Tag: Blocks

LeMoyne Star Demo

As you know from the Sampler Quilt class tutorials, I am very fond of people learning all the quiltmaking techniques. It is a way to be free from the tyranny of always having to use a pattern.

NOTE: I am not against quilt patterns and I feel we should all support quilt designers.

Y Seams demo sample
Y Seams demo sample

However, at some point quiltmakers will want to make a quilt design they have thought up themselves. To do this, we need to know all the techniques. Thus, I couldn’t say no when SueS asked me to do a Y Seams demo for the guild. As usual, I had to overachieve. I posted a handout to the guild members only site*. Most of the information is in the Y Seams tutorial.

I made a whole bunch of step outs and notes to tell people. I won’t be actually sewing. That didn’t work out well when I tried to show a demo of leaders and enders, thus the step outs.

 

 

*N.B. If you are in the Bay Area and want to join, click the join button on the guild site. We also have a Zoom option, though the demos and Bag Club are not always available via Zoom.

More Ribbon Friendship Stars

Ribbon Friendship Stars - second batch
Ribbon Friendship Stars – second batch

I said I would make a few additional Ribbon Friendship Stars to make up where someone bailed out. I was supposed to make another 5, but only had the fabric for another four. I hope that is good enough, though I can whip up one on the special Sew Day next week if we need an extra.

Ribbon Friendship Stars

Ribbon Friendship Stars
Ribbon Friendship Stars

I made the blocks I promised to make for a group quilt. Most people are making 6 blocks, but I agreed to make more since I suggested making the quilt larger.

I am not a huge fan of the Friendship Star block in general. I like them smaller than 12 inches, which is why I made the Friendship Stars in Flying Around so small. I also like them better when combined in wreath format.

For this quilt, I liked the sentiment of the Friendship star and thought the addition of the ribbon (the green and the blue) was an interesting element. When I put all the blocks next to each other on the design wall, I though they looked great. It looks a little boring with just my blocks, but the group will use different red-violet fabrics for the centers and that will make the whole quilt more interesting.

These blocks are easy to make and would be great for a quilt for friends. I copied the design into EQ8 and created a pattern so you can make blocks for your friends, too. If you need a reminder of how to make Half Square Triangles, you use the Leah Day 2-at-a-time tutorial or my Triangle Technique (8-at-a-time HSTs) tutorial, if you are making a lot of blocks.

Julie is also making some of these blocks. She sewed a practice block, which I think is a good idea, even though I didn’t do it. She also has a great post about her process and the tools she used. I forgot about the Seams Easy marking tool, which I have, but always seem to forget about.

These are the blocks I agreed to make for the project, but I have more fabric, so I thought I would make more blocks so that the quilt can be bigger. We’ll see if I can get them done.

Two Sunflowers

These are the two sunflower blocks I made for the Wrap the World in Quilts project to make quilts for Ukraine. Posting the pattern last time generated a lot of interest in making the block. I hope that means people are contributing to the project.

I am also including some blocks people sent me.

Julie's sunflower
Julie’s sunflower

Some of my friends took my pattern and made some sunflower blocks. Friend Julie took my pattern and worked on this block. I am always so excited to see the fabrics people choose. Julie wrote about her blocks (she picked another to make as well) in her blog while I was away.

I really like the center of Julie’s block. It is different, but gives the impression of a sunflower center.

She finished two, one of which I didn’t see in the original post. The one that doesn’t use my pattern is fantastic as well. I am so glad I put up the pattern. It has inspired people to make blocks for a good cause!

Carrie's Sunflower blocks
Carrie’s Sunflower blocks

Carrie also took my pattern and tried to make some blocks. She struggled with the ‘flip & sew’ sections of the center as I did. Her blocks will be good for the project anyway.

I hope posting the pattern has enabled people to make a lot of blocks.

 

Finally Rest for the ‘Wicked’

Green scrap drawer - Oct 2024
Green scrap drawer – Oct 2024

Back in April I started cleaning out my green scrap drawer. While I didn’t work exclusively on this project, it was a constant companion. I made progress through the summer. Finally, I have cleaned out my green scraps as much as I can.  The pieces left, which I have sewn together, are not big enough to make anything, but will be the basis for a Journal Cover or the next Color Improv donation quilt.

