Category Archives: Rivanna

What’s on My Design Wall

May 7, 2023 11:43 pm ⋅ Pam

This is a photo I took Saturday afternoon. Friday night I was cutting fabric for a couple of new quilts and cut something wrong, so I decided I needed to focus.

Clockwise, starting on the long arm

Christmas Star Swap on the long arm
Squedge 18 degree tablerunner on the design wall
Community Quilt for Brandon Quilters (brown bag on floor by design wall)
Auction Quilt from Brandon Quilters (butterfly bag on floor by design wall)
Postage Stamp Leader/Ender because I need to cut more HST for Rivanna (brown bin)
Pink, Green, & Purple Quilted Sweatshirt
An old sheet to make some body pillow cases
Fairy Frost Sunset pillowcase and remaining fabric to process
Christmas Star Swap pillowcases & binding fabric
HSTs for Rivanna
Kimberly from Stripology 3
Tara from Stripology 3
Crystal from Stripology 3

So this is the progress I made over the weekend. I’ve left the numbers the same, but obviously stuff has been moved around.

Christmas Star Swap is off the frame and trimmed. Not only that, I have the binding cut (it’s on the far side of the sewing machine) and most the trimmings have been processed.
Squedge 18 table runner is now a top. There is a pile of fabric on the corner of the ironing board that is for the backing and binding. I counted wrong and have some extra wedge pieces, so I may end up making either a square table topper or a pillow.
The Community Quilt is still waiting to be quilted.
The Auction Quilt will be up next on the longarm.
Postage Stamp Leader/Ender. It’s put away. I only sew use the 1-1/2″ squares as my L/E when I don’t have another L/E project going on.
Pink, Green, and Purple Quilted Sweatshirt is still waiting to be finished — I don’t need it until September, so I have some time.
An old sheet to make some body pillow cases – I’ll work on it after I get the Christmas quilt bound while the longarm is running.
Fairy Frost Sunset pillowcase is pinned to the design wall. The extra fabric is processed and put away.
Christmas Star Swap pillowcase and extra binding if I need it. I won’t make it until after the quilt is bound in case I need more fabric for the binding.
HST for Rivanna. I trimmed the 60+ HST which were sewn, then cut another 240, which should keep me going for a while.
Kimberly from Stripology 3 – 4 of the 14 fabrics are cut
Tara from Stripology 3 – 4 of the 14 fabrics are cut
Crystal from Stripology 3 – I’ll the fabric for this quilt after I get the rest of the fabric cut.

As I was recording my most recent purchases I realized I missed the April Stash Report.

Posted in: Christmas Star Swap, Crystal, Fairy Frost Sunset, GE Designs, Kimberly, Leaders & Enders, Moms Sweatshirt, Pillowcases, Rivanna, Rulers, Squedge 18, Stash Busting Report, table runner, Tara

A Whirlwind Trip

April 16, 2023 10:09 pm ⋅ Pam

Last Thursday morning my SIL and I headed off to the Kansas City metro area. The occasion? The start of Hunter Quilt Marts Customer Appreciation sale where everything in the store is 25% off. (I’m not sure is that is true for sewing machines and longarms). I was in need of quilt batting. I’m down to about 9 yards on my king roll and maybe 9 yards on my queen roll.

After 12 hours switching off the driving every few hours we arrived at my brother’s just outside of Ottawa (KS). We visited that evening and Friday morning. We then headed toward the city where I visited with a friend from my previous guild for a few minutes — she was holding some quilt books for me (will do a post on those books) and we did another small task that I cannot do here in Mississippi. Then we kept driving north to St Joseph (MO) where we visited with my sister who had quilts I had purchased from a guild members estate via proxy. We spent the night, heading to bed early so we could get to Hunters Quilt Mart in Centerview (MO).

The goal was to get there by 10:15 or so because we wanted to leave by Noon so we could get to another shop before they closed. We got there at 10:45. Oops.

We both had lists. Ruby started with her notions and notions she remembered from my list. I headed to the thread.

All of these are Glide 40wt thread which stitches beautifully with no tension issues. Cool Gray 7, Mercury, Biscotti, Magic Mint, Grape, Salmon, Strawberry Blonde, and Yellow Whisper. All of these are replacement cones except for Salmon and Yellow Whisper.

As for the notions, I picked up needles for the longarm, an 8″ rotating mat, a Hot Ruler, a tube of bobbins, 2 backlash springs for my bobbin case, a new ruler and small snips. The small snips were not on my list. They did not have the Brother bobbins for my sewing machine in stock, but now I know exactly what I’m looking for.

