I decided I needed to get this one finished. All the projects left on my design walls when I put them away were a lot less interesting when I saw them again. I didn’t want to toss them, but I did want them finished.
I started it last year sometime. The first time I talked about it was July, which was right before we dismantled my workroom. I was concerned at that time that I wouldn’t have enough scraps to make a decent sized baby quilt. It’s still a concern as I am piecing tiny scraps together and expect to have no yellow scraps left.
I spent time over the weekend making good progress.
I have other projects to use as leaders and enders, but I have been making a little progress on donation blocks. Some you have seen, but this is the total number for February. I am channeling my friend, Marty, somewhat. She loves brown and for some reason I am trying to use up the brown squares I have.
I gave a slew to Peggy at the guild meeting the other day. The ones I have made in February are small in number but mighty in potential good.
I finished the HST Star quilt in time to give it to the community quilts team.
I am pretty pleased with the way it came. A sort of dull charm pack (why did I buy it??) turned into a cheerful quilt top.
HST Star Finished Back
The quilt isn’t very girly and I wanted it to be suitable for boys as well, so I chose an Italian restaurant print I have had for years. It is time to use it and this is a good use of it.
I made good progress over the weekend on the current donation quilt. I talked about it the other day. Talking about it really made me want to get it done so I could hand it in at the meeting next weekend. It has been a long time since I have made a quilt.
I didn’t know how this was going to shape up as the picture I saw was small and not very attractively styled. I knew that it wouldn’t look hideous regardless, so I stayed the course.
I had sewn a bunch of HSTs from the charm pack I had. To make the legs, I needed to rip off some of the white triangles in order to make the legs. I decided I didn’t want to make giant Flying Geese and would make the legs into giant HSTs.
HST Star – foreground complete
I was able to get the foreground part of the quilt done on Saturday, which was great.
The white brightens up the slightly subdued colors of the charm pack.
I am working on a donation top. I saw a picture in Today’s Quilter and thought it would give some relief to poor Peggy who has been the recipient of a 100 or so HSTs recently.
I started going through my charm packs after Peggy asked for HSTs for donation quilts. I used up 4 charm packs (2 of background) and sent the HSTs to her without making a quilt.
Donation 9 Patch blocks
Finally, I decided that was a little mean and I was inspired by a Sawtooth Star quilt made from HSTs. One day last week on my lunch hour I started sewing the center blocks together. I made three HST 9 patches in about half an hour, which made me very happy on a lot of levels.
Stay tuned for the finish (or another in progress shot.
I spent a lot of sewing time making gift bags with fabric I unearthed from my fabric closet. I finished about 10 bags and was able to get back to using donation squares as leaders and enders.
Some of these blocks are from last year – as in a few weeks ago.
Pink & purple donation blockRed-violet dot donation blockPurple Paris donation blockBlack with dots donation block
I definitely didn’t make as many donation blocks in 2021 as I did in 2020. Still, I have a few to share and I am a firm believer in the old adage ‘ every little bit helps’.
I started making the guild 16 patches in May. Even though I cut tons of squares, I just didn’t get to it. I was using other projects for leaders and enders. Then I started the workroom upgrade. It has all conspired to make me not as productive in the donation area than last year.
This is still an important part of my quiltmaking and I’ll get back to making more blocks again.
I haven’t been spending time on donation blocks lately, but I have made a couple lately. Mostly, I haven’t been piecing, which means I haven’t been making blocks.
I found my box of squares destined to be donation blocks, which had been buried. When I have needed a leader and ender lately, I have been able to grab a couple of them. Suddenly I have two blocks. It’s not a lot, but every little bit helps.
Philip Jacobs Donation block
I forgot how much I enjoy seeing different fabrics put together. Aren’t the blue and pink Philip Jacobs flowers a great combo?
I finished Ends n.11 on Sunday, or maybe late Saturday. It isn’t amazing or anything, but it is finished and I will get some more scraps out of my workroom.
I was feeling like a slacker especially after seeing how many donation quilts were brought to our in person (!!!) guild meeting last week.When I went back and looked, it had really only been since July that I made a donation quilt, Ends. n.10 with the rest of the Pop Parade scraps.
On Saturday, I started working on another Ends donation top. This is Ends n.11 and I will hand it in to Peggy soon.
I found a whole bunch of edges of old quilts when I rearranged some stuff that was going back into my workroom*. Sigh. I thought I was doing so well keeping up with making stuff with the edges of the quilts I finish. This is an old stash, stashed before I thought of these ends quilts.
*N.B. I have three weeks to get all of my stuff back into my room before the Y.M. comes home for Thanksgiving.
Joelle quilted and bound this second of the Pop Parade donation quilts. I finished it in July, so the finish was relatively quick. Thanks, Joelle!!!
As you may remember, I added the large dark red batik fabric (left) with the yellow dots to round the variety of fabrics I had for the X Quilt. I am pleased the quilt is done, but I am also pleased that I finally used this bundle of fabrics. This is a great example of why a person should use the fabrics when they buy them. I loved these fabrics when I bought them and loved them a lot less when I finally used them. I don’t dislike them and I am very pleased with the quilts I finished.
I continue to work on the Yellow Improv. As I work on other projects, I sew bits and pieces together. The piece is almost 20 inches square now. Not big enough yet, but getting there.
These quilts are all made from the edges that are cut off of other quilts as they are being squared up. Sometimes I make the backs larger than needed so I get some large-ish pieces back. Those pieces are hard to store, so making some donation quilts out of them is a good idea.
Ends (n.1) – see more information – this is the top that started it all!
You could also put scraps together into strips, add some background and make one of these. These are very improv-y and there isn’t a pattern. It is a good way to do something good with fabrics I wouldn’t otherwise use.
Slowly but surely this piece is growing. The top section, which I think of as the main piece, is about 20×20 now. I am working on growing the bottom piece to fit on to the top piece. At the moment the bottom piece is made up of 3 different pieces.
I find that I need triangles in these pieces to add interest. The additional, non-yellow, colors add interest, but I find that if I have too many squares and rectangles the eye doesn’t move around as much. In this piece, however, there isn’t much contrast and that helps the eye not linger on the squares and rectangles.
I learned this from the Green Thing, the first top in this series. Those bars, which aren’t even really green, provide a focal point, but I find that the focal point takes away from the rest of the quilt. Good thing I’ll have enough green scraps to make another!
