Donation Blast from the Past

Black & Grey Teenaged Boy Donation Quilt - quilted
Black & Grey Teenaged Boy Donation Quilt – quilted

I was surprised to get an email from Kelly about one of my quilts. I had no idea she had the quilt or intended to quilt it. I finished this quilt in 2015 and figured it was off keeping someone warm all these years.

Kelly has quilted the Black & Grey Teenaged Boy Donation quilt.It looks like she did a basic all over meander. I am used to more complicated quilting, working with Tim and Colleen, but I am sure whoever gets the quilt will enjoy with simple or complex quilting.

Kelly will bind it, then she will donate it to a UK charity that takes such things.

Black & Grey Finished!

Black & Grey Donation Top Complete
Black & Grey Donation Top Complete

I finally finished the top and back of the Black & Grey Teenaged Boy Donation Quilt. Whew! I am very pleased and while I was anxious to get it done I never got to the point where I disliked the piece. I am glad, because I want all of my donation quilts to have good energy in them not “get this done, stupid quilt!” energy. I don’t know if it makes a difference, but better safe than sorry.

I checked back and the first post about this quilt was back in January of last year. I know I started making it using these colors, because I was grieving for my grandmother. I think I became anxious to get it finished, because the grief, while not gone, is much better. I think she would be pleased to know that I did something good with the grief. Perhaps not as she didn’t think too deeply about feelings, but I like to think it.

The quilt is approximately 65.5″ square.

Black & Grey Donation Back Complete
Black & Grey Donation Back Complete

I also made the back, which I think came out pretty well. Sort of symmetrical, which is different for me. It is a touch small, so I may have to add something to the side, but I am hoping the quilter can deal with it.

I am not sure how I am going to convince someone to quilt it for the guild. I am nervous because there were a lot of quilts waiting to be quilted at the last meeting.

I still have to make the binding, but I picked some fabric to use and will get that done soon.

Black & Grey Continues

Black & Grey Progresses
Black & Grey Progresses

I realized when I looked back at the various posts related to this project that I have been working on it since January of 2014. That is a long time.

I have made progress since last week. The sashing and cornerstones are sewn to all of the blocks and I have started to put the blocks together. Yes, I am definitely using chunking, though it is a little challenging since I used part of the quilt for the chunking tutorial. An hour here and 15 minutes there really make a difference. I can’t believe how much it has shrunk since the I first put all the blocks on the design wall.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Black & Grey Teenaged Boy Donation Quilt

Black & Grey - mid February
Black & Grey – mid February

I made more progress on the Black & Grey Teenaged Boy Donation Quilt. I have about 13 more blocks to which to sew sashing, then I can start sewing the blocks together.

I know the photo doesn’t look that different from when I posted earlier in the week. I really have made progress. I have made progress by sewing a few bits at a time. It is amazing how much I can get done doing that. It is a little irritating, though to be constantly interrupted. Still, duty calls.

I hope to be able to show you a nearly finished top by the time next weekend rolls around. We’ll see since I won’t have much time to sew next weekend either.

B&GTBDQ

I am finishing up a BIG report at work. I only have a few hours left on my contract, so I sent off the draft to my client and then closed it up and didn’t look at it anymore. I felt like I had reached a stopping point where I had done enough work and could be rewarded.

So, I sewed.

Black & Grey Donation Quilt pre-sashing
Black & Grey Donation Quilt pre-sashing

I got busy putting the sashing on the Black & Grey Teenaged Boy Donation Quilt. I starting marching across the design wall sewing one seam at a time. I used the Stepping Stones blocks as my leaders and enders, so made double progress.

The first part of the chunking was sewing the cornerstones to the sashing and sewing the sashing to the blocks. There are a lot of cornerstones and a lot of sashing in this quilt. I am still working on both.

I am making progress, however and that is a good thing.

More Black & Grey

Black & Grey Teenaged Boy Donation Quilt
Black & Grey Teenaged Boy Donation Quilt

I am slowly working on this piece. I have had a lot of other things to do so, in this case, slow means snail’s pace.

I have been pulling suitable reds out of the fabric closet, cutting and putting them in place. At the moment I have 3 different fabrics, but two of them are batiks and are very similar. I was trying to alternate the first two, but when I added the third (the one that looked similar), it became a little challenging. The next step is to find another red that is the same color,b ut has a slightly different pattern and add that into the mix.

