Tag: Doing Good

Orange Improv Donation Top Start

Orange Improv Donation Top start - mid July 2019
Orange Improv Donation Top start – mid July 2019

While I was vacillating about the sashing color, size and fabric for the Orange Strip Donation Top, I still needed some leaders and enders. I started in on the Orange Improv Donation Top.

This part of the project is also coming out quite well. I am starting to think that I pick my oranges carefully and they go together well.

I really like the orange dot at the bottom of the left hand photo. However, it really stands out in real life. I might have to use smaller bits of it, so it doesn’t dominate.

Orange Improv Donation Top start 2 - mid July 2019
Orange Improv Donation Top start 2 – mid July 2019

The top piece (in this post) is about 8 in x 10 in right now. I have some sewing to do to get it to a larger size.

The smaller piece will be added on to the larger piece when it gets to the right length or width to fit. I am at the point now where I make smaller pieces fit together to attach to the larger ones.

Orange Strip Donation Top Progresses

Orange Strip Donation Top with cut sashing
Orange Strip Donation Top with cut sashing

I spent a lot of time this past weekend getting the Orange Strip Donation Top in shape to bring to the meeting. That means selecting fabric and cutting sashing.

After the success of the Wonky 9 Patch, I became fond of this color combination. I am careful to find the right blue. It really works for me.

I didn’t like the look of the plain alternate blocks in the Green Strip Donation Top once it was quilted, so I opted for a chunky, but thinner sashing for this version. The blue is definitely a bold choice, but I like it.

Orange Strip Donation Blocks

Orange Strip Donation Blocks
Orange Strip Donation Blocks

I finished the last of the Orange Strip Donation blocks over the weekend. I am pretty pleased with how the blocks look together. As I said in another post, I like the way the color of these oranges look together. They aren’t too garish and are a bit softer, like a Creamsicle look.

I haven’t decided on fabric for the background. Tim gave me a beige-y biscuit color, but I don’t think I want to ruin the cheerful look of the oranges. I wanted a Creamsicle (yes, I am on a binge with that word today) solid, but don’t see one in all the color cards I have. I am going to rummage through my orange bin and see what turns up. I am not adverse to using different fabrics for the background, though I think a solid or tone on tone would be best.

New Orange Donation Blocks

Orange Strip Donation Blocks - July 2019
Orange Strip Donation Blocks – July 2019

As I worked on various projects over the weekend, I added to my stash of Orange Strip Donation Blocks. I am a few short of being ready to put the blocks all together into a quilt top.

I am still pretty happy with how these blocks look. They don’t look to shocking. They have a soft look to them.

I am considering backgrounds. I haven’t yet pulled options out of the fabric closet, but I am thinking. I want the orange to be the star. Tim gave me a rich creamy vanilla color to try. I haven’t tried it yet, but will when I get to the “make visual decisions visually” stage. I was thinking a very light Creamsicle like color – a solid. I don’t know if I have that color, or if that color exists, but I’ll try it. Tim doesn’t like peach, so no peach.

I might change the sashing to a smaller size, but not as small as the Red Chunk Donation top. I was also thinking I might add in some triangles to add to the design, but perhaps not.

 

Purple Improv Donation Quilt

Tim and I had lunch, then worked together on the BAM website this past week. After we were done, we looked at his projects and considered quilts.

Purple Improv Donation Quilt
Purple Improv Donation Quilt

One thing he did since the last time I saw him was quilt the purple improv donation top. Now it is a donation quilt!

His skills are improving tremendously and I think this quilt looks really good. I love the designs he chose.

This will be part of the exhibit we are planning, so we won’t give it in just yet. We need someone to bind it and Tim was going to see if Mary could do it.

Orange Strip Donation Top

I worked on Flying Around over the weekend, as mentioned. In addition,  I made the orange strip donation blocks as leaders and enders.

4 Orange Strip Donation blocks
4 Orange Strip Donation blocks

These are harder to make. Not in terms of technical skills, but in terms of fabric. I don’t have as many orange scraps as I have other scraps. I went through the unsorted scrap pile on my cutting table and came up with a few strips and chunks that will help with the effort. I may have to abandon the strip idea and go straight to more of a chunk/improv look.

As I make these blocks, I am amazed at how much I love the fabrics in my orange scrap bin. As I said, I don’t have a lot of orange scraps, but most of those I do have speak to me. perhaps I chose well when buying orange fabrics?

Finished: Red Improv Top

Finished: Red Improv top
Finished: Red Improv top

The Red Improv top is finished. No back yet, but I will do that soon.

I am pretty pleased with the way it came out. It doesn’t have those bold graphic lines that the purple improv top did. I like that better, though it might look a little chaotic as well.

