Finished my nine patch top over the weekend

Since I was stepping outside the box on this block a day nine patch.  I thought I would go all out and use a vintage bed sheet from that belonged to my Grandmother.  As a longarm quilter by trade I usually don’t recommend sheets, but since this quilt was made with feedsack reproduction fabric I thought I would be in keeping with the era.  That led to the type of quilting I did.  Many quilts from that era were quilted with a simple cross hatching.  Now I have had a longarm machine since 2001 and have done wavy freehand cross hatching, but never the true ruler type straight cross hatching.  It wasn’t because I was afraid to do it, or thought I couldn’t do it, it was because I knew it would be a ton of work and didn’t have a customer willing to pay top dollar for it.  Well I thought instead of just meandering this I would do the cross hatching, figuring how long could it take anyway??????

Well I stitched

and I stitched

And I stitched. Oh yea, this is where I realized that the Twins baseball team were in extra innings, so I turned the radio on to listen while I quilted.

and I stitched.  Long past the end of a disappointing 15th inning and a few hours into a new found oldies station, 3am I decided to go to bed.  8am the phone rings and wakes me up.  I head back to the quilt, stitch and stitch some more. Finally around 3 in the afternoon, hunched over and achy I was finished.  After a large glass of water and shower and 2 ibuprofen I was ready for the 4th of July picnic and fireworks.  With a good night sleep to follow!!!!!!!!

Sunday morning while DS#2 finished his community service work.

I managed to piece and put the binding on the front of the quilt. 

Now, I can cross one of the flimsy’s off my list and add it to a completed list.  I probably will go out of my comfort zone again in 2 out of the 3 steps I took.  I will piece another top and not add borders.  I will use another vintage sheet for backing.  I WILL NOT cross hatch an entire quilt again, unless I get a computerized machine that can do it for me.

Once the binding is done and the quilt is washed and dried I will post more pics of the quilt.  All in all I will call this block a day challenge a complete success!  Thanks Amanda for being such a great inspiration!