Category Archives: Challenges

What’s On My Design Wall

June 2, 2014 8:23 am ⋅ Pam

This morning I have two things to show. First up is Ladder to the Stars 2 – aka Deadline II. This is the quilt I made back in October to test my pattern which was published yesterday in The Quilt Pattern Magazine. Not only was I testing the pattern, I was also testing my quilting design. It was an epic fail, so I backed up and punted to get the original Ladder to the Stars quilted.

A very good friend ripped out all of the quilting for me and then I spent the last part of the week quilting this on my sewing machine. Curves in the sashing and straight lines in the blocks and setting triangles. The border has a diamond cable. I used bleached Warm and Natural batting and the thread – top & bottom – is — ~~well shoot. I’ve lost the label — I’ve used it before so I’ll dig through the blog and find the information and add it to this post later.~~ cairo-quilt 100% cotton in Honey Gold.

After washing the quilt finished at 57″ x 68″.

This quilt is on several of my UFO goal lists for the year, including the 2014 Finish Along sponsored by The Littlest Thistle. I’ll update the link when I link up.

In addition to finishing the quilt, I worked on my Jared Takes a Wife blocks. Two more seams on each block to go.

See what others are working on over at Patchwork Times.

Here’s the link to the 2nd Quarter Finish Party over at The Littlest Thistle and my 2nd Qtr list.

Posted in: 2014 Finish Along, designwall, Jared Takes a Wife, Ladder to the Stars

Finish Along 2014 – 2nd Quarter

April 7, 2014 8:54 pm ⋅ Pam

It’s time to list my 2nd quarter finish along projects. Of all the projects listed for the first quarter, I only finished the Tetris wall hanging. If I’m going to completely finish 15 or 16 projects this year and complete 7 flimsies, I need to do better this quarter.

So, left to right top to bottom:

Hancock Stars BOM – working on it quilt-as-you-go
Scrappy Trips (I finished the top last quarter – that’s progress, right?)
Christmas Row Swap – I have the batting and fabric for the backing
Easy As Pie – no, not quilting, but still counts for the Finish Along currently 136 stitches on the needle
String HST wall hanging – needs border and quilting
~~Music Baby Quilt~~ – needs the borders & quilting – Finished 5/3/14
~~Purple Thangles BOM~~ – need to make a decision about the backing and quilt it! Finished 6/23/14
Diamond Links – need to quilt about 3 rows and the border so I can bind it.
Yellow Thangles BOM – need to make a decision about the backing and quilt it!
DWR – need to finish quilting and bind – progress shown on right
Compass Lone Star – working on it quilt-as-you-go
~~Deadline II~~ – may need to be re-quilted before binding – Finished 6/1/14
Eeyore – a long way to go
Cream and Green Swap – working on it quilt-as-you-go

As I did last quarter, I’m listing the quilts that I’ve decided to finish or may finish before the year is up. I tend to wander in my quilting, so who knows what I’ll really work on this quarter. I can say that the Music Baby Quilt is first on the list. My best guess after that is Eeyore, the shawl, Scrappy Trips and Deadline II – that is if something new doesn’t pop up.

Check out the lists of what others are planning for this quarter by following the link over to The Littlest Thistle.

Posted in: 2014 Finish Along

What’s On My Design Wall

March 3, 2014 8:59 am ⋅ Pam

Friday night and all day Saturday, I attended a local PhD retreat — Projects Half Done — sponsored by a local quilt shop. In keeping with the theme of Projects Half Done and to work on this year’s UFO list, I took my Orca Bay to work on.

No, I did not do all of that this past weekend. I just those purple string triangles that I have stacked up in a square. Yesterday I took stock of what I had done before packing the project away for another retreat. I was afraid that I had more star blocks to make, but it turns out I have nearly 70 +/- QST extra units. Whew!

So, now I have completed all of the clues up through 6. In clue # 7, I have 4 more black & white triangle units to make and I need to cut neutral triangles for the border. The box has not been put back on the shelf, so I may go ahead and cut the remaining pieces so it will be ready to go for the next retreat.

The shamrock is either a wall hanging or the first block of a new quilt – I haven’t decided yet. It was made as part of the fun and games at the retreat.

Next week, I hope to show progress on Eeyore, but we’ll see. I’ve started the border on the shawl….

Check out the links over at Patchwork Times. I’m sure we’ll see some great inspiration.

Posted in: designwall, UFO Challenge 2014

March’s Quilting Goals

March 1, 2014 12:45 am ⋅ Pam

March’s goals in many ways are a repeat of February’s goals.

Make “visible” progress on the Double Wedding Ring
Make progress on Eeyore
Make the “O” block for the Alphabet BOM
Make progress on Orca Bay
Bonus – make the backing for Scrappy Trips

I’ll work on the DWR this month in smaller increments. I irritated my wrist last month with my marathon quilting session.

Same goal for Eeyore — get the applique done.

Orca Bay is this weekend’s retreat project. I’m working on the red string blocks which I’m making in purple. I’ll probably put the project away after the retreat and save it for the next one since I didn’t work on Eeyore at all in February.

