two for one special, or beware of friends bearing macy's bags

I have quilt tops languishing in limbo, waiting to be finished, and while they are waiting to be finished, I'm working on other projects that need to be finished.

Like a green nine patch. Which doesn't need to be finished but does. If that makes sense. I'm basing it loosely off of Moda's Sweet Menagerie. Loosely for several reasons. First, I had a bunch of green stashed away and wanted to do something with it, and I'm not using the two jelly rolls called for [some jelly rolls have 40 strips and some have 42... seriously people? SERIOUSLY?! are there no industry standards anywhere?!] I'm making it up as I go along, figuring that with something in the neighborhood of 20 fat quarters and an odd assortment of random bits of yardage beyond that, I'm probably good to go. Also, jelly roll strips are cut at 2 1/2 inches wide, and I started cutting 3"... so my quilt is already going to end up bigger. Don't ask me how much. I don't do percentages and I can't even tell you what kind of math I'd need to figure out how much bigger my quilt will end up being from theirs if each of my squares is going to be 1/2" bigger. It's why I love 1st grade math. The green nine patch will have it's own posting at some point, and likely instructions... if that's not copyright infringement?

Second, Moda's is a twin quilt. I want a double, so I need at least one, if not two more rows of squares. Imagine this picture with not 4 x 6 squares but 6 x 6 and that will be my quilt. Ish.





Third, mine will be all green and a little less organized, if you can't tell from the picture of my squares. My nine patches will be sashed with a solid green instead of a print. Instead of white, I'll use a cream print [the Moda site said one jelly roll of white. I have two yards of a cream. That should do it, right?] I'll keep the solid border, but it'll be green [surprise] Instead of a checkerboard, it will be whatever is left over of the sewn together green blocks and the assorted leftover green yardage [that didn't make it into the nine patches], of which there is a lot. Allofthemtogether. I have a Peter Rabbit square that I'm going to throw in there as my humility square. Because it has green. He looks so chill, chillin' on his cabbage. I don't do kitch, but I've got my reasons for Peter Rabbit.

 

 that there is my pile of nine patches, pinned up and ready to be stitched together.

I was gifted with a Macy's bag full of fabrics, and part of that was a partly finished quilt. I. Hate. Sewing. Stars. I hate sewing triangles and I hate putting together triangles. I would not have picked this. I would have seen the picture and said "oh, that's nice" and kept right on moving. But I've got this, and I'm going to finish this. And all the little stars, too. In all it's patriotic glory. There's more to it than this, a stripe and checkerboard motif that looks a little like a flag bunting going all the way around the outside. I'm not sure if this is something I'll keep or if it's destined to become a Quilt of Valor. This is just one of those finish it and see what happens. A whole bunch of patriotic fabric came with it, and whether I keep any of that remains to be seen as well. The local branch of Project Linus was flooded in the recent summer storms, and they are in the process of cleaning out; it's possible I may donate some fabric to them.