Category Archives: Quilts

March UFO Challenge is Met

March 29, 2011 11:59 am ⋅ Pam

Admittedly this pink and blue quilt is listed as #7 on my UFO Challenge list, but I did say there may be occasions where if a quilt needed to get bumped up, I’d swap #s. So, I’m swapping #7 for #1. It just didn’t seem right to use my bunny quilt to meet this month’s challenge since it wasn’t list on the UFO Challenge tab — although it was on either the “tops to be quilted” or “quilts in progress” tab at the beginning of the year. Anyway, this quilt got bumped to the front of the line so I could practice quilting dragonflies.

For the backing, I used a piece of vintage fabric I got from my friend S when she was cleaning out her stash a year ago. Come to think of it, the blue & white hearts came from her stash as well.

The quilt is approximately 39″ square. I used Warm & Natural batting, King Tut # 993 (white) in the top and Bottomline in the bobbin. The binding is stitched down by machine — I can’t think of any binding I’ve done by hand.

Now on to the next quilt – Dragonflies.

This is the first of the seven quilts I need done by the end of June. Here’s a closeup of the quilting. My dragonflies were various sized and going every which way.

I opted for King Tut # 978 – Rosetta Stone in the top. I wasn’t gutsy enough to use the bright thread.

White thread in the bobbin. So essentially you can’t see my quilting — which at this point is a good thing.

After washing the quilt measures 57 x 68. I used Warm & Natural batting in this one as well.

Posted in: Baby Fox & Geese, Dragonflies, UFO Challenge 2011

What’s On My Design Wall

March 27, 2011 11:13 pm ⋅ Pam

No piecing this week. I’ve got the binding attached to the baby quilt and hope to get it sewn down tonight. Then I’ll trim the Dragonflies and work on binding it. Stay tuned for better pictures later in the week.

In the mean time, check out the links over at Patchwork Times for great inspiration.

Posted in: designwall, Dragonflies

Dragonflies is a Top

March 21, 2011 11:15 pm ⋅ Pam

I’ve just finished putting the border on Dragonflies. The top measures approximately 60 x 72.

Tomorrow’s task to to make the backing for this quilt and Victoria’s Rose.

This afternoon I took a file box of quilting books, patterns, and magazines to Fabric Recycles. They will purchase your unwanted fabric, notions, and pattern for either cash or store credit, or you can simply make a donation. While I was waiting for the offer on my stuff, I looked for backing fabric for the other 4 quilt tops which I will be quilting over the next 14 weeks.

I found this fabric:

It will be perfect for the backing of Victoria’s Rose, and at $2 a yard, I can’t beat the price. I paid for it from the cash I got for my box of books and pattern and still came home with money in my pocket. I wasn’t able to find anything for my other quilt tops, but I’ll try to swing by there the next time I’m out and about to see if anything new has come in.

Posted in: Dragonflies

What’s on my Design Wall

March 21, 2011 12:46 am ⋅ Pam

This past weekend I worked on my Dragonfly quilt. It still needs borders, but I need sleep more. After work I’ll get the rest of the borders on and perhaps get the backing pieced.

Isn’t this fabric perfect for the backing?

I’ve got an appointment in Butler on the 27th to quilt this top, so I’ve got to practice drawing dragonflies. While I’m doing that, I’ll ponder thread color. I have a spool of King Tut #901 Nefertiti which is Green, Fuchsia, Yellow, and Orchid. This is the thread that I used to quilt No Blue Geese in My Tropical Garden. It’s missing orange and turquoise. So, I wonder about using # 978 Rosetta Stone which is a Light Silver, Charcoal and Dark Silver – but the Superior website says this is out of stock, so that may solve the problem for me. There will be an outer black border and the binding will be black as well.

Follow the links over at Patchwork Times to see what others are working on.

Posted in: designwall, Dragonflies

Must Have Lost My Mind

March 16, 2011 11:44 pm ⋅ Pam

I started off the year with a bang, but here we are a bit over 10 weeks into the new year and I have 3 quilts completely cut out — 2 with the borders! This is cannot be good for the UFO count. To further illustrate that I’ve lost my mind, I’m planning on taking all 3 of them with me this weekend to a sew-in.

