Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I spent a happy afternoon on Sunday working on the Flying Geese Exchange quilt and the Red Improv Donation Top. The latter has exploded in size from the small piece it was when I last wrote about it to about 30 inches now.
I am thrilled to say that I am seeing the bottom of the red scrap drawer, too!
I used this project as leaders and enders for the Flying Geese Exchange. I wanted to concentrate on that one, but can’t work on it without leaders and enders.
Yes! It’s all about red lately!
I finally finished all of the blocks for the second Red Strip Donation Top. As mentioned before, not all of these scraps were strips, like in the Green Strip Donation Top. There are a lot of chunks. Perhaps I should call it the Red Chunk Donation top? That would differentiate it from the first one.
One of the things I like about working on a design wall is that I see different things after I put the blocks (or pieces) up. In this case, I saw that the quilt looked pretty good with thin white strips in between the blocks. I may cut strips and try that as a layout. I’d use cornerstones as well. More scraps to use up.
The quilt won’t end up as large as the Green Strip, the Purple Strip or the first Red Strip Donation quilts, but it will still be big enough for something. The layout will be a little different than the first red version.
I am still working on the second Red Strip Donation Top, but I needed a leaders and enders project, so I started on the red improv version of my series. Yes, I have a lot of red scraps.
This doesn’t look like much. I hope it will look like the center of the green improv donation top when I am finished. I haven’t taken out any yardage yet. I have some large strips in the drawer and am using those before I dig into yardage.
I want to use as many of the scraps as I can. Strangely, I am fascinated by how much I can make from a drawer full of scraps. I haven’t yet made anything with just the scraps. I always add yardage, but I am still making my way through the scraps.
I was surprised to get an email from Kelly about one of my quilts. I had no idea she had the quilt or intended to quilt it. I finished this quilt in 2015 and figured it was off keeping someone warm all these years.
Kelly has quilted the Black & Grey Teenaged Boy Donation quilt.It looks like she did a basic all over meander. I am used to more complicated quilting, working with Tim and Colleen, but I am sure whoever gets the quilt will enjoy with simple or complex quilting.
Kelly will bind it, then she will donate it to a UK charity that takes such things.
I am heading to the finish line making blocks for the second Red Strip Donation Quilt, but it is painful. The other day I had 7 left to make and I still have 1 left to finish. It is almost done. Maddeningly, it needs a very small strip on the top or bottom to make it the right size. ERGH!
I thought I would be able to finish by the meeting, but I doubt it now. Fortunately, there is no deadline except in my head.
I have been working hard on the second group of red donation blocks. I have about 7 more to go. I need to decide what background fabric to use. One thing at a time.
I finally finished the first red strip donation top. I say first because I am well into making the blocks for a second. I have a lot of red scraps. I haven’t even started the improv red scrap quilt yet. So many donation quilts to make!
I used a variety of Bonnie & Camille aquas for the background. My choice of border looks fine, but I was going for a fabric that would blend in more with the background. I didn’t have enough of the others left. Still, someone will like it.
It is fun to be making this series. I enjoy reducing my scraps, but I also enjoy seeing how the same pattern looks in different versions.
I am nearly finished with the first Red Strip Donation Quilt, but started blocks for a new one anyway. I am still trying to use up red scraps.
I have pretty much decimated my stash of red strips, which is why the new blocks won’t all be made from strips as the others have been. I also find that there is also no point in doing something I have already done. I know I make the same patterns over and over, but somehow I feel like this change is needed.
I worked very hard on the red strip blocks and have as many as I need for a quilt. They are on the wall and ready to set.
I am pleased with how they look and am thinking of setting them with aqua or turquoise. I have also started in on making some new blocks for the Red Strip n.2. As I said before, there is no appreciable diminishment of red scraps.
The meeting in on Saturday and I may be able to finish the top by then. We’ll see.
I spent the day sewing with Tim yesterday. I went over to his house, so he wouldn’t have to crate his dogs all day.
