Quilting and Stuff by Knitnoid

Border Decisions

November 21, 2009 9:00 pm ⋅


A little over a year ago I walked into a new to me quilt shop, Lil’ Red Hen in Paola, Kansas and fell in love with the top FQ. They had all sorts of fall colors displayed just as you walked in the door. To top that, they had a FQ sale going on. Before I left the store, I had bought a dozen FQ to make a quilt (not that I had a pattern with me), 2 yards of the print I fell in love with and a yard of the gold for an inner border. In the back of my mind I was thinking a small Turning Twenty or a large Crazy 8.

I brought the fabric home, tied it up with a ribbon and put my Crazy 8 pattern with it. The bundle sat for over a year while I worked on my various UFOs, started and finished other projects, and started projects which only made it to the top stage. Two weeks ago I cut into the fabric and have slowly been working on it.

This afternoon I finished sewing the blocks together and it was time for a border decision.

When I bought the fabric, I knew I was going to need somewhere for the eyes to rest since the blocks and the borders are so busy.

So as originally envisioned, there would be a narrow gold border and then the large leaf border. This however was not working for me.

What drew me to the leaf print in the first place was the purple, so I pulled down my bin of purple fabrics to see if I had anything bigger than a FQ which would work. I found half a yard of border fabric left over from my Old Tobacco Road which I think is going to be just right.

So, now that the decision is made, I think I’m going to call it a night. I’ll deal with the borders tomorrow.

Posted in: Autumn Splendor, borders

Josh’s Graduation Quilt

November 16, 2009 1:31 pm ⋅

It’s done all that is left is for me to stitch down the label.

Posted in: finish, Josh's Quilt

What’s On My Design Wall? – 11/16

November 16, 2009 7:00 am ⋅

The exact same thing as last week. I didn’t even move the blocks.

On the other hand, Josh’s graduation quilt is finished! (OK, I still have to attach the label, but it’s made!) Remind me to never use black backing. It shows everything. Hopefully later today I’ll get a picture of it.

See what other are up to by checking out the links on Judy’s blog.

Posted in: designwall, Josh's Quilt

Stash Report Week # 46

November 15, 2009 8:17 am ⋅

I’ve completely ignored my Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler blocks so far this month. Maybe over Thanksgiving weekend I’ll get all 5 of them done for the month. It will only add up to about 5/8 yard, but every inch counts.

The binding is going on the graduation quilt! I made it last night, so 5/8 yards out.


This past year I’ve reached for that fabric on more than one occasion to use it for something — the last time I stapled a note to the selvage so I wouldn’t use it and then wonder what happened to the binding fabric for Josh’s quilt.


The note is now off the fabric and the remaining 7/8 yards is in the “blue” bin so I can use it for something else.

Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 282.333 yards

Fabric Used this Week: .625 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 90.386 yards

Net Stash: +191.947 yards

See how others are doing on their stash busting effort by checking out the links on Judy’s blog Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Josh's Quilt, Stash Busting Report

The Quilting is Done!

November 9, 2009 10:48 pm ⋅


The quilting on Josh’s graduation quilt is done! Now I’ve got to trim, bind, label and wash it. Josh graduated May 17, 2007, so it’s about 18 months late. The top was done then. Does that count?

Posted in: Josh's Quilt

What’s On My Design Wall? – 11/09

November 9, 2009 7:30 am ⋅


So close to finishing, or getting to a new stage in the projects I’ve been working on all summer I finally cut into new fabric Friday night. These are the blocks I made Saturday afternoon for Autumn Splendor.

I could have knocked out the rest of the blocks Saturday night or Sunday, but instead I worked on Josh’s quilt. I’ve got three of the borders quilted, and the 4th one marked. Once I get the last border quilted, I think I’m going to go back and stitch in the ditch between the inner and outer border. At that point I’ll have the tedious task of trimming the threads from the back of the quilt and trying to remove the dust and cat hair from the backing.

See what other quilters are up to by checking out Judy’s blog.

