Tag: Doing Good

Snip! Snip!

Cutting from Craft Night
Cutting from Craft Night

The other night we tried Virtual Craft Night. I think it worked pretty well and I got some cutting done. Usually, we do handwork, but I wanted to get those Frolic! pieces cut. Since I was in my workroom with the computer, I decided to rotary cut. I balanced the computer on my cutting table and cut away.

The blue pieces are sets I need for the Frolic! half and quarter blocks. I still have to figure out the last few pieces. There are some blue and pinwheel pieces I need to cut as well; I am just not sure what exactly I need to cut.

Bonnie‘s directions are great; the problem is that I have already done part of the cutting for the full blocks. This means I need to figure out what I have left to cut. I couldn’t do it while on the virtual session with my friends. I had to think and that requires being alone.

The beige and orange pieces will be used to make another Spiky 16 Patch quilt. Yes, this will be another another non-Color Strip donation quilt. Some recent orange and red and pink donation blocks inspired me. I had to figure out how to cut those spiky rectangles all over again.

Traffic Jam Top Finished

Traffic Jam top finished
Traffic Jam top finished

I finished Traffic Jam. This was an easy pattern and the quilt really went quickly, much more quickly than the Color Strip quilts.

This doesn’t mean I am giving up on those Scrap quilts. They are clearing out my scrap bins for something good. I just needed a break and wanted to play along with Vicki Holloway.

I made a back as well, so I get more fabric usage on my spreadsheet.

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Blue Strip Donation Top/Back Complete

Blue Strip Donation Top
Blue Strip Donation Top

Last Friday, I think, I finished the top and back of the Blue Strip Donation quilt. the piece is going in my bag to take to guild if the meetings ever start up again. I am feeling a bit lonely today. I know the social distancing is important for the health of the country, but I need a little more interaction than I am getting.

Anyway.

I am really pleased with the way the top came out. I had a half yard of two different yellows. The one I used on the border is Califon by Mark Lipinski. I like it, but it was languishing, so I thought I might as well use it.

Blue Strip Donation Back
Blue Strip Donation Back

The back was super easy! I had one large piece of blue and just needed to add a little bit to make it bigger. WHEW! No back drama this time.

Traffic Jam in Process

No pinching the blog! There is green in these blocks. 🙂

In between piecing Frolic! over the weekend, I used the Traffic Jam pattern as leaders and enders. I used up my stash of Marmalade Dreams mini-charms as well as two other packs of mini-charms. I had to scrounge for additional mini-charms, because I was a little short of the Marmalade Dreams I needed to make a small donation quilt. I think it will be fine once it is finished.

Traffic Jam Donation Top

Vicki Holloway of My Creative Corner3 induced me to try out the Traffic Jam Sew-a-Long with her FB group.

Traffic Pattern block #1
Traffic Pattern block #1

Traffic Jam is a free pattern by Pat Sloan. I didn’t need a pattern to make this quilt. I just started sewing my mini-charms together and cut the background fabrics to fit the standard 9 patch layout.

I did seek out the pattern after Vicki mentioned the secondary pattern that appears when the pattern is made with sashing. In the first photo, I didn’t see the secondary pattern, but in checking out the Linky photos, I did see it. Not sure I will add sashing and cornerstones, but we will see.

I am using that beige-ish fabric as the background as I probably won’t use it for one of my own quilts. I have no idea why I bought it, but it works pretty well for this piece. I have a yard and will make as many blocks as I can with that much fabric.

I am using mini-charm packs of Marmalade Dreams by Valori Wells. I collected a bunch of them at some point – at some quilt event. I probably won’t use them for another project, though I do like them.

Blue Strip Donation Top Close to Finished

Blue Strip donation Top - without outer border
Blue Strip donation Top – without outer border

I made some progress over the past several days on my newest donation quilt. I want to get the top done so that I can gain back the design wall. I just have the outer borders to sew on. I also have the back to make and, perhaps, the binding, but I think I will leave the binding to someone else.

I am pleased with how it looks, but dismayed at how few of my blue scraps were used. The blocks required one to a few yards, but my blue scrap drawer is still full and hard to close. More quilts!

St. Patrick’s Day Donation Blocks

I talked about Sew Day the other day. The blocks I made are below. I didn’t take photos of all of the blocks, unfortunately, but I got 12 of them.

Sew Day Projects

I had great intentions to get the pockets of my Ultimate Carryall Bag made during Sew Day. I also wanted to set a good example by working on it and encourage people to get it done.

Best laid plans.

I forgot my mesh and the interfacing. In reality, I thought I had everything already cut and prepared. I hadn’t cut the mesh and the interfacing wasn’t adhered. People were very kind and tried to help me out, but I gave it up as not possible.

