I was delighted when Jodi at Pleasant Home emailed me and asked if I wanted to play along in her Scrappy Giveaway.  You bet I did.

More than scraps, I always accumulate bolt ends.  So, I’ve gathered up 3 yards of them, and some lucky winner is going to get them in the mail one of these days!

Just leave me a comment before November 17th.  I’ll add you to my email list, use a random number generator to pick a winner, box up the scraps and send them off to you.

Check out Jodi’s blog for more scrappy giveaways.

If any of you are coming to Quilt Market, I hope you make it to my Schoolhouse Presentations.  I have lots of great ideas for working with Redwork and Toile fabrics.

And you’ll be the first to see my new Christmas Redwork panel.  Here’s a sneak peek of one of the blocks!

The Schoolhouse is sponsored by Timeless Treasures.  It’s at 3:10.

I also have a Schoolhouse on the International Mystery Tour presented by Fabric Shop Network at 4:20.  Hope to see you at one or both!

The MG’s is a four person quilt guild–at least we joke that we are.  Our members are Robin, Connie, Monica and me.  From time to time we take a road trip.  A week and a half ago, we went to Seattle–minus Monica, who had to cancel at the last minute.  We started out by going to a Mariner’s game, courtesy of my parents, who are season ticket holders.

Tickets in the Diamond Club–in the third row–are hard to beat!  It had rained HARD in the morning, but by game time, the roof was open and the sun was out.  My sister, Sally, did a “stand-in” for Monica.  We even saw a (rare) win!

After the game we had time to visit Pike Place Market.

Lucky for us–and them–Undercover Quilts was still open.  We all did a little damage.

We had a quiet evening in my mom and dad’s condo.  Well, quiet, unless you consider constant chatter noisy!  The next morning it was back to the Market for breakfast a Lowell’s.  My dungeness, avocado and tomato omelet was amazing!

The flowers, both inside and outside the Market, were beautiful.

I’d have fresh flowers everyday if I lived there.

Outside, the tops of the buildings are lined with flowers, too.

Outside things were a bit of a mess because of construction going on.

But someone had a sense of humor, and I just had to take a picture of these “construction workers.”

Oh, and this one, too!

I had been wanting to visit Sarah at Fabric Crush, so that was our first stop Monday morning.  Her shop in Wallingford is so wonderful.  It’s in an old schoolhouse and has the most incredible windows.

Imagine my delight when I discovered Trophy Cupcakes was in the same building!  It had been at least a half hour since breakfast, so we treated ourselves.

Then we were off to the Quilt Loft in Ballard.

Then it was time to head south and toward home.  We had a lunch in Des Moines (yes, there’s a Des Moines in Washington) and then visited Carriage Country quilt shop there.

All in all, a great road trip!

Our theme last week at Redwork Club was monograms.

Here’s a beautiful “M” to start us out.

Happy E brought these two “P” linens.  When we asked her why the “P” she said….

“Oh, these were Mrs. Fishers!”  Well, that cleared that up.

I believe this is teeny, tiny cross stitch.

Another “M”…

…and a pretty pink “H”

The white-on-white is very pretty and subtle.

I’m sure women weren’t supposed to draw attention to themselves!

One of our members had made this for her aunt.

And now for the “More.”

Cortne’ had recently been given this 1930′s postage stamp quilt.

It was a feast of fabrics!

Loretta finished her Flower Basket quilt top.

She decided to do her butterflies in gold floss.

I think it turned out great!

And I just had to share with you the labels that Linda puts on her quilts.

These are hand embroidered.

She does an amazing job!

About six months ago, the Peninsula Quilt Guild did a Nine-Patch Block Exchange.  The only rules were that the blocks had to be red-and-white and 6″ finished.  Here’s the stack I made.

We each made 24 blocks and swapped them, so we all ended up with the same blocks.  But, it’s what people did with their blocks that’s incredible!

Ethel turned hers on point and framed half with red and half with white.

Cherry did a version of the Disappearing Nine-Patch.

Cortne` framed hers with yellow and set them on point….

…and used her extra blocks on the back!

I think that’s Glennys hiding behind this quilt.  She made her quilt bigger by framing her blocks and adding pieced setting blocks.

Jan also slashed her blocks.  I love the appliqued black stars!

Renee used alternate appliqued blocks.

And don’t you love Ann’s setting with the yellow and white?

It’s similar to this quilt which I had in my photo archive.

And Lynda made a table runner using a Jack’s Chain setting.

Way to go ladies!

So, did you do it?  Did you join the Nine-Patch Project and make a Nine-Patch block everyday in June, July and August?  I have to admit that I did mine in spurts, but I love the result.

I’m going to cut them up…..

…and arrange them like this.  You can see different arrangements for the Disappearing Nine-Patch in an earlier blog post.

I just went through my photo files.  Here are some other ideas for Nine-Patch blocks.  This is a vintage quilt I own.

I recreated it for an issue of Designers’ Quarters Magazine.  In this version, I kept the centers all one color, but turned the blocks on point.

I love the Outline Stripe I used for the binding.

This is the quilt I got from my Grandma Ikey when I got married in 1974.  It’s just a simple Nine-Patch with muslin setting squares, but it has a flannel backing and kept me warm on lots of cold nights!

I took this picture of a vintage Nine-Patch at Pomeroy Living History Farm.

Here’s a modern red and white Nine-Patch that I found of the web.

I took this photo at the Eureka Quilt Show in Montana last month.  I think it’s really cool.

How cool is this?  Black Nine-Patches with coordinating backgrounds and triangles to put them on point.

I believe this quilt is a part of the collection at the Latimer Textile Center.  What a great combination of Nine-Patches and Rail Fence blocks.