I didn’t bring my machine, which was really nice! Tim has a couple of machines, one similar to my Janome 6600 and I used that one all day. He worked on an old Kenmore – not THAT old, maybe early 2000s. Despite the sort of tight space, we worked together very well.
I had some Bonnie & Camille ‘ends’ from the Stepping Stones n.2 quilt, I think, that were bugging me, so I took them plus my Bonnie & Camille fabric and made that my project. I brought other projects as well so I would have enough to work on, but only got this piece done.
Tim said he would quilt it and wanted me to make a back. He prefers plain backs, so looked for some wideback fabric in his collection before we decided I should make the back.
In the course of assembling all the supplies for this quilt, I realized how much Bonnie & Camille fabric I have. I am pretty much done with it, so if you want yardage or charm packs of some of the older collections, let me know and I’ll tell you what I have. Contact information is on the About page.
So, this is the third in my strip quilt donation series after the Green Strip and the Purple Strip. Apparently, I am creating a series, though I am really just cleaning out my scrap drawers.
I worked on this Sunday as leaders and enders as I worked on the Fabric of the Year 2017 top. I made good progress on both. I am about 4 blocks away from having enough blocks to finish up this top. The sad part is that there is no appreciable lessening of my red scrap drawer.
I also forgot to take photos of the blocks as I finished them, so now I need to go back and figure out which ones are new.
It took me awhile to get the back for the Purple Improv donation quilt finished. It is now done and I, unexpectedly gave it to Tim at Sew Day yesterday.
Making the back was slightly delayed, because I couldn’t get my purple fabric bins. I don’t use purple that often, so they are slightly buried.
I did it a little differently this time. The top was on the design wall. Instead of pulling it off and using the design floor, I pinned fabrics from my stash to the design wall in the place I wanted to use them. This worked pretty well as I could see where I still needed coverage.
I didn’t think he would want to quilt the Purple Improv quilt, but he took both the Purple Strip quilt and this one to quilt. He is such a rock star.
The Purple Improv donation top wasn’t even off the design wall before I started in on red scrap strip blocks, the next color in this unexpected series.
I have 15 more blocks to make, but they go fast and I have 3 in process at the moment.
There is something very satisfying about sitting at my sewing machine, grabbing strips and shards from a drawer right next to the machine and ending up with a quilt top. When I started the Green Thing, it was kind of a lark, an experiment to try the blocks that were inspired by Alison. Now this seems to be a whole project. It’s unexpected, but oddly satisfying.
After many hours of sewing and listening to audiobooks on Sunday, I finished the Purple Improv top. I have been enjoying it on my design wall for a few days, because I couldn’t make the back right away.
There are a lot of small pieces in this quilt. As much as I could, I pressed the seams open to reduce bulk. This caused some issues with sewing. As I trimmed shards, I gained holes and had to be careful to make sure they were fixed before I moved on. I think I like the medallion style of the Green Thing better. I saw improv-ish quilt blocks by @saija_elina and thought, perhaps I would use that idea for another one of these scrap busters. I am not sure I want to make blocks, however.
I am not a huge fan of the T motif that ended up on the quilt, but c’est la vie. That is improv and that is what happens. Perhaps someone with a name that starts with a T will become the owner?
The red scrap drawer is overflowing so red strips are next. I made 5 of the strip blocks on Sunday night and 3 more yesterday.
One thing I noticed is that I have a lot of dots on red background prints. They are different, but I am trying to keep them separated by other fabrics so they don’t flow into each other. I also get to visit with some fabrics I didn’t have much of, but really liked.
The size of the scraps in my scrap drawer is kind of crazy. I don’t know what I was thinking putting such large (half a FQ-ish) into the scrap drawer. Of course, I don’t have anywhere else to put that size, so I guess it makes sense. I’ll have to cut some of the scraps into sizes I need for other projects as I work on these donation quilts.