Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I was really pleased to see this quilt come back from quilting and binding. Lee Ann did the binding. I was pretty unhappy with this quilt when I finished it, but I think it came out really well in the end.
I used the leftovers from the Angel Family pillowcases and some scraps from Melinda. I was pleased to be able to use up as much of the fabric I bought as possible.
This piece is at the painfully growing stage since the last time I showed it. The rest of my blue scraps are either very small or weirdly shaped, which makes it hard to use them. I am trying to use as many of them as I can, despite the problems. I am not sure the piece will be big enough for a donation top. It might be close and I’ll have to figure what to do with it if it is.
While I worked on the Chain Link top, I used blue improv piecing as leaders and enders. I am really enjoying watching the improv piece grow as my blue scrap pile shrinks.
I still have a big pile of pieces that I am working on enlarging. As the scrap pile shrinks it gets harder to match up pieced units and make them bigger. Still, I seem to be doing it and I am having fun.
Since I had some free sewing time, I spent as much time as I could grab sewing this quilt top together. I concentrated on the half 16 patches first. I had been kind of limping along sewing them in between Triumphant block 2 pieces and was sick of it. I only needed a few more half blocks, so I sat down and sewed them.
I had a few hours while DH was out one evening so I started sewing the blocks together and just continued snatching time wherever I could. Once the half blocks were together this was a relatively easy quilt to sew together.
I decided to use red for the back. Shockingly, the back went together very well. Instead of fighting with pieces like normal, this back went together really easily.
I am glad this is finally done! I have some ideas for other versions, but want to get Chain Link and Triumphant pieced.
This quilt showed up at the guild meeting on Saturday. I didn’t make the top, but I think I made all of the blocks. I would have to look through all of my donation blocks posts. They all look like familiar fabrics.
I really like the turquoise with the blacks and whites.
I am very pleased with how this experimental quilt is coming out.
All the pieces are not in their final location yet, but seeing them start to look like something is very gratifying.
This may turn into two of these as I think I need to have a bit of red in each sashing piece.
Yes, you might recognize some donation blocks that I unsewed so I could use them in this quilt. LOL.
I have finally finished the Grey Improv donation top and back. It has taken awhile, though much of the time was it hanging on the design wall going nowhere.
I did a good job working through my odd sized grey scraps, which is the whole point of the exercise. I am even more convinced that improv works much better in a monochromatic palette. I think that a complementary color scheme would work as well. I haven’t tried that I think the quilt would end up being bed sized.
This quilt is about 45 in. x 45 in., which is on the large size for a baby quilt, but definitely kid sized. Also, in this color scheme I could imagine it working well for a boy.
I used the leftovers from two quilts for the back: the Hugs and a Kiss quilt and the Half Hexie Star. Good use of some good fabrics.
The guild is changing the way they make pet beds. The pet beds filled with schnibbles have been hard to wash and some shelters and animal rescue sites refuse to take them. I can understand the problem with washing. I, however, produce a lot of schnibbles and want to put them to good use. Erin and Michelle found another project where schnibbles are packed into a cube and used as seating for children. I can now fill up a bag with schnibbles and the team will fill the cube, called cubies (pronounced cube-eez). Cyndi offered to get me one when she heads down to the shop that hosts the group who coordinates them.
We will still make pet beds, but will fill them with more batting and leftover polyfil batting and less schnibbles.
While working on the Old Town blocks I have been using my grey scraps to add to the Grey Improv donation quilt. I am really enjoying building up the size of this quilt. It takes forever to get the right sized pieces, but all of a sudden it is bigger. It is really fun.
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 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 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.
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.
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 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!
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.
No joke!
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.
I did make a back for this one. Nothing fancy.
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.
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.
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.