Nine Patch Quilt Top

As part of my plastic bin liberation effort, I sewed the nine patch blocks into a top. As part of her study of chaos theory, Molly toppled my stack of three empty bins while zooming.

This morning we are having a bit more rain and wind than usual, and Molly jumped to the front window ledge as her request for me to open the window. I opened it and within a minute she was blasted with a cold wet mist. With a look of horror, she jumped down and ran away. I closed the window. Two minutes later, Molly was back on the window ledge expecting me to open the window. I complied. She suffered another blast, was horrified and ran away, but returned two minutes later. After the fifth time, I concluded that Molly may be a very stupid cat, until I realized that she was simply reenacting me reading the news.

Dear Jane Variant: Puffin

Here's another block for the Dear Jane Alternative.  A puffin. When I started making these blocks way back when, the concept was that the original Dear Jane block was reversible and there were another set of blocks on the back (the alternative blocks). However, now due to marvelous advances in science, we know all about the multiverse and variant timelines. While most of the recent research focuses on "sentient being" timelines, as quilters, the concept of quilt variations is nothing new. So instead of calling this quilt a Dear Jane Alternative, I'm just going to give it its own timeline and call it a Dear Jane Variant. You're welcome.

New Alternate Dear Jane Block

 I have not used my sewing machine in a long time and was happy to see it spring to life. And despite how simple this block was to make, I did have to get the seam ripper out and fix it. As I worked on the block I reflected on all the life skills we learn in kindergarten that improve life...except for napping in class.

Quilt Archeology

 

Here are the Alternate Universe Dear Jane blocks. They include a set of owls...offspring of the Alternate Universe. These will be a separate quilt or should we say these will be stored separately and fantasized as a separate project. I eliminated some pieced blocks that didn't add much, and I can see a few that may disappear in the future. 

In the same shoe-box sized bin were these blocks from the 2019 Rainbow Scrappy Challenge. It looks like I didn't make all of the blocks but added some others. 

And yes there were three more projects in the same bin...a restart of a kitten quilt plus a start of mini kittens. Plus there was the beginning of a Patience Corner quilt inspired by Lynn Dykstra at Klein Meisje Quilts.

I also went through a larger bin that was a start to another seahorse quilt...a smaller size with a redesign. This bin was mostly batik scraps and hunks so those can go back to the fabric mother ship and the quilt project can be moved to smaller accommodations.

And for those of you wondering about freeloading entities assigned to aggravate me, here is the Princess Puppy Buddy. He is also a Support Puppy who helps me with my psychological angst. He sits on me and I tell him that I feel the weight of the world on me, but I don't think he takes the hint.

Portland Protest Frog in Alternate Dear Jane Universe

Long, long time ago in a different state, I made the Dear Jane (top, no borders) quilt. I made it using Kaffe Fassett fabric. And along the way I discovered that Dear Jane had an alternate universe set of blocks on the back that were never published. As I put away the Stonefield OOSOOMUFO (Out of Sight, Out of Mind UFO), I pulled out the Alternate Universe Dear Jane quilt blocks. They also finish at 4.5 inches and I have used mostly Kaffe Fassett fabric for these too. 

Looking at the images I still have ahead of me, I was very shocked to see a Portland Protest  Frog (an inflatable costume that creates its own alternate universe). And now, living across  the country in Oregon instead of Virginia, I knew what this image meant, so I made the block.

Here is the Portland Protest Frog with some of the other blocks from the Alternate Dear Jane Universe. I think I may have to move this to LSWHWILTOITMOE UFO (Let's See What Happens When I Leave This Out In The Middle Of Everything UFO) status.

Stonefield Block Party

 I started the Stonefield Quilt by Susan Smith by making the blocks month by month. About half way through I found myself moving ahead and making the blocks I could sew by machine or simpler appliqué blocks. This, of course, left me with piles of little bits at the end. This star within a wreath was the last block I needed to finish Month Whatever It Was.

Here is that block hanging out with all of its friends from the same month.

And here are the remainders from another month. The original flowers are supposed to be layers of wavy edged ovals laid on top of each other. Taking some "artistic" license, I made them cat fabric flowers instead. 

These are the blocks for that month, whatever that was. One might expect me to take all the Stonefield blocks and put them up as a sort of Stonefield "all the blocks finished" photo, but instead I celebrated by stuffing them all in a box (still by month) and felt the sweet relief of a SAOWAMUFO (Spread All Over, What a Mess UFO) turning into a OOSOOMUFO (Out of Sight, Out of Mind UFO). 

Month Nine

 One more simple flower. This time I basted each petal around the plastic template, cinched it and ironed it. This was much easier than needle turn appliqué despite the extra step.

And these are all twelve blocks for the Stonefield quilt by Susan Smith...Month Nine. For the last three months of this block of the month quilt, I stopped going in order so I'm gathering the blocks back together. This is for accounting...not for how the quilt would go together...which we only have currently as a theoretical construct.

I did notice that over at Kathy's Quilt blog for her Slow Stitch Sunday, there were a few participants working on the Stonefield quilt. And if you would like some nutritious blogging content, check out this post by Rebecca Grace Quilting.

P.S. Any extra characters or symbols in this post are a secret communication from my supervisor.