Category Archives: Bom

2020 MQA Block of the Month

April 3, 2022 1:50 am ⋅ Pam

My Mississippi Quilt Association Block of the Month from 2020 is finished! The pattern is available on-line HERE.

I started this quilt 12/1/20, finished the blocks prior to April 2021, then finished the top 9/30/21. The quilting was completed 3/28/22 and the binding was finished 4/2/22. This quilt is on my guild’s UFO Challenge list.

After washing the quilt measures 51-1/2″ x 63-1/2″.

I used Glide thread in Mercury on the top and bottom.

The Edge-to-Edge design is Circle Drama.

The batting is Legacy 80/20.

Posted in: MQA BOM 2020, UFOs

Progress, a Finish and a Start

April 3, 2022 12:01 am ⋅ Pam

There was plenty of machine time Saturday.

Progress: Catching up on the Brandon Quilters 2022 Mystery Quilt – Starflower. Monday we’ll get the finishing instructions.

A Finish: The Mississippi Quilt Association 2020 Block of the Month. I waited until Saturday to stitch the binding down as I had to order a walking foot for my Singer Genie. Formal portrait to come soon. At the moment it’s in the dryer.

A Start: I found more of string blocks from the auction in 2018. These were separated because they were slightly smaller. I’m trimming to them to 6-1/2″. I have just enough that with a 1″ sashing I can set them on point and get a twin size quilt.

Up next, is the binding on the Crazy Quilt.

Posted in: 2022 Brandon Quilters UFO, MQA BOM 2020, mystery quilts, Starflower

Go! Big Crazy is Quilted

March 31, 2022 11:30 pm ⋅ Pam

Wednesday ended on a good note. I finished quilting my crazy quilt. I used my go-to quilt design – Overlapping Crop Circles. I wondered if I really was going to get it done. I started quilting before work and got the top partial row and the first row quilted before I sat down for work.

Mid-morning I reached for my earbuds to make a call on my cell phone and there was only 1 in the case which made no sense to me. I checked to see if I made a call after I got home the night before and I had not. So, a quick walk was in order. The case fell out of my pocket the night before when I rode my bicycle over to Ruby’s. I picked up the case, but didn’t think to check to see if both earbuds were in the case. Clearly a mistake as the right one got run over by a car!

I hightailed it home for a couple more hours of work and snuck one more row of quilting in during lunch before the storms hit. We were under a tornado warning for nearly 2 hours. After the storm cleared I took a quick nap then went to the gym. When I got home I was finally able to finish the quilting.

Thursday there were no storms, but I didn’t get into the quilt studio until after 9. I need to sew the joining seam on the binding of the MQA quilt and then stitch it down. Then there’s the crazy quilt and the pot holder – all that need to be done by Monday, not to mention doing my taxes.

Posted in: Go! Big Crazy, MQA BOM 2020

Quilting and Box Shuffling

March 30, 2022 9:37 am ⋅ Pam

After a night’s rest I was able to resolve my tension issues and started quilting. This is the first quilt I’ve done in almost a year. Prior to this one the last quilt I quilted was April 4, 2021. Four days later I decided to move and I started packing. This is the Mississippi Quilt Association‘s BOM from 2020. They are running it again. The blocks are available HERE.

Boxes were moved, one at a time. Books are heavy. They’ll hang out in the corner room until my bookshelves are built.

The front bedroom is the audiovisual library. 78’s, LPs, 45s, CDs, cassettes, DVDs, and VHS. A box of LPs are heavier than a box of books — including the yearbooks. All of this will be gone through and thinned out eventually. This will go in the den after that room is finished.

The instrumental music library. Clearly it all won’t fit in the piano bench. I’m pondering storage solutions.

I’m considering an Ikea Kallax.

I would use these inserts, put it on legs and fashion some doors. But that’s a future project.

While shuffling boxes I opened the next to last box the movers packed and finally found my silverware. I’m not sure what I thought was in the box. It was not labeled.

I found MORE of the auction blocks. These are smaller than the others. I have enough for yet another quilt. I’ll sash them and set them on point after trimming them to the same size.

Moving all of the boxes means I’m able to setup my quilting space. It’s not done, but I have a work space.

Last night the borders were added to the crazy quilt. I used straight pins to hang the quilt on the wall. I really need to get my design wall put up, but it’s on hold until the trim is caulked and that is on hold until my patio door is installed.

The quilt was loaded last night. This morning before work I started the quilting. I’ll do another pass at lunch.

Posted in: Go! Big Crazy, House, MQA BOM 2020

Miss Genie Is Home

March 22, 2022 8:49 am ⋅ Pam

After my big machine died, I picked up Ruby’s Brother to use until Miss Genie came home. I picked her up yesterday afternoon and after I got home from the quilt guild meeting I opened her up and started piecing.

The sewing machine is currently sitting where the longarm will go. This is what the space looked like Friday night. I’ve been busy.

