I made quite a bit of progress during the last little while using this piece as leaders and enders for the FOTY 2017. I started out with some largish chunks and grew it.
I am not a huge fan of improv piecing, as you have heard a million times. I have to admit, however, it is fairly mindless and a good way to use up random scraps.
When I come across a larger piece, I am cutting it up into some of the shapes I am Hunting and Gathering for other projects. I especially need to beef up my collection of 2″ cool colors after the En Provence quilt.
Purple Improv – late March
So I am still beavering away to make something large enough for a baby quilt. The pieces are much more square, but I still have work to do.
This is what I am making in order to clear out some more purple scraps after finishing the Purple Strips donation top. I started with some shards that I had made for some forgotten project. I have added to the original pieces quite a bit.
Because of what I started with, this is less like the Green Thing in that it is less of a medallion style. It may end up a little like that, but we will see. I don’t yet know where it is going except that I need to add some larger chunks or strips to the piece to provide some breathing space.
Last Friday, I finished the back of the Purple Strips donation quilt. It is ready to go to Tim for his magic quilting.
I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out, though Mom vindicated my thoughts around using green. I might try something else in purple and green. Right now my purple scrap drawer is much reduced. I am hoping to reduce it more with the purple Improv donation quilt, but we will see.
I finally finished the Spiky 16 patch stars into a quilt top! This is the 3rd one of these quilts I have made. I have an idea for another one, but since I am working on scrappy strip quilts right now, they may have to wait.
It isn’t exactly 100% stellar but only because I could have arranged the blocks differently. It looks great and I have already handed it in to be quilted.
Spiky Star donation quilt n.3 -back
I am pleased that it went together so quickly. I was rearranging the Tutorials page and there were the directions for setting blocks on point. I took the bull by the horns and made the top. It really went together very quickly. I also found the perfect piece of Stonehenge that only needed a little piecing. Since I couldn’t finish the purple strip quilt, I was glad to have a donation top to hand in.
I finished all the blocks and began to think about the color of the plain blocks. Tim doesn’t like white backgrounds and since he will most likely quilt this top, I decided to look for something else.
Purple strip donation quilt with yellow-green
Across from purple on my Studio Color Wheel is chartreuse. I admit this is a bold choice and I was thinking about it quite a bit before I went hunting for fabric. Finally, I decided that I needed to make visual decisions visually and cut up some fabric.
I like the boldness of the color combination, but something wasn’t quite right.
Grey solid background #1
Grey solid background #2
I was just about to sew it together when Tim saw the photo and suggested grey. Purple is hard for me to work with, because it really darkens my workroom to a depressing state. Adding grey made me think it would just get worse. I knew the yellow-green was the right color for the purple, so I found a couple of greys and tried it.
I chose the greys based on fabrics I didn’t think I would use for something else. These were both in that category because they have a taupe cast too them, which is not my preference for grey. I prefer the cooler white-greys.
Purple strip donation quilt with grey solid
Immediately, I knew that the grey solid (#1) was a much better choice. It will be suitable for a boy and isn’t too depressing.
I have begun sewing the plain blocks to the strip blocks.
As I said the other day, I still have a lot of purple scraps. I also found some large purple shards in my purple scrap bin. I immediately pulled these out and have decided to use them for another improv donation top like the Green Thing. I can’t say I’ll make a companion quilt to each strip quilt I make, but I have a lot of scraps and this seems like a good way to use them up.
I know these shards probably started out as potential journal covers. I don’t know why I didn’t finish them, but now they can go to a good home.
Purple improv shard n.2
The triangular shard is really strange. I wonder what I was thinking when I made it. Of course, I have to make it into a square or rectangle, so I can use it. I do like it. If I can use lighter purples and lavenders around the triangle, I can preserve the triangle quality of the piece.
I have already added to the smaller piece shown above the triangular shard, using it as a leader as I was getting towards the end of the strip blockmaking.
Purple improv shard n.3
The last shard is good sized as well. The three pieces make a nice start to a donation top. They are all purple and that is good, but I hope the shards go together well enough to make something cohesive.
I do know that I am finding all this purple on my design wall to be oppressive and dark. Perhaps that is my issue with the darker purples? I know I felt like this when I was working on the purple bullseye. I do know that I have a good start to the purple donation improv top and that pleases me.
I worked the other night while DH was out on clearing out my purple scrap bin. This resulted in a new set of blocks for BAM’s community quilting project.
There are a couple of duplicates as I had some long strips that resulted in two blocks.
There are also a lot of light scraps – lavender and very light purple. I was surprised at the variation in color. I don’t think I am a strictly dark purple lover.
I also made 6 more blocks than I did for the Green Strip quilt. I was on a roll and had the blocks in process before I realized how far along I was. It will be a slightly larger quilt. I haven’t decided what color to put with it for the plain blocks (I am using the same design as the Green Strip quilt). Chartreuse is across from purple on the color wheel I use.
I don’t feel like I used up enough of the purple scraps. The bin is definitely more empty, but still not empty enough. I even sorted out some super small pieces that would be much better as pet bed filling. Still I need to make more headway on purple scraps. Another similar quilt? Should I make this one larger?
I really like what he did and am planning another one in purples as soon as I finish a couple of the regular postage stamp donation blocks I have started.
