After yesterday’s post, I wanted to see all the donation quilt tops I have made in 2017 all in one place. I cannot take all the credit as Gerre, Tim, Erin, Cyndi and others have quilted my creations in a collaboration in which I revel. Quiltmaking is a collaborative exercise and making these donation tops in collaboration with someone who quilts them is a wonderful experience.
Star Donation Quilt
Yellow Donation Quilt
Stars #3 Donation Top
Ends Donation Top – March 2017
Ends #2 Donation Top, November 2018
Stars #2 donation top
Circles and Bars Donation Quilt
Circles Donation Quilt
BAM Pink Donation Quilt
Terrain Donation Top
The above are not in any special order. Also, not all of them are finished.
Again, I thought I had made more. I do have to give myself credit for making my part of this many quilts. They aren’t large or complicated, but they do provide something and I can honestly say that I am contributing something to the world in exchange for all that I have been given.
I thought about making one post for all donation blocks and quilts for next year. When I mentioned it, at least one of my dear readers commented that they liked seeing the donation blocks throughout the year. I decided that *I* wanted to see how many donation blocks I had sewn in 2017, thus here is a visual list of all of the donation blocks I have made for my guild.
Mid-Feb 2017 Donation Blocks
February Donation Blocks
Donation blocks, March 26, 2017
March Meeting Donation Blocks
Early April Donation Blocks
June donation block
July 2017 Donation Blocks
Retreat Donation Block n.2
Retreat Donation Block n.1
Retreat Donation Block n.3
Red November Donation Blocks
Donation block #2, November 19, 2017
Donation block, November 19, 2017
Sawtooth Stars to be – Donation Blocks
Favorite donation block
Donation block -pink/orange
Blue & White Donation block
Purple & Green Donation Block
Cotton & Steele Donation Block
French Provincial donation block
Purple and yellow donation block
Donation block: girlhood bedroom
Candy red donation block
Red and burgundy donation block
Yellow donation block
Grey and Red Donation Block – December 2017
Misc. Blues and Reds Donation Block – December 2017
Purple Dress Donation Block – December 2017
Solid Blue Donation Block – December 2017
Go Bears Donation Block – December 2017
ME Check donation block – Nov/Dec n.21
Sunset Donation Block n.3
Orange Donation Block
Orange Donation Block
Sunset Donation Block n.2
Sunset Donation Block n.1
Dark & Purple Donation Block
Red Sunset donation block
Forest Floor donation block
French Provincial Donation block
The count above looks like about 54. Some were made into tops, like the black ones. Frankly, I thought I had made more. I think I will have to catalog the quilt tops I have made as well, just to make myself feel better. There is certainly nothing wrong with these and every little bit helps, but the words of the NICU nurse who runs the program at Stanford ring in my ears. Now with the people who lost their homes in the Wine Country fires, there are not enough hours in the day to fulfill all the need.
Of course, I have to remember that I didn’t start this post early in the year, so I can’t possibly expect to capture all my work. I may do it again next year and will be more organized.
At the meeting on Saturday, Michelle reported that the guild had donated 175 quilts to various organizations. I can’t tell you how amazing that is. That is about 2 1/3 quilts per member! It is really a great team effort.
Donation Block Prep
After my last post about donation blocks, I had to do some prep to be able to make more. The first thing I did was cut up some charm squares of white. At first, I just cut a few, then on a recent Craft Night, I cut up the entire pack and now have a ton of backgrounds.
I have not yet cut more foreground fabrics. I really want to use the dregs. I know I am not a fan of them, but they are perfectly fine fabrics that need to be used.
ME Check donation block – Nov/Dec n.21
I made one more block before the meeting, bringing my total since the last meeting to 21.
I also checked out my bin to see what was still left. I have some plaids that I will put into a block together. I also have those sunset kind of fabrics. I cut many, many squares from them and will have to just suck it up and make a bunch of blocks from them. They will look good together and I might have enough for a whole quilt.
Bin of donation patches
My little bin of donation patches is pretty empty. The top fabric is the sunset fabric. We’ll see what I can make from this weird assortment.
Tim and I worked on the Anchor quilt on Saturday. This is a true group project. Gerre organized it. Christina did the piecing. I appliqued on the anchor and Tim will do the quilting. The last time I talked about this quilt was back in June and it has been languishing. Now we are back on track!
Saturday, he did everything and I just stood there and helped him pin and gave my opinion.
BAMaQG Anchor Quilt back
We had to work on the back a little bit. The back was two large pieces and the big area of white was bugging Tim. We talked about different things we could do and finally decided on adding a piece that Christina had started sort of 1/3 of the way down the quilt. I think it broke up the white enough for comfort.
We also looked at quilting ideas. Tim had some ideas in mind and they were good. We found a couple that we thought would reflect the them and he will do the quilting soon.
We are wrapping gifts for today’s party in pillowcases, which will be donated to Wine Country Fire victims. Mine is the opposite of the one I made for Maria, the YM’s roommate.
You must be getting sick of my donation block craze. I really do want to add more blocks and quilt tops to my 2017 list, so I made 5 more blocks on Sunday.
Grey and Red Donation Block – December 2017
Misc. Blues and Reds Donation Block – December 2017
Purple Dress Donation Block – December 2017
Solid Blue Donation Block – December 2017
Go Bears Donation Block – December 2017
I worked on them while I was piecing the last quarter of En Provence. The blocks seemed to fly out of my machine despite the fact that I was really struggling to find backgrounds.
I have been working through my little bin of donation patches since I started on this binge. After 20 blocks, I have few backgrounds and a lot of fabrics that I am tired of using. Still, I was determined not to cut more backgrounds until I absolutely had to. I decided, after I made the Cal block (blue and yellow) that I needed to see if I had some charm packs.
The blue and yellow block as well as some of the others will be difficult to use with the standard blocks others make. There is some thing about using up as much as you can before you have to cut more background.
Eventually, I went to my tote of charm packs and found two of white fabric. I started cutting up one of them, so my next batch of donation blocks will be pretty standard.
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.
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.
Purple and yellow donation block
Donation block: girlhood bedroom
Candy red donation block
Red and burgundy donation block
Yellow donation block
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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
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.
In between everything else, I made a few more donation blocks. Next year, I might write one big post on donation blocks and publish it at the end of the year. I am sure you might be more impressed with a big selection of blocks than the ones and twos I tend to post.
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
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
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
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.
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
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.
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
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 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.
