Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I had time this week to work on this donation top. I was able to finish putting the blocks together into a top.
The top is a weird shape – kind of long and skinny. I probably should have put the top row of blocks on the side to make it more square. I didn’t, however, so I will put a larger border on the sides than on the top to see about making it more square.
The pink cornerstones add a little spark to the top.
I am ready to put the Blue Color Strip blocks together. I have made all the blocks and laid them out on my small design wall, ready to sew. I hope to get the quilt ready to hand in on Sew Day in July.
I looked at the previous quilts and didn’t want to do the same thing, but also am not up for a lot of fancy piecing.
It came to me in a flash to add some pink cornerstones!!
I put the border on this quilt and made the back so it is ready for quilting now. I’ll be able to take it to the meeting on Saturday and hand it in.
It isn’t very exciting, but finished is better than perfect. I think the important thing is that I uncovered my sewing machine again and am sewing.
I used up some fabric for the back as well.
I started working on the Spiky 16 Patch blocks again. I was really struggling with just getting to the machine and decided that this piece was what I should work on.
As you read before, I was struggling to decide how to set these blocks. After two weeks, I decided just to do a straight set and a border and move on with my life. I have a couple of donation quilts in progress and it is better to get them finished and out to people who need them rather than have them perfect.
I do think I’ll put a border on this one.
At Sew Day, Gerre was quilting the donation quilt I made in January. I am always super happy when the donation tops I make get quilted quickly.
I don’t know how much she was able to finish. Progress is really good.
I surprised myself by getting more donation blocks made than I thought I would.
I am definitely on a blue kick this month. I am definitely making another blue strip donation top even though I just wanted to make 3 blocks for the second Rainbow strip donation top.
I finished the last Spiky 16 patches the other day. They look good. I am not sure what comes next now so I haven’t done anything further.
Sashing strips?
On point?
I don’t know which to chose right at the moment, so I am going to wait and see what I think in a few days
I spent some time yesterday just sewing donation blocks, including these Spiky 16 Patches. I came home to all the pieces on the floor. This is a problem with my new design wall that is making me crazy. I decided to get them off the floor and sewing together.
These will be part of another donation quilt. You saw these blocks unpieced back in April. I hope to have the fourth one finished sometime this week so I can put the top together in time for Sew Day.
I only have a few blocks this month as I was working, mostly on the newest Spiky 16 Patch. However, I got a little boost by attending the retreat and using the materials available for leaders and enders. I tried to choose fabrics that went together so the Community Quilt people could make a kit, but I was only able to finish 5. Maybe someone will start on a Spiky 16 patch.
I started, sort of, the next Rainbow Strip donation top. I finished the first one in September of last year. Mostly what this means is that when I am delving into a scrap bin and come up with strips, I make a Color Strip block from it.
Recently I have been making blue strip blocks and I have a lot of them. I think I will have to make a blue Color Strip donation top.
I don’t know if I will use all of these since 6 is a lot of any one color. We’ll see.
This group adds to the yellow, green, grey and pink blocks I already have.
Hooray! I finished the Pink Strip donation top and back. It is a serious pink explosion. It is very fun, though and I do like it.
It looks like Alison might quilt it then donate to an organization in her area. I am thrilled that she has taken an interest. We’ll see.
I used up some pink on the back as well. It didn’t make a dent in my collection of pink, of course, but every little bit helps.
On to a Spiky 16 patch.
I wanted to try the HuRTy, so I grabbed some scraps and started working on another Spiky 16 Patch.
I I have to admit that I mostly ended up using my Split Rects ruler. The HuRTy isn’t bad; I just haven’t gotten the hang of it yet.
I got inspired, partially, because of the blocks with the solid fabrics and the dots. They look really good and I decided I wanted to make something good with them.
Will this be good? I hope so, but if it isn’t great, I know someone will like it.
My current problem is that I am running out of background. I am not running out of ALL backgrounds – just the particular background I chose for this project. I’ll have to select something else to use to finish the quilt. I have time.
I was really pleased to see a bunch of quilts that Peggy made for donations at the meeting the other day. She called them her “Jaye collection”, which I thought was very kind. I was confused until she talked about how she made them out of bits and pieces I sent to her. I sent her a couple of stacks of HSTs during the pandemic as well as many 16 patch blocks and she turned all of them into great quilts.
I made a bunch of donation blocks this month. Some are 16 patches and some are the pink strip blocks. As a result I am feeling better about my contributions to the guild.
I moved all the blocks to my larger design wall after Who Am I? went into the ‘to be quilted’ bag. While I was little lazy about walking across the room to use the donation blocks for leaders and enders, I finally put the quilt top together and put the borders on.
I got inspiration from the Red Strip donation top I made a few years ago. I really liked the cornerstones and the way the white sashing separated the blocks so viewers could see each one distinctly.
This one is larger than the Red version. I did end up adding a column to the quilt, but I still think it is a weird shape. I didn’t do any of the ratio math I suggest my students do to make their quilts the right shape. I plan to put more borders on, so maybe I will make the vertical borders a little wider than the top and bottom borders.
So far so good and I am on track to bring it to Sew Day or the next meeting.
I am making good progress on the Pink Strip Donation top. It is VERY pink. I am enjoying working on it. It doesn’t feel like a must do project. I do want to get it done, however the pink is so cheerful that it is a joy to work on. This one will definitely not be gender neutral.
I did a big clean out and organization of the scraps in my pink bin, which was required to finish enough blocks to make a reasonable sized quilt. It looks a little skinny, so I am debating adding another row.