Of course, this clean and clear state of affairs won’t last for long. As I work through other projects, this drawer will fill up again in a never ending cycle. It’s the nature of the beast, I guess.

The good part is that I made a few quilts, mostly from the scraps in this drawer, for people in the community. These aren’t super large quilts (approximately 40×40 inches), but there are still three of them. These three help me meet my goal of 12 donation tops for the year.

In another part of the never ending cycle, I need to decide which color is next. I might want to work with blue, for example, but really need to choose the drawer that is the fullest.

September 2024 Donation Blocks

More blocks for more happy people who need quilts. I am eeeking out green strip blocks as I work on the Green Improv piece. I don’t have many strips of the right size left, so every green strip block I get is a bonus.

There are very few blocks this month as I have been focusing on using up scraps in the Swamp Thing. I did hand in three donation quilts, however.

Hop, Skip and Jump Resurfaces

I went looking for blocks in a bin in the top of the fabric closet a few weeks ago. I found a lot of interesting things. One thing was the blocks from the Denyse Schmidt book, Denyse Schmidt Quilts**.

Hop, Skip & Jump blocks
Hop, Skip & Jump blocks

In 2009, I worked on the Hop, Skip and Jump pattern by Denyse Schmidt. In the referenced blog post, I talked about templates! You know I don’t mind templates, but this pattern having templates was ridiculous. Now I would just start sewing and not worry about the exact angles. I guess I didn’t know any better then.

I put these in the donation pile for the guild as I wasn’t planning on making any more of them. Not my thing. Too boring. I am sure someone will make a great donation quilt from them.

 

 

**N. B. : Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s 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.

August Donation Blocks

I didn’t think I would have time to make very many donation blocks, but I ended up making a few. Many of these blocks are already part of some quilts.

Pantone Blocks

Last Pantone blocks
Last Pantone blocks

 I finished work on  Friday and spent the weekend on some cleanup projects, one of which was the Pantone blocks.

I finally finished all the blocks for the Pantone Project. I am excited that I can start playing with the layout, especially after I saw what Friend Julie was doing on her design wall!

These have been hanging around my workroom for a few weeks now. Last weekend was really the first time in a few weeks I had uninterrupted time to sew. DH was out and the house was quiet so I could concentrate. Fortunately, except for one fabric, I had picked out all the fabrics previously so all I had to do was cut and sew. I did choose some of the easier blocks, but I tried to choose blocks I thought I could use in the overall quilt design. Now to just get these to Julie at some point soon.

June 2024 Donation Blocks

I worked diligently on the third of  my Diagonal 9 patch quilts using the green donation blocks as leaders and enders. The donation blocks kept piling up until  I could finally focus on sewing a green donation quilt with these blocks. I haven’t had a lot of time lately, so it is slow going. Also, the smaller the strips, the slower I am to finish blocks.

The good news is that a green donation quilt is going well and I should be finished with it before I attend the next meeting. I have enough blocks to make a second quilt with green strip blocks. I have also started on an improv donation top with the smaller, non strip scraps. At this point, I don’t know how large it will be. I don’t want a small piece of ‘made’ fabric hanging around like the black improv piece and the grey improv piece seem to be doing.

 

May 2024 Donation Blocks

I have continued to make donation blocks from the green scrap drawer. I have more than enough to make a quilt, but I need to finish my Diagonal 9 patch project first.

New Donation Block Inspiration

BAMQG Donation Block
BAMQG Donation Block

I saw this block on Saturday at the guild meeting. The blocks is very appealing. I suspect it is all that pink, but it could also be the combination of pink and green.

I didn’t get the specs, but think the patches are 2.5 inches (cut), the pink sashing is probably .75 inches (cut) and the green sashing is probably 5/8 inches (cut). Once I get some of my other projects out of the way, I might try one of these blocks.

Claire is really doing a good job trying to inspire everyone to participate in the guild donation project. She always has something new to inspire us.