Quilting and Stuff by Knitnoid

What’s On My Design Wall

February 13, 2017 9:54 am ⋅

dw0213

Over the weekend I made the pillowcase for the Disappearing 9-Patch and trimmed the threads from the quilt. I’m washing it, so do not have a finished picture yet. Then I pulled out the Cream & Green Swap blocks.

I’m quilting this block by block and can’t remember how I’m connecting the blocks. So, I’m making it up as I go.  Actually, I think it got set aside because I had a ‘brilliant’ thought on how to connect the blocks and then realized it wouldn’t work.  I had that same thought and acted on it last night, only to come to the same roadblock.  I’ve revised my thinking, but didn’t get a chance to act on it.

newfq

Also this weekend, my husband and I took some furniture up to my nephew for his new home – got to love Craigslist finds. Anyway, they live about 15 miles from Crossroads Quilting and 30 miles from Missouri Star Quilting. I knew I couldn’t get a trip in to Missouri Star, but we did drive up to Crossroads.  I picked up 4 FQs. Since I don’t “need” any fabric, I tend to look for neutrals.  I’m not 100% convinced about the top FQ, but it will be OK once it’s cut up.

I’m linking up to Design Wall Monday over at Patchwork Times.  There’s also a link up at Quiltville’s Quips & Snips for En Provence which I posted about Friday. You can see my En Provence top HERE.

Posted in: Cream & Green Swap Sampler, designwall

En Provence Is a Top

February 10, 2017 8:33 am ⋅

EnProvenceTop2

Last Saturday I finally got the borders on En Provence. I opted for the nutcrackers to be feet out and put the borders on log cabin style.  So with the exception of a future label and/or hanging sleeve, this quilt will have no top or bottom as it finishes at 108″ square.

EnProvenceTop

Now to find or make a wide enough backing. I’m leaning toward THIS from Nancy’s Notions. In the meantime, the top is folded up with the extra blue, red, and nutcracker fabrics.

Edited:

Here’s the final link up for En Provence.

Posted in: En Provence

What’s On My Design Wall

February 6, 2017 7:58 am ⋅

D9pBound

Saturday the final borders were put on En Provence — post coming soon. Sunday,  I got the binding on the Blue Disappearing 9-Patch.  Yes, with the exception of the blue, those are recycled fabrics from shirts I’ve picked up at garage sales and thrift shops. I still need to clip threads, make one, maybe two pillowcases then wash the whole thing before it’s ready to be delivered. But in the meantime, I’ve pulled out the UFO which was supposed to be a Christmas 2015 gift.

GandC

I’ll have to sort through this pile to see where I left off. My goal is to get this quilt finished by the end of February. Hum…just over 3 weeks.  We’ll see.

See what others are working on over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Cream & Green Swap Sampler, designwall, DP9, UFOs

What’s On My Desgin Wall

January 30, 2017 8:10 am ⋅

dw0130

This blue Disappearing 9-patch might just become my 1st finish for January and the year. I finished quilting it yesterday afternoon. Diagonal lines through the squares and then horizontal and vertical lines through the middle of the blocks.  There is one more edge to trim, then it will be time to bind.

See what others are working on over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: designwall, DP9, UFOs

Quilting on the Treadle

January 24, 2017 12:42 pm ⋅

bd9pquilting

The quilt is basted and the first two lines of quilting have been put in the quilt via the treadle.  I’m using the treadle machine for two reasons.

  1. My “new” 15 year old machine is getting harder to repair and it’s making noises that I don’t like.
  2. The 100 year old treadle machine has 1/3 more harp space and it easy to repair.

Some time in the near future, hopefully several years out, I’m going to be in the market for a new sewing machine. Given my wish list, I may end up with two – an older mechanical machine that makes a beautiful straight stitch that is a workhorse and easy to repair and a newer machine which has needle up/down and a thread cutter. Then again, do I need a thread cutter if I don’t paper piece?

