Scrappy 9-Patch and Snowball Quilt

I promised I would show you what I made with the leftovers from my Bow Tie Quilt...

Well, I actually made TWO quilts.  But today I am sharing just one of them (don't worry I'll share the second one soon).  The first quilt from the leftovers was a scrappy 9-Patch and Snowball quilt!  Two blocks, in my opinion, where you never can go wrong!

In fact, this combination of blocks creates a classic pattern you've probably seen before.

They make a fun secondary pattern together, too!  

This is a great pattern to help you use up scraps!

I used 4" (cut) squares for the 9-Patch squares and the bright Snowball corners.

The large, white Snowball squares were cut at 11". 

But really, with some simple math, you could adjust this pattern to work with any size squares!

I just so happened to have 4" squares left over from my Bow Tie quilt.

I mocked up this version in EQ7 to show you the entire layout.

I did a 5 x 7 block layout to keep the symmetry, but with that came a slightly long, skinny quilt.

Mine finished at 52" x 73".  Normally I think a good proportion is about a 12" - 15" difference.

If you aren't a fan of the long, skinny look, another option would be to make it square.  I personally am perfectly fine with square quilts, but I know some people aren't.  And since I was making this just for fun (and was planning on selling it), I decided to keep it rectangular.

I found a pink Riley Blake floral for the back and a turquoise gingham for the binding. 

I didn't show many pictures of this quilt on Instagram because unfortunately there was an issue with the long-arm quilting.  You probably can't tell from these photos since I tried to hide the parts that were really bad, although now I'm wishing I would've taken some pictures of those parts to show you!  But basically, I used a new-to-me long-arm quilting company and I think this was the first time they used this orange peel design and they had a hard time lining up the design.  There was a lot of overlapping and such.  I felt bad (and I know they felt really bad) but these things happen sometimes.  Fortunately, they made it right in the end, which I appreciated.  I ended up selling the quilt (with a huge discount) to a photographer wanting to use it as a photo prop.  And obviously, I told her ahead of time what the situation was.

Overall, I still think this quilt turned out cute.  After washing and drying it, the owner may not notice all the imperfections in the quilting.  I love the fabrics and the design, and orange peel quilting is always a favorite of mine!  Maybe I'll make another one someday.  I definitely have lots of squares that need to be put to good use. 

Have you ever had a long-arm quilting "mishap"?

I am thinking about putting together a blog post with some advice to long-arm quilters from their customers.  Over the 20 years that I've been quilting, I've had hundreds of quilts long-arm quilted and I've learned a lot.  I've dealt with a few mishaps along the way and have definitely seen a difference in how different long-armers handle them.  Some of them handle it wonderfully and some of them don't.  I wish they all had a policy in place for how they will handle mistakes, because they are bound to happen once in a while.  Please share your "mishap" stories or the advice you wish you could give your long-arm quilter below.

Thanks for stopping by!