All Donation Blocks All the Time

Although I had a lot of other projects to use as leaders and enders, I really made a lot of donation blocks throughout the weekend as well.

I have used a lot of 2.5″ squares this weekend and I am kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel. It is not a bad thing as I am using up pieces I might not normally use. I’ll have to cut some backgrounds soon, but I hope to work out some piecing so I can use some donation blocks from last year to make a new top.

More Donation Blocks

French Provincial donation block
French Provincial donation block

You’ll notice that this post is not about the #OnRingoLake mystery quilt project as you will find on many other sites today as people show their progress on Bonnie Hunter’s new mystery quilt.

Since I am still working on En Provence, I thought it was prudent to finish that before starting another mystery. I am reading and collecting the clues in case I change my mind.

While I was working on En Provence on Friday, I made some more donation blocks. I used the donation blocks as leaders and enders, of course.

I figured out that each donation block has 15 seams. I made about 6 in the course of several hours of sewing, which means I sewed somewhere in the neighborhood of 180 seams total. That is between the En Provence pieces and  the donation blocks. I did a couple of other things in between as well, so my total is probably a few more.

Of course, the seams are short, which means they are quick, but I am making progress.

 

I am feeling like I am running out of 2.5″ pieces in my donation bin from which to choose. I think it is just that I don’t have enough to make blocks from one color. I also think that some of the choices are not my favorites. I have a number of pieces left and will make an effort to use those up before I commit to cutting more.They are not ugly and someone will like them, so I will need to use them.

Even More Donation Blocks

Donation block, November 19, 2017
Donation block, November 19, 2017

As I said yesterday, I used donation blocks as leaders and enders. I only finished 2.5. After doing an inventory of the donation blocks I have made this year, I was determined to up my numbers.

I’d love to give Peggy and Michelle a nice little stack at the BAM Winter Extravaganza, but we will see.

I am trying to clear out my little bin of 2.5″ squares. Some have been hanging around for a long time and I am sick of looking at them. The group above are not any of those. I needed some nice fabrics to work with first.

Donation block #2, November 19, 2017
Donation block #2, November 19, 2017

I do worry about using non-white fabrics for backgrounds, though I do it anyway. I don’t want to say beggers can’t be choosers, but I do think it. I do firmly believe that other background fabrics thrown in make the blocks more interesting. Some of the background fabrics in the second image come from the appealing California fabric I bought at the Granary. These fabrics were also not the ones I was eager to move out of my bin.

Donation block #3, November 19, 2017
Donation block #3, November 19, 2017

Some of the red tones in the half made block are those that need to earn their keep in a donation quilt. I bought too much of those Joel Dewberry red-pinks at the top. They keep showing up and I need them out of my life. The two squares on top might be the last two, but I suspect another 1-2 squares are hiding from me, ready to pounce when I am least expecting it.

I’ll have at least three new blocks to give to the Charity Girls in a  few weeks and more, with any luck.

Stars #3 Quilted

Stars #3 Complete
Stars #3 Complete

I had a bonanza yesterday at the guild meeting. Gerre finished quilting Stars #3, which I was not expecting. Her finish meant I (we!) had something finished to show after all. I was really thrilled that she was able to finish it. I really enjoy collaborating with Gerre on projects.

She chose to do some straight line quilting, which I think was a good choice. This quilt will go off to its new home soon.

New Donation Top

This quilt top has a connection to two other quilts. One is the Carpenter’s Wheel. The other quilt to which this top has a connection is the Ends Donation Quilt.

Ends #2 Donation Top
Ends #2 Donation Top

This top is second in a series (yes, I see more in my future) of quilts made from the leftovers of quilts after they have been quilted. I made this top from the leftovers of the back after Colleen trimmed it.

The back of the Carpenter’s Wheel was pretty big so there was quite a bit leftover. This top is about 48×48. I am in the process of making the back and sewing leftover pieces of batting together. While I am very much into fabric buying, using every little bit really makes me happy.

Tim said that he would quilt it when I am done making the back. I love his quilting, so this is an awesome development.

More Doing Good

As I have said a few times, I have a stack of donation blocks slated to make at least one donation quilt, but probably more. As a result, I should work  on that project rather that making new blocks. I don’t listen to myself. I have tons of 2.5″ squares handy. And I need leaders and enders periodically, so there you have it. And endless supply of blocks.

