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.

Shopping!

September 20, 2014 5:21 pm ⋅

shoppingresults

 

This weekend I hit several garage sales and then a couple of quilt shops.  And I actually bought something!

The first sale I picked up the ruler, cutting mat, and quilt books.  Yes, I already own a copy of the first edition of the DWR book, but can I find it?  The second sale I picked up the crate of “strips” propping the books up.  Turns out it’s not all 100% cotton, but the crate itself is worth the price.  I will have new strips to add to my strips and string buckets just as soon as I go through them.

Now on to the quilt shop purchases. A friend and I drove up to Hamilton to Missouri Star. She was looking for something specific, I was along for the ride. I picked up the two stacks of neutral charm square for my Star-A-Day project.  Since the last time I was up there (either 1 or 2 years ago) they’ve opened up three new stores — a reproduction store, a holiday store and I a store I guess I would call “modern” – solids and blenders.  It’s my understanding they are planning a batik shop next.

Afterwards we stopped back in Cameron at Quilting Connections and I picked up two FQs. I’m going to need to buy the background fabric for my Star-A-Day quilt and I think one of these will work nicely. I want to get a few more stars made before I made up my mind though.

Speaking of stars, I need to pick more fabric as I’ve made up all the ones I traced off last wee.

 

Posted in: Uncategorized

More Stars

September 17, 2014 12:45 pm ⋅

STARS09147

 

Two stars are from Monday, the blue one is from yesterday. I’m partway through another star, but got distracted by going and getting this sewing rocker.

chair

 

Well there was also the distraction of thinking I had to replace a zipper in a formal dress by Saturday. After getting the young lady to try on the borrowed dress, it became apparent that the zipper was the least of the problems and another dress is needed.

Additionally, I ripped out the stitching where I attempted to machine stitch the binding down on the DWR. It still hasn’t made it into the sewing machine. Maybe tonight.

Posted in: dwr, Star-A-Day

What’s On My Design Wall

September 15, 2014 7:58 am ⋅

STARS0915

 

And then there were six.  These are the first of 365 3″ finished LeMoyne stars I need for the Star-a-Day quilt by Karen Styles.

sad

 

 

The idea is to stitch one star a day and at the end of the year you’ll have enough stars to make an 81″ x 81″ quilt.  The designer recommends that the quilt be assembled in sections as you go along so you don’t end up with a pile of stars at the end of the year.  I need a few more stars before I try to assemble my first section.

As for piecing them one a day, I can see an advantage to that – I did three last night and I can feel it in my wrist.  Given that I need to also be working on the DWR binding, I need to pace myself.

As for the DWR, I need to get it back to the sewing machine.  There’s a section which I need to re-stitch. It won’t take long, but it does require swapping the pressure foot on the machine and changing thread. I guess I’ll do that after work today.  That is after I stitch a few more of these blocks.  There are six laying on my sewing table ready for me to stitch the 2nd strip to them and a whole stack that need both strips.

Aug C0915

 

See what other’s are working on by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: designwall, Star-A-Day

Star-a-Day?

September 13, 2014 10:45 pm ⋅

stars-4

 

I’m not sure I can call this a Star-a-Day — yet.  The top left star is #1.  It measures about 3″ instead of the 3-1/2″ it should measure.  It took me nearly a week to get it finished.  Hand piecing is right up there with applique. Which of course explains why I’m trying to embark on making 365 stars by hand.

Star #2 is the turquoise and brown. I started working on it before I finished the first one and it’s just not going together well. It will have to be taken apart and made over again.

Star #3 – the lime, blue & pink one.  Well, this is about the 3rd time I’ve put it together.  I discovered starching the fabric really well before tracing the templates makes it much easier to line the pieces up.  However, my thread (a silk thread I use for applique) kept pulling out so I set it aside to work on star #4.

Star #4, the one with the lady bugs,  I finished earlier this evening. It’s not quite 3-1/2″ but it’s close enough and I switched threads. Once I finished it I ripped out the stitches on star #3 and started over.  It wasn’t until I tied off the end of my thread that I noticed I have a couple of pieces in the wrong place.  My husband suggested it was a design element.  Nope, simply the lack of concentration.

