Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I made some effort to make some blocks this month, but spent most of my charity time on the Grey Improv donation quilt. I also started working on the sashing blocks for the quilt I saw at the Sonoma County Fair. I have about 3 half 16 patches done.
Two blocks is a little sad, though.
Last year I went to the Sonoma County Fair with friends from Austria. They
have something similar in Austria, but it isn’t exactly the same. Of course, I visited the quilts and found one that I am going to try as a new design for a donation top.
I don’t know what to call this design and don’t know if it is actual pattern or not.
The piecing is in the sashing and the blocks are plain. The maker of this quilt, Elysha Ozanian, did a great job making the sashing really stand out. I drew out the quilt and found that instead of making the normal guild donation block, I could make half of one and that would be the pieced part of the quilt. I tried to make a block out of the plain block and the pieced sashing, but it didn’t work, so I will just build the quilt using individual units of the small plain block, the large plain block and the pieced portion using chunking.
The units comprising one plain block, 4 small plain blocks and the pieced sections are over 14 inches. I am not quite sure how big I will make my version. Maybe 4 plain blocks wide with the sashing units on the outside? I’ll have to see.
This might be another option for the guild to make as a donation quilt design.
I have finally finished the Grey Improv donation top and back. It has taken awhile, though much of the time was it hanging on the design wall going nowhere.
I did a good job working through my odd sized grey scraps, which is the whole point of the exercise. I am even more convinced that improv works much better in a monochromatic palette. I think that a complementary color scheme would work as well. I haven’t tried that I think the quilt would end up being bed sized.
This quilt is about 45 in. x 45 in., which is on the large size for a baby quilt, but definitely kid sized. Also, in this color scheme I could imagine it working well for a boy.
I used the leftovers from two quilts for the back: the Hugs and a Kiss quilt and the Half Hexie Star. Good use of some good fabrics.
While working on the Old Town blocks I have been using my grey scraps to add to the Grey Improv donation quilt. I am really enjoying building up the size of this quilt. It takes forever to get the right sized pieces, but all of a sudden it is bigger. It is really fun.
There was no organized Community Quilt project at the Retreat this year as both Community Quilt chair people were otherwise occupied and didn’t attend. Despite that, the group made (or brought) ~15 quilts to hand in. First, I brought the White Strips donation quilt, but couldn’t hand it in, because nobody was there to collect it. Oh well, I’ll hand it in on Saturday.
Lee Ann put the finishing touches on the Improv quilt above. I made a number of the pieces and it was fun to see them. She said it has been sitting around for awhile. I was really glad to see what a great job she did.
Lee Ann also put together a Flying Geese quilt for the Community quilt project that was really interesting.
Peggy gave her the mauve-y red awhile ago and asked her to do something with it. The color wasn’t exactly Lee Ann’s style, but recently she got a layer cake that included fabrics she used for a background. This isn’t a quilt I would make, but I think the combination works really well! Lee Ann did a great job on the piecing. She ran around the room with the quilt fluttering behind her like a cape when she finished! It was a joyful act.
Anna also finished a donation quilt that has been hanging around. We all helped her arrange the last few blocks, so she could get the quilt off her UFO list. I thought it was a Pulse quilt that Anna wasn’t able to finish, but she finally figured out it was intended for the victims of the Las Vegas shooting in 2017. In looking through the posts where I communicate the call for victims who need quilts, I was reminded how many times recently there has been some tragedy where a call has gone out. This quilt will make someone very happy. As usual, Anna did a great job.
Melinda was on a binge. She made 10 baby quilts (~34 inches square) from a tub of children’s fabric she can’t remember buying. LOL! I didn’t get any photos of her quilt tops and backs because she was so fast at showing them. She was pleased with how much she got done, but disappointed that she didn’t use up more of the fabric.
I made a donation quilt with some of the leftover fabric from the pillowcases.
I got the black and white triangle (pinwheel?) fabric from Melinda. She was happy to offload it. I added it to the pillowcase fabrics to make the quilt slightly larger.
As you can see, I messed up the layout somewhere along the way. Someone will like it.
I wasn’t that happy with the black quilt once I saw what Lynette made with the other pillowcase scraps. She added a cream background fabric from Melinda to really make the pillowcase scraps shine.
Lynette is a on a potato chip quilt binge. I may have heard of Potato Chip quilts, but I have never made one. I might now that I know how great they can look.
Lee Ann found this block somewhere – I didn’t hear the story and made a donation quilt out of children’s fabrics. She added some solids and the quilt top looks really great.
I didn’t bring a scrap bin or my 2.5 inch squares bin and I was sorry. I had to scramble around for leaders and enders and that wasn’t easy. I got quite a bit done using other projects for leaders and enders, but it was difficult. I was shocked at how ingrained sewing with leaders and enders is for me!
