Tuesday, April 15, 2008

~For a friend~

Ever since I have seen the "Disappearing Nine-Patch" quilts around the sewing blogs, I have wanted to make one. The perfect opportunity came when my friend was having a baby shower. Only thing--I didn't quite finish it in time for the shower. Oh well...a little late was just fine. The baby still isn't here anyhow! :-)

Do you know who Paddington Bear is? I didn't. Since I'm not "up" on all the cartoons and characters, I asked the lady in the fabric store who Paddington Bear was. According to her, everyone should know who he is. (Well, excuse me!)

Paddington Bear
Paddington Bear


So one drizzly, gray afternoon, I snipped away with my scissors:



And then I made my nine patches. Each nine patch had a blue center square.



(And then I forgot to take any more pictures of the process! LOL)

After making the nine patches, you cut them in fourths, and then sew them back together again (tutorial found here). You can sew them randomly, as this quilter did (scroll down), or you can sew them in a pattern, like this. I chose to sew them into a pattern.

And this is the finished quilt! I really adore this quilt. It was a very fun project.





I finished it off by tying it with embroidery floss. Hand quilting would have been nice, but I wanted to get it to my friend before her son is in college! ;-)

While I was making this quilt, I was thinking of Hawaiian quilting. When American missionaries went to the Hawaiian islands, one of the things they did was teach the women to quilt. The Hawaiian women thought that the whole process of cutting and restructuring the fabric was a serious waste of time and fabric. So they came up with their own style of quilting.


(Image source)

I'm sure the Hawaiians would have thought this quilt even more laborious than the missionaries patterns! First you cut and sew, then you cut and sew again! But it is much faster to do it this way, then it would be to sew all those little rectangles and tiny squares together!

16 comments:

Dorothy Aichele Conway said...

I don't think anything is a waste of time if you enjoy the process and are pleased with the result. I used to read Paddington Bear to my children. Your quilt is great!

Paula said...

I've always thought that Paddington was such a loveable little chap. You did a great job on the quilt; I'm sure your friend will love it! :)

Anonymous said...

I love the quilt! Beautiful! I would love to learn to sew (and someday quilt?); but I confess that I'm seriously intimidated by the unused sewing machine my mom gave me years ago. Maybe, somday? ;o) anna (hp; akdogmom)

Tori Leslie said...

Wonderful job Tammy. I love the quilt and it looks like such a nice gift.

I love the disappearing 9 patch, looks complicated but it's so easy. Very nice!

Jennwith4 said...

How cute! Actually Paddington has been around for quite awhile. LOL

Mom of Five said...

Absolutely precious! I have been wanting to make one of these every since I saw the tutorial, but I just can't find the time.

Heather said...

What a lovely gift! I have been eager to make the disappearing nine patch as well, and I brought home the fabric for it last week. I guess 'tis the season for nine patches!

Annecourager said...

Paddington is charming! And so is your quilt.

Kathy, Jeff's Wife said...

GREAT JOB! I am going to link to this on my quilting blog!

Susan Godfrey said...

Love, love, love the quilt! It is so sweet! I used this pattern last year to make a doll quilt for one of my nieces and I loved how well it went together!

Kim said...

Great looking quilt - I will have to check out that pattern.

Just a note of caution - please make sure the knots are very tight - once baby is older you don't want him/her pulling the threads out and eating them - kids do that kind of thing LOL.

Also, if you didn't wash the fabrics before you quilted, make sure you wash it before you give it to your friend - baby's skin is very sensitive to the stiffeners in fabric - something many ppl don't know.

Amy ~ (Life's Small Treasures) said...

I love Paddington Bear. You did a GREAT job on this quilt I know they will love it.
~Amy

Heather K said...

love your quilt..you did a beautiful job on it!
I started a quilt before Christmas for Christmas, that has 9 patch corners..I really enjoyed it. I still need to sew back to front and quilt it though. I think I'll just machine quilt it(not by hand!!) and leave it at that..like ya say...college..well in our case...Christmas is 2020!

Ethel said...

The quilt is gorgeous! Paddington is really cute. He "lives" in London. I've always wanted to make a quilt, perhaps I'll try one soon.

Anonymous said...

wow, I love the quilt you made!!!

Mrs. U said...

Wow, Tammy!! This is GORGEOUS!!!!

His,
Mrs. U