Tag: Doing Good

Ends n.10

Pop Parade Ends (n.10)
Pop Parade Ends (n.10)

In a way the sewing I am doing at the moment is all about getting stuff off the floor so I can move it out of my workroom before the painting starts.

The other day I organized bits of batting and the edges that came back from my quilter after she quilted a quilt. I have at least one more quilt to make from ends.

This one is the fourth quilt I have made from the Pop Parade fabric. Most of it is not Pop Parade, but you can see the Pop Parade clearly.

I also used some Dit Dot Evolution fabric for the background. I bought the fabric online and it is the wrong color. I was going to give it away, then I thought I could just use it for donation quilts, so I did. I prefer clear white, but I prefer to use fabric rather than just give it away. Someone will like this quilt. It isn’t at all ugly even if I didn’t use my preferred fabric.

I have to make a back, which I would like to do before I go to the next Sew Day.

Tim’s Improv Donation Top

Tim's Donation Top
Tim’s Donation Top

I finally got to work on Tim’s donation top. I can’t believe it was May when I worked on it last. Fortunately, it was only a week before that I started working on the piece.  Time is flying by.

I don’t think this is my best work. there are a lot of disparate elements. Somehow it works. It kind of looks like buildings surrounding a park to me.

I struggled with this piece, because of the green and orange. I don’t sincerely dislike green, but I don’t make it a main color in any of my quilts except the Improv Color quilts.  I also like orange, but somehow this was a struggle on which to work.

Tim's Improv Donation Back
Tim’s Improv Donation Back

The back went relatively fast. I took both pieces to Sew Day and gave them to Peggy and the team for quilting.

Pop Parade Donation Top/Back

Pop Parade Improv Donation quilt
Pop Parade Improv Donation quilt

This is the THIRD quilt I have made from the bundle I bought a million years ago!

This top came about because I cleaned off every horizontal surface in my workroom holding fabric or projects. I found some random pieces sewn together as well as some Pop Parade yardage. I wanted it all gone except a blue (not shown). I started sewing pieces together randomly, using already pieced sections where I could. I had only two unused blocks from the X quilt, which was  a shame, design-wise, but ok. I know that someone will like this quilt once it is finished and off to its new owner.

Pop Parade Improv Donation quilt back
Pop Parade Improv Donation quilt back

My bonus is that I don’t have any random pieces of Pop Parade laying around. I did like the motifs, but didn’t like the colors chosen. I’d love it if they would reprint this fabric in clearer colors. I often think that.

We are now handing in donation quilts at Sew Days, so I will give this to Peggy the next time we meet.

St. Patrick’s Donation Quilt

St. Patrick's Day donation quilt finished
St. Patrick’s Day donation quilt finished

As I mentioned, a dozen quilts were handed in at Sew Day which will go to the community organizations that the guild supports. Many were tops I had sewn in the past. I am glad they are making their way to Peggy and the Community Quilt team.

One was the St. Patrick’s Day donation quilt Mary and I made really quickly during the last Sew Day before the pandemic shelter-in-place order.

I am not sure who quilted it, but Mary C bound it.

June 2021 Donation Blocks

I have started to make donation blocks again. When it isn’t convenient to work on the yellow improv donation quilt, then I work on a 16 Patch block. Both will be used eventually in some way.

Finished: Yellow Strip Donation Top

Finished: Yellow Strip Donation Top
Finished: Yellow Strip Donation Top

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
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.

The whole package is ready to go to Peggy.

Pink Block Party Donation Quilt Finished

Pink Block Party Donation Quilt
Pink Block Party Donation Quilt

Another quilt that was handed in at Sew Day was made during the February 2020 Community Sew Day. I made a bunch of blocks and may have even sewn them together.

This is a really nice quilt and I hope the person who receives it enjoys it.

I keep thinking of cutting more pieces these sizes so I can make more of these donation quilts, but I haven’t done it yet. It would be better if the pieces were more standard sizes, like 5 inches and 2.5 inches.