Last weekend was the guild‘s quilt retreat. It was great to get away and sew for 10 hours per day. Like last year, we went to the St. Francis Retreat Center in San Juan Batista.
This is a picture of all the attendees with some of our projects.
The room had a different setup than last year, but we had plenty of space to work. There was a tall table where people sandwiched quilts and laid things out. There was a couple of design walls and two cutting tables.
My space was more than I needed, but I used it all. LOL! I plunked my machine down when I got there and just used it in that space. I had a whole 6 ft. table to myself and could have moved it over to have more space on the left. It worked pretty well. I got plenty done.
Julie sat across from me, so we were able to chat and get opinions pretty easily.
People started putting ‘hats’ on their machines at night. I am not sure what sparked that, but I saw it a few times with fabric and bags. Keeping the dust off? The machine with the fabric is SueG’s machine and I think she just wanted a decoration for her machine.
They fed us very well. Nice healthy meals even for me. I felt good after the retreat from a food point of view.
Julie and I brought some cocktails and drank them before bedtime. Such a good way to sleep well.
I was very cold the first night. I got up in the middle of the night and put on my fleece jacket. The next day I remembered doing that last year as well. I’ll have to make a note about it for next year.
All in all, a good layout, a good weekend and a general good time.
After finishing the White Strips #3 donation top, I needed another leaders and enders project.
This grey improv scrap top has hung on my small design wall for almost a year. I am shocked at that! I didn’t realize how much time had flown by.
My grey-black-brown drawer isn’t crammed full, but it isn’t empty either and I decided that I need to work on this project to get it off the design wall and to someone who needs it. Also, it will be a relatively quick win on my fabric used spreadsheet.
At the moment, as leaders and enders, I am sewing together all the scraps that are not strips. I am sewing them into pieces that I can then sew on to the top above. You can see pieces I have placed, but not sewn. They are just temporarily in place until I can add more pieces to them to make a unit large enough to expand the top. It’s a lot of piecing, because the pieces are small.
The main piece I have already sewn together is about 32 inches wide. I need another 10 inches, at least. I’ll probably have to dig into the strips to make the quilt big enough.
No joke!
I finished White Strips #3 and was able to hand it in to the Community Quilts Committee at the Retreat.
I was not surprised, but rather disappointed that my white scrap bin does not seem to be emptier. As I said before, I have a lot of plain white scraps so I have to decide what do with the plain white scraps. I am going to work on some other scrap quilts until I decide.
I did make a back for this one. Nothing fancy.
The donation blocks continue with more Color Strip blocks, though we all know white is not a color. I am getting down to the solid white strips and am not sure how to continue. I don’t want to make a whole block of just white strips. I am thinking that I will need to leave some of the strips for another time or incorporate them into another white improv quilt. At the moment I am trying to decide if I want to make another white strip quilt or if one is enough at the moment.
I am making excellent progress on White Strips #3. Since I couldn’t get it done for the meeting, I want to get it done for the Retreat. I only had snatches of time between work and taking care of my mom. Even small bits of time make progress.
After sewing the cornerstones and sashing together then sewing to the blocks, I was able to assemble the top. Chunking really makes the whole process go fast.
Now I plan to put some small borders on. It is already, without the borders 43 in. x 47 in. I like my donation quilts on the larger side. I also need to make the back.
The other day I mentioned Lee Ann’s Classmate Tote. I wanted to share SueG’s bag with you. It is the other one I made.
As you can see, I made it from the same fabric (Carrie Bloomston) with which I have been making her other gifts. I really hope she likes it as I still have enough to make some other gifts. This does mean that she and Carrie have a couple of bags that are different from each other. I have tried to make them the same bags, but Carrie is not on the board, so she didn’t get one of these. Christmas? We’ll see.
One of the things *I* like about this fabric is the color wheels. I know I have mentioned it before. It is very handy to have a color wheel with you. I didn’t manage to get one of them on the front, but I was able to get one on the back – a whole color wheel. I am thrilled.
This is a very active print, so I wanted the accent fabric to work with the activity. I chose the black and white stripes. They do add a lot of movement, but I don’t think they compete with the Carrie Bloomston fabric.
It is great to use a whole piece of fabric for the exterior, but I wonder, given the design, if I could add another slip pocket on the outside? Considering how the bag closes, it might not work, or I would have to have a pocket that closes. Something to think about.
As with Lee Ann’s the inside is very useful. I, again, chose the white version of the Carrie Bloomston fabric and was able to fit most of 3 color wheels inside. It is a bit over the top and I probably should have chosen a less active print. Still, it would be useful for a travel kit.
