Tag: BAMQG

Finished 3 Zip It Ups

I made these Zip It Ups for the guild board. They are working so hard and I wanted to thank them. I know it wasn’t necessary, but I did it anyway. I consulted with MaryM when I visited her. As mentioned, I told her my plan and after some discussion, I ended up making this pattern instead of my original idea. 

This pattern has been updated to v.2, but I used Mary’s copy of the original. The v.1 ByAnnie patterns are not as detailed, but I was able to make them with no problem.

I thought they could use these portfolios for their guild work, but they are welcome to use them however they like, obviously.

I used ribbon to cover the zipper tape. I decided I was wasting the beautiful Renaissance Ribbon I have purchased by not using it, so I chose some very lush patterns to cover the zipper tape and vinyl edge. I need to use these ribbons more. They are wonderful.

We had our Board meeting at a restaurant in July and I handed them out. It was really fun and we got our work done as well. I am really pleased.

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon 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 website.

July 2026 Donation Blocks & Quilts

This Month’s Blocks

I am thinking of making something with the pink 16 Patch blocks, but I haven’t decided what yet. Also I don’t have enough and have moved on to Color Strip blocks.

Yes, I am back to making Color Strip blocks in white and pink. I finished the white set I started awhile ago. I want to make another Sidewalk quilt. I wasn’t up for starting it, so I began making pink Color Strip blocks. I chose pink, because the pink scrap drawer is too full.

This Month’s quilts

Pillow Fight!

Pillowcases 2026 from swap
Pillowcases 2026 from swap

The guild Pillow swap is today. I was assigned to swap with Christine. Since she wouldn’t be at the meeting, we swapped at Sew Day.

Pillowcases were an option so we swapped pillowcases. I found some flannel fabric while I was with Mary in Ashland. I almost bought some for myself and made more pillowcases for us at home. I resisted.

The cases in the photo above and to the right are the pillowcases I received from Christine. DH will have a fit since he thinks we already have too many pillowcases, but what can I do? As President, I need to be a good guild citizen. 

2026 Pillowcase Swap
2026 Pillowcase Swap

I like making pillowcases. They are easy to make and useful.

Finished: Sidewalk #6: Green

Sidewalk #6: green - finished
Sidewalk #6: green – finished

I powered through the chunking of the Sidewalk #6: Green and was able to finish. I wanted to get one of the Wheelchair quilts up on the wall, so I needed to finish the Sidewalk quilt.

I really need to make the Half 16 Patches more colorful. The alternating white squares in the blocks means the quilt is primarily white which maybe isn’t so great for a donation quilt. I thought about using a color for the 8.5 and 4.5 inch squares, but am pretty sure I don’t have enough of any one color and am not sure scrappy would work with this design. I’ll have to think about it some more.

Sidewalk #6: Green- back
Sidewalk #6: Green- back

The back took longer than I expected as I used a lot of smaller pieces. Still, it uses up a lot of greens that I probably won’t use. Also, I get to add to my ‘Fabric Used” spreadsheet and up the number of donation quilts the guild gives away.

Wheelchair Quilt Tops

2026 Wheelchair quilt top #1
2026 Wheelchair quilt top #1

BAM is collecting wheelchair quilts for the veteran’s hospital in Palo Alto. We had planned a sew Day, but our Sew Day had to be cancelled, so I made one top at Super Sew Day and am working on another one.

We are all working to the same pattern from Sunshine Linus.

Both quilts use some Moda fabrics I won as part of the UFO challenge. As per the pattern, I cut the fabric up into 9.5 inch squares and sewed them together.

2026 Wheelchair quilt top #2 in process
2026 Wheelchair quilt top #2 in process

I had enough squares for at least one other, which I am working on now.

I didn’t include a back for the first one, but will sew a back for the second one. I have to sew this together first.

Someone else will quilt it. I didn’t cut off the corners as I thought the longarming would be easier if that step was done after quilting.

Sidewalk #6 In Progress

Sidewalk #6: Green in progress
Sidewalk #6: Green in progress

I have been collecting various blocks using 2.5 inch squares for forthcoming donation quilts. I finally had enough of the green half 16 patch blocks to make another Sidewalk quilt.

I started putting the blocks together in chunks on my small design wall, but couldn’t look at the whole thing until Cool Four Patch Fun was off the large design wall. I did a fair job spreading dark and light greens across the quilt. I don’t think this will take me very long to put together. I might have it done for the next meeting.

There is a lot of white in this quilt design. I think I need to try one where the large center blocks are a different color. White isn’t great for a donation quilt and I am sure I can find enough of whatever color to make a good looking quilt.

Is a Table Runner a Quilt?

1-2-3 Mosaic completed
1-2-3 Mosaic completed

The 1-2-3 Mosaic table runner is finished. This is a project I worked on myself from start to finish. No longarming this time.

Amazing, right?

I quilted the small piece using a wave stitch, as shown, on my new machine. I have wanted that stitch for a long time and really like it. I need to ask some questions of the dealer, but it worked fine the first time out.

