Quilting and Stuff by Knitnoid

Category Archives: Bonnie Hunter

Design Wall Monday

 

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.

 

2023 Brandon Quilters UFO Challenge

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.

Design Wall Monday – Christmas Weekend

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.

 

What’s on My Design Wall

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.

 

 

 

Did Someone Say Rulers?

Yes, I seem to have duplicates. I found all of these because I was looking to see if I  had something to help me trim the hourglass units from Part 3 of the Quiltville Mystery – Chilhowie.  I can attest to having recently purchased an Easy Angle Ruler. I couldn’t find mine — or my Essential Triangle Ruler.  Then I found the small one which worked for whatever it was I was doing. I just opened the new ruler last weekend….

As I was putting the box up, I looked up through the wires shelf and yes, I found my Essential Triangle tool. I’ve put all the rest of the tools back in the box.

As for those hourglass units, I found a Quilt In A Day Fussy Cut ruler the exact size of these hourglass units.  It has made trimming these units so much easier and makes me wonder why I put off working on them.  I  think I have 1/3 of the sets left to do before I start Clue 4 which was released this morning.

 

It wasn’t just the dread of making the hourglass blocks which caused me to put them off.  I’ve been working on the sashing for my pizza box quilt.  I think I have all the sashing cut and just need to sew. I hope to get both Clue 4 and this top finished this weekend as I have decided how I’m going to finish another set of swap blocks and just bought the necessary fabric…..

A Weekend of This and That

First up is Part 2 of the Quiltville Mystery Quilt – Chilhowie. I’m running about a week behind.  When clue #2 came out I was in the home stretch of finishing the UFOs on my challenge list so I barely looked at clue # 2. As when I have a big push to finish something I’m exhausted both mentally and physically. But I rallied this weekend for a road trip.

Last December Ruby and I traveled to Dekalb, Mississippi to visit Village Cloth Shoppe and I purchased fabric for my Pizza Box quilt – 1 yard each of the pink, green, yellow and blue and 4 yards of the black and multi-colored fabric. I’ve finally decided on a layout and I didn’t have enough of the blue or black fabric.  Although I could attempt a search of the black fabric as the name is in the selvage, there was no identifying information on the blue.  So, this past weekend we headed back to Dakalb.  My intention was to simply ask the owner if she had any of the fabric. But as she was with a customer, I walked down the aisle of black fabrics. Lo and behold, there was the bolt. Since I got lucky with the black fabric I circled to around to the blue, and found it!   I also picked up the card pattern.

On our way home we took a side trip to Sciple’s Water Mill.

We picked up some stone ground corn meal, fish fry, grits, and wheat.

We stopped for lunch in Philadelphia, MS, which is the home town of Marty Stuart – which reminded us we wanted to go see The World of Marty Stuart at Two Mississippi Museums, which we did Sunday afternoon.

 

 

 

Design Wall Monday – After Thanksgiving Edition

Since we are talking Thanksgiving weekend, naturally we have to start with the Quiltville Mystery Quilt by Bonnie Hunter. This year’s quilt is Chilhowie. Information on the quilt can be found HERE.  All though the clue was not difficult, it took me all weekend to get it done.  Once the clue came out, I decided I wanted another piece of white batik.  My SIL and I went to Stitch-in-Frame in Bovina, Mississippi.  It’s about a 45 minute drive.  Afterwards we went on to Vicksburg for lunch at Rusty’s – awesome catfish and we split a Mississippi Mud Brownie.

We’ve been hearing about how low the Mississippi River is low. It’s about 10 feet where historically it is closer to 13 or 14.  This picture was taken at 2:47.

Just a few minutes later – 3:01 the fog started rolling in.  I finally started working on the quilt Friday evening.

Saturday morning, after receiving notice that my nephew’s quilt top is on the way to me, I pulled out Baubles-n-Beads to get it quilted. I started by pulling out all my gold thread. I apparently have quite a variety. LtoR: Mocha, Khaki, Biscotti, Sand, Dijon, Military Gold, Buttercup and Vegas Gold.  That’s Bombay on the far right which I used in the background.  I ended up using Sand since it matched the topstitching on the quilt.

It was after I finished the quilting on Baubles-n-Beads that I worked on Chilhowie.  I ended up with 18 HST, which still need trimming for Rivanna, my Leader/Ender project.\

 

On my design wall proper I  have blocks for 2 quilts.  The black and bright blocks are from the Pizza Block challenge I participated in with Quilters By Hearts Desire. I have one more block to make.  The blocks on the right are from the 2021 Starlight Quilters BOM.  I still have a few more blocks to make. My goal is to get this quilt finished by December 6th.