That just left backings – not that any of these quilts are finished (or started in some cases). At the top left is the backing for my Quartered Squared quilt which I haven’t started. In the middle is the backing for Cascade which clearly hasn’t been started. At the top right is the backing for my Rivanna which is my current leader/ender project. I have just over half of the HST made for it. That’s the left over FQs sitting on top of it. At the bottom is the backing for Star Studded, a BOM I started in 2019. It turns out I only have to made the center star and assemble it.

Although the batiks were calling to me, I remained strong and stopped shopping. We checked out, stopped by the batting and told them what we bought and headed to the car to unload it so we could load the batting. A Honda CRV has more cargo room than my Nissan Cube. The same amount of batting was brought home, but I had plenty of leg room this year and there were 2 us in the car!

Where we went next later this week.

Posted in: books, Cascade, Longarm, notions, Rivanna, shopping, Star Studded

Chilhowie is Ready to Quilt

March 18, 2023 12:09 pm ⋅ Pam

I’m ready to load Chilhowie on the longarm. I just need to figure out how I’m going to quilt it. It is one row longer than Bonnie’s quilt as I want to put it on a bed. After attaching the last border, I put away all of the fabric processing the bits and pieces into my Scrap Users System. The only fabric left out is yardage for the binding and a matching pillowcase.

My leader/ender project this year is Rivanna. Started in August, I’m about 2/5 of from finishing all of the HST I need.

Meanwhile, last weekend I decided to go on a road trip to Monroe, Louisiana. I went specifically to look at the Husqvarna sewing machines. But of course that was in a quilt shop, so a few FQ came home with me. Eight of those pictured above are from Material Things. The other 8 are from Quilt ‘n Stitch in West Monroe.

Some yardage also came home with me.

Now off to load Chilhowie.

Posted in: Chilhowie, Rivanna, Stash

Design Wall Monday

January 2, 2023 1:50 am ⋅ Pam

On this first Design Wall Monday of 2023, I have a quilt top finish. This is the log cabin quilt I started piecing at the quilt retreat in September. When I packed up after the retreat half the blocks needed 3 logs and the rest just needed two logs. I got those added last week and started piecing the top New Year’s Eve. I had the first half finished about 4 minutes before the clock struck midnight, ringing in the new year. The 2nd half of the top was finished by 11:30 PM on the 1st. Up next is the quilting.

This is the backing I’m planning on using. Now to figure out the quilting design.

As I was assembling the quilt my Rivanna HST were getting created. At last count I had 11 bags of HST. I still have a few more of this combination, then it will be on to another fabric. I have 2 more fabrics prepped.

I’ve stitched a bit more on my Faux Applique. This is a direct result of the Final Countdown Challenge over at Prairie Moon Quilts.

Chilhowie Clue 6 will be worked on this week. It’s simple enough, but I ran out of bobbin thread the night I was working on it, then got caught up with the log cabin.

Posted in: 2023 Brandon Quilters UFO, Chilhowie, designwall, Faux Applique, Final Countdown, Leaders & Enders, log cabin, Rivanna

What’s on My Design Wall

December 19, 2022 9:33 am ⋅ Pam

Over the weekend I finished both Clue #3 and Clue #4 of the Quiltville Mystery Quilt Chilhowie. I saw some grumbling about folks running out of orange fabrics and I think I know why. Although 2 yards is mathematically 1/2 yard more than is needed, when working from FQs and needing matching sets, if the orange squares from Clue #2 were not evenly distributed from each FQ and not cut along the width of the FQ I can see where you would run out if you only purchased 8 FQs. I had 13.

My current Leader & Ender project is Rivanna. I think I have 30 different fabrics, so I’m about 1/4 of the way through the HST. This is a quilt for my guest bed, so there’s no rush.

After finishing Clue # 4, I worked on the sashings for my Pizza Box quilt. The units for the inner portion of the border sashing is done and now I’m working on the outer portion. I hope to have everything pieced before the next clue comes out.

But I’m already planning my next quilt – or rather how to finish a quilt on my UFO list. I pulled the fabrics on the left from my stash, but naturally I don’t have enough fabric, so a trip the LQS was in order to see what I could find. The fabric on the right came home with me. I love the that diagonal stripe as a binding. We’ll see if I use it or not. My plan is to have my decorating Christmas Quilting done by July this year as the guild program that month is Christmas Quilts by our members. I have 2 Christmas quilts on next years UFO Challenge list. The list was complied and turned in prior to knowing what the program was going to be. I might have added a 3rd quilt had I known.

