My UFO 9-Patch is finished and a UFO no more! and my Spring to Finish Challenge Final Report Card

Here it is...my UFO 9-Patch finished and a UFO no more! It is my second finish for the Spring to Finish Challenge from Jacqui at Tallgrass Prairie Studio and I got it done just in time-today is the end of the Challenge!Its fairly simply quilted but thanks to Debbie from Jerusalem Notes: Fiberwork from Debbie's comment I did add these little feathers in the light triangles. I auditioned several patterns for this space and wasn't happy with any until this one...funny little feathers aren't they. Actually for some reason they make me think of crabs (and scorpions-which isn't such a nice thought so I'm trying to forget that one!).
I just had to share the back...a few years ago a friend gave me several sample panels of barkcloth from her upholstery fabric store. I always knew I'd use them on the back of a quilt and have been waiting for just the right one. I just love contrast of the vibrant back with the very quiet front of the quilt. You can actually see the quilted cable in the border better from the back than the front.
I wish I could just free sew feathers like I see others do but I'm not there yet...so I used a stencil and my favorite washable graphite marker from Morgan Quality Products...I actually own two of these because if I ever lost one I'd go nuts!
A special thanks to Karen of Quilts,etc....I tried her machine zigzagging of quilt batting pieces and it worked like a dream. You can see the two batts are perfectly abutted together with no overlapping at all and this was so much faster than my old by hand way!
Now its time to give you my report card for this Challenge...I'm a very generous marker and I give myself a B+. I had 3 projects listed:.

1. Finish the String Quilt-done!

2. Finish the UFO 9-Patch top and quilt it-done!

3. Quilt my Black ,White and Red log cabin quilt - I've taken the top and backing fabric out of the closet...that's it-all I have to report.

So why am I giving myself a B+ instead of a C...well I did some extra credit work! :) I finished the two pillows that had been hanging around for quite a while!

Now I'm hopping over to Tallgrass Prairie Studio to see all the fabulous finishes for the Spring to Finish Challenge!

UFO 9 Patch Finish and an Award

I've been just chugging along. I'm sewing the binding to the back on DS's quilt and I've put the borders on the UFO 9 patch and pieced the back...next up is basting!
Pati at A Crafty Escape is so nice. She gave me this lovely Versatile Blogger award. Thanks, Pati.The Rules for the award are:
1. Thank the person who gave you this award
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic! (in no particular order...)
4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

7 Things about me:

1. The name on my birth certificate is Merryl. :)

2. I love bad horror movies-the dopier it is, the happier I am.

3. I don't have a green thumb so having pity for the plants I don't garden. If someone gives us a houseplant as a gift, straightaway DH and the kids start guessing how long it will take me to kill it. (Really, one week is a bit ridiculous-one month is much more realistic.)

4. My favorite food is cheese!

5. I like cooking...

6. I love baking...

7. I hate housework! Laundry is the bane of my life.

Now I've come to the hard part...15 versatile bloggers! Just 15...impossible! So all you versatile bloggers out there just help yourselves to this award. Let me know and I'll link back to you here on my blog...I'd love to know 7 more things about you!

UFO 9-patch blocks are finally becoming a quilt

I've had these blocks in the closet for quite a while. A few years ago, I made a 9-patch quilt for someone and had leftover strip sets so I made these 12 blocks.

I had set the original quilt on point with a plain square of this fabric alternating with the 9 patch blocks.

I really loved it and would have been happy to dublicate it for myself but I have only a quarter yard of this paisley left....that's why the blocks have been in the closet for years. I just couldn't get that quilt out of my head and I couldn't think of anything else to do with the blocks...anything I would really like that would have some of the same voluptuousness as the first quilt. (Can you call a quilt voluptuous?)

These are the rest of the fabrics leftover from the first quilt, I took them out of the closet and ..hmm, I suddenly knew what I wanted to do.

I'm going to use this quarter square triangle block as the alternating block.

I have to make 3 more 9 patch blocks and I've made the quarter square triangles blocks already. I think this is going to look good! Simple but good!