I have some leftover yellow color strip donation blocks on my design wall. They were leftover from the Rainbow Strip donation quilt. Apparently, they were lonely, because I started making more in different colors. I started with the green ones, because I had some green strips laying around. I suppose I intended to make another Rainbow Strip donation quilt, but then I started in on pink. Now I think I’ll make a pink Color Strip donation quilt. I haven’t made a pink one and my pink scrap drawer is full to bursting. No surprise there.
It’s a good start for my 2023 donation blocks effort.
The Rainbow Color Strip donation top has been stalled, mostly. Since the last time I posted about it, I have added some blocks, but the top is not done. I haven’t made much progress, which is frustrating.
I blame yellow.
You might remember I finished the Yellow Improv donation top in April. When I made that piece, I used every speck of yellow scraps in my yellow scrap drawer. I don’t always use a lot of yellow, so that was years worth of yellow scraps. Since April, I have cut only a few, oddly shaped yellow scraps. In order to make the above blocks into a true rainbow quilt, I need yellow.
I can just cut some from yardage, right? What’s the problem? That is definitely the problem. What is holding me up from just cutting a few strips from yardage and making the dang yellow strip blocks?
I have no idea, but that time is coming to an end. I want these blocks off my design wall and into the hands of a quilter in the guild. I need the space for another project.
As a side note, I don’t put these donation tops on my UFO or WIP or to do list. I only work on one at a time, mostly, and I never take them off my design wall until they are done. You are probably thinking “hey, what about the American Jane Plus top and the Ends n.14 (Typewriter) top?” Yes, I made both of those while this Rainbow Strips top was on the design wall. That is why I said ‘mostly’.
One of the good things about writing my 26 Projects posts is that I sometimes find projects I forgot to write about. This is one of those times.
Yellow Improv Donation Top
I can’t believe I forgot to tell you about the Yellow Improv donation quilt. Yes! I finished it. I was super happy to do so. Peggy already has it and I think someone already decided to quilt it.
I am not fond of those big chunks on the left, but I used every yellow scrap I had so I had to get some yardage out to use.
The piece turned out ok. I am not a huge fan of yellow. Still, I am glad I did it.
I talked about this quilt after I put the design walls back up. I haven’t made all the colors in the rainbow for the Color Strip & Chunk donation quilts, but I have made several. I thought the rainbow quilt would be the crowning glory, but the reality is that I have a lot of stuff on my small design wall and I want it gone or finished. The blocks that were hanging around are now having their turn.
Over last weekend I starting making more strip blocks as I was working on the Cha3 table runner and the Missouri Star donation top. I made a couple of black blocks, the purple blocks you see and that one red-violet block. I am not working on more greys, thought I don’t know if I will need them. I need some green and yellow blocks as well.
I decided to use the leftover improv strip blocks for one donation quilt. I just slapped them up on the design wall so I could see what I had. I will definitely do some kind of colorwash effect in the final layout.
There area lot of colors missing, so I will make some more blocks in the missing colors. I think I need about 28 total blocks to make a reasonable/useful sized quilt.
Over the weekend, I finished the Yellow Strip Donation Top (and back and binding). This is another in my Color Strip Donation series.
I did sort of rush this along, but I was piecing like mad on Scrap Dash, so I couldn’t help it, really.
I had to put Scrap Dash on the back burner briefly to add borders, make a back and a binding.
Since I put on very plain borders so the quilting would show up, I decided the quilt needed a dark binding. I made a gold binding.
Yellow Strip Donation Quilt Back
I am pleased with the back. I didn’t have to piece too much and I got to use up some prints that have been around for awhile.
I don’t use tons of yellow, so these prints have been around awhile. I think they are good choices: fresh and upbeat. I suppose this quilt could be for a boy, but perhaps not with the flowery back.
I spent some concentrated time on this donation top and back and was able to finish it.
Blue Strips #2 Donation top
I did something a little different with the borders. Since I had an extra sashing strip, I added it to the left side after accidentally sewing one to the right side. Then I added another border all the way around using a different fabric. There is no first border on the stop and bottom. I think the piece looks ok like that.
I will say that this top looks more like a column quilt or Chinese Coins quilt than the other Color Strip quilts I have made. I think the sea green I used for the sashing didn’t have enough contrast. However, I kind of like the difference.
