Doing Good – Page 29 – Artquiltmaker Blog

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.

Star Donation Quilt

I turned in the Sawtooth Star Donation top and back on Saturday at the BAMaQG meeting.

(insert gif of me dusting off my hands and moving on)

I was sad to see it go as that was a really great quilt. I know some family with a sick baby will love it, though and makes me happy.

People at the meeting agreed that it was cheerful even with the black.

Yes, I used different background fabrics as I had a few fat quarters and thought I might as well use them up. Pretty soon I’ll have to break into yardage again.

I’ll probably make another one of these. I have some more black squares and it is a good use of them.

Sawtooth Star Donation Blocks

Here is more, finally, about the new direction in which my donation blocks are going. I talked about this last week and had time and brainspace to make the ideas a reality. How long this whim will last remains to be seen.

Remember I can make any blocks I want for charity blocks. Peggy will do something with them, if nobody else does. Still, I feel kind of obligated to make enough of one type of block to make a small quilt so it is easier for the Charity Girls who do a ton of work already. Also, I like the 16 patch/postage stamp format. It makes for easy leaders and enders that take very little brainspace while I am working on other projects.

Thus I was looking for something that would work with 16 patches. I didn’t really need a pattern since I can figure out most quilt blocks myself and my DH will do math if I need help. I especially wanted to make something with these black postage stamp blocks so that they wouldn’t be a drag on Peggy and Michelle.

I saw the magazine Quilting Quickly, which I normally don’t buy since I don’t often buy pre-cuts beyond charm packs and the name makes me a little crazy. This time it had a colorful 16 patch on the cover with an almost Sawtooth Star, but sort of Jacob’s Ladder quilt on the front. It gave me the idea to make Sawtooth Stars, so that is what I did.

Immediately I thought of Sawtooth Stars and decided to make them.

I used the Wing Clipper method of making the Flying Geese that make up the legs of the star with scraps. I usually don’t keep pieces large enough to cut a 5 1/8″ square in my scrap bins, so my choices were limited, but I am pleased with how cheerful it came out. The Pure Elements Linen background (not quite white) helps with that. I think a black background would not have given the impression of them looking so cheerful.

The blocks are 16″, so without sashing or border, I would make a 32″ square quilt. I am not sure if I will add sashing or not. We will see.

I am pretty excited about how fun these blocks turned out. Seriously, I really want to turn all of my donation blocks into stars! I guess it is a good sign when you don’t want to give away the quilt!

Even More Donation Blocks

These blocks have nothing to do with my new direction in making donation blocks.

I made these with the last of my white 2.5″ squares. You can see that I am also getting short on foreground squares. Sadly I don’t have a minion to cut for me and cutting is not a favorite activity.

My plan is to make the blue and white donation quilt, then clear out my donation squares bin as much as I can before starting in on the all color postage stamp blocks.

I was thinking about how they would look at what my inspiration was. I could only think of the Patchwork Wheel blocks we made for BAM in 2012. I went look for those blocks and they aren’t quite what I was thinking about.

I have made some blocks and even a donation quilt that have less white in them. One was two colors. It isn’t a new idea to me; it just seems new because I haven’t thought about it for while.

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