This is the last of the red scrap quilts for now. My red scrap drawer isn’t completely empty, but it is much less full than it was. Essentially 3 quilt tops came out of the drawer. Amazing.

Maybe orange next. Stay tuned for your break from red.

BAM Fidget Quilts

BAM Fidget quilts - May 2019
BAM Fidget quilts – May 2019

BAMers made fidget quilts at the last Sew Day. I was there as I was in Portland celebrating the YM’s graduation.

BAM Fidget quilts detail - May 2019
BAM Fidget quilts detail – May 2019

I was really impressed with Peggy’s preparation and for all the work that went into these pieces that will help people with dementia and other memory challenges as well as kids who need something to calm their restless bodies.

 

 

More Red Improv

Red Improv Donation Top - end of May 2019
Red Improv Donation Top – end of May 2019

I spent a couple of days working on the Red Improv donation top in between the Chubby Charmer and other projects. I am getting towards the end (perhaps one more row along the bottom?), but making the rows takes time, because they are made from small bits of fabric that have to be sewn into larger pieces.

I have done a good job clearing out the red scrap drawer. There is definitely a lot less left. I do have a couple of pieces that were already sewn together that I may not use in this piece. I am thinking about cutting some blocks out of it and making a multi-colored donation top when I am done with all the colors.

Red Chunk Donation Top

Red Chunk donation top
Red Chunk donation top

I finished the Red Chunk Donation Top and back on Monday morning. Hooray!

I am pleased with how it came out. I thought the border was rather perfect. I would have preferred to have enough fabric, so I didn’t have to have different corners, but it looks nice, so it is all good.

Another top for the BAM Community Quilt Project and another 3 yards used up this year.

Three Strip Donation Quilts

I wanted to look at these three quilts together. I can’t actually see them since I don’t have them anymore. I am interested in the differences in these tops as well as the similarities.

These tops display one reason why I love quiltmaking so much. Essentially, these are the same pattern. They, however, look very different. They don’t look so different that you can’t tell they are the same pattern, but they still look different enough for the viewer not to be bored.

 

Another Blast from the Past

It seems like my donation quilts are coming back from the past. For me, once I give the top and back to someone else to quilt and bind, I am done with them and don’t really think about them anymore. Last week Kelly contacted me about a donation quilt and now another crops up.

Food Donation Quilt
Food Donation Quilt

The guild meeting was last Saturday and Cyndi was sitting near me. Peeking out of her bag was a quilt with some food fabric in it. I thought to myself, Oh! I used that fabric in the Food Quilts. It turned out Cyndi had finished a food donation quilt that I made in 2016. I didn’t even remember making it, but I looked it up and, yep, there it was. I know I made it to use up the fabric from the three food quilts.

Red Improv Donation Top Progresses

Red Improv Donation Top, mid-May
Red Improv Donation Top, mid-May

I spent a happy afternoon on Sunday working on the Flying Geese Exchange quilt and the Red Improv Donation Top. The latter has exploded in size from the small piece it was when I last wrote about it to about 30 inches now.

I am thrilled to say that I am seeing the bottom of the red scrap drawer, too!

I used this project as leaders and enders for the Flying Geese Exchange. I wanted to concentrate on that one, but can’t work on it without leaders and enders.

Red Strip Donation Blocks

Yes! It’s all about red lately!

Red Strip Donation Blocks
Red Strip Donation Blocks

I finally finished all of the blocks for the second Red Strip Donation Top. As mentioned before, not all of these scraps were strips, like in the Green Strip Donation Top. There are a lot of chunks. Perhaps I should call it the Red Chunk Donation top? That would differentiate it from the first one.

One of the things I like about working on a design wall is that I see different things after I put the blocks (or pieces) up. In this case, I saw that the quilt looked pretty good with thin white strips in between the blocks. I may cut strips and try that as a layout. I’d use cornerstones as well. More scraps to use up.

The quilt won’t end up as large as the Green Strip, the Purple Strip or the first Red Strip Donation quilts, but it will still be big enough for something. The layout will be a little different than the first red version.

New Red Improv Donation Top

Start of Red Improv Donation Top
Start of Red Improv Donation Top

I am still working on the second Red Strip Donation Top, but I needed a leaders and enders project, so I started on the red improv version of my series. Yes, I have a lot of red scraps.

This doesn’t look like much. I hope it will look like the center of the green improv donation top when I am finished. I haven’t taken out any yardage yet. I have some large strips in the drawer and am using those before I dig into yardage.

I want to use as many of the scraps as I can. Strangely, I am fascinated by how much I can make from a drawer full of scraps. I haven’t yet made anything with  just the scraps. I always add yardage, but I am still making my way through the scraps.