Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I have been remiss about posting donation blocks lately. I have also not been making the standard postage stamp blocks that my guild collects. Here are a few I have made recently.
On Wednesday the YM and I went to Stockton to spend the day making pillowcases with the Tuleberg Quilt Guild. My mom is a member. She told me about it and since we haven’t had a chance to get together alone this month, I decided to go. When I found out the YM would be home, I convinced him to tag along. He wants to learn to sew, so this was a good opportunity to start.
It is a far drive for us, so we go there a little late and, after setting up, he went off with my mom to get something to eat. Is tarted cutting up fabric to make the first pillowcase and quickly realized that he wouldn’t be able to make a whole pillowcase on his own. I decided to do the cutting and have him sew.
It has been a long time since he sat in front of a machine, so this was a good decision. He carefully guided the fabric through the machine, encountering the stop and start problems of the feed dogs not grabbing the fabric, thread bunnies and backstitching. We used the pillowcase tutorial I have cobbled together from experience and a variety of sources. He chain pieced the cuff/body burrito together. I also had him turn the burritos inside out and do a little pressing when I got behind. By the end, the three of us were all working together to finish the pillowcases.
I brought some yard sized pieces of fabric I didn’t think I would use, but cutting bits out for other projects does help with this. Fortunately, I have realized this and started cutting up the side of yardage, so I have a chance of having enough for a body (yard sized length) and cuff (half yard sized length). Newer fabric is easier to use, but so far I still like it enough to not want to use it for community quilts/projects. I suppose that is something I have to work on.
As a team, we made 5 pillowcases in about 3 hours. This is probably a bit slow, but I do French seams so everything is enclosed and that takes longer. I don’t have a serger, so this is the best way for me to achieve my goal.
They also had an ice cream social, which was make it yourself sundaes and banana splits. I love banana splits and made myself a small one. They brought real glass sundae holders, which was really classy.
The guild ended up with 121 pillowcases for the day, which I thought was a good effort.
I thought I would finish this top before the meeting, but I didn’t. the last few weeks have been harrowing. Nothing bad. Just a lot. That means I haven’t taken much time to sew. Some, but not as much as I would like.
I did work on Sunday. I worked on Flying Around a little, fixed the sleeve for FOTY 2017, finished this top, worked on the Orange Improv Donation Top and started on the back for this piece. Not bad, but not as much as I wanted and not a lot to show here.
Still, I am pleased with this piece. I like the blue and hope it doesn’t overshadow the orange too much. Ever since working on the Wonky 9 Patch, I have been unconsciously looking for an excuse to use this color combination again. I am really glad Friend Julie and AQ reader Sherri mentioned it.
While I was vacillating about the sashing color, size and fabric for the Orange Strip Donation Top, I still needed some leaders and enders. I started in on the Orange Improv Donation Top.
This part of the project is also coming out quite well. I am starting to think that I pick my oranges carefully and they go together well.
I really like the orange dot at the bottom of the left hand photo. However, it really stands out in real life. I might have to use smaller bits of it, so it doesn’t dominate.
The top piece (in this post) is about 8 in x 10 in right now. I have some sewing to do to get it to a larger size.
The smaller piece will be added on to the larger piece when it gets to the right length or width to fit. I am at the point now where I make smaller pieces fit together to attach to the larger ones.
I spent a lot of time this past weekend getting the Orange Strip Donation Top in shape to bring to the meeting. That means selecting fabric and cutting sashing.
After the success of the Wonky 9 Patch, I became fond of this color combination. I am careful to find the right blue. It really works for me.
I didn’t like the look of the plain alternate blocks in the Green Strip Donation Top once it was quilted, so I opted for a chunky, but thinner sashing for this version. The blue is definitely a bold choice, but I like it.
I finished the last of the Orange Strip Donation blocks over the weekend. I am pretty pleased with how the blocks look together. As I said in another post, I like the way the color of these oranges look together. They aren’t too garish and are a bit softer, like a Creamsicle look.
I haven’t decided on fabric for the background. Tim gave me a beige-y biscuit color, but I don’t think I want to ruin the cheerful look of the oranges. I wanted a Creamsicle (yes, I am on a binge with that word today) solid, but don’t see one in all the color cards I have. I am going to rummage through my orange bin and see what turns up. I am not adverse to using different fabrics for the background, though I think a solid or tone on tone would be best.
