Paducah Nine Patch

I have this book and I love it.  It is an oldie, but goody. I bought it years ago and there are several quilts in it that I have always wanted to make~especially the one on the front.  It is called Paducah Nine Patch and I just love the scrappiness of it. All of the quilts in the book are made using 5" squares of fabric~hence the name Nickel Quilts. 

About 2 years ago a friend of mine and I decided to exchange blocks and make this quilt.  We used only Jo Morton Civil War fabrics and all of our "lights" were tan or cream.  Every month we made 8 blocks-4 to keep and 4 to mail to each other.  We made 80 blocks total~so it took us 10 months.  

I loved having them on my design wall and watching the quilt come together.  Every month new blocks would arrive in the mail and I would quickly add them to the others. I  finished piecing the top together last Thursday. This quilt is everything I dreamed it would be.  And it is even more special because every time I look at it I am reminded of my friendship with Pam and all the months we spent making and mailing blocks to each other.  

I have ordered several quilting stencils that I am going to audition to "quilt as desired". I may end up just doing a stipple, but having a stencil collection for future quilts will be great too.

Here are all 80 blocks on my design wall

Here is my completed top!!