I showed photos to someone who said it looked like a jewelry organizer.
One thing I did differently from the pattern is use some double fold elastic for the pens and pen-like tools holder. The pattern calls for making a pocket (see example) using fabric folded and sewn. I didn’t like the thickness and I thought something like a simple strip would be more useful. The blue strip replaces the pocket. As you can see, I varied the size between the stitch lines so even a small rotary cutter could fit. I triple stitched so it would be tight and wouldn’t pull off with heavy use. Fingers crossed it works.
The closure is a part of the pattern I am not 100% happy with. I thought about what I could use to replace it, but didn’t think of anything, so I went with the directions in the pattern. I don’t know if I’ll make this again, but I’ll have to think about a different closure if I do.
I did fussy cut a bit to get the color wheel, as mentioned above, but also make sure something interesting was on the bottom so it looked good like I have shown in the photo above.
Carrie did a great job wrapping, as usual. She is amazingly gifted at wrapping. I am always so impressed with what she comes up with.
The other day I mentioned giving the Classmate Totes to the officers. I wanted to share the overall look of the bag with you.
The Chrysanthemum print by Philip Jacobs is one that Cyndi gave me after she visited an estate sale where she found fabulous fabric on offer. This is a colorway I don’t often buy. As I said the other day, I wasn’t sure whether Lee Ann would like it, but these colors spoke to me when I thought of her. I’ll have to see about finding some more of this fabric for her next bag so she has a matching set.
The outside is one continuous piece and I think the fabric is shown very well.
As you know, these colors are a little difficult for me to work with. Not as difficult as brown, but still hard. I am glad this is a Phillip Jacobs fabric as it has rich layers of color. It also makes me think of Fall, autumn colors and Thanksgiving.
Since I don’t have a lot of these autumn colors, or don’t think about combining them, I was also pleased that the yellow I chose for the folds and the binding. The color fit with the Phillip Jacobs print very well.
For the inside, I used a poppy print I bought in Sacramento in 2017, and also some Tula as I didn’t have enough of either.
Normally, I would have used the same yellow for the folds on the inside, but, again, I didn’t have enough fabric. There is a little bit of “making it all work” going on.
I have plenty of zippers, but I didn’t have all the same colored zippers, so I chose a couple of different hues in the orange/sunshine yellow range.
There are 5 pockets you can see in the picture. Under two of the pockets, slip pockets provide additional flat storage. I think a 6 inch ruler might fit in the middle area.
Carrie did a great job wrapping, as usual. She is amazingly gifted at wrapping. I am always so impressed with what she comes up with.
I made a little more progress on the White Strip #2 donation top. I have most of the top sashings sewn. I have started to sew the blocks to the sashing, as I show in my chunking tutorial.
I started working on it a little more diligently after I put my aunt’s Superbloom together. That project isn’t finished, but I only had a few minutes and needed a break. I think I’ll be able to take the quilt to Sew Day and hand it in.
It’s officer gift time for the guild again. Since I organize the gifts, I get to decide what bag we will make. The Classmate Tote** is the bag of the year for the officers.
This is a small project bag the officers can use for a small flat project, like English Paper Piecing, or that they can use for tools and supplies. I wanted to make this pattern again after making one for Gerre and one for Lindsay. I also thought it wasn’t too big, but had a useful design.
I initially started writing this post back in December after I spent some time one day cutting for both bags. I know several officers read this blog, so I decided not write about the process as I didn’t want their surprise to be spoiled.
We gave them the bags yesterday. We delayed the thank you gifts until all of the officers were at the meeting.
Mary C and I made two bags each for the officers. I’ll have to recruit more people next year as I struggled to get mine done.
I wasn’t sure what fabric to use for Lee Ann’s bag. I wasn’t originally scheduled to make it, but picked it up when another member couldn’t do it. This Philip Jacobs fabric spoke to me and I really hope she liked it.
For Sue, I used the fabric I have been using for bags for her and Carrie for the past year or two.
I am pleased with how they both came out.
Mary, as usual, did a great job on her bags.
**N. B. : 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 blog.
Today is the guild meeting and I thought I *might* have this top done and ready to turn in. No such luck.
I did stop making new blocks and focused on sewing this top together. I could do both new blocks and the top, but leaders and enders is easier for me if I focus on one project as the leaders and enders piece at a time. Also, I have enough blocks for this quilt and don’t need any more.
As I mentioned in the previous post, I am using the back of a fabric as the sashing. I haven’t turned over all the cut sashing yet, so the pieces near the top are still on the right side. I think it looks good.
As per my ‘chunking tutorial,’ I started at the bottom by sewing a block to a piece of sashing. I quickly realized I had forgotten to cut cornerstones. I am backfilling those as it becomes necessary.