Quilting and Stuff by Knitnoid

Category Archives: Atomic Star Burst

Finish It Friday

On this Finish It Friday I have 2 quilts to share.  First up is my Atomic Starburst, shown here hanging in my foyer on the new hanging rod.

This is one of three quilts I made with the FQ Bundle of Radiance + 10 ‘solids’.   I’ve finished Shimmer, and still need to quilt Bauble ‘n Beads.

In each of the diamonds I placed a motif from a Double Wedding Ring Melon, then morphed it to fit the diamond. I did ruler work in the sashings and the starburst blocks.

 

My other finish this Friday is my 2019-2020 Quiltville Mystery quilt, Frolic.

I enlarged it and changed up the borders.  It measured 118″ x 118″ before I quilted and washed it. Here it is hanging on my 12-foot quilting frame. I opted to do an all over Edge-to-Edge design called Fresco Feathers.

I only have 8-foot ceilings, so I don’t wait a minute, I have vaulted ceilings in my den, I might be able to get a straight on picture — if I had something wide enough to hang it on.  I’ll have to think on that for another time. Here it is on my driveway before binding.

I bought a wide backing, but it wasn’t wide enough, so I added in a strip with ‘extra’ blocks.  In reality I made those specifically for the backing.

 

A Quilting Challenge – Really?!!

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.

 

 

Finished (or Not) Friday – 4/2/2021

The April Fools joke was on me.  I went back to the gym for the first time in a year and it wiped me out.  As a result absolutely nothing got done. Of course the trip to Walmart and the grocery store probably didn’t help either.

What you see here is Shimmer, a few of my  Easy Breezy leader/ender blocks, my latest Addicted to Scraps block and the corner of Atomic Starburst.  Perhaps over the weekend I can get Shimmer on down the line and will have figured out how to quilt Atomic Starburst.

Meanwhile, check out the other quilts on AlyciaQuilts Finished (or Not) Friday.

One Monthly Goal – April

Decisions, decisions. What do I pick for my One Monthly Goal, a challenge hosted by Elm Street Quilts. Do  I pick finishing the top to Shimmer…

quilt and bind Atomic Starburst…

or quilt and bind Baubles ‘n Beads?

Yes, there is a theme here — all of the quilts I’ve made with my FQ Bundle of Radiance which I purchased in July 2019.

I think I’ll go with Shimmer.

The Continuation of Shimmer

Work on Shimmer continues.  After another cutting mistake I’ve decided I’m stitching then cutting.  I have no guarantee that I’ll have fabric to replace my mistakes.  I’ve discovered that some of my fabric pairing choices don’t have enough contrast, but I’m going to leave it.

I’m also contemplating quilting ideas for Atomic Starburst. I haven’t settled on anything yet, so I haven’t loaded the quilt.  Of course I need to make the backing first.

Also on my list of things to think about is how I’m going to set my Easy Breezy blocks.  I only have 6 left to make. After that I’ll need to find something else for my Leader/Ender project.  In the short term I may just pull out my Postage Stamp pieces.

  • 350 Challenge March = 58
  • 350 Challenge Cumulative = 172
  • Easy Breezy = 134

Design Wall Monday – 3/29/2021

Today’s design wall appears to be a throw back to August 2020.

I know you are thinking — didn’t she finish this quilt top last summer?  The answer is  Yes, but no.

When it came time to trim it up, (back when I could see my hearth) it wasn’t right, but I couldn’t put my finger on what the problem was. Look close – see the blue and yellow star?

It’s not lining up. I couldn’t see it last summer, but yesterday when the top was uncovered by my cleaning, I spotted the problem right away.  Apparently this top needed to be in timeout for a while.

Gracie helped me rip out the seam.

Once it was in two pieces it was easy to see where the mistake was made.  I think this was the last seam.   I  haven’t decided if I’ll trim it before or after I quilt it.  I’m leaning to after.  So, I’ll spend a day or two trying to figure out how  I want to quilt it.  I have to keep in mind, that — oh, this is March — I was thinking in the next 2 weeks I needed to load my nephews graduation quilt on the machine to quilt — but there’s  8, not 4 more weeks to graduation.  So, I will be able to keep this on the frame for a couple of weeks and still get his quilt done.

