Show and Tell - Fall Swap Blocks

One of my Covid isolation finishes was completing a block swap quilt.  I had participated in the swap with a group of online friends a few years ago, 2018 to be exact, and needed to get this off the UFO list.  The guidelines for this swap were to make a 10" block with fall colors and use Kona Bone for the background.  We each made fifteen blocks, kept one, and mailed the rest out to the other participants.  I was really happy with the blocks I received.  Swaps can be a little risky, but that's half the fun!  [photo credit Krystal Kane]

I made the block in the upper left corner.  I wanted to make sunflower blocks, but all the sunflower block patterns I could find online were pretty complicated, and since I had to make fifteen of them, I decided to call this a sunflower.  

Coming up with an arrangement I was happy with (and that didn't look like a traditional sampler quilt) was another opportunity to play!  Once I had all the blocks up on the design wall I started filling in the spaces with pinwheels, flying geese, and more.  Playing always creates a huge mess.  At least it does in my sewing room!

I played with the quilting too.  I mostly use a meander on my quilts, because I'm not very good with Free Motion Quilting so I had fun trying my hand at different designs.  Mostly just squiggly stuff.  It works, and I don't have to sew straight lines!

I tried my hand at designing my own block since I had to make an extra to round out the group.  I just cut out pieces and kept rearranging them until I had this.  You can see where I had to do some odd piecing by adding rectangles to make things fit.  Maybe not the best way to go about it, but I really like it.

It was fun.  I should do that more often! 

I really enjoyed making this quilt.  

And I decided to keep it.  It's mine!  What a concept, right?

A Special Request

When someone asks you to make a quilt because the last quilt you made for her is completely worn out, it is easy to say, "Yes!"  I love it when people actually use the quilts I make for them.   I had made a Double Pinwheel quilt for my sister, Dee Dee,  back in 2000.  It was one of the first quilts I made once I got back into quilting after putting it on old to home-school my sons for over 20 years.  

It may look pretty, but it wasn't well made.  I learned from my mother and grandmother back in the 60's so I used inexpensive fabrics leftover from garment sewing to piece the top, a bed sheet for the backing, and store bought bias tape for binding.  It's no wonder it started falling apart after only 11 years!  Not to mention I never told Dee Dee to wash in cold water with a small amount of mild soap and not to wash it too often.  I've learned a lot since I made this one!


I had some Pineapple Blossom blocks from a group block swap I was involved in last year.  I only had 24 blocks from the swap and I needed 121 to make a king size quilt.  (I know.  I should have made a baby quilt with these!)  

This is another one of those quilts made from stash and scraps that "didn't cost anything" to make.  (I still haven't convinced Hubby of this logic.)  


The money I saved on fabric (ahem...) I spent on having my friend Angela from Quilted Joy do the quilting for me.  She always does a gorgeous job.

400 inches of binding takes  awhile to sew on.

But, it looks pretty all stitched down.


I don't have a design wall (or design floor either!) large enough to get a good photo of a king size quilt, so I threw it on my guest room bed to take a picture.  

It turned out well and I hope it lasts Dee Dee a long time.  Really!  I hope you are listening, Dee Dee!!

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!

It's Not Like I Haven't Been Busy

I guess I was so busy I managed to let an entire month go by without blogging.  Or maybe it's that whole February hibernating thing I have going on.   Oh, let's just go with the "Busy" thing.  Here's what I've been up to.  

My February finish!!  A baby quilt for a little girl being born any day now. 

I worked from my stash for this one after I found this cute pink print in my novelty fabrics. 

Then I made 26 of these scrappy pineapple blocks for a block swap with some online friends......

......and 5 of these blocks for another swap.

I found some scrappy blue strips in my sewing room so I started putting them together for a quilt for our great-nephew due in May.

After that, I started on a Star Wars quilt at the request of our grandson, Aidan.  There isn't any Star Wars fabric currently available, but I found some Darth Vader fabric on eBay for the backing and borders and also this panel by Lucas Films Ltd.

I cut up the panel......














......then made some filler blocks (still trying to use up that stash!) 

  

All I have to do is finish filling it in with black and it will be ready to quilt. 


And, needless to say, I will have one happy Jedi grandson!   


I also made some pillowcases for the Million Pillowcase Challenge and I got a LOT of work done on the UFO I told you about in this post.

So I guess I haven't been hibernating at all.  Just not talking about what I've been up to as much as I should be!   

One More UFO Checked Off!

A few weeks ago I finished my oldest UFO and checked it off the list, and I'm pretty happy about that.  Braggy, even.  (Yup, it's a word.  I just looked it up!)  In 2001 I participated in a Block Swap with a group of online friends.  I sent a fat-eighth of background fabric to each person on the list and asked them to make any size block they wanted.  I told them I looked forward to the challenge of putting together a top with different sized blocks using interesting sashings and settings.  Innovative group that they were, I received nineteen 12" blocks and three 6" blocks.  Hmmm.  Not much opportunity for creativity in laying out those blocks.  It all got stuffed into the back of a cabinet.

I got it out last month and took another look at it.  I bordered each block with a small strip of black and made the border from the leftover background fabric.

   

And, talk about a pieced backing! I used up a whole lot of leftover muslin scraps (almost 50, actually) to make this backing, and I incorporated the blocks I couldn't fit onto the front.

I decided to have some fun quilting this one, so I experimented a little and did something different in each block.  

I like this quilt a lot.  I have another Christmas quilt to display during the holidays, AND I got another UFO marked off my list.  Can't complain about that!