It's a Finish! Red and White Bits and Pieces

 It's a finish!

A donation quilt.

42 x 63

Pictures are dark because we have had mostly cloudy and rainy days since May. (Sigh). 

 Back in 2018 I was going through my crumbs and sorting them by color. I noticed a lot of red and white bonus triangles, waste triangles, wonky triangles mixed in with the crumbs. I figured there were enough for a quilt so set them aside and didn't use them in crumb blocks.  In January of this year I made those bits and pieces into a quilt top. 

I quilted it with wavy lines alternating in red and white threads. 

Backing is a red and white stripe sent to me by a quilty friend. 

Binding is red and white with red polka dots.  I don't like sewing binding on by machine but most of the places I donate this size of quilt prefers it be done that way. 

I used four color catchers when I washed this and they all turned red. There was still a tiny bit of bleeding in a couple of spots but it is not really noticeable. 

This was my goal #17

for

Q2 Finish-Along

And Another Finish!

 Butterfly Happy Blocks

A donation quilt

40 x 60

 Happy Blocks with 6.5 inch centers and 2.5 inch sides.   Some of these centers were from swaps and some of the blocks were swapped years ago. 

 I have accumulated a variety of  centers and Happy Blocks in different themes, sizes, colors over the years.  Every once in awhile I dig around in that Happy Place for completed blocks and centers that fit some kind of theme and then make enough additional blocks for desired size of  quilt.  Last year I made two sport themed tops and this butterfly top. This is the last of those three Happy Block quilts to get finished.  Must be time to dig around in there and make a few more tops. I will probably have to replenish my tone on tones and solids first. 

Sunshine Online Quilt Guild (SOQG) has been holding a retreat June 12 - 15 in Mendota, MN.  I'm sewing along at home.  We make quilts for kids around the world. We donate to two programs: Wrap a Smile and Quilts Beyond Borders. Quilts go to kids, teens, and adults undergoing cleft palate surgery and to under-served children, often in orphanages, worldwide.

The backing was pieced with some old floral calico and some backing trimmings from other quilts.  And once again I quilted it on my DSM with flowers and leaves. 

This was goal #18

for

Q2 Finish-Along

Two More Finishes

 Donation Quilts in Primary Colors

40 x 60

 Sunshine Online Quilt Guild (SOQG) is holding a retreat June 12 - 15 in Mendota, MN.  I'm sewing along at home.  We make quilts for kids around the world. We donate to two programs: Wrap a Smile and Quilts Beyond Borders. Quilts go to kids, teens, and adults undergoing cleft palate surgery and to under-served children, often in orphanages, worldwide.

 Last year members of SOQG made lots of Mendota blocks that they are now sewing together at retreat into tops. A Mendota block is basically a framed offset square that finishes at 10 inches. I like to think of them as offset Happy Blocks. 

 I made some Mendota blocks last year while going through scraps. I made blocks with primary colored centers bordered with primary colors and blocks with secondary colors bordered with secondary colors. 

 I don't  have enough secondary blocks for a quilt but I did have enough primary colors for two quilts. 

Both are quilted with flowers and leaves on my DSM in neutral threads. 

 The back of the pink, aqua, yellow one has a dark pansy fabric I've had around for years. I think at one time I was going to make curtains out of it.  The binding was a piece of fabric from the thrift store that still had the .45 cent tag on it. It was enough for the binding for two quilts. 

For the backing of the other quilt I pieced together leftovers from a sheet used on another quilt. I also had enough leftovers for the binding. 

These were goals #21 and #22

for

Q2 Finish-Along

It's a Finish!

 It's a finish!

40 x 60

Ready for donation. 

Sunshine Online Quilt Guild (SOQG) is holding a retreat June 12 - 15 in Mendota, MN.  I'm sewing along at home.  We make quilts for kids around the world. We donate to two programs: Wrap a Smile and Quilts Beyond Borders. Quilts go to kids, teens, and adults undergoing cleft palate surgery and to under-served children, often in orphanages, worldwide.

 Last year members made lots of Mendota blocks that they are now sewing together at retreat into tops. A Mendota block is basically a framed offset square that finishes at 10 inches. I like to think of them as offset Happy Blocks.  Mendota Cats is one of five tops I made last October when I was cleaning up cat themed scraps. 

And now it is finally a finished quilt.  I quilted it with leaves and flowers on my DSM with navy blue thread in the bobbin and neutral on top.  Binding was two different florals that kind of matched one of the florals in the top.  Backing was fabric I bought on sale years ago specifically for use as a donation quilt backing. 

This was my goal #23

for

Q2 Finish-Along

It's a Finish! Log Cabin Lunacy

 Log Cabin Lunacy

It's a Finish! 

64 x 80

 Last August Julie (JulieKQuilts) hosted a Log Cabin Loonies Quilt Along.  She gave instructions for a four inch finished log cabin block made of one inch pieces. I had to make a few. Then I was addicted. 

 The blocks are totally made of scraps. I have scrap bins for a variety of sizes of scraps and just cut one inch off the end of those various sized scraps for my pieces rather than cut one inch strips into various sizes. 