As I worked on various projects over the weekend, I added to my stash of Orange Strip Donation Blocks. I am a few short of being ready to put the blocks all together into a quilt top.
I am still pretty happy with how these blocks look. They don’t look to shocking. They have a soft look to them.
I am considering backgrounds. I haven’t yet pulled options out of the fabric closet, but I am thinking. I want the orange to be the star. Tim gave me a rich creamy vanilla color to try. I haven’t tried it yet, but will when I get to the “make visual decisions visually” stage. I was thinking a very light Creamsicle like color – a solid. I don’t know if I have that color, or if that color exists, but I’ll try it. Tim doesn’t like peach, so no peach.
I might change the sashing to a smaller size, but not as small as the Red Chunk Donation top. I was also thinking I might add in some triangles to add to the design, but perhaps not.
Tim and I had lunch, then worked together on the BAM website this past week. After we were done, we looked at his projects and considered quilts.
One thing he did since the last time I saw him was quilt the purple improv donation top. Now it is a donation quilt!
His skills are improving tremendously and I think this quilt looks really good. I love the designs he chose.
This will be part of the exhibit we are planning, so we won’t give it in just yet. We need someone to bind it and Tim was going to see if Mary could do it.
I worked on Flying Around over the weekend, as mentioned. In addition, I made the orange strip donation blocks as leaders and enders.
These are harder to make. Not in terms of technical skills, but in terms of fabric. I don’t have as many orange scraps as I have other scraps. I went through the unsorted scrap pile on my cutting table and came up with a few strips and chunks that will help with the effort. I may have to abandon the strip idea and go straight to more of a chunk/improv look.
As I make these blocks, I am amazed at how much I love the fabrics in my orange scrap bin. As I said, I don’t have a lot of orange scraps, but most of those I do have speak to me. perhaps I chose well when buying orange fabrics?
The Red Improv top is finished. No back yet, but I will do that soon.
I am pretty pleased with the way it came out. It doesn’t have those bold graphic lines that the purple improv top did. I like that better, though it might look a little chaotic as well.
This is the last of the red scrap quilts for now. My red scrap drawer isn’t completely empty, but it is much less full than it was. Essentially 3 quilt tops came out of the drawer. Amazing.
Maybe orange next. Stay tuned for your break from red.
BAMers made fidget quilts at the last Sew Day. I was there as I was in Portland celebrating the YM’s graduation.
I was really impressed with Peggy’s preparation and for all the work that went into these pieces that will help people with dementia and other memory challenges as well as kids who need something to calm their restless bodies.
I spent a couple of days working on the Red Improv donation top in between the Chubby Charmer and other projects. I am getting towards the end (perhaps one more row along the bottom?), but making the rows takes time, because they are made from small bits of fabric that have to be sewn into larger pieces.
I have done a good job clearing out the red scrap drawer. There is definitely a lot less left. I do have a couple of pieces that were already sewn together that I may not use in this piece. I am thinking about cutting some blocks out of it and making a multi-colored donation top when I am done with all the colors.
I finished the Red Chunk Donation Top and back on Monday morning. Hooray!
I am pleased with how it came out. I thought the border was rather perfect. I would have preferred to have enough fabric, so I didn’t have to have different corners, but it looks nice, so it is all good.
Another top for the BAM Community Quilt Project and another 3 yards used up this year.
I wanted to look at these three quilts together. I can’t actually see them since I don’t have them anymore. I am interested in the differences in these tops as well as the similarities.
These tops display one reason why I love quiltmaking so much. Essentially, these are the same pattern. They, however, look very different. They don’t look so different that you can’t tell they are the same pattern, but they still look different enough for the viewer not to be bored.
It seems like my donation quilts are coming back from the past. For me, once I give the top and back to someone else to quilt and bind, I am done with them and don’t really think about them anymore. Last week Kelly contacted me about a donation quilt and now another crops up.
The guild meeting was last Saturday and Cyndi was sitting near me. Peeking out of her bag was a quilt with some food fabric in it. I thought to myself, Oh! I used that fabric in the Food Quilts. It turned out Cyndi had finished a food donation quilt that I made in 2016. I didn’t even remember making it, but I looked it up and, yep, there it was. I know I made it to use up the fabric from the three food quilts.