Tag: Group project

Retreat Donation Projects

Lee Ann's Improv community quilt
Lee Ann’s Improv community quilt

There was no organized Community Quilt project at the Retreat this year as both Community Quilt chair people were otherwise occupied and didn’t attend. Despite that, the group made (or brought) ~15 quilts to hand in. First, I brought the White Strips donation quilt, but couldn’t hand it in, because nobody was there to collect it. Oh well, I’ll hand it in on Saturday.

Lee Ann put the finishing touches on the Improv quilt above. I made a number of the pieces and it was fun to see them. She said it has been sitting around for awhile. I was really glad to see what a great job she did.

Lee Ann's Flying Geese quilt
Lee Ann’s Flying Geese quilt

Lee Ann also put together a Flying Geese quilt for the Community quilt project that was really interesting.

Peggy gave her the mauve-y red awhile ago and asked her to do something with it. The color wasn’t exactly Lee Ann’s style, but recently she got a layer cake that included fabrics she used for a background. This isn’t a quilt I would make, but I think the combination works really well! Lee Ann did a great job on the piecing. She ran around the room with the quilt fluttering behind her like a cape when she finished! It was a joyful act.

Anna's heart quilt
Anna’s heart quilt

Anna also finished a donation quilt that has been hanging around. We all helped her arrange the last few blocks, so she could get the quilt off her UFO list. I thought it was a Pulse quilt that Anna wasn’t able to finish, but she finally figured out it was intended for the victims of the Las Vegas shooting in 2017.  In looking through the posts where I communicate the call for victims who need quilts, I was reminded how many times recently there has been some tragedy where a call has gone out. This quilt will make someone very happy. As usual, Anna did a great job.

Melinda was on a binge. She made 10 baby quilts (~34 inches square) from a tub of children’s fabric she can’t remember buying. LOL! I didn’t get any photos of her quilt tops and backs because she was so fast at showing them. She was pleased with how much she got done, but disappointed that she didn’t use up more of the fabric.

Pillowcase donation top
Pillowcase donation top

I made a donation quilt with some of the leftover fabric from the pillowcases.

I got the black and white triangle (pinwheel?) fabric from Melinda. She was happy to offload it. I added it to the pillowcase fabrics to make the quilt slightly larger.

As you can see, I messed up the layout somewhere along the way. Someone will like it.

Lynette's Pillowcase quilt top
Lynette’s Pillowcase quilt top

I wasn’t that happy with the black quilt once I saw what Lynette made with the other pillowcase scraps. She added a cream background fabric from Melinda to really make the pillowcase scraps shine.

Lynette is a on a potato chip quilt binge. I may have heard of Potato Chip quilts, but I have never made one. I might now that I know how great they can look.

Lee Ann's special 4-patch donation quilt
Lee Ann’s special 4-patch donation quilt

Lee Ann found this block somewhere – I didn’t hear the story and made a donation quilt out of children’s fabrics. She added some solids and the quilt top looks really great.

I didn’t bring a scrap bin or my 2.5 inch squares bin and I was sorry. I had to scramble around for leaders and enders and that wasn’t easy. I got quite a bit done using other projects for leaders and enders, but it was difficult. I was shocked at how ingrained sewing with leaders and enders is for me!

Grey Improv Returns

Grey Improv continues
Grey Improv continues

After finishing the White Strips #3 donation top, I needed another leaders and enders project.

This grey improv scrap top has hung on my small design wall for almost a year. I am shocked at that! I didn’t realize how much time had flown by.

My grey-black-brown drawer isn’t crammed full, but it isn’t empty either and I decided that I need to work on this project to get it off the design wall and to someone who needs it. Also, it will be a relatively quick win on my fabric used spreadsheet.

At the moment, as leaders and enders, I am sewing together all the scraps that are not strips. I am sewing them into pieces that I can then sew on to the top above. You can see pieces I have placed, but not sewn. They are just temporarily in place until I can add more pieces to them to make a unit large enough to expand the top. It’s a lot of piecing, because the pieces are small.

The main piece I have already sewn together is about 32 inches wide. I need another 10  inches, at least. I’ll probably have to dig into the strips to make the quilt big enough.

Finished: White Strips #2

No joke!

White Strips #2 donation top - finished
White Strips #2 donation top – finished

I finished White Strips #2 and was able to hand it in to the Community Quilts Committee at the Retreat.

