Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
No pinching the blog! There is green in these blocks. 🙂
In between piecing Frolic! over the weekend, I used the Traffic Jam pattern as leaders and enders. I used up my stash of Marmalade Dreams mini-charms as well as two other packs of mini-charms. I had to scrounge for additional mini-charms, because I was a little short of the Marmalade Dreams I needed to make a small donation quilt. I think it will be fine once it is finished.
Vicki Holloway of My Creative Corner3 induced me to try out the Traffic Jam Sew-a-Long with her FB group.
Traffic Jam is a free pattern by Pat Sloan. I didn’t need a pattern to make this quilt. I just started sewing my mini-charms together and cut the background fabrics to fit the standard 9 patch layout.
I did seek out the pattern after Vicki mentioned the secondary pattern that appears when the pattern is made with sashing. In the first photo, I didn’t see the secondary pattern, but in checking out the Linky photos, I did see it. Not sure I will add sashing and cornerstones, but we will see.
I am using that beige-ish fabric as the background as I probably won’t use it for one of my own quilts. I have no idea why I bought it, but it works pretty well for this piece. I have a yard and will make as many blocks as I can with that much fabric.
I am using mini-charm packs of Marmalade Dreams by Valori Wells. I collected a bunch of them at some point – at some quilt event. I probably won’t use them for another project, though I do like them.
I made some progress over the past several days on my newest donation quilt. I want to get the top done so that I can gain back the design wall. I just have the outer borders to sew on. I also have the back to make and, perhaps, the binding, but I think I will leave the binding to someone else.
I am pleased with how it looks, but dismayed at how few of my blue scraps were used. The blocks required one to a few yards, but my blue scrap drawer is still full and hard to close. More quilts!
I talked about Sew Day the other day. The blocks I made are below. I didn’t take photos of all of the blocks, unfortunately, but I got 12 of them.
I also made progress on the Blue Strip donation top Saturday. It is larger, so not moving along as quickly as I would like, but it is also not causing me any problems. I made progress on this piece as I worked on Frolic on Saturday.
Last month I only made two donation blocks, but I did better this month. I went over my 2019 monthly goal of 30 this month. Since I only made two last month, however, I probably should have made 60 this month.
I know you have seen most of the scrappy community quilt blocks, but I also made some of the regular 16 patch blocks and have started on a new color for a Color Strip quilt top in blue. I am not where I want to be but I am making progress and that is all that anyone can hope for.
I spent more time on Frolic! over the weekend. In addition to making slow progress on that piece, I also made a lot of progress on my blue strip donation quilt.
I now have all of the blocks finished and the sashing cut. As I mentioned before, I am going to make this piece slightly larger than some of the others.
It seems like it is an odd shape – more rectangular than square, but it may be the lack of finished seam allowances.
I am pleased with the yellow I chose. This was a half yard of fabric I have had around for awhile. I thought the color worked well with the blue even though light yellow is complementary to darker blues.
I am up to 21 blocks for my latest Color Strip donation quilt. I plan to make another 14 so it is slightly larger than the red and orange donation quilts.
Regardless, I have barely made a dent in my blue scraps. Of course, I generate them at a faster clip than other colors, except, maybe, pink, but still. I’d like to be able to see progress. Perhaps I will be able to make 4 quilts out of this drawer.
They went very quickly as I worked on Frolic the other day. There were a lot of small fiddly seams to sew on Frolic!, so I needed leaders and enders. They come together very quickly once you start and some strips I have are very long, so I can cut 2-3 blocks out of a strip set.
These are not birthday gifts or any sort of holiday gift; this bag was given to me by the officers in the guild for coordinating the thank you bags at the end of their terms. They made me a bag and it is fabulous.
The bag itself is a Poolside Tote and it is in perfect colors for me: turquoise and scarlet. The blocks, which fit perfectly are from a mystery quilt the guild did on my first retreat. My blocks were less than stellar and have long since been made into a donation top.
I received a number of pouches, some chocolates, candles, pens, a journal and a few other odds and ends.The fabrics chosen were fabulous and I think I will be able to use everything included in the gift.
I was completely surprised and somewhat mortified as I really don’t like to open gifts in front of people. Also, I don’t do things in the guild that I don’t enjoy. I feel very strongly that the officers should be thanked in a meaningful way and the bag idea is very fun. It leaves a lot of room for creativity. Everyone can contribute in the way that works for them. the officers don’t end up with an ugly quilt or a bunch of blocks.
Fortunately, there are a lot strips, so I have been able to make a number of strip sets that yield more than one block.
You can also see the in progress blocks as well.
Yesterday, I talked about the Clippy Pocket hack and how my version came out. You can incorporate the Clippy portion into anything – pincushions, other bags, needle books. The key is making the placket/”flap ladder” then incorporating it into an existing project. You can make the placket into a piece that can be appliqued to another project.
Try to think about how you can incorporate something like this useful section into a project on which you are working. You can find the original instructions in Love of Patchwork & Quilting , issue 39. It is available digitally in the Apple and Google Play stores.
I skipped over the two larger pockets in order to make sure the Clippy pocket hack worked when incorporated into the overall pattern. It took me awhile to get this pocket made even with the pieces all cut out. Adding the Clippy pocket means that there are a number of extra steps needed to make the Clippy holder. Still, I am pleased with the way the pocket came out.
It is a bit of a riot of color. 😉 I didn’t really mean it to be as riotous, but I didn’t think through the backing for the side pockets with regard to the Clippy hack when I was cutting. I hope the rest of the inside won’t look crazy.
Still, I have been making such minimal progress on sewing in general that I am pleased with this small amount of progress.
I worked on the UCAB‘s short front pocket over the weekend. I wanted to incorporate my Clippy Pocket hack into an actual pocket. As I worked on that complicated project, I made donation blocks as leaders and enders.
I am really happy with these blocks. They are more fun to make than the white. I have a lot of scraps, but within those scraps are a lot of strips of different lengths, so the blocks are going fast and I can, sometimes, make two at a time.
Saturday was a Community Sew Day. I made about 18 blocks, some were the blocks of the day; some were the 16 patches. I’ll show those another day.
These blocks can be super scrappy. I tried to stick to a common color scheme so it would be easier to put blocks together into a cohesive whole. As the day wore on the pickins got a little slim and eventually I switched to a dark color scheme. I am not as happy with those blocks as they just seem dark. They will be good for a boy quilt, so they won’t be wasted. Perhaps I can make 6 more blocks in the same colors so Peggy can make a top.
These are similar to the Mav block I made a few weeks ago. The good thing is there are no seams to match so they make a good pattern for group sewing. You need:
Use the image above as a guide for the layout.
Nine blocks make a quilt – at least they did for our project. The group ended up with 8 quilt tops and a few extra blocks. Some of us were talking about cutting scraps into pieces in these sizes and making them whenever we had spare time or needed leaders and enders.
The quilts are VERY scrappy.
Since I started making the Color Strip and Improv donation quilts, I have not been making very many of the regular 16 patch donation blocks the guild collects.
However, they are really great for leaders and enders when I am not at home and don’t have my scrap bin handy. I forgot to bring them last Saturday to the mini-Retreat, but brought the bin Sunday and was able to churn out two blocks in between putting the new Running with Scissors Tote together.
I brought my bin to the Charity Sew Day yesterday and started some more, so there will be a few more for you to see later.