This quilt came to mind the other day when I saw a similar technique on Fons & Porter.
Pam was doing the finishing, as I mentioned, and she was finally able to finish the binding.
It was nice to see it and I am really glad it is finished. I like the look of the stars, though I wonder about my fabric choices.
Also, I wonder if the Folded Corners Ruler I bought would do the same thing? I think it would enable me to put the stars in the sashing, but not add the background border (white in the photo, left). I really need to try that ruler.
Here are more blocks from January. I think my total for January was 25. I would have loved to get to one per day, but 25 is not shabby.
While I did cut a few new fabrics, this group represents blocks made from the last dregs of my donation bin.
After using up all that I could, I got out the Acuquilt and my new 2.5″ die (Christmas gift) and cut a bunch of new squares from scraps on my cutting table. There will be some duplicate blocks, but I am back in the business of making donation blocks.
I am making some donation blocks, but not as many as I had hoped so far this month. I am still working through the dregs of my box of 2.5″ squares and that is uninteresting. It will be good to get the dregs out of my life, though, so I am determined.
At the meeting on Saturday, Michelle reported that the guild had donated 175 quilts to various organizations. I can’t tell you how amazing that is. That is about 2 1/3 quilts per member! It is really a great team effort.
Donation Block Prep
After my last post about donation blocks, I had to do some prep to be able to make more. The first thing I did was cut up some charm squares of white. At first, I just cut a few, then on a recent Craft Night, I cut up the entire pack and now have a ton of backgrounds.
I have not yet cut more foreground fabrics. I really want to use the dregs. I know I am not a fan of them, but they are perfectly fine fabrics that need to be used.
ME Check donation block – Nov/Dec n.21
I made one more block before the meeting, bringing my total since the last meeting to 21.
I also checked out my bin to see what was still left. I have some plaids that I will put into a block together. I also have those sunset kind of fabrics. I cut many, many squares from them and will have to just suck it up and make a bunch of blocks from them. They will look good together and I might have enough for a whole quilt.
Bin of donation patches
My little bin of donation patches is pretty empty. The top fabric is the sunset fabric. We’ll see what I can make from this weird assortment.
You must be getting sick of my donation block craze. I really do want to add more blocks and quilt tops to my 2017 list, so I made 5 more blocks on Sunday.
Grey and Red Donation Block – December 2017
Misc. Blues and Reds Donation Block – December 2017
Purple Dress Donation Block – December 2017
Solid Blue Donation Block – December 2017
Go Bears Donation Block – December 2017
I worked on them while I was piecing the last quarter of En Provence. The blocks seemed to fly out of my machine despite the fact that I was really struggling to find backgrounds.
I have been working through my little bin of donation patches since I started on this binge. After 20 blocks, I have few backgrounds and a lot of fabrics that I am tired of using. Still, I was determined not to cut more backgrounds until I absolutely had to. I decided, after I made the Cal block (blue and yellow) that I needed to see if I had some charm packs.
The blue and yellow block as well as some of the others will be difficult to use with the standard blocks others make. There is some thing about using up as much as you can before you have to cut more background.
Eventually, I went to my tote of charm packs and found two of white fabric. I started cutting up one of them, so my next batch of donation blocks will be pretty standard.
Although I had a lot of other projects to use as leaders and enders, I really made a lot of donation blocks throughout the weekend as well.
I have used a lot of 2.5″ squares this weekend and I am kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel. It is not a bad thing as I am using up pieces I might not normally use. I’ll have to cut some backgrounds soon, but I hope to work out some piecing so I can use some donation blocks from last year to make a new top.
Since I am still working on En Provence, I thought it was prudent to finish that before starting another mystery. I am reading and collecting the clues in case I change my mind.
While I was working on En Provence on Friday, I made some more donation blocks. I used the donation blocks as leaders and enders, of course.