I was not surprised, but rather disappointed that my white scrap bin does not seem to be emptier. As I said before, I have a lot of plain white scraps so I have to decide what do with the plain white scraps. I am going to work on some other scrap quilts until I decide.

White Strips #2 donation back - finished
White Strips #2 donation back – finished

I did make a back for this one. Nothing fancy.

March 2025 Donation Blocks

The donation blocks continue with more Color Strip blocks, though we all know white is not a color. I am getting down to the solid white strips and am not sure how to continue. I don’t want to make a whole block of just white strips. I am thinking that I will need to leave some of the strips for another time or incorporate them into another white improv quilt. At the moment I am trying to decide if I want to make another white strip quilt or if one is enough at the moment.

More White Strips

White Strips #2 in process
White Strips #2 in process

I made a little more progress on the White Strip #2 donation top. I have most of the top sashings sewn. I have started to sew the blocks to the sashing, as I show in my chunking tutorial.

I started working on it a little more diligently after I put my aunt’s Superbloom together. That project isn’t finished, but I only had a few minutes and needed a break. I think I’ll be able to take the quilt to Sew Day and hand it in.

White Strip #2 Back Again

White Strip #2 in process
White Strip #2 in process

Today is the guild meeting and I thought I *might* have this top done and ready to turn in. No such luck.

I did stop making new blocks and focused on sewing this top together. I could do both new blocks and the top, but leaders and enders is easier for me if I focus on one project as the leaders and enders piece at a time. Also, I have enough blocks for this quilt and don’t need any more.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I am using the back of a fabric as the sashing. I haven’t turned over all the cut sashing yet, so the pieces near the top are still on the right side. I think it looks good.

As per my ‘chunking tutorial,’ I started at the bottom by sewing a block to a piece of sashing. I quickly realized I had forgotten to cut cornerstones. I am backfilling those as it becomes necessary.

Trying on Flying Geese

Old Town Block #2
Old Town Block #2

I finished a few Flying Geese over the past few days and decided to try some on the block that has been on my design wall. The Flying Geese have been missing and seeing them missing has been incentive to finish them.

I chose some light pink Flying Geese to finish this block. The block is not sewn together, so I might choose different options. I think this looks ok, though. The pink HSTs might fade a little too much into the background.

In general, I like the whole block and am pleased with how it is coming out.

Then there were two.

More on White Strip #2

I was thinking about the quilt I talked about a few days ago. I am not liking the gold. The fabric is nice as yardage, but in a white quilt it is pretty overwhelming. I really want this to read as a white quilt and the gold might interfere with that.

Checking out the back
Checking out the back

I checked out the back of the fabric and the gold comes through, but is much more subtle.

The vertical sashing on the right is the back of the fabric while the sashing on the far left is the right side of the fabric. I think the back of the fabric might work.

I am letting it sit for a day or two to see what I think.

New White Color Strip Donation Top

White Color Strip donation blocks #2
White Color Strip donation blocks #2

I finally have enough blocks to get a top on the wall. Well, it isn’t a top yet, but I am getting there.

I am using the fabric I got in the Sew Hungry Hippie box at Christmas as the sashing. It has a lot of gold, which isn’t white, but it might be interesting.

I also planned for the sashing to be 1.5 inches finished. That is a little larger than previous versions of this type of quilt.

February 2025 Donation Blocks

After turning in a batch of 16 patches, I switched back to making my white strip donation blocks. I should have done it ages ago as the strip blocks lead directly to quilts whereas the 16 patches lead to someone having to store them until someone takes them to make into a quilt.

I am honing in on having enough to make another white color strip quilt.

Ends n.22: Improv CR Donation Top

Ends n.22: Improv CR
Ends n.22: Improv CR

Since I went and retrieved the quilt for Cyndi and Ruth from Colleen, I ended up with the edges. Thus, Ends n.22.

I decided to work with what I had and not try to add a bunch of fabric. The big blobs of red-violet are a little odd, but I know someone will like it.

Yes, the bottom is a little wonky. I haven’t trimmed it yet. I might leave it to see what someone else does with the bottom.

I meant to take it to the meeting the other day, but I left it on the design wall. It gives me more time to make a back.

Ends n.21 (Ombre) Finished

Ends n.21 finished
Ends n.21 finished

I finally dug in last weekend and finished Ends n.21. Honestly, I needed the design wall space! LOL! Still, it is finished and ready to go to the meeting on Saturday.

