Quilting and Stuff by Knitnoid

Author Archives: Pam

I made my first quilted item as a visual aid for a math project in 7th grade. Over the next 25 years quilting was hit or miss, but quilting took over all the other crafts I've done in 2003.

QA Wednesday

May 19, 2010 8:45 pm ⋅

I’m posting this late because I went to a workshop yesterday and today, then came home and collapsed.

Last weeks goals:

  • Finish the Carolina Christmas Top. Right now, it looks like it will be one twin size quilt and two baby quilts. I hope to pull the border fabric from my stash for at least the baby quilts. – Twin and one baby quilt done. I’m having issues with the second quilt — namely I can’t decided what fabric to use from my stash.
  • Cut 200 red 2″ squares for the workshop I’m attending next week. – Done
  • Get the wall hanging, the comfort blocks and at least one baby quilt in the mail. — All of these are done, so it’s simply a matter of packaging — and think of the space I’ll have! — These packages are still sitting here on my cutting table. Ugh!

This weeks goals.

  • Get the wall hanging, the comfort blocks and at least one baby quilt in the mail. —  I’m shooting for in the morning.

That’s it.  Well, not really.  But the house is a disaster even by my standards, the laundry it piled up sky-high and I work this weekend.  Then there is the issue of what do I want to make progress on — Dancing Flowers, Oklahoma Backroads, Blue Ridge Beauty or Texas Braid.

I think I’ll just watch this week and see what others are planning on doing by following  the links at Bari’s.

Posted in: goals

What’s on My Design Wall

May 17, 2010 12:40 am ⋅

Currently the remaining Poinsettia Star blocks are on the wall.  Other than using fabric from my stash, I’m not positive how I’m going to finish this into a baby top.

Using 4 of the Fox and Geese blocks I made this baby top:

But the big news is I’ve finished my Carolina Christmas top – just in time to take to the Guild meeting and show Bonnie Hunter in person!

This top is approximately 59″ x 85″.  If the weather is decent later today I’ll try to get a straight on photo.  Who knows, I might have the 2nd baby top done as well.

Check out other design walls by following the links at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Carolina Christmas, designwall

Stash Report

May 16, 2010 9:19 am ⋅

This week I’ve been plugging away at my Carolina Christmas — when I’ve been home. Three school concerts last week — one 2 hours away, another an hour away and then one local. As a result, I’ve not gotten as far along on the quilt as expected. I did however make a decision on the quilt size and borders.

I’m making two baby quilts – one I’ve finished (well, topped) using fabric from my stash. I will finish the second baby quilt using stash. The twin size quilt I tried, but nothing was right, so I popped into Heritage Fine Fabrics where I’m participating in the UFQ program and picked up the blue fabric for the borders. l while I was there, I picked up the backing for Dancing Flowers – the bright spotted fabric. The 30s prints are FQs – one was the reward for finishing a UFQ (4-patch Strippy) and the other was my birthday present.

In addition to the purchases at Heritage, I brought Mom’s fabric in from the car.


I’m not sure what I’m going to do with either of these fabrics. I’m still measuring and finding spots in my stash for her fabric, so my numbers are going to continue to go up.

She how others are doing with their stash by checking out the links at Patchwork Times.

REVISED

I guess it helps if I actually include the numbers doesn’t it?

Here are the numbers:

Fabric Added this Week: 15.625 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 95.056 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 0.861 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 33.772 yards

Net Stash for 2010: 61.284 yards

Posted in: Stash Busting Report

Scraps

May 12, 2010 6:43 pm ⋅

One of my goals for this year is to clear my scrap basket. It’s really only a six month goal, as this is one of my guild challenges and we have to have our challenges completed by the July meeting. This is what is left in my scrap basket. Purples, Pinks, Reds, Greens, Yellow/Orange/Brights, Lights/Browns, Blacks and wait — is that a pile of Blues? I thought I had them taken care of.

From this you might think I make a lot of purple, pink and red quilts. There might some truth to that, but it’s more a case of last year when I made my way through the basket I stopped before I got to the pinks and purples.

My scraps do not get tossed into the basket by color. Somewhere along the way I read that one way to keep motivated is to do all of a single color/style so you can see progress. I started following this when I was working on my Old Tobacco Road quilt. I dug through and pulled all the green and yellow. Obviously I’ve made some quilts with green since then.

The next time I have the urge to chop up fabric, I’ll pull one of these colors from my basket and start cutting. I really do want to see the bottom of that basket without me throwing the scraps on the floor or ironing board.

Posted in: goals, scraps

QA Wednesday

May 12, 2010 12:58 pm ⋅

Last week a couple of simple goals:

  • Cut up the blue and neutral scraps – Finished.
  • Get at least half of the Carolina Christmas blocks sewn together – 3/4 of the large blocks are sewn

Amazing what you can check off the list if you limit your goals and focus.

Now for next week’s list.

