Quilting and Stuff by Knitnoid

Judy’s UFO Challenge 2011

December 16, 2010 11:06 pm ⋅

I’m not doing so well with Finn’s New Year’s Eve UFO Challenge. I had great hopes to finish 3 pretty good size projects, but as usual when I make plans like that life gets in the way.  I don’t see myself finishing anything else this year – not that I’m not still plugging away on various projects.  They are just going slower than I anticipated.

That’s not to say I’ve given completely up on my UFOs.  One day (in a time far, far, away) they will become finished quilts to be used.   To help me whittle down my extremely long list (see the Tops To Be Quilted and Quilts In Progress tabs above), I’m going to play along with Judy and her UFO Challenge next year.  Instead of listing quilts I’ve “got” to finish, I’ve picked quilts that I’ve passed over in the past to work on something “more important” or “more fun” (i.e. a new quilt).    My list of quilts and the rules which I’ve tweaked (Judy said we could :-)) are on the UFO Challenge 2011 tab.

If you have UFOs which need to be completed come join us over at Patchwork Times.  Sign ups begin Friday.

Posted in: UFO Challenge 2011, UFOs

What’s on my Design Wall

December 6, 2010 6:27 am ⋅

Thanksgiving weekend I discovered I didn’t have anything really portable to take to a sew in.  I’m working on the Cream & Green quilt, the Double Wedding Ring and No Blue Geese — but currently it’s all in the hand work stage and rather large to tote around.  Not wanting to start anything new, I pulled down my box containing this quilt –well really just the letters and prepped about 1/2 of my letters.    This project can’t be completed until sometime in May, so I’m sporadically working on it.

In the meantime, I’m still working on my Double Wedding Ring —  Started the 6th row last night.  I’m also working on No Blue Geese.  I quilted a large pleat into the backing, so I’m having to stitch it down by hand.  Once I get that done, I’ll put the binding on and post a photo.  The Cream and Green quilt is still waiting on some handwork as well.

Check out other design walls for more inspiration by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Cream & Green Swap Sampler, crossword, designwall, dwr, No Blue Geese

As Seen Out and About

December 5, 2010 8:45 pm ⋅

 

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Posted in: Uncategorized

Stash Report

December 5, 2010 9:48 am ⋅

I’ve hit 100 yards used!  The backing for No Blue Geese pushed me over the mark.  No new fabric was purchased in this week – even though I was in 4 different quilt shops over the week.  Oh, but the thread!  I also bought Judy’s books Weekend Quilts. Pictured above is a quilt block and two FQs I received in the mail.  There was no return address on the envelope, just a Hope Mills, NC postmark.

Here’s my report:

Fabric Added this Week: .5 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 175.511 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 5.865 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 102.453 yards

Net Stash for 2010: 73.058 yards

Between now and the end of the year I don’t see much more fabric going out — maybe a binding or two — but we’ll see.

Check out other stash reports by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

 

Posted in: Stash Busting Report

November Recap/December Goals

December 2, 2010 12:59 pm ⋅

This past month I  had 4 quilting goals:

  • Continue quilting the Double Wedding Ring
  • Make progress on Cream & Green quilt
  • Complete center of Blue Ridge Beauty
  • Finish quilting center of Compass Lone Star

The only one that I missed completely was finishing the center of the Compass Lone Star.  I started quilting on it, but discovered my tension was off.  I’ve got ripping to do before I can work on it again.

I made progress on the  DWR, but not as much as I hoped.  At this point, I’m still 7-8 weeks from completing the quilt. I figure 2 weeks per row for 3 more rows and then another week or two for the binding.

I definitely made progress on the Cream & Green quilt – I finished quilting 12 blocks and have two rows together — although I’m still working on the hand work on the last seam I completed.  We’ll see if I get this done by the end of the year.

Complete the center of Blue Ridge Beauty.  That I got done.  One of these days I’m going to have to see about getting fabric for the border.

Additionally, I quilted and bound my Red, White & Blue Chain of Stars and made two pillowcases to go with it.  I made a cute little bag, and 4 string blocks.  Finally, I quilted No Blue Geese in my Tropical Garden.  Alas, about the time I ran out of bobbin thread I discovered I managed to quilt pleats into the backing.  The good news is since the backing is so busy, I’m going to be able to stitch the pleats in place and call it good.

Now on to December’s goals.  They suspiciously look like November’s goals.