Green Strips Donation Quilt detail
Green Strips Donation Quilt detail
Tim was nice enough to send me some details of the quilting, which looks great! He was excited about quilting this piece because I didn’t use white. I’ll think about grey or yellow when I make the purple one.
Green Strips Donation Quilt -scrappy binding detail
He changed the back, because he didn’t like it, to an ombre fabric (see that blue at the bottom?). It’s fine with me as long as he doesn’t give me the back back. I already counted it in my fabric used tally and it is hard enough to get those yards used as it is. He is also thinking of a scrappy binding. Photo is of his thoughts on binding.
It is a little early to post a complete list of donation blocks for February. I am dong it anyway. I have been doing quilt a bit of gift sewing, which I can’t show for a few weeks, so here we are.
Scrappy Green Donation block
Swirly Red donation block – yes, another
Numbers & Batik donation block
Numbers donation block
Beige batik donation block
Green donation block
It was easier while I was working on my secret project to make donation blocks rather than work on the back of the City Sampler, thus I used the 2.5 inch squares as my leaders and enders. I’ll finish up the city Sampler back today.
Not a ton, but some progress. I have more ends to use up, so I may work on that next.
I made a back for the fun and cheerful quilt I took from him. I started with pink fabrics, but then realized I should use orange. The quilt top has other colors, but came across as mostly orange to me, so orange it was.
The color will be great for a boy, but not the flowers unless the boy is open minded and doesn’t mind a few flowers.
Fun & Cheerful Donation Top with border
I also added a small border to the top. Somehow it didn’t look finished to me, so I added a border. A slightly larger quilt is always better IMO.
The blocks remind me of the Tina Michalik class BAM had at Always Quilting a few years ago. It is a fun quilt and the texture of the piecing is really nice. I think the border frames it. I do wonder if I just made it un-modern by adding the border. C’est la vie.
The Friday color and creativity posts will return soon!
I finished the Green Thing Top and Back in time to take it to BAM today.
I am worried about someone quilting it as there are a lot of small pieces. I tried to press seams open. There was less matching of points, so it made sense.
I don’t know that I’ll do this type of thing again. There are some benefits: I can see part of the bottom of my green scraps drawer and there is no matching of seams. Still, though, the end of the process wasn’t as leaders and enders friendly as I would have liked. I am going to try to make a few 8.5 inch improv blocks and see what someone else will do with them. That should get rid of scraps, too.
Green Thing donation back
The back went together pretty easily. I used some fabrics that had been hanging around awhile. I always liked that green bubble dot print, but I never found a project in which to use it, so off it goes to make way for newer fabrics.
I took Ends n.7 and the Green Strips Donation quilts over to Tim’s house the other day so he could quilt them. He has a bunch of quilts to quilt and said that a number of them need backs and batting.
This irritates me because I know that Tim does a lot of quilting for the guild. The least that people can do is get the quilt ready for quilting. Still, the top is done and who knows what happened? Someone could have just managed to get the top done before s/he had to deal with some tragedy. Also, it gives me the opportunity to participate in a group project.
This is a fun and cheerful quilt. I brought it home in order to make a back so that Tim can quilt it. I kind of think it needs a border. The texture of the blocks, however, makes me want to do some piecing rather than just sew a plain border on to it. I have a number of other donation projects in process, so I have to decide if I want to add to the list with more piecing or just get this one done.
I don’t know what this will be – block or quilt. I started it because I had some leftovers from the Green Strip donation quilt.
I thought I would just make a block, hand it over to Peggy and see what she could do with it. Somehow, it is has grown into this. It is about 22 x 22 inches now and I might as well just keep on using those green scraps to make it into a top. Another 10 inches on each side will not be difficult. I might even have enough scraps.
I am almost done with another row of small strips for the right side, which will add about 4 inches to it. I grab strips or pieces out of the green bin, sew them together into some kind of strip and attach it when it is long enough. I had some plainer strips leftover from the back of the Green Strip donation quilt and have been adding those as well.
There are a lot of small pieces so I am worried about the quilting (which I won’t be doing!) I am trying to reduce bulk by pressing all the seams open, which is a big pain.
If nothing else, this is a great way to get rid of scraps. It isn’t doing anything for my collection of donation blocks, however. Tim saw the photo I posted and said that it was much more interesting than the regular postage stamp blocks the guild normally makes. Perhaps I am just branching out and using some different inspiration to create beauty for others in need? I haven’t examined my inspiration much beyond wanting to use up scraps.
I don’t know what this piece will be. I think I will make it into a block and hand it over to Peggy to see what she can do with it. It would be a good center medallion to a baby quilt. Others could make similar blocks and it could become a larger quilt. I still have a lot of green, so we will have to see.
The Green Strips donation top and back is finally finished and ready to take to BAM.
I made it from green scraps and a yard of Kona Cream that Amanda gave me. The scrap bin is right next to my sewing machine, so I can reach in an rummage without even getting up! It would be a bad thing except I have to get up to iron and cut, so I still get steps in.
The block was inspired by Alison, as I think I have mentioned, though she does hers on a foundation. That is probably a good idea, though I didn’t have a lot of problems with bias.
Green Strips donation back
I dragged down the green bin and pulled out some yardage I didn’t think I would use for the back.