Posted in: DP9

What’s On My Design Wall

January 23, 2017 8:48 am ⋅

Over the weekend I joined another UFO Challenge. It works on a simple principle — saying no new projects until you’ve finished your UFOs is not realistic. Simply pick 4 UFOs you are going to work on this year and report on them.  So I picked the following 4 UFOs.

2017 UFO Challenge Quilts

  • Green and Blue Strip Twist
  • Candy Sunflower Seeds (top only)
  • Blue Disappearing 9-Patch
  • Green and Cream Swap

Little did I know that I should have put En Provence on my list. I’ve stalled at the borders. The borders that I knew what I was planning to do.

EP-Center

The quilt, as designed, was finished Friday evening, and cat approved. Saturday the blue border and additional round of neutral 4-patches were added. That’s where I got stuck.

nutcracker

The nutcrackers are directional. Do I cut the borders so they all march the same direction, giving the quilt a top and bottom? March the nutcrackers vertically around the quilt counter-clockwise? Have them all stand at attention feet (not that they have any feet) in or feet out?  There is only 3 yards of fabric, but still each of these options is an option — but I would like at least two pillowcases to match the quilt.

So, leaning toward feet out, I put the top on the bed and hung the border fabric to see what I thought.

ep-sides

epbed

I need the additional width on the quilt. It just hangs over the bottom of the mattress. But I’m not positive this is what I want to do.  So, I folded up the quilt top, the nutcracker fabric, the blue, and the red that I used in the top and have set it aside, as I’ve want/need to finish the Disappearing 9-patch.

My main sewing machine was pulled from the table. The treadle machine opened up.

treadlesetup

A couple of orphan blocks became a practice piece.

treadlepractice

The backing was pulled out and pressed. The dining room table cleared, leaves added and covered. The backing rolled up on my 2 x 8. The batting spread out. That’s when I discovered I didn’t have any basting spray. I thought I did. But it has been a year since I used any. So off to WM we went. In and out with only the basting spray. Probably a first for me.

dp9back

The backing is now attached to the batting and the top is pressed.

DP9

But I ran out of steam. Tonight I’ll finish basting the quilt and then start quilting it.

See what others are working on over at Patchwork Times.

 

Posted in: designwall, DP9, En Provence

Cleaning aka Distracted

January 18, 2017 9:32 pm ⋅

I estimate that I have another 8 hours to go before I complete my En Provence quilt top. The pattern is still available HERE through the end of the month.

Block13

Block #13 is sewn into rows, waiting to be finished. But I haven’t turned my sewing machine on today. Instead of I’ve been cleaning.

Back at the end of the year, Task One of the final count down was to get your stash under control. Task Two was tackle the flat surfaces. For me these two tasks are basically the same thing.  Invariably there are piles of fabric laying around at the point I finish a quilt top — or get it to a stopping point. My Allietare and En Provence fabrics were stacked here and there, not that either top is finished, but both are to the point where I know what fabric will be needed to complete them. So, I allowed myself to get distracted.

foldedbox

I’ve been folding fabric. This is supposed to be the ‘floral’ box, but given the red & green box is stuffed, I’ve hijacked the box temporarily. I’ve also hijacked the black and white & red and white box, moving that fabric into this box. Which has made room for the larger pieces of fabric.

foldedlarger

 

I can’t say that all of the loose fabric is folded – I forgot about this box of fabric and the pile under the lid, but I have cleared the shelves of loose fabric – except for the binding fabric for the Disappearing 9-Patch.

shoebox

Now I have a pile of fabric which needs to be cut up into strips, bricks and squares.

scraps2cut

But I think  I want to consider what exactly I made be making next.  Why yes, I’m thinking about a new quilt. I’m considering using these 4-patches as the starter.

