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.
Green Strips Donation top #2
Green Strips #3 donation top
Green Improv #2 (The Swamp Thing) top
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
Green Strip donation block #53
Green Strip donation block #54
Green Strip donation block #55
Green Strip donation block #56
Green strip donation block #57
Green strip donation blocks #58
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.
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.
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.
These three blocks are the last blocks I found from the batch with the Handbag Sampler.
Vintage block
I did not make this block. And, sadly, I don’t remember where I got it.
It is really interesting in a couple of ways. First the layout is quite unique and reminds me of some of the innovative designs that were NOT selected for the 1933 World’s Fair.
The fabrics in the circles are also interesting. they look like 1930s or 1940s fabrics. Not sure. I could ask TFQ.
Eye of God block
I am pretty sure this is a leftover block from the Eye of God quilt. The Eye of God was begun in a class in July 2004 with Virginia Schnalle through CQFA. It was one of the first improv type piecing classes I took and I think the quilt was really successful. This blocks has an interesting feeling of spirals because of the way I placed the fabric.
I suppose I could make this into a pillow. I don’t really need another pillow on my couch, but perhaps as a gift?
Passionate Purple block?
Finally, this block has a really subtle color scheme. Even though it is not a group I would normally use, it is very successful.
It has to be a leftover block from the Passionate Purple quilt, which means that some of the circles came from AJA and Julie.
As with the other blocks, I am not sure what to do with these.
These blocks are from that same batch I found a few weeks ago.
Moon over the Mountain
I don’t remember making this Moon over the Mountain block. It is times like these when I want to look through my journals and find out what I was thinking. I have a distant memory that this block was made in a class.
Sawtooth Star on point
I really like this star. It is another Sawtooth Star, which is one of my favorite blocks. The fussy cutting (did I fussy cut?) I did for the block center of the star is awesome! I wonder if I have more of that fabric?
I am also interested in the peachy pink I used for the star background. My fabric choices are much more interesting than they are now, I think. Maybe not. I’ll have to look for these fabrics to see what comes next.
Both blocks use a Benartex (or maybe Robert Kaufman?) Reflections fabric. You can see it in the peak of the mountain.
If I have more of that fabric, perhaps I will make another sampler, but with random blocks that take my fancy.
This is a New York Beauty block. The spikes are pretty thin. I think I was going through a New York Beauty stage. It was probably around the time that Karen K. Stone’s pattern came out. I see to recall taking a class from her or about NYBs.
I love the way I used the ombre behind the spikes. I think that my fabric choices were not at all subdued!
Lost & Found: New York Beauty #2
This second block has much skinnier spikes. I might be able to include it in the Handbag Sampler, though there is already a NYB using more of the fabrics.
I really like the layers of spikes as well. Perhaps these two blocks are the start of a New York Beauty quilt? A sampler of New York Beauties?
I almost gave these away, but stopped myself. I wanted to contemplate them. Now I am thinking of making something with them.
Remember the other day when I talked about finding blocks from the Handbag Sampler? In addition to those blocks, I found several other orphan blocks. I almost gave them all to the BAM Community Quilt project, but I couldn’t quite do it.
These are two Baltimore Album Quilt blocks I started in a class with the most famous BAQ quiltmaker, Elly Sienkiewicz. I took the class at Thimble Creek when they still had a shop in Walnut Creek back in the dark ages. It was maybe 1994 or so and I was excited to take a class from the person who started the craze and did the work to bring BAQ quilts to the fore.
Star of Hearts from Baltimore Beauties and Beyond v.1
The first block, which looks like a snowflake, is Star of Hearts from Baltimore Beauties and Beyond v.1 and I used needle turn applique.
It is made like you make paper snowflakes. This one was easier to make as there were fewer thin lines to deal with. It was good practice for dealing with sharp points, I remember. This pattern could easily be done with machine applique’, though that was not discussed as an option back in the day.
Fleur de Lis with Rosebuds III
This second BAQ block is pattern #13: Fleur de Lis with Rosebuds III (pg.34) from Baltimore Album Quilts: Historic Notes and Antique Patterns. I didn’t put the additional rosebuds in the corner. It was all I could do to finish this block as is.
I took the class with the intention of making a Baltimore Album Style quilt, but needle-turn applique’ and I didn’t get along. Perhaps if I tried it now, it would be better. Perhaps I didn’t choose the best patterns to try the technique? I don’t know. I never really did needle-turn after this.
I’ll write about the other lost and found blocks in a follow-up post.
**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.
I started off strong with my green scrap bin out and using strips as leaders and enders to make strip blocks for my next Color Strip donation top.
I made a few blocks at the Retreat, which helped with my numbers for the month. I am pleased to report that I achieved my goal of 30 donation blocks this month.
