Easter Napkins

Easter napkins
Easter napkins

The Easter fabric I bought at Just For Fun in Vancouver, Washington (haven’t written about it yet, but have photos) was intended for masks. I bought all the other fabric at Pioneer Quilts. I decided to make napkins instead, because most places want us to wear N95 masks.

I don’t like making napkins, but I made it a little easier on myself by 1) adjusting my attitude and 2) rounding the corners. Rounding the corners meant that I didn’t have to pivot while using a fancy stitch, which made the whole process go faster.

I used the 2.5 inch circle from the Creative Grids Circle Set** to trim the corners of a fat quarter to a round shape. I would have done well to also use a rotating mat** while I cut using the circle, but I didn’t have mine handy. Acrobatics were required.

I found the 2.5 inch circle to work really well. It looks pretty good in terms of shape and size and, as I said, made sewing pretty much a breeze. I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner.

I used different fabrics on the back, so we can tell them apart. We use cloth napkins all the time, but only change them out about once a week unless something happens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops. However, I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.

Finished Sew Day Donation Top

Sew Day Donation top
Sew Day Donation top

Mary and I did finish the top at Sew Day. I brought it home to make a back and will be handing it in today at the meeting.

I am pleased with how this came out. The ugly bits we started with turned into a really great quilt. It isn’t made from the colors I would normally use, but I am pleased with the result.

I am also pleased with how many of the orphan blocks and chunks we were able to use up overall during Sew Day. Sadly, none of the shards I brought were used. There is always next time.

Mary wants to do another with me next time, which I think will be great fun.

Finished: Friesan Pouch

Friesan pouch side 1
Friesan pouch side 1
Friesan pouch side 2
Friesan pouch side 2

This was a great pouch. I can’t say I didn’t rip, but it still went together really well.

In a number of the FB groups in which I share my pouches and drool over others’ pouches and bags, people tend to point out the flaws. I always tell them their work is great and not to point to the flaws. Now I know how hard that is. All I want to do is point out the flaws in my work. What is that about people? Is that a way to add to the life’s drama?

As I said before, one reason I made this particular pouch was to use the zippers Julie got me for my birthday. There are three different colors of zippers and two different kinds of zipper heads, so I tried to make the most of them.

Friesan Pouch center / inside
Friesan Pouch center / inside

A lot of the fabric (maybe all) was purchased on my trip to Portland. I used two different fabrics for the outside to give myself a visual cue as to where something was. I also wanted to use my new fabrics right away.

I used book fabric (from Windham) for the lining as an homage to my librarian roots. It is hard to see, but I can see it when I use the pouch. The book fabric makes me happy.

I like the stiffness of the bag. The center has foam to help it stand up while the sides have foam** and Decovil**. The bag stands up really well. I want to try something with more Decovil**, but I haven’t found the right pattern yet.

Friesan Pouch - sides down
Friesan Pouch – sides down

One thing that makes this an interesting pouch, is that the sides fold down. I was inspired to use the AGF solid pink after using it to good effect in Gerre’s Retreat pouch. I wouldn’t use a solid again on the inside pocket. It just looks too stark even though I like that fabric. A print would give the viewer something to look at.

Also, I would probably put something to hold pens – elastic  or mesh – to make those folding down sides more useful. It is hard for me to see what might be better for me in the design when I make a pattern the first time. As I have said before, I like to make things a few times before I get the true hang of them.

Overall I feel like this pouch came out really well. I am pleased. I made it for me. I am not sure how I will use it, but I will find some way to use it, I am sure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops. However, I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.

 

Cathy’s Sew Day Quilt

Cathy's Sew Day Improv top
Cathy’s Sew Day Improv top

Cathy went straight to work almost as soon as we arrived. She brought some of her Pointillist Palette chunks to work with.

I keep looking at this one and seeing different things.

It is great to see other people’s work in the quilts. Two of my donation blocks were included. Cathy also used Joelle’s word chunk from a previous swap.

Friesan Pouch Start

Friesan Pouch cut out
Friesan Pouch cut out

What I wanted to do at Sew Day, since all of my La Pass month 9 pieces were basted, was cut out a bag. I had been thinking about the Friesan Pouch for awhile and I chose to cut the pieces for that pouch out.

