Charity Wheel-Chair Quilts

     My guild took on making wheel-chair quilts for one of the local Long Term Care Homes. We are a small guild with approx 30 members and this is a big undertaking for us. We need 136 quilts, they are approximately 30'' x 40''. They will be delivered in December to the home and hopefully depending on how bad Covid cases get, some of the guild members and Santa will be there. 

The idea is to provide something to the residents and hopefully make their Christmas a little brighter and also so they know someone is thinking about them. As some residents have no one to visit them.

Excuse the leaves it was quite windy yesterday and I haven't been out to rake yet today. I was more interested in taking photos for this blog post.

These two were made from scrap bags from my guild.

I made 14, and most were made using fabrics and scraps from our guild stash with a donation from my stash for backgrounds or to supplement the scraps. Some were made using orphan guild blocks.

Some orphan blocks, and more scraps

the purple/pink was a quilt someone had donated. The wonky star was a single orphan block

The purple and pink quilt required a little surgery and seam ripping, the floral was a part of the original quilt. 

Charm squares and sashing

a little bit of irish

The 4 patch units were not square, they were rectangular, but I think in this layout they worked darn good.

sometimes simple is best

these are browner than they appear

Even though I haven't been blogging much, which I need to get back into doing, I have been busy.

Some of the quilts took longer to come up with ideas than to actually make them. 

Sailing Along H2H Quilt

 While sorting fabric in my quest to use up more of my stash I came across a bag of scraps that someone had given me. I think they have been percolating for at least 5 years or more. 

these were the scraps and as you can see they were not all straight cuts

The challenge was on! Could I make a quilt top using just these scraps?

16 1/2'' x 16 1/2'' centre 

Time to start adding borders.

three borders added

After adding three borders it was getting there, but I still wanted it bigger. It was only 33'' x 33'' and I was running out of scraps, but that didn't stop me.  I added a couple more to each end bringing the size up to a 33'' x 42'', a small baby quilt. Perfect for Ronald MacDonald House, my charity of choice.

Some simple curls and swirls for the quilting to keep the quilt soft

One less bag of scraps, and the real plus they are going to a worthy cause.

Project Quilting Final Project 11.6

I have been feeling a little unfocused these past few days, I know I'm not alone in that. I find when I'm sewing or quilting I can forget about those feelings for awhile. I'm in my happy place then.

Vibrant and Vivacious was the challenge hosted by Kim of Persimmon Dreams. I drew up a couple different ideas in EQ8. I knew I wanted to make this final project for a child at Ronald MacDonald house. What child doesn't like colour, and bright colours even more.

colour pops in dresden blades

I finally settled on a flower and dresden plates make nice flowers. The blades I used are 10 inches long, every other blade is coloured and the rest are white as is the background.  Which allows the coloured petals to pop and the rest blend into the background. This gives the illusion of an airy flower.  For the border I used a Riley Blake print called Tetris Holding.

aurifil thread choices

I free motion quilted the background with loops and hearts. I wanted to keep it simple and fast, time was an issue.

hearts in the background, echo quilting in the petals with a partial line. 

The backing was another Riley Blake print called pieces of hope.

perfect backing for a child in the hospital

The quilt finishes at 38 inches square. A good baby or small child size.

this quilt will be one of my Hands to help quilts

I will have to wait to donate it until after we get the all clear from Covid-19. In the meantime I hope that everyone stays safe during these trying times.

Linking up to
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Quilt Fabrication
My Quilt Infatuation
Meadow Mist Designs

All about Strings

My string quilt project for the All About Strings Blog Hop hosted by Carla at Creatin' In the Sticks, is a pinwheel quilt. 

Pinwheel String Quilt

I've been trying, notice I said trying to use up my strings. They seem to sprout overnight, every time I think I have them under control wham a bunch more appear.

7 1/2'' string blocks

I had a bunch of string blocks that I made more than a year ago. I pulled out any blocks that had pink in them no matter how little as long as it had pink it was good to go. I did have to make a few more, but I still have oodles of strings left.

matched up pair

I paired them up with a Boundless cream solid. Making sure I kept the line I wanted to sew to the correct corner see above photo. You could of course sew them to the other corner, just keep them all the same. I usually use my hera marker to mark these but it wouldn't have shown up for the photo. I stitched a 1/4'' on each side of the line. Cut on the centre line and press to the solid. I trimmed them to 6 1/2''.

sunshine you have been missed

I laid four HST's out in a pinwheel. I forgot to take a picture of the single block, which is a 12 1/2'' unfinished block. I laid them out in a 3 x 3 setting added a 4 1/2'' pink border. 

you can see the sun back lighting the quilt.

all that crinkly goodness after washing

I quilted it using Aurifil #2410, it blended in well with all the different colours. I did some quick and simple loops allover.

This quilt will be used as a donation for H2H2019 Comfort quilts.