St. Patrick's Day Donation block
St. Patrick’s Day Donation block

I turned to charity work. I grabbed some packs of 2.5 inch squares, which Peggy always has available, and started to make some squares.

I didn’t want to waste bringing my machine. If I couldn’t work on my own projects the next best thing was to do community service work.

I sewed the squares into blocks. It is an easy mindless task, though I did pay attention to color and print placement. I was able to follow the conversation fairly easily and still sew. My plan was just to sew a bunch of blocks. It turned out that I was pretty fast. Mary helped after she finished her project, so we were able to finish a baby quilt. Mary took the top home and will put borders on, then bring it to the meeting.

St. Patrick's Day Donation Top
St Patrick’s Day Donation Top

I am sad I didn’t get to work on the bag. The quilt project wasn’t planned, but I am pleased that I didn’t drag my machine down for nothing.

More Donation Blocks

Last month I only made two donation blocks, but I did better this month. I went over my 2019 monthly goal of 30 this month. Since I only made two last month, however, I probably should have made 60 this month.

I know you have seen most of the scrappy community quilt blocks, but I also made some of the regular 16 patch blocks and have started on a new color for a Color Strip quilt top in blue. I am not where I want to be but I am making progress and that is all that anyone can hope for.

More Blue Donation Blocks

Blue Donation Blocks- no sashing
Blue Donation Blocks- no sashing

I spent more time on Frolic! over the weekend. In addition to making slow progress on that piece, I also made a lot of progress on my blue strip donation quilt.

I now have all of the blocks finished and the sashing cut. As I mentioned before, I am going to make this piece slightly larger than some of the others.

It seems like it is an odd shape – more rectangular than square, but it may be the lack of finished seam allowances.

Blue Donation Blocks- with sashing
Blue Donation Blocks- with sashing

I am pleased with the yellow I chose. This was a half yard of fabric I have had around for awhile. I thought the color worked well with the blue even though light yellow is complementary to darker blues.

 

A Very Small Dent

Blue Strip Donation Blocks - mid-February
Blue Strip Donation Blocks – mid-February

I am up to 21 blocks for my latest Color Strip donation quilt. I plan to make another 14 so it is slightly larger than the red and orange donation quilts.

Regardless, I have barely made a dent in my blue scraps. Of course, I generate them at a faster clip than other colors, except, maybe, pink, but still. I’d like to be able to see progress. Perhaps I will be able to make 4 quilts out of this drawer.

They went very quickly as I worked on Frolic the other day. There were a lot of small fiddly seams to sew on Frolic!, so I needed leaders and enders. They come together very quickly once you start and some strips I have are very long, so I can cut 2-3 blocks out of a strip set.

Donation Block Updates

Blue donation blocks, February 2020
Blue donation blocks, February 2020
Here is a brief update of the blocks I am making for the blue version of the Color Strip quilts. This is also being sewn from scraps. I haven’t made many blocks, but there is no dent in my scrap drawer. Do you think they multiply in the night? More likely I have just not made a concentrated effort to deal with them.

 

Fortunately, there are a lot strips, so I have been able to make a number of strip sets that yield more than one block.

You can also see the in progress blocks as well.

More New Blue Donation Blocks

I worked on the UCAB‘s short front pocket over the weekend. I wanted to incorporate my Clippy Pocket hack into an actual pocket. As I worked on that complicated project, I made donation blocks as leaders and enders.

I am really happy with these blocks. They are more fun to make than the white. I have a lot of scraps, but within those scraps are a lot of strips of different lengths, so the blocks are going fast and I can, sometimes, make two at a time.

Community Sew Day

Saturday was a Community Sew Day. I made about 18 blocks, some were the blocks of the day; some were the 16 patches. I’ll show those another day.

Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 3
Scrappy Community Quilt Day block 3

These blocks can be super scrappy. I tried to stick to a common color scheme so it would be easier to put blocks together into a cohesive whole. As the day wore on the pickins got a little slim and eventually I switched to a dark color scheme. I am not as happy with those blocks as they just seem dark. They will be good for a boy quilt, so they won’t be wasted. Perhaps I can make 6 more blocks in the same colors so Peggy can make a top.

These are similar to the Mav block I made a few weeks ago. The good thing is there are no seams to match so they make a good pattern for group sewing. You need:

  • 5-4.5″ squares
  • 5 – 2.5 x 4.5″ strips
  • 2- 2.5 x 6.5″ strips

Use the image above as a guide for the layout.

Nine blocks make a quilt – at least they did for our project. The group ended up with 8 quilt tops and a few extra blocks. Some of us were talking about cutting scraps into pieces in these sizes and making them whenever we had spare time or needed leaders and enders.

The quilts are VERY scrappy.