Doing Good – Page 18 – Artquiltmaker Blog

2019 All Donation Quilts

I feel like posting all of my donation quilts really makes me see that I have accomplished something good in the world. When I feel down, I can go and look at them. I made 14 donation tops last year. You have seen them all throughout the year, but it is nice to have them all in one place.

Total: 13 donation quilts

This is Ends n.7. I made it from two half yards of burgundy (with visible pink undertones) fabric and the ends of the Triple Star quilt. Finished January 2019.

Green Strips donation quilt is made from a yard of Kona Cream and 19 blocks that I made from strips found in my scrap bin. This was inspired by Alison. Finished January 2019.

The Green Thing donation top was finished in February. I used leftover pieces from the Green Strips donation top and a lot of scraps from my green scrap drawer.

Purple Strips Quilt

This may be the second in the series of strip quilts. We’ll have to see if I do anymore. I have more scraps, so it is a possibility. Tim suggested the grey as the background and I think it works well.

As I did with the Green scraps, I made an Improv donation quilt with purple scraps to further clear out that bin.

Ends n.8 (Bonnie & Camille). I made this from the edges of the back of the Stepping Stones n.2 quilt.

Spiky 16 Patch n.3

I made these blocks in 2018, but just got around to put them together in March. Frankly, they were in the way on my design wall and I needed the space.

My first Red Strip Donation top was delivered to Tim so he could quilt it and enter it as a triptych with the purple and green versions. He dealt with the backing.

This started out as a second Red Strip Donation Top, but as I didn’t have enough strips, it became the Red Chunk Donation Top. This is the second quilt I finished from the scraps in my red scrap drawer. You can obviously see that I did use some yardage.

I don’t have as many orange scraps as I have other colors, but I have enough. It is surprising how little fabric it really takes to make a quilt. I wonder what the least amount of fabric one can use to make a quilt – not a mug rug, but real sized quilts that can cover humans? The orange strip quilt came out really well and I am pleased with it. I definitely have an orange that I like. The consistency worked well to pull the whole piece together.

I used up the green plain blocks I cut for the background of another quilt and then didn’t use. They were laying on my sewing table bugging me and I wanted them out of my hair. I was in orange mode, so I cut some plain orange blocks and made a quick donation top.

Orange Improv Donation Top - almost finished — Orange Improv Donation Top – almost finished

I finished the Orange Improv donation top and back for Tim to quilt.

I finished the white strip donation quilt.

2019 All Donation Blocks

I always have in the back of my mind that I would like to make 30 donation blocks per month-360 in a year. This year’s achievement is 115 blocks. So far, I have made a good effort, but haven’t quite achieved that goal.

I’ll keep trying, despite what Yoda says.

Swirly Red donation block - yes, another — Swirly Red donation block – yes, another

BAM Largesse

A week or so ago, we celebrated Winter at my guild. There was a short Sew Day where I worked on Frolic! Clue 2, then a potluck lunch and a swap and socializing.

In between all of this fun and excitement was fabric. We hold our Sew Days in a church hall. On the side of this room are 4-5 old pews. The room used to be the church sanctuary. Normally, we store our bags and other Sew Day paraphernalia there to keep it off the floor and reduce tripping hazards.

On the Winter Party/Sew Day at least 3 of the pews were filled with fabric. The guild had been given a donation of fabric by a longarmer who was closing her business. She donation only about a quarter of her stash to the guild. People at the party were allowed to look through the fabric and take what they wanted. I stayed away, having plenty of fabric of my own. Plenty of the members took a few pieces or filled up grocery bags with their selections. The rest will be used for our community quilt project.

This was kind of startling in a number of different ways. Will my unused fabric end up like that? Why get rid of all of her fabric? Doesn’t she want to sew anymore or did she keep her favorite pieces? I know I will probably never know the answers to these questions. I will have to think about what I am going to do with my fabric and make sure my DH knows so it doesn’t all go to Goodwill. What happens to your fabric and supplies when you go to your next adventure?

White Improv Donation Quilt Progress

White Improv - November 2019 — White Improv – November 2019

I have been making some progress on the White Improv piece. I am not working as fast as I would like.

It is looking good, I think, different than the others, but interesting in its own way.

The pieces I have in my scrap drawer are a trial, however. There are many, many pieces of great fabric in stupid lengths. They seem to always be wrong. I am making it work, though.

White Improv Progresses

White Improv Donation Top - November 2019 — White Improv Donation Top – November 2019

Now that I finished the White Strip Donation Top, I can work on the White Improv Donation Top in earnest.

