Quilting and Stuff by Knitnoid

Stash Report

Since I was at a Retreat last week, this report covers two weeks.

A pillowcase to go with the Dresden Plate quilt, handing sleeves for 4 quilts, finished the red, white & blue twin mystery quilt top and the rest of the letters for the Crossword Puzzle quilt – just over 9 1/2 yards out.

The inbound fabric includes backing for two quilts, a piece of fabric which leaped into my arms and said “take me home”, FQs from my Secret Sister, and more fabric for the mini quilt which I still haven’t finished – just over 13 yards in.

The good news is I’m still a head of the game (more out than in overall).

Fabric Added the last two weeks: 13.175 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 46.269 yards

Fabric Used the last two weeks: 9.58 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 53.341 yards

Net Used for 2011: 7.072 yards

Checkout the links over at Patchwork Times to see how others are doing.

Appliqué is Sneaking In

I’m not sure what is going on.  Yes, that’s Roxanne’s Glue-Baste-It which is used in appliqué.  This afternoon I went out shopping specifically to buy the product.  Three or four weeks ago, I picked out some fabrics for Lillebet’s Garden, a gorgeous pattern by Beth Ferrier.

Then there’s the kit I bought in 2008 — Tulips for Beginners — another quilt with both piecing and applique.

Then of course there are those Dresden Plates I finally finished, not to mention all the letters for the Crossword Puzzle quilt I’m working on.  I thought my ‘mantra’ was “I don’t do appliqué”.  In fact I blogged about it in 2009.

If my own projects are enough, I found this in the mail when I got home from the retreat earlier this week:

It’s block #107 from Volume 2 of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks.  Diane Harris made it and it’s called Paisley Punch.  Who knows what I’m going to do with this block. Whatever I do, it will push me outside of my comfort zone which is occasionally  good thing.

Twin Mystery Top Finished

I really should have re-hung the quilt and waited for better light, but I’ve got a mini Ohio Stars quilt to make this weekend.

Design Wall Teaser

Just borders on 3 sides and this top will be complete. Since I haven’t counted this fabric in my Stash Report yet, it will help offset the fabric I bought last weekend, which hasn’t been reported either.  One more evening, then it will be off to tiny Ohio Stars.

Retreat Accomplishments

Whenever I go to a retreat, I always take more than I can possibly accomplish in the allotted time.  This retreat was no different.  In my bag were the following projects: a twin size red, white & blue mystery quilt – pre-cut ; the letters for the crossword puzzle quilt; Fun with Bricks – partially sewn; my mom’s 4-Patch Stacked Posies- partially sewn; mini Ohio Stars; the red, white & blue shop hop blocks; fabric to make sleeves for the quilt show quilts and a stack of 1 1/2″ squares for leader/enders.

I decided early on, the mini Ohio Stars wasn’t going to work.  I need to be able to concentrate without distraction.  At one point I pulled out the letters.  I got as far as sticking a few letters to the squares, but decided that between the monotony of zig-zagging around all the letters and the height of the sewing machine , I’d be better off doing these at home.  Not a whole lot of progress was made on the quilt Mom started either.  I got the blocks pressed and sewed a couple of 2-patched into 4-patches, but then realized I was going to have to decide on what size to trim the blocks to.  Since this was Sunday afternoon and I was tired, I put them away.  The shop hop quilt blocks never made it out of my bag.

So what did I make a dent in?  I have sleeves on 3 of the 4 quilts I took with me.  The twin size mystery quilt blocks are made and all but one row sewn together.  That’s when I realized that I pressed the mirror top/bottom button instead of mirror left/right and instead of a scant 1/4″ seam, I was sewing the blocks into rows with a generous 1/4″ seam.  I had 4 seam rippers with me (3 were in goodie bags), but decided to fold up the pieces and work on something else.  That was Fun with Bricks.  This quilt needed 2-patches sewn into 4-patches and I finished the blocks with the beige squares.  I about 10 of the double brick 2-patches sewn into 4-patches and then it was time to pack up.

That white tray (it’s a recycled plastic box with a snap on lid) contains the 1 1/2″ squares I’m sewing into 2-patches.  Eventually I want to make a postage stamp quilt.  I think I need 4520 pieces so, I have a along way to go since I’ve only sewn about 176 square into 2-patches.

Now that I’m home, I’ve got to get working on the mini-Ohio Stars.  I’d like to have it completed by the Guild meeting on Monday, but may just have to settle on getting it done in time for the Quilt Show at the end of the month.  The cutting board is cleared, the sewing machine plugged in, so all I need to do now is find the ironing board.

Mystery Quilt Revealed

This past weekend I attended the 10th Anniversary Kaye-Woods-Quilting-Friends (Yahoo! Group)  retreat at Camp Beth Eden in Conway, Missouri.  This was my 7th year.  I had a great time, but I’m exhausted!  One of the activities which you can participate in is a mystery quilt.

