Wednesday, I helped Tim put the piece on his longarm and he started to quilt it.
He is quilting a combination of squares/rectangles and swirls. He is not doing an all over pattern, but is quilting in the piecing, which I like.
He and I have talked a lot about our tastes in quilting, so he knows I like my piecing to shine. He does all over patterns for some community quilts, but he often does custom for the quilts I have made.
Plaid Donation Quilt in progress – detail
For donation quilts I do not tell him how to quilt them. I let them go after I am done piecing and let him decide the best design. Like Colleen, longarming is really his jam and he is good at it. It is also something he enjoys. I leave him to it. In this case, he focused on the blocks and did a couple of different motifs in the various patches. He combined spirals and rectangles, which I thought looked really good.
I went to have lunch with Tim. I ended up helping him put two small baby quilts on his longarm. One of these was picked up from the guild community quilt project dropoff/pickup time the other day. He thought since the quilts were the same size they could be loaded on the machine and quilted at the same time.
KFC Community Baby Quilt by Patti S
It didn’t quite work out. We still got both quilts on the machine and he was able to finish quilting Patti S’s quilt. The plaid donation top I made was half quilted when I left.
I was impressed with his work on one quilt. I thought he might get two done, but quilting is tiring.
Patti S’s quilt was made from Kaffe Fassett fabrics, perhaps a jelly roll (or Free Spirit equivalent). I know she is trying to clear out her fabric closet, so this might be an older group of fabrics. It is a fun quilt and I thought the quilting would just sink right into it, but the quilting sparked up the top even more.
KFC Community Baby Quilt by Patti S – detail
I like the swirls that Tim used to quilt the piece. I always enjoy watching him work on the longarm. He is so careful and knows so much about how the machine works. It makes me want to try it out, under his guidance, sometime. Shocking after my bad experiences longarming before.
Yes, we wore masks the whole time we were together and both of us are really careful otherwise. We are about the same age so we have awhile to wait for our vaccines. We have, however, kind of ended up in the same bubble and it has helped to relieve the tedium.
Alison also quilted Ends n.9. It is an appropriate quilt to post on Valentine’s Day because of the colors.
Like Blue Strips n.2, this will be donated to the Project Linus project near where Alison lives.
I forgot about this one even though it was the last one that I made. It makes me think that I need to look and see if I have some more ends that need making into a quilt.
Alison sent me some photos of Blue Strips #2 after she finished quilting it. Since Alison is in Oregon now and the guild doesn’t want to incur the costs of shipping the quilts back for donation. Alison found a good Project Linus group who is getting the quilts she quilts. I am pretty pleased that she was able to quilt this one. I’d like it to be used as soon as possible. She was kind enough to send a bunch of detail shots as well.
I finally finished the first two Double Spiky 16 Patches. It turned out to be 32″ square and I think I will leave it this size. I just don’t feel like adding anything to it.
I am pretty pleased with the way it came out and I had a lot of fun making the second row of larger HRTs.
After writing the Spiky 16 Patch Tutorial I decided to try adding another round of HRTs to my regular block to see what would happen.
I am still using the Split Rects ruler** (By Deb Tucker) from Studio180 Designs for this project, so you will still need to review the how to use video.
Double Spiky 16 Patch in process
The photo looks like a bit of a mess because the pieces are all overlapping and I need two more HRTs for each block.
I have a lot going on and this has been my leaders and enders project, so I haven’t worked on it in a week or so.
Double Spiky 16 Patch in process detail
I like the look of the double row of HRTs. The outer HRTs are pretty large!
I am not sure if I will make more of these blocks for this project, whatever it is. If it is a donation quilt, I have to make it larger
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Last Saturday was the first guild meeting of the year. Traditionally, we have given the officers appreciation gifts at this meeting. COVID-19 or no COVID-19, 2021 was no exception.
Maria’s Officer Appreciation Bag 2021
Mary C was kind enough to be the drop-off point. Her house is more centrally located in the county than mine and she has a good porch. With county rules on sheltering-in-place and ‘travel’ because of COVID-19, this year was a little harder to organize. People had to mail their gifts, or drop them off, as allowed. Also, I tried to be sensitive about costs and encouraged people to write notes instead of buying a gift. I also offered up notepaper, etc for people who were really struggling.
Last week I went over to Mary C’s house and we assembled the bags, physically distancing and wearing masks. Mary C has a wonderful backyard and I am always happy to spend time there.
