Tag: Doing Good

March Donation Blocks

I was really pleased to see a bunch of quilts that Peggy made for donations at the meeting the other day. She called them her “Jaye collection”, which I thought was very kind. I was confused until she talked about how she made them out of bits and pieces I sent to her. I sent her a couple of stacks of HSTs during the pandemic as well as many 16 patch blocks and she turned all of them into great quilts.

I made a bunch of donation blocks this month. Some are 16 patches and some are the pink strip blocks. As a result I am feeling better about my contributions to the guild.

Pink Strips Together

Pink Strip donation top with borders
Pink Strip donation top with borders

I moved all the blocks to my larger design wall after Who Am I? went into the ‘to be quilted’ bag. While I was little lazy about walking across the room to use the donation blocks for leaders and enders, I finally put the quilt top together and put the borders on.

I got inspiration from the Red Strip donation top I made a few years ago. I really liked the cornerstones and the way the white sashing separated the blocks so viewers could see each one distinctly.

This one is larger than the Red version. I did end up adding a column to the quilt, but I still think it is a weird shape. I didn’t do any of the ratio math I suggest my students do to make their quilts the right shape. I plan to put more borders on, so maybe I will make the vertical borders a little wider than the top and bottom borders.

So far so good and I am on track to bring it to Sew Day or the next meeting.

More Pink Strips

Pink Strip donation blocks progress
Pink Strip donation blocks progress

I am making good progress on the Pink Strip Donation top. It is VERY pink. I am enjoying working on it. It doesn’t feel like a must do project. I do want to get it done, however the pink is so cheerful that it is a joy to work on. This one will definitely not be gender neutral.

I did a big clean out and organization of the scraps in my pink bin, which was required to finish enough blocks to make a reasonable sized quilt. It looks a little skinny, so I am debating adding another row.

Pink Color Strip Donation Project

Pink Color Strip Donation top in process
Pink Color Strip Donation top in process

I made significant progress over the weekend on this donation top, as I worked on Who Am I?. Leaders and enders saves the day!

I have been sewing these blocks, but it takes time to build up the strips. It seems like I had so few blocks for so long and then all of a sudden a bunch of them came together over the weekend. I finally feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The blocks aren’t all straight strip blocks even though that was my original intention. There are chunks in some of them, because I couldn’t bear to toss strips I had trimmed. There are no rules, but I have been making a straight strip quilt first, then sometimes a block quilt made with chunks and then, finally, an improv quilt. Of course, it all depends on how many scraps I have.

While listening to an International Women’s Day seminar, I went through my scrap bin and pulled out more strips. This type of organization will help me make blocks faster. As a bonus, having busy hands, I was better able to pay attention to the online seminar.

Sew Day Community Quilts

The recent Sew Day was a Community Sew Day. Most quilts were finished, but a few were taken home to finish. We think there were about 8 total.

Four Completed I Spy Tops
Four Completed I Spy Tops

SueS brought the leftover squares from her I Spy quilt project and most people worked on putting them together to make some community quilts. The quilts really turned out well. The solid sashing and borders really highlighted the variety of fabrics.

Amy's Pink Community I Spy top
Amy’s Pink Community I Spy top

Amy chose a variety of pink, or pink tending fabrics and used a dark pink for the border of her quilt top.

She told me she wanted to make something pink and girly. I would say she succeeded.

We all contributed to SueS’s stash of squares. I think the raspberry fabric in the center of Amy’s quilt is one that I donated.

Yellow Community I Spy top
Yellow Community I Spy top

This yellow top was the first one finished. I think Peggy sewed it, but I am not sure.

I think the blue number fabric in row 4, column 2 is a fabric that I provided as well. It is nice to see my fabrics show up in other people’s work.

I did not work on Community quilts today. I have the Pink Color Strip quilt in process and I needed to cut out pieces to make door prizes. If I had been thinking ahead, I could have worked with Mary, but I have been too busy at work to organize my sewing life very well.

Orange Vertical Strip Donation Quilt

Finished: Orange Vertical Strip
Finished: Orange Vertical Strip

This quilt came back to the guild last week at the meeting. This is the quilt I made from the trimmings off the Orange You Glad blocks. I couldn’t find a post about it, though I am sure I must have taken photos when I finished it, though maybe not.

Anyway, I don’t know who quilted it, but they did a great job. Roz bound the edges and it looks great. I love a striped binding.

January 2023 Donation Blocks

Not the 31 donation blocks I would have liked to make, but a fair number. Yes, I have added to the number of pink blocks for the next Color Strip donation quilt, which I talked about a few days ago. Stay tuned for more on that piece as it develops.

Scissor Cozies

2023 Scissor Cozies
2023 Scissor Cozies

SueS asked me to make scissor cozies for a couple of the officers. She bought them scissors and had them engraved. The two really went above and beyond during COVID. They entered a difficult situation, before COVID, and stepped up magnificently.

This is a Sotak Handmade pattern. Again, I watched a little of the video, but mostly read the directions and my notes on the directions. I made some additional notes to make these easier next time. I have to print some photos to keep with the directions.

I’ll write more about the specifics of each cozy later.

Color Strip Donation Blocks Again

I have some leftover yellow color strip donation blocks on my design wall. They were leftover from the Rainbow Strip donation quilt. Apparently, they were lonely, because I started making more in different colors. I started with the green ones, because I had some green strips laying around. I suppose I intended to make another Rainbow Strip donation quilt, but then I started in on pink. Now I think I’ll make a pink Color Strip donation quilt. I haven’t made a pink one and my pink scrap drawer is full to bursting. No surprise there.

It’s a good start for my 2023 donation blocks effort.

First Finish 2023: Friendship Star

Finishing a donation quilt first in the year has to be good karma, right?

Friendship Star donation top
Friendship Star donation top

I had been saving some 16 patches to make a donation quilt and decided that New Year’s Day was the day. I combined the 16 patches with pieced sashing and cornerstones from an article in Today’s Quilter issue 91. The information was in the Essential Guides sections, which is great for tuning up your skills.

I wanted to try the technique out, so I took out those donation blocks and got to work. I, mostly, used up some Pure Elements Linen for the sashing background and used a solid for the cornerstones and the back.

It felt so good just to do some easy piecing and I am pleased to have a donation quilt to bring to Sew Day next week.

2022 Donation Blocks

I started off the year finishing a couple of blocks I had started in 2021. Then I just started making blocks as I had time. I didn’t make as many as in previous years, but as I have said before, every little bit helps, right?

A Few More 2022 Donation Blocks

A lot of guild members are sick of these simple blocks, but I still like them. They are easy to make and work really well, as I have said a million times, for leaders and enders.

I am keeping some of these blocks to make a donation top. I haven’t made one in a long time and need to get back to it.