I'm still enjoying sewing my nine-patches, but I thought I'd better start making some decisions about setting them into blocks. I hunted through my extensive collection of photos and it was so hard choosing just one. I want to make them all!!
This is what I was thinking of originally, just a standard double nine-patch, with sashing, pretty straight forward. How about that colour though, I don't think I'm brave enough for all that yellow- wow!
I've always loved this very ordered setting, and it wasn't until I studied it this time that I noticed the chains are made from the white squares. For this I'd need to use five shirting squares in each little block, and four dark squares, but I've done them the other way around. Oh well, next time.

This made me look at my other pictures more closely and I found a lot of the antique ones were made with this configuration, some of the times set on point as well.
Doesn't this simple change in the placement of the light squares create a whole new look? And here's a luscious Amish version, love those darker colours.
This just makes me think I have to create more and more nine-patches in all sorts of fabric placements to try all these different ideas. I'm not sick of them yet and they make great leader-enders- how many nine-patch quilts can you start before you know you've got a problem (hint: obsession!)

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I suppose pikelets are an English thing, along with the scone, which, by the way we pronounce to rhyme with John. The American tv shows we've heard make it rhyme with stone, which we find peculiar. And I've got no idea how the English say it, any British readers out there that can offer their pronounciation?

Anyway, my recipe comes from this book, which is the first cookbook Keryn and I ever owned. Mum gave us each a copy when we were in our early teens, and they were duly placed in the "Glory Box", ready to assist us in our married life. (I should do a seperate post on this out-dated custom, which was virtually a trousseu girls collected over years and years, usually in a big trunk of some kind.) This book is Keryn's, which stayed a lot cleaner than mine did.
I used to make pikelets when the boys had sleepovers, and I can remember standing over the frying pan making batch after batch and watching them all disappear at an incredible rate. They were a great cheap snack to fill up hungry boys, and the ingredients were always at hand. I was happy when the boys graduated to being able to cook them on their own, and then I didn't have stand there, spatula in hand and looking at a child holding a plate out for more, more, More!!
And yes, they are smaller than usual, because I found this cute little ladle at the op-shop, and even though I had no idea what I'd use it for I had to buy it. That's a teaspoon for scale. It makes
dear little pikelets, and I love the fact that they're all the same size, and that I found a use for my purchase.
I'm still flitting from project to project- will I ever settle down to one thing again?
There are nine of the pastel Arrowhead blocks, still being pieced at night while watching telly. (two finished since this photo was taken)
These blocks have been resurrected and now there's ten of them.
There's eight of these blocks, and then there's the nine-patches!

Arggh! the nine-patches! (clutches head and wails...) I can't stop making them......110 at last count and I still haven't decided on the setting!

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Here's a close up of the setting fabric for the Feathered Square blocks. I didn't realise it was a quilting fabric until I read the selvedge, this feels more like a lightweight dress material. I do love the pattern, and when I first saw this there were very few large repro type prints available so I fell on it and bought about four metres.

I'd already used it as a setting fabric in a smaller top and it was flimsy but the straight seams helped control it- no bias to worry about here.
I like the idea of making a pillowcase from the remaining fabric, thanks Henrietta!

It was also Henrietta who said that Dolly and Pippi were such good dogs. Yes they are..... but there have been times when they've been in disgrace. Take for instance this pretty pink and green top of a friends that we ordered a special pink and green thread for....
Pippi pinched the reel from the table and this is what it looked like by the time I found it- unrecognisable. And as it came from America there was no hope of quickly getting another. Bad Pippi! And Dolly has turned out to be a cat chaser which is something we're trying to discourage- but no-one's perfect, are they?

The golf course is so lush in parts that the dogs have to wade through the grass and weeds. This is the last resting place of many golf balls but they love it and it uses up a lot of their excess energy jumping through it.
But there's always enough pep left for attacking a sister when she least expects it...Gotcha!

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The Feathered Square blocks are together, and I'm very relieved to have this done. The fabric I chose for the setting was an old favourite, but it wasn't very good quality and it sagged and stretched and generally misbehaved. Those long bias edges on the triangles were very hard to keep flat, and even after they were sewn to the blocks and stabilised the strips seemed to change lengths as they were pinned on the design wall. I had to bribe myself to keep sewing until it was all done, and I could only do one long seam at a time before I lost patience.Of course I like it now that it's in one piece and all the bias has been contained but there were times that I was ready to stuff it back in the project box and put it on top of the highest cupboard in the sewing room. Where it had been for many years before this.

