Wednesday, May 10, 2017

The little 9-patch that grew and Grew

I'm off and running on my latest 'Opportunity Quilt' of the year! Our church congregation helps support a Christian camp located in nearby northern Pennsylvania and our quilt ministry was invited to make a quilt or two for their annual auction in September. Our newer quilters are busy with lap quilts for the nursing home and other projects, so I started working on this, my more modern adaptation of the cover quilt on Carolyn O'Bagy Davis' book titled Quilted All Day, the Prairie Journals of Ida Chambers Melugin.

I finished the top yesterday.

Like so many of my quilts this one didn't start out to be as large as it ended up! It's pretty much a queen size top, measuring 80 x 92 inches! That's about the maximum size I can manage to machine quilt on the Janome. Which is the way it will be quilted, since there are already two huge quilts in hoops around here and there being no other hand quilters in our little group.

Last week we had a torrential thunderstorm that was about as close to a tornado as I ever want to experience. Lost power for 27 hours but thankfully other than a few small branches in the yard no damage to our property. Neighbors just down the road lost two huge trees next to their driveway, and all across our region utility poles and trees were twisted and shattered to the ground. I had been trimming all those 9-patches, and was able to finish that evening, thanks to my little LED lantern.

Hoping to come up with an easy-to-quilt stencil for all those light green alternate blocks, so I can get this top marked and sandwiched. Very happy that there are 3 months in which to get this one quilted and ready for the auction.

12 comments:

Janet O. said...

That is a nice quilt, and a good, usable size! Wish I was closer so you could rummage through all of my quilt stencils.
Wow, that sounds like quite a storm!
I need to find one of those lanterns. Our power was out for 21 hours last week (but not from such severe weather) and my lantern isn't bright enough for work like that.

Lizzy D said...

What a pretty quilt! I d buy a bunch of raffle tickets! Your storm sounds so scary. I too need a few lanterns like that, it ll be hurricane season before we know it. Glad you were okay.

lizzy at gone to the beach

Debbie said...

OH, bad storm...glad you were safe. This is the season for them. Great top....love the color way you selected. It will be a one for the fund raising.

Dana Gaffney said...

That quilt is going to make some nice money for the camp, they'll be fighting over that one :) That's a nice productive way to get through that storm, it does sound more like a tornado came through. I'm not sure I could have been cutting with the sky booming, at least not straight lines.

Kyle said...

I love your interpretation of the vintage quilt. It will be a winner for your auction. I'm glad your machine quilting it. I don't think a hand quilted quilt would be appreciated or bring the money that it would be worth. Most people just don't understand. Glad your property was spared the brunt of the storm.

Wendy Caton Reed said...

I Love this book and your creation is wonderful. I have that same lantern and I think this is a very clever way to "get the job done"!

Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow said...

This is just gorgeous ...it's amazing how stunning nine patch quilts can be! That storm sounds quite awful ; glad you and your property came through it ok !

Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow said...

me again..I went and ordered a used copy of this book on Amazon ; I love books like this, with the history involved :)

Ann said...

This light green is a good, updated background that shows off the blocks beautifully. I agree with others that machine quilting is the way to go. Glad it's queen sized. Very useful and useable.
I've lived through several tornadoes in my youth. It seemed normal then. Hope to never experience one again.

Ruth said...

Very lovely! Will look forward to seeing how you quilt it. And hopefully, it will bring in a good amount for the camp!

Marie said...

Love it! I've had this one in the back of my mind to make for some time now but I'm not ready for it yet so I'll live vicariously through you. p.s. Love the lantern shot - that's dedication!

Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow said...

Me AGAIN! :) I ordered a used copy of that book on Amazon as I said before and I LOVED it. I would recommend it to anyone. Thank you for that referral :)