I realized, as I added the third red, is that I was only putting fabrics on the vertical, so I started to move some of the three fabrics around so some of them were in horizontal positions as well. I, of course, will move them around some more when I add in the last (with any luck) fabric, but I’ll have to see.

Yes, the Field Day Zipper piece is still there. I haven’t made any progress on it, nor have I finished with the pieces from this quilt, so the FDZ piece is still in place. I did find a few more pieces, which is why it looks longer.

Black & Grey Gets Time in the Sun

Black & Grey Donation Blocks
Black & Grey Donation Blocks

Like the Field Day Zipper, the Black & Grey Teenaged Boy Donation Quilt had to wait its turn for the design wall. There is just not enough design wall space in this workroom.

The space where Field Day Zipper is sitting is awaiting some blocks I am using for a tutorial on the other design wall.

This will be a big quilt and there are a few more blocks I am not using (aside from the tutorial blocks). Teenaged Boys are big, though.

I pulled out the big stack of blocks and slapped them up on the wall. I have done a bit, a tiny bit, of rearranging of the blocks, but not much. I’ll do more and test the extra blocks to see if I want to replace any. As I mentioned previously, Jackie and Cheryl sent me some blocks and those are interspersed with mine. I am glad they were willing to contribute as their fabrics add some interest to mine.

I am going to use red for sashing and grey, like the PIQF Crosses grey, for the cornerstones. Stay tuned for more on that.

I haven’t made a ton of progress on this, but I am determined to make some progress soon.

Jackie in Black & Grey

Jackie's Donation Blocks
Jackie’s Donation Blocks

I haven’t been able to make it to my PO Box recently and when my mom went for me, what a bonanza! Lots of fun goodies, including some blocks for the Black & Grey Teenaged Boy Donation Quilt from Jackie! WOW! What a great surprise and these blocks will really look great with the others I have.

I know I keep saying this, but I really, really need to put all the blocks out and take another picture. I need to see where I am.

This makes me think that I am continuing to make blocks for some reason that I don’t know or I haven’t decided to reveal? Perhaps these blocks are some kind of therapy?

I’ll think about it later.

Doing Good in Black & Grey

Doing Good Blocks
Doing Good Blocks

I managed to finish the four blocks I was working on most recently, but couldn’t put together any new ones yet. I really need to lay the whole piece out and see what I have.

I had a few more choices in this group since cutting some additional patches. I like the way these look. they are as cheerful and happy as grey and black blocks can be.

I wasn’t ready for color when I started this quilt, but I am glad I am ready now. I started this quilt a long time ago and I can see the evolution of the blocks as time passes.

Donation Quilt Progress

Donation blocks 1 & 2
Donation blocks 1 & 2

Another thing I did during the Labor Day Sew-in, using leaders and enders, was to make donation blocks. As I said, I had to put a leader or ender between each piece of the FOTY 2013 pieces. That meant that a lot of other projects progressed, including the donation blocks.

I only made three blocks, which doesn’t buy me anything in terms of another row on the quilt, but I am three blocks closer to another row, which is closer to an entire quilt and that is nothing to be sneezed at.

Donation blocks 3
Donation blocks 3

Black/Grey Donation Top – Serious Progress

Black/Grey Donation top
Black/Grey Donation top

I made serious progress on the blocks for this quilt last weekend. As I mentioned, I took photos Friday (a week ago). That really prepared me for knowing what I needed to do to make some progress.

Finding the blocks, which had gotten stuff under a pile of fabric, was a really good start.

I laid out all of the blocks and realized that though it is getting there, I still need more blocks. The layout is 6×5 right now, but I might need to make it skinner and longer. Mrs. K’s quilt is on my mind, though, and putting the blocks on point is skittering around on the edges of my brain.

6 more Black/Grey Donation blocks
6 more Black/Grey Donation blocks

As soon as I had an idea of where I was, I gathered up all the parts of blocks that were on my sewing table and sewed them together. That added another 6 blocks to the group of blocks above.

My blocks have a lot of fabric repeats, but I think when all the blocks are put together (like above), the duplicates don’t matter so much.

I also think that Jackie and Cheryl’s blocks blend in nicely.

I didn’t sew any new blocks as I tried to work on the Russian Rubix using parts for a new journal cover as the leaders and enders.

This project is fun again!

The Kindness of Not-So-Strangers

Cheryl's blocks
Cheryl’s blocks

As I mentioned last time, I was really feeling quite stalled on my Black/Grey donation quilt project. Jackie and Cheryl, who I mentioned briefly (in a subsequent post), sent me a total of 5 blocks, which when I laid it all out, ended up creating a whole row of the quilt top. I like the clock fabric that Cheryl used. Even though it, and a few of the other fabrics are not specifically  grey, it reads grey, and the other fabrics add interest and blend well, with all the other fabrics.

The fabric choices add to the interest of the quilt, I think.

Jackie's Blocks
Jackie’s Blocks

Jackie also made some interesting choices. I think when I mix these up with mine, they will add movement and make some of my duplicate fabrics not as prominent.

Thanks, Ladies!

Doing More Good

I feel fortunate that I can contribute to a charity that helps people locally by using my sewing and quilting skills. I don’t think that contributing to charity should be unpleasant or painful and making quilts or quilt blocks is an awesome way to contribute.

That being said, this year has not been the most stellar example of charity quiltmaking on my part. Life is like that sometimes. I think I am back in the saddle with my charity-teenager-boy quilt.

I wrote about my whole dilemma a little while ago and got 3 blocks almost immediately from a quilt-mate. I also got a promise of blocks from a Twitter friend. I was so excited that these lovely women just made and gave! Quiltmakers are often such nice people. Thanks, ladies.

4 More Black/Grey Donation Blocks
4 More Black/Grey Donation Blocks

Their generosity got me going again and I made eight blocks last weekend in between sewing on the facing to See and sewing triangles on to the Russian Rubix octagons.

I was feeling a little stuck in terms of fabrics. I really want this quilt to be interesting even with the limited ‘color’ palette. I dug into my grey box and got some new greys. I had a few black scraps around, so I cut those up into 2.5″ squares and that made the project a little more interesting.

I have over 20 blocks now and if I had even a few feet of space on one of my design walls, I would put the blocks up to look at them and see how large the quilt could be. I don’t expect or want it to be bed sized, but teenaged boys are large and I want to make sure it will cover most of one.

Last 4 Black/Grey Weekend Blocks
Last 4 Black/Grey Weekend Blocks

I really would like to get this project into a quilt top as I don’t want it to get to the point where it is dragging me down. I want the project to be filled with positive energy. I guess I just have to do it!

 

Black & Grey Donation Blocks

Black/Grey Donation Blocks
Black/Grey Donation Blocks

I think I am back in the saddle with the Black & Grey donation blocks. I haven’t really worked on the piece since February 8 of this year. I feel bad about that, but I can only do what I can do. I figure that doing something slowly is better than doing nothing.

I have about 15 blocks now and am still thinking of making a teenaged boy donation quilt. It feels dauntingly large, though and I don’t know if I can make all of those blocks. Again, I have run out of a lot of choices of different fabrics, which I know won’t matter in 6 months, but now feels constraining.

I’ll just keep plugging away as best I can and see how it comes out. Kelly offered to help and I am hoping she has made some blocks to add to mine to spice up what I have made.

Black/Grey Donation Blocks

9 Black & Grey Donation Blocks
9 Black & Grey Donation Blocks

I started out, after Grama died, cutting black and grey 2.5″ squares. I have one scrap drawer for black, grey and brown and, as you may recall, my scrap bin was overflowing. Earlier this week, I picked up the project again and found that I had 9 squares. I think I mentioned that I had lost a few of the squares. I found them in a pile.

I really wanted the background to mostly be the speckle grey I used for the T-Shirt quilt. I am not sure that is going to work as I don’t think I have enough to make many more blocks.

Due to the colors, my idea was to make it larger to appeal to a teen in need, but unless I have yardage left, I’ll have to find another grey. I do have some various greys from the edge of the T-Shirt quilt; I am just not quite sure that is the way I want to go.

Black & Grey Donation Blocks
Black & Grey Donation Blocks

I used this project as a leaders and enders project while working on the Scrapitude blocks. I thought I made an additional 6 blocks, but when I counted them up, I was disappointed to find only an additional 4. I am glad I have as many as I have, but it is still not enough to make into a teen quilt. I will need to rethink my design idea by looking through my greys and see what I think I can do.