I've done this Streak of lightning set many times before, and this is the first time I've ever had any trouble. I still have a little bit of this fabric left and even though I like the design the flimsiness might dictate where I use it from now on.
I made pikelets a while ago and everywhere I moved in the kitchen I was concious of this appealing little figure in the background. She knows she has to "sit" before she gets any treat, so she shuffles around on her bottom as she follows me, eyes pleading and the very tip of her tail wagging quickly. "Pleease!" Needless to say I usually give in and she gets a taste of what I'm having.

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The Woven Geese now has a border, and the backing is pieced and pressed, waiting for it's turn on Millhouse. I'm really pleased with this simple pattern and I'm already planning one in different fabrics. Matt will probably end up with this one and I'll make a prettier one for me.

I'm still flitting from one set of blocks to another, and have even begun a new project.
I've always wanted to make another Double Nine Patch, so I've started making the units. I was cutting strips for one of my sets of blocks, and thought I'd just cut the one and a half inch strips while I was at it. Then I thought I'd just "test" a few blocks and suddenly I've got a production line going and the nine patches are all I want to sew.

I don't care, I don't want to feel pressured to stick with any particular project, and I'm having so much fun I can't feel guilty over my flightiness. However I did need a way to keep all my pieces separated nicely, and I found these plastic catering trays in the cheap shop.
They are big enough for the individual sections of the blocks I'm working on, and then I can stack them all neatly depending on what I feel like sewing at the moment.
I think they're great for organising my piecing, even if it was for just one project instead of the three I'm sewing now. As you can see I've got about six trays stacked up there- that's not excessive, surely?

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This is the project that I was hand-cutting pieces for last week. I'm not sure what this pattern is called, Broken Arrow?

These blocks were an old UFO that I wasn't even sure I wanted to finish. They spent some time in the orphan pile before I decided I did want to make more and rescued them. They are terribly wishy-washy, but I wanted that faded, washed-a-hundred-times look, rather like my Rolling Stone top I did last year.
And the hexagon blocks that I finally finished......I think I should stop with the faded wishy-washy theme already! All these blocks are an attempt to use up all my old, old fabric, and I don't seem to be making a huge difference. I decided to go through all my containers and weed out everything from that early era, 1980 to early '9o's, and I was shocked at how much I still had. I think once these tops are all finished then I have to take whatever's left and piece backs for them and hopefully that will use it up entirely.

While I was rummaging in the container of diamonds I'd cut out I decided to try piecing a Carpenter's Star by hand, just to see how tedious it was.
I enjoyed it, even though it was time consuming, so I might start cutting some of these from my nice reproductions. I was hesitant before because I thought I might hate all those set-in squares, but they were a doddle by hand. I've always loved this pattern, now to choose which version to sew...
I don't know that I could use just one fabric, might get a bit boring, even though the results are stunning.Alternate setting blocks so I don't have to make so many...?Mmm, I'm going to have a hard time choosing because I love all the possibilites!

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I'm acting very irresponsibly in my sewing room, working on about five different projects for ten minutes at a time, and then being distracted and wanting to start even more ideas. I can't seem to stay focused at all, and my only consolation is that everything's gradually inching toward the finish line. But there's no one completed quilt to point to, yet.

I applaud Bonnie for deciding to stick with one thing and see it through, and even though I've given myself a stern talking to I'm still flitting here and there as the fancy takes me. I'm quite capable of making myself sew for hours on a less than favourite project, just to see it done, and some of my old UFO's have been conquered this way. But when I'm in this mood I get to a certain point and then feel almost nauseated at the thought of one more seam-ugh!

So the only thing to do is chop and change and not let myself get sick of anything, and after a while I'm able to carry one top through to completion.

I think this one will be put together first, I've got half the rows sewn together, and the rest will go together quickly. It's not as big as I thought it was going to be, but I'm happy with it, and I think it will have a border instead of the extra rows I was planning on.

I call it Woven geese, I don't know if it has a proper name.It's been a lovely pattern to sew,only two fabrics per block, great for scraps, it presses nicely and the rows all nest together, what's not to like?

These Feathered Square blocks are so very nearly a top, but this is one that I had to bribe myself to touch. I did bits here and there and walked off and left it many times in the course of the week it was on the design wall. There are only four main seams left to do, so I know that one evening's sewing will see it done. I have no ideas about borders, but I'm happy to let it sit and stew once it's in one piece. Another very old UFO inching closer to the bed instead of the cupboard...


