Yes, I am making progress! The top is finished and I am pretty happy with it. I am running out of larger pieces for borders and backings. This does NOT mean I am running out of fabric. It just means the pieces I have left are, mostly, not large enough for the border of a 40 x 40ish quilt. I am not sure what I am going to do about that.
Much of my green, as I may have mentioned, is of the chartreuse and yellow-green variety. I remember buying a lot of chartreuse and icky green as TFQ called it, but I am still surprised I have as much as I do.
The borders I added are some Riley Blake fabrics (I think) that are neither chartreuse or yellow-green or dark green. These are more of a light blue-green…maybe? I don’t know what to call that color. The borders give the quilt a different look overall. Still green, but not as yellow, I think.
I am making good progress on the Green Strips donation top. It might be a little hard to see, but I am sewing sashing strips to the blocks. I have some of the top sashing cut, but haven’t decided what color to use for the cornerstones. I keep thinking red as that is opposite to green on the color wheel, but I don’t want a Christmas look at all. These blocks remind me of a leafy green tree and I want to keep that feeling. More green, I think. Or a blue tending towards green.
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.
Now that the Green & Grey Diagonal 9 Patch is ready for quilting, I started another donation top. This time I am using the green blocks I have been making.
I am planning to use the thin strips between the blocks again, but I haven’t sewn them yet, so we will see.
I also did some math and think 4 x 6 blocks will make a good sized quilt. The rough size will be 35 x38 inches without a border. I don’t want to make another skinny quilt like the recent Black Strip #2.
Green Strips donation top
This is #2 of all time. The first quilt in this series was made with green. I don’t use much green so that really strikes me as weird. It is interesting to see the differences. I didn’t sew smaller pieces into larger to make the strips long enough like I do now. Back in the day, I just used strips that were the right length. Perhaps that is why my scrap drawer got so full so quickly.
At the meeting the other day, Erin showed the Black Strip #2 donation top, which was quilted and she had finished binding. Hooray!
I finished the top in January so it hasn’t been that long. She wanted to pick up the blues in the blocks, so used more blue than I would have in the binding. It looks nice however!
My work spends a week every year giving back to the community. We raise money, work on projects and do a walk around campus to help those in the community. The company has provided over 180,000 volunteer hours in the last ten years. I was excited to be able to participate in three events this year.
Hygiene Kits
One thing I did was put together hygiene kits. You get a bag and you fill it with soap, shampoo, hand sanitizer, toothbrushes, etc. That is the easy part. The hard part is what to write in a card that will sound supportive and non-judgemental. I spent most of that hour working on the two cards. Filling the two bags took me about 5 minutes.
I used some construction paper to make the card and then I traced a stencil of the star as a start to the card. I added some additional decorations to try and make it look nicer.
Fleece for ‘No Sew Blankets’
Fleece for ‘No Sew Blankets’
Tying ‘No Sew Blankets’
The other project was ‘No Sew Blankets’. I really wanted to sew them, but I was a good girl and followed the directions. We had fun. I wasn’t with a group for this project so I was assigned to help another department and we worked together really well. We were able to finish two 96 in x 55 in blankets that will be donated to Bay Area Cancer Connections. BACC helps women with breast and ovarian cancer. I know how to make these blankets now so I can see making a few on my own, perhaps in a smaller size.
All of the activities were coordinated by Hands On Bay Area, an organization that connects organizations that need help with companies and organizations that want to help.
Children’s Walk
For the first time I walked with everyone on the Children’s Walk. It was kind of slow because there were so many people, but I was with a group so we just chatted while we sauntered.
It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood, so a good day for walking. I was glad to be able to help.
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.
This quilt was finished and shown at the last meeting. Joelle left before I could take a photo, but she was kind enough to send me some. I forgot that I made this way back in February. I thought it was a more recent project.
Carrie did the binding, but I am not sure who quilted it. She added some orange, which I thought was a bold choice. It kind of goes with the turquoise. It is always interesting to see the choices that others make. It is a good exercise in not being in control of every step. As I have said a million times, I love the team effort.
Brown Strip donation quilt back- finished
The back is one piece of fabric, a postcard print, which I would love more if it weren’t beige!
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.
Although I don’t need more ideas for donation blocks, I can’t help thinking about them. After yesterday’s post about the new block Claire has put forward, I was somehow reminded that I have been thinking about the Patchwork Wheel blocks the guild collected in 2012.
As I said in a post back in the day, I just used the kits I was given to make the blocks. I could definitely make more of these blocks using some of the 2.5 inch squares I have collected. The blocks would be small and I would need a lot of them to make a whole quilt. I think I used 5 inch squares in the quilt I made before.
This is a different pattern and worth thinking about making again.
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.
No more brown for me for awhile. I sewed this ‘slab’ together, but am out of brown scraps. As a result, I gave it to Marty to work on at Sew Day the other day. I don’t know what she’ll make with it, but something. I am more interested in the grey and black slabs
My green scrap drawer has been full for awhile and now that I have made FIVE quilts from my black-grey-brown scrap drawer, it is time to move on. I really can’t get over how many quilts I made from the black-grey-brown scrap drawer. It is somewhat shocking, especially since I haven’t finished the grey improv piece or the black improv piece.
Green strip block #1
Green strip block #2
I have already made a couple of green blocks and have several in process. I am also working with smaller scraps to start the improv donation quilts now. It may turn out that I use some combined smaller pieces in the strip/chunk blocks. We’ll see.
The original green strip donation top was one of the first in this series. It is interesting to see how the various quilts, using the same sort of blocks has developed. I think I didn’t completely empty out the bin when I made that quilt, but I don’t remember. I am much more diligent about using every scrap now.
Yes, I have made some good progress and I really like the way it is turning out. This piece is approximately 24.5 w x 17.25 tall. I have some sewing to do before it can be considered large enough for a donation quilt. Still, I really like it and it is shaping up nicely.
I am still concerned I won’t have enough scraps to make it large enough. I am trying not to worry about it. Sometimes I can’t help it.
