Quilting and Stuff by Knitnoid

Category Archives: Quilts

July 2025 Goals

Here we are 1/2 way through the year and I have crossed off 1/2 of my quilting goals for the year.  Normally I’d list out what I want to get done for the week, but given the nature of my quilting goals, I’m going to list it for the month.

  • Keep up with A Vintage Christmas Sampler Quilt A Long.  Those are the blocks at the top right of the design wall. Although I have the pattern and fabric for the center of the quilt, I’m not quilting ahead.
  • Bind Wonky Trees  – I want this done so I can take it to the guild meeting on Monday.
  • Decide where I’m going to hang the framed backing. I know it goes in my den, but I don’t know if it’s portrait or landscape. Once that’s decided I can add the wire.
  • Add top coat to barn quilt.
  • Quilt the American quilt on the front of the frame. I’ll do that tonight, as my customer wants to bind it this weekend.

  • Finish the prep work for the Wonky Tree class.
  • Complete the Cascades quilt top.  Bonus if I get it quilted and bound

Not pictured

  • quilt & bind the Auction Quilt Top I bought last year
  • finish the mystery quilt clues (the next one is due Monday!)
  • help Ruby put up her design wall (I’ve got to find my other flannel sheet)

In other news, a couple of shop sampled came home.  They are laying on the take-up rail of the longarm.  Double 4-Patch Table Runner & the Dragon quilt Emerald Reigns.  I need to get a label on the dragon quilt and get it shipped off to the recipient.

July is looking to be busy from a quilting perspective.

 

Wonky Trees is Quilted

It’s a small quilt, but it still took me 2 sessions to get it quilted.  I started with a little ruler work to make the ‘garlands’ on the trees, but I couldn’t remember how to mask the trees. Since it was late I decided to regroup in the morning.

I read the book, and watched 2 different videos on YouTube.  I eventually figured it out — for the 1st 3 trees.  When I advanced the quilt, I had to rewatch the video again. The last 3 trees I didn’t have to watch the video, but I did struggle with doing the steps in the right order, but I got it done.  I think if I had to do it over again, I would outline the trees completely, but naturally I didn’t think of that until I was halfway though the quilt. Maybe next time. Now to get it bound.

Wonky Christmas Trees

A few months ago I was asked to teach Wonky Christmas Trees at Ritzy Quilting for Christmas in July. As I did not make the sample quilt, I thought it best that I make a few blocks before I taught the class.  I pulled fabrics from my stash to make this small top.  It goes together really quickly.  I hope to get it quilted today.

This past week I also got caught up with the A Vintage Christmas Sampler QAL by Kansas Troubles Quilters.  I was slow to get started as I didn’t get the fabric kit until this past Monday. The HST on the far right are NOT part of the quilt – they were made with the cut off corners from the Square in a Square blocks and the Flying Geese.  I don’t often participate in a BOM or QAL where the fabrics are kitted as I don’t want a quilt that looks like hundreds if not thousands of other quilts.  This week Lynne “gave us permission” to use other fabrics outside of the kit for our blocks, suggesting we pull from our KTQ stashes.  This is something I planned to do if I had too many ‘oops’ and needed more fabric, but decided not to wait.  I have a whole bin of KTQ fabrics waiting to be used.  It’s hard to tell, but I used 3 different fabrics in the pinwheel blocks.

What I’m Working on Wednesday – 6/25/25

This summer I’m participating in the Kansas Troubles Quilters Quilt Along for A Vintage Christmas Sampler.  Every two weeks Lynne Hagmeier is posting a videos on how to make the blocks. The first videos came out the day I left on the road trip and the fabric arrived while I was gone.  As I had it held, I had to pick up the package Monday morning and I finally watched the videos last night.

My first two blocks are done and I have the fabric cut out for the next 4.  I didn’t get those done because I was playing with one of my new toys…

I’m still tweaking the exact alignment of the light, so I’ve ripped out the stitching of the block a couple of times.  Perhaps tonight I’ll have better luck with it.

Goals for the Week of June 9, 2025

First a recap of last week’s goal:

  • Finish the Cacophony top – DONE! Not only a top, but a quilt as it is bound!

  • Pick a block for a Barn Quilt Block – I’m taking a class at the Summer Gathering of the Mississippi Quilters Association – Done. It still needs to be sealed so I can hang it outside.

