Tag: Doing Good

Sew Day Community

Sew Day participants
Sew Day participants

We had a Sew Day on Saturday dedicated to making a group quilt that will be donated. Peggy has a pattern that uses different sizes of squares to make a quilt. I don’t know the name and I am not sure Peggy made it up. She probably found it somewhere. The directions were a bit confusing to start with, but easy once we got a few explanations and I drew some pictures. 

Community Center block
Community Center block

We all brought a few squares that were the right size, so the quilt would be very scrappy. I made one center block and a couple of border blocks. 

My center block didn’t look very nice by itself. The fabrics were scraps from various projects that were the right size. I wasn’t hopeful that my block would fit in.

The border block looked a bit better. While the motifs were quite different, I think having similar colors was better for a block.

Community border block
Community border block

In general, though, the quilt went together well and the variety of fabrics worked out.

 

Community quilt top
Community quilt top

The quilt looks like an HST quilt, but it didn’t go together that way at all. Unlike some methods of making HSTs, the bias was completely enclosed, so not a problem.

Peggy did a great job and the participants really stepped up.

 

April Cornell Poetry Collection Top Finished

The other day I mentioned finding some piecing. I thought I would let it languish for awhile, but I need the space on my design wall for other projects, so I quickly sewed it together. 

April Cornell Poetry Collection donation top
April Cornell Poetry Collection donation top

I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. I had very low expectations and was rewarded with a better than expected outcome.

I was able to use all the pieces I found and only had to add a little bit of some peach Grunge I had laying around. I didn’t have much of it left and it was about the only color that went with these soft muted colors. At Julie’s suggestion I added a small strip of Tilde pink to get a little more length. I didn’t think it went with the April Cornell fabrics, but Julie said it picked up some of the darker pinks in some of the flowers. It is a little big strange looking for a top, but hopefully someone will like it.

April Cornell Poetry Collection donation back
April Cornell Poetry Collection donation back

The back was much harder. I really don’t have fabrics in those soft colors.  I picked some that I thought sort of went with the quilt top. I would have preferred a sage or muted blue. 

Soon it will be off to the Community Quilt team.

July 2025 Donation Blocks

I eeked out the last few blocks from what was left of my blue scraps. Most of the scraps went to the Blue Improv #2 donation top. Mostly they are too small for the blocks, so were perfect for an improv top.

I have also included some blocks I am making for one of the upcoming Sidewalk donation quilts. As mentioned before, they are half 16 patches. I am so used to making the 16 patch blocks that it feels weird to include these half blocks. Still, they make up really nice quilts, so I am trying to get over the weirdness by including them.

Soccer Donation Quilt Finished

Soccer donation quilt
Soccer donation quilt

I was really pleased to see this quilt come back from quilting and binding. Lee Ann did the binding. I was pretty unhappy with this quilt when I finished it, but I think it came out really well in the end. 

I used the leftovers from the Angel Family pillowcases and some scraps from Melinda. I was pleased to be able to use up as much of the fabric I bought as possible.

Finished: Sidewalk #2: Blue Strips

Sidewalk #2: Blue Strips
Sidewalk #2: Blue Strips

I worked on Sunday to get Sidewalk #2 off my large design wall.

I am really pleased with how it came out. I like the differences between this one and the first one.  I am excited about how it looks, excited about the possibilities of other versions and excited that it is finished.

I think the scrappy strip blocks look good. I will be curious to see how they look in different colors. Maybe I’ll use a colored background for one of these quilts?

Sidewalk #2 back
Sidewalk #2 back

I delved into my box of blues to find backing fabrics. I came up with oldies, but goodies. 

I’ll give this one to the Community Quilts team at the next meeting.

New Sidewalk Blocks

Sidewalk #2, block 1
Sidewalk #2, block 1

I have started to make the blue strip donation blocks I sewed in June into the second Sidewalk quilt.

I have more than plenty of the blue color strip blocks to make another Sidewalk quilt similar in size to the first. 

This is the first block I have put together with the white background and I think the block looks nice.

Sidewalk #2, block 2
Sidewalk #2, block 2

I made a second one using some darker blue strip blocks.  It looks nice, too and the sewing is going pretty quickly in between the Chain Link and Triumphant piecing.

I need to finish something as finding the time to finish four projects is making my head swim a little! LOL.

Blue Improv #2 Grows

Blue Improv #2
Blue Improv #2

While I worked on the Chain Link top, I used blue improv piecing as leaders and enders. I am really enjoying watching the improv piece grow as my blue scrap pile shrinks.

I still have a big pile of pieces that I am working on enlarging. As the scrap pile shrinks it gets harder to match up pieced units and make them bigger. Still, I seem to be doing it and I am having fun. 

