Doing Good – Page 28 – Artquiltmaker Blog

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

More Stars

I am slowly working on the Stars donation quilt. I have a few full stars made and am working on the others.

I am working on these as a leaders and enders project in between another project. The other project has a lot of applique’ so I don’t always get to piece the stars. Still, the stars are appearing.

Stars Donation Quilt #2 - in process — Stars Donation Quilt #2 – in process

Due to the fact that I still have not set my large design wall back up, I am using an inadequately sized design wall. This means that pieces get overlapped and crammed together, which can be annoying, but can also be inspiring.

I was determined to do a 9 block baby / small child quilt for donation. Upon seeing the stars partially made and crammed together, it occurs to me that there are other design options. I think I will make more of a free form layout rather than a straight set. It will be more interesting and have a bit more negative space for someone to express their quilting artistry.

A Few More Donation Blocks

I have been able to come up with a few donation blocks, despite the many leaders and enders opportunities.

I am particularly fond of the block in the upper left hand corner. Something about the combination of bright blue, turquoise and pink is very appealing.

Star Donation Quilt #2 – in Process

I liked the previous Star Donation top so much that I decided to make another one. As I have mentioned, I have a lot of leaders and enders opportunities, so I am not making as much progress on donation tops and blocks right at the moment. Still, slow progress is better than no progress.

Sawtooth Stars to be - Donation Blocks — Sawtooth Stars to be – Donation Blocks

At the moment, I have the blocks done. I will make Flying Geese to add to make them into Sawtooth Stars.

Not all of the blocks have black background patches, but I did try to keep the background patches dark so as to continue to explore that look.

I also decided to make this one larger – 9 blocks instead of 4. Still, looking at it makes me think I could make two donation tops with these blocks for the NICU, if I wanted to make them smaller. I will see what I think when I finish making the blocks into stars.

One Small Block

I am using En Provence for leaders and enders so my donation quilt/block progress has slowed somewhat. I did manage to make one block.

I am back to using white and will send this one to the guild rather than use it to make a quilt. I have enough blocks at home to make donation quilts and will focus on those. Someone else can use this one to make a quilt.

Walker Bags

BAM had a Charity Sew Day on May 6th. Peggy and Michelle created kits and a pattern for walker bags for a local nursing home. I made three, though not without mishap and only with the help of SIL.

The first one I made was the pink and purple version. I liked the fabric combination.

While SIL turned the first one (the first seam is right sides together), I started in on a second. I wanted to kind of do an assembly line and get as many as possible completed. I don’t use much patriotic fabric, but I did like the flags. They are cheerful and a little jaunty.

I was kind of confused about the various seam allowances so I did have to rip a bit. SIL also ripped for me some.

I stuck a ruler in one of the pockets to show the depth. It was a little too tall for the pocket, but I am sure they will work for smaller items.

All around it was a good day. We finished about 25 bags and there was a lot of laughter, which is important as well.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30