  • Finish the Carolina Christmas Top.  Right now, it looks like it will be one twin size quilt and two baby quilts.  I hope to pull the border fabric from my stash for at least the baby quilts.
  • Cut 200 red 2″ squares for the workshop I’m attending next week.
  • Get the wall hanging, the comfort blocks and at least one baby quilt in the mail. — All of these are done, so it’s simply a matter of packaging — and think of the space I’ll have!

See if anyone else is limiting their goals by checking out the links at Bari’s.

Posted in: goals

What’s on My Design Wall

May 10, 2010 12:31 am ⋅

They are not sewn together, but I have most of my Carolina Christmas blocks sewn.  I keep flip-flopping between making the large square quilt, or making two smaller quilts.  Today, I’m leaning toward the latter.

Check out other design walls by visiting Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Carolina Christmas, designwall

False Start

May 9, 2010 12:15 pm ⋅

It started simple enough — my 1 1/2″ box of strips is overflowing and I’ve been hankering to make a Log Cabin quilt. Not that I don’t have at least 3 projects that I’m actively working on, or that one of my goals this year was to finish anything new I start, or that I have several projects waiting in the wings that are on my list to finish this year.

But would this be a new start if the strips were already cut?

Anyway, I pulled a bunch of 1 1/2 inch red squares or pieces which were at least 3 inches long out of the box. I spent time last night separating the lights from the mediums, brights and darks. I pressed my lights and then decided “dark” would be anything that wasn’t “light” and mixed my mediums and brights back into the dark pile.

At that point, I should have put everything back into the box and sat on it to get it to close if necessary.

I made 40 cute little red and light 2-patches.

Then I sewed them to dark strips. — some times with the light square on through the machine first, sometimes with the red square first, sometimes with the dark fabric right side up.

I pressed and trimmed the blocks only to discover that I didn’t always have the 2-patch oriented the same way and I had a couple of the dark fabrics with the wrong side of the fabric up.

It wasn’t until I came back to my computer to figure out whether I needed a dark fabric or light fabric next that I discovered my biggest issue. My first strip should have been light!

This is when all the strips got put back into the box.

The box is no longer overflowing, but I think it’s because I pressed the light strips, not because I used that much fabric.

Posted in: scraps

Stash Report

May 9, 2010 12:10 am ⋅

No pictures today. There was no fabric brought into the house — it’s still out in the car. 🙂

My sister and I dug through a few more of Mom’s boxes Saturday and I found several lengths of fabric which came home with me. Once I bring it in and find a place for it, I’ll count it, and the rest of the fabric that’s still kicking around in moving boxes.

For all the fabric cutting that I did this week, I don’t have much to show for it on my report. My pre-cut pieces won’t get counted until I use them. I didn’t think I had any fabric to count, but there was the last bit for Oklahoma Backroads, and what I used on Dancing Flowers.

Here are the numbers:

Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 79.431 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 1.578 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 32.911 yards

Net Stash for 2010: 46.52 yards

See how others are doing by checking out the links at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Stash Busting Report

Singer Treadle Machine

May 8, 2010 8:34 pm ⋅

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This Singer Treadle machine was my great-grandmother’s. I remember my mother sewing on it during our visits to my grandmother and great-grandparents in California. When I was older, I even sewed on it out in the laundry room.

After my grandmother and great-grandmother passed away, my parents brought it to Kansas City. The summer after my high school graduation it was setup in the basement and my mother and I made my college wardrobe — she sewing on the modern sewing machine — a Kenmore Diamond Jubilee which was then 20 years old — and I on this treadle machine. Given where it was located in the basement, I can’t promise that we had the motor hooked up.

The treadle machine made the move with my mom 7 or 8 years ago. It’s been sitting in the dinning room and used as a buffet and/or plant stand. Sometime this summer, as soon as I can figure out where to put it and how to get it home, this machine is going to come home with me.

My nephew, who is 7, was amazed when I opened it up. He had no idea it was a sewing machine. I wanted to get a look at it to see what condition it’s in. The hand wheel moves the needle up and down with no issues. The treadle moves smoothly — but it doesn’t turn the hand wheel. There is no way I’m going to plug the motor in until it’s been checked out and possibly the cord replaced. I’m sure the belt needs replacing as well. Looking in the pictures, I see the “break” is where the staple is, so perhaps it’s not it as bad of a condition as I thought.

Now I’m off to find treadle resources because I really would like to piece a quilt on this machine.
In the drawer is the manual. I didn’t think to take a picture of it. It says it’s a Singer (obviously) Sewing Machine No.66. The copyright on the manual is 1915. The motor says it was patented May 22, 1971 1917 by Hamilton-Beach Mfg Co.

Posted in: treadle

Carolina Christmas – Poinsettia Stars

May 8, 2010 12:18 am ⋅

The Poinsettia Star blocks are made – the 2 x 2 — 16″ blocks that is. Well, except for one. I seem to be missing an individual star block. I don’t know if I miscounted or if it’s here somewhere in the sewing room.

Posted in: Carolina Christmas