June 2025 Donation Blocks

Hooray! I have some blocks to report. 44 is a good number. I had to start on blue strip blocks even though I didn’t make a white improv quilt after I finished the white strip donation top. My blue scrap drawer is overflowing. I can’t shove anymore scraps in it, so here we are.

I really like making these strip blocks. They are so much more fun than the Half 16 patches, though it could just be that I was sick of them because Sidewalk came out really well.

I plan to use the blue strip blocks for another Sidewalk quilt. The blocks are the same size and I am not done with that Sidewalk design yet. 

More on Pet Beds

Elephant Pet Bed
Elephant Pet Bed

I keep filling pet beds and I am still working on my most recent.

We aren’t filling them up as much with schnibbles any more, but just how much is something I have to confirm. 

As mentioned, the schnibbles don’t wash well and become giant lumps that pets can’t mold into a comfy shape. I knew this and it worried me, but I was happy to be using my schnibbles for something.

We are now filling the pet beds with Poly-fil** and batting. I am confused about whether we aren’t filling the pet beds with schnibbles at all or only a little bit. I have already stuffed this one a bit, so am now wondering if I will need to remove the schnibbles, put them in a different type of bag and hand them in separately to fill the cubie?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Blue Strips

Blue Strip blocks
Blue Strip blocks

I finished enough of the blue strip blocks to make another Sidewalk quilt. This will be the third blue strip donation quilt I have made! Apparently, I use a lot of blue. I am really excited to try the Sidewalk pattern with these strip blocks.

This is not all of the strips blocks I need. It is the group I put up on the design wall as I was making them. 

I have made a little dent in my blue scrap drawer. I can probably close it now. I plan to keep making these blocks until I have used most of the strips. I did find that a lot of the scraps are smaller than 4.5 inch strips, so another blue improv donation quilt is in my future, too.

Sidewalk Done

Sidewalk top: done
Sidewalk top: done

Since I had some free sewing time, I spent as much time as I could grab sewing this quilt top together. I concentrated on the half 16 patches first. I had been kind of limping along sewing them in between Triumphant block 2 pieces and was sick of it. I only needed a few more half blocks, so I sat down and sewed them.

I had a few hours while DH was out one evening so I started sewing the blocks together and just continued snatching time wherever I could. Once the half blocks were together this was a relatively easy  quilt to sew together.

Sidewalk back
Sidewalk back

I decided to use red for the back. Shockingly, the back went together very well. Instead of fighting with pieces like normal, this back went together really easily.

I am glad this is finally done! I have some ideas for other versions, but want to get Chain Link and Triumphant pieced.

 

 

 

AKA Sidewalk

Sidewalk sewing started
Sidewalk sewing started

I decided to call this quilt pattern ‘ Sidewalk’. There are other quilt patterns called ‘Sidewalk’, but this one looks more like city blocks surrounded by sidewalks than any of the other others. Besides I can’t keep calling it Half 16 Patch Sashing quilt. That name is too much of a mouthful.

I am making good progress. I have sewn the blocks together and am working on sewing them into pairs.

More Half 16 Patch Sashing Top

Half 16 patch sashing #1 in process
Half 16 patch sashing #1 in process

This top is taking forever and, again, I need the design wall space, so I’ll need to spend some time this weekend churning out half blocks.

That being said, I haven’t been a slacker. I have made some progress and the quilt top is coming together. I also like the way it looks, though it is a bit dark close up. 

There was no way I can finish it to turn in tomorrow at Sew Day, but maybe I’ll be able to finish it for the meeting in a few weeks. Work sure does get in the way of sewing!

Half 16 Patch Sashing Top More Progress

Well, I thought I had done more than I have actually done. Or that’s the way it feels.

Half 16 Patch Sashing top #1 - more progress
Half 16 Patch Sashing top #1 – more progress

I put this quilt up on my large design wall and it turns out I have a whole bunch of sashing/blocks left to do.

I put the sashing/blocks along the outside so I could see the full extent of what I had. With so much white, the outside of the quilt melted away into the design wall. 

It turns out that I have one full sashing/block on the machine, but I still need about 13. I have more than a week until I want to hand it in at the guild meeting.

It has an interesting look. I think when I make the next one I need to be more selective about the colors I choose. I need to have one color used as alternate patches in all the blocks.

 

Progress on Half 16 Patch Sashing Donation Quilt

Half 16 patch sashing #1 in process
Half 16 patch sashing #1 in process

I have made good progress on the Half 16 Patch Sashing Donation top. I used the 2.5 inch squares as leaders and enders as I worked on Old Town. It was getting too big for the small design wall and that helped to spur me on to get Old Town finished. I wanted to see this top on the large design wall. I feel like I am almost finished!