But first there was a bit of retail therapy. The blocks on the left were cut with the Accuquilt Machine. I stopped in at Twin Oaks Crafts in Richland, Mississippi and rented their GO! Big Crazy Quilt-10″ Finished Die. It didn’t take me long to cut out all 50 blocks and they went together SO fast — right up until my sewing machines died. I still need to one more seam on about 20 of the blocks then this quilt will be ready to assemble. As to the retail therapy, I plan to do a narrow border of the turquoise and then use the black splatter as the border. The Purple space/star is a wide backing that I’ll use on both quilts.

The pile of blocks on the right are the last of the auction blocks. They are trimmed and ready to sash. The lime green is the sashing and the bubbles is the border.

I’m aiming for a 70 x 90 quilt, so I’m 18 blocks short. Last night I only had seven completed, with 3 in progress when Miss Genie decided I needed to go to bed. This morning I changed the needle, re-threaded the machine and pulled some thread off the bobbin and I was able to finish 3 more blocks.

Also over the weekend I made significant progress on my swap blocks. I need to finish the brown set and then sew them into a 12″ block.

Not shown are the two Pizza Box Blocks I made for the Guild swap. I wasn’t able to work on the block right away since my brother arrived the evening of the Guild meeting. So 2 weeks of house remodeling, a week to recover, and then the machines died. As soon as I picked up Ruby’s spare machine, I made the block I was to swap last night. I brought a new box home and IMMEDIATELY made the block I’m to take back next month.

I have a few more days of piecing then I’ve got to clean up my mess to make room for the long arm.

Posted in: Accuquilt, Crazy Quilt, Dancing Strings, Pizza Box

Quilting and Remodeling

January 19, 2022 9:23 pm ⋅ Pam

There’s so much going on it’s hard to know where to start. Q comes before R so we’ll start with Quilting. One of my quilt guilds is doing a Pizza Box Quilt/Challenge/Round Robin. Whatever it’s called, I’ve put 2 yards of the multi-colored print as my focus fabric, 2 yards of the black as my background fabric and a fat half-yard of each of the other fabrics into a Pizza Box, along with this block. I brought home someone else’s box and will make a block with their fabric and take it back next month. We’ll keep swapping until there are 12 blocks in the box when we will get to see what everyone made. This will be a quilt on next year’s UFO list.

Speaking of UFOs, I pulled out this whitework square that I started in 2005. I’ve been working on it all week. The spots are either tea or Diet Dr Pepper. I didn’t wash them out because it would have washed the quilting design out. My goal is for this to be my first finish of the year and the first UFO I cross off the list. We’ll see.

The last bit of quilting is this new to me Accuquilt Go!Big. I’ve had a bit of tennis/golf elbow and thought this will save some wear and tear on my joints. It came with 9 dies and an 8″ Mix and Match Qube. At the moment it is sitting on my folding cutting table which is open in the doorway between the Den and Quilting Studio. I’ll need to figure out a more permanent solution. Which I suppose is a good segue into the Remodeling portion of this post – if you are still reading.

The painters have been here all week. They’ll be here again on Thursday to put up the final coat of wall paint. This is the corner room. I had the shelves pulled out and between the light paint and the removal of the shelves this room feels so much bigger.

I pulled down the shelf on the far wall of this room as well. It just seemed to be too high on the wall. Another coat of paint is needed here as well. The paint in the two bedrooms is Crisp Linen.

This is the office which will be painted White Lilac – the same color as the Living Room and Dining Room.

With the paint done, the floor will get put down in these 3 rooms and the bedroom hallway next week. Which means it’s time to get serious about the master bedroom and bath.

The paint is Crisp Linen, except for the window wall. It will be Sherwin-Williams Danube.

I’ve picked this Akua mosaic tile for the accent, the white tile is the shower surround and the vanity counter and shower seat will be Snowflake granite. That’s the sum total of my planning, but need to get on the ball as by this rate I’ll be ready to start by the first of the month – not that any of the rooms will be finished – well maybe the front bedroom.

Posted in: BOM, House, Pizza Box

A Quilting Challenge – Really?!!

January 10, 2022 10:24 pm ⋅ Pam

I’m living in a house which has NO room completed, so naturally, I’m going to participate in my quilt guild’s UFO Challenge. I’ve picked 12 quilts which need to be completed and shown by December 5th, 2022.

1- Hand Quilted White Work. This is my oldest quilt “top” from sometime in 2005. I took a hand quilting class in preparation to quilt my DWR.

2 – QIAD Green & Cream Swap from the fall of 2006. It’s my 3rd oldest UFO.

3 – Johnny’s Strip Twist. I started this at a quilt retreat in 2016. I had problems with my 1/4″ seam, so started over. I have enough sections to make at least 2 quilts.

4 – Pink & Black Auction Crazy Strings. I bought the blocks at an auction in 2018. This will be the 3rd quilt I’ve made from them. I pulled the fabrics when I thought I was going to a Sit-n-Sew in December so I’m counting it.