  • Prepare the Quilters By Hearts Desire Newsletter — this can carry over into next week – I’ll do this tonight when I get back from playing Bunco
  • Revise “Got Blocks, Now What?” presentation – Done! Quilts are packed.

Limited goals this week as I’m preparing to attend 2 quilt shows and visit a few quilt shops

  • Get the QBHD Newsletter sent out.
  • Decide how much money I’m willing to spend at the shows and shops

Honestly, it’s less about the money and more about wanting to work on the quilts I have in progress and the “kits” I’ve purchased over the past few years. I have a 4 year goal of getting all of my existing quilt tops quilted and bound (there are currently 11 in the queue) and getting my WIP topped, quilted and bound  — this number is slightly (cough, cough) higher at 34. That’s less than 1 a month.  Will I be successful? Who knows. After all there at least 50 pigs (many small projects) in my stash and I’m sure I’ll have other things pop up that I’ll want to do.

Cacophony is a Top

After pulling a a dozen fabrics to audition for the borders, I ultimately went with my first choice that I picked when I first started working on the top.  It’s a vintage Robert Kaufman print of musical instruments.  It currently measures 73″ x 92″, so it will fit beautifully on a twin bed with a 15″ drop on 3 sides of the bed after quilting and washing.

I have a bin of backings and leftover backing pieces.  Since this is a stash quilt, I thought I would have to piece a backing together, but I found this backing fabric which is 82″ x 108″ — the exact size I need – in the bin without a quilt name attached to it.  Guess what I’m using.

This weekend is the Mississippi Quilt Association Summer Gathering – if I get home early enough, I’ll press the backing and get the quilt loaded so I can quilt it over the weekend.

 

Cacophony Is Ready for the Border

Cacophony is ready for the borders.  I just had a small section to finish and it took me nearly 4 hours.  The center of the quilt measures 60″ x 79″ so this is not a small quilt.  After I get the borders on it, it will fit a twin bed with about a 15″ drop on 3 sides — before quilting and washing.

After the center was done, I spent an hour pulling fabrics from the stash trying to find a border.

I think this is the winner, which is ironic, as this is what I pulled last week.

It is a busy print, but I think it will be OK with a narrow border.

 

What I’m Working on 6/4/2025

I am nearing the finish of the center of Cacophony. It’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. I worked down from the top keeping the width the same, but when I got to the bottom I realized the bottom was going to be about 1 1/2″ too wide, so I need to regroup. Thus the bottom row of the quilt was assembled.  Now I need to fill in the missing pieces.

This is roughly what I’m going to do. I just need to get the measurements right.

 

Goals for the Week of June 2, 2025

Last week I picked just 3 goals:

  • Quilt, bind & label my the Gunge 2025 Brandon Quilters BOM. – DONE – See it HERE.
  • Process & put away the scraps from the Grunge quilt. – DONE
  • Continue moving stuff back into the kitchen. – Still a work in progress.

I am continuing to enjoy my newly remodeled kitchen and I’m still dragging stuff back into the kitchen.  On the quilting front, I’m looking forward to receiving the first installment of A Vintage Christmas Sampler by Kansas Troubles Quilters. It is my understanding it is being shipped out this week. The first FB Live tutorial is Thursday, June 12th.  My SIL and I will work on them this summer.

In the meantime, I’m working on Cacophony, my 2025 Orphan Block quilt.

My goals for this week:

  • Finish the Cacophony top
  • Pick a block for a Barn Quilt Block – I’m taking a class at the Summer Gathering of the Mississippi Quilters Association
  • Prepare the Quilters By Hearts Desire Newsletter — this can carry over into next week
  • Revise “Got Blocks, Now What?” presentation – this can also carry over into next week

 

Cacophony – A New Orphan Block Quilt

Because I apparently like unrealistic deadlines, Wednesday night I thought to myself “I bet you can get an Orphan Block quilt made before the next Guild meeting.” Never mind that I’m going to my great-niece’s high school graduation this weekend.

Thursday night I spent some time shuffling blocks. This is where I’m at right now.  Any sane person would try to do columns or rows so they all are the same size. I’m doing this on the fly.  The top is 50″, but move down a bit and the numbers add up to 52″ or 54″ – I can’t remember which at the moment.  I’m going to need a filler.  I also need to shuffle some blocks.  This is going to take longer that a weekend.  But maybe I can have it ready for Kansas City.