The bag on the left is Bonnie Hunter’s Fun With Bricks. This started innocently enough as a leader/ender project in January. The bag on the right is the Dragonfly quilt. The middle is a red, white & blue scrappy twin size version of the Mystery Quilt I wrote for the April retreat.

Add to this that my husband has just convinced me that I need to quilt and bind six quilts before the end of June and now I know I have lost my mind. This does not include anything which is on my UFO list or any other project I want to finish sooner than later. At least four of the quilts are completed tops.

Here they are:

Pattern - BQ2

Quilt #1 – 54 x 70. I have enough fabric to make a second identical quilt and bind them both in the purple. I may use the fabric to make the backing. No idea on the thread color or quilting motif.

Pattern Old Tobacco Road

Quilt # 2 – 70 x 100 When I started the quilt in Purple, Green & Yellow, I was thinking “Mardi Gras” and purchased either 1/2 yard or yard of Mardi Gras frogs. I may look for some more Mardi Gras fabric for the back. The purple binding is made and tucked in with the quilt and frogs.

Pattern Victoria's Rose

Quilt # 3 – 68 x 86. I have a piece of the border fabric left in the stash. The floral, pink and green fabrics, along with a stripe and a small floral print were part of a bundle. I found more of the floral on-line, but don’t think I there is enough for the backing. My spreadsheet says I have ‘binding fabric’.

Oh, my. I just thought of something. I really want pillow cases to go with each of these quilts. Have I mentioned I’ve lost my mind?

Pattern - The Chain Event

Quilt #4 – 74 x 88. I thought I had backing fabric for this quilt top, but when I inventoried my quilts tops and UFOs last year, I discovered I only had binding fabric.

Pattern - Disappearing 9-patch Variation

Quilt # 5 – 60 x 76. It’s a variation because I’m not making 9-patches and I’ve changed the size of the pieces. It just worked better for the size quilt I wanted to make. Fortunately I have the backing fabric – a great dragonfly print I found on-line and the binding has been cut, just not made. So, if I finish piecing the top this weekend, this will be the first quilt I get done.

Pattern - Crossword Puzzle

Quilt # 6 – size unknown. The size is unknown because this is still a work in progress. I have about 1/2 of the letters made. This one is going to the April quilt retreat.

I think my husband wanted to suggest a 7th quilt, but quickly left the room before I could throw something at him. Good thing I put the following qualifier in my UFO Challenge rules:

There will be occasions when a quilt will need to get moved to the top of the line regardless of the # pulled for the month. In those instances, I’ll either swap the #s if they are on this list, or if the quilt doesn’t have an assigned #, but is on either tab as of January 1, 2011, I’ll substitute it for the current # drawn. After all the goal is to get quilts off the UFO list.

Posted in: 2011 Mystery Quilt, BQ2, crossword, Dragonflies, Fun with Bricks, OTR, The Chain Event, UFO Challenge 2011, Victoria's Rose

What’s on my Design Wall

March 14, 2011 12:50 am ⋅ Pam

There’s all sorts of things hanging about today on my ‘design wall’. First, I’ve finished the center of the Dresden Plate. It’s UFO #10 which was February’s UFO in Judy’s UFO Challenge.

Then there’s a single block from Fun with Bricks. This the leader/ender project I started in January. Last week I got impatient and started working on the quilt so I could mindlessly piece. I’m currently sewing the light squares to the pairs of bricks.

Not pictured is the border and binding which I cut for both the Dresden Plate quilt and the Dragonfly quilt. I’ll work on the Dragonfly quilt and Fun with Bricks at this weekend’s sew-in. With luck I’ll finish the Dragonfly quilt so I can get it quilted in the next week or two.

The big news is that I finished a UFO!

