Quilting and Stuff by Knitnoid

Category Archives: Wonky Dishes

The Binding Begins

February 16, 2021 9:53 am ⋅

I cannot believe I’m hand stitching another binding down. I don’t think I’ll be finished by next Tuesday, but I’m going to show the quilt anyway.  I would love to get a snow pic, but with any luck by the time I’m done with the binding the snow will be melted.

Yesterday I was in my sewing room cutting the strips around noon.  I didn’t have any lights on because it was bright enough with the light streaming through the big picture window. At one point I walked into the kitchen to put my lunch in the microwave. I opened my refrigerator and the light was out.  I looked around the kitchen and realized the power was out.  The rolling blackouts had started – only I didn’t know that’s what was going on.

I called the power company, they said it would be another 1-1/2 hours before power was restored.  I sent an email to my bosses at work via my phone to let them know I had now power, fixed lunch and sat down to eat.  In less than 20 minutes the power was back up.   On the news they said the outages in our area were up to an hour.  This morning as I was looking at the clocks which I had not reset, sure enough they were about 45 minutes off.

My power had been off for about 25 minutes by the time I noticed it.  Had I been anywhere else in the house other than my sewing room, I would have noticed immediately.

Posted in: binding, wonky dishes

Design Wall Monday – 2/15/21

February 14, 2021 11:43 pm ⋅

I still need to bind the wonky dishes quilt, but it is quilted.

The next blocks in Ruby’s Sampler is done.  I need to stop and write the directions for this block and the one I did Saturday.

No new Easy Breezy blocks were made.  I need to stop and kit up pieces.  I think I’ll dig into the scrap boxes under my longarm for more variety since I’ve used just about everything in my 1-1/2″ strip box.

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

  • 350 Challenge February = 41
  • 350 Challenge Cumulative = 97
  • Easy Breezy = 111
Posted in: 2021 - 350 Blocks, designwall, wonky dishes

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

February 14, 2021 1:10 am ⋅

I spent the better part of Saturday in my sewing room.  First up were 3 more of the Addicted to Scrap Blocks.   That’s Hot Cross Buns from Nov/Dec ’10, Scrap Basket from Mar/Apr ’11, and 4 Patch X from Sep/Oct ’10. I pulled out my bonus HSTs for the last two blocks.  My entire cutting board was covered in bits and pieces of leftover blocks and parts.  I was not working on ripping out the quilting on the Wonky Dishes quilt. Given I have a deadline, even if it is self-imposed, I shoved everything back in to the box and put away my Addicted to Scrap Blocks.  My current plan is when I receive each issue of Quiltmaker over the next 2 years, I’ll make the current block plus 6 of the ‘backlog’ blocks.

Eventually, I did get the quilting ripped out.  I finished up the feathered squares and found a feathered circle to put in the smaller blocks. In fact, I finished all of the quilting in the neutral squares.  Now I have to go back and quilt the broken dish units.

While the computer was running the machine, I made one of the sampler blocks for my SILs sampler quilt. I started another block but ran into issues with my instructions. Since this was about 10:30 and the quilting was done I decided to call it a night.

I have just 9 days left on my Personal Challenge and I oscillate between I’m not going to get my main list done and I might just make it happen.  Here’s the latest status:

  • Alphabet BOM – Complete the top, I have a plan.
  • MQA BOM – Assuming the rest of the tops is released I’d like to get at a minimum the rest of the blocks made. – Done 2/7
  • Red, White & Blue Wonky Broken Dishes – Quilt and Bind.  This is what I want to show at the meeting. – in progress
  • Moda U – finish the binding. – Done 1/25
  • Ruby’s BOM – I’d like to get at least the next 4 blocks made and instructions written. – in progress
  • Runaround Bag – Everyone needs a new start on occasion. This is mine. – Done 1/16
  • Wedding Quilt – Finish the top. – Done 2/6

I’ll go on the record and say none of the stretch goals are going to happen.

  • 350 Challenge February = 40
  • 350 Challenge Cumulative = 96
  • Easy Breezy = 111
Posted in: 2021 - 350 Blocks, 2021 Personal 1, Addicted To Scraps, Alphabet Blocks, Ruby's Sampler, wonky dishes

A New Project?!?

