesterday's bounty.  I'm staying ahead of the squirrels and the birds.  I shared 3 boxes of tomatoes with neighbors and a friend yesterday.

All kinds of plants have migrated from the back garden into this front garden.  Just right of center is some Goldenrod.  I pull it out all growing season in the back garden and didn't notice this one in front.  That's probably because there were so many Black-eyed Susans in here.  You can see they are all dead now.  I have a crew coming Sunday morning to clean out some of it for me.