Quilting and Stuff by Knitnoid

Category Archives: Strip Twist

Last Week’s Haul

For a number of years I was able to curb my purchases, limiting them only to the essentials — absolutely only what was necessary to complete my project.  However, over the past 30 days I’ve gotten away from that.  This was last week’s haul.  Admittedly the 6 yards of batik was a steal – I think I paid $5 at the guild auction.

I am looking for peach fabrics for a quilt I’ve been asked to make, but that doesn’t explain the brown leaves or the other 2 orange fabrics above it.  In my defense, they were all on sale, a couple 25% off that price since I took the end of the bolt.

But I went to Hobby Lobby to get 1/2 yard of white fabric for quilt labels. That was my downfall.  I love the floral print. I’ve looked at it several times and walked away.  But it didn’t happen this time.  I bought it, picked the darker purple and the lighter green to go with it.  But I struggle with 3 fabric quilts, so another green, the lavender and orange dot were purchased.  I also picked up a few fun neutrals.  Aren’t those “legal”?

My justification is that I’m getting projects done. Never mind that I purchased fabric the week before and the week I went to Kansas City.

A friend asked me if I could rebind the quilt his mother made for him in 1989.  I said sure, and the last time he came through town he left it for me. It’s done is all dusty blues, many lighter than these white hearts on blue.   Interesting, the binding is done as a facing. I opted for a traditional binding and found that Winterwool in this light blue was perfect.  I simply bound over the edges, leaving his mother’s work in place. As a result, a bit the original binding is showing.

The next quilt finished is this 2008 retreat block swap quilt. The blocks are called Glenwood Avenue, although I have no idea where we got the pattern.  Since I used the Dancing Dragonflies E2E design, I’m calling it Dragonflies Dancing Over Glenwood Avenue.  I’ll take more pictures later.

As soon as I hit post, I’ll move Shimmer to the dryer then start the binding on Strip Twist.

What’s on my Design Wall

There are a couple of things today on my “design table”  First is the Neutral Strip Twist.  Frogging part of the border only took about 30 minutes last night and I was able to finish up the quilting and trim it.  It’ s now ready for the binding.  The strips are sewn together (at least I think they are) but they need to be pressed.  I’m working on a new name — something with “sand” in the title.

Next up is The Chain Event, which I’ll probably rename as “Memories of Home” since the Magnolia is the state flower of Mississippi.  I quilted this yesterday on the long arm at Rocking Chair Quilts.  I’ll get better pictures after I finish the quilting.   I still need to quilt the borders.

 

Follow the links over at Patchwork Times to see what others are working on.

Neutral Strip Twist Top

When I picked up thread at Jo-Ann’s the other day, I thought I saw the fabric I wanted for the border of this quilt – a beige speckle that I had used in the center of the quilt.  When I went to buy it Thursday night I discovered the color was off.  What I used in the quilt was from my stash and I bought it at least two years ago.  So, I had to figure out something else.

I really like what I ended up with.  The outer border is a mottled honey color.  The inner border is a light yellowy beige with darker speckles/lines.

Now to get it quilted.

Search for the Border Begins

The center is done.  I got an “I like it!” from my DH.  Tomorrow begins the mad dash to find border fabric.

These are just some ideas I have.  Option #3 is growing on me — now if I can just remember where I bought that FQ.

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Doesn’t Look Like Much

This is the pile of quarter square blocks paired up and ready to be sewn.  This is a neutral Strip Twist quilt.  I just hope it turns out as cool as I’ve imagined it.

Retreat Quilt Flimsy One

In addition to visiting with friends from across the country (I think the count was 13 states) and meeting new people, my goal was to get the borders on my quilts. I took six quilts — 4 just needed borders, one needed the blocks sewn together and one is a stripy quilt which just needed the strips sewn together. I got 4 done to the top stage. My Black and White Strip Twist was the first quilt top to be finished. I started this quilt Super Bowl Weekend. It’s a Bonnie Hunter/Quiltville.com pattern.

We arrived Thursday afternoon around 2:00 PM. After setting up, I got to work. There was plenty of space to stretch out the quilt to measure it without getting in any one’s way. Has the power not gone out in a ’10 grid’ area, I would have finished it Thursday night. Instead, I went to bed early and got up Friday morning about 5:30 AM. I am NOT a morning person, so this was unusual for me.

Strip Twist Center Finished

Last night I sewed the last few seams on the center of my black and white Strip Twist. Now I’ve got to figure out what to do for a border.

To Read or Quilt?


I love to read. I love to quilt. So frequently I find myself listening to books on CDs. However, occassionally, I have to step away from the sewing machine and actually read a printed book. Earlier this week I read The Lover’s Knot A Someday Quilts Mystery by Clare O’Donohue. A little romance, a little mystery and a little quilting. Can’t beat that.

When I wasn’t reading or watching Leverage I got a bit of pieceing done. I’ve completed my 20 black & white Strip Twist blocks. This evening I sewed them into rows and even have two rows sewn together.

Tomorrow night I’m going to a school concert, so I hope I’ll get this top completed this weekend — or at least get the rows sewn together. I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do for a border yet. Time will tell.

Pam

One Down and 19 to Go


And I’m not talking football yardage. All my quarter sections are sewn and pressed, so now I need to get them into blocks.

Frogging and Other Wanderings

Argh! – I’ve just sewn 14 pairs of light and dark strips together with my needle moved the wrong way.

Earlier this evening I decided that instead of 12 blocks for the Strip Twist quilt, I wanted to make 20 blocks. So, I dug my fabrics out again and cut more strips. About half way though the pile, I realized that my needle looked funny. Yep, I moved it over one notch, but forgot to mirror image the move so instead of a ‘scant’ quarter inch I’ve a ‘plump’ quarter inch. So, I’ve got frogging to do (rip it, rip it).

I’m also questioning one of my fabrics. It was not in my original selection because it tends to look light against dark fabrics and dark against the lights. But since I needed more strips, I declared it ‘light’, but I’ve almost sewn it to the light fabric twice. It’s the button fabric in the pic.

Here in the photo it definately looks light, so I guess I’ll keep it, but make certain it between two darks and not on the outside.

As for the wandering portion of this post, I went to a new to me quilt shop — Fran’s Fabrics in Bonner Springs, Kansas. A group of six of us went, and I almost made it out of the shop without any impulse buys, but I made another pass while my friends were getting their fabric cut and I found this brown fabric.

It is In My Own Backyard … Autumn…by Becky Eme for Fabri-Quilt. I have no idea what I’m going to do with it. It reminds me of the ‘perfect’ brown fabric I used to have and used in the border of Which Way Is Up. I started with a FQ to make reindeer (which still haven’t been done), the decided it was the perfect border, bought what I needed, and a girlfriend bought the rest of the bolt. She no longer has what was left, because it was the ‘perfect brown’ for something else I was doing.

Which Way Is Up?

Well, off to frog.

Pam