I figured out that each donation block has 15 seams. I made about 6 in the course of several hours of sewing, which means I sewed somewhere in the neighborhood of 180 seams total. That is between the En Provence pieces and the donation blocks. I did a couple of other things in between as well, so my total is probably a few more.
Of course, the seams are short, which means they are quick, but I am making progress.
Purple and yellow donation block
Donation block: girlhood bedroom
Candy red donation block
Red and burgundy donation block
Yellow donation block
I am feeling like I am running out of 2.5″ pieces in my donation bin from which to choose. I think it is just that I don’t have enough to make blocks from one color. I also think that some of the choices are not my favorites. I have a number of pieces left and will make an effort to use those up before I commit to cutting more.They are not ugly and someone will like them, so I will need to use them.
As I said yesterday, I used donation blocks as leaders and enders. I only finished 2.5. After doing an inventory of the donation blocks I have made this year, I was determined to up my numbers.
I’d love to give Peggy and Michelle a nice little stack at the BAM Winter Extravaganza, but we will see.
I am trying to clear out my little bin of 2.5″ squares. Some have been hanging around for a long time and I am sick of looking at them. The group above are not any of those. I needed some nice fabrics to work with first.
Donation block #2, November 19, 2017
I do worry about using non-white fabrics for backgrounds, though I do it anyway. I don’t want to say beggers can’t be choosers, but I do think it. I do firmly believe that other background fabrics thrown in make the blocks more interesting. Some of the background fabrics in the second image come from the appealing California fabric I bought at the Granary. These fabrics were also not the ones I was eager to move out of my bin.
Donation block #3, November 19, 2017
Some of the red tones in the half made block are those that need to earn their keep in a donation quilt. I bought too much of those Joel Dewberry red-pinks at the top. They keep showing up and I need them out of my life. The two squares on top might be the last two, but I suspect another 1-2 squares are hiding from me, ready to pounce when I am least expecting it.
I’ll have at least three new blocks to give to the Charity Girls in a few weeks and more, with any luck.
In between everything else, I made a few more donation blocks. Next year, I might write one big post on donation blocks and publish it at the end of the year. I am sure you might be more impressed with a big selection of blocks than the ones and twos I tend to post.
As I have said a few times, I have a stack of donation blocks slated to make at least one donation quilt, but probably more. As a result, I should work on that project rather that making new blocks. I don’t listen to myself. I have tons of 2.5″ squares handy. And I need leaders and enders periodically, so there you have it. And endless supply of blocks.
Blue & White Donation Block
Lately, things have been no different. I have made a few as I have sewn En Provence. I need to cut some pieces for the Triple Star, which is why I haven’t been using those quilt blocks as leaders and enders.
I feel like I should just randomly select foreground colors and be done with it. That doesn’t work for me. I seem to have to carefully select all one color or similar colors to make a block. Not sure what is driving that (OCD on some level?). Still, I want to make pretty quilts to donate and this is part of how I do it.
Cotton & Steele Donation Block
I recently came across some beige Cotton & Steele 2.5″ squares and decided to make a block with them as the background.
I happened to place the dots so they were all moving in the same direction. On some level, it looks to me like the dots are flowing behind the foreground. The beige won’t go very well with the bright whites the guild usually uses, so I might have to pull some beige out of my bins and make several more blocks with a beige background. It would be nice clear out my beige, but not so nice to work with. Perhaps I won’t notice?
Donation block -pink/orange
Finally, I had one under the needle. It was finished, but placeholding so I could start up again with no needle issues. There is a little violet, but most of this block is pinks and oranges. I am really liking that color combination at the moment.
Yes, I have another donation block on the wall even though I have a lot of other projects to use as leaders and enders. A good habit, I guess.
Somehow I didn’t get to working on any of my other projects on Sunday. I did do some random sewing as well as tidying up. My cutting table was a wreck. It was getting to the point where I had about six square inches in which to cut. Very difficult, I assure you. I started chopping up the scraps that were making the mess into pieces for future use.
