Tag: Group project

Sew Day Fun

Sew Day setup
Sew Day setup

We had a fun Super Sew Day over the July Fourth holiday. We  held it on Friday and Saturday so it was double the fun.

I went with a bag of small pieces of Soft and Stable that had been annoying me. My goal was to make them into larger usable pieces, Frankenfoam. I used Frankenfoam in the Palomino Pouch project and didn’t get any reports of problems. I cover the outside with some SF101/ProFuse to smooth out the bumps a little.  I think for small projects, or those with a lot of seams, Frankenfoam works well.

Frankenfoam 1/2
Frankenfoam 1/2

I started out sewing like sized pieces together.  By the end of Friday, I was less careful about ‘wasting’ foam.  I ended up with two pieces about 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide. I estimate I got the approximate size of one package of ByAnnie Soft & Stable. It was a good project to do when people were asking me a million questions. It was easy to stop and start without losing my place or having to figure out the directions again. 

I really could have done more, but I decided I didn’t need an absolutely square piece to use it.

Mindalin Tool Roll exterior
Mindalin Tool Roll exterior

As a result, on Saturday, I cut up one of those pieces and make the exterior of the Mindalin tool roll. This pattern can be found in Make Modern issue 70. The pattern calls for foundation pieced blocks to make the outside, but I decided to use selvedges to make the exterior. It looks really cool, IMO.

The last thing I made with selvedges was the Sleeping Bag pouch. I want to make another one, but haven’t gotten to it yet. I seem to have a never ending supply of selvedges, so I wasn’t worried about using up the ones I had collected.

Christine's EBTMT
Christine’s EBTMT

A lot of people were making the Everything But the Machine Tote. The guild may have a sew-a-long for this bag as it is very useful. It has drawers inside to hold your travel sewing supplies.

The front provides a great way to showcase a special patch, embroidery or fussy cutting. 

Christine made hers all in one day.

Creative Play Progress

January Creative Play
January Creative Play

People brought both Creative Play packets to the guild meeting on Saturday. It was so great to see them! People have done great work to them.

I was also very excited that they were in different states. One has turned into a round robin with people mostly adding borders. Not everyone is adding a complete, four sided border, but, as you can see, there are a lot of borders.

February Creative Play
February Creative Play

The other is not sewn together completely. Chunks are sewn together which provides a lot of opportunity for creativity. There is also plenty of fabric left.

BAM BOM May and June Blocks

X Plus block #2
X Plus block #2

I finished the second of the May/June blocks the night before they were due. I try to make them before or as soon as we announce them, but I didn’t this time. As a result, I almost didn’t make the deadline.

In addition, I ended up remaking the X Plus/Lozenge block. Now I have two of them. I’ll use the first one on the back. I don’t want to make it into something else, because the piecing is less than stellar, but it will look fine on the back of the quilt.

BAM BOM Drunkard's Path
BAM BOM Drunkard’s Path

I made the Drunkard’s Path/ Quarter Squares right away. I was in the frame of mind with Chaos with a Twist, so took the opportunity to make a few more in my BAM BOM fabrics.

 

 

 

May/June BAM BOM Participants
May/June BAM BOM Participants

A lot of people are participating, which made me really happy! There were some fantastic blocks shown.

 

Finished: Lupine

Lupine finished
Lupine finished

Lupine is finished.

It is a little large, so my quilt holder had a tough time. I hope to remember to get some guild members to help me get a better photo.

Lupine back - fnished
Lupine back – finished

The poor quilt has been languishing between travel and other more urgent projects. In the middle of all the chaos I finally was able to sew the binding down.

 

Finished Ends n.25

Ends n.25 top finished
Ends n.25 top finished

I finished Ends n.25 a few weeks ago. I just handed it in and made time to post about it.

The background doesn’t provide the required contrast to make the oranges and yellows stand out. They don’t, however, blend together either. 

This is a great example of what is fun about making donation quilts. I can play around with fabric combinations that I wouldn’t otherwise consider for my own work. I guess making backing is a little of the same.

Ends n.24 back
Ends n.24 back

The back, like the back for Ends n.24, uses some old solids that have been around since the dark ages.

Lupine Returns

Lupine quilting detail
Lupine quilting detail

In record time, Lupine is back and ready to bind. I took the quilt to her in mid-March. Colleen did a great job quilting it. I am pleased. 

I’ll be glad to get this off my list. I have enough time to enter it in the Fair, but I am limited to two quilts quilted by another, so I’ll have to wait until next year. 🙁

The only thing I have left to do is bind it. I started the other day, but have to actually sit down to bind and I haven’t had a chance. I also need to get DH to hold it up so I can take a photo. 

 

Completed Sew Day Tops

Sew Day donation top
Sew Day donation top

The two tops that I worked on at Sew Day with Sue and Lee Ann are completed tops.

After I did some Pre-Sew Day work, we were able to put together a total of two quilt tops in addition to the larger top that the rest of the group put together. I am much better at working on my own. I was pleased that Sue and Lee Ann joined me without me having to say anything.

Lee Ann was kind enough to take the blocks for this one home and put the quilt together. 

