Quilting and Stuff by Knitnoid

Author Archives: Pam

I made my first quilted item as a visual aid for a math project in 7th grade. Over the next 25 years quilting was hit or miss, but quilting took over all the other crafts I've done in 2003.

What is a PIG?

January 3, 2023 7:40 pm ⋅

Quilters love their acronyms – BOM, DSM, FQ, HST, LQS, WIP, PIG, UFO, but today’s focus is PIG – Project in Grocery Sack.

The only reason I’m looking at this is because I day 3 of the Final Countdown was to “Take a project inventory and devise a plan“. Given that I already have a comprehensive list of my UFOs and Tops to Be Quilted – with a plan to finish at least 12 of them by early December, I decided to focus on my PIGs.

When I first started this blog I divided my UFOs into 2 lists since the thought of having in excess of 125 UFOs was mind boggling.  I’m happy to say that 15 years later, the combined list is down to 52 with less than a dozen from the original list. At the time I think I had 4 kits.  However, my kits and PIGs have exploded in the last 4 or 5 years.

 

So, a philosophical question is a curated collection of fabric, purchased to use together to make a quilt but without a specific pattern in mind a PIG?

 

What about partial bundles, such as a pattern and focus fabric, or a panel with an idea, but the rest of the fabric hasn’t been pulled or purchased?

 

With the count over 50, perhaps I need to divide the list in two. Projects I have everything for – kits/pigs, and project missing a pattern or fabric – WHIMMs.

Posted in: Uncategorized

Design Wall Monday

January 2, 2023 1:50 am ⋅

 

On this first Design Wall Monday of 2023, I have a quilt top finish. This is the log cabin quilt I started piecing at the quilt retreat in September. When I packed up after the retreat half the blocks needed 3 logs and the rest just needed two logs. I got those added last week and started piecing the top New Year’s Eve.  I had the first half finished about 4 minutes before the clock struck midnight, ringing in the new year. The 2nd half of the top was finished by 11:30 PM on the 1st. Up next is the quilting.

This is the backing I’m planning on using. Now to figure out the quilting design.

As I was assembling the quilt my Rivanna HST were getting created.  At last count I had 11 bags of HST. I still have a few more of this combination, then it will be on to another fabric.  I have 2 more fabrics prepped.

 

I’ve stitched a bit more on my Faux Applique. This is a direct result of the Final Countdown Challenge over at Prairie Moon Quilts.

Chilhowie Clue 6 will be worked on this week. It’s simple enough, but I ran out of bobbin thread the night I was working on it, then got caught up with the log cabin.

 

Posted in: 2023 Brandon Quilters UFO, Chilhowie, designwall, Faux Applique, Final Countdown, Leaders & Enders, log cabin, Rivanna

2023 Brandon Quilters UFO Challenge

January 1, 2023 10:26 am ⋅

Happy New Year!

Over the next few days I’ll update my list of Finishes, Quilts in Progress and Tops to be Quilted, but today I’m listing out my 2023 Brandon Quilters UFO Challenge quilts. My list was created and turned in at our December meeting.  The goal to finish all of these quilts by our meeting December 4th, 2023. So here’s the list:

  • Mom’s Sweatshirt – Started in December 2008. My goal now is to have it finished by September at the latest, preferably May.
  • Black & White Stacked 4-Patch – Started this in Spring 2008. I started the quilting on it, but needed to rip it out since the border wasn’t lining up.
  • Christmas Row Quilt – This was a block swap I did in October 2008. I want to have the quilt finished by July.
  • Fairy Frost Sunset – The top was mad in 10 days in September 2010. It’s time to get it quilted.
  • Auction Strings IV: Turquoise & Cheddar –  These are the last of the blocks I bought at the auction in September 2018.
  • Princess & the Pea – The retreat mystery quilt started with a panel. I got it quilted last month, then realized I don’t have binding fabric.
  • Christmas Star Swap – These was swapped in April 2019. I have a plan and the fabric on how I want to set these blocks. My goal is to finish by July.
  • QBHD 2022 Pizza Box – We finished the swap in November, my goal to to take it finished to our next meeting on January 16th.
  • Athena – I started this quilt last January.
  • Donna’s Log Cabin – I started this quilt at the September retreat. All the blocks are finished and I sewed the last seam of the 1st half of the quilt just before midnight.
  • Rainbow Challenge – These squares were swapped during the year. I started doing “something” with them in October. I have a plan.
  • Chilhowie, the 2022 Quiltville Mystery – My plan is to keep up with the rest of the clues, but I will lengthen the top.
Posted in: 2023 Brandon Quilters UFO, Athena, Auction Strings, Chilhowie, Christmas Row Swap, Christmas Star Swap, Fairy Frost Sunset, log cabin, Moms Sweatshirt, Pizza Box, Princess and the Pea, Rainbow Challenge, Stacked 4-Patch

Day 3 – The Final Countdown

December 31, 2022 9:32 am ⋅

Day 3 of The Final Countdown.  I’ve got this…

Take a project inventory and devise a plan

but there is room for improvement.   In 2008 after 5 years of quilting becoming my primary creative outlet, I started my WIF_UFO spreadsheet and I’ve maintained it.  I split it into two categories – Works In Progress and Quilt Tops because the number of projects was over 100 and that number was too big to wrap my head around.  Today combined list is down to 52 with 36 on the WIP list 7 of them are on my 2023 Brandon Quilters UFO Challenge.