4-patches

I don’t really have enough to do anything — yet. 43 3-inch black and white 4-patches and 32 red and white 4-patches.  I have red fabric that needs to be cut into strips on the ironing board, there is white fabric on top of the shoe box and in the box is some black fabric.  Now, to figure out a quilt design.

Or I can spend my next 8 hours quilting and finish the En Provence quilt top so I can get to quilting the Disappearing 9-patch.

 

Posted in: scraps

What’s On My Design Wall

January 16, 2017 11:40 am ⋅

eptophalf

Yes, it’s En Provence, the Bonnie Hunter mystery. The pattern is still available HERE.

For two weeks I’ve been telling myself that over the 3 day weekend I would pull out the Blue Disappearing 9-Patch and quilt it. But, I just can’t move away from En Provence. I can’t decide if it is because I’m afraid it will be months before I get back to it or because I’m so close to finishing it.  Although “so close” in this instance is realistically close to 10 hours.  At least for the first couple of blocks they were taking me about an hour each to make.

There are two more up on the design wall.

epdw0116

Of course they may go faster now that I have gone through and pulled all of the pieces for each block so I don’t have to make that decision before starting to sew a block.

dwep0116-2

I’ve also swapped out my leader/ender project for the border.  For a brief time, I was sewing 1-1/2″ squares together for the postage stamp quilt.

dwle0116

Then I switched back to pieces for En Provence. I’m now sewing 4-patches together for the borders.  I hope that by the time I have the center finished, I’ll have the extra border pieced together.

dwleep0116

I’ve tried webbing blocks together in the past, but have not had much luck. It’s working this time, and I’m convinced that it is making these blocks go together quicker than my usual assembly process. This is the bottom left corner block, so I have the bottom sashing attached.

DWep5-0116

As for the Blue Disappearing 9-patch? Perhaps next weekend.

See what others are working on over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Bonnie Hunter, designwall, En Provence

1st Quarter Finish Along Goals

January 14, 2017 4:36 pm ⋅

1stQtrFAL

I didn’t do well with the 2016 Finish Along, but I’m going to give it another try. The 2017 Finish Along link up for proposed finished closes tonight, so I’ve pulled together a few items for this quarter.

  • Compass Lone Star — it’s been hanging around January 2007
  • Purple box bag — I started this last summer — and then misplaced the pattern which  I still haven’t found
  • Blue and Green Strip Twist – a quilt I started last summer
  • Green and Cream Swap Blocks – Started Fall 2006, I promised this for a Christmas gift — in 2015!
  • Monochromatic table runner – a class sample from last March
  • Disappearing 9-patch – from a year ago, I’d like to get it done this weekend.

Rhonda's [Quilt] Ramblings

All of these things (well, not the bag) have been on previous challenge lists. Let’s see if I can get a couple of these done by April 1st.

Posted in: 2017 Finish-A-Long, Challenges

3280 Units

January 13, 2017 12:59 pm ⋅

allEPParts

It’s taken 7 weeks, but all of the parts for En Provence, the Bonnie Hunter Mystery, (instructions are still available until the end of the month HERE) are completed and trimmed, including the extra neutral 4-patches to enlarge the quilt.

ep2blocks

I’ve even have completed 2 blocks with sashing!

I’m not a big fan of ‘webbing’ quilt tops — it get’s too unwieldy for me. But I tried it for this 6 x 6 block. Other than one piece being turned wrong it worked out pretty well.

beforeweb

I see now why I had one piece turned wrong in my first block — it was wrong on the flannel board. The first time I pressed after the entire block was sewn together.  For the second block I pressed the seams for each row before sewing the rows together and I think the block went together better.

Now that the units are made, this is going together quickly. Who knows, I might end up with a quilt top before the month is out — but I really need to stop and quilt the Disappearing 9-patch this weekend. There is the thread of ice, which may mean we will lose power. So, maybe I’ll keep working on En Provence until that happens, then work on the DP9 — the plan is to quilt it on the treadle.

Posted in: En Provence, mystery quilts