Work has been busy and I am tired at the end of the day, so sewing has not been going as quickly as I would like. To add to the drama, the SD card in my phone failed, so I lost a ton of photos. It’s my own fault for not backing them up, but it still means a few posts I had in mind can’t happen. There is some hope that one of my nephews will be able to resurrect it, but we will have to see. Thus, my blog is being slightly neglected. I don’t want to post junk, so there may be some skips.
Blue Strips #2 sashing continues
I am working hard on this next donation top. It is not as satisfying to finish these tops since I can’t really show them at meetings. Still, I am motivated enough to clear out scraps to continue making them, so I continue.
As I said before my blue scrap drawer is still pretty packed so I wonder how many blue scrap quilts I will make. This is the second with this type of block. The first had a yellow border and yellow sashing, so it has a very different look. After I finish this one, you will be able to compare the two on the page where I am posting them all.
I have some quilts to send to one of the members to be quilted and I plan to send this one along with that group. I’d like to send everything on Tuesday, so we will see if I can finish this piece by then.
I cut up the fabric I found the other day into sashing strips and had been waiting for some miracle to sew them together. I found another piece of a similar colored batik and was able to move forward yesterday. I sewed sashing pieces to the tops of all of the blocks and am now sewing the blocks together into rows. I am not adding corner stones so I am not chunking.
By piecing FOTY 2018 together I was able to get the blocks for my next blue color strip donation quilt finished.
I know I have used a large portion of blue scraps, but I still have a full blue scrap drawer. A lot of them are small or not strips, so I will be making a blue improv version next, though I still have to sash this one. I used yellow for the last one, which was unique. I am thinking about white, but that might be too conventional or too boring. I haven’t started cutting sashing, because I don’t know what to use.
I finished the Orange Strip Donation top & back yesterday. It came down to finishing the back, which took longer than expected in a busy week.
My quilt holders were around so I was able to get some photos in a timely manner.
The blue is an unexpected choice, but I talked about it before, so I won’t go into it again. I kind of wish I had more orange strips so I could do a version with a white background. I don’t, though, so I’ll have to do that next time I get a plethora of orange scraps.
Orange Strip Donation Back
I used some odd oranges for the back. These are nice fabrics that I don’t think I will use for something else. I had a hard time curating the fabrics for the back as I really like 90% of the oranges I have left. I guess I had better use them for something if not for donation quilts.
Using up fabrics makes me wish I hadn’t stashed so much fabric when I did. On the other hand having so much fabric on hand means that I can put my hands on almost any color I need for any project. It also means I can make almost any quilt I want without going to the store.
I thought I would finish this top before the meeting, but I didn’t. the last few weeks have been harrowing. Nothing bad. Just a lot. That means I haven’t taken much time to sew. Some, but not as much as I would like.
I did work on Sunday. I worked on Flying Around a little, fixed the sleeve for FOTY 2017, finished this top, worked on the Orange Improv Donation Top and started on the back for this piece. Not bad, but not as much as I wanted and not a lot to show here.
Orange Strip Donation Top
Still, I am pleased with this piece. I like the blue and hope it doesn’t overshadow the orange too much. Ever since working on the Wonky 9 Patch, I have been unconsciously looking for an excuse to use this color combination again. I am really glad Friend Julie and AQ reader Sherri mentioned it.
I finished all the blocks and began to think about the color of the plain blocks. Tim doesn’t like white backgrounds and since he will most likely quilt this top, I decided to look for something else.
Purple strip donation quilt with yellow-green
Across from purple on my Studio Color Wheel is chartreuse. I admit this is a bold choice and I was thinking about it quite a bit before I went hunting for fabric. Finally, I decided that I needed to make visual decisions visually and cut up some fabric.
I like the boldness of the color combination, but something wasn’t quite right.
Grey solid background #1
Grey solid background #2
I was just about to sew it together when Tim saw the photo and suggested grey. Purple is hard for me to work with, because it really darkens my workroom to a depressing state. Adding grey made me think it would just get worse. I knew the yellow-green was the right color for the purple, so I found a couple of greys and tried it.
I chose the greys based on fabrics I didn’t think I would use for something else. These were both in that category because they have a taupe cast too them, which is not my preference for grey. I prefer the cooler white-greys.
Purple strip donation quilt with grey solid
Immediately, I knew that the grey solid (#1) was a much better choice. It will be suitable for a boy and isn’t too depressing.
I have begun sewing the plain blocks to the strip blocks.