Stars #3 Donation Top
One task I did accomplish was finish the third Stars donation top on Sunday.The BAM meeting is next Saturday and I wanted to get that done, so I was pleased. I had been rummaging around in my fabric the day before and was reminded how much backing fabric I have one hand. I made a back from some of the fabric even though it made the quilt more girly than boyish. It was quicker to use a large piece than to piece a bunch of smaller pieces together.
I am pleased with the asymmetrical layout of the top. It isn’t quite ideal, but it is much more interesting than the first version of this design. I don’t know that I will make more of these blocks right at the moment. I have some blue and white 16 patches that have been hanging around waiting for their turn on the design wall that I think I will work on next for a donation quilt. We’ll see.
I have been able to come up with a few donation blocks, despite the many leaders and enders opportunities.
I am particularly fond of the block in the upper left hand corner. Something about the combination of bright blue, turquoise and pink is very appealing.
I liked the previous Star Donation top so much that I decided to make another one. As I have mentioned, I have a lot of leaders and enders opportunities, so I am not making as much progress on donation tops and blocks right at the moment. Still, slow progress is better than no progress.
Sawtooth Stars to be – Donation Blocks
At the moment, I have the blocks done. I will make Flying Geese to add to make them into Sawtooth Stars.
Not all of the blocks have black background patches, but I did try to keep the background patches dark so as to continue to explore that look.
I also decided to make this one larger – 9 blocks instead of 4. Still, looking at it makes me think I could make two donation tops with these blocks for the NICU, if I wanted to make them smaller. I will see what I think when I finish making the blocks into stars.
I turned in the Sawtooth Star Donation top and back on Saturday at the BAMaQG meeting.
(insert gif of me dusting off my hands and moving on)
I was sad to see it go as that was a really great quilt. I know some family with a sick baby will love it, though and makes me happy.
People at the meeting agreed that it was cheerful even with the black.
Yes, I used different background fabrics as I had a few fat quarters and thought I might as well use them up. Pretty soon I’ll have to break into yardage again.
I’ll probably make another one of these. I have some more black squares and it is a good use of them.
Here is more, finally, about the new direction in which my donation blocks are going. I talked about this last week and had time and brainspace to make the ideas a reality. How long this whim will last remains to be seen.
Remember I can make any blocks I want for charity blocks. Peggy will do something with them, if nobody else does. Still, I feel kind of obligated to make enough of one type of block to make a small quilt so it is easier for the Charity Girls who do a ton of work already. Also, I like the 16 patch/postage stamp format. It makes for easy leaders and enders that take very little brainspace while I am working on other projects.
Thus I was looking for something that would work with 16 patches. I didn’t really need a pattern since I can figure out most quilt blocks myself and my DH will do math if I need help. I especially wanted to make something with these black postage stamp blocks so that they wouldn’t be a drag on Peggy and Michelle.
Donation Sawtooth Star
I saw the magazine Quilting Quickly, which I normally don’t buy since I don’t often buy pre-cuts beyond charm packs and the name makes me a little crazy. This time it had a colorful 16 patch on the cover with an almost Sawtooth Star, but sort of Jacob’s Ladder quilt on the front. It gave me the idea to make Sawtooth Stars, so that is what I did.
Immediately I thought of Sawtooth Stars and decided to make them.
I used the Wing Clipper method of making the Flying Geese that make up the legs of the star with scraps. I usually don’t keep pieces large enough to cut a 5 1/8″ square in my scrap bins, so my choices were limited, but I am pleased with how cheerful it came out. The Pure Elements Linen background (not quite white) helps with that. I think a black background would not have given the impression of them looking so cheerful.
The blocks are 16″, so without sashing or border, I would make a 32″ square quilt. I am not sure if I will add sashing or not. We will see.
I am pretty excited about how fun these blocks turned out. Seriously, I really want to turn all of my donation blocks into stars! I guess it is a good sign when you don’t want to give away the quilt!