All About Strings Blog Hop Schedule

Monday, March 25th

Just Let Me Quilt

Kathy's Kwilts and More

Bumbleberry Stitches
QuiltFabrication

Seams to be Sew

DesertSky Quilting

Happy Cottage Quilter

quiltsbyjoanne

selina quilts

Homespun Hannah's Blog

Karrin's Crazy World

Tuesday, March 26th

MooseStash Quilting

keepsake moments

Just Sew Quilter

Vroomans Quilts

That Fabric Feeling

Quilted Delights

Life in Scrapatch

Patchouli Moon Studio

ShirleyC

Wednesday, March 27th

Stitchin at Home

Alycia Quilts

Websterquilt

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Melva Loves Scraps

Words & Stitches

Den syende himmel
Patchwork Breeze
Domestic Felicity
The Quilted Snail

Thursday, March 28th

Cynthia's Creating Ark
The Joyful Quilter
Color Creating and Quilting
PamelaQuilts
Beaquilter
Two Maker Chicks
Days Filled With Joy
Quilting & Learning - What a Combo!

Creatin' in the Sticks

Guild Fun Plus

I am sitting here staring at my screen trying to decide if I have anything to blog about. What have I been up to quilting wise? Well let's see. I went on a mystery shop hop with my guild, always fun. We car pool and in our vehicle we had a blast. All the laughing and sharing with like minded quilters a JOY. This year we were to wear a quilters hat hmmm. I had never heard of a quilters hat, time for a little creativity. First off I am not a hat person not a good way to start coming up with something. After thinking about it for awhile I thought to myself Now really how hard could this be? I decided on a fascinator, easy peasy right! I started with the following items head band, some felt, ribbon (in green of course), 1 1/2" quilting blocks, bobbin, thread, needles. First step cut two felt ovals, glue the headband between them. Add one 6 loop bow and embellish with the assorted items. Want to see? Of course you do.

now doesn't that just take your breathe away 

It is soooo lovely another picture is in order.

I will not be taking orders any time soon

We went to five quilt shops and had a lovely lunch in St. Jacobs at the Stone Crock.  We Started our shopping at  Undercover Quilts and More in Fergus We ended in New Hamburg with two shops, Heart'n Home Creations and Quilting by Design. 

The other ladies outdid themselves with their hats, now I wish I would have taken pictures but that didn't happen. We had one person who made a band box hat topped with a cardboard sewing machine, which she had coloured accordingly. We had one hat with ziplock bags hanging everywhere full of quilting tools, we had fabric wrapped hats. Well done ladies! One shop owner asked if we wore our hats to meetings, NO.

On Monday at my guild meeting we had a couple demos of paper piecing. Heather showed traditional paper piecing. You know the type sew through paper spend hours ripping all those papers out. I showed the freezer paper method, it is the only way I do paper piecing as I am most definitely not a fan of ripping out paper.

This is the block I showed them, hopefully some will show up in November with finished blocks.

a simple freezer paper pieced block

The black and white block is for our monthly block challenge, which was Septembers challenge. One of the requirements is that all blocks must be 10 1/2'' unfinshed, and in this case black and white other than that the sky's the limit. We use the blocks to make charity quilts, this year they will be going to Ronald MacDonald House in London and Victoria Quilts.

For not knowing what to write, I think I had more to share than I thought. Hope you are having fun too!

H2H Quilt Finish

A finish, especially for a worthy cause makes me smile. This cute quilt is bound for Ronald MacDonald House in London, Ontario and will be delivered this week. You can read more about it here. The Hands2Help is hosted each year by Sarah of Confessions of a Fabric Addict. This is the third year I have participated in H2H.

I quilted it with an allover loopy feather, I love the texture it gives and it keeps it cuddly and soft to wrap a little one in love.

fmqed with loopy feather

I used a bright print for the back it wasn't quite big enough. No problem I pieced it with a blue strip. Perfect if I do say so myself.

bright pieced back

I used a scrappy binding to finish this scrappy quilt.

rolled quilt showing the scrappy binding in a tree

Hop you get to quilt today!

Guild Challenge Block

This year my guild members have been making challenge blocks. Every month is a different colour or theme. Some of the challenges for the year have been primary colours, leaves, red and green, winter blues, hearts.
After our last meeting some of us stayed and started making quilt tops. We had pizza for lunch and got to work.

primary colour blocks

winter blues

hearts

As you see there were a variety of blocks. With rotary cutters, zipping through sashing, sewing machines humming along and irons pressing. We turned those blocks into lovely tops for our charity quilt program.

primary colour blocks with a yellow strip sashing

for the winter blues we used white sashing

hearts are set with a red sashing

A very productive afternoon interspersed with laughter, learning and making. When quilters get together good things happen. 

Linking up with:

Moving it Forward Monday

Linky Tuesday

Let's Bee Social

Needle and Thread Thursday at Kelly

H2H Quilt

I am once again making a Hands2Help quilt hosted by Sarah of Confessions of a Fabric Addict. This is my third year participating and I will again be donating my finish to Ronald MacDonald House in London, Ontario.
Last year I started making blocks using up some of my 1 1/2'' strings. You can read more about the blocks here. I would make a block or two now and then with no real plan in mind. Come around to this years H2H which features scraps I knew I wanted those blocks to find a home and give a little one some comfort along the way.

