Quilting and Stuff by Knitnoid

A New Year, New Responsiblities

January 22, 2024 7:33 pm ⋅

No, I have not given up blogging, I’ve just been really busy.  My responsibilities at my day job doubled over night at the end of October.  As a result, I’ve spent virtually no time in my Quilt Studio.  I’ve made a handful of blocks for a BOM that I’m working on (times 4 maybe 5), and I worked on my name tag, but that’s it.  The other thing which occurred is I was made President of Brandon Quilters — the larger of the 2 quilt guilds I’m in.  I’m still Secretary/Newsletter Editor for Quilters By Hearts Desire.

I have one meeting, albeit sparsely attended due to the rain, under my belt.  But today was a big day. Along with the President of Quilters by Hearts Desire, we did a live TV segment about our quilt groups.  You can watch it HERE.

 

Posted in: Uncategorized

Athena is Finished

October 2, 2023 9:11 am ⋅

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.

Posted in: 2023 Brandon Quilters UFO, Athena, Chain Link

Keeping the Momentum Going

September 28, 2023 12:33 am ⋅

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.

Posted in: 2023 Brandon Quilters UFO, Athena, Auction Strings, Butterscotch, Garden Lattice, Gracie

Weekend Quilt Retreat

September 25, 2023 9:01 am ⋅

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.

Posted in: Athena, Auction Strings, Garden Lattice

I Finished a UFO

September 18, 2023 2:54 pm ⋅

Oh so many years ago — 16 years, 9 months and 2 days to be exact – December 15, 2006, I walked into a quilt shop and saw a “quilted” jacket made from a sweatshirt. The class was full, but I thought I could make it on my own – and in time to give it to my mom for Christmas.  As with many last minute projects, Christmas came and went without it being finished, so it got set aside.

I pulled it out in 2020 to finish as my quilt guild wanted me to do a presentation on quilted sweatshirt jackets.  I even purchased a couple of additional sweatshirts to make a few more jackets. But the meetings were cancelled then I moved, so no more work was done on the jacket.  I was asked to do a presentation at one of my current guilds, so I put this on my UFO list and actually worked on it a little earlier in the year.  But it wasn’t until this past weekend that I buckled down and finished it.

The neckband and one cuff is missing, so I found some 2″ wide elastic and added a casing to the cuff and waistband.  This has the added benefit of adding an additional inch to the length, which is helpful since I’m now giving this to my sister.

 

Posted in: 2023 Brandon Quilters UFO, Moms Sweatshirt

Stash Enhancing

September 11, 2023 9:38 am ⋅

Saturday morning I had the opportunity to add to my stash from the estate of a local quilter. There was so much to chose from and as I understand it by the time I got there there was a ton of stuff which had already been hauled out. There was still plenty left, but I didn’t know where I would put it and I just didn’t know what I’d make.

From the haul, I’ve pulled these fabrics.  That flower is 8″ wide, so it makes it challenging.  But I think I’ve found the pattern.

Garden Lattice.  I’m planning on using the green fabric in place of the yellow, the peachy orange in place of the blue and the stripe in the cornerstones and for binding.  I’ll probably use the floral for the backing as well, as I have at least 10 yards of the fabric.

When I got home I finally finished the binding on Halloween Whimsy.

This is a Riley Blake kit that I purchased from The Quilted Cow last fall. It took no time at all to make.  It’s quilted in a spiderweb pattern using Strawberry Blond Glide thread.

Posted in: Garden Lattice, Halloween Whimsy, Stash

Some Binding

September 6, 2023 3:53 pm ⋅

 

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.

Posted in: Crystal, Squedge 18

A Few Finishes

August 22, 2023 1:57 pm ⋅

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.

Posted in: 2023 Brandon Quilters UFO, Cairdeas, Christmas Star Swap, Kimberly

Time to Bind

August 4, 2023 9:16 am ⋅

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.

Posted in: Cairdeas, Crystal, Kimberly, Squedge 18, Tara

Getting Back On Track

July 26, 2023 5:38 pm ⋅

For the past week my sister has been in town to use the longarm.  She flew into town with her Featherweight, 5 quilt tops with backings, 2 panels and a couple of coordinating fabrics, and blocks she only works on at retreats.  After a trip to the quilt shop, and 1.2 million stitches on the longarm, she had 7 quilts ready to bind and 20 finished blocks. Before she finished the last quilt top, I was able to get a customer’s quilt quilted. Other than that I knitted while she was here when I wasn’t working. But now it’s time to get back on track with my quilting.

I finally finished the stitching on my Celtic knot for the center of Cairdeas. This is the Bonnie Hunter project I started in Ireland in June.  I now need to pull my green and neutral 1 1/2″ strips out to do the piecing.

These three quilts need bindings. They are Kimberly, Tara and my Christmas Swap quilt which is on my Brandon Quilters UFO list.

Waiting to be quilted, are my Squedge table runner, Crystal, and my Christmas Row quilt, which is also on my Brandon Quilters UFO list.

Projects that I want/need to finish this year are a sweater which I started at least 15 and probably closer to 20 years ago. One sleeve to go since I finished the first one earlier this week. The Squedge pillow since I have most of it cut out, Athena from UFO list. Also on the UFO list is the sweatshirt jacket which needs to be done by September. Cairdeas, then the QBHD Rainbow Charm swap & the Auction blocks. Those last 2 are also on my UFO list.

You would think I would stop there, but no, I have more that I want to finish by the end of the year.  Halloween Whimsy, a linen top with a bit of embroidery, 1 maybe 2 more RWB quilts, a Christmas tablerunner and placemats, the QBHD Challenge quilt (I have decided what I’m going to do) and another sweatshirt jacket. Not pictured is my Upton dress with a 3/4 circle skirt. I’m not certain which box it is in.  I’d like it and the Halloween quilt done by October 9th, the sweatshirt jacket by September 18th, the challenge by October 16th.

I best get a move on it.

Posted in: Uncategorized