I’ve been told it takes about 10 stars to get in the groove.  I wonder if doing stars over counts.

Posted in: hand work, Star-A-Day ⋅ Tagged:

What’s On My Design Wall

September 8, 2014 11:22 am ⋅

dw0908-batik

 

At the moment, my design wall is empty. I’ve started sewing strips to the double square in a rectangle pieces.  Haven’t gotten very far.

dw0908-dwr

 

On the other hand, I  have the binding on 7-1/2 arcs stitched down.  It’s beginning to look like a finished quilt. Only 22-1/2 arcs of binding to go.

See what others are working on by visiting the links over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: designwall, dwr, UFOs

Stash Report

September 7, 2014 9:14 am ⋅

Although I was in multiple quilt shops this past week, I only came home with a single spool of thread and multiple patterns.  I even managed to pass up the fabric at a moving sale of a local fabric and quilt designer! The only used fabric is the binding for the DWR.

Fabric Added Since Last Report: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 147.067 yards

Fabric Used Since Last Report: 0.75 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 99.025 yards

Net Increase in Stash to Date:  -48.042 yards

See how others are doing over at Patchwork Times.

 

Posted in: Stash Busting Report

Pattern Week

September 6, 2014 2:20 pm ⋅

patterns-1

 

This week I’ve been buying patterns.

On the right is Terry Atkinson’s pattern All About Me. I first saw this quilt done up in University of Kansas fabrics and immediately thought it would be a great pattern for either my cat fabric or music fabric.  I bought my copy of the pattern at Stitch on Needlework in Lawrence, Kansas.

The middle pattern is Eye Fooler by Krisanne Watkins. I first saw this quilt on Subee Sews Quilts, but then forgot that’s where I saw it. So I searched ‘net and found a version of it at Rouge Quilter. where I found a mailing address. I could have saved myself a bit of time and ordered the pattern on-line, but by the time I found Quail Valley Quilts, I had already sent a check in. I’m planning on making this quilt in brights on a black background for my niece’s graduation.

The pattern on the left is Star-a-Day by  Karen Styles. I’m not even certain how I tripped over this pattern.  I picked my copy up at Quilting Bits and Pieces in Eudora, Kansas. The idea is to make one 3″ LeMoyne Star every day for a year – not repeating any star fabric. They are set together alternating with 3″ squares.  I’m not a handwork person and I am in the process of hand stitching the binding down on my DWR, there is the hexie project in my busy bag along with some red work, a few applique pieces and a bit of embroidery, so there is no reason for me to start a new hand project. But as you can see, there is the first little star waiting for the rest of the setting pieces….

Posted in: Uncategorized

Seven

September 3, 2014 3:04 pm ⋅

sevenJune 12, 1993 – September 3, 2014

 

Posted in: Seven

The Binding Has Begun

September 3, 2014 12:01 am ⋅

dwrfrontbinding

Today I attached the binding to the DWR and started sewing it down.  Most of my bindings are stitched down on the machine. In fact 5 or 6 rings are stitched down by machine, but I’ve decided that I’m going to stitch this down by hand.  There are 30 rings – well edges of rings – on this quilt. My goal is to stitch at least one down each day. At this rate I’ll finish the binding by the end of the month.

dwrbackbinding

 

 

 

Posted in: dwr

August Recap / September Goal

September 1, 2014 3:11 pm ⋅

AugRecap

 

I got more done in August than I realized.  The Alphabet BOM blocks for the summer are done.  R is for Rail Fence, S is for Spools and T is for Tile Puzzle. I made a pillowcase for “The Forgotten Quilt”; started a batik version of “August C”; cut out a quilt for Sydney to piece; quilted, bound and labeled Abbey Memories and finally finished the Eeyore quilt and made a matching pillowcase.

So, what’s on the agenda for September?

  • The “U” block for the BOM
  • Bind and label the DWR
  • Finish the blocks on the Batik August C
  • Quilt Scrappy Trips
  • Start Kalli’s graduation quilt – which may just mean pull fabrics.

Then again other than doing the BOM and DWR, I may pull completely different projects to work on.

Posted in: goals