Improv Quilts for Steve and Ginger

I've been blogging recently about the quilts I managed to finish during the last nearly two years while isolating because of the Covid pandemic.  I was in a funk for about the first six months of isolation and not sewing at all, but then I started making up for lost time.  Now I'm playing catch-up on my blog.  

After I made the quilt for Shirley A using orphan blocks (read about that here) I had a few teal crumb blocks left and set them aside to do something else with. 

I shopped my stash and found these 2.5" strips left from Kacie's quilt (read about that here).

Then I raided my stash again and dug through my scraps and pulled more teals.

Then - you guessed it - play time!  Scrappy quilts need scrappy borders .....

..... and scrappy cornerstones .....

..... and a happy finish.

  

Once I decided that this would be the perfect quilt for my sister-in-law, Ginger, I wanted to make a similar quilt for my brother-in-law, Steve.  Oh, boy!  More play time!  I'm starting to like this whole improv thing!  

Steve's quilt started out with orphan blocks, too.  I used mostly batiks to make more crumb blocks .....

..... added bits and pieces of a fun shade of yellow .....

..... started playing .....

..... and, you guessed it!  Another happy finish!  

My favorite part of making these quilts was gifting them to two very special people.  I wish I could have done that in person, but the photo they sent me is the next best thing.

Love those smiles!

Linking up with "Oh Scrap!"

Kacie's Quilt

Every girl needs a new quilt when she leaves home to go off to college.  Especially when her Aunt Sandy thinks she does! And even more so when her sisters have recently received new quilts.  (You can read about Karlie's here and Kourtnie's here.)  It was Kacie's turn.

Jennie Doan's "Summer Camp" pattern looked like fun, and I was in the mood to work with teals and grays.  I dug into my stash and found something to work with, but I ended up adding a few fat-quarters to round out the mix.  We have to do our part to support our Local Quilt Shops.  I mean, that's a given, right?

The blocks were pretty basic so it went together quickly.  That's a good thing since I had waited to even start on it until she was just about ready to leave for school!  Isn't it nice when a block starts out as a half-square-triangle and keeps changing as you add simple strips?

I reversed the way the lights and darks in the HSTs are positioned in order to get a different look.  You know me.  Gotta change it up a little if I'm using a pattern!  It didn't make much difference really, but ... well ... you know .....

Another beautiful quilting job by my friend, Shirley Jackson, and a hand-stitched label and binding, and Aunt Sandy was ready to ship it off to one of her (many!) darling nieces.  

Getting some nice shots of the finished quilt is one of my fave things to do.

Seeing that big smile when someone gets their quilt is my absolute fave, though!

It makes my heart happy!

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict 

Linking up with So Scrappy

Teal Update (Alright......Purple, Too)

I may have bitten off more than I can chew with this Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Well, that's only because (as with all things quilty) I have to do it my own way.  The challenge is to make one or more blocks of the color chosen for each month then put all of them together into one big rainbow quilt.  The goal I have set for myself is to make an entire charity quilt each month using that month's color.  That's a big challenge, but I'm excited about it.

Last month's teal blocks are now in a top and it's basted! 

I tortured myself with this quilt, trying to make it more interesting.  I had the whole first row put together with half-inch sashing strips .....

..... then decided it would be too much work, plus it really didn't make that much difference, and I ripped them all out.

It's times like this that I'm happy I have my trusty tool made by my friend Jack the Seam Ripper.  I want to buy a bunch of them just because they're so pretty!

I used a print from my stash for the backing.  I had bought three yards of it from The Fat Quarter Shop a while back, and forgot I had it.  It's from the Dim