1-2-3 Mosaic back completed
1-2-3 Mosaic back completed

The back shows the quilting really well. It is simple, but I am pleased.

1-2-3 Mosaic back completed - label
1-2-3 Mosaic back completed – label

I also used the stitch lettering to make a simple label.

All in all, finishing it myself made it a very quick project. It is sitting on my buffet now. 

Sew Day Fun

Sew Day setup
Sew Day setup

We had a fun Super Sew Day over the July Fourth holiday. We  held it on Friday and Saturday so it was double the fun.

I went with a bag of small pieces of Soft and Stable that had been annoying me. My goal was to make them into larger usable pieces, Frankenfoam. I used Frankenfoam in the Palomino Pouch project and didn’t get any reports of problems. I cover the outside with some SF101/ProFuse to smooth out the bumps a little.  I think for small projects, or those with a lot of seams, Frankenfoam works well.

Frankenfoam 1/2
Frankenfoam 1/2

I started out sewing like sized pieces together.  By the end of Friday, I was less careful about ‘wasting’ foam.  I ended up with two pieces about 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide. I estimate I got the approximate size of one package of ByAnnie Soft & Stable. It was a good project to do when people were asking me a million questions. It was easy to stop and start without losing my place or having to figure out the directions again. 

I really could have done more, but I decided I didn’t need an absolutely square piece to use it.

Mindalin Tool Roll exterior
Mindalin Tool Roll exterior

As a result, on Saturday, I cut up one of those pieces and make the exterior of the Mindalin tool roll. This pattern can be found in Make Modern issue 70. The pattern calls for foundation pieced blocks to make the outside, but I decided to use selvedges to make the exterior. It looks really cool, IMO.

The last thing I made with selvedges was the Sleeping Bag pouch. I want to make another one, but haven’t gotten to it yet. I seem to have a never ending supply of selvedges, so I wasn’t worried about using up the ones I had collected.

Christine's EBTMT
Christine’s EBTMT

A lot of people were making the Everything But the Machine Tote. The guild may have a sew-a-long for this bag as it is very useful. It has drawers inside to hold your travel sewing supplies.

The front provides a great way to showcase a special patch, embroidery or fussy cutting. 

Christine made hers all in one day.

1-2-3 Mosaic Top Done

1-2-3 Mosaic table runner top
1-2-3 Mosaic table runner top

Sheesh! I haven’t posted about this since April. Well, it is a little bigger! In fact, I finished the top last weekend.

I probably should make it a little longer, but I don’t want to. I am done with this process for the moment. I might quilt it with straight lines myself – a gentle curved line that is one of the decorative stitches on my new machine. 

Creative Play Progress

January Creative Play
January Creative Play

People brought both Creative Play packets to the guild meeting on Saturday. It was so great to see them! People have done great work to them.

I was also very excited that they were in different states. One has turned into a round robin with people mostly adding borders. Not everyone is adding a complete, four sided border, but, as you can see, there are a lot of borders.

February Creative Play
February Creative Play

The other is not sewn together completely. Chunks are sewn together which provides a lot of opportunity for creativity. There is also plenty of fabric left.

BAM BOM May and June Blocks

X Plus block #2
X Plus block #2

I finished the second of the May/June blocks the night before they were due. I try to make them before or as soon as we announce them, but I didn’t this time. As a result, I almost didn’t make the deadline.

In addition, I ended up remaking the X Plus/Lozenge block. Now I have two of them. I’ll use the first one on the back. I don’t want to make it into something else, because the piecing is less than stellar, but it will look fine on the back of the quilt.

BAM BOM Drunkard's Path
BAM BOM Drunkard’s Path

I made the Drunkard’s Path/ Quarter Squares right away. I was in the frame of mind with Chaos with a Twist, so took the opportunity to make a few more in my BAM BOM fabrics.

 

 

 

May/June BAM BOM Participants
May/June BAM BOM Participants

A lot of people are participating, which made me really happy! There were some fantastic blocks shown.

 

Finished Ends n.25

Ends n.25 top finished
Ends n.25 top finished

I finished Ends n.25 a few weeks ago. I just handed it in and made time to post about it.

The background doesn’t provide the required contrast to make the oranges and yellows stand out. They don’t, however, blend together either. 

This is a great example of what is fun about making donation quilts. I can play around with fabric combinations that I wouldn’t otherwise consider for my own work. I guess making backing is a little of the same.

Ends n.25 Back
Ends n.25 Back

The back, like the back for Ends n.24, uses some old solids that have been around since the dark ages.

Started Ends n.25

Ends n.25 top
Ends n.25 top

Almost as soon as I finished Ends n.24, I started Ends n.25 using the same background fabric. I got the background fabric for free somewhere and never used it, so here we are.

You can see that there is a shortage on the bottom right so I’ll have to add something in there.

I am still working through the edges of the back of Orange You Glad, which make up the color in this quilt. I have a few other red and orange edges that I added in, some still hanging around from the back of the Lobster table runner.