A Shopping Expedition / Chilhowie

Yesterday I drove a little over an hour to Brookhaven, Mississippi to shop at a new-to-me quilt shop –Gardensong.  This shop has everything, including an awesome collection of batiks.

Many of you know that Bonnie Hunter released the colors for this year’s Quiltville Mystery quilt, Chilhowie.  My personal rule is I can’t start a new mystery quilt until the last one I started is finished.  I finished Frolic , the 2019 mystery, last week. I posted about it Friday. Information about this year’s mystery can be found HERE.

While I was in Lowe’s for the 3rd or 4th time in as many days, I picked up the color cards. When I got home, I discovered I had the PERFECT greens left over from a quilt I made a couple of years ago. I wouldn’t have to buy any.  The lavender fabric (from the same quilt) is a bit lighter than the paint chips, but why not?  I need a few more pieces of the lavender, lighter oranges, and the neutrals – if I can find them “locally”.

 

Gardensong did not disappoint.  I’m so glad the shop is over an hour away.  It’s close enough to get to, but yet far enough away I can’t just drop in on a whim.

Finish It Friday

On this Finish It Friday I have 2 quilts to share.  First up is my Atomic Starburst, shown here hanging in my foyer on the new hanging rod.

This is one of three quilts I made with the FQ Bundle of Radiance + 10 ‘solids’.   I’ve finished Shimmer, and still need to quilt Bauble ‘n Beads.

In each of the diamonds I placed a motif from a Double Wedding Ring Melon, then morphed it to fit the diamond. I did ruler work in the sashings and the starburst blocks.

 

My other finish this Friday is my 2019-2020 Quiltville Mystery quilt, Frolic.

I enlarged it and changed up the borders.  It measured 118″ x 118″ before I quilted and washed it. Here it is hanging on my 12-foot quilting frame. I opted to do an all over Edge-to-Edge design called Fresco Feathers.

I only have 8-foot ceilings, so I don’t wait a minute, I have vaulted ceilings in my den, I might be able to get a straight on picture — if I had something wide enough to hang it on.  I’ll have to think on that for another time. Here it is on my driveway before binding.

I bought a wide backing, but it wasn’t wide enough, so I added in a strip with ‘extra’ blocks.  In reality I made those specifically for the backing.

 

July 2022 Road Trip Fabric

While in Kansas City, my SIL and I did a quilt shop hop of our own making.  I knew I wanted to go to Hunters Quilt Mart in Centerview, Missouri since the batiks were on sale. I am making Bonnie Hunter’s Rivanna in batiks on black.  I picked up 18 of the batiks at Hunters and more at other shops during the week.  Since I’ve been home I’ve brought my total count up to 30.

The pictures are sorted by ‘quilt’, not shops and are not in the order I visited the shops.  The Magnolia, gold, cream and gold & green piece I found at Hunters. I think the dark green, almost black I found at Stitch On in Lawrence, Kansas and the bottom green on green was in the bucket I won at the Guild meeting! It’s going to be the backing.  As I look at this picture I think I have an extra fabric.

The stripe in the middle I found at Missouri Star, which is where I picked up the pattern Quartered Stripes. The purple fabric I bought on a whim while I was at Hunter’s. Later that week we called and ordered the rest of the bolt as we discovered it works so well with several fabrics we picked up.

The final stack of fabric is from a variety of shops and are not for specific projects.  The solids were on the clearance rack at Hunters. the FQs I bought at Mes Amis in New Orleans. The black on white I found at KC Maker Studio.

Tuesday we stopped in at Show-Me-Quilting in Raytown, MO specifically to pick up a couple of things I ordered on line — the book and blue fabric in the left picture. I picked up some cork to use in bag making and found fabric on clearance for the quilt, binding and backing. Of course now that I look at the stripe, I’m not sure it will work well for the Quarter Stripes quilt.

Purchased at Mes Amis, the tiger stripe will be the backing to the purple, yellow & white Athena I’m making. The green backing I picked up at Missouri Star to make tablecloths. I’m not sure where I found the red buttons. I purchased it for the centers of a log cabin quilt, but then opted for another fabric.

I love these waterlilies and dragonflies.  The prints I picked up at Missouri Star, there’s that purple again from Hunters. I’m not sure where I picked up the pink/lavender.

At Prairie Point Quilt and Fabric Shop in Lenexa, Kansas I picked up fabric to make a blouse and the pattern for a bag. The bag fabric came from KC Maker Studio off the clearance rack.

Notions from Mes Amis, KC Maker Studio and Missouri Star, thread from Hunter’s Quilt Mark, and the barn wood star from the grocery store in Hamilton, Missouri.

I’m happy to report that the tablecloths are made.

And I’ve started on Rivanna.  I’m using it as my leader/ender project.  Lots of HST, so I’m working on them one color at a time. 3 down and 27 to go.