Members of the guild came through magnificently! A few members made bags so we could contain the other gifts. I couldn’t believe the effort that people took with the small gifts. If last year was good, this year was better. We got an amazing array of gifts. I don’t know how we will match it next year.
Maria’s Officer Appreciation Bag 2021 items-detail 1
Mary C went out at the last moment and got the gift bags (large pink bag in the above photo) so we could ‘wrap’ them. We had to drop the bags off at officer’s houses and we wanted it to be less easy for them to peek before the meeting.
Lots of zipper bags, but also supplies like needles, Iron Off, and Quilt Soap. Embellishments, gift cards and fabric were also in evidence.
Maria’s Officer Appreciation Bag 2021 items-detail 2
Maria’s Officer Appreciation Bag 2021- detail 3
Maria’s Officer Appreciation Bag 2021 items-detail 4
Maria’s Officer Appreciation Bag 2021 items-detail 5
Maria’s Officer Appreciation Bag 2021 items-detail 6
Maria’s Officer Appreciation Bag 2021 items-detail 7
Altoids tin Sewing Kit by Jaye
I was so pleased and the officers were very happy. It wasn’t as good as doing the whole thing in person. however, it meant we got to spend more time organizing the bags so they looked pretty.
Yesterday was the first time we gave a door prize in 2021. The bag isn’t as full as some were last year, but we are trying to tone them down a bit.
Tim made the bag. SueG made the zipper pouch. Carrie made the coasters, pattern weights and the thread catcher (not shown). The other items were all donations one way or another. I enjoy the team effort.
Earlier this week, I received a big box of items from Carrie. She made coasters, pattern weights and thread catchers for all of the months of this year. She did the work in record time without any fuss! It was fabulous.
Carrie’s coasters
Carrie’s thread catchers
Carrie’s pattern weights
Once I got all of Carrie’s contributions, I decided to organize the offerings. I got everything out of the bag and laid it all out. I put as much as I could into SueG’s zipper pouch. Not everything would fit, so I put each month’s gifts temporarily into a plastic zipper bag until I get more containers for the months.
DH, apparently, has an Altoids habit. I had no idea until he came home and started to work remotely. I asked him to save me a couple of tins and suddenly I had 8 to work with. I wanted to make small sewing kits for the guild officers. I looked for tutorials. The one I liked was DIY Felt Magnet. It turned out, however, that I mostly fumbled along on my own during Craft Nights. Check back in a few days for a tutorial of my own.
One key was letting everything dry thoroughly after I glued it.
Finished Sewing Kits – open
I am pretty pleased with the way the sewing kits came out. I would have done some things differently if I had known, but I didn’t.
I am particularly pleased with the WonderClips** band. I think that is genius. I know I am tooting my own horn and I don’t want you to think I have a big head, but I was trying to think of a solution for storing some WonderClips along the lines of the clippy pocket I made for the UCAB. I wonder if I can sew some bands and add those instead of going through all of the Clippy pocket steps?
Sewing Kits showing Trim
The other thing I realized was that I could use the bias tape makers to make almost perfect trim by cutting fabric on the straight of the grain and applying it like trim. There was no messing around with the iron, trying to get the trim straight. No burned fingers or frustration. Those bias tape makers** are fun to use and I am finding them to be more and more helpful.
I delivered these on Wednesday when Mary and I put the Officer Appreciation gift bags together.
**I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item 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.
“Sometimes the world’s problems are so big we think we can do little to help. On our own we cannot end wars or wipe out injustice, but the cumulative impact of thousands of small acts of goodness can be bigger than we imagine.”Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II
This year I contributed something positive to the world.
Like last year, I still have in the back of my mind that I would like to make 30 donation blocks per month-360 in a year. This year’s achievement is 124 blocks. I feel like I have made a good effort even if I haven’t quite achieved my goal.
