Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I am using En Provence for leaders and enders so my donation quilt/block progress has slowed somewhat. I did manage to make one block.
I am back to using white and will send this one to the guild rather than use it to make a quilt. I have enough blocks at home to make donation quilts and will focus on those. Someone else can use this one to make a quilt.
I probably shouldn’t have gone to BAMaQG on Saturday because I was still hacking up a lung. After Grand Parlor, however, I needed to see my peeps and get reconnected with some quiltmaking. Despite leaving my lungs everywhere, I enjoyed myself and was pleased to be able to talk to people I care about. This is Kelly’s last meeting before she moves, so I was especially glad to see her. It also got me back in the mood to sew and I sewed a lot on Sunday.
As usual, the group has a door prize drawing. Right before they announced the name, I thought “I am going to win”. Then Gerre announced my name. I couldn’t believe it. I am really not psychic and I am very distrustful of my intuition*, so it was very strange.
The prizes included fabric. Yay Fabric! Ugh Fabric! I only say UGH Fabric because I am keeping track of my usage and I am in the hole.
Still, it is fun to win a prize.
The fabric colors aren’t really ‘my’ colors (except the lime), but the little packet of peaches is kind of growing on me. I can definitely use them for this month’s Color My Quilt. I also have the idea to make something small out of them. A small bag or journal cover or another gift grouping. I’d love to find a pattern that used the exact amount of fabric I have.
* After being certain I was having a girl and getting the YM, my intuition has been suspect.
This is my updated collection of hexagons. I have earned quite a few since I talked about them last time.
I was surprised when I laid these out to see that I had chosen some duplicates. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised as they are my style.
I am getting quite the collection of limited edition hexies as well.
BAM had a Charity Sew Day on May 6th. Peggy and Michelle created kits and a pattern for walker bags for a local nursing home. I made three, though not without mishap and only with the help of SIL.
The first one I made was the pink and purple version. I liked the fabric combination.
While SIL turned the first one (the first seam is right sides together), I started in on a second. I wanted to kind of do an assembly line and get as many as possible completed. I don’t use much patriotic fabric, but I did like the flags. They are cheerful and a little jaunty.
I was kind of confused about the various seam allowances so I did have to rip a bit. SIL also ripped for me some.
I stuck a ruler in one of the pockets to show the depth. It was a little too tall for the pocket, but I am sure they will work for smaller items.
All around it was a good day. We finished about 25 bags and there was a lot of laughter, which is important as well.
The guild meeting was Saturday. It was a good time, but I wasn’t really in the mood for some reason. Last week was busy and I had a lot of people to deal with in stressful situations, so I might have just been overloaded with external stimulus. Still, I was glad I went.
I always feel like I am offloading a truck when I go to a BAM meeting. I hand off donation quilts, pet beds, donation blocks, free table items. At the meeting last weekend I also had a Color My Quilt piece to show and give.
It was Kelly‘s month and she she had an interesting idea. The responses were very cohesive, I thought, which was great. Some others seem to think we weren’t doing the challenge right, but I like cohesion in a quilt, so I thought this group was very successful.
My piece is at the top and I was pretty happy with it. It was one of the largest, as you can see. As someone pointed out, I don’t make small quilts. 😉
I learned this technique when I took my second quiltmaking class at Fort Mason from Sonya Lee Barrington back in the Dark Ages. I really had fun using it this time. It was nice to make swooping curves. I didn’t want to use black and didn’t have the Pepper that Kelly suggested on her sheet, so I stayed with brights.
There was some discussion about ‘chunks’ at the meeting.I have used free form piecing on two of the pieces. I thought I used that technique on all of them, but I made a checkerboard for Cheryl’s. This has led me to think about what could be a chunk besides free form piecing. I know a strip of Flying Geese could be a chunk, but blocks seem to be out of favor in terms of chunks. If I get a month, it probably won’t be until next year, so I have a long time to think about it.
Kelly seemed pretty happy with her chunks. I talked with her about her thoughts regarding putting them together. Obviously, it is too soon to really know what she will do. In the course of the discussion, it occurred to me that I could make chunks to intersperse among those from friends and that could help to bring the different pieces together.
So far, I have participated in:
This month is Gerre’s month and I have to get busy on her piece as I have a lot going on between now and the next meeting.
I turned in the Sawtooth Star Donation top and back on Saturday at the BAMaQG meeting.
(insert gif of me dusting off my hands and moving on)
I was sad to see it go as that was a really great quilt. I know some family with a sick baby will love it, though and makes me happy.
People at the meeting agreed that it was cheerful even with the black.