Sew Day donation top
Sew Day donation top

The blocks I made also became a quilt top very quickly, thanks to Lee Ann. The blocks are 8 inches by 8 inches, so the quilt ended up being about 40 in. x 40 inches, which is about the size I like to hand in. 

Lee Ann has kindly agreed to quilt them.

Finished: Patchwork Palooza

Finished: Patchwork Palooza
Finished: Patchwork Palooza

I finished the Patchwork Palooza top in January and now the whole quilt is complete: top, back, quilting, binding, sleeve. Done.

I am pleased with how I finished the edges. I think completing the diagonals looks nice.

There are blocks that I wish I had moved, but that will probably always be the case. 

DH actually commented that he really liked this quilt. Maybe it will be a gift for him?

I will be entering this quilt into the Fair.

It must be some kind of record! I started this quilt on about September 6, 2025. Here it is, 6 months later finished. I am really happy and kind of stunned as well. 

Finished: Patchwork Palooza-back
Finished: Patchwork Palooza-back

BAM BOM QSTs

BAM BOM March QSTs
BAM BOM March QSTs

I found a tutorial for hourglass blocks. The Quilting Daily site also has a 3 color quarter square triangle (hourglass) block tutorial. I found these while reading the Love of Quilting magazine. They have a lot of basic tutorials. I decided to try it for my Bay Area Modern Block of the Month for March blocks.

The tutorial includes a 1.5 minute video with jaunty music. 

I made two first just to see what I thought of the technique. I thought it was fine and something different, so I cut some squares and went to work. I went a little crazy and made quite a few QSTs!

BAM BOM March QSTs
BAM BOM March QSTs

As I was laying them out I realized that I could make pinwheels since I used the lime green in all of the blocks. I don’t know that I’ll do that in the final layout of the quilt, but it was kind of fun to see what such a layout would look like.

I just got a Technique Sheet from Studio 180 Designs for the Split Recs Ruler**. I love that ruler and may make some Elongated Hourglass units. Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this website.

 

Finished: White Strips #3

White Strips #3 with red
White Strips #3 with red

I last spoke about this last month. In between time, I finished this quilt and posted about it on the February Donation Blocks and Quilts post. I haven’t spoken about it in general as a finished piece.

This piece is a little different from #1 and #2, because of the red. I have been feeling like I have a lot of red fabric I am not using. I decided just to put some red sashing on this quilt and see what happened. It is not a favorite of the series, but it isn’t ugly either. Next time, I’ll stick with the monochromatic look. 

I like making these strip quilts, as I have said, as they use up scrap and make great leaders and enders. The problem with the white is that I have A LOT of white scraps and I can’t seem to use them up quickly enough. I am pleased that I didn’t use any white background fabric in Lupine. It loaded up my black scrap drawer, but stayed away from the white.

 

Sew Day Blocks

Sew Day quilt in process
Sew Day quilt in process

A week ago was the Community Sew Day at the Guild. After doing some pre-sewing, I also sewed another quilt using the same pattern at Sew Day. SueG sat next to me and followed my lead on sewing blocks my way. 

Sue used her own materials, which was a lot better for precision. We sewed quite a few blocks, but Lee Ann took them all to sew together before I could take a picture. 

I tried to keep the packs I chose in the same color family as Sue’s blocks, but I was really distracted and am not sure I succeeded. when I get a photo from Lee Ann, I’ll share it.

Pre-Sew Day Blocks

Diagonal 16 Patch donation quilt
Diagonal 16 Patch donation quilt

My preference at Community Sew Days is to bring a top (+back, etc) ready to be quilted and work on my own projects. Since I am now guild president, I decided I needed to be a good citizen and work on the project with everyone else. Still, I worked ahead to make some blocks.

I used 3 mini-charm packs and what’s left of my white fabric to make the blocks for the quilt top. I thought they would be incorporated with everyone else’s blocks, but I made the wrong pattern, so Sue and I put the rest of the blocks needed for a quilt together using this pattern.

I worked with the Community Quilts Team’s materials to start a second quilt and wasn’t as happy. I prefer my own cutting, so I know what problems I might encounter with cutting mistakes. I’ll go back to my original plan if there is another Community Sew Day. 

Lupine Top and Back Finished

Lupine top finished
Lupine top finished

Lupine is ready to go to Colleen for quilting. Not a great photo, but the quilt is large and doesn’t fit well on my design wall.

I am really pleased with how it came out. It is a but pink and purple, but doesn’t scream ‘little girl’ to me. I think the black really helps give it a good over all feel. 

In addition, black can be depressing. It did make my workroom a little dark, but overall the pink, purple and Carousel blue keep the black from creating a look that is too depressing.

Lupine back finished
Lupine back finished

I also finished the back. Mom said it looked a little brown, but I definitely used colored dots on black for the most part. One of the prints, a large-ish piece, middle bottom, does have dots that have more brown in them than I would normally use. 

This project used up most of my dots on black fabrics.

I am waiting for a black solid in order to make the binding. I was going to use a pink that matched the border (AGF Cherry Lipgloss), but Lil Sissy pointed out that a black (AGF Caviar) would contain the piece. I think she is right.