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.

QCC – Quality Control Cat

April 3, 2009 8:16 pm ⋅

Cats and quilting go together at my house. I’ve owned, or been owned by three cats since I started quilting. Fluffy and Grey were the original QCCs. Seven wasn’t interested in quilting — or for that matter living with two other cats. But after Fluffy and Grey crossed the rainbow bridge, Seven realized she had to fulfill the role of QCC.

I don’t know what it is about cats and quilts. One time I brought several quilt tops into the living room to show my mom. Seven was sound asleep in the bedroom. I’m not certain all the air got out from under the quilt top when I shook it out and laid it out on the floor, before she was there laying on top of it.

Another time I had a top on the floor, blocking access to the kitchen and sewing room. Seven walks in and comes to a screeching halt, stopping BEFORE she touched the quilt top. I have to assume she didn’t like it. My DH picked her up and told her she had hurt my feelings, so when she came back through the room, she gingerly stepped on the top and briefly sat on it before walking off. Somehow.

Tonight when I came home, Seven was sitting on the couch with DH. I pull out my Old Tobacco Road quilt and lay it on the floor. Seven doesn’t move.

I pull out the inner green border I just bought, and lay it next to the quilt. Seven remains on the couch.

The flying geese are stretched out next to the green border. No response from Seven.

Finally, I lay the purple outer border next to it all.

Seven leaps off the couch and jumps on the quilt and fabric and starts ‘massaging’ the purple fabric, before reclining on the quilt.

I have to assume she likes it.

So here is some Haiku DH and I wrote about a year ago for Quality Control Cats

Mom is a quilter
Her quilt needs my approval
I must lay on it

And for Seven specifically:

Seven is QC
Approving quilts is her task
Hair removal mine

Posted in: haiku, OTR, Seven

A Gaggle of Geese

April 2, 2009 11:33 pm ⋅

Purple geese in yellow skies for my Old Tobacco Road quilt. I went with this option because I’m leaning toward a purple border. Of course when I get to the quilt shop, who knows what I’ll find.

Posted in: OTR

No More Tears – And a Finished UFO

March 31, 2009 12:00 am ⋅

I’m counting this quilt DONE! I started it in 2005. It’s been tossed into the UFO pile on several occasions, but I finally decided DONE is better than PERFECT. There’s still a hint of pink on the background which is not showing up in the picture. And there are only 2 packages of crystals – amber and red. When I ran out of crystals, I sewed the bead back on that came off in the wash, turned it over and signed it with a Pigma Pen.

Posted in: finish, Poinsetta, UFOs

48 Hours Later

March 30, 2009 10:17 pm ⋅

Looking at the backyard, it’s hard to believe that 48 hours ago, there was 5 1/2″ of snow in the yard. It warmed up significantly Sunday. Now it’s raining.

Several people suggested Shout Color Catcher and/or Synthrapol to get the bleeding out of my Poinsetta quilt. I know it didn’t look bad in the photo, or in a dark resturant, but in the light of day, it was really bad. Sunday afternoon I bought some Synthrapol and washed the quilt according to directions. You should have seen me shuddering at the though of HOT watter on the quilt. The only way I was able to use HOT water was knowing that I had nothing to lose. It still wasn’t good, so I ran it though the wash again. Now, in bright light I can see the spot (looks like the photo), but in dimmer light it’s not too bad. I’m going to go ahead and put the crystals on.

Posted in: Poinsetta, snow

Old Tobacco Road Center Complete

March 29, 2009 3:10 pm ⋅

The center of OTR is done. I think it’s growing on me. Now I’ve got to locate the instructions for the next step, and the rulers to make the flying geese. I’m not certain if they will be yellow geese on purple skies or purple geese on yellow skies.

Posted in: OTR

Stash Report Week #13

March 29, 2009 8:24 am ⋅

No fabric purchases, just the hot fix tool and a couple of bags of crystals for the Poinsetta quilt.

I did get plenty of pieceing done this week, but it was fabric I had cut prior to the fist of the year, so I’m not counting it.

Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 50.25 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 22.08 yards

Net Stash: +28.17 yards

Posted in: Stash Busting Report

March Snow

March 28, 2009 6:56 pm ⋅


I’ve continued work on my OTR and now have the rest of the blocks sewn together into rows. I thought I’d take a break and check on the snow.

It’s been snowing for about 6 hours. So far we’ve accumulated 5 1/2″ — at least in my backyard. I just heard a weather update that said the snow is supposed to be tapering off.

Posted in: OTR, snow

Moving Along the OTR

March 28, 2009 2:33 pm ⋅


For the last couple of days I’ve been working on my Old Tobacco Road quilt, a Bonnie Hunter mystery from last fall. I now have the center half finished and decided to stand back and see how it looks.

Now, back to the sewing machine.

Posted in: OTR

I Could Just Cry

March 26, 2009 4:23 pm ⋅


Yesterday I put a few hot fix crystals on the poinsettia quilt. It was my intention to put them all over the poinsettia print. Never having done that before (embellishing is outside of my comfort zone), I only put a few on before I washed the quilt. I wanted to make certain they, and the beads I sewed on last week would stay on the quilt.

I washed the quilt like I do all of my quilts. Cold water, gentle cycle (or delicate, which ever one is the ‘softest’), Liquid Ivory and a Shout Color Catcher. Also in the wash to help protect the beads were too small lap quilts which have been washed several times (one is 18 years old).

Pulled the quilts out and tossed them in the dryer.

When I pulled the quilts out, I discovered the red batiks had bled all over the off-white background. I could just cry. The photos don’t show the bleeding well. It’s worse in person.

The batik fabric was prewashed before I used it. In fact, I used this same fabric/pattern to make sweatshirts for all the women in my family for Christmas 2004. My sweatshirt has been washed at least 15 times with out any bleeding (picture is when the shirt was made).

I’m glad now that I didn’t put all the crystals on the quilt. But can this be salvaged? I’ve had 4 suggestions so far: 1 – rewash with a Shout color catcher; 2 – use a dye remover; 3 – take some of the offending fabric and dot on more color; and 4 – (from DH) give it away and start over.

I don’t have any more of the fabric — except for what’s on the sweatshirt – and it’s not bleeding. The center section of the quilt was finished several years ago, and I got the borders on it about a year ago. I didn’t have any border fabric to use for the binding, so I had to buy something else – not that you can really tell that it’s different.

Anyone have any success getting dye out? Or ideas on how to ‘fix’ this? I’m open to suggestions. And here I thought I was going to get another UFO done before the end of the month.

Posted in: Poinsetta

Old Tobacco Road – Part #3

March 23, 2009 9:53 pm ⋅

I’ve been working on my OTR the last couple of days and now I have part #3 done. Step #4 is the layout. I need to do some quilting, so I think this will go back into the box and I’ll take it with me to the reteat to work on next month.

Posted in: OTR