Red/white donation block
Red/white donation block 2
Red/white donation block 3
Red/white donation block 4
Two Donation Blocks – January
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 13
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 12
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 11
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 10
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 9
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 8
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 7
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 6
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 5
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 4
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 3
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 2
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 1
Blue strip donation block 1
Blue strip donation block 2
Blue strip donation block 3
Blue strip donation block 4
Blue strip donation block 5
Blue Strip donation block #6
Blue Strip donation block #7
Blue Strip donation block #8
Blue Strip donation block #9
Blue Strip donation block #10
Blue Strip donation block #15
Blue Strip donation block #11
Blue Strip donation block #16
Blue Strip donation block #13
Blue Strip donation block #19
Blue Strip donation block #20
Blue Strip donation block #17
Blue Strip donation block #18
Blue Strip donation block #24
Blue Strip donation block #25
Blue Strip donation block #23
Blue Strip donation block #22
March 16 Patch #1
March 16 Patch #2
March 16 Patch #3
March 16 Patch #4
March 16 Patch #5
March 16 Patch #6
March 16 Patch #7
March 16 Patch #8
March 16 Patch #9
March 16 Patch #10
March 16 Patch #11
March 16 Patch #12
Traffic Pattern block #1
Traffic Pattern block #2
Traffic Pattern block #3
Traffic Pattern block #4
Traffic Pattern block #5
Traffic Pattern block #6
Traffic Pattern block #7
Traffic Pattern block #8
Traffic Pattern block #9
Red Donation Block
Pink Donation Block
Pinky-red Donation Block
Red Donation Block
Warm Spiky 16 Patch #1
Warm Spiky 16 Patch #2
Blue donation block – March 2020
Blue donation block – March 2020
Red donation block
Pinkish donation block
Tula All Stars donation block
Yellow space donation block
Orange-pink donation block
Blue donation block
Yellow donation block
Red donation block
New Blue Spiky 16 Patch #1
New Blue Spiky 16 Patch #2
Blue multi donation block
Blue multi donation block n.2
Blue multi donation block n.3
Bright yellow donation block
Dull yellow donation block
Hansel & Gretel donation block
Stripey donation block
Red-violet donation block
Mixed dots donation block
Black & white donation block
Black poppy donation block
Bonnie & Camille donation block
Red & Green donation block
Traffic Jam 2- Block #1
Traffic Jam 2- Block #2
Traffic Jam 2- Block #3
Traffic Jam 2- Block #4
Traffic Jam 2- Block #5
Traffic Jam 2- Block #6
Traffic Jam 2- Block #7
Traffic Jam 2- Block #8
Traffic Jam 2- Block #9
Traffic Jam 2- Block #10
Traffic Jam 2- Block #11
Traffic Jam 2- Block #12
Breakfast donation block
Black & White donation block
Blue Chrysanthemums donation block
Blue Chrysanthemums #2 donation block
Aqua Circle donation block
Black & White 2 donation block
Pinky Red donation block
Black & Peach donation block
Mid-October Bonnie & Camille leftovers
Plaid Donation Block #8
Plaid Donation Block #7
Plaid Donation Block #6
Plaid Donation Block #5
Light Blue donation block
Blue Square Donation Block
Blue Strip Donation Block #3-1
Blue Strip Donation Block #3-2
I didn’t take photos of all of the donation blocks I made:
Surprisingly, I have more donation quilting to show. Tim is on a roll and, the other night, sent me a photo of the finished quilting on the Blue Improv quilt.
With the Purple Strip donation quilt, this one makes two this week! I am thrilled for a couple of reasons: 1) I have something to write about and some donation quilts about which to feel good and 2) I haven’t been working on any donation anything so these finishes are a bonus.
Blue Improv Donation Quilt quilted – detail
Tim quilted swirls into the top. The quilting is hard to see with everything going on with the piecing. He sent me this detail and it looks good, which is no surprise.
I haven’t been working on donation blocks lately, for the most part, but I have made a few.
For the moment, these are earmarked for the quilt I plan to make with a bunch of different colors of strip blocks. I may have mentioned it before, but I don’t remember. I had a few leftover blocks from the other Color Strip projects, so I thought a multi-colored quilt would be a good idea. I am collecting blocks right now as I make the other donation quilts. I have a ways to go before I can put a quilt together. I haven’t done pink or yellow and and I have more green scraps so I can make some green blocks.
I participated in the swap that was part of the guild year end party. Sadly, I can’t show all the gifts because we were all on Zoom, but I can show my gift. Of course, you saw the gift I made, the Oslo Tote, earlier this week.
Swap Gift Tea Cosy
I received a tea cosy.
As you can see the colors are perfect for me. They mimic the colors of my Aqua-Red Sampler. Some of the fabrics are even the same.
The front has a little pocket. I don’t what I could put in there aside from tea, but I’ll think about it.
Swap Gift Tea Cosy back
Cyndi made it (it was a one-on-one swap, which I didn’t know until I received my gift) and she did a great job. Of course, I asked for turquoise and red, but she chose great fabrics in those colors.
Swaps are fun way to challenge myself. I am not often up for such a project, but I try and participate in swaps the guild sponsors.
