I finished the Rings top over the weekend. Yay! I also started on the back. It is small enough, so it shouldn’t take long and then I can get it ready to be quilted.
Finished Rings Top
Tag: BAMQG
Latifah Saafir Class
Even though I can teach a vast number of quiltmaking skills, I don’t know everything. The guild hosted Latifah Saafir on Saturday via Zoom to teach us her pattern, Put a Ring on It*.
This pattern uses two of Latifah’s Clammies, the 12 inch** and the 8 inch**. I was super pleased to receive these as gifts between my birthday and Christmas.
The pattern is fairly complete and pretty easy to follow. The class was worthwhile, because Latifah gave us tricks and tips and helped us troubleshoot. The Clammy tool and the pattern really make this, essentially a Double Wedding Ring, pattern accessible to almost anyone. Obviously, I wouldn’t suggest it as a first quilt or if you haven’t tried curves, but otherwise, you can do it.
We had to select fabrics and cut pieces before class. I used an older Martha Negley fabric for the background. The background isn’t very much of the quilt. I wanted something different after looking at all the various versions of this quilt plus other DWR versions online. I didn’t want to make the traditional light background. I also didn’t want to copy the version on the cover. I thought of text prints for the rings, but defaulted back to my Frolic! color scheme with a variety of red-violets and the dark blue.
During class I was able to finish two rings. I wasn’t pleased with the green I chose for the squares. That was one good thing about being at home. I was able to grab some other fabrics and switch them out. I’ll mix up the rings so the green doesn’t look like big green blobs in the center of the quilt.
I am making a 9 block (1 ring=1 block) quilt. It will be about 48 inches x 48 inches. I didn’t want to commit to something larger and even this number of blocks is feeling like too much. I am going to power through. If I can get a ring a day done this week, I can finish all the ‘blocks’ by the end of the week and be ready to put the quilt together at the weekend. I don’t want this to become a UFO. I want to get it down and ready for quilting.
What I really wanted out of this class was to learn to use the Clammy rulers. I think I have started on that process, but didn’t get very far. This class was all about the Put a Ring On It pattern and making that. Learning various Clammy techniques was not on the agenda. That was sad. I hope Latifah comes up with a Clammy Sampler class. I get the sense that this tool is an awesome method for making circles in quiltmaking.
*No affiliation. Both a PDF and print pattern are available. I got the printed pattern and really liked the format.
**I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item 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 blog.
HST Donation Quilt Ready for Quilting
I finally sat down on Friday afternoon and worked to finish this top. I really wanted to get it ready for quilting and it had been hanging around for too long. I am pleased with how it came out and look forward to seeing how it gets quilted.
I am going to show it to Tim, then send it on to another guild member for quilting.
I tried to use as much of the Pop Parade fabric for the back as I could.
More on the Kaffe Donation Quilt
I was amazed and thrilled that Tim had bound the small Kaffe donation quilt he quilted a few weeks ago. He put a binding on it sometime last week! He almost never does that, but wanted something quick after cleaning his studio all day.
He machine bound it, but that was a good choice since the quilt will go who knows where.
I love the quilting – spirals. They look so great.
Guild Generosity
I was thrilled and amazed by the largess I received this week from my team of Door Prize people.
First, Cheri gave me a full year’s set of coasters and bags. She had given it to me last year, but I told her to hold on the gifts until the next month, then we stopped meeting. Tim picked up the items from her house and I picked the items up from him.
Next, SueG brought me fabric and some zipper pouches. I am all set on zipper pouches and have some good fabric to include with future bags.
The purple and blue paper airplane pouch was actually made and donated by Tim. It goes well with Sue’s contribution, though.
Finally, Carrie made some cut little bubble bags and sent me needles, needle threaders and WonderClips to include in future bags.
I really have a great team!
HST Donation Top Layouts
I moved the HST top in progress to my large design wall so I could try out different layouts. One thing I definitely wanted to see was how it would look with space between the columns.
Compared to how the blocks look right next to each other, this version is a poor substitute. Still, I needed to try it out.
Guild Door Prizes…Again
I realized, after posting yesterday, that I should have showed the whole bag, prizes and everything.
There are a variety of little prizes and a couple of books. I hope the recipient likes everything.
March Guild Door Prize Bag
Last weekend I made a bag for the door prize at today’s meeting. I used the Jane Market Tote for the pattern again. This is a practical pattern that isn’t too big and goes together relatively quickly. I spent about 3 hours from finding the pattern to clipping the last thread.
It is scrappy green. I chose green for St. Patrick’s Day. I thought it would be fun to have green/St. Patrick’s Day as a theme.
I chose to make it scrappy so I could use up some smaller pieces of green.
Plaid Donation Quilt
As I mentioned, Tim was working on the plaid donation quilt when I left him the other day. He sent me a picture of the finished top and a detail (left).
I like what he did with the designs in the piecing. He has a good eye for quilting designs.
I also like this design quite a bit and plan to make another donation quilt using the Block Party pattern.
