The Nine Patch Begins to Bloom
First off, thank you to everyone who left a comment yesterday. I enjoyed reading every one of them. I'm very touched by how many of you were willing to share your own experiences and the positive energy that many of you shared for John and I and the baby. We feel so lucky right now to get to feel her bounce around (yes, John has felt her too, now) and I hope everyone who commented or just comes by to read who is dealing with pregnancy/fertility related issues has good luck now and in the future.
In the meantime, it's not all about the baby chez Biologist. I have made some more progress on my quilt. All of the 9 patches are complete, and all the additional pieces have been cut out. I couldn't resist pulling out my big piece of black felt and laying them out to see what the whole quilt was starting to look like.
My felt wasn't quite wide enough for me to lay out the whole quilt, so when I got towards the end, I just laid out the pieces for one of the short ends so that I could see how the "bloom" was going to look. It's hard to capture the better part of a queen-sized quilt top on camera and still get any detail, but I think the picture does give you a pretty good impression of what is going to happen. I like that there are some areas that stand out as bright (like the center and the band of reddish fabric towards the edge) and that there are areas that are more muted in between them and at the edge. I think if it were all bright, it would be a little bit overwhelming.
So the next step is to get the pieces sewn together. And this is where I've stopped to pause for a bit. My 9 patch squares are supposed to be 4-1/4 x 4-1/4 inches (this is what the solid squares have been cut to be) but in the direction perpendicular to the seams that were used to connect the pieces for the 9 patches, for many of the squares the dimension seems to be closer to 4-1/8 most of the time (the other side is close enough to 4-1/4 for me not to worry about it). So I'm trying to decide what to do. Do I trim my solid color squares? Do I just center my 9 patches on the solid squares as best I can, since it doesn't really matter how much fabric is taken into the seam as long as the blocks line up correctly?
I'm leaning towards the latter option, but wouldn't mind input from the more experienced in the audience...
Hello - I did not leave a comment on your lasts posts because "My nephew was born on december 25, 2005" probably would not cheer you up any! (He came three weeks minus one day early, and while there had been no births three days prior and for two days after that at the hospital, there were born 8 babies that day! The old head nurse claimed the moon to be at fault).
I would choose the latter option. I do that all the time, because I am a mean and wile "futscher" (Force things to work if they dont want to). The first option sounds like a lot of work and is not idiot-proof either.
I wouldn't trim your blocks at all, I'd just ease in the smaller ones. It will work out fine once you get your borders on and square things up.
The 9 patch blocks will "ease/stretch" to fit the solid block, don't sweat it, 1/8" is not too much to ease, it will be beautiful. I had that book at one time, it was lovely. Be careful, the quilting will try and take over your knitting stash.
wow - that quilt is gorgeous! is it a kit? or did you pick out the fabrics? in which case I am wildly impressed! either way - gorgeous!
The colors look so beautiful together! I've thought about doing a traditional nine patch (I've never done a quilt before but my MIL quilts and got me interested) but your color selection and use really push the design to be something more.
That is a beautiful quilt, it looks like a Monet painting. How did you come up with the pattern? I've never seen anything like it, I look forward to seeing it finished! Thanks for your backstory on Baby Z, it takes guts to talk about miscarriage, I had one before Baby Robby, and it is such a hard thing to go through and talk about. I'm sure your story has and will encourage a lot of women out there who have experienced the same thing.
Amazingly beautiful quilt-in-progress!
Every time you show a picture of the quilt's progress I think I use the same word -- stunning. I will have to check my thesaurus for more, but for now, that's what hits me immediately. Just stunning.
you can easily make up that 1/8 of an inch just by easing as you seam... and if you cut them off, you may find them too small as you go, which would be worse (you can't ease them bigger as easily as you can ease them smaller. if you know what i'm saying).
if it was 1/2 inch off, then maybe trim. but 1/8? no.
i'm going to see you on saturday, yes? let me know if you need any more info to get here....
looks fantastic!
It looks amazing... you have inspired me to make a quilt as soon as school is out! Of course before you had me thinking about quilting, I was going to knit a log cabin. Hopefully you won't take on any more crafts before I get started on one of your inspirations!