As I have said, cutting out large-ish projects at Sew Day is great. The larger cutting table and space to spread out are very helpful.

I prepared everything I could at Sew Day, so I was ready to sew when I had time on Sunday.

I basted all the pieces like Sara says to do instead of being lazy and wanting to get to the finished product. It took forever to get through the basting and making the zipper panel, but I had everything ready so it went very smoothly.

Friesan Pouch zipper panel
Friesan Pouch zipper panel

I used the zippers Julie got me for my birthday. I was able to put the zipper heads on (using my zipper head tutorial) with the zipper heads that Julie included in my gift and I think they look really good. I am ridiculously pleased with how the zipper panel came out.

I used two different fabrics (from my trip to Portland), one for each side of the zipper, because I used on fabric for each side of the pouch. I hope it comes out like I imagine it.

I am in the process of installing the zippers on the outside pockets.

Sew Day Donation Top In Process

April 2022 Sew Day Design Wall
April 2022 Sew Day Design Wall

I finished cutting out the Friesan pouch at Sew Day and had an hour until it was over. I could have left, but instead Mary C and I decided to work together to make another donation quilt top in an hour. It was a charity Sew Day after all and both of us had been working on our own projects.

Sew Day Donation Top start
Sew Day Donation Top start

We used some fabric from one of the first retreats that had been sewn together into a block of rectangles. It was not very attractive.

The first thing we did was to cut it in half and they cut the halves on the diagonal so we could insert some strips and break up the parts that were unattractive.

Sew Day Donation top 1st steps
Sew Day Donation top 1st steps

Mary C had some strips and strips sets leftover from a quilt she had just finished that we ransacked to make the improvements.

I selected some grey from the abundance of solids that Peggy has and we used that color to fill in other places.

Adding the seafoam green strips REALLY helped that rectangle go from unattractive to attractive. The addition also lightened up the piece.

To make the two halves large enough, we added the strip set and sewed the pieces together.

We decided we wanted to use the ‘bird’ blocks as well. They were mostly made from the same fabrics, so they fit in well. I had to build up the green block, which was not nearly square.

Brown 'bird' chunk
Brown ‘bird’ chunk

Mary sewed the brown bird into a large-ish chunk with the intention of putting on the bottom of the piece. I thought it came out well.

Green bird block built-up
Green bird block built-up

While she did that, I built up the green bird block into a shape we could use. The green strip along the bottom allows that darker green and orange section to float a bit which was a happy accident.

Sew Day Donation Top in process
Sew Day Donation Top in process

Eventually we ended up with several large chunks. We wanted to add those half circle pieces, which took a bit of time to work out.

In this endeavor, Mary did the sewing and some ironing while I trimmed, pressed, matched fabrics, cut strips and brought her stuff to sew. We had to make little bits to allow us to fit the chunks together. There is a freedom in this kind of improv quilt. I happily hacked off pieces of the blocks and chunks to make them fit.

Sew Day Activity

We had a charity Sew Day on 4/2. Often Peggy will provide a pattern, but this time the activity centered around orphan blocks and chunks.

April 2022 Sew Day Design Wall
April 2022 Sew Day Design Wall

Maria had been collecting orphan blocks and chunks for awhile. The first thing she did when she arrived was start pinning them to the design wall.

Maria put up a random assortment of blocks and chunks and people took what they wanted and worked on donation tops.

As mentioned, I didn’t really want to do the activity, but others got right into it. Since I made the Missouri Star donation top and brought it, I didn’t feel guilty about it. Nobody said anything to me either.

Sew Day Donation Top in process
Sew Day Donation Top in process

After I finished cutting out the Friesan Pouch, I ended up working on a quilt with Mary C and found that it was a fun activity. I prefer to do these types of quilts with someone else.

La Pass Month 9 Basted

La Pass M9 Basted
La Pass M9 Basted

Month 9 is very light, so I was able to mostly baste it at Craft Night last week and finish during a work meeting.

I am now stitching the pieces together and I think I will finish soon. It is nice to have a light month, but I don’t know what I will do when I finish. More half hexies, I guess.

Missouri Star Donation Top/Back

Missouri Star donation top
Missouri Star donation top

I finished the Missouri Star donation top and back on Friday night before Sew Day last week. I wanted to make sure I could give it to Peggy and I just didn’t have time to work on it during the week, even though I thought I would.