A friend gave me the quilt top (sans border) at a retreat two years ago. I didn’t know how I was going to finish it, so it sat on my Quilts In Progress list. I finally decided I wanted Easter Egg fabric for the border, but couldn’t find any that I liked. I bet I had a dozen bolts of fabric pulled out trying to find the ‘perfect’ fabric before settling on this light green with tiny white butterflies. I got my Easter Eggs though — it’s on the back. You can see a scan of both fabrics here.

I used the Faux Piped Binding technique from TCL Stitches tutorial. Who knew I would be able to use it so quickly. I think the tiny bit of purple sets it off nicely. I’ll get back to you toward the end of the month to see if I substitute this one for this month’s quilt. I think I tweaked my rules to allow for this….

In the meantime, check out the links at Patchwork Times to see what other quilters are working on this week.

Posted in: Bunny Wallhanging, Colorworks Dresden Plate, designwall, Fun with Bricks, UFO Challenge 2011

Stash Report

March 13, 2011 11:11 am ⋅ Pam

Last night I ran out of gold thread for the Dresden Plate quilt sashings with only a bit over 100″ of stitching left. So, a trip to the store was in order. I pulled out of the driveway and then remembered the little bunny wall hanging that needed a border, so turned around and came back after it. — That explains the purple (backing) and the light green (border). The blue floral American Jane print is a FQ I got by simply walking into my LQS wearing purple on Tuesday.

So, did I get anything done? Well, I finished quilting the rest of the Dresden Plates. They are all attached and I just need to finish sewing down the sashing. Then it will be on to the borders. I know what I want, it’s the how that I’ve been pondering for the last couple of weeks. I think I have it figured out.

One night last week I decided I needed to piece. So, I bumped my leader/ender project up and finished sewing the bricks together. I then cut the squares to go with then and now my leader/ender project is sewing the squares to the bricks. I haven’t reported any of this quilt, so it will all hit the report once the top is completed.

Oh, yes. After getting back from the store I put the borders on the bunny quilt and cut the binding. I’m going to attempt to do a Faux Piped Binding. I found this tutorial at TLC Stitches. As soon as I finish making the binding I’ll be back to the finish up the center of the Dresden Plate.

So, here’s the report:

Fabric Added this Week: 2.694 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 8.194 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 1.362 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 29.598 yards

Net Used for 2011: 21.404 yards

Check out how others are doing by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Bunny Wallhanging, Colorworks Dresden Plate, Fun with Bricks, Stash Busting Report

What’s on my Design Wall

March 7, 2011 6:00 am ⋅ Pam

There are 4 more blocks to appliqué, quilt and then attach to the quilt center (two blocks are already quilted). Then I’ve got to figure out my inner border. I could go buy more gold Dimples so there’s no thinking involved, but what fun would that be?

The quilt is a bit stiff at the moment — at least I hope it’s just at the moment. I don’t know if it’s the batting – Soft & Black, a needled polyester batting by Warn & Natural (no longer made); the basting spray; the amount of quilting or a combination of all three.

I’m quilting a 2″ diagonal grid up to the edge of the plate. I’ve stitched in the ditch around the outer edge of the plate and center and between each blade. The sashing is edge stitched on both edges. If you click on the picture and enlarge it the quilting is visible. I’m using black thread, so any white in the grid is the result of the marking, which will wash out.

Follow the links over at Patchwork Times to check out other design walls.

Posted in: Colorworks Dresden Plate, designwall, UFO Challenge 2011

Stash Report

March 6, 2011 12:33 am ⋅ Pam

I suppose I really should be showing the back of these blocks, as my fabric usage is primarily of the backing fabric this week. I cut the backing for all 15 blocks. These six are quilted. Additionally, I borrowed a friend’s light box and finished tracing off the snowmen for my red work quilt.

No new fabric came into the house. I did consider buying some Easter fabric to make a border for an Easter quilt, but since I didn’t have the quilt top with me I stuck with my original shopping list of green thread for the sashing on the back of the Dresden Plates. I also bought a package of needles since my DH was looking for a curved needle to repair his snow boots.

Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 5.50 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 4.35 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 28.236 yards

Net Used for 2011: 22.736 yards

Check out how others are doing by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Colorworks Dresden Plate, red work, Stash Busting Report