I've never had an extreme want to do a 9 patch before.. but wowie that is beautiful! I think it might have to go on my to-do list. =o) I didn't get a chance to comment yesterday, but just wanted to say thanks for sharing your story. ((big hugs)) My husband & I are in the process of trying for a baby now, and we are experiencing some road blocks ourselves. Nothing major (we hope), but I too thought we would get pregnant as soon as we stopped preventing. I'm really sooo happy for you guys. =o)
Your quilt is looking stunning. Does quiltology have a web store and do you think they would ship to Scotland? I've not made a regular quilt before, only weird and wonderful 'free-form' ones but you've inspired me to have a go.
You want to be careful with how much your seam allowance is. One eighth inch difference isn't huge but if the quilt will be used there will be tension put on the seams and too small a seam allowance will eventually fray.
It is lovely, the coloring is slendid. Good job!
Youe hubby got to feel the baby bouncing? In my whole 9 months, every time I tried to get ANYONE else to feel the baby doing his karate practice, he would stop. And 3 minutes later, start kick-boxing.
You want to be careful with how much your seam allowance is. One eighth inch difference isn't huge but if the quilt will be used there will be tension put on the seams and too small a seam allowance will eventually fray.
It is lovely, the coloring is slendid. Good job!
Wow. I love how your quilt is looking. I am a sucker for color! I am impressed, it's going to be spectacular!
Wow, that is one gorgeous quilt. I absolutely love the colors- very impressionistic / pointillistic, and so very detailed. Beautiful!
btw, thanks so much for your email response re: my earlier comment on the origami boxes. I know you get tons of comments every day, and it was really nice of you to respond personally. Thanks!
isn't it awesome to feel them bopping away in there? the first time my husband felt it my daughter decided that daddy NEEDED to feel her and kicked as hard as she could. she had never kicked me that hard and we both gasped, i asked him, 'did you do that???' and he was like, 'no! wow!'.
your quilt is gorgeous.
I usualy a lurker here, but I'll comment today for 2 reasons... first - I had a feeling when you blogged about your 'emergancy' way back when that it had something to do with baby making - as I am going through fertility issues myself. I teeter back and forth as to just how much I want to share on my blog.... but with the few times I did actualy bring it up - I got a huge amount of support from the blog community. I didn't have a miscarraige - I have an ectopic pregnancy. It was hard. And sad. And it was after over a year of fertilty treatments... so just made even harder. But - like you are finding - there is light at the end of the tunnel! Can't wait to meet that little girl! I'm moving onto IVF in the next month or so, and hopefully that will bring me a little baby (or babies) to knit for!
As for the quilt - be careful to pin your seams, and on the one that don't make it all the way - you can stretch the fabric the little bit to make up the difference. I wouldn't go and cut them all - but you will need to be careful that things line up. I don't think an 1/8 of an inch will end up buckling the quilt - and I'm assuming you are gettin git machine quilted? That will hid a bunch of evils.
Congratulations on your pregnancy!
The quilt is really pretty. I have no experience to offer you since I suck at sewing.
I don't have any advice because I'm not a quilter, but I love how it's turning out! Maybe it's just the picture, but it looks like it has a three dimensional quality to it, where the bright colors seem like they're closer, and the more muted (lavender?) are further away. Very pretty!
Just sayin...but cutting leaves more room for error. Just sew it up as best you can, for sure.
My dad's the best. He actually brought his ladder into the living room so he could take pictures of all my quilts. Even with that, we barely got the whole thing of a double quilt...
I'm hopelessly behind in my blog reading.....and so have just discovered your news. It is wonderful to hear. My very best wishes to all three of you ....
You've done a REALLY nice job with fabric selection for that quilt. I saw a Blooming Nine-Patch in progress a few years ago (when the book was first published), and it looked like a lot of work to keep it all organized. Color selection here is lovely.
An eighth of an inch difference is generally considered acceptable for easing blocks together (and it sounds like you actually have a smaller differential than that). Just be careful, and take your time. And use pins, definitely use pins.
Whooooeee, that quilt is fabulous! I agree with the previous commenter that it looks very Monet-like. Wow. I love it.