5 – Christmas Wall Hanging. My SIL and I purchased the fabric for this quilt at the same time — July 2018. Hers is finished, I have part of 1 block done.

6 – Frolic the 2019 Quiltville Mystery Quilt. This looks like it just needs to be quilted. But I need to make the backing bigger, so I’ll be making more blocks.

7 – Baubles ‘N Beads – I made this top in August 2020 and just need to quilt it.

8 – Shimmer – I’m using the leftover fabric from Bauble ‘N Beads and Atomic Starburst to make this quilt. I started it August 2020.

9 – Atomic Starburst – the top was completed in March 2021, which is why it’s listed after Shimmer.

10 – MQA BOM – I finished the quilt top the end of September 2021 – so it is possible to piece with the house torn apart.

11 – Ruby’s Sampler – I started this the New Year’s Eve 2020. I still need to write up the patterns for the blocks and of course finish making the top. I need to make 4 more blocks.

12 – SQG BOM – The first block came out February 2021. I made 3 blocks before I stopped sewing last year to start packing. I didn’t get a picture of the 3rd block.

In addition to the above I’m participating in a Pizza Box Challenge – one block a month with one of my guilds & I’m considering a mystery quilt with the other guild. The retreat usually has a lotto block – I’ll try to make one; a swap block – I’ll probably skip this time; and a mystery quilt – which I may not do either.

My goal is to not start anything new, but now that I think about it, there’s a pot holder and possibly a sweatshirt jacket in my future.

Posted in: 2022 Brandon Quilters UFO, Atomic Star Burst, Bauble 'n Beads, Christmas Cardinals, Cream & Green Swap Sampler, Dancing Strings, Frolic, hand quilting, MQA BOM 2020, Ruby's Sampler, Shimmer, SQG 2021 BOM, Strip Twist, UFOs, Uncategorized

Design Wall Monday — on a Thursday

September 30, 2021 4:09 pm ⋅ Pam

Earlier this week I pulled out my Genie and set it up on a table in my office, along with my ironing board. The cutting table is in the front bedroom. This is the Mississippi Quilt Association Block of the Month. We got our first set of blocks via email 11/25/2020. The last blocks came in 1/26/2021. I finished the blocks the first week of February. I pulled the blocks out the end of March to finish the top, but didn’t find a border fabric I was happy with. Shortly there after I made the decision to move so there was no sewing/quilting for me.

The finished tops/quilts were to be shown at the June Gathering, but it was cancelled. The Fall Gathering is happening this weekend and the quilts will be shown.

The quilt is pinned to the studs where my design wall will be if I can ever find a contractor to insulate and sheetrock the walls. BTW, this is natural light around 3:45 PM this afternoon. I’ve plenty of light during the day, but night is an entirely different story.

Linking with Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday.

Posted in: designwall, MQA BOM 2020 ⋅ Tagged: MQA BOM 2020

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

April 3, 2021 1:11 am ⋅ Pam

It’s a new month and already I’ve touched 5 different projects.

First up is Shimmer. 3 more blocks. That makes 16 made correctly. Given that my design wall is not big enough for all of them, I pulled down the ones I made last month to make room for the rest of the blocks.

In the middle is this month’s BOM from the Guild. Now that it’s made, I’m second guessing my choice of this particular orange fabric. I’ll worry about it after I get the rest of the blocks made.

The next 3 blocks are from the Addicted to Scraps column in Quiltmaker. The pink one is Dakota Farmer from the November/December 2013 issue. The pink and white HST were pulled from my orphan block box. They were bonus HST from my Carolina Christmas. The pink squares came from my box of 2″ squares. The blue and burgundy block next to it is Four Patch Pinwheel from the January/February 2019 issue. Finally the green/neutral block is Betty’s Choice from March/April 2013. This brings my total to Addicted to Scrap blocks 15.

The last two blocks on the wall are the last two Easy Breezy leader/ender blocks. I’ve now made 140. Since I’m not certain how I plan to set these blocks I’ve pulled out my postage stamp quilt. I added 10 -15 2 patches to the bag.

350 Challenge April = 9
350 Challenge Cumulative = 191
Easy Breezy = 140

Posted in: 2021 - 350 Blocks, Addicted To Scraps, Easy Breezy, Shimmer, SQG 2021 BOM

Finished (or Not) Friday – 3/12/2021

March 12, 2021 7:51 am ⋅ Pam

Thursday I attended my first “public-ish” event in a year. My nephew’s senior project was directing a one act play. Masks were required, they were taking your temperature at the door and like a big exclusive event your name had to be on the list. I enjoyed myself and hope he gets a good grade on the project. Needless to say, it was 10:30 by the time I got home. Fortunately I had all the pieces cut for this block. It’s the 2nd one from my Guild’s BOM. This is the “Finish”.

As for the “or Not”, the wedding quilt is still on the frame with no new progress and the music theme ‘jelly roll race’ quilt is still hanging for inspiration. If you look real close you’ll see an Easy Breezy Block. A third of the month is gone and I’ve only made 2 blocks this month.