Yes, I used different background fabrics as I had a few fat quarters and thought I might as well use them up. Pretty soon I’ll have to break into yardage again.
I’ll probably make another one of these. I have some more black squares and it is a good use of them.
Here is more, finally, about the new direction in which my donation blocks are going. I talked about this last week and had time and brainspace to make the ideas a reality. How long this whim will last remains to be seen.
Remember I can make any blocks I want for charity blocks. Peggy will do something with them, if nobody else does. Still, I feel kind of obligated to make enough of one type of block to make a small quilt so it is easier for the Charity Girls who do a ton of work already. Also, I like the 16 patch/postage stamp format. It makes for easy leaders and enders that take very little brainspace while I am working on other projects.
Thus I was looking for something that would work with 16 patches. I didn’t really need a pattern since I can figure out most quilt blocks myself and my DH will do math if I need help. I especially wanted to make something with these black postage stamp blocks so that they wouldn’t be a drag on Peggy and Michelle.
I saw the magazine Quilting Quickly, which I normally don’t buy since I don’t often buy pre-cuts beyond charm packs and the name makes me a little crazy. This time it had a colorful 16 patch on the cover with an almost Sawtooth Star, but sort of Jacob’s Ladder quilt on the front. It gave me the idea to make Sawtooth Stars, so that is what I did.
Immediately I thought of Sawtooth Stars and decided to make them.
I used the Wing Clipper method of making the Flying Geese that make up the legs of the star with scraps. I usually don’t keep pieces large enough to cut a 5 1/8″ square in my scrap bins, so my choices were limited, but I am pleased with how cheerful it came out. The Pure Elements Linen background (not quite white) helps with that. I think a black background would not have given the impression of them looking so cheerful.
The blocks are 16″, so without sashing or border, I would make a 32″ square quilt. I am not sure if I will add sashing or not. We will see.
I am pretty excited about how fun these blocks turned out. Seriously, I really want to turn all of my donation blocks into stars! I guess it is a good sign when you don’t want to give away the quilt!
These blocks have nothing to do with my new direction in making donation blocks.
I made these with the last of my white 2.5″ squares. You can see that I am also getting short on foreground squares. Sadly I don’t have a minion to cut for me and cutting is not a favorite activity.
My plan is to make the blue and white donation quilt, then clear out my donation squares bin as much as I can before starting in on the all color postage stamp blocks.
I was thinking about how they would look at what my inspiration was. I could only think of the Patchwork Wheel blocks we made for BAM in 2012. I went look for those blocks and they aren’t quite what I was thinking about.
I have made some blocks and even a donation quilt that have less white in them. One was two colors. It isn’t a new idea to me; it just seems new because I haven’t thought about it for while.
No joke.
I mentioned earlier this week that I was trying something new with donation blocks.
It started when I ran out of white squares. While I have more white charm packs and can cut them, I didn’t want to stop and take the time. I have seen some quilts that use with all colored 2.5″ squares and no white. I have been thinking of making some of these types of postage stamp blocks and now might be the time.
Sunny Skies from Missouri Star is an idea although not exactly what I was thinking. Southern Belle also has a design that would work. It isn’t exactly what I was thinking and is still very similar to what we are doing now, but without the white. Searching for “16 patch quilt” gave me a lot more ideas, though not the one I had in my head. Putting some blocks on point would use up other sized fabrics. I saw 2 16 patch X quilts (one called Arkansas Road) that were really great. Also not what I saw somewhere, but definite possibilities. Finally, I saw one that looked like a tile floor and was interesting enough to have some possibilities for gift quilts using leaders and enders.
I seem to have a lot of black and dark grey squares, so I decided to head in that direction by making a couple of blocks with those darker colors as background.
This plan serves two purposes. It clears out some of those darker 2.5″ squares and moves me towards a different kind of quilt using the same format.
I am cognizant of the need to make these blocks bright and cheerful. Black and dark grey are not always bright and cheerful, so I have paired the darks with brights, for the most part. I like that moon, but the dark blue does create kind of dark hole.
I have enough blocks to make another quilt from a serious bout of donation block making late last year. I’ll keep donating the blocks I made until I am ready to make the blue and white donation quilt.
I have several new donation blocks to show you. As I make the Carpenter’s Wheel blocks, the donation blocks keep flying out of the machine as well.I kind of think I should make some different donation blocks, but until I figure out what those will be, you get the postage stamp blocks.
I forgot to photograph this group of lovely pink blocks before I went to the BAMQG meeting. Before I handed them in I pulled them out of the bag, put them on the floor and did the deed. Thank heaven for cell phone cameras. Of course I had to show off my new pedicure. 😉 [It happened to be a warm-ish day and I didn’t have to hang around outside much.]