  • Continue quilting the Double Wedding Ring
  • Make progress on Cream & Green quilt
  • Finish quilting center of Compass Lone Star
  • Fix the pleat and bind  No Blue Geese

The first three quilts are on my list for Finn’s NYE UFO Challenge.  The DWR is on two other challenge lists and the Cream & Green quilt is on one other challenge list.    We’ll see how much I get done by the end of the year.  I’m not tossing in the towel, but I am realistic enough to realize that I’m not going to finish all of these quilts.  Fortunately these are just goals.

Now, if I can just stop starting new stuff or working on quilts not listed.

I’m off to put in another Harry Potter DVD and do some hand quilting.

 

Posted in: goals

What’s on My Design Wall

November 29, 2010 9:07 am ⋅

Technically these blocks are still on my design wall.  Last week I quilted the Red, White & Blue Chain of Stars, prepped the backing for No Blue Geese in my Tropical Garden, cut out a few letters for a future project and worked on my Double Wedding Ring.

Tomorrow I’m off to quilt No Blue Geese.

Follow the links over at Patchwork Times for other inspiration.

Posted in: designwall

Stash Report

November 28, 2010 12:26 pm ⋅

After last Sunday’s tour of the  area fabric stores, I stayed home and quilted.  Which means I my report is not as bad as it could be.  I used 7 yards in the backing, binding and pillowcases I finished yesterday.

Fabric Added this Week: 10.5 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 175.011 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 7.0 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 96.588 yards

Net Stash for 2010: 78.423 yards

It looks like I’ll definitely hit 100 yards used by the end of the year.  I’ve got another backing to make before Tuesday!  Oh, and if anyone has any recommendations for how to quilt the piano key border on my flying geese quilt, I’d appreciate the suggestions.  I think I have everything else figured out.

Check out how others are doing with their stashes by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Stash Busting Report

Chain of Stars is Finished

November 27, 2010 8:11 pm ⋅

This is my Red, White & Blue Chain of Stars.  Started in 2007, this was the first mystery quilt pattern I wrote.  I did this scrappy version and a version in Pink & Black using just three fabrics.  The photo is not great, but if tomorrow is as pretty as today was, I’ll take it outside to see if I can get a better picture.

It is quilted with basic straight line quilting on the diagonal, through the blue chains and diagonal sides of the star points.  This extends to the red border. Stitch in the ditch between the red and beige border and then curved stitching in the red border reminiscent  of bunting.  At least that’s what I was trying to do.  I used my favorite khaki thread for the quilting.

The quilt measures approximately 62 x 79 and there are two matching pillow cases.

Although this is not one of the three UFOs I plan on finishing for Finn’s New Year’s Eve UFO Challenge, it was a UFO.

Posted in: Chain of Stars, finish, UFOs

Quilting My Flying Geese

November 25, 2010 9:25 pm ⋅

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving.  Today kicks off a week of vacation.  I don’t have to be back at work until the 6th.  I plan to use this time off to make significant progress on several of my quilts which are close to being finished.

Next Tuesday I have time reserved on a long arm.  I’ve decided to take “No  Blue Geese in My Tropical Garden”.  Instead of loading it top to bottom, I’m going to load it side to side as illustrated below:

In the black inner borders and the tropical print, I’m planning on doing a string of feathers.  I know that they will be nearly impossible to see – especially since I plan to use black thread — but since these will be my first feathers, I don’t know that I want them seen.

The geese, I plan on outlining and running a squiggle through.

That leaves the piano key borders and the cornerstones.

I could do the same thing on the cornerstones as the strip of geese — but I haven’t figured out how to do it continuously.

As for the piano keys, I have no idea, so I’m open to suggestion.  And yes, I plan to turn the quilt to get the top and bottom borders.

In the meantime, I’ve got to finish up the quilting and borders on Chain of Stars and put in some time on the Double Wedding Ring.  For that, I’ve borrowed my niece’s Harry Potter video collection to watch/listen to while I’m hand quilting.

Posted in: No Blue Geese

What’s on my Design Wall

November 22, 2010 9:29 am ⋅

Not exactly on my design wall, but this is the quilt I’m working on this week.  Yesterday I bought fabric for the backing.  Tonight I’ll piece the back, sandwich the quilt and start the quilting.

Check out what’s on other design wall by following the links on Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Chain of Stars, designwall