What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Some of you know that my school offers children a learning experience known as Intensives. The week before Christmas and the last week of school in the Spring, students don’t attend regular classes. (Honestly, what really gets done in classes at that time?) Rather, each student selects from a menu of classes and attends that one course for the entire week. Offerings include theater, music, rock climbing, engineering, local history, and…sewing!

While on Spring Break this past week, I prepped samples for the Spring Sewing Intensive. SEW much fun!

There are still a lot of details to work ...

A pile of scraps and THIS VIDEO TUTORIAL got me started.

In no time at all I had a quilt. It uses 36 blocks and finishes at 35″ square–a nice symmetry there.

I can see using this pattern again. It would work for many different applications.

For now it goes in the donation pile. YAY! No bored babies if they sleep under this quilt.

I was in the mood for something easy and cheerful.

There was a bag of dinosaur print fabric that came from…somewhere. I get a lot of hand-me-downs. It didn’t take long to cut three 6-1/2″ squares, and several 4-1/2″ and 3-1/2″ squares. That used nearly every tiny bit. My bin of solids supplied the borders/sashing for the smaller squares (1-1/2″ and 2″ strips, respectively).

And, ta-dah, a baby quilt. Ready for donation. Such a cheerful finish giving purpose to those too-cute-to-throw-away scraps.

Right now I have three quilts in the works.

The Jewel Box quilt has become my leader/ender and there are suddenly 50 blocks complete. Only about 10% of the final total, but that is progress. One must be persistent with this sort of project.

Next we have a Second Chances quilt. It is slowly evolving and will be a fun small quilt, table topper or wall hanging soon. Fun colors!

And, finally, we have my new general scrap pattern for donation quilts. I use them to practice on the treadle. I am getting better rhythm and fewer thread breaks ...

Debra was so kind to share some of her leftover half square triangle blocks.

All they needed was some sorting and squaring up.

The backing was from stash, also donated, maybe by Stephanie?

Isn’t it lovely how fabric can find a purpose over time and distance?! I am really pleased with the results.

Whether you are a professed Christian or not, we can all agree that the world needs help. Consider making a specific commitment this year to actively search out opportunities to serve others and make a difference. Here is some information to get you started on making December a month to remember.

Since I already have FOUR quilts in progress, I really should have used my extended sewing time today to work on them. And I did. A little.

But then I heard the call of the scraps. I received these beauties recently and even had an idea of what I wanted to do with them.

A whole lot of cutting later I had a pile of small pieces that will be thrown away.

And an entire quilt kit, ready to use. As soon as I finish at least one of the four. Probably…

A bag of half square triangles came in a hand-me-down package.

They turned in to this.

YAY!

Just a lap size quilt, 42″ x 56″, but it will be a nice donation quilt.

And the winner of the Safe Haven Pattern and Thimbleberries Fabric Giveaway is…..

Sherry Bobak, who wrote: Safe Haven is such a beautiful quilt. I used to have a couple of Thimbleberries books but I’m not sure where they went. I’ve always wanted to make a village type quilt with different houses, a church and barn. I tried searching for that pattern but it seems to be hard to find. Yours is very beautiful and I love the colors. Thank you for the chance to win the pattern.

Well, Sherry, your search is over. Now you just have ...

This is the third Welcome Home top finished for donation.

They are quick and each–all 2-1/2″ strips and only 48 blocks. You can get all the details HERE: TUTORIAL: Welcome Home Quilt Block – Wedding Dress Blue (wordpress.com)

I like the scrappy happy look, but it is easy to see a more controlled color scheme could be used for wedding quilts, quilts of valor or just about any occasion.

Pushing towards a finish soon.

I would really like a marathon Friday Night Sew In, but even with only one or two hours Friday night and a little on Saturday morning, things do get done.

Some cutting and stitching on my version of North Star State Quilt.

And the binding finished on a small donation quilt. The top is made from a charm pack that came in a hand-me-down bag a while back.

Looking forward to June already.

It was fun to turn the scraps into a top.

But even more fun to turn the top into a finish. And use more of the prepared scrappy bindings Sparkle Jane and I created and set aside.

Even small finishes are so satisfying. This adds to my growing stack of baby quilts to be gifted or donated by the end of the year.

More babies needed!

Because life is life, I didn’t get to sew as much as I hoped for either the Friday Night Sew In (FNSI) or National Quilting Day.

At first, probably because, again, life is life, I couldn’t even settle in. I cleaned. I sorted. I moved fabric around.

Finally, I decided to choose backs for a few charity baby quilt tops recently finished.

Then I worked for a while on a new baby quilt project, also for charity.

And that was about it.

But, any sewing is better than no sewing, and my room is in better shape.

Sometimes I am given scraps, or even a partially finished quilt, that just isn’t my style. But, it is an opportunity.

It pushes my creativity, design skills and problem solving abilities. It makes me a beginner again. It makes me learn.

Sometimes a not-my-style quilt is just what I need.

ps–Judy asks a good question: What was I actually given? AGAIN, I didn’t take a picture of the starting point. But, there were a few pinwheels finished, with a dark purple strip sewn to one side. There were several sets of squares (light purple and background) sewn ...

It isn’t my usual style, but I do like it.

Small (32″ x 32″) and sweet.

The back isn’t my very favorite, but it did use fabric that I had on hand.

And finished! Another warm baby in the world.

That pile of scraps has become two baby quilts.

They are about 35″ x 37″. And it is fun to see them side by side.

They still need quilting, but soon…

Is this something you would like a tutorial for?

It is hard for me to believe, too. But Sparkle Jane is a grown woman and recently engaged.

He is a really good man, and they have been dating for over 1-1/2 years. We like him a lot and feel really good about the arrangement.

Which brings me to my point.

Many have you have watched Sparkle Jane grow up. Others are more recent arrivals. But, all are invited to help make a wedding quilt for them.

It will be based on this pattern: Heart-Blocks-Pattern.pdf (cluckclucksew.com)

And these colors.

Make one block either 4″, 6″, 8″ or ...

Sparkle Jane spotted it, wadded up in a pillowcase in a scrap bag. It sort of appeared at her shop, snuck in and left without a word. Many mysteries…

And she brought it to me. “Mom, you can do something with this.”

Well, I can try, but what is it?

It appeared to be a fairly large vintage flimsy that had most likely been washed. It was so tangled I couldn’t even flatten it out enough to see what it was.

So it sat for a while. But, while I was home with Covid, it became interesting. What is ...

These jelly roll leftovers came in a scrap bag. After the last batch, I vowed to take some process pictures of making a quilt with the leftovers.

This will be another coin quilt. Can you see it?

For several years I have kept and counted my empty spools at the end of the year. Silly? Maybe, but the art teacher enjoys them, and I enjoy the counting.

The total for 2020 is 48.

Here are past years for comparison:

2019: 23

2018: 23

2017: 36

2016: 40

2015: 103 (the year of partial spools and the 52 in 2015 project)