February 13, 2021 12:35 am ⋅

Back in December I gave myself a 2 year subscription to Quiltermaker magazine.  That is the magazine with Bonnie Hunter’s Addicted to Scraps column. At the time I pondered putting together a quilt using the patterns from the column, but that was as far as I got.  Then Thursday I received the March/April issue and Friday I received the January/February issue.  This prompted me to start the project.

Pictured below the Easy Breezy blocks (#110 & 111) are In & Out from the J/F ’21 issue, Around the Corner from M/A ’21, Spinner from M/A ’10, 4 Patch X from S/O ’10, and Carolina Chain from M/J ’10.  I pulled Carolina Chain from my orphan block box. It was leftover from my Carolina Chain quilt which I started in May/June 2018.

I’ve setup a page to track my progress under Quilts In Progress. For all I know this may go the way of other long-term projects.  I’ll get there eventually.

As for the Wonky Dishes quilt, I’m still ripping. I got about 1/3 of it ripped out.  I’ll work on it some more in the morning.

 

  • 350 Challenge February = 36
  • 350 Challenge Cumulative = 92
  • Easy Breezy = 111
Posted in: 2021 - 350 Blocks, Addicted To Scraps, Easy Breezy, wonky dishes

Don’t Get Cocky

February 12, 2021 12:46 am ⋅

My free-motion quilting will never improve if I keep using the computer on my quilting machine, but when it looks so good (and wasn’t cheap), it’s hard not to use it.

Yesterday I had a half-baked plan and I’ve tweaked it. The spots with the Xs I’ve done.  Well, I’ve done more but didn’t go back and take a picture.

I wanted my feathers to show motion. This is what I came up with.  The tail will point the direction, going around in a circle.  Of course now that I look at this, maybe I should have pointed the far right blocks toward the top center.  Oh well.  That is what a practice quilt is for.  Anyway, the center block has no point. On the second row of blocks, in the middle I ran out of bobbin, then my program shut down.  Fortunately it was only the last two feathers in the wreath, so I did them free hand as it was easier than trying to realign the software.

I need practice (see opening comment).

But that’s not when I got cocky.

I dropped my motif in what I thought was a boundary.  I thought it was a bit large on the screen, and ignored my instincts.  I started up the machine and it started where I thought it was supposed to. I went back to my lap top to search for the perfect pattern for the small neutral blocks (I think I found it).  With about 3 feathers left to stitch I realized the machine was stitching all over the HSTs – not because it was doing something wrong, but because I told it wrong.  I stopped the machine and started ripping out.  That will be tomorrow’s after work activity.

I’m second guessing my thread color now as well.  Originally I was going to use a red, white and blue thread on the top and a blue bobbin. But I changed my mind and opted for Linen on the top. Not wanting to deal with blue coming through to the top, I used Linen in the bobbin.

When I wrote this post, I forgot that I needed to link it up to Finished (or Not) Friday over at Alycia Quilts.

Posted in: wonky dishes

A Partial Decision

February 10, 2021 11:48 pm ⋅

I’ve come to a partial decision.  I’m going to use  Feathered Square Block # 1 in the larger neutral areas.  If you look closely you might see the “tail” in the top right corner.  I’m going to rotate the block so that tail “leads”. It’s not exactly what I was visualizing, but I hope it will at least evoke in my mind what I was after.  As for the rest of the quilt — who  knows.  I have 4 more of these to do before that decision needs to be made.

 

Posted in: wonky dishes

Quilting Design Dilema

February 9, 2021 6:45 am ⋅

Sunday afternoon I pieced the back for the Red, White, & Blue Wonky Dishes quilt.  Yes, when it comes to plaids, they must match.  That goes way back to my garment sewing days.  That was the easy part.

The quilt is loaded. but now I have to figure out the quilting design.  I want to use this quilt to practice the quilting for the wedding quilt.

About the only thing I know is that I want the quilting to enhance the ‘rings’.  I’m just struggling with what the motif to use.  I guess I need to pull out a big white board and start doodling until I figure something out. This quilt is on my 2021 Personal Challenge #1 list and is the quilt I want to show at the Guild meeting later this month.

 

Posted in: 2021 Personal 1, Wedding Quilt, wonky dishes

Design Wall Monday – 2/1/21

February 1, 2021 8:39 am ⋅

It’s Monday and the 1st of the month, so there’s lots to link up.

If you’ve been following my posts in January, you may be thinking to yourself “Haven’t I seen this before?”.  But I promise, this is a new picture for Design Wall Monday.

