Season Transition 9 patch

T his is my "change of seasons" quilt, another variation of a 9 patch pizzaz quilt. I saw a quilt similar to this one with the changes of the seasons across the quilt in the same book "( Patch Pizzaz" by Judy Sisneroz) as my other 9 patch Animal quilt.

With this quilt, I learned how to make a fancy outer border and how to make a 'cheater' edging also known as 'mock binding".

Most of the quilt versions shown in the book had directions telling you how much fabric you needed and how to cut the fabric, how many blocks to make and where to put them, etc. This version, however did not have directions for it. It was in the section on finishing the quilts and only showed a photo.

So I decided to figure it out for myself. I scanned the photo on the computer and printed it. Next I drew the lines on it to show the various blocks and from there I figured out how many of each type of block I would need to make. But I decided to make the quilt a bit larger than shown, like I did with the 9 patch animal quilt so I added an extra row along the side and on the bottom. Just to be on the safe side I made some extra blocks so that it would give me leeway to change the pattern if I wanted to when I arranged the blocks. I had fun planning these blocks!

After making all the blocks, I laid them out and looked at them, rearranging them a few times till I was satisfied with the over all picture. I left it for a day then looked at it again, and again made a few changes. A trick I learned at a workshop from a very knowledgeable instructor was to use a pair of binoculars and look at the quilt block pattern through the WRONG END so the individual 9 patch blocks receded but the overall pattern stood out. It is easier to see the flow of the design that way!

After that I started sewing the rows of blocks together with help from various cats and the dog who all came to sit on the blocks (that were arranged on the floor) to give their approval and leave a few treasures behind ( Hairs, I mean. What were you thinking!?)

Next I put a narrow 1 1/2 inch black inner border around the blocks and after that a 6 inch tan pebbles border. I decided to use a fancy border technique that I had seen but I had never tried before. I used some of the smaller squares from the quilt blocks and incorporated them into the border, too so it looks like the quilt blocks continue out into the border. The winter side of the quilt has some of the winter fabric in the border, the early fall side has early fall fabric, etc. The photo above doesn't really show the border so I hope I explained it well enough for you to imagine it.

The back fabric is tan colour with tan trees on it. I used the excess back fabric and flipped it forward to make a 'cheater edge/ mock binding' which is a lot less work then making binding from strips of fabric, as I discovered. It only works well if you chose a back fabric that compliments your quilt top, though.

I had taken a Saturday workshop in late January 2008 on embroidery and some machine free motion quilting so I decided to use that to quilt this one.

It's a good idea to practice a bit first. That way if you make mistakes it isn't on a quilt which has taken you weeks to make. I just used some extra brown/ tree fabric, and sandwiched some spare batting in between. You need a special machine foot to allow free motion and remember to put down the 'feed dogs' on your machine. Put the presser foot halfway down ( I found that the most difficult thing to remember! ) to allow the thread to flow quickly. Free motion quilting takes a huge amount of thread but looks great with a little practice. I machine quilted all the fabric blocks, both the inner and outer borders separately. I tried various free motion designs which followed the patterns on the fabric itself. I love how it turned out!

I was very pleased with the finished quilt. It was completed in late Jan 2008. I liked the practice swatches so much I made 4 larger versions and made them into place mats! Just didn't want to waste an opportunity to try something new! LOL!

After that was completed I still had fabric left over so I decided to make a pillow sham to match out of a few extra blocks.

Yes, by then it had definitely become an obsession!

I realized soon after that, that it was consuming me more than gardening and I LOVE gardening!