Everything has slowed down in my workroom, but I am still eeeking out some works. I have, again, made a few donation blocks in the last week or so.
February Donation Blocks
Tag: Doing Good
More Donation Blocks
I spent a lot of sewing time making gift bags with fabric I unearthed from my fabric closet. I finished about 10 bags and was able to get back to using donation squares as leaders and enders.
Some of these blocks are from last year – as in a few weeks ago.
2021 All Donation Blocks
I definitely didn’t make as many donation blocks in 2021 as I did in 2020. Still, I have a few to share and I am a firm believer in the old adage ‘ every little bit helps’.
I started making the guild 16 patches in May. Even though I cut tons of squares, I just didn’t get to it. I was using other projects for leaders and enders. Then I started the workroom upgrade. It has all conspired to make me not as productive in the donation area than last year.
This is still an important part of my quiltmaking and I’ll get back to making more blocks again.
A Few Donation Blocks
I haven’t been spending time on donation blocks lately, but I have made a couple lately. Mostly, I haven’t been piecing, which means I haven’t been making blocks.
I found my box of squares destined to be donation blocks, which had been buried. When I have needed a leader and ender lately, I have been able to grab a couple of them. Suddenly I have two blocks. It’s not a lot, but every little bit helps.
I forgot how much I enjoy seeing different fabrics put together. Aren’t the blue and pink Philip Jacobs flowers a great combo?
Finished: Ends n.11
I finished Ends n.11 on Sunday, or maybe late Saturday. It isn’t amazing or anything, but it is finished and I will get some more scraps out of my workroom.
New Donation Top
I was feeling like a slacker especially after seeing how many donation quilts were brought to our in person (!!!) guild meeting last week.When I went back and looked, it had really only been since July that I made a donation quilt, Ends. n.10 with the rest of the Pop Parade scraps.
On Saturday, I started working on another Ends donation top. This is Ends n.11 and I will hand it in to Peggy soon.
I found a whole bunch of edges of old quilts when I rearranged some stuff that was going back into my workroom*. Sigh. I thought I was doing so well keeping up with making stuff with the edges of the quilts I finish. This is an old stash, stashed before I thought of these ends quilts.
*N.B. I have three weeks to get all of my stuff back into my room before the Y.M. comes home for Thanksgiving.
Finished: Pop Parade Donation Quilt
Joelle quilted and bound this second of the Pop Parade donation quilts. I finished it in July, so the finish was relatively quick. Thanks, Joelle!!!
As you may remember, I added the large dark red batik fabric (left) with the yellow dots to round the variety of fabrics I had for the X Quilt. I am pleased the quilt is done, but I am also pleased that I finally used this bundle of fabrics. This is a great example of why a person should use the fabrics when they buy them. I loved these fabrics when I bought them and loved them a lot less when I finally used them. I don’t dislike them and I am very pleased with the quilts I finished.
More Yellow Improv
I continue to work on the Yellow Improv. As I work on other projects, I sew bits and pieces together. The piece is almost 20 inches square now. Not big enough yet, but getting there.
Update on Ends Quilts
These quilts are all made from the edges that are cut off of other quilts as they are being squared up. Sometimes I make the backs larger than needed so I get some large-ish pieces back. Those pieces are hard to store, so making some donation quilts out of them is a good idea.
July 2021
Ends n.10 (Pop Parade)
February 2021
Ends n.9 – see more information
June 2021
Ends n.8 (Bonnie & Camille) – see more information. Since I only make the tops, they don’t always get done in order.
January 2019
Ends n.7 – see more information
October 2018
Ends n.6 – see more information
June 2018
Ends n.5 – see more information
March 2018
Ends n.4 – see more information. You can see that Ends n.3 and Ends n.4 are related.
Ends n.3 – see more information
July 2018
Ends n.2 – see more information
March 2017
Ends (n.1) – see more information – this is the top that started it all!
You could also put scraps together into strips, add some background and make one of these. These are very improv-y and there isn’t a pattern. It is a good way to do something good with fabrics I wouldn’t otherwise use.
Yellow Improv Grows
Slowly but surely this piece is growing. The top section, which I think of as the main piece, is about 20×20 now. I am working on growing the bottom piece to fit on to the top piece. At the moment the bottom piece is made up of 3 different pieces.
I find that I need triangles in these pieces to add interest. The additional, non-yellow, colors add interest, but I find that if I have too many squares and rectangles the eye doesn’t move around as much. In this piece, however, there isn’t much contrast and that helps the eye not linger on the squares and rectangles.
I learned this from the Green Thing, the first top in this series. Those bars, which aren’t even really green, provide a focal point, but I find that the focal point takes away from the rest of the quilt. Good thing I’ll have enough green scraps to make another!
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
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.
The back went relatively fast. I took both pieces to Sew Day and gave them to Peggy and the team for quilting.
More Yellow Improv
I am working hard on my Yellow Improv donation top. I am trying to use smaller pieces so I use up ALL of my yellow scraps. It isn’t working 100% of the time, but I’ll keep trying. Perhaps my default will be to make this top as big as the scraps I have?
Blue Improv Donation Quilt
Another quilt was given in at Sew Day was my Blue Improv Donation Quilt.
It looks really good quilted and I am pleased with the way it turned out. I think Mary C bound it.
Pop Parade Donation Top/Back
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.
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.