Baby Quilt

Baby quilts are often opportunities to use up something.  In this case, it was just scraps.  I posted the photo on the Facebook group ScrappyGirlsClub and got over 300 likes.  That I didn't get, as the quilt is extremely simple.

Round 5 of Project Quilting

This week’s challenge was “Give It Away”.  My friend Maygie is this amazing artist and like every artist I’ve ever known, she tries all kinds of different types of art.  That means she has all kinds of different things to store.  She has been fighting some health challenges this year, so I decided I would make her a bucket.  She can use it store supplies or hold her current project or even as a waste bucket.

The outside is fabric that was probably sold to make outdoor cushions.  It just reads nautical to me, so it needed a sailboat.  It has been a while since I have made a bag, so I had to go find some directions to remember how to orient the outside and the lining to get this piece together.  Of course, that meant I had that old conversation with myself about “why I don’t use patterns to begin with -- it would make things so much easier at times…”

Graphic Houses

From someplace online I saw a sew-a-long for someone’s pattern of houses.  The basic house intrigued me, but from an improve standpoint.  I had a collection of off-white scraps to use as background.  So I tried a few and they are quick and super easy as there are no seams to match.  In fact, when I was making this, I realized it would make a great pattern for a beginner quilting class.  Some day…. 

I stopped at wall hanging size as I need to update my collection of quilts that get displayed in my living room.  I have looked at the same set for a number of years. 

The collection of fabrics in this wall hanging are all scraps.  They reflect my tendency to purchase fabrics that read as solids.  I learned to paint and draw long before I really learned to quilt.  There are days that training is readily evident in my fabric choices and my quilt designs. 

Paper Pieced Flying Geese

I don’t normally paper piece blocks.  I am well aware of the complaints for paper piecing blocks: 

• Lots of fabric waste 
• Invariably doing something wrong and having to take out tiny stitches 

So of course I have taken out and redone numerous pieces as I do all the things that don’t work.  I worked on the theory that it is just a matter of practice and then you quit trying to do it wrong.  Once I got past the “do it wrong” stage, it wasn’t too bad.  I did smile at some of the author’s notes that led me to believe she didn’t enjoy the process of paper piecing this block.  The real tell was she only did one block and this in a book where almost all of the projects are twin size or larger. 

I bought a ream of 8 1/2 x 11 inch unprinted newsprint a while back.  I do like making lots of HST triangles using paper.  I tried drafting a pattern, but I couldn’t figure out how to get the geese to  not point in a circle and still be uniform.  So I did use someone else’s pattern out of a library book. All I had to do was copy the pattern, scan my copy and print out on newsprint.  The publisher is canny.  The patterns are printed in red and don’t scan or copy easily.  I needed to copy the pattern using a ruler and a pen on tracing paper. 

Using Up Some Leftover Blocks

I honestly don't remember when I made these pinwheel blocks or why.  They were pinned on a bulletin board in my sewing room for more than a year.    The blue & white triangles on the top were left over from something I tried that didn't work and were hanging out on my design wall.

In my travels of collecting others castoff fabric, I ended up with a piece of a very neat farm print from Michael Miller fabrics.  I used this quilt as an opportunity to practice free motion quilting.  I went around the elements in the farm scene.  Since I don't do this type of quilting very often, it is never very good, but that is why you practice.

This became a baby quilt that simply went to charity.

Baby Quilts for Charity

In August, I went through scrap bins and collected leftover strips.  From this pile of strips I made two charity quilts.  They are baby quilt size.  When I was done, I realized I still have a huge pile of strips.  More charity quilts to come.