I spent time on it this past weekend and the slabs are getting bigger.Except for the middle, the piece is still very much in process. The strips I have are very uniform in size and I feel like the other pieces are all triangles, so this isn’t an easy piece to put together.

There is a large-ish slab in the bottom of the drawer and I don’t know if I will make a journal cover or if I will use it in this piece.

White Strip Donation Top: Finished

All the blocks for this quilt were made from my scrap drawer. I know I can make at least two more quilts from this one drawer. Yes, I used some yardage for the back, the border, the sashing and the cornerstones, but that is a small amount compared to the blocks, I think.

More Raffle Prizes

Mary's Raffle Prizes — Mary’s Raffle Prizes

As I mentioned yesterday, Sew Day was Saturday. I was pleased and surprised when Mary came up to me and showed me the items she made for the raffle baskets!

Mary made some wonderful origami type bags. Enlarge the photo, because they look very intricate when closely inspected.

The little things on the bottom are cord keepers. They look like a little tube. You open up the Velcro closure and contain your folded cord with one. These are probably perfect for smaller cords like cell phones and irons and things. I don’t know that they are large enough for laptops or appliances with bulkier cords.

I have never seen a pattern for one of these and am thrilled!

I didn’t even know she was making them. I am so pleased.

White Strip Donation Quilt

After writing about the improv donation quilt yesterday, I decided I had better update you on the strip version.

I am making progress. It is hard to tell because of the white blocks on the white design wall. I have cut a few pieces of sashing and am slowly cutting more. I used making the pouch as an excuse to cut sashing. This makes no sense of course, but somehow it worked. I supposed I was alternating tasks.

I am using a couple of different dot fabrics as the sashing. I tried some lavender and grey and neither looked quite right. I still haven’t decided what to use for cornerstones. Something that fits with the other fabrics, but is distinctive.

White Improv Donation Quilt

No, I am not finished with the White Improv Strip Donation quilt, but I needed some leaders and enders, so I started sewing bits of white fabrics together to start the improv version in my series.

Some of the bits were not used for the strip blocks and some were long enough to be added as the shard grew.

White Donation Quilt Options

I have enough of the white scrap donation blocks now to make a quilt. This set of blocks has seemed to take forever, though I know it probably has not been as forever as I think.

White Donation Blocks - late October 2019 — White Donation Blocks – late October 2019

In looking at this set, I am not sure I want to alternate the blocks with plain blocks. I get the sense that those plain blocks can overwhelm delicate piecing. On the other hand,a plain block, might set off the piecing. Hhhhmmm.

I am also not sure I want to add skinny sashing. It would be difficult to piece and keep straight because of the all the seams and layers in the block. I am unwilling to go on an amazing design journey with these blocks so I have decided that I have three options.

First, is alternating my pieced blocks with plain blocks. Second is a skinny sashing with (or possibly without) cornerstones and, third, is a slightly larger width sashing with cornerstones. I’d like to have a top ready for Sew Day or the November meeting. I am leaning towards the last option.

My next problem is the sashing color. I would default to light, but that would blend in with the blocks. Perhaps some dots?

More White Donation Blocks

I have been sewing – sewing – sewing and never getting anywhere with these blocks. The other day I finally was able to cut some new blocks out of the piecing I had been working on.

These blocks are less about strips than about chunks. I have some strips in the white drawer, but mostly weird shapes. I have about 24 blocks now and haven’t even made a dent in the scraps in this drawer.

New Donation Blocks

It seems to be taking me forever to get this quilt top finished. It isn’t done yet, but I am making slow progress. My progress is slow because I am using other bits and pieces for leaders and enders.

I need approximately 9 more blocks to make a quilt top the size I usually make them. I’ll get there.

Raffle Baskets

I volunteered to take over for Lynette creating raffle baskets for the monthly giveaway. I was a winner a few months ago and was blown away by the amazing array of things in the bag. Lynetee is amazing and I am not sure I can live up to her standards. I recruited a team

Sue's Raffle Basket — Sue’s Raffle Basket

Sue S. was the winner at the meeting on Saturday. I love the pouch. It has a handle/leash on it (not sure you can see it), which is really fun. I took a picture so I would have another data point.

I already have a plan and some supplies to make Persimmon Pouches, a free pattern by Sew Sweetness’ Sara Lawson. That will ensure there is something handmade in the basket/bag. I also found 4 books at Tuesday Morning for $4 each! They are great books for quiltmakers and I am pleased with that find. There is definitely some shopping that will need to be done.

If you win a prize at a quilt show or guild meeting, what do you like to win?

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