Blue & White Donation Block
Blue & White Donation Block

Lately, things have been no different. I have made a few as I have sewn En Provence. I need to cut some pieces for the Triple Star, which is why I haven’t been using those quilt blocks as leaders and enders.

I feel like I should just randomly select foreground colors and be done with it. That doesn’t work for me. I seem to have to carefully select all one color or similar colors to make a block. Not sure what is driving that (OCD on some level?). Still, I want to make pretty quilts to donate and this is part of how I do it.

Cotton & Steele Donation Block
Cotton & Steele Donation Block

I recently came across some beige Cotton & Steele 2.5″ squares and decided to make a block with them as the background.

I happened to place the dots so they were all moving in the same direction. On some level, it looks to me like the dots are flowing behind the foreground. The beige won’t go very well with the bright whites the guild usually uses, so I might have to pull some beige out of my bins and make several more blocks with a beige background. It would be nice clear out my beige, but not so nice to work with. Perhaps I won’t notice?

Donation block -pink/orange
Donation block -pink/orange

Finally, I had one under the needle. It was finished, but placeholding so I could start up again with no needle issues. There is a little violet, but most of this block is pinks and oranges. I am really liking that color combination at the moment.

Yes, I have another donation block on the wall even though I have a lot of other projects to use as leaders and enders. A good habit, I guess.

Stars Return

You might remember me talking about the first star donation top. I don’t always get to see the finished product, but last week at the BAM meeting, I got to see it finished.

Star Donation Quilt
Star Donation Quilt

Erin quilted it. She doesn’t make a lot of her own quilts, so she quilts a massive number of charity quilts.

The setting looks pretty boring compared to Stars #2 and Stars #3, but I had to make it in order to get to those two. Erin’s quilting makes it look a lot better!

I was thrilled to collaborate with Erin and look forward to seeing what she does next.

SIL Works

I have to say it is great to live around the corner from another quiltmaker. It is even better that she is my SIL. We had Craft Night on Monday, as usual, and I got to see some of her new works.

SIL MassDrop Donation Quilt
SIL MassDrop Donation Quilt

In terms of donations, she is on fire. She took one (or, perhaps, more) of the MassDrop fat quarter packs given out at the Retreat and has made two quilts so far from it.

The first one has a self-bordering effect, but the ‘border’ is  is part of the design. I like the larger and smaller squares for the design. She made another version as part of her seasons series using Pointillist fabric that is super cool. I’ll have to take a photo and post it sometime.

The other donation quilt, which I failed to photograph, is brilliant. She is using the stitch and flip method with Jelly Roll like strips, so the piece is quilted at the same time as sewn. The design comes out like a giant log cabin. This technique would be great for a charity Sew Day activity and would produce a lot of small quilts quickly.

SIL Design Wall, October 2017
SIL Design Wall, October 2017

SIL also has the Terrain quilt on her design wall. She has a layered effect going on on her design wall. The right arrow is pointing to it. You can also see some of the large back I made (arrow on the left is pointing to it) for the Terrain .

One of the good things about having a quiltmaker nearby is the almost instantaneous dose of inspiration. I can walk over, see what is on SIL’s design wall, go home and be reinvigorated.

What Else We Did at the BAMaQG Retreat

BAM 2017 Scrap Attack
BAM 2017 Scrap Attack

I wasn’t the only one busy at Retreat. A lot of charity blocks and tops were made. People also worked on their own projects.

MassDrop gave the guild a bunch of fat quarter packs to use to make charity quilts. The group did not disappoint. Right there, at least 5 were made. There were only about 4 packs left at the end of the day on Sunday, so I think others are in process.

Yellow Donation Quilt
Yellow Donation Quilt

Gerre had taken my Yellow Donation quilt and quilted it. She was working on the binding on Friday at the Retreat. She finished it and, thus, finished the quilt at the Retreat. I was pleased that she had worked on the top I made. I always feel happy when Gerre and I collaborate, especially when she says nice things about my color combinations. 😉

Michelle S' map quilt
Michelle S’ map quilt

Michelle S was working on, what I think of as, a map quilt. She had a different name for it, but I thought the blocks looks like a map or aerial photo.

