Tag: Doing Good

Lucky Blocks

Lucky Block #1
Lucky Block #1

The Pacifica Quilter’s Club also has a donation block program called “Lucky blocks”. I missed the first round, but picked up the instructions at the last meeting. I have slowly been starting these blocks and over the weekend made some good progress. 

I have to trim all the HSTs, so the work takes longer PLUS I am working on about 12 projects at a time. 

Lucky Blocks waiting to assemble
Lucky Blocks waiting to assemble

I accidentally cut 4 blocks. Either I didn’t read the instructions carefully or I skipped reading them. I made a bunch of HSTs and there were enough for 4 blocks. I’ll sew them together in time for the April meeting. If I can’t make it, I’ll drop them off with the coordinator.

I was able to use some 5″ squares I had cut from scraps for this project, which made me very happy. That scrap  processing effort isn’t wasted!

Finished: White Strips #3

White Strips #3 with red
White Strips #3 with red

I last spoke about this last month. In between time, I finished this quilt and posted about it on the February Donation Blocks and Quilts post. I haven’t spoken about it in general as a finished piece.

This piece is a little different from #1 and #2, because of the red. I have been feeling like I have a lot of red fabric I am not using. I decided just to put some red sashing on this quilt and see what happened. It is not a favorite of the series, but it isn’t ugly either. Next time, I’ll stick with the monochromatic look. 

I like making these strip quilts, as I have said, as they use up scrap and make great leaders and enders. The problem with the white is that I have A LOT of white scraps and I can’t seem to use them up quickly enough. I am pleased that I didn’t use any white background fabric in Lupine. It loaded up my black scrap drawer, but stayed away from the white.

 

Sew Day Blocks

Sew Day quilt in process
Sew Day quilt in process

A week ago was the Community Sew Day at the Guild. After doing some pre-sewing, I also sewed another quilt using the same pattern at Sew Day. SueG sat next to me and followed my lead on sewing blocks my way. 

Sue used her own materials, which was a lot better for precision. We sewed quite a few blocks, but Lee Ann took them all to sew together before I could take a picture. 

I tried to keep the packs I chose in the same color family as Sue’s blocks, but I was really distracted and am not sure I succeeded. when I get a photo from Lee Ann, I’ll share it.

Pre-Sew Day Blocks

Diagonal 16 Patch donation quilt
Diagonal 16 Patch donation quilt

My preference at Community Sew Days is to bring a top (+back, etc) ready to be quilted and work on my own projects. Since I am now guild president, I decided I needed to be a good citizen and work on the project with everyone else. Still, I worked ahead to make some blocks.

I used 3 mini-charm packs and what’s left of my white fabric to make the blocks for the quilt top. I thought they would be incorporated with everyone else’s blocks, but I made the wrong pattern, so Sue and I put the rest of the blocks needed for a quilt together using this pattern.

I worked with the Community Quilts Team’s materials to start a second quilt and wasn’t as happy. I prefer my own cutting, so I know what problems I might encounter with cutting mistakes. I’ll go back to my original plan if there is another Community Sew Day. 

Finally: Pet Bed

Purple/Burgundy pet bed
Purple/Burgundy pet bed

I have had the fleece for a Pet Bed sitting around for a long time. I finally sewed it together last week in order to bring it to Sew Day. 

One of the things that spurred me on was the bits of batting I had laying around from the various quilts that I have mostly finished recently. The guild is not using schnibbles for pet beds any more as they don’t make for soft and comfy beds. Also, they are hard to wash. This is sad as I still have a lot of schnibbles. We are working out a plan for their use in another way.

This wasn’t my fabric so I don’t get any credit on my Fabric Used spreadsheet.

Ends n.23 Start and Finish

Ends n.23 Top
Ends n.23 Top

I wanted to make a second donation top for the year and going through a stack of fabric helped. I found the neutral background and that cemented my resolve.

I used the edges that Colleen cut off of Gelato #2 to start this donation quilt. That back was quite large, so I had long pieces from which to choose. 

I shoot for about 40×40 for these quilts so a yard of fabric total works. The neutral I found was a half yard.

Ends n.23 back
Ends n.23 back

Except for the back, I didn’t need to dig into my bins of fabric. I chose some light oranges for the back, then dutifully measured and put together some batting scraps for the batting.

 

February 2026 Donation Blocks and Quilts

I have decided to combine donation blocks and quilts into one monthly post. We’ll see how that works this year.

I didn’t make any donation blocks or quilts in January, so here we are in February.

