BAMQG – Page 19 – Artquiltmaker Blog

Ends n.9

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.

Flame HRT Donation top - April 2020 (annotated) — Flame HRT Donation top – April 2020 (annotated)

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.

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.

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.

Blue Improv Donation Top Start

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

Door Prize Bag

As mentioned, the BAM meeting was on Saturday. I am in charge of the door prizes and we are still choosing a winner despite having the meetings via video chat. Ii have a great team and couldn’t put together such great bags without them.

We first made items to fill the bag, then partway through the year I asked for volunteers to also make tote bags. To date I had been using random shopping bags, which isn’t as nice. Carrie, who is actually a glass artist, made the woven tote I filled on Saturday.

It is different than a quilted/sewn tote bag. The texture is fabulous and I love the detail on the handle straps and the beaded bit hanging down.

Blue Strips #2 Donation Top Finished

I spent some concentrated time on this donation top and back and was able to finish it.

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.

July 2020 Donation Blocks

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.

Blue Strip #2 Donation Top

I made good progress on the Blue Strip #2 donation top. It was getting on my nerves on my design wall with no progress. I was busy during the week, so it languished. Finally, I just sewed the strips together with the sashing.

The photo looks a little wonky. The quilt is not wonky. I plan to put another border on it to hem in all of the movement of the blocks. I have to search out some fabric for that. I also have to make a back.

May Spiky 16 Patch

Apparently, I forgot to show you the latest blue Spiky 16 patch. Maybe not, but I couldn’t find a post about it, so I am assuming I didn’t show you this quilt.

I finished this in May. It is made from some of the guild’s 16 patches. I looked at it again the other day when I visited Tim. It is small, but mighty. I’ll see about making a larger one next time.

Swap Pouch

A few months ago, Angela organized a swap for the guild. The rules were that we were to use a pattern that we had been wanting to try. As mentioned in the post about what I made, I used one of the Minikins patterns.

Since our guild meetings are on Zoom now, we all took turns opening them on ‘camera’ one at a time. Cheryl was selected to make me something and she made me a POUCH! I told you it was pouch week here at AQ!

Cheryl's Swap Pouch - open — Cheryl’s Swap Pouch – open

Yes, a pouch and it matches the pouch that Angela made for me several months ago, which I use for work.

How do you like that bird (cardinal??) on the front? I love it! He looks sassy. I don’t know why I think of it as a ‘he’.

Cheryl's Swap Pouch - back — Cheryl’s Swap Pouch – back

This is a really nice wide mouth pouch. It will be really good for a small knitting project or some EPP or something that needs some space, but not a lot of tools. There aren’t any internal pockets, but I think that is ok.

One really nice thing is that there is some corduroy fabric included in the piecing. It is so soft! I want to stroke the corduroy parts of the pouch.

Perhaps I will use it for my bias tape makers? It’s a little big, but I have it available.

Quilting the Blue Strip Donation Quilt

I went to retrieve a piece of fabric that Tim quilted for me. I will be making bags for our dining room table leaves. Because making quilts and never showing them in person is not fun, I brought some of the donation tops I have made since March. Tim has a number of my donation quilts to quilt. I told him I just wanted to show him the quilts, but he insisted on keeping a couple of them to quilt. Tim kept the Traffic Jam quilt, the Plaid donation quilt and this one.

I didn’t argue with him, but I insisted on helping him load one of the quilts, the first Blue Strip donation quilt on the longarm. I made this back in March. Since then it has been languishing in my ‘going to guild’ bag. I was just about to ask if anyone wanted to quilt some quilts. I will still do that for the 2 Spiky 16 patches I have, but I have many fewer to try to pawn off.

If I help him get a quilt on the machine, he quilts it relatively quickly. It is also good practice for me, so we pinned this piece to his leaders, he tested the stitch length and did a bit of the quilting to test out the machine and the pattern. I am pretty excited that these quilts are out of my bag. I told Tim I would be back to help him get another quilt on the machine.

Swap Gift

Yesterday we all opened our swap gifts. Thus I know my swap giftee received the gift I made back in May. I mentioned that I had made it for someone, but didn’t say who.

The parameters of the swap were to make a pattern you have been wanting to try.

I did end up following those parameters by making a Boxy Clear pouch for Angela.

For the swap gift, I used colors I thought Sue S. would like and use. Angela helped me out by asking Sue about her decor and preferences. Originally, I thought I would make a cushion cover, but then I changed my mind. I have seen Sue S. at Sew Days using her tablet to follow a pattern. Thus I thought the Minikins Sewing Stand would be great. It isn’t a pattern I have been wanting to try specifically, but I have been wanting to try all of the Minikins.

Minikins 2: Sewing Room Stand tablet side

I confused the lining and exterior, so the light is on the outside and the tools have to be against dark fabric, but at least Sue gets to look at pretty fabric.

I really hope she likes it and it is useful to her.

Blue Strips #2 Continues Slowly

Blue Strips #2 is progressing, though slowly as I have reached critical mass of projects/steps in projects.

The blocks are done. I sewed the blocks into rows with small pieces of sashing making up the columns.I chose the size of the horizontal sashing based on the amount of fabric I had. Now, it is hard to tell where the blocks are and where the divider/sashing is. It is an interesting look. Different. I don’t dislike it.

Blue Strips #2 - adding sashing — Blue Strips #2 – adding sashing

Now, I am adding sashing. I was thrilled when the first piece of sashing fit perfectly!!!

The vertical sashing is larger, because I cut it first and I liked the width. I didn’t think about ratios to the size of the blocks this time. I wanted something light and green. I think I am still go for that calm feeling.

There is a big space in my photo, because the second piece of sashing did not fit perfectly and I have to rip.

I am using red thread because I am also working on sewing down the bias strips and I want to work on both projects at the same time.

Blue Strips #2 Donation Top Sashing

I cut up the fabric I found the other day into sashing strips and had been waiting for some miracle to sew them together. I found another piece of a similar colored batik and was able to move forward yesterday. I sewed sashing pieces to the tops of all of the blocks and am now sewing the blocks together into rows. I am not adding corner stones so I am not chunking.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30