I’ve recently got some more binding done. This is Crystal from GE Designs Stripology 3.
The Squedge 18° ruler tablerunner is bound and I made a pillow from the extra pieces.
Author Archives: Pam
A Few Finishes
I’ve finally gotten to some of the binding. It’s not all done, but I’ve finished a few. First up is Cairdeas. This wall hanging was done in commemoration of my trip to Ireland in June with Bonnie Hunter. She designed this quilt, and the pattern is available in her on-line store. I started the embroidery in Ireland June 14th and finished the binding August 4th. It measures 24 1/2 x 25 1/4 after washing.
Up next is the Christmas Star Swap quilt. In April 2019, I attended a quilt retreat and some of us swapped blocks. This quilt was on my 2023 Brandon Quilters UFO list. This quilt finishes at 74″ x 93 before washing. The quilting is a combination of ruler work — 1 1/4″ and 3/4″ circles using the Handi Quilter Swiss Cheese ruler, free-motion continuous curves in the chain, and computerized motifes-Feathered Square 3 which I divided in half for the white areas and used who in the pieced blocks, and Christmas 2010 Border and Boder Corner by Sweet Dreams Quilt Studio. It took about 6 bobbins of Glide 40wt in Pistachio.
Kimberly is my most recent finish. I started this quilt at the MQA Summer Gathering and finished it August 21st. The quilting motif is Liberty. I used 3 bobbins in Glide 40wt in Mercury. It measures 65 x 82 1/2.
Time to Bind
It’s past time to bind. I now have 6 quilts waiting to be bound. On the bottom is my Christmas Star Swap, quilted May 7th. I put this off as I wanted to finish the red, white, and blue quilts and didn’t need it until the Brandon Quilters Christmas in July program. The binding is cut, I just need to make it.
The RWB quilts are Tara, quilted May 20th, Kimberly, quilted July 15th, and Crystal quilted July 29th. Although I’m not sure if they will all be bound the same, the binding is coming from the same set of fabric, so I held off to see what my options were going to be.
The Squedge 18 degree table runner just came off the frame last night. I demonstrated the ruler at the guild meeting last month.
The night before Cairdeas came off the frame.
Guild is Monday night. My goal is to have the Christmas quilt and Cairdeas bound and ready for Show-n-Tell. I’d like to get the entire stack done, but I have a knitting class Saturday morning and a quilting class Saturday night, so I doubt it will happen. Stay tuned.
Getting Back On Track
For the past week my sister has been in town to use the longarm. She flew into town with her Featherweight, 5 quilt tops with backings, 2 panels and a couple of coordinating fabrics, and blocks she only works on at retreats. After a trip to the quilt shop, and 1.2 million stitches on the longarm, she had 7 quilts ready to bind and 20 finished blocks. Before she finished the last quilt top, I was able to get a customer’s quilt quilted. Other than that I knitted while she was here when I wasn’t working. But now it’s time to get back on track with my quilting.
I finally finished the stitching on my Celtic knot for the center of Cairdeas. This is the Bonnie Hunter project I started in Ireland in June. I now need to pull my green and neutral 1 1/2″ strips out to do the piecing.
These three quilts need bindings. They are Kimberly, Tara and my Christmas Swap quilt which is on my Brandon Quilters UFO list.
Waiting to be quilted, are my Squedge table runner, Crystal, and my Christmas Row quilt, which is also on my Brandon Quilters UFO list.
Projects that I want/need to finish this year are a sweater which I started at least 15 and probably closer to 20 years ago. One sleeve to go since I finished the first one earlier this week. The Squedge pillow since I have most of it cut out, Athena from UFO list. Also on the UFO list is the sweatshirt jacket which needs to be done by September. Cairdeas, then the QBHD Rainbow Charm swap & the Auction blocks. Those last 2 are also on my UFO list.
You would think I would stop there, but no, I have more that I want to finish by the end of the year. Halloween Whimsy, a linen top with a bit of embroidery, 1 maybe 2 more RWB quilts, a Christmas tablerunner and placemats, the QBHD Challenge quilt (I have decided what I’m going to do) and another sweatshirt jacket. Not pictured is my Upton dress with a 3/4 circle skirt. I’m not certain which box it is in. I’d like it and the Halloween quilt done by October 9th, the sweatshirt jacket by September 18th, the challenge by October 16th.
I best get a move on it.