My Quilt Top list is down significantly as well.  I noticed earlier this week all of the tops, with their backings, fit into a single tote. I have 16 tops waiting to be quilted, 5 of which are on my 2023 Brandon Quilters UFO Challenge.

This past year was the first time in a long time that I allowed myself to buy both speculative fabric – fabric I like but have no idea what project it will end up in, and new projects just because.  I have most of them ‘kitted’ together and most of the kits are in the same place, but I don’t have a good inventory of them. I want to sprinkle some of these into the mix as I’m working on my challenge list.

 

Now an update on previous tasks. Task 1 – a quick finish

The Machine Quilting Sampler is DONE.

Progress has been made on the Faux Applique — I finished the bird tail and stitched around 1 1/2 purple leaves.

As for Task 2 I have put the books on the bookshelves in my office and den – and they are even somewhat organized. The Sunroom still needs a bit more work, but at least now I can move stuff from the house into this space while the house is being worked on.

 

 

 

Posted in: Final Countdown, PIGS, Uncategorized

A Quick Finish of a UFO

December 30, 2022 6:47 pm ⋅

As mentioned in my Countdown Day 1 post,  I took a class back in April 2009 on free-motion quilting on my sewing machine.  Managed to get the center done in class and simply didn’t finish the piece.  This afternoon I sewed a couple of FQ to the top and bottom so I could load it on my longarm.

Originally the intent was to do free-motion on the long arm, but I decided the piece was too small to mess with, especially since I had cool triangles I could drop into the corners.

I sewed an envelope closure and used an 18″ pillow form.

 

Posted in: Final Countdown, Machine Quilting, pillowcase

Day 2 – The Final Countdown with Prairie Moon Quilts

December 30, 2022 8:48 am ⋅

Today’s task is:

Clean out a storage area

My Quilt Studio doesn’t have any closets, so everything is out in the open, albeit it storage totes. So, I’m going to first focus on this tote and project box.

The tote on the left is the leftover fabric from Frolic – the 2019 Quiltville Mystery. Although I finished the top in the middle of 2019, I knew I needed to make the backing wider and wanted to make additional blocks to piece down the middle. I had both a project box and this tote with the top in it. Once the backing was complete, I put everything “away” into the tote.  I finished the quilt this past summer so now it’s time to really put this fabric away.  The project box on the right contains the leftover fabric from Shimmer and the 2021 SQG BOM.  Those fabrics need putting away as well.  There is another project waiting to go into the project box and I’m sure I have enough fabric laying around to fill up the tote.

The 2nd area which needs worked on is the Sunroom AKA The Studio Annex.  Although I won’t be able to move the pile of quilts in the corner, I do need to get the books back on the shelves.

 

Here’s an update on yesterday’s task.

Option 2 – the Faux Applique.

I found the floss — and it was in the first place I looked! Many moons ago a couple of friends and I took an applique class and we had matching sewing baskets.  Apparently a few years later when we went to the Faux Applique class we took our baskets because that’s where I found my floss. Now if I could find my hoop.

Option 3 is the log cabin quilt.

One log was added to all of the blocks and I started stitching the second log when I ran out of bobbin thread.  So I called it a night.

Posted in: Faux Applique, Final Countdown, log cabin

The Final Countdown with Prairie Moon Quilts

December 29, 2022 3:25 pm ⋅

I have sporadically participated in The Final Countdown with Prairie Moon Quilts over the years and I’ve decided to do it again this year.

Today’s task is:

Choose something you can finish quickly and do it

 

This past year I’ve been working hard to knock my UFOs out.  I finished all 12 of the UFOs on my 2022 Brandon Quilters UFO Challenge list, plus another 5, so there’s not a whole lot left that is a quick finish.  After going through my UFO list these are my options:

On the left is the Machine Quilting Sampler from a class in 2008. Free motion quilting on my sewing machine is not a skill I ever became proficient at and at this point it is unlikely that I will.  However, my free-motion skills on the long arm could use some practice. I could add some fabric to each end so I can load this on my longarm and finish the quilting there.

On the right is another class project, this one from May 2012. The first thing I need to so is sit still, in good light, and do the embroidery, then I can decide how to finish the piece. Maybe I need to pull my notes and thread and set this by my chair to work on while I’m watching TV in the evenings.  Currently I’m re-watching The Librarian — both the moves and the TV show.

