More "Made Fabric"

Back in May I told you in this post about making fabric out of scraps and using it in blocks for a block swap with the the 15 Minutes Play group to which I belong.  I showed you the January through May blocks, and thought you would like to see the the rest of the blocks I made for the year-long swap.  In June I made these leaf blocks for Glenda.    

In August Barbara sent each of us some pink fabric and asked for hearts.

San-Dee asked us to make fabric and then cut it into simple shapes so she could appliqué them onto wheelchair lap quilts for dementia patients in September.

Cindy posted directions for these cute blocks that she wanted us to make for her in October.

Then in November Melinda asked us to make any kind of star blocks using "made" fabric for the stars and black and white background fabrics.

I think the December star blocks Alexis asked for were my favorite of the entire swap.  Bright "made" fabrics for the center of the star with yellow points and a red background.  She said to "wonk it up" and I tried.  

You will notice that I skipped July.  That was my month to receive blocks.  I'll tell you about that later.

One thing I learned is that even though I enjoyed the swap, I do not like making fabric.  For one thing it makes me feel like I have to save smaller and smaller scraps of fabric.  For another thing, whenever I make fabric my sewing room looks like this.........

I think this coming year, I will stick to making quilts from "bought" fabric!

A "Made Fabric" UFO Update

There's a fun place out in Blogland called 15 Minutes Play where quilters are encouraged to make their own fabric by sewing together small scraps and then using that "made fabric" in their quilts.   I participated in a block swap in 2011 in which each player, when it was their turn,  could request blocks of their own design, and the other participants made and sent that block.  I blogged about it HERE.  I requested two blocks -- one neutral block of made fabric and one color block of made fabric.

I asked that they be slashed, switched around and re-sewn.  Like this --

I made the purple blocks and received 12 more sets from the swappers.  

They stayed on my design wall for a while and then were hidden away with the rest of the UFO's.  Since this is my "Year of the UFO" they are once again seeing the light of day, and this is my current project.

I didn't think I would like the look if I had just sewn them together into rows.  I needed to play.   So I slashed .....

..... shuffled .....

..... then added 1" strips of a complementary color.

I still wasn't happy, so I slashed some more and added another strip.

Now, THAT is looking interesting!  I played all day yesterday and was able to finish the blocks and get them sewn together. 

I'm really starting to like this idea.  I need to give the borders some thought, but I have several ideas in mind.  I have a feeling this one won't be a UFO much longer!

I've Been Rockin' those UFO's Lately!

I pulled out a UFO the other day.  (I'm determined to get as many finished this year as I can.)  

This particular quilt top was started in 2011 when I participated in a block swap involving "made fabric."  That's when you take your small scraps and sew them together, then use that "made fabric" in other projects.  Some people call them crumb quilts.  If you google "crumb quilts" or search Pinterest for them you will see some great quilts made that way.  Here are some examples.

 In this blog post from 2011 you can see how my blocks were made.  The basic blocks were by the other gals in the block swap.  I made the purple ones.  (I know.  Purple, right??)  I cut them up and rearranged them, then added the contrasting strips.  After that, it became a UFO because I couldn't figure out what to do about borders.  

This week, determined to get something checked off my list, I pulled it out and started to play.  At first, I thought I would put a small black inner border and then use made fabric for the outer border working my way around the top with red, then yellow, then teal, purple, blue, etc.  I wan't motivated to do that much work, though.  Lately, I've seen a lot of quilts with a pop of black and white stripes so I thought I'd do something with that.  It works.

What to do for the backing was another tough decision.  (I'm not used to making all these decisions without input from Hubby, but he was out of town, so I had to do the best I could!)

Thinking I would use a black on white print I dug through my stash and, instead, came up with these very cool prints.  I had about 5 yards of each.  I remember buying these at Hancock's of Paducah a while back when I was at a retreat at Kentucky Lake. 

Here's the backing I came up with.

Now it's basted and ready to quilt.  

That's the goal for this coming week.  Checking off another UFO from the list will be so fun!


I'm linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  I'll wait until it's finished before I ask for a Whoop Whoop!

Look at me! I'm "making" fabric!

I have been participating in a Block Swap this year with an online group hosted by Victoria at 15 Minutes Play.  The goal of this group is to "make" your own fabric from scraps and then use that "made fabric" in new projects.  Well, I certainly have plenty of scraps.........

in baskets....




















in containers....

and......well, you get the idea!

Each participant is assigned a month for which they decide what kind of block they want and they post directions on the 15 Minutes Play blog. 


Here are some of the blocks I have made for the swap so far this year:  "Red Crosses" for Victoria in January,

"Five Piece" blocks for LeeAnn in February, 

"White" blocks for Jess in March,

and "Slashed Red" blocks for Mary-Frances in April.

