I was scrappy, when scrappy wasn't cool.....

              This has been an interesting month. For several years my husband and I have taken part in the Route 127 yard sale across America or the Lincoln BuyWay sale. Both of these sales run through Ohio at some point. Some years they are the same weekend, some years they are not. This is our forth year going. We happened across the Lincoln BuyWay sale by accident when we lived in Ohio and from that we found out about the route 127 sale. In any event that is the kind of people we are, we would rather take vacation and hit the open road in an effort to shop in other peoples garages than go to some resort. Let me be clear that we in no way need anything. We have too much....way way too much. If anything we should take a car load to sell or just randomly leave at yard sales....like a junk fairy....maybe an idea for next year.
            Anyway back  to my point. For the last 4 years we have gone and yard saled our hearts out but never made it out of the state of Ohio. We always have big plans of going the whole length of the sale but since my husband is unable to pass up a yard sale we usually go at a rate of 30 miles a day. This year we were determined to make it out of Ohio. We started out of Columbus where I worked all summer and headed south making it into Kentucky before the sale started, Victory! Surprizingly there were alot of vinatge quilts that I came across during the sale this year. Traditionally the vintage quilts are not my thing. I am scared to hurt them and they are usually very fragile, often damaged, and are someones family heirloom. As a result the ones in good condition are crazy expensive and I don't blame them. If my great great grammy made a quilt and it held up all these years I would want alot of money too. This year we ran across alot of quilts. Some were only tops, some were completed quilts, most were in rough shape, some better than others, but as a general rule more than I was willing to spend. I'm out here buying dollar jeans I'm not a Rockefeller!
       

     
     Somewhere late in the first day in God knows where Kentucky I came across this beauty. It's only a top that was never finished. I have no idea what the pattern is, some hybrid of a nine patch and a cathedral window (Nine cathedral windows?) The woman wasn't sure what year it was made, only that her grandmother had made it and she died in the 70's. I would guess from the fabric that it was the 20's or 30's. Other than needing a cleaning it is in amazing condition. I'm not sure what it is about it that I love, the pattern, the story, the fabrics. Not sure but I would never think of putting the colors or fabrics together if I was making a quilt. But I happily paid the 40 dollars for the quilt top and think it was a steal. And its crazy big (82"x92") and all hand pieced.

     I guess what I love about it most is that it illustrated what quilting used to be about. Making something out of nothing. Piecing together old bits of dresses and shirts and making it into something useable and beautiful. I'd like to make an effort to embrace that mentality and do more with what I have. Maybe that's what I should call this quilt....My old Kentucky inspiration. So that was a very long winded way to get to this quilt I have been working on with the idea of making more out of less.

Love making these stars and love the scrappiness of it. Linking it up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Don't forget about the give away here until 8/25!

Blogger BOM Finale - Nine Of Diamonds

Today is the finally installment of Blogger BOM. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. It is finally my turn to share my block. I have been trying to decide what block I wanted to share. I went through several options. Originally I wanted to share a vintage blocked called the Polaris Star. In the end I couldn't make it work. I ended up coming up with this block which I believe is original. If it is a block I am not familiar with I would love to know what its called. I have been calling this block "Niine of Diamonds"

To start you need to cut your fabrics

In this example I used the following fabrics

(A) Pink Flower Print In 9 Patch                    (1) 2.5" x 8"       (1) 2.5" x 2.5"

(B) Multi Colored Floral Print in 9 Patch        (2) 2.5" x 8"

(C) Blue Border for 9 Patch                           (1) 1.5" x WOF

(D) Dark Pink Corner Pieces                         (2) 2.5" X 2.5"

(E) Grey and White Print Boarder                  (1) 2.0" X WOF

The fabric for this block is quick to cut and comes together easily. To start take one 8" strip of fabric (A) and (B) and sew together.

Square up the end of the joined pieces and cut off 2.5"

Set aside the 2.5" piece you cut off. Sew the second 8" strip of fabric (B) onto the remaining piece on the other side of fabric (A)

Cut two 2.5" strips from the sewn strips.

Sew the 2.5" square of fabric (A) to the 2 piece unit from step two and assemble the 9 patch block as shown below.

The finished 9 patch block

Add fabric (c) to two sides of the 9 patch block. Trim the fabric flush with the 9 patch.

Sew fabric (C) to the remaining two sides of the 9 patch and trim flush to the 9 patch. Set the 9 patch unit aside.

Sew one piece of fabric (E) to each of fabric square (D). Trim flush to the squares.

Sew a piece of fabric (E) to the remaining side of the above units. You will end up with fabric square (D) surrounded by fabric (E)

Cut these units on the diagonal to end up with 4 corner pieces.

Sew the corner pieces on using the seems on the blue surround as a guide.

Trim down the corners of the blue surround.

Add the remaining 2 corner units and trim down the block to 9.5" square.

I love how they look all together!!! I think this would make a great quilt with a common fabric for (C) to tie the quilt together.

As usual there is a prize to be won. I had to go to one of my favorite fabric stores in Columbus to buy these fabrics. I cheated on my fabric diet a wee bit.... The lucky winner will get a one yard cut of each of these prints from Moda, Central Park by Kate Spain.

To win be a follower and leave a comment as to which block from the Blogger BOM is your favorite. The winner will be picked on 8/25/13.

Here is a list of all the participants of the BOM

Date	Name	Blog
Sept 15th 2012	Carin & Carol	Margarets Hope Chest
Oct 15th 2012	Jenny	Sew Kind Of Wonderful
Nov 15th 2012	Jennifer M	Ellison Lane Quilts
Dec 15th 2012	Natalie	Craftin Mechanic
Jan 15th 2013	Stefanie	Little Lady Patchwork
Feb 1st 2013	Jennifer I	Knotted Thread
Feb 15th 2013	Sandra	Sharp Quilts
Mar 15th 2013	Nicole K	Patchwork Duck Designs
April 1st 2013	Bree	Distant Pickles
Apr 15th 2013	Tracey	Itching 2 B Stitching
May 15th 2013	Felicity	Felicity Quilts
June 15th 2013	Erin	Billy Button Design
July 15th 2013	Nicole N	Mama Love Quilts
Aug 15th 2013	Dhia	Peach Patch Quilts

Here is a button you can grab and put on your blog to make sure you don't miss a single post.

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I have also started a Flickr group to show off all the pretties you make.

Blogger Block Of The Month Flickr Group

If you would like to donate any blocks you make during this blog hop please mail them to the address below.
Donated blocks will be sewn into quilts for Margaret's Hope Chest.

Peach Patch Quilts

P.O. Box 0012

Sullivan, WI 53178