Blocks

I am collecting black and red donation blocks to make another Quarter Square donation top for the guild donation project similar to QST 16 Patch #4 Blue. I have more green squares after a couple of sessions of scrap processing. I want to make another Sidewalk quilt, but I don’t have enough of the half blocks to make a green one yet. The blocks above are being added to the pile.

Quilts

I might have posted the *bound* Blue Improv before, but I don’t see it. It was getting folded up to be donated at Sew Day and I took a quick snap of the finished piece. More scraps off to do some good.

I also finished White Strips #3 (with red) and handed it in at the meeting last weekend. It looks different than the other white strips quilts, but I like it.

More White Strips #3

White Strips #3 in progress
White Strips #3 in progress

Without putting the blocks on the wall, I added sashing to my white strips blocks. I don’t have any design wall space and just had to go for it. I have a few donation quilts I need to make and this one will help me free up some design wall space. 

As you can see, not having the design hampers my process. Somehow I missed adding top sashing to 6 blocks. 

Yes, I used red. Dangerous, I know, but all my fabric is washed. 

This is a good quilt for Valentine’s ‘month’.

White Strips #3 on the Wall

White Strips #3 in process
White Strips #3 in process

I finally dug out the white strips blocks I made last year and put them on the design wall. With the Patchwork Palooza no longer taking up valuable design wall real estate, I am able to work on this project. 

I haven’t started on sashing yet, but did decide to just make my normal strip quilt rather than another Sidewalk quilt. However, since I haven’t started the sashing yet, that could change.

I am thinking about red sashing as I have at least two bins of red fabric. I could use more by making a Sidewalk version. We’ll see. I know I don’t want to make another white on white strips quilt. 

I haven’t really decided to make 12 quilts for the guild this year. I am giving enough time to the guild. That doesn’t mean I won’t make donation quilts. It just means I don’t (yet?) have a goal.

2025 Donation Quilts

  • April Cornell Poetry Collection – finished July 2025
  • Blue Improv #2 – finished July 2025
  • Diamond Test – finished July 2025
  • Ends n.21 – finished February 2025
  • Grey Improv donation top
  • Orangeade – finished in January 2025
  • Pillowcase donation top – finished April 2025
  • Sidewalk #2: Blue Strips – finished July 2025
  • Sidewalk – finished June 2025
  • Sidewalk #3: plain

All the 2025 Sidewalk Quilts

This quilt design has exploded out of my workroom. I made quite a few this year using different techniques for the 8.5 x 4.5 inch unit.

 

This tutorial also inspired others to make this design.

Remember that I found a similar pattern from Jennifer Jones of Penelope Handmade for the Dorothy Quilt.

Another Sidewalk Quilt (#5)

Sidewalk #5 start
Sidewalk #5 start

I started another Sidewalk quilt with 4.5″ x 8.5″ panels I cut when I processing scraps a month or so ago. I haven’t made a ton of progress, but I like what I have done so far.

While the ‘panels’ are the same size as the pieced units, this top feels like it is going together much more quickly.

I finally found that someone else had created a pattern for, what I call, the Sidewalk Quilt. Jennifer Jones of Penelope Handmade has a pattern for the Dorothy Quilt, which is, essentially, the same as the Sidewalk quilt. She has a long blog post from 2023, which includes links to her YouTube Channel. She uses all solids in her examples – at least the ones I saw – and they look quite good against a white background.

Amazing 1940s Quilt

Amazing 1940s quilt
Amazing 1940s quilt

Almost immediately after finishing her quilt, my Mom took a donation quilt from the BAM selection to finish.

I didn’t really look at it until we got home and she took it out to start the binding. 

The first thing I noticed is that it smelled bad. I took it outside and hung it on a bush to air it out. That didn’t work well, so I ended up washing it (yes, in the machine on delicate and in the dryer on low). It smelled better after that. Before I washed it, I sewed around the edge so the edges wouldn’t ravel more than they already were. 

Amazing 1940s quilt-detail
Amazing 1940s quilt-detail

As I worked on the quilt, I noticed how amazing it is. It is hand pieced and hand quilted and the work is beautiful. It is also in great condition. The maker knew what she was doing.

I think I might want to make this quilt design using EPP.

October Donation Blocks

I started off the month continuing to make white strip blocks. The bin really was not organized well and I found a whole new selection of strips I could use to make blocks partway through. I was up to a total (not just the ones made in October) of 40 white strip blocks early in the month, but continued to make them. I like my scrap bins to be as empty as possible. The white bin is proving to be a challenge to empty.