For her May blocks, Sara sent each of us some "Lake" fabric and we were to make green fabric for "Islands."  




So, these are my "Lake and Island" blocks for Sara.

 I'm having fun with this group of quilters, and I'm learning a lot, too.  I have some ideas about what kind of blocks I want made for me when it's my turn in July, so I'm looking forward to that.

In the mean time, I need to start "making" more fabric because, as you can see, I have an awful lot of scraps!

70273 Project Update and a Stash Report

In this post I told you about The 70273 Project and that I was putting together quilt tops from bundles of blocks I had volunteered to sew together.   There was a bit of a learning curve figuring out how to get the blocks to all fit into one top, but I enjoyed it.   I learned on the second top that I had made it harder than it needed to be, and it went a lot faster.

Each block is numbered and records are kept of who made which block.  The challenging part for me was drawing a map of how I had laid it out.  I'm so glad Hubby helped me double check my work, because I did transpose a few of the numbers.  (Yes.  In both tops!)  I guess it's not just "the dreaded math" that gets me, it's anything involving numbers.  Oh, wait.  I think that IS math.  Never mind.

The most difficult piece to work with was this really thick block using neckties.   The fact that the base fabric was vintage damask didn't help.  I made it work, though! Instead of sewing a regular seam I folded the adjacent block edge over and stitched it down from the top.  I don't know why, but that seemed to work better. Whew!

Piecing the second top went much faster, but there were some fun blocks in this one, too.

It's really intriguing to see such a variety in the materials used to create the Red X's.  There were velveteen ribbons ......

..... hand stitched X's, grosgrain ribbons .....

..... printed ribbons, satin ribbons, rick rack .....

..... even felt.  (The blue painters' tape on the back is part of the numbering system and will be removed before quilting.)

As with the neckties some blocks are very creative, using netting, lace, and braided ribbon, among other assorted textiles.

These tops are ready to go to the post office, then off to the volunteer quilters.  

It didn't actually take a lot of time so if you are inclined to help check out these websites.  There are many ways to volunteer.  http://thebarefootheart.com/introducing-the-70273-project/  or www.the70273project.org

Another stash-busting year is off to a good start. My goal is to use 100 yards this year.  After all, I did that in 2015 when I was laid up with a broken arm for 6 weeks or so, which means I have no excuse.  Right?

Fabric Added in January  -   3 yards

Fabric Used in January  -  13.78 yards 

Fabric Added Year to Date  -  3 yards

Fabric Used Year to Date  -  13.78 yards

Net Fabric Used in 2018  -  10.78 yards 

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict   

Hawaiian Shirts and a Stash Report

Josh's box of T-shirts had two Hawaiian shirts his grandmother had made for him, and I really wanted to use them in his quilt because they're pretty special.  Originally, I wanted to figure out a way to use the actual shirt fronts, but it just wasn't going to work without taking up too much space.   I didn't have any room to spare because I was already using 25 shirts, and for 10 of those I need to use both the fronts and the backs.  

Thinking it would be easier to use the fabric from the shirts to make Hawaiian shirt quilt blocks instead, and knowing that I had seen a quilt like that somewhere, I began the search.   It turns out Moda has a free pattern that looks pretty simple and fairly straightforward. Well, it's not.  I did more ripping out than I did sewing. (Wait.  That can't be right.  I wouldn't have any finished blocks, would I?)  The first block took three hours to make! The second one took only two hours.  And, by the time I realized the trouble was entirely my fault and figured out that I needed to read the pattern more carefully, the third block really was "pretty simple and fairly straightforward".  

Isn't the 3-D collar cute?

The love bugs and peace signs are pretty groovy, too.

His favorite Gramma-made shirt wasn't there, but for some reason there was a piece of leftover fabric. I remember that shirt so well.  I have at least two photos of Josh wearing it.  I absolutely had to work it in somehow.  
  

At first, I was thinking that I would only be able to use it to make a label. When I pulled it out to have a look I realized there was more fabric than I had originally thought, enough for an entire shirt block.  I wanted to use a medium to dark grey for the background, but I didn't have any at all in my stash.  Aha!  The old "use-the-wrong-side-of-the-fabric" trick worked!

And it looks great!

I've arranged and rearranged (and rearranged some more), and have the final, final layout on my design wall.

It's time to start getting it sewn together.  Can't wait!

It's also time for my February stash report. It's not as bad as I thought it would be considering what kind of month it was!

Fabric Added in February  -   1 yard

Fabric Used in February  -   9.45 yards 

Fabric Added Year to Date  -  4 yards

Fabric Used Year to Date  -   23.56 yards

Net Fabric Used in 2018  -  19.23 yards