 It's amazing what will sometime show up in just a half inch of fabric.  I've had a few family members and friends spend time in extended care facilities and I've found that if they have a quilt like this on their bed or wheelchair it can spark some conversations which is good if you are a shy quiet girl like me and especially tongue tied around someone who is not well. 

 The patient and visitors always seem to spend time playing I Spy no matter what their age. 

 Ghosts, seashells, fireflies, cat, snowmen, peppermints...

 ...dice, hearts, horseshoes, sailboats.  I call it the "smile factor". 

 I quilted it on my DSM with light brown variegated thread in the white areas and dark brown variegated thread in the dark areas with kind of a loopy thing.  The backing was a gift from a kind soul. 

This was my goal #9

for

Q2 Finish-Along

It's a Finish!

A Depression Block Quilt

64 x 80

It's a finish!

 Back in 2014 I started making these eight inch Depression Blocks from 2.5 inch scraps as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. It took me until last year to accumulate 80 totally scrappy blocks. 

I've previously made two other Depression Block quilts. The first was made of 3.5 inch HSTs using the layout at Quilter's Cache but I don't make my HSTs like the instructions.  I think my youngest son has that quilt. Then I made one from 4.5 inch scraps (16 inch block) and gave that as a wedding gift to my nephew.  

 I quilted it on my DSM with some loose spirals in white thread. 

 I used a wide backing with big polka dots...

 ...and for the binding I used several different low volume scraps. 

I think this will go into the donation quilt pile.  Lately I've been trying to make twin sized quilts for local donation.  I'm thinking when I get a pile of 12 I will invite the three grandkids (ages 14, 14 and 10) over and have them choose six for donation.  The emphasis will be on which six to give and not which six to keep. That will leave six in a reserve pile. Then when that reserve pile again gets up to 12 we will do the same thing over again and again...  I'm hoping the grandkids will get into the spirit of giving and also go with me when I drop the quilts off.  When the grandkids get old enough to set up their own apartments, houses, dorms they can pick from the pile for themselves if they wish; although I do have some items including quilts already in hope chests for each of them. 

This was my goal #8

for

Q2 Finish-Along

It's a Finish! Blue Skies and Butterflies

 Blue Skies and Butterflies

64 x 80

It's a finish!

 I started making these in 2015 to use waste triangles to make butterflies ...

 ...and a variety of blue 2.5 inch scraps for the sky. 

I used a variegated thread...

 ...to quilt flowers and leaves on my DSM. 

 There's more butterflies on the back. 

This was my goal #7

for

Q2 Finish-Along

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

The Blues. The Finish.

The Blues

It's a finish! 

60 x 80

It's out in the fog this morning. 

Last year I made an effort to use my string scraps and ended up with several tops.   This quilt came out of the light blue and gray assortment of strings.   I used a consistent center strip for the center of the blocks which was not a scrap. It was a fabric my husband wanted me to buy several years ago because he loved it. I wasn't that fond of it so it's been laying around in the sewing room for quite some time waiting for a project. 

I used newspaper as the foundation for these ten inch blocks.

 I quilted it on my DSM with some four petaled flowers and leaves in a variegated blue thread on top and white in the bobbin. 

 I've really been trying for consistency of space when I've been quilting.  The spiral center in the flowers allowed me to exit out of the flower in any direction and the addition of leaves allowed me to fill in any spaces where I didn't leave enough room for a flower.  

I used a flannel sheet from the thrift store as the backing. And I had enough of that fabric my husband loved for the binding. 

I finished up sewing the binding down and was folding it up for the donation pile when my husband asked if the quilt was for him. (He hardly ever notices when I finish another quilt and he's never asked if it was his). No, he didn't recognize that fabric I used for the center strips and binding. When I reminded him he picked it out several years ago he said he knew there was something about the quilt he really liked. 

This was my goal #6

for

Q2 Finish-Along

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

Two Little Finishes

Two baby quilts finished! 

36 x 36

For Jack's Basket - one of this years Hands2Help Comfort Quilt Challenge sponsored charities. 

 The first consists of 12 inch Sawtooth Stars.  I've had that fabric with tops in the stash for awhile and had just enough for those blocks.  

 The blue and the green alternating backgrounds pick up the blue and the green in the light checks in the top fabric. 

The backing is the same Kona Spring green. (I have a lot of that on hand because I like to use it with 30s repro fabrics. It's similar to the green grandma used in her quilts. And that's the only reason I actually know that it's Kona Spring. I don't usually remember fabric designers or manufacturers.) 

I pieced the batting using wide zig zag stitch.

I quilted it in light green thread with spirals  - appropriate for tops, don't you think? 

Binding is that same Kona Spring. 

 The second one is a Hole in the Barn Door. 

I originally went looking for some farm animals for the holes in the barn doors but came across a Peppa and Friends remnant first. So Peppa and Friends ended up in the barns.  I had just a few pieces leftover from that remnant so I guess it was meant for this baby quilt. 

The backing is a light gray with white jungle animals baby fabric I've had for a while.  The binding was a light gray solid -- part of it from the leftover binding bin and the other cut from a scrap in the scrap chunk crate. Batting was pieced for this one too and I quilted it with serpentine stitch. 

These were goals #19 and #20

for

Q2 Finish-Along