Quilting and Stuff by Knitnoid

What’s On My Design Wall? – 8/3

August 3, 2009 6:30 am ⋅


What’s on my Design Wall? A wider longer wall for one thing. This is a 60 x 102 tablecloth. I folded over about 19 inches at the top. This reinforces the buttonholes and shortens the tablecloth. I didn’t center it on the fireplace this time since I needed to avoid the grout. The buttonholes are spaced about 9 1/2″ apart and there are 7 of them.

The quilt is my Birthday Quilt. The blue and white Pennsylvania blocks are from a swap I did on the QIAD Forum. Last Thursday I decided I needed to work on something mindless and bigger than the 6″ blocks with lots of pieces. This was the project since it involved working on a UFO, cutting fabric, and seeing quick progress.

The stars are not in their final location. I’ve got to see how the other blue and yellow stars turn out. I also have to decide if I want to float the center or make 1/2 Pennsylvania blocks to take it to the border. Right now I’m thinking a narrow yellow border and then a wider blue border, but I’m not there yet, so who knows.

To see what’s on other quilters’ design walls, visit Judy’s page over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: block swaps, designwall, QIAD

Stash Report Week # 31

August 1, 2009 11:10 pm ⋅

You would think 20 blocks would use up more than a smidgen over 2 yards. But when most of them are 6 inch blocks, it just doesn’t use up the fabric. I did break down and buy 3 one yard cut of white on white fabric to use as backgrounds in the star blocks I’m making.

Fabric Added this Week: 3 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 163 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 2.072 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 57.149 yards

Net Stash: +105.852 yards

Posted in: Stash Busting Report

Color Values – Part Blue

July 30, 2009 11:03 pm ⋅

I dug in my box of blue fabric and found plenty of options. I don’t know if I’ll go with these fabrics, or keep digging.

Posted in: birthday blocks

Color Values – or is it Hues

July 30, 2009 8:53 pm ⋅

After a week of 6” blocks, I decided I needed something larger, so I’m making 12” star blocks to go with the Pennsylvania blocks I received in a birthday swap. I put the first three up on the wall and stood back. Believe it or not, there is a different pair of yellow and blue fabrics in each block, but from a distance they all look alike. I need more contrast in the color values unless it’s hue. I can’t remember which, but I do know that if my “scraps” are so close in color/tone/value/hue I can’t tell them apart from a distance, then I might as well use just one fabric — not that I have enough of any single yellow or blue to make 20 blocks.

So an experiment was in order. Would you believe my folded FQs can stick to my design wall? Ok, I’m not certain any one of the fabrics is a full FQ, but still. But on to my experiment.

I pulled yellow FQs from my stash, threw them up on the wall and took a picture. Then I turned on grayscale. I think I’ve got enough variation when I look at ALL of the yellows. Now I’ll have to do the same think with my blues.

Posted in: birthday blocks

Another SBS Block

July 29, 2009 8:39 pm ⋅


F-10 Aunt Sukey’s Choice

This is another block I’m making for the SBS Swap. This one goes into my quilt. Tonight I’ll dig through the stash to see if I can find enough fabric, but then I think I’m going to work on something else. A week of 30’s reproductions and small blocks is about all I can stand at a time. Or maybe it’s that I want to see significant progress.

I think I’m in need of some mindless piecing about now. Who knows what that means I’ll be working on next.

Now isn’t this cool. I was playing with Picasa and think I’ve stumbled across my sashing color. Lavender. What do you think?

Posted in: block swaps, SBS

SBS Swap Block Set #1

July 28, 2009 10:50 pm ⋅

This is the first of the five block sets I’m making for the SBS swap. Even six of these 6 inch blocks don’t take much fabric. When I added it up I think I used about 3/8 of a yard. Not a very big dent in my stash. But that’s the good news. It all came from my stash. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do that with the other blocks, as I don’t have a lot of brown with small scale prints. We’ll see.

Posted in: block swaps, SBS

What’s On My Design Wall? – 7/27

July 27, 2009 10:08 pm ⋅


Multiple things.

A couple of weeks ago I pulled out my birthday blocks with the intention of making star blocks. Then technology reigned havoc, and there was no quilting going on. Then I started cleaning up and hung the table runner on the wall, as much to get it out of the way as to work on the applique. (There’s that “A” word).

Finally this past week I had to start piecing or go crazy, so I’ve been working on my Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler blocks. These are the last three I’ve finished. To jump start my piecing, as well as my SBS, I’ve joined a Blue and Brown swap on the SBS list.

Due to the number of blocks in the quilt, this swap is different than others I’ve joined in the past. We make a set of 5 blocks to swap and can make up to 5 sets of blocks, each set having different focus fabric. I picked 10 blocks I’d be happy to make and started ‘testing’ them in the 30’s reproduction fabric for my quilt. I got my list last night and Ladies’ Aid Album (bottom block) is one of my swap blocks, and it this weeks BOW.

Check out the links over at Patchwork Times to see what’s on other quilters’ design walls.

Posted in: block swaps, designwall, SBS

Stash Report Week # 30

July 26, 2009 2:31 pm ⋅

Six inch blocks don’t make a very big dent in the stash. I made two last week. Hunter Star, E10 in Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler and D6 – Odd Fellows Patch.

Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 160 yards

Fabric Used this Week: .125 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 55.077 yards

Net Stash: +104.923 yards

Posted in: SBS, Stash Busting Report

5 More to Go

July 23, 2009 10:33 pm ⋅

I finished hand quilting this block earlier this evening. I just needed to finish the stitching in two of the squares so it didn’t take long. Just had to sit in front of the quilt!

Next up, in theory, is the rail fence block.

In all of the other blocks, I’ve stitched 1/4″ around the pieces — but I have no desire to do that with this block, and it really doesn’t need that much quilting. So I don’t lose what little momentum I have, I may skip this block and go to the next one. To see a picture of the entire quilt, click here.

Posted in: hand quilting, Josh's Quilt

116 to Go

July 23, 2009 7:51 pm ⋅

I’ve finished D-6 Odd Fellow’s Block from Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler. I started this in January 2007 as a block a week. Had I kept up I would be closing in on the final blocks this summer. But clearly I’ve fallen behind as this is block # 24.

I think now I’m going to go put a few stitches in my nephew’s quilt.

Posted in: SBS