I returned to these little spinning rails as Leader Enders and after a while I had a niggly feeling that something wasn't quite right. I went and checked the pile of completed blocks and yep! the new ones are spinning in the wrong direction. Sigh. These will have to go on the back or be corners in the borders or something, I'm not pulling them apart.
Last week we went to Wirraberra Forest with Matt and the dogs for a five kilometre hike and Pippi was beside herself with excitement. She and Dolly ran and ran, up hill and down, plunging through the long grass and following exciting trails through the trees. They waded through the creek and raced up the bank and down to cross it again. However it's much deeper and wider in this spot and there was no time to judge the take-off. Pippi gave a mighty leap, but it didn't end well and she landed smack in the middle, absolutely saturated. But it didn't slow her down and she floundered through ready to go again. Dolly was more sensible and splashed her way across without going under, as my silly dog did.

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I love pressing all the bits I've sewn and lining them up in neat rows.I'm making piles and piles of flying geese and sewing them into rows of four, and while they were on the ironing board I played around and came up with some new setting ideas to try out. But not now; these pieces are going to become this block, which I saw in one of the Stashbusters photo albums.
I've been cutting up lots of scraps and have got about forty blocks made so far, and another twenty or so cut out. It was to have lasted me quite a while as a kit for in between other projects, but I became obsessed with it, as you do. Now I might just as well push ahead and finish it, sigh. I have good plans, but rarely follow them, I usually prefer to go with the flow and do what interests me at the time.
I also pressed some nine patches for the centre of my album variation,
and these three stars, which I was piecing at night while I watch the telly. Years ago I cut all my repro scraps into diamonds and I've sewn literally hundreds of these stars yet still have stacks of diamonds left in the container. After two hundred plus Lemoyne stars I've started another project using the diamonds and hopefully that will see a few more gone.

But strangely I'm also cutting more hand piecing bits to finish an old UFO. There seems to be no logic to this process- trying to get rid of one lot of diamonds, while creating another new pile of them at the same time, but what the heck. When my Sensible Self ventures to query my methods I just hiss "Don't Question Me!!" and keep on cutting.

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I spent last night watching a dvd and sewing random pieces, and then saved all the pressing for this morning. A nice prospect; lazy Sunday morning, cup of coffee and seeing all the little seams laying down flat under the iron. Now I can arrange these units into blocks and set up my next sewing jag for when I can get to the machine.
Here are the red cross album blocks set together, awaiting corner triangles and a border idea. I think there will be a wide cream border on the outside to show up quilting, but there might be triangles or squares around the blocks. Something will occur to me.

The block in the corner of the design wall is Bonnie's Nifty Thrifty from Scraps and Shirtails- I didn't even realise it was there until I downloaded the photo. I think it's a great block and there will be some scraps cut up for a quilt soon.

Dolly and Pippi were sitting on the lounge looking so cute that I quietly got the camera out to take some photos. Keryn held up a biscuit to get their attention but it worked too well and resulted in this pose. Dolly is humming "Biiiscuts......mmmmm" and Pippi knows she has to "Sit" before she gets one- even if it's on top of her sister.
We had a customer and her grand-daughter come to pick up some quilts yesterday, and the girl had never seen Pippi before. She likes to visit because she was a fan of Dolly's but she fell in love with Pippi and spent ages patting both of them. Some people think because Pippi is bigger than Dolly she's her mother, but when Keryn remarked on this the little girl said "No, she still has puppy eyes". How astute of her.Ahh, puppy eyes..

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Henrietta asked what the stack of blue boxes in a previous photo were. They're from a hardware store and were originally meant to store nuts and bolts and suchlike. But they looked useful for a sewing room, so I bought four sets and I've used them in numerous ways over the years.
At one stage they formed a set of shelves, with boards in between them, and now they're serving to hold up a shelf above my sewing area. One contains all sorts of sewing gear, measures and cutting blades and bobbins and marking pencils.

The other has a series of narrow strips in them, when I thought I'd use such things. And I mean narrow, ranging from 3/4" to 1 1/4". The latter I still save, and have started a log cabin using them, but I decided I didn't want to keep the others. I thought I might make applique stems from them, but that's probably not going to happen so I've stopped cutting those sizes. I suppose I should repurpose the drawers but I haven't decided what to put in them yet.

Yesterday I weeded all the small lengths from the 1 1/2" drawer and sewed them into pairs, then crosscut them into 1 1/2" slices.
From these I sewed forty tiny four patches which will join the others I've already made. I have two quilts in mind to use them up, but that's a long way off.
I like to tidy up the strip drawers like this occasionally; it only takes half an hour or so and the stack of four patches is growing nicely.

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