The good news is that I have finished the Blue Improv donation top. The bad news is that it isn’t going to end up as a donation top.
My SIL came over on the weekend and when I showed her this top in progress, she examined it minutely. Then she said that if this were pillows, it would look great on her sofa. Why not? I really like this top and would love to see it on a regular basis. I am going to make the top into pillows. They will be about 20×20. I was thinking of making 4 of them, but I may make two and have both sides be improv pieced.
I have all of the Traffic Jam #2 blocks done. That doesn’t mean I am able to show you them all, but most are available for viewing. Somehow I am missing 5 of the blocks
Traffic Jam 2- Block #11
Traffic Jam 2- Block #10
Traffic Jam 2- Block #9
Traffic Jam 2- Block #8
Traffic Jam 2- Block #7
Traffic Jam 2- Block #4
Traffic Jam 2- Block #5
Traffic Jam 2- Block #6
Traffic Jam 2- Block #3
Traffic Jam 2- Block #2
Traffic Jam 2- Block #1
Now I need to find some sashing fabric and put the top together. I think I’d like to try making one of these tops with a darker background. Not necessarily black, but with a color rather than just white.
I made good progress during the week on this top. It is a lot of sewing since the scraps are mostly pretty small. I have only gotten it up to 30×35 inches, which isn’t large enough for a baby quilt and on the small side of what I like to donate. I went through the scraps on my cutting table (a big pile I really need to deal with) and found more blues. I am hoping I have enough to make one more 5 inch strip so the top will be 35×35 inches. I can think about whether to put a border on it after that.
Somehow the title of “My Mind on COVID” is the way I have started to think about this top. There is some cohesion because of the colors. Beyond that, the piece looks fairly chaotic. My mind isn’t chaotic all the time, but the unknown of the future does bring a sense of chaos to my mind.
Aside from getting a top out of the process, I am also doing a good job of cleaning out my blue scrap drawer I can see the bottom of it!
After several weeks of not working on this project, I got back to it during the guild’s Community Quilt Sew Day on Saturday. The top is now 22.75 x 24.5.
I have some large chunks that I worked on which are not yet attached. Working on two donation tops at once is difficult. I don’t feel like I am making progress on either. I need to finish one up so I can focus on the other.
I am feeling guilty about the Blue Improv Donation quilt, but somehow I can’t seem to get back to it. My reasoning for working on the Traffic Jam blocks is that I need to get rid of the 2.5″ squares that are preventing me from closing my bin of donation squares.
I’ll get back to the improv quilt eventually. In the meantime, I am using up squares from various Bonnie and Camille lines, mostly.
Traffic Jam 2- Block #3
I have been making 4 patches and all of a sudden I am able to put several blocks together. I am going to make at least 9 of these blocks, but perhaps 16, to make a donation quilt. It depends on how many squares I have. I am already running out of red, so I may need to augment that stash a bit. My foot is healing so I may be able to climb upin my fabric closet again. We’ll see.
First, I started sewing more 16 patch donation blocks with the leftovers from the last Stepping Stones n.2 quilt I made last year. Then I looked at the two most recent 16-patch donation blocks I made and realized that the group of fabrics would make another great Traffic Jam donation quilt.
I made a number of 4 patches and just let them pile up. After awhile, as I was sewing other things, I finally started putting the blocks together. As I may have mentioned, Tim already quilted the last one and this is such a great pattern that I did want to do it again. I wasn’t planning to do it so soon, but here we are.
The leftover 2.5 inch squares from the Stepping Stones n.2 quilt plus some dots are looking fresh and bright. This will have to be another girl quilt, I think, as it doesn’t look very boyish.
I am teaching a Sampler Quilt Class/Skillbuilder via Zoom. One of the things I asked my students to do was check their quarter inch seam, then practice sewing and getting the seams to match.
SueG’s Donation Quilt September 2020
SueG did a GREAT job and made a donation quilt for the guild as practice.
She picked great colors (we had an earlier lesson on color and choosing fabrics) and her seams match up very well. As a bonus, some child will get a wonderful looking quilt!
I spent a lot of time over the weekend on cleanup projects: making a binding, making a sleeve, tidying, etc. In the process, I decided that some Bonnie and Camille 2.5 inch squares I was saving were going to be donation blocks.I dumped a bunch of squares into the bin I use for donation 2.5 inch squares. The bin overflowed, so I started sewing.