A mystery quilt is where you are told how much fabric you need, then are given the cutting and sewing instructions, but not told how what you are making.  Hopefully the instructions are written clear enough that there are no frustrations and in the end you have a finished quilt top which looks like the original when it is revealed.

I wrote this years mystery quilt.  My friend Mary over at Quiltn’ Gramdma’s Blog tested the pattern for me.  After the pattern was tweaked, Terri who wasn’t able to make it to the retreat offered to post the patterns to the list for anyone who wanted to participate, but couldn’t make the trip either.  She also tested the pattern for me.  This is her quilt.

This year we had six ladies complete their quilt tops.

More about the retreat and the shopping I did later.  I’ve got to straighten up my sewing room so I can unpack.

The Year of the Pig – Question #7

No,  I didn’t get questions #5 & #6 answered.  Perhaps I’ll go back at some point and answer them.

What do you do when you have no desire to sew?
Do you ever get bored with your fabric and look for a different direction?

My youngest nephew will be 8 this summer.  It was when I made his baby quilt that the “Quilt Pox” really caught hold.  Over the past 8 years there have been a few times when the last thing I wanted to do was quilt.  I think once I went nearly 3 months without sitting down in front of my sewing machine!  Fortunately the other times it wasn’t quite as long.

I finally figured out when the melancholy hit me.  It was after I had a big finish, especially if I had spent several intense weeks at the sewing machine.  At the time, I simply walked away from the sewing machine and then read and read and read and read some more.  Reading is another favorite thing to do.  I finally either ran out of books, or heard my sewing machine calling and resumed quilting.

Since that first dry spell, it’s happened a couple of more times, but no where near as intense.  I recognized it for what it was — I wanted to READ.  So, I did, but only two or three books, then I was able to get back into the sewing room.

It’s been a while since I’ve not spent at least some time each day either at the sewing machine, picking fabrics for my next project or playing in Electric Quilt, but I think the reason is because I’ve found Books on CD.   I pop a CD into the player and can enjoy both of my interests — reading and sewing/quilting.  That’s not to say I don’t read paper books, but I since I don’t feel deprived, I don’t spends weeks trying to catch up.

So, I guess the answer to the first question is to let yourself walk away if you need to and try to figure out why you don’t want to sew.

On to the second part of the question.  Sometimes.  I’m a scrappy quilter, so I don’t have a whole lot of yardage.  It’s mostly FQs or what’s left from yardage. Generally the purchase of a FQ or two will get the sparkle back into  my stash.  I will say I don’t have a lot of batiks in my stash — until recently only one or two pieces.  So, I went shopping in a friend’s stash and came home with two dozen batik FQs.  Originally they were intended for a specific quilt, but I don’t know if that’s where they’ll end up.  Regardless, they’ve added a new life to my stash.

See how others answered these two questions by following the links over at Ramblings of a Fabric and Yarn Obsessor.

Click here to see the answers to the questions I’ve answered.

 

 

 

An Evenings Work

This evening I finished up the pillowcase to go with the Dresden Plate quilt (I’m still looking for a name — currently under consideration is “Metempsychosis”).  I also cut a 1 1/2″ square off of each unique strip in my 1 1/2″ strip bucket to use as leader/enders.  The thought is these will become a postage stamp quilt – well at least part of a postage stamp quilt.

Tomorrow I’ll dig for ‘ugly’ fabric to make hanging sleeves.

I think this qualifies, but believe it or not, if there is enough, I really want to use it on the back of my Texas Braid.

What’s on my Design Wall

Woo Hoo!!  I finally finished my Dresden Plate quilt. It was February’s UFO Challenge Quilt.

The fabric for the plates started out life as a skirt my mom made for me in the early 1990’s.  I loved that skirt.  But an elastic waistband on a longer skirt and a rolling desk chair just don’t mix well.  I rolled over my hem and attempted to stand up one too many times.  Putting the fabric into a quilt apparently has not solved this problem. As I was binding the quilt, I rolled over the end of it and got tangled up.

This is the back of the quilt.

I’m working on a pillowcase to go with the quilt.  Right now I’m leaning toward a black case with alternating blades and a narrow gold trim.

I hope to get this pillowcase, and perhaps one for the Dragonfly quilt finished before I leave for retreat later this week.

To see what others have been up to follow the links over at Patchwork Times.

Stash Report

I’ve still used more fabric than I’ve brought into the house year-to-date, but the difference has shrunk considerably.  Last week I picked up the backings for two of the “7 by July” quilts, and since they were wide backings I did a bit of math to figure out the 42/45″ wide yardage equivalence.    The only fabric used was the backing for the borders of the Dresden Plate quilt which I have finished quilting.

Fabric Added this Week: 14.4 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 33.094 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 2.16 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 43.791 yards

Net Used for 2011: 10.667 yards

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