Quilting and Stuff by Knitnoid

Category Archives: Ge Designs

Athena is Finished

It’s been a busy few days.  Saturday I made an appointment to go to Ritzy Quilting Company with Ruby, my SIL.  The shop is owned by a friend and we were looking at her website when Ruby spotted some fabric that she thought would work well with s floral she got from an estate a few weeks ago. I needed a green to go with my lily fabric for a 2nd quilt from the fabric, and while I was there I picked up some additional fabrics to go with it for a 3rd quilt.

I used the 2nd green from the left in my Chain Link quilt and will bind it with this fabric as well. I have plans for 2 more of these quilts.  They go together quickly, but I found it hard to ‘square the quilt’ when it was quilted.

While this quilt was being quilted, I made binding.

One of these days I’m going to learn that I plan to get more done that I have time for.  I’m going to try to get the Auction String IV bound today, but the Orange Lily quilts will have to wait until later.  After I get back from the Quilt Guild meeting tonight, I have to go into cleaning mode as I’m hosting Bunco next Monday.  After Bunco, I have the President’s Challenge to get done by the following week for my other guild.  At that point, I have a sweater sleeve to knit so I can get my sister’s sweater finished.  Hopefully that won’t take more than a week or 2 so I can get back to quilting.  I have 2 more UFOs to finish by December 4th, and I’d like to get one more quilt made from the Lily Fabric. I think I still have 6 1/2 yards left.

So back to Athena.

It is quilted using Glide in Buttercup. The quilting motif is “Sports”. I enlarged the E2E design to 20″ tall. There is less than 2 bobbins of thread in this 57 x 71 quilt.  I started the quilt on 1/26/22 and finished it 10/1/23. The quilt pattern is Athena from GE Designs Stripology 2, but I switched up the colors a bit. Instead of a 2 color quilt, I made mine 3. I had purple strips and squares, neutral strips and yellow squares.

Keeping the Momentum Going

Since I’ve gotten back from the retreat, I’ve kept the momentum going.  There are 4 more quilts on my 2023 Brandon Quilters UFO list and 2 of them are one step closer. My goal is to show them Monday night at the meeting.  First up is Auction Strings IV.  For this one I used Strawberry Blond thread and Overlapping Crop Circles.  The backing is a wide back I picked up in April. The binding is cut (turquois with a cheddar flange) and needs to be made.

LSU Athena is next on the list. For this quilt i used Buttercup thread and a sports motif quilting design. Originally I planned to use the LSU fabric as the outer border, but I like the tiger stripe better, so the LSU fabric ended up on the back.  I have enough fabric to make a pillowcase to go with this quilt.  The binding will be in the tiger stripe with a purple flange, just to make it easer to stitch down.

The most recent top is the Orange Lily Garden Lattice.

It is ready to load on the longarm as soon as I get the backing pieced.  Since I have so much of the lily fabric, the backing will be the same as the main fabric.  After cutting the backing, I counted folds.  I think I still have 7 1/2 – 8 yards of fabric left.  I have another quick quilt in mind, but before I can start it, I need to get the bindings on all of these quilts.

And because I sat down to write this post on the 27th, a picture of my babies.  Butterscotch (R) and Gracie (L). Today was their ‘gotcha day’ anniversary.  I can’t believe it’s been 9 years.

Weekend Quilt Retreat

This past weekend was Brandon Quilters annual retreat at Lake Tiak O’Khata.  A great time was had by all.

After I had committed to attend the retreat, I found out that I needed to work this weekend.  Fortunately it was for just an hour each Friday night and Sunday morning and I work remotely, so it didn’t diminish the fun too much.

The first project I finished was Auction Strings IV.  This is the last of the string blocks I purchased at auction back in 2018. I just needed to add the setting corner squares and the borders.

I pulled Athena out next.  This is from GE Designs Stripology 2.  Shortly after I moved to Mississippi I started this quilt, but it got put away after the work on the house started in earnest. I had 16 of the 48 blocks made, but all the fabric cut. It is made by piecing strips around a center square then making 3 diagonal cuts through the block. The pieces are then mixed up and sewn back together again.  Then the trimming begins. One that’s done, the top comes together quickly.  I put it away at this point, as I forgot I had not bought, let alone brought with me the inner border fabric. I did make a run to a LQS and purchased fabric for the border, so I hope to get it finished this week.

I always bring way too much with me to work on, so I had to choose what to work on next.  My rainbow charm swap or something new.  I picked something new. All of this fabric came from the estate of former guild member. It went together so fast.  I plan to get the border done on this quilt this week as well.

Some Binding

 

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.

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.

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.

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

  1. Christmas Star Swap on the long arm
  2. Squedge 18 degree tablerunner on the design wall
  3. Community Quilt for Brandon Quilters (brown bag on floor by design wall)
  4. Auction Quilt from Brandon Quilters (butterfly bag on floor by design wall)
  5. Postage Stamp Leader/Ender because I need to cut more HST for Rivanna (brown bin)
  6. Pink, Green, & Purple Quilted Sweatshirt
  7. An old sheet to make some body pillow cases
  8. Fairy Frost Sunset pillowcase and remaining fabric to process
  9. Christmas Star Swap pillowcases & binding fabric
  10. HSTs for Rivanna
  11. Kimberly from Stripology 3
  12. Tara from Stripology 3
  13. 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.

  1.  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.
  2.  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.
  3. The Community Quilt is still waiting to be quilted.
  4. The Auction Quilt will be up next on the longarm.
  5. 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.
  6. Pink, Green, and Purple Quilted Sweatshirt is still waiting to be finished — I don’t need it until September, so I have some time.
  7. 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.
  8. Fairy Frost Sunset pillowcase is pinned to the design wall.  The extra fabric is processed and put away.
  9. 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.
  10. HST for Rivanna.  I trimmed the 60+ HST which were sewn, then cut another 240, which should keep me going for a while.
  11. Kimberly from Stripology 3 – 4 of the 14 fabrics are cut
  12. Tara from Stripology 3 – 4 of the 14 fabrics are cut
  13. 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.

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.

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.