Stripology 3 Quilt Tops
This is Kimberly, the quilt which started my red, white & blue series. In June I signed up to take a class at the Mississippi Quilt Association’s Summer Gathering. The quilt being taught was Kimberly from GE Designs Stripology 3. The yardage information was a bit different than what I’m using to seeing, so I started reading the book from the beginning. Gudrun described taking a stack of 1/2 yard cuts and adding background, accent, and border fabrics to make multiple quilts from the same set of fabrics. My Kimberly measures 64 x 80.
I purchased 14 5/8 yard cuts – 7 red and 7 blue, background fabric, border fabric, an accent and binding. In total 19 3/8 yards of fabric. So far I have 3 quilt tops.
The first thing I did was cut the fabric for Kimberly, seen here tied up as a layer cake. At this point the plan was to make the Kimberly blocks with just the red and blue fabrics. Once I got to class, I was encouraged to add a “light” fabric. Gardensong Fabrics was vending at the event and had a bright white layer cake for sale which I purchased, adding another 3 yards to my bundle (22 3/8 so far). Also pictured is the fabric I cut for Tara.
I finished the top for Tara in May. It’s been quilted, but I need to bind it. It measures 72 x 91
My 3rd quilt is Crystal, which measures 51 x 71.
But I still have fabric left! I didn’t use all of the squares I cut. So, I plan on making another quilt or two. But I need more background fabric. I’ve purchased 4 yards of the same background I started with and 1 1/2 yards of a bright white. I will also say when cutting the fabric for Tara and Kimberly, I miscut, so pulled the fabric from the mix and found a 1 yard piece to fill in. So my fabric total is now at 28 1/4 yards. When I get these bound, I’ll have used 18 3/4 yards. I think this is how stash happens.
Red, White, and Blue Quilts
It’s the 4th of July 2023, so I have gathered all of my red, white, and blue quilts in one place. I was surprised by the number that I’ve made over the years. First up is the first one I started. This one was started in 1995. I did not finish it until 2009. It folds up into a quillow and is quite hot as it had polyester batting.
This is another quillow and my first attempt at longarm quilting. This was also finished in 2009.
These next 2 quilts are the result of a mystery quilt. I didn’t like the final quilt, so I made a couple of baby quilts. The one on the left was finished in 2009 given to my team lead at work. The one on the right was finished in 2011. I don’t remember what child got this quilt.
Chain of Stars was the first retreat mystery quilt I wrote. I finished this quilt in 2010 and it was sold in a silent auction for a friend’s nephew’s medical care.
Playing with Jacks is another Quiltville free pattern. I finished this quilt in 2012 and was sent to fire victims.
This table runner is another of my retreat mystery patterns. I finished this one in 2012.
This 4-Patch Stacked Posies in Kansas Troubled Fabric was given to Lynne Hagmeier in 2013.
I also finished Ladder to the Stars in 2013. This was my first published quilt pattern.
This is another one of my patterns. I finished this one in 2014 and gave it to my college roommate’s daughter.
These two tops are made with blocks from Bonnie K. Hunters, free pattern Star Struck. In 2015 I took my original quilt top and split it into 2 so they met the requirements for Country School Quilters in Virginia.
I also sent them these two sampler tops.
Narragansett Blues, a Bonnie Hunter design was finished in 2020.
2021 I designed Wonky Wishes.
I made this June Tailor Sophie Tote in 2022.
This in May I purchased 14 5/8-yard cuts of red and blue fabric, plus a background, accent and border to make three quilts from Stripology 3 by GE Designs. Tara, Crystal, and Kimberly. I added a bright white layer cake to the mix and purchased more background fabric for a couple more projects to used up the original 5/8-yard cuts.
I started this post saying I was surprised by the number of red, white and blue quilts I’ve made, but as I was writing the post I found a couple I had forgotten about.
What’s On My Design Wall
It’s been two weeks since my last post and I’ve been busy working through the projects that I had going at the beginning of the month.
- Christmas Star Swap – quilted and needs to be bound
- Squedge 18 degree table runner – needs to be quilted.
- Community Quilt – quilted and delivered, so not pictured
- Auction Quilt – quilted and delivered, so not pictured
- Postage Stamp Leader/Ender – dormant, but I’ve added 1 1/2″ squares to the basket
- Pink, Green, & Purple Quilted Sweatshirt- no progress
- Sheet to make body pillowcase – no progress
- Fairy Frost Sunset pillowcase – done
- Christmas Star Swap pillowcase – no progress
- HST for Rivanna – nearly 2 batches stitched (that’s 120 HSTs!) I have another 120 ready to go.