I mostly made this varied group last week. I still have quite a bit of pink fabric, so there are two more pinks for the Charity girls.
I am not a huge green fan, but kind of like that green block on the lower right corner.
I think, in general, the newest blocks are very cheerful.
Gerre is the president of the guild. Late last year she started talking about merit hexies. In her idea, they were kind of like merit badges in Scouts.
At the meeting on Saturday, I received my first group of hexies and a lovely bag, made by the fabulous Gerre, to keep them in.
The most meaningful hexies to me are the special ones that indicate I have participated in some event or activity the guild is sponsoring. Those are on the left of the photo above, except for the Text Challenge hexie, which is on the far right.
The regular fabric hexies are for other volunteering such as making charity quilts.
Gerre wants people to make something out of their hexies that aren’t necessarily sewn together in a Grandmother’s Flower Garden kind of way. She made a pillow where the hexies are spaces apart in diagonal rows and appliqued on during the quilting process (appli-quilted). This is appealing to me. Depending on how many I receive, I could recover one of the couch cushions with a hexie pillow cover. The Zen of Making has a tutorial for an EPP Travel Kit that takes either 14 or 21 hexies.
After the meeting, during the small groups time, I learned a new way of basting fabric over hexie papers. Gerre did a demo and I helped her to restock her supply. It was fun.
Cheryl was fortunate enough to grab the February spot and her piece was the second on which I worked. As I said Saturday, I had two pieces on which to work right off the bat. I missed the February meeting, but got my hands on the color sheet and made a piece.
For some reason I wanted to do something a bit more straight-laced and block-like. It couldn’t be too straight-laced, so decided on a checkerboard.
Kelly is next and I am curious to see what she comes up with as her colors.
I have making my own color sheet on my list. I have an idea in mind, but need to find a photo. I’ll wait a few months so I can see what other people bring to the meeting. I doubt my slot will come up before next year.
Today I received a very kind gift.
It started with the idea to give the guild officers a gift at the end of their terms. Guild officers have a tough job. It is all volunteer organization and there are few perks if a person doesn’t get satisfaction from leading.
For the past few years, I have gotten people to volunteer to make bags and then encouraged the guild to bring one small gift for each of the officers. I like this idea better than making officers quilts. While quilts or blocks can be a great memory, they are a lot of work and we all have our own quilts. We all make our own quilts. I think providing a bag with a variety of gifts is a great thank you.
Today I received the same kind of gift. It was a bag made by Cheryl full of lovely treats, including some chocolate. 😉 There are a number of things that will stock my new Sew Together Bag (I haven’t made it yet) with an embroidery kit.
There was also Thread Magic, some fabric, tea, band-aids, which I hope I don’t need. 😉 there was a spot remover and an inside joke for the arch supports.
I am so grateful to the guild for this gift. I don’t do volunteer work for accolades or event thanks. I don’t do volunteer tasks that I don’t want to do. This gift was such a wonderful and unexpected surprise. Thank you.
Karen, last year’s guild challenge coordinator is leading a new challenge. This challenge is in addition to whatever challenges the new challenge coordinator comes up with. I have decided to join the Color My World challenge.
As is her right, Karen was the first person to provide a color sheet for the challenge. As I join somewhat behind the rest of the group I had two to complete at once. I did Karen’s first and will talk about the other one tomorrow.
Karen used a landscape photo as the inspiration. I followed that idea and used curve strip piecing techniques to mimic the landscape idea. I am pleased with the way my piece came out.
I have a box of quilt ‘dreg’ ends. Dreg is an ugly word as it conjures an image of grounds in an empty coffee cup or discarded tea leaves. These are simply pieces and parts that don’t have an immediate need or use. For some reason, I decided to go through the box in which they are stored. I think it’s part of the recent tidying frenzy in which I have been engaging.
Initially, I thought I would put some batting scraps together to make a baby quilt sized batting. However, I found a bunch of fabric edges. They were cut from past quilts when they were squared up. I started laying out these fabric strips to get them out of the way. At one point, I looked over and saw a kind of improv strip top developing.
The next day I had some free time so I pressed and straightened up the strips. Then, I pinned sets together in preparation for sewing. I still have to sew the strips and see what happens.
Since I didn’t have time to sew, I built up a batting from scraps in preparation for the donation quilt. I don’t know if I will have enough pieces to make a batting for this top. It will be close. I have some long thin strips left. I don’t really want to use the tape up to attach them as it will use so much of the Heat Press. I might just sew them on to make the batting large enough and get the strips out of my house.
It is interesting to see this top develop.