D9P = Dino 9 Patch!

Well it certainly does in this case!

On Friday I cut all the fabric for both sets of blocks and finished piecing the D9Ps.  I also started piecing the alternate blocks (reconfigured Lorna's 12 FQ Class ones).  The difference was not just the measurements.  I also wanted the largest square to be the dino print and since I was using various sized scraps, I had to work out the colours as I went.  I also decided to make 2 variations of this block by placing the large square either towards the top of the block or bottom so I'd have some flexibility when placing them around the central panel.

Saturday saw the completion of all my blocks and I worked out the order.  DH gave his comments, screwed up the entire thing and I couldn't re-do it exactly as I had before.  Not Happy Jan Andrew!

Thanks to my nemesis (which I'll blog about sometime) I'm REALLY sore so as much as I'd love to finish a quilt top Saturday night, I don't think I will.

After loads of umming and ahhing, I'll piece the backing to save $ since I really need to buy the remaining Aster Manor yardage online soon but I will need WOOL batting since I only have cotton at home and want this quilt to be wool to keep my Lil Man all toasty

The inner borders will be a plain chocolate brown (at least I hope I have enough length of the fabric I'm thinking of) and I'll quilt little dinosaurs in variegated thread on them.  Outer borders will be small scraps of block fabric.

I'm pleased with how it's coming along so far but I need to be sure the borders look OK and am a little nervous of the quilting - haven't done any FM stuff since last year!

This morning I discovered more problems with the block layout and had to redo them for my own sanity.   It's definitely not as  good as the very first attempt but looks OK.

My "rules" for block placement are:

1. No dino prints should be touching each other even if they're different
2. No two blocks with the same dinos can be next to each other (even if dino squares not touching)
3. No two coloured scraps can be touching
4. And finally, a fairly even spread of the two types of blocks  

I don't think I could ever be a liberated quilter tho I break enough rules in my own way.  Most rules are there for a reason I feel!

Anyway here are some examples of my blocks

D9P block:

Lorna's Block:

Lorna's Block variation:

Again the photos are terrible.  It's such a drama taking them.  The rechargable batteries for the camera are leaking acid, software to directly upload pics from my phone can't be installed on the desktop PC because it's running Linux so it all has to be done on my dinosaur laptop and transferred on a flash drive. 

Anyway so I'll see how I go today in terms of stitching the blocks together.  I get the verdict from the surgeon on Thursday regarding my Nemesis so I shouldn't sew too hard before then!

A dinosaur sized headache

Well it's pretty obvious I need neither more fabric nor potential projects but 35% off all fabrics at a quilt store proved too difficult to resist.

I walked out with a dinosaur panel and 3 half-metre pieces of various dino print fabrics.

I didn't have the faintest idea what do do with them except that I could throw them together into a really quick quilt for Maxie since his applique car quilt wont be ready any time soon.

I knew I wanted to use the printed dino fabrics to their best advantage and not cut them up too small and the finished blocks would have to be 11" to fit around the panel.

I decided on a modified version of the block used in Lorna's 12 FQ quilt and today decided to do an alternate block - double 9 patch.  These 2 blocks mixed up with various sized pieces of plain scraps from my stash should give me the look I'm after.

I'm much relieved to have decided on a pattern since this plan for a quilt has been bugging me for a few weeks (since buying the fabric).  Must be a guilty conscience!!

I only have a few more fabric pieces to wash and then I can start cutting.

The next hurdle will be to excavate my sewing table from under all the debris of neglected UFO, magazines, patterns and other random finds.

I'm rather impressed at the resurrection of this blog.  Admittedly it's infinitely easier to type than to quilt at the moment and I feel I'm doing something sewing related.

Failing all that, seeing the growing list of UFOs might just shame me into finishing one or two!! :-O