- Kimberly from Stripology 3 – squares cut and ready for class
- Tara from Stripology 3 – ready to trim and bind
- Crystal from Stripology 3 – cut out and first column assembled
Here’s where I started from:
Take note of the fabric in the bottom left corner of this picture. All that is left is this:
After I get the 3 quilts bound, I think I’ll have enough to make a pillowcase. As for the rest of the fabric, I haven’t decided if it will go in the stash or if I’ll squeeze one more project out of it.
What’s on My Design Wall
This is a photo I took Saturday afternoon. Friday night I was cutting fabric for a couple of new quilts and cut something wrong, so I decided I needed to focus.
Clockwise, starting on the long arm
- Christmas Star Swap on the long arm
- Squedge 18 degree tablerunner on the design wall
- Community Quilt for Brandon Quilters (brown bag on floor by design wall)
- Auction Quilt from Brandon Quilters (butterfly bag on floor by design wall)
- Postage Stamp Leader/Ender because I need to cut more HST for Rivanna (brown bin)
- Pink, Green, & Purple Quilted Sweatshirt
- An old sheet to make some body pillow cases
- Fairy Frost Sunset pillowcase and remaining fabric to process
- Christmas Star Swap pillowcases & binding fabric
- HSTs for Rivanna
- Kimberly from Stripology 3
- Tara from Stripology 3
- Crystal from Stripology 3
So this is the progress I made over the weekend. I’ve left the numbers the same, but obviously stuff has been moved around.
- Christmas Star Swap is off the frame and trimmed. Not only that, I have the binding cut (it’s on the far side of the sewing machine) and most the trimmings have been processed.
- Squedge 18 table runner is now a top. There is a pile of fabric on the corner of the ironing board that is for the backing and binding. I counted wrong and have some extra wedge pieces, so I may end up making either a square table topper or a pillow.
- The Community Quilt is still waiting to be quilted.
- The Auction Quilt will be up next on the longarm.
- Postage Stamp Leader/Ender. It’s put away. I only sew use the 1-1/2″ squares as my L/E when I don’t have another L/E project going on.
- Pink, Green, and Purple Quilted Sweatshirt is still waiting to be finished — I don’t need it until September, so I have some time.
- An old sheet to make some body pillow cases – I’ll work on it after I get the Christmas quilt bound while the longarm is running.
- Fairy Frost Sunset pillowcase is pinned to the design wall. The extra fabric is processed and put away.
- Christmas Star Swap pillowcase and extra binding if I need it. I won’t make it until after the quilt is bound in case I need more fabric for the binding.
- HST for Rivanna. I trimmed the 60+ HST which were sewn, then cut another 240, which should keep me going for a while.
- Kimberly from Stripology 3 – 4 of the 14 fabrics are cut
- Tara from Stripology 3 – 4 of the 14 fabrics are cut
- Crystal from Stripology 3 – I’ll the fabric for this quilt after I get the rest of the fabric cut.
As I was recording my most recent purchases I realized I missed the April Stash Report.
Fairy Frost Sunset
I have a new finish. This is Fairy Frost Sunset. Fairy Frost because all the colored fabric is Michael Millers Fairy Frost and Sunset as that’s the name of the pattern. I bought this fabric years ago – January 2009 to be specific, but then didn’t work on the quilt until September 2010. Well, I finally got it quilted and bound. It’s on my Brandon Quilters 2023 UFO list.
The quilt is roughly 56 x 79. I used Glide 40wt in Mercury. I used Kraker Quilting & Design’s Swirls & Feather Border Corner and Border on the outer border. I simply stitched 1/4″ from the seams on the inner border. For the center I enlarged the Swirls & Feather #3 Block to fit the blocks.
I bought the fabric for the top at Heritage Fine Fabrics in Belton, MO back in January 2009. The quilt top was made in September 2010. I found the backing at Hobby Lobby. I loaded it on the long arm last month, finishing the binding on 4/29/23.
There was extra border and backing fabric, so I made a matching pillowcase.
Progress
I finally got my Fairy Frost Sunset quilted. It’s been hanging around since September 2010. It’s been bound, but needs to be washed. Hopefully next week I’ll get that post written.
The Christmas Star Swap from April 2019 is now a top. I’ve pieced the backing from some vintage Christmas stash and cleaned out a project box. I hope to get this loaded on the frame in the morning.
Both of these quilts are on my Brandon Quilters UFO list.
