Tag: Doing Good

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!

Half 16 Patch Sashing Donation Quilt

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

I am very pleased with how this experimental quilt is coming out.

All the pieces are not in their final location yet, but seeing them start to look like something is very gratifying.

This may turn into two of these as I think I need to have a bit of red in each sashing piece.

Yes, you might recognize some donation blocks that I unsewed so I could use them in this quilt. LOL.

Trash to Treasure

Cyndi has been working on the donation top that she and Tim made when we had our Sew Day at her house.

She brought it to Sew Day last week so we all could see what she had done.

Cyndi's donation quilt
Cyndi’s donation quilt

OMG! She did a fantastic job quilting it. The improv grid is a perfect quilting design. The quilt came out so much better than any of us ever anticipated.

It really is made up of parts that Cyndi was going to toss. This is such a great outcome.

April 2025 Donation Blocks

I  made some effort to make some blocks this month, but spent most of my charity time on the Grey Improv donation quilt.  I also started working on the sashing blocks for the quilt I saw at the Sonoma County Fair. I have about 3 half 16 patches done.

Two blocks is a little sad, though.

 

More Dogwood Pouches

Dogwood Pouches F & J
Dogwood Pouches F & J

I finished the latest two Dogwood pouches the other evening. I really like the way they came out.

I was much more careful this time about fussy cutting, so the butterflies are whole. I did a good job on the Hindsight Dogwoods, but the print was much larger, so it was harder to select a part of the print.

Dogwood Pouches F & J - open
Dogwood Pouches F & J – open

The lining is the same as the Butterfly Superbloom, which makes these part of a set.

I like the way the zipper is handled in this pouch. I might have to talk about that in the future.

These are the same sizes I made before. I wanted to make them again to cement the process in my mind. My printer is also acting like a jerk, so printing is iffy at best.

When I make pouches I always think about how I would use them. Pouch F is the larger one and would be great for chargers and other small electronics. I have several pouches in my work bag so I can keep things organized and think I would use this pouch for cords and chargers.

Pouch J is the small pouch and would be great for hand sanitizer and lip balm. I didn’t make these with vinyl on the inside so I have to think about keeping them clean. However, the pouches are washable, so that is a bonus.

 

I wash the pouch and bags I make in a lingerie bag to keep the handles and other pieces from getting into the workings of the washer. I have already washed all the fabric in hot water, so any temperature is ok. I recommend cold, but you can also wash them in hot.

New Donation Quilt Idea

Last year I went to the Sonoma County Fair with friends from Austria. They

2.5 inch square sashing quilt
2.5 inch square sashing quilt

have something similar in Austria, but it isn’t exactly the same. Of course, I visited the quilts and found one that I am going to try as a new design for a donation top.

I don’t know what to call this design and don’t know if it is actual pattern or not.

2.5 inch square sashing quilt - detail
2.5 inch square sashing quilt – detail

The piecing is in the sashing and the blocks are plain. The maker of this quilt, Elysha Ozanian, did a great job making the sashing really stand out. I drew out the quilt and found that instead of making the normal guild donation block, I could make half of one and that would be the pieced part of the quilt. I tried to make a block out of the plain block and the pieced sashing, but it didn’t work, so I will just build the quilt using individual units of the small plain block, the large plain block and the pieced portion using chunking.

The units comprising one plain block, 4 small plain blocks and the pieced sections are over 14 inches. I am not quite sure how big I will make my version. Maybe 4 plain blocks wide with the sashing units on the outside? I’ll have to see.

This might be another option for the guild to make as a donation quilt design.

Grey Improv Finished

Grey Improv Donation top finished
Grey Improv Donation top finished

I have finally finished the Grey Improv donation top and back. It has taken awhile, though much of the time was it hanging on the design wall going nowhere.

I did a good job working through my odd sized grey scraps, which is the whole point of the exercise. I am even more convinced that improv works much better in a monochromatic palette. I think that a complementary color scheme would work as well. I haven’t tried that I think the quilt would end up being bed sized.

Grey Improv back
Grey Improv back

This quilt is about 45 in. x 45 in., which is on the large size for a baby quilt, but definitely kid sized. Also, in this color scheme I could imagine it working well for a boy.

I used the leftovers from two quilts for the back: the Hugs and a Kiss quilt and the Half Hexie Star. Good use of some good fabrics.

Elephant Pet Bed and Changes

Green elephant pet bed
Green elephant pet bed

The guild is changing the way they make pet beds. The pet beds filled with schnibbles have been hard to wash and some shelters and animal rescue sites refuse to take them. I can understand the problem with washing. I, however, produce a lot of schnibbles and want to put them to good use. Erin and Michelle found another project where schnibbles are packed into a cube and used as seating for children. I can now fill up a bag with schnibbles and the team will fill the cube, called cubies (pronounced cube-eez). Cyndi offered to get me one when she heads down to the shop that hosts the group who coordinates them.

We will still make pet beds, but will fill them with more batting and leftover polyfil batting and less schnibbles.