Now if I can keep the knitting going along, but not taking over, I might just get this list done. Of course having 3 more days in the month will make a difference too.

Posted in: goals, UFO Challenge 2014

What’s On My Design Wall

February 24, 2014 7:41 am ⋅ Pam

This past week I finished both Deadline III and Baby Deadline III. It will be some time before I can reveal the quilts.

The month started with 4 definite goals and a bonus goal. So far I’ve met two of those goals. There are only 5 days left in the month. I best get in gear. And somewhere along the way, I need to figure out what I’m going to take to the PhD (Project Half Done) retreat Friday and Saturday — that is if it still works out that I can go. It may come down to the wire before I know for certain.

Be sure to check out the links over at Patchwork Times to see what others have been working on.

Posted in: designwall, UFO Challenge 2014

What’s On My Design Wall

February 10, 2014 7:53 am ⋅ Pam

Friday night I pulled out my Double Wedding Ring quilt and worked on it on and off over the weekend. All that is left to quilt are part of the end blocks.

To see what others have on their Design Walls follow the links over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: 2014 Finish Along, designwall, dwr

Friday Night Quilting

February 7, 2014 11:33 pm ⋅ Pam

Well, the little quilt is quilted. I should be able to replicate the quilting on the larger quilt without marking near as much. But first I have to rip out the quilting I did last week on the large quilt.

But first, since I had “scheduled” tonight to work on my DWR when I got home I did a bit – including threading all my needles again. Two full rings and the edge hearts left to go. If I would stop and just work on this I could get it done in no time. But after 24 years and 4 months, what’s the hurry? Perhaps my NEW goal should be to finish it by the end of September – 25 years after I started it. — Remind me of that if I haven’t started the binding by August, will you?

Posted in: dwr, UFO Challenge 2014

A UFO Bites the Dust

January 28, 2014 1:10 am ⋅ Pam

The summer of 2012, Melissa at Happy Quilting, hosted a Tetris Quilt-a-Long. Not wanting to start a big project, I made a wall hanging. Yesterday I finally got around to quilting it.

The top measures 12-1/4″ x 33-1/2″. I used black thread and quilted in the ditch around each “piece” and the letters. I used a black batting — I can’t remember now who made it, other than it is not Hobbs because I remember speaking to the sales guy at a quilt show to find out why it was discontinued. I had purchased a whole slew of the craft size at Jo-Ann’s when they had it on clearance for next to nothing.

The binding is a stripe that I found in my stash.

I’ll link up with Finish Along 2014 over at The Littlest Thistle the end of March. This is also on my Quilt With Us UFO List and My Girlfriends Quilt Shop UFO list. The Littlest Thistle list is HERE.

Posted in: UFO Challenge 2014

Finish Along 2014

January 9, 2014 11:39 pm ⋅ Pam

I found another challenge to help keep me on task. The Littlest Thistle is hosting the 2014 Finish Along. To participate make a list of your Finishes you anticipate you’ll complete this quarter and then link it up. Fortunately, there’s no penalty if you don’t finish something on your list and you can roll it over to next quarter. They do however have to be DONE, DONE, not just done to the top stage. When you finish something on your list, write a post and get an entry to win a prize and more importantly the satisfaction of completing something. Oh, and it’s not limited to quilts.

Not that I think I’ll get through this list by the end of March, I’ve decided to list nearly everything on my 2014 Tops to Quilt and Tops to Complete lists so I don’t have to make a decision today about what I’ll do tomorrow.

String HST Wall Hanging – needs border and quilting
Tetris QAL – needs quilting (shoot, I have the thing sandwiched!)
Hancock Stars BOM – working on it quilt as you go
Green & Cream Swap – working on it quilt as you go
Scrappy Trips – nearly a top, but won’t count until I get it quilted & bound for this challenge
Christmas Row Swap – I have the batting, and fabric for the backing
Compass Lone Star – still piecing stars and working on it quilt as you go
Eeyore – way early in the process as only Piglet is done
Diamond Links – need to quilt about 3 rows and the border so I can bind it.
Purple Thangles BOM – need to make a decision about the backing then quilt it!
Yellow Thangles BOM – need to make a decision about the backing then quilt it!
Double Wedding Ring – finish the hand quilting, my virtual progress can be seen on the sidebar.

The linky party for the 2014 1st Quarter Finish Along is HERE along with the official rules.

Posted in: 2014 Finish Along

Scrappy Trips Progress

January 8, 2014 11:10 pm ⋅ Pam

After putting Deadline IV into the wash, I pulled out Scrappy Trips, my treadle project. I needed to finish up about a dozen blocks. Now that I have I’m ready to sew them into a top. Earlier tonight I re-arranged blocks until I got them organized, but I think I want to swap the 4th block on the 3rd row with the 5th block on the 4th row before I sew the top right quarter together.

This is #9 on my Tops to Complete list.

Posted in: Scrappy Trips, treadle, UFO Challenge 2014