I had 4 days off over the weekend and it was great to cross some things off my To Do list AND get some chores done. I have a number of bags and a swap gift on my to do list, but after 3 hours worth of video chats and an hour on the phone with the YM, I really only had time for the plaid blocks. I did press some new-ish fabric, though and found some pieces I’ll use for the swap gift.
I now have 25 blocks, so am definitely on the downward slope of block making for this piece. I ordered the felt for my design wall yesterday. I have little hope of it arriving today, but I am hopeful it will arrive int he coming week. I want to get these blocks up where I can see them all before I start sewing them together.
I consulted with a friend who said this block is called Block Party. I did a search and found some instructions on a guild community service site. The instructions are in PDF, which is handy. I wasn’t able to find anywhere else to confirm the name.
6 more Plaid Blocks
I added another few blocks to my total during the week and am now up to 15 blocks. My first plan is for 36, which means 21 more to go.
I cut up a few more fabrics so there are some new ones included. Since I am working without a design wall, mostly, I don’t know if I am duplicating layouts. I don’t think it likely, but I also don’t think it will matter if I am.
I made blocks like this for the charity project back in February (when we could still go out). I having been wanting to make a quilt for my cousin and decided that this was the block to use. Once the pieces are cut, the block goes together really fast. Even with all the cutting, I made 7 blocks over the weekend.
I am not sure how many I am going to make. I don’t have a design wall to fill up at the moment. I am kind of flying by the seat of my pants when I make them in terms of choosing fabrics, but I’ll make a bunch of them and see where I am. In thinking about the size, I have a 6×6 grid in my mind. The blocks are 12 inches finished, which would make a quilt 72×72 inches. That is slightly larger than the last Windmill I made and would be a fine size. I’d like to have at least three quilts to take to Colleen when S-i-P is over. More if practical or possible.
The plaids I used have been languishing for a long time. I think they have been around since before the FOTY project started. I think that is the case because some of the fabrics had no cuts out of them. Some of the pieces were just FQs, so there won’t be much of them. I think this will be lively group of blocks.
I keep thinking of men’s plaid shirts when I look at these fabrics. I am thinking of a name like The Ghost of Plaid Shirts or Thinking of Plaid Shirts. I have to think up something clever.
Here are some blocks I made during April. During April we were still under a statewide Shelter-in-Place order. DH and I are fortunate enough to continue to be employed. I didn’t have time off work and I didn’t take any time off work. As a result, I didn’t have much extra time to sew, but since I wasn’t going out to lunch or shopping, I had a little extra time. I worked on everything you’ve seen this month in the various posts, mostly Frolic! and also some donation blocks.
I am tempted to make a donation quilt out of these random blocks.
The two Spiky 16 Patches are from Flame, but I forgot to include them in the tally for last month. The third one is an extra I made that I will send off to Sue S. We are doing a donation quilt collaboration.
My bin of 2.5 inch square patches that was overflowing is now getting a little pathetic looking. I am kind of scraping the bottom of it to make blocks.
While sewing the Frolic! top together I used the New Blue Spiky 16 patch blocks as leaders and enders. I felt like I had quite a bit of Frolic! to sew together, but I only ended up with two Spiky 16 Patch blocks. I guess the Frolic! top work seemed like more than it actually was because I feel like I have been working on it forever.
I haven’t, of course, but it feels like it.
New Blue Spiky 16 Patch #2
In any case, these Spiky 16 patch blocks are coming along well. They are the same, or similar to Spiky 16 Patch #1 and #2. I’ll probably do the same kind of setting as Flame just to get this top finished. I’d like to try something else with the HRTs.
While I was sewing Frolic! over the weekend, I made a bunch of donation blocks as leaders and enders. I am getting quite a collection to turn in when I finally get to back to guild.
I counted all the donation blocks I have made in 2020 and the total came out to about 76. Not bad. Not 30 per month, but not bad.
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 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.
Blue donation blocks, February 2020
Here is a brief update of the blocks I am making for the blue version of the Color Strip quilts. This is also being sewn from scraps. I haven’t made many blocks, but there is no dent in my scrap drawer. Do you think they multiply in the night? More likely I have just not made a concentrated effort to deal with them.
Fortunately, there are a lot strips, so I have been able to make a number of strip sets that yield more than one block.
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.
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 1
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 2
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 3
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 4
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 5
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 8
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 7
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 6
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 9
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 10
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 11
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 12
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 13
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 3
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:
5-4.5″ squares
5 – 2.5 x 4.5″ strips
2- 2.5 x 6.5″ strips
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.
It seems to be taking me forever to get this quilt top finished. It isn’t done yet, but I am making slow progress. My progress is slow because I am using other bits and pieces for leaders and enders.
I need approximately 9 more blocks to make a quilt top the size I usually make them. I’ll get there.
White donation blocks are probably not the best idea. I am thinking dirt. Still, I have a lot of white scraps and something has to be done with them. The first two are from a chunk that was large so they look very similar, if not the same.
I needed something for leaders and enders at the Retreat. While there, I made donation blocks for the Community Giving Project at BAM.
I didn’t have it in me to gather up and bring the pieces I needed for my new strips donation blocks, so I grabbed my bin of 2.5 inch squares and used those. Peggy always appreciates more blocks and I have been wanting to make more for her. Since I have been focusing on my strip quilts and improv quilts for the community giving project I haven’t made as many of the postage stamp donation blocks.
I had a slow start, but eventually ended up with 6. I made these while I worked on the Running with Scissors tote.
I am not quite finished with the Orange Improv Donation Top, but I had to start on new blocks for leaders and enders reasons.
Color on White Block #9
Color on White Block #8
Color on White Block #7
Color on White Block #6
Color on White Block #5
Color on White Block #4
Color on White Block #3
Color on White Block #2
Color on White Block #1
I won’t have enough strips in these colors to make the number of blocks I need for a quilt top, but it is a start. I will either make chunks like I did for the Red Chunk Donation top or put the blocks aside until I get more of the right color scraps. I could also combine these blocks with the greys, but that might muddy the brightness of the quilt.