Don't ask me, I know nothing about quilting. However, just wanted to exclaim my admiration - it;s absolutely beautiful!
Your quilt is beautiful!!! I bet baby chez Biologist will have some beautiful quilts thru the years to come!
You quilt is absolutely stunning! I just got to your last post. My heart goes out to you. I have but one child, who is 11, and was very much unplanned and an amazing gift. The thought of losing much wanted and tried for pregnancies is heart aching. I think I knew I was pregnant the very week it happened. I had an awful dream, where somebody handed me a painting of a plate with chromosomes dripping over it, like Dali's paintings. It was titled "trisomy 21". I had to think long and hard about getting the amnio tests, and in the end decided not to because I knew this child was such a gift. He turned out quite fine, "unremarkable or normal" or whatever the medical lingo is. But remarkable and outstanding, as all kids are. Best wishes to you and John. And Baby Z! (does the baby's name begin w/ Z?)
Gorgeous! I love that quilt.
That quilt is beautiful!
Don't trim your unpieced 4.5" square. Line up the edges with the 9 patch block that you are trying to sew it to. Put one pin at the edge where you will start sewing. Line up the other edge and put a pin where your sewing will end. You will notice that you've got a little extra fabric. Stick one end under the sewing machine and start sewing, take out the first pin. Then grab both pieces of fabric (where the second pin is) and pull a little so that the 9 patch block stretches to match the length of the square. Don't pull too hard otherwise you'll distort the seam. Sew the remainder of the seam. Voila.
PS. Your quilt looks gorgeous.
I would think that easing the smaller ones in might work, but that's coming from someone who hasn't quilted in years. The quilt is absolutely gorgeous, though -- I lost patience for that fiber art a while back but I still love to admire the work. My great-grandmother did quite a few quilts during her lifetime (One for each kid [and she had FIFTEEN] plus more -- and the quilts outlived her.)
BTW, your baby posts were lovely. Congrats on Baby Z ... I'm running the pregnancy race a few steps behind you and will be watching and cheering until the big day!
When you're sewing the mismatched seams and easing them together, make sure to put the longer block on the bottom--the feed dogs give it a little extra speed, and that will help match up the blocks by the time you're done with the seam.
(It's interesting that your pieced blocks are smaller than your unpieced...mine usually end up larger.)
WOW! It's beautiful! I think you achieved your goal perfectly! I was having trouble envisioning the actual progression in the first pictures but now I "get it". It's Gorgeous!
Your quilt is turning out beautifully!
Had to comment also on Baby Backstory: Gosh you remind me of me. My husband and I are on the six year plan: after 6 years of dating we married and after 6 years of marriage and MUCH discussion we decided a "good time" just wasn't going to present itself. We just had to make the commitment to parenthood ourselves. With very similar reservations to yours I scheduled a "pre-pregnancy consult" with my OB. The nurses didn't understand but, thanks be, she did. We went into her office rather than exam room and just talked. Now we are in the elementary school years and I still look forward to my reminder card to go visit with Dr. Murahata.
My very best congratulations and wishes for you, John, and Baby Z.
I don't know much about quilting but I love the way the color shifts from the center out! And the colors are gorgeous.
I just wanted to thank you for saying that labor frightened (frightens?) you in your previous post. It frightens me too.
Have you ironed the seams in the quilt blocks that are short? Because sometimes it's because they weren't ironed yet so the tiny lump of the seams could be adding up to that almost 1/8 short. And if you have already ironed the seams, check to make sure that they are flat as opposed to having gotten ironed with a bit of a wrinkle in it. (I'm not at all sure how to explain that without at least hands if not props.)
If neither of those is the case, or you've checked the seams and discovered they are slightly wider than the 1/4 inch they are supposed to be then go for the easing option. It will all come out ok in the end when you quilt it up.
Your quilt is gorgeous! I love the colors you have put together and those flashes of brighter colors against the more muted ones is a perfect balance.
It is so beautiful! You have inspried me on how I want to piece together my mitered square blanket I'm knitting. I think I'll play with the color gradients and do dark outside/light inside too.
Fun!
Your quilt is so beautiful! You really have an eye for colours.