I spent the weekend working on my Guild’s website and only got in a bit of quilting.  This is all of the pieces for the rest of the wedding quilt.  The lavender broken dishes are made, and have the seafoam HST ready to stitch.

Ideally, yesterday’s post should have been my accomplishment post to One Monthly Goal over at Elm Street Quilts. I really had hoped I’d have this top finished. It’s still in many pieces. But this is where I am now:

The pieces above

Half the quilt from earlier in the month.

And 1/4 of the top from early last week.  Perhaps by this Friday.

So, what is my One Monthly Goal for February?  I could say finish the wedding top, since I’m confident it will get finished, but instead I’m going with Quilt the Red, White & Blue Wonky Dishes.

I want to work out my quilting ideas on this quilt before I quilt the wedding quilt.

Which brings me to my 2021 Personal Quilting Challenge #1. These are my objectives which I hope to have done by February 23rd.

Fortunately I have another 23 days. I best get a move on it.

This brings me to the 350 Blocks report over at Prairie Moon Quilts.

  • 350 Challenge = 56
  • Easy Breezy = 101

I think that’s everything.  Let’s see what February has to offer.

Posted in: 2021 - 350 Blocks, 2021 Personal 1, designwall, Easy Breezy, One Monthly Goal, Wedding Quilt, wonky dishes

2021 Personal Quilting Challenge #1

January 13, 2021 3:36 pm ⋅

This past year I found that if I had a hard date I could challenge myself and make significant progress on my projects. The Guild program for February is Member Show and Tell.  Although the Guild is meeting via ZOOM, we really haven’t had Show and Tell.  I would like to have something to show that I haven’t posted in our FB Group Chat.  The title of this post is Challenge #1, so it’s possible I’ll do more personal challenges this year.

Challenge Dates:  January 1st – February 23rd. (Six weeks)

Challenges:

  • Alphabet BOM – Complete the top, I have a plan.
  • MQA BOM – Assuming the rest of the tops is released I’d like to get at a minimum the rest of the blocks made.
  • Red, White & Blue Wonky Broken Dishes – Quilt and Bind.  This is what I want to show at the meeting.
  • Moda U – finish the binding.
  • Ruby’s BOM – I’d like to get at least the next 4 blocks made and instructions written.
  • Runaround Bag – Everyone needs a new start on occasion. This is mine.
  • Wedding Quilt – Finish the top.

Stretch Challenges:

  • Wedding Quilt – Quilt, bind, label, and make pillowcases.
  • Ruby’s BOM – Finish the top and complete the instructions (12 blocks total)
  • MQA BOM – Finish the top

Double Stretch Challenges:

  • Ruby’s BOM – Quilt, Bind, and Label
  • MQA BOM – Quilt, Bind, and Label
  • Alphabet BOM – Quilt, Bind, and Label

I’ll continue to do daily-ish posts, leaving the challenge post to once a week, or whenever I cross something off the list.

  • 350 Challenge = 16
  • Easy Breezy = 93

 

 

 

Posted in: 2021 - 350 Blocks, 2021 Personal 1, Alphabet Blocks, Easy Breezy, Moda U, MQA BOM, Ruby's Sampler, Runaround Bag, Wedding Quilt, wonky dishes

Quilting in 2021

January 1, 2021 11:39 pm ⋅

The first day of 2021 saw me assembling 1/4 of the wedding quilt I’m working on, piecing 4 sampler blocks and completing 3 Easy Breezy blocks as my leader/ender project.

As for my quilting plans for 2021, as with years in the past, I’d like to cross a few quilts off my UFO list. With 40 quilts in progress, 20 tops needing to be quilted, and 1 which needs to be bound, I could work on a different quilt each week and still have a few left over.

As for challenges, I think I will participate in Prairie Moon Quilts 350 Blocks Project. The 2020 challenge is wrapping up and the 2021 challenge will begin mid-month, but our block count begins today.   I’ll try to remember to put the tally’s at the bottom of my posts.

Tomorrow I think I’ll tackle that binding that I picked out for my 3rd Task.

Edited:  I was looking for some challenges and this morning (Saturday) I found Finished (or Not) Friday at Alycia Quilts. So, I’m linking this post.

350 Challenge = 15

Easy Breezy = 92

Posted in: Easy Breezy, Leaders & Enders, Ruby's Sampler, wonky dishes