Adding the top and back to my Fabric Usage Report put me slightly back into the black, which makes me happy.

Missouri Star donation quilt back
Missouri Star donation quilt back

I am pretty pleased with how it came out. Making a top like this was a good use of that block.

The fabrics I used for the back have been around for a long time. The middle piece is a Moda and I never cut into it. I was thinking that I would use it for something, but since I hadn’t up until now, I went ahead and used it for the back. There’s always more fabric, right?

 

How Big is M8?

La Pass, M8 Rosette-measured
La Pass, M8 Rosette-measured

In a comment, Mrs. K asked how big my M8 rosette ended up. I know the paper pieces are larger than the original, but I didn’t know how big the rosette was, so I measured it.

I know the photo is small, but the tape measure says 40 inches! WOW! I am glad there are only a few of these in the quilt. They are pretty hard to maneuver when they are this large. I know I will be challenged when I put the whole thing together.

Finished: Cha Cha Cha Table Runner

Cha Cha Cha Table Runner Finished
Cha Cha Cha Table Runner Finished

I finished the Cha3 table runner pretty quickly. It is already on my buffet, replacing the Red Text table runner I made during the Journey to Nebula. I was getting sick of looking at it.

I realized that I really didn’t follow the directions very well. I explained a little about why in a previous post, but I also could have made the edges of the center a little more wonky. I have more of the squares from the charm pack and maybe I have enough to do that. We’ll see.

Cha Cha Cha Table Runner Finished-detail
Cha Cha Cha Table Runner Finished-detail

I even quilted it myself. The quilting isn’t as good as Tim’s or Colleen’s, but I am happy with it.

I had to unbaste it, because my first attempt was terrible. The second time was better. Lesson: use masking tape not painter’s tape.

Color Change

Art Gallery Emerald with crosses
Art Gallery Emerald with crosses

The other day I talked about changing out one of the colors. The fabric I will use is show here.

I was pleased that I was able to find it as soon as I went looking for it. I could do without the crosses, but I don’t sincerely dislike them. For a green, I really like the color.

Green fight: AGF vs. Free Spirit
Green fight: AGF vs. Free Spirit

Before I absolutely decided to use it, I compared it with some of the other fabrics. First, I wanted to see how close it was to the green solid Pink Door sent.

Look at them together, even with the issues of color on screens, you can see that they are not at all alike. The AGF is a lot brighter and clearer. NO brown undertones (sorry, Marty!). It is also not so busy that it would act differently in the La Pass pieces.

Greens get along: AGF vs. Free Spirit
Greens get along: AGF vs. Free Spirit

After I saw it with the solid, I wanted to see it with the green mineral fabric to make sure it wasn’t too close to that one either.

I think they are both in the emerald family, but the mineral print has a touch more yellow while the AGF has a touch more blue.

What do you think?

Rainbow Strip Donation Top

Rainbow strip donation quilt
Rainbow strip donation quilt

I talked about this quilt after I put the design walls back up. I haven’t made all the colors in the rainbow for the Color Strip & Chunk donation quilts, but I have made several. I thought the rainbow quilt would be the crowning glory, but the reality is that I have a lot of stuff on my small design wall and I want it gone or finished. The blocks that were hanging around are now having their turn.

Over last weekend I starting making more strip blocks as I was working on the Cha3 table runner and the Missouri Star donation top. I made a couple of black blocks, the purple blocks you see and that one red-violet block. I am not working on more greys, thought I don’t know if I will need them. I need some green and yellow blocks as well.

La Pass Month 9 Received

La Pass Month 9 arrives
La Pass Month 9 arrives

The day after I finished La Pass M8, Month 9 arrived. More green.

I am still in awe of the way Pink Door gets these out every month.

La Pass Month 9 fabrics
La Pass Month 9 fabrics

The fabrics are nicer than last month’s fabrics – brighter, more clear, not as dull. I am replacing the solid with a more emerald color. I just don’t like that solid green. It reminds me of camouflage, the military and the less of that I have to think about right now the better. My only concern is that it will be too close to the mineral green (top center). The fabric I will use is from Art Gallery. It is the perfect color.