Posted in: Autumn Splendor, designwall, Josh's Quilt

Stash Report Week # 45

November 8, 2009 12:40 am ⋅

It was a rather productive week. The last row on the DWR was attached, which allowed me to determine what I needed in the way of backing and batting. The backing was found in my stash — so that’s 9 yards out. Woohoo! I also finished the hand quilting on my nephew’s quilt. I have one border machine quilted and have the second one partially marked. Finally, I cut into a kit I put together a little over a year ago and have half the blocks made — 20 FQ = 3 yards. So 12 yards out and I’m back under 200 yards inbound.

If I push, I might just make 100 yards used by the end of the year — borders for a couple of quilts, binding for Josh’s quilt, backing & binding for the music quilt and perhaps a dozen SBS blocks.

Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 282.333 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 12 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 89.761 yards

Net Stash: +192.572 yards

See how others are doing on their stash busting effort by checking out the links on Judy’s blog Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Stash Busting Report

Start of a New Quilt

November 6, 2009 11:04 pm ⋅

This evening after finishing the hand quilting, I thought I needed some mindless piecing. The 4-patches in the DWR in theory are simple enough, but trust me, it’s not so simple. Ladder to the Stars just needs borders, but I’m going to miter the corners, which means I need to think. There’s nothing on my extensive list of quilts in progress which I would consider mindless enough for this evening – not that I looked until I sat down to write this post. The call of new fabric was too much.

I went to my crate of PIGs and pulled out Autumn Splendor. Twelve FQs plus border fabric tied nicely with a gold ribbon. I’m using the FQ friendly pattern Crazy Eights by Bits ‘n Pieces. I think this is 3rd quilt/top I’ve made, but the others have been with just the 8 FQs.

Instead of mindless piecing, I cut the new quilt out. Surprisingly, given that I was looking for something mindless, I didn’t make any cutting errors. I can also report the scraps are all appropriately cut up and in their boxes.

I’ll be ready now for when I do need to sit down at the sewing machine for some mindless piecing.

Posted in: Autumn Splendor, UFOs

The Hand Quilting is Complete!

November 6, 2009 7:46 pm ⋅


On Josh’s Graduation Quilt.

Now I have to finish it. For the border, I’ve decided to quilt lines 2″ apart perpendicular to the edge of the quilt — like a pieced piano key border. Once I get that done, I’ll need to trim all the thread ends from my machine quilting, bind it and put a label on it. Who knows he might get it before the end of the year — only 17 months after he graduated.

Posted in: hand quilting, Josh's Quilt

DWR Backing Found in my Stash

November 4, 2009 10:59 pm ⋅


After measuring my quilt top last night, I got to worrying about the batting. I typically use Warm & Natural in my quilt tops, but when I buy it by the yard, it’s only 90″ wide. My quilt measures approximately 94″ x 104″ – so I’m going to have to buy a king batt. I’m currently leaning toward Quilters Dream Cotton – Request.

That got me worrying about the backing. I called the LQS to check to see how wide the backing are – and shoot I can’t remember now – but I did validate that even the narrowest wide backing (is that an oxymoron?) will be wide enough. The bolt sale lasts through Saturday, so I can get the backing on sale.

That was this morning early. Fast forward to about an hour ago and a flash of inspiration struck me. About a year ago I bought a bolt of 60″ wide 100% cotton shirting for next to nothing. I pulled it out looked at it and decided that it would be perfect for my backing. Although I’m not looking forward to seaming the backing, I can take comfort in that it is fabric out of my stash and no additional purchase was needed.

Since I was on a roll, I pulled out my thread box and found both a partially used and a brand new spool of thread. The color is Camel. Since I really like this color, and would hate to run out of it before the quilting is complete, the next time thread goes on sale, I’m going to buy at least one maybe two spools of it.

I might just have this quilt on the frame by this time next week. Still have to finish seaming the 4-patches. I’m not sure what I did this evening, but it wasn’t a whole lot of piecing.

Posted in: dwr