A third option is to simply finish these blocks.  I think there are 26 or 27 blocks that each need 2 more logs.  Once that is done I can start on the quilt top. This quilt is on my 2023 Brandon Quilters UFO Challenge. It is what I’m working on until the next Quiltville Mystery Quilt clue comes out on Friday  I want to have this quilt completed (quilted, bound, labeled and washed) by mid-January, so I can’t procrastinate on this quilt.

On my 2023 UFO list5 is the Pizza Block quilt. I plan to have finished by mid January as well.  I haven’t decided how it will be quilted, but I can make the binding so when it comes off the longarm I can finish it.

Finally there is this quilt – Princess and the Pea.Also on my 2023 UFO list, I threw it on the long arm and the computer quilted it earlier while I was working on the log cabin blocks. Then I realized that I have no idea what I’m going to use for binding.

 

So, in summary the plan for my  ‘quick finishes’ are

  • loading the machine quilting sampler on the long arm to practice my free-motion quilting
  • gathering the thread and working on the embroidery on my Faux Applique in the evenings
  • finish the last of the log cabin blocks so I can begin assembly
  • make the pizza box binding so it will be ready to go when when the top is quilted
  • decide and make the binding for the Princess and the Pea quilt.

I won’t get them all done before the first, but I should have significant progress on all of them by the 9th.

Posted in: Final Countdown, log cabin, Machine Quilting, Pizza Box, Princess and the Pea

Design Wall Monday – Christmas Weekend

December 26, 2022 5:56 am ⋅

First, I hope you had a Merry Christmas – and stayed warm!  I can’t say I’ve not been in cold weather like we had before, but it was further north!

First up for the weekend stitching is my Quilts By Hearts Desire Pizza Box Challenge quilt.  I was able to finish the quilt top.  Later this week I’ll get it loaded on the longarm to get it quilted.  This quilt is on my 2023 Brandon Quilters UFO list and I would like to have it done by January 16th QBHD meeting.

Next it was time to work on the Quiltville Mystery Quilt – Chilhowie.  These blocks went together quickly. I can’t wait to see what our next step it.

With both the Pizza Box done and the Mystery caught up, it was time to pull something else out.  I pulled out the Log Cabin quilt which I started in September and haven’t worked on since I got back from the quilt retreat in September.  I just have the last 2 dark logs to add to the rest of the blocks before I can start assembling the quilt top.  I’d like to have this one finished by mid-January as well.

 

Posted in: 2023 Brandon Quilters UFO, Chilhowie, designwall, Pizza Box

A New Dress for Betsy

December 21, 2022 9:07 am ⋅

I don’t remember how old I was when I got my Betsy doll for Christmas. I have her original pink dress, plus a couple of dresses that I wore when I was her size.  A red cotton dress my maternal grandmother made me and a light blue dress that my mother made me.  I felt she needed something more festive for Christmas, so I went shopping and found this velvet and taffeta dress. She wears a size 2T.

I have a few more pieces of sashing and corner stones to make then I can start assembling the quilt.

Posted in: Pizza Box

What’s on My Design Wall

December 19, 2022 9:33 am ⋅

Over the weekend I finished both Clue #3 and Clue #4 of the Quiltville Mystery Quilt Chilhowie. I saw some grumbling about folks running out of orange fabrics and I think I know why.  Although 2 yards is mathematically 1/2 yard more than is needed, when working from FQs and needing matching sets, if the orange squares from Clue #2 were not evenly distributed from each FQ and not cut along the width of the FQ I can see where you would run out if you only purchased 8 FQs.  I had 13.

 

My current Leader & Ender project is Rivanna. I think I have 30 different fabrics, so I’m about 1/4 of the way through the HST. This is a quilt for my guest bed, so there’s no rush.

After finishing Clue # 4, I worked on the sashings for my Pizza Box quilt. The units for the inner portion of the border sashing is done and now I’m working on the outer portion. I hope to have everything pieced before the next clue comes out.

But I’m already planning my next quilt – or rather how to finish a quilt on my UFO list.  I pulled the fabrics on the left from my stash, but naturally I don’t have enough fabric, so a trip the LQS was in order to see what I could find.  The fabric on the right came home with me.  I love the that diagonal stripe as a binding. We’ll see if I use it or not.  My plan is to have my decorating Christmas Quilting done by July this year as the guild program that month is Christmas Quilts by our members.  I have 2 Christmas quilts on next years UFO Challenge list. The list was complied and turned in prior to knowing what the program was going to be. I might have added a 3rd quilt had I known.

 

 

 

Posted in: 2023 Brandon Quilters UFO, Chilhowie, Christmas Star Swap, Leaders & Enders, Pizza Box, Rivanna