4 patch

The blocks are 5 1/2'', a nice size to make into 4 patch blocks. I put them up on my design wall and played around with the layout and sashing. I was so into playing with these I completely forgot to take pictures. Does that ever happen to you? 

a flimsy

In keeping with the 1 1/2'' strips I used in making the blocks, I decided to go with 1 1/2'' sashing strips and inner border of white. The strips were left over from another project. It feels good to find a worthy home for them. The borders are 3 1/2'' bringing the quilt to a 40'' by 40'' size.

Next up quilting and binding. I hope to have this finished up this week.

Scraps plus a Finish

I'm still playing trying to use as many of my strings as I can. Up first is my finish for the Hands2Help  quilt, you can read more about it here. I went with wavy line quilting kinda. You would think that someone who can do free motion quilting would be able to make wavy lines. Seems like an easy enough thing to do, but getting the lines to flow and wave took a lot more effort than I thought.

back shows the kinda sorta wavy line quilting

I pieced the back as I didn't quite have enough of the fabric I choose for the backing.

scrappy flange binding

Keeping with the scrap theme I used leftover flange bindings. I keep all my leftover bindings in a plastic container that was overflowing.

ready for a child to snuggle in, this quilt is going to Ronald MacDonald house

They were a lot of strings left even after making the string quilt. Now what to do with them? I grabbed a few 1 1/2'' odds and ends and sewed them together in pairs. Trimmed them to 5 1/2'' just because they were the shortest size pieces. I then added a 1 1/2'' by 5 1/2'' white piece between two strip sets. The blocks are 5 1/2'' square. I threw some of them up on my design wall. 

one possible layout

Then I moved on to the bits and pieces of the 2 1/2'' strips and cut them into 2 1/2'' squares. I am making these into 16 patch blocks using them as leader and enders. 

16 patch blocks

There you have my scrap story. Are my strings all gone. NO!!! I don't believe they will ever be all gone but they are more manageable now.

Strings and String Blocks

After organizing my stash into an IKEA shelving unit, you can read more about that here, I realized I had a fair amount of strings. Now what to do with all those strings.
I am making a quilt for Hands2Help run by Confessions of a Fabric Addict, this is the second year I will be participating in this charity quilt challenge. You can see the quilt I made and donated to Ronald MacDonald House last year here. I will again be making and donating a quilt to Ronald MacDonald House.
Back to my string over abundance and what to do with them. Strings and string blocks go hand in hand.

I sorted the strings by colour. Then set to work using them up. The idea was to use up all or the vast majority of them.

all sorted and ready to go

I had an old phone book and decided to stitch my strings to the pages of it, some people use muslin. I didn't want an added layer or the added cost. I pulled the pages out of the phone book and squared them up to 7 1/2 inch squares, my book was 8'' x 10''.

laying out strings

After sewing the strings to the pages and before trimming I gave them a light spray starch on the fabric side to help control those bias edges. The paper I put in my compost bin, it will break down and helps to control any odours.

before trimming 

Some of the fabric strings date back to the 90's. The size of the strings were anywhere from 1'' to 2 inches and various lengths. I used some older 2 1/2'' strips, the newer ones I kept for another project.

lighter string blocks

 

darker blocks

I made 80 blocks and these are the strings I have left, they didn't seem to go down at all. I think overnight the fabric/sewing fairy has been adding to them.

after 80 blocks the strings appear to be growing

I had some great help laying out blocks.

my 'little helper'

This layout used 56 blocks, the flimsy is 49 1/2'' by 56 1/2'' which makes a nice size quilt. I don't think I am going to add a border. 

 I can see a few blocks I should have moved for better colour flow

Next up quilting I am trying to decide whether to do straight line, wavy lines or an allover loop. What would you do?

I will be linking up to 

Main Crush Monday

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Sew Fresh Quilts

This That and the other

It's been a quiet week in the sewing room. I did however take some time to play with my new Neocolor Crayons and also pulled out my Derwent Inktense Pencils.

a fun little flower using neocolour crayons and derwent pencils

I drew up a quick flower and using Clear Aloe Vera gel as a medium. I painted the flower, I just let it flow and had fun. The Quilt Rat has a great tutorial on using Aloe Vera Gel. No idea what I'm doing with the flower yet.

All this playing is before I use either of these techniques on my Guild Challenge for our upcoming Quilt Show June 9 & 10, 2017. 

Guild Challenge

I wanted to highlight some areas of the applique. I will do a post with more photos later, when the project is finished.

charity baby quilt 

My guild has put together kits of donated fabric for quilt tops, I took this one home to work on. Some are panels as this one was, some have strips or bits and pieces of fabric. Tweety was a panel and I bordered it with two other fabrics a lovely green print and a nice yellow floral print. I used a piece of backing from my stash and quilted this one together quickly. I added a couple hearts and stitched in the word love.

can you see the word love?

how about the heart?

 I used some straight lines on the inner borders and loops in the outer border keeping the quilt soft. Added a flange border, this quilt will be donated to Ronald MacDonald House through my guild. 

That wraps up my quilting week in a nutshell. How was your week?