February Door Prize
I put together the latest door prize. It was given away at the meeting last week and Alison won. I need to send it off, which means, finding a box, addressing it…. You know, the usual mailing tasks.
I really like the tote bag, which is from a pattern by Aneela Hoey, the Kit Supply Tote. It was made by Angela.
Plaid Donation Top Quilting
Last year, I made a plaid donation top and back with the leftovers from my cousin’s quilt. As you might remember, I was glad to be done with all the plaids.
Wednesday, I helped Tim put the piece on his longarm and he started to quilt it.
He is quilting a combination of squares/rectangles and swirls. He is not doing an all over pattern, but is quilting in the piecing, which I like.
He and I have talked a lot about our tastes in quilting, so he knows I like my piecing to shine. He does all over patterns for some community quilts, but he often does custom for the quilts I have made.
For donation quilts I do not tell him how to quilt them. I let them go after I am done piecing and let him decide the best design. Like Colleen, longarming is really his jam and he is good at it. It is also something he enjoys. I leave him to it. In this case, he focused on the blocks and did a couple of different motifs in the various patches. He combined spirals and rectangles, which I thought looked really good.
Doing Good with Tim
I went to have lunch with Tim. I ended up helping him put two small baby quilts on his longarm. One of these was picked up from the guild community quilt project dropoff/pickup time the other day. He thought since the quilts were the same size they could be loaded on the machine and quilted at the same time.
It didn’t quite work out. We still got both quilts on the machine and he was able to finish quilting Patti S’s quilt. The plaid donation top I made was half quilted when I left.
I was impressed with his work on one quilt. I thought he might get two done, but quilting is tiring.
Patti S’s quilt was made from Kaffe Fassett fabrics, perhaps a jelly roll (or Free Spirit equivalent). I know she is trying to clear out her fabric closet, so this might be an older group of fabrics. It is a fun quilt and I thought the quilting would just sink right into it, but the quilting sparked up the top even more.
I like the swirls that Tim used to quilt the piece. I always enjoy watching him work on the longarm. He is so careful and knows so much about how the machine works. It makes me want to try it out, under his guidance, sometime. Shocking after my bad experiences longarming before.
Yes, we wore masks the whole time we were together and both of us are really careful otherwise. We are about the same age so we have awhile to wait for our vaccines. We have, however, kind of ended up in the same bubble and it has helped to relieve the tedium.
Ends n.9 Quilted
Alison also quilted Ends n.9. It is an appropriate quilt to post on Valentine’s Day because of the colors.
Like Blue Strips n.2, this will be donated to the Project Linus project near where Alison lives.
I forgot about this one even though it was the last one that I made. It makes me think that I need to look and see if I have some more ends that need making into a quilt.
BAM Officer Appreciation Gifts
Last Saturday was the first guild meeting of the year. Traditionally, we have given the officers appreciation gifts at this meeting. COVID-19 or no COVID-19, 2021 was no exception.
Mary C was kind enough to be the drop-off point. Her house is more centrally located in the county than mine and she has a good porch. With county rules on sheltering-in-place and ‘travel’ because of COVID-19, this year was a little harder to organize. People had to mail their gifts, or drop them off, as allowed. Also, I tried to be sensitive about costs and encouraged people to write notes instead of buying a gift. I also offered up notepaper, etc for people who were really struggling.
Last week I went over to Mary C’s house and we assembled the bags, physically distancing and wearing masks. Mary C has a wonderful backyard and I am always happy to spend time there.
Members of the guild came through magnificently! A few members made bags so we could contain the other gifts. I couldn’t believe the effort that people took with the small gifts. If last year was good, this year was better. We got an amazing array of gifts. I don’t know how we will match it next year.
Mary C went out at the last moment and got the gift bags (large pink bag in the above photo) so we could ‘wrap’ them. We had to drop the bags off at officer’s houses and we wanted it to be less easy for them to peek before the meeting.
Lots of zipper bags, but also supplies like needles, Iron Off, and Quilt Soap. Embellishments, gift cards and fabric were also in evidence.
I was so pleased and the officers were very happy. It wasn’t as good as doing the whole thing in person. however, it meant we got to spend more time organizing the bags so they looked pretty.
BAM Door Prize Organization
Yesterday was the first time we gave a door prize in 2021. The bag isn’t as full as some were last year, but we are trying to tone them down a bit.
Tim made the bag. SueG made the zipper pouch. Carrie made the coasters, pattern weights and the thread catcher (not shown). The other items were all donations one way or another. I enjoy the team effort.
Earlier this week, I received a big box of items from Carrie. She made coasters, pattern weights and thread catchers for all of the months of this year. She did the work in record time without any fuss! It was fabulous.
Once I got all of Carrie’s contributions, I decided to organize the offerings. I got everything out of the bag and laid it all out. I put as much as I could into SueG’s zipper pouch. Not everything would fit, so I put each month’s gifts temporarily into a plastic zipper bag until I get more containers for the months.