Yellow Strip Progress

Yellow Strip donation top progress
Yellow Strip donation top progress

Since I was zipping along with Scrap Dash, I was also zipping along with the Yellow Strip donation top. Leaders and enders really works.

I decided to use some text prints as the sashing. I had some scraps that were about the right size, so I used as many as I could find in the white drawer and then cut some from fabrics I have bought recently. The quilt is really coming together and I am pleased with how sunshiney it looks.

Ends n.8 Donation Quilt Finished

Ends n.8 Finished
Ends n.8 Finished

Another one of  my creations that was handed in at Sew Day was Ends n.8. I only have a bad photo, so it was hard to figure out that this gorgeous quilt was actually the one I made.

Tim, again, did the quilting and Mary C added the binding. I like using up the edges of quilts and this one turned out great. As mentioned in the previous post, the ends that make up this quilt came from the Stepping Stones n.2 quilt, I think. I also added more Bonnie and Camille fabric.

Ends n.8 Finished - detail
Ends n.8 Finished – detail

As usual, Tim did a great job quilting it. the swirls are a little different, but organic looking and interesting.

Purple Strip Donation Quilt Finished

Purple Strip Donation Quilt Finished
Purple Strip Donation Quilt Finished

We had Sew Day on Saturday, which I will write about soon. One thing that happened is that people brought a bunch of donation quilts that had been in process.

One of them was the Purple Strip Donation Quilt. Tim quilted it and Mary C bound it. I finished it in March of 2019 and gave it to Tim shortly thereafter.

I really like the angularity of the quilting designs Tim chose. The fact that he added in a couple of circles to the quilting really adds to the overall piece. One thing I always wonder about is what people think when they receive one of these quilts? Sometimes I wish I were a fly on the wall and I could know.

It looks really great and I am so pleased it is done.

Very Spiky

The other day i talked about the Double Spiky 16 Patch that Lee Ann finished. It made me wonder about all the Spiky 16 Patch quilts I have made. I looked back at my media files and decided to put them all into one post.

Mrs. K's Spiky 16 Patch Top
Mrs. K’s Spiky 16 Patch Top

I also inspired Mrs. K to make a top. I love it when you sew along with me, especially if you use one of my tutorials. Hers is great! It makes me think I need to add a yellow version to my list. Look at the corner triangle detail. Isn’t it great?

I always think I have made more of anything I want to show you than I really have. Six tops is not nothing. I want make more of these and now, that I see them, in different colors.

 

I am sure I will make more of them, so I’ll have to update this post.

 

More Yellow Improv

Yellow Strip Improv blocks - Mid-May 2021
Yellow Strip Improv blocks – Mid-May 2021

In between working on Scrap Dash, I made more yellow Improv blocks. I don’t have a tons of yellow scraps and I’ll be lucky if I can make this quilt and a straight Improv version like the other colors I have made. I’ll definitely be able to finish this one, but I have had to add chunks to the blocks. I don’t have enough strips to make all the blocks just from strips.

I sewed way more than one seam throughout the day. I felt kind of manic about these blocks. Even though I was working on Scrap Dash, I wanted to make progress on this quilt as well. I am pleased with the progress.

More of Tim’s Improv

I am on the fence about how this quilt is looking. I don’t have the exact colors that Tim used, so I am using what I have. I don’t know if it is working.

Improv Checkerboard
Improv Checkerboard

When I talked about this quilt before, I had finished sewing the parts Tim gave me to the piece and had just added a strip of my own.

I made this improv checkerboard to add to the sides as the first piece that was all my own. It was kind of fun to play around with different sized strips. The green, however is a little more chartreuse than Tim used. While I like the shape, I am concerned about the colors and how they fit in with what went before.

I plan to put part of the checkerboard on another side perpendicular to the checkerboard I already sewed to the top.

Tim's Improv Quilt with checkerboard
Tim’s Improv Quilt with checkerboard

I don’t think it looks terrible and that might be good enough for a donation quilt. I don’t mean that it is ugly so it is only good enough for a donation quilt, but that it is not too ugly to give as a donation quilt.

I really don’t nee to make it much bigger, but I want it to have a relatively cohesive design without me spending 50 hours on it.