As for my piecing project,  I’ve pulled Shimmer out.  It went into time out because I made 2 different cutting errors on the same block. Since the above picture was taken, I’ve finished cutting the white for the rest of the blocks, and completed a block.

This is not a quick sew. I watched 2 episodes of Deep Space Nine without commercials in the time it took to complete this block.  I have 21 left to make. Hopefully it will get faster.

I’m linking up with Small Quilts for Design Wall Monday.

  • 350 Challenge March = 53
  • 350 Challenge Cumulative = 167
  • Easy Breezy = 132

No Sewing, Just Fabric Cutting

I am making Shimmer using the same main fabrics I used in  Atomic Starburst and Baubles ‘n Beads.  It started with a FQ Bundle of Radiance by  Dan Morris for QT Fabrics.  Here they are laid out with background I used in those two quilts.

I only used a 5 1/2″ strip from the width of the FQs, so I had a 12 1/2 x 21 piece left.  Each block uses 3 fabrics plus the background.  To get the scrappy look, all of pieces of a block are cut from each FQ.  The pieces are separated by where they are used in the block.

The large square and rectangle are “A”, the small rectangle and squares are “B”. Not pictured here is “C” the medium squares for the HSTs. Since I didn’t have a true FQ, I opted to use the “solid” FQs (or what was left of them) for “C”.  I still didn’t have enough fabric, so each of the “starburst” fabrics I used in Atomic Starburst will also be used as “C” in one block.  The colors are not true in the picture below.

Needless to say, I simply cannot make any cutting mistakes.  There is no more fabric.  Each fabric was cut individually, as if I did make a mistake I wanted to limit it to a single fabric. Sure enough I did make mistakes – most of which I was able to recover from with no issues.  But one of the fabrics I had to find another solution.  I’m guessing when this unit is in the block and the top is quilted no one will notice.

I finished cutting and sorting A & B last night.

After I make the HSTs, I’ll add them to each of the block sets.  But of course before I do that I need to cut the background fabric. This is what I’m using.  I had 3 yards in my recent stash. I bought it for Frolic but didn’t use it.

 

Shimmer Begins

I crossed one more thing off The List and decided I didn’t need to wait to get ALL of the items done before starting Shimmer, a Cluck Cluck Sew pattern.

This will be the 3rd quilt from the Radiance bundle of FQs. After triple checking my cutting diagram, I counted my FQs and realized that I could get a twin size quilt from the remaining fabrics if I cut a pair of squares from each of the fabrics I used for the Starbursts in Atomic Starburst.  So, that’s the plan.

This is going to be slow going unless I get up the gumption to cut more than one FQ at a time.  The block uses chevrons, reverse chevrons, snowball corners and seam which are pressed open.  All of which slow me down.  But I’m confident it will be worth it in the end.

After struggling last night with the chevrons, I ordered the Simple Folded Corners Mini from the Quiltville Store. I’ve resisted ordering this, but last night I ended up trimming one of the chevron units then stitching it with a 1/4″ seam.  I really liked the results and it means I don’t have to keep fiddling with my needle position going back and forth between a 1/4″ seam and stitch on the line.

Easy Breezy = 55

Radiance Bundle Continues

Yes, this is the start of a new quilt.  Bauble ‘n Beads by Cat Nix Designs. The fabric is Radiance by Dan Morris for QT Fabrics.  If you think you have seen this before, you have.  It’s the same fabric that I used for Atomic Starbust, designed by Violet Craft.

Yes, I’ve finished piecing the top.  I now need to trim the top to size and get it quilted.

Easy Breezy = 48

Atomic Starburst Progress

Yesterday I added the sashing to all of the blocks.  I started sewing them together, but discovered quickly these diamonds have no nesting seams so it’s tough to get the intersections to match.  My seam ripper is going to get a work out as I put this top together.

But first, I need to prep more Easy Breezy blocks.

Easy Breezy = 43