Posted in: 2023 Brandon Quilters UFO, Chilhowie, Christmas Star Swap, Leaders & Enders, Pizza Box, Rivanna

Design Wall Monday – After Thanksgiving Edition

November 28, 2022 11:00 am ⋅ Pam

Since we are talking Thanksgiving weekend, naturally we have to start with the Quiltville Mystery Quilt by Bonnie Hunter. This year’s quilt is Chilhowie. Information on the quilt can be found HERE. All though the clue was not difficult, it took me all weekend to get it done. Once the clue came out, I decided I wanted another piece of white batik. My SIL and I went to Stitch-in-Frame in Bovina, Mississippi. It’s about a 45 minute drive. Afterwards we went on to Vicksburg for lunch at Rusty’s – awesome catfish and we split a Mississippi Mud Brownie.

We’ve been hearing about how low the Mississippi River is low. It’s about 10 feet where historically it is closer to 13 or 14. This picture was taken at 2:47.

Just a few minutes later – 3:01 the fog started rolling in. I finally started working on the quilt Friday evening.

Saturday morning, after receiving notice that my nephew’s quilt top is on the way to me, I pulled out Baubles-n-Beads to get it quilted. I started by pulling out all my gold thread. I apparently have quite a variety. LtoR: Mocha, Khaki, Biscotti, Sand, Dijon, Military Gold, Buttercup and Vegas Gold. That’s Bombay on the far right which I used in the background. I ended up using Sand since it matched the topstitching on the quilt.

It was after I finished the quilting on Baubles-n-Beads that I worked on Chilhowie. I ended up with 18 HST, which still need trimming for Rivanna, my Leader/Ender project.\

On my design wall proper I have blocks for 2 quilts. The black and bright blocks are from the Pizza Block challenge I participated in with Quilters By Hearts Desire. I have one more block to make. The blocks on the right are from the 2021 Starlight Quilters BOM. I still have a few more blocks to make. My goal is to get this quilt finished by December 6th.

Posted in: Bauble 'n Beads, Chilhowie, designwall, Pizza Box, Rivanna

July 2022 Road Trip Fabric

October 26, 2022 2:05 pm ⋅ Pam

While in Kansas City, my SIL and I did a quilt shop hop of our own making. I knew I wanted to go to Hunters Quilt Mart in Centerview, Missouri since the batiks were on sale. I am making Bonnie Hunter’s Rivanna in batiks on black. I picked up 18 of the batiks at Hunters and more at other shops during the week. Since I’ve been home I’ve brought my total count up to 30.

The pictures are sorted by ‘quilt’, not shops and are not in the order I visited the shops. The Magnolia, gold, cream and gold & green piece I found at Hunters. I think the dark green, almost black I found at Stitch On in Lawrence, Kansas and the bottom green on green was in the bucket I won at the Guild meeting! It’s going to be the backing. As I look at this picture I think I have an extra fabric.

The stripe in the middle I found at Missouri Star, which is where I picked up the pattern Quartered Stripes. The purple fabric I bought on a whim while I was at Hunter’s. Later that week we called and ordered the rest of the bolt as we discovered it works so well with several fabrics we picked up.

The final stack of fabric is from a variety of shops and are not for specific projects. The solids were on the clearance rack at Hunters. the FQs I bought at Mes Amis in New Orleans. The black on white I found at KC Maker Studio.

Tuesday we stopped in at Show-Me-Quilting in Raytown, MO specifically to pick up a couple of things I ordered on line — the book and blue fabric in the left picture. I picked up some cork to use in bag making and found fabric on clearance for the quilt, binding and backing. Of course now that I look at the stripe, I’m not sure it will work well for the Quarter Stripes quilt.

Purchased at Mes Amis, the tiger stripe will be the backing to the purple, yellow & white Athena I’m making. The green backing I picked up at Missouri Star to make tablecloths. I’m not sure where I found the red buttons. I purchased it for the centers of a log cabin quilt, but then opted for another fabric.

I love these waterlilies and dragonflies. The prints I picked up at Missouri Star, there’s that purple again from Hunters. I’m not sure where I picked up the pink/lavender.

At Prairie Point Quilt and Fabric Shop in Lenexa, Kansas I picked up fabric to make a blouse and the pattern for a bag. The bag fabric came from KC Maker Studio off the clearance rack.

Notions from Mes Amis, KC Maker Studio and Missouri Star, thread from Hunter’s Quilt Mark, and the barn wood star from the grocery store in Hamilton, Missouri.

I’m happy to report that the tablecloths are made.