This design is super easy, so there wasn’t really a lot to do. I just had to sit down and sew. Saturday was kind of a finishing up day as I didn’t have tons of time to sew, so I finished up projects that were already started and didn’t require a lot of thinking. I think this quilt looks fun. It is about 39 inches x 40 inches. Not huge, but a nice playmat size.

Ends n.21 back finished
Ends n.21 back finished

I also grabbed a piece of fabric out of my backing fabric supply and made a quick back.

Finished: Orangeade

Orangeade donation top
Orangeade donation top

I finished Orangeade and turned it in at Sew Day. I was glad I had something to to turn in since I didn’t plan on working on the Community quilt project.

This was not a difficult quilt to make. I did play around a lot with the placement of the squares so that the eye roved around a little bit at least.

I am happy with the way it turned out and, as usual, am thinking of making more.

Orangeade back finished
Orangeade back finished

I always want to make the backs as it means more fabric used. The pieces I have available to use are not as big as I have used most of the large pieces that didn’t have a purpose. I ended up piecing this one. I think that will become more the norm. I do have some backing fabrics, but they are a lot of large flower prints and I mostly don’t want to use them for donation quilts. We’ll see. More fabric out means I can buy new fabric.

Ends n.21 Started

Ends n.21 in process
Ends n.21 in process

I have started another donation top, this one part of the Ends series. Can you believe this is the 21st?

This is made from a random piece of background fabric and the edges of the Hugs & a Kiss quilt. The sparkles in the dots are fun.

I accidentally started this series in 2017 with the first one, made from what I called ‘dreg ends’. I have a box with the cut off edges of finished quilts. I still have it, though there are many fewer edges. I am trying to keep up with using the edges as they come back from being quilted, but that box still has old edges in it.

Another Sew Day

Scrap cutting result - February
Scrap cutting result – February

Another month, another Sew Day. I spent another Sew Day cutting up scraps, just like last time. I cut a big pile and made a dent, but I didn’t finish cutting up all of my scraps. I spent about 5 hours. My scraps are still not limited to the Desktop Cube I made for the purpose, which is disappointing. They need to be contained since my cutting table is small enough without it being overrun by scraps.

Mom and Jaye
Mom and Jaye

My mom came with me. Yay! She was well enough to spend the whole day out! I kept her supplied with pain medications and food. She said it went well. I kept her quiet and at home the next two days and she is doing ok. I was so relieved that she didn’t have a complete relapse. It sound ridiculous, but I can’t help but worry about her.

Tim's Jittery Wings quilt
Tim’s Jittery Wings quilt

Tim just got back from a retreat with Mitzi of Jittery Wings. He came over the other day to use my design wall and continued that work at Sew Day. His quilt is a whole bunch of HSTs and Flying Geese. Sounds like Old Town, right? LOL!

One thing I love about HSTs is how many different designs quiltmakers can sew using only HSTs. Of course, as I said, Tim’s quilt has whole bunch of HSTs and Flying Geese.

Mary's Crisp Blue quilt
Mary’s Crisp Blue quilt

Mary was working on a quilt for a friend going into the hospital and it looks so crisp.

This is a simple Rail Fence design. She used a couple of jelly rolls she had and it looks so great! I also like how complex it looks. I just love block quilts. 😉

The guild was having a Community Sew Day. People worked on a variety of different designs. I cut up my scraps, as noted above, and didn’t participate there. I couldn’t bring Mom and my machine. I just wasn’t up for it. I did, however, bring Orangeade and several donation blocks. I definitely want to contribute but I don’t need to do it at Sew Day.

One of the quilt tops they worked on was similar to the Infinity Quilt I made for one of my nephews.

Community 9 Patch quilt
Community 9 Patch quilt

Claire is a great one for rescuing usable fabric. She had a group of men’s shirts and people were working on 9 patches out of that beautiful fabric. The fabric was very soft and had a nice weave. I don’t know what the ultimate design will be, but it will work very well for a boy or man once it is finished.

Mom was sitting across from Lynette who was working on these blocks. I wanted her to sit at the other table so she had some new people with whom to talk. I am sure it is boring just talking to me all day.

Community quilt design
Community quilt design

The other design was similar to Mary’s Rail Fence. I couldn’t figure out why this was a such a weird shape. I think the rectangles were actually made in two parts, but I really don’t know.

Anyway the Community quilt team did a great job prepping for the event. There were a lot of people at Sew Day, which was nice. Mostly, I was pleased that Mom had a good time and was able to get out and see the world.