Retreat 2017 Workspace
Retreat 2017 Workspace

I didn’t take as many photos as I expected to. I was focused on sewing and getting as much done as possible. There was a lot of moving around to shared cutting tables and ironing stations. People were also very chatty and interested in what other people were working on. It is always interesting to be in a Retreat situation because you get to see how other people work, what they are working on and how they interact with other.

Terrain Donation Quilt to be

Well, I seem to be quite lackadaisical lately with the posts. I thought I would have more time this week and, apparently, didn’t. I was sewing, so there is that.

At the retreat, I started to sew together some Terrain rectangles I had laying around. You might remember that I made the Renewed Jelly Roll Race from this line of fabric. it started out as a disaster, and ended up pretty well after. At some point in dealing with the disaster, I must have cut up these rectangles, but I really don’t remember doing it. I especially don’t remember WHY I might have done it.

Regardless, they have been laying around bugging me. I brought them along to the retreat and when I was sewing the Mostly Manor Lozenge blocks together, I used these as leaders and enders.

Terrain Donation Quilt
Terrain Donation Quilt

At Craft Night on Monday we looked at different layouts and eventually settled on the one shown.

SIL and I are working on this together.

I brought some white for another project and we used a lot of it to make the background. SIL plans to quilt it.

 

Stars #3 Donation Top

Somehow I didn’t get to working on any of my other projects on Sunday. I did do some random sewing as well as tidying up. My cutting table was a wreck. It was getting to the point where I had about six square inches in which to cut. Very difficult, I assure you. I started chopping up the scraps that were making the mess into pieces for future use.

Stars #3 Donation Top
Stars #3 Donation Top

One task I did accomplish was finish the third Stars donation top on Sunday.The BAM meeting is next Saturday and I wanted to get that done, so I was pleased. I had been rummaging around in my fabric the day before and was reminded how much backing fabric I have one hand. I made a back from some of the fabric even though it made the quilt more girly than boyish. It was quicker to use a large piece than to piece a bunch of smaller pieces together.

I am pleased with the asymmetrical layout of the top. It isn’t quite ideal, but it is much more interesting than the first version of this design. I don’t know that I will make more of these blocks right at the moment. I have some blue and white 16 patches that have been hanging around waiting for their turn on the design wall that I think I will work on next for a donation quilt. We’ll see.

Stars #2

I needed a break from quilting to do some piecing.

I had the Star blocks on the wall and had figured out how I wanted to put them together. I also wanted to get them done since the guild meeting is coming up and I’d like to having something to turn in. Since my design wall is overrun those blocks seemed to be the most logical project.

Stars #2 top
Stars #2 top

I put the blocks together in, basically, the arrangement I showed in the previous post.

I didn’t put the blocks together completely. I omitted some of the corner blocks in order to make the arrangement a little off balance. Some of the blocks share corner blocks. I think this adds movement to the quilt.

I think this quilt really shows what can happen if you keep the blocks on the design wall for awhile and look at them.

I have four more of these blocks and will make another quilt in a similar, but slightly different arrangement. I am not quite done playing with the arrangement.

I made a back for Stars #2 as well and will give both to the guild at the next meeting.

Mostly Manor HST Quilt

I finished trimming the HSTs I got as a kind of freebie from the Lozenge quilt at Craft Night.

My darling nephew asked me a question (or made a comment) about the HSTs and after answering I suggested I might enlist him to arrange them. He wandered off and that didn’t happen but my SIL picked them up and began arranging them. She came up with some different arrangements.

I am sure I will pick one of them when I get ready to put them together.

Pinwheels and squares
Pinwheels and squares

I like the one above because of the combination of combination of squares and pinwheels.

Gradated stripes
Gradated stripes

The one above is my favorite. I like the way she sort of gradated the colors. I have to add some white squares to the corner to make it into a square.

This will be a donation quilt and a good leaders and enders project (not that I need another one.

Stars Even Better

This project makes me feel like I am beating a dead horse.

Finalizing Stars #2 Design
Finalizing Stars #2 Design

I kept making Flying Geese to turn the 16 patches into stars and putting them up sort of higgeldy piggeldy on the design wall. Suddenly, I saw I design that was better than the straight set I had been planning.

I am not sure about the fifth block. If I keep it, where will it go? If I chuck it out, will there be too much white space? The white space will be background fabric – plain white.