Cottonwood Quilt - Nine-Patch Squirrel Part 2

This is the squirrel that came to stay. My last post has the details of how this squirrel first came to be. Now that it is a full-blown project it deserves a name, and I chose the name "Cottonwood". The farm where I grew up had a cottonwood tree that holds many happy memories for me - from playing beneath its shade, to seeing it silhouetted against the sky at night during lightning storms, to watching "cotton" shed during early summer. Seems like an apt name for a happy quilt!

Excel spreadsheet instead of graph paper!

Bevquiter123 on Instagram has been very patient with my questions about block sizes for this glorious vintage quilt that first caught my eye. I was wrong on my initial impression of each block measuring about 12 inches. There is no "12-inch block", just nine-patch blocks separated by strips of rectangles and squares. With the blocks finishing at 6 inches, rectangles finishing at 6 x 3 inches, and squares finishing a 3 inches, I estimate that 7 nine-patch blocks across and 8 down separated by rectangle/square strips will make a lap=sized quilt.

Some of the blocks will be balanced in color and pattern, but others will just be scrappy. My comfort zone balks at this, but I'm actually finding it to be fun. It takes a lot less time!

Original quilt with pink squares

Dotted cream squares

Pink squares

The original quilt was "anchored" by pink squares. I have not yet decided whether to go with the neutral dotted cream or the pink-ish fabric. My comfort zone tendencies are to go with neutral, since the other fabric strips will be very busy, but then I look at the original quilt and I'm tempted to be a wild girl.

Rosie inspecting my antibiotics

It is nice to be back in the sewing room for longer stretches of time. August was a month of fighting a really bad cold that wouldn't go away (kind of like the squirrel!). Weight loss and breathing issues finally sent me to my doctor last week. He ordered a chest x-ray and antibiotics and a chest CT is scheduled in a couple of weeks. My recovery has been slow and my energy level sapped, but I'm finally starting to have days of feeling almost normal - yay!

Our weather has been drastically affected by the dreaded late summer high pressure dome, with very little rain during July and August and now into September. We have some chances of rain this week, so I plan to perform my rain dance today. Hurry up Fall!