This is a well-loved vintage Nine-Patch from the Eureka Quilt Show.  It’s interesting how the sashing is only vertical.

And speaking of vertical sashing, look at this cute baby quilt made by Marla J.  I love her use of colors and how she set the blocks on point.

Another vintage treasure from Pomeroy House.  This one is actually a 16-Patch, but I couldn’t resist including it.

And there’s something to be said for two color quilts.  These Nine-Patch blocks set on point with plain setting squares makes a Single Irish Chain Quilt.

I don’t play bridge.

I don’t play whist or pinochle.

But I do collect card table cloths.

But only if somewhere on them, there is a suit of cards.

Like the mouths on these flappers.

I don’t know why I collect these table cloths.

I don’t even know what got me started.

But awhile back I mentioned them to Betsy at the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum, and that led to a lovely exhibit of them.

It’s so cool to see them all out at one time.

I love the vignettes that have been set up.

The museum is host to a bridge club.

They’ve been meeting there for 25 years!

Many of those ladies loaned tally pads, pencils, cards, etc.

I covet these cards with polka-dot dressed girls.  The green lady pencil holder is mine.

There is so much neat stuff to see.

I think there are three display cases full.  The potato chip bowl in this one is a part of a set of three bowls that my mom used when she entertained in the fifties.  I rescued them from a garage sale she was having a few years ago!

I recently purchased three black cloths–with orange ties!

This one has a swastika, so you know it dates before World War II.  Prior to Hitler adopting it, the swastika was a traditional sign of good luck, like the horse shoe or four leaf clover.

This round cloth is rather unusual, and do you like the built in ashtrays on the card table?!?

The variety of designs amazes me.

Somebody had to design and market all of these.

One of my favorites is this one that says “New Deal.”  It’s a play on words–new deal, as in deal the cards, and New Deal, as in President Roosevelt’s Depression Era program for prosperity.  It even has Scottie dogs on it–a nod to the President’s dog, Fala.

I love the card shaped people.

There are quite a few with Asian motifs, like the middle one below.

Here’s another beautiful flapper.

And check out Minine Mouse!  This is a very early version of Minnie, when she still looked a lot like a rodent!

I like this one, but don’t tell my dad.  He’ll think there should be a donkey one getting equal time!

And kite flyers!  How perfect.

This is more persimmon than orange, but I couldn’t resist it!

I hope you get a chance to stop by and see the show.

Do you want to make a pile of nine-patch blocks with almost no effort?  Then do it using your squares as “leaders and enders!”  That’s how Jacque made all the nine-patches for this quilt.  Here’s what she wrote me in an email:  I made the 130 9-patches in no time at all while working on other projects.

Okay, so how did she do it?  She used her squares as “leaders and enders.”  A lot of us, when piecing quilts, use a “leader”–a little piece of fabric that we run under our needle before we start.  Like this…

That way, when we start piecing our block, we don’t worry about long threads that need to be trimmed or losing the corner of the block in the throat plate of our machine.

You might do one block or string piece a whole bunch of blocks, and when you come to the end, you use another little strip of fabric as your “ender.”

Perfect for string piecing, but it doesn’t get you any Bonus Nine-Patches.  SO, instead of using scraps for your “leaders and enders,”  have a pile of squares next to your machine.

When you’re working on other projects, and you need a “leader” or “ender,” pick up two squares and use them instead of a scrap.

Do your regular piecing as usual.

And end with two more squares–your “ender.”

Before you know it, you’ll have a pile of components ready for your Nine-Patches!

I once made all the blocks for a Jewel Box quilt using this method.

Jacque got her inspiration from the book Adventures with Leaders and Enders by Bonnie Hunter.

Does this look like a Nine-Patch???

Or this?

How about this??

All these layouts were done with these six blocks.

After I cut them in half!

Your center blocks don’t have to be solid, or even all the same color.  I just did that to make the illustrations clearer.

I hope you’re having fun with the Summer Nine-Patch Project.

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Bob and I have gotten into the habit of taking a weeks vacation every year after Spring Quilt Market.  For years I’ve wanted to vacation in Iowa, and I finally, finally got to do so.  Not only was I happy to get to Iowa, it appears the people of Iowa were happy to have me!

We traveled through several Amish communities, including Harmony, Minnesota.

And, as you might expect, there was lots of corn in Iowa–lots of corn!

Right now it’s growing 2″ a day.  Imagine!  It was obvious to us in the week that we spent there.

We found some great antique stores.  I loved the displays.

Among our favorite things were the museums, like the Hardin County Farm Museum in Eldora.  The signs here indicated this is part of the Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area.  It isn’t open except for special occasions, but we met a nice old gentleman there and he asked if we’d like to see inside.  Two hours later, we were wishing him goodbye and sending him home for a late dinner (he had called his wife, though!).

I’ve known about Vesterheim, the Norwegian/American Museum in Decorah for years, and was finally able to visit–don’t tell my Swedish relatives!

We happened upon this old mill after closing, but they were expecting a vintage car group, so invited us in for a tour.

We got a personal tour of a turkey farm.

Here’s a beautiful view of the Skunk River in Ames…..

….and the Mississippi River, which divides Iowa and Wisconsin.

Of course we got to visit lots of tractor collections.

And even the National Farm Toy Museum.  Did you know there was such a place?

We went to quilt exhibits…….

…….and saw quilt barns…….

…..and visited quilting friends in their shops.

We even crossed the Mississippi so we could visit Stockholm—Wisconsin, that is!

And we saw Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods.

Iowa was great.  Stay tuned.  There will be more of our Iowa Adventure to come…..