Bonnie & Camille donation block
Red & Green donation block
I made a couple of donation blocks. THEN I realized that I could use those squares to make another Traffic Jam donation quilt, so I started in on making 4 patches instead of 16 patches. I thought about unsewing the two blocks I made, but decided that would be stupid and will just move forward with the unsewn 2.5 inch squares for now.
Of course, this means I am now working on two donation quilts at once, the Traffic Jam and the Blue Improv Donation top. Not sure how I will work that out, but need to go with what is of interest at the moment.
It wasn’t too long ago that I helped Tim put this quilt on the machine. The other day when I visited, he showed me the finished piece. It was even bound by Sue S! That made it a true group quilt. I was really pleased at how well it came out.
Tim said that he doesn’t really like yellow, but this quilt was just cheerful. That comment made me super happy. I really love making cheerful quilts.
The quilting is a lot of swirls, which looks really nice. I am not sure how he decided what to do, but I like what he usually chooses. Also, Tim is quilting these for free so I am not complaining.
Blue Strip Donation quilt back – finsihed
The back is pretty basic, nothing fancy in terms of piecing, but it looks good. also, cheerful.
I visited the Tim the other day. I had some things I wanted to give him (no quilts this time), so I stopped by. While I was there I saw that he had the Purple Strip Donation Quilt on the machine. I finished this top and back in March of 2019, which made me very happy. I know he’ll finish it soon and I can’t wait to see it.
Tim sent me a text last week showing that he had quilted the Traffic Jam quilt. Yay!
I really like this pattern and it looks great quilted. Looking at it makes me tempted to make one with a red background and fabrics for the foreground that were mostly white with pattern. I don’t know how it would look, but the idea intrigues me. I definitely want to make another one of these quilts.
Traffic Jam Quilt quilted – detail
Tim quilted flames. He said he had an idea which didn’t come out the way he hoped. I think it looks great anyway and these donation quilts are a good place to practice quilting and other skills.
Thursday, after finishing the binding for Red Scribbles, I rummaged around in the pile of leftover batting and edges I got back from Colleen looking for batting that would work for the various donation quilts I intend to send off to Alison.
New Blue Spiky 16 Patch donation top
Flame HRT Donation top – April 2020 (annotated)
Blue Strips #2 Donation top
As I was looking through the excess batting I came across the leftover edges of some recent (and not so recent!) quilts and decided to put together another ‘Ends‘ quilt.
Ends n.9 top finished
Thus Ends n.9 came into being. I used the strips leftover from Warm Windmill and Warm Windmill n.2. I am not sure where the strips of dots came from. I think they have been around since at least last year. Perhaps from the City Sampler?
Mostly what I was trying to do was get batting for the donation quilts ready to send to Alison. I have been chomping at the bit to send these off, but didn’t want to use red thread for the Frankenbatting.
Ends n.9 back finished
It was great to work on this top and back. I just felt good getting something done. I was happy to finish Red Scribbles, but this felt different. I really felt like, between the Frankenbatting and the donation top/back, that I really accomplished something. I don’t know why since I clearly finished something much more complex and interesting when I finished Red Scribbles.
After making the most recent journal cover, I continued piecing together my blue scraps. One good thing is that I am also unearthing more strips, so there may be another Blue Strip donation top in my future.
I haven’t yet made a blue improv donation top, so I decided to just go forward with that project rather than making another journal cover. I am sure I will have plenty of scraps to make another one when I am finished!
I am finding scraps from older projects, which is interesting. It is fun to contemplate what I was thinking when I bought and used those scraps. Some are a lot darker than the fabrics I buy now.
I am also finding (this drawer is STUFFED!!!, though getting better) some pieces that have already been pieced together, so those are also useful
I spent some concentrated time on this donation top and back and was able to finish it.
Blue Strips #2 Donation top
I did something a little different with the borders. Since I had an extra sashing strip, I added it to the left side after accidentally sewing one to the right side. Then I added another border all the way around using a different fabric. There is no first border on the stop and bottom. I think the piece looks ok like that.
I will say that this top looks more like a column quilt or Chinese Coins quilt than the other Color Strip quilts I have made. I think the sea green I used for the sashing didn’t have enough contrast. However, I kind of like the difference.
I just keep making donation blocks. Some of these 16 patches look really weird. Mostly that is because at the beginning of the month I was getting to the bottom of the donation patch bin. I know Peggy will find a good way to use them regardless of how they look. Eventually, I cut some cream background fabrics, so the blocks don’t look as weird. Still, I worked on other things, like finishing the Blue Strip #2 donation top, and didn’t make as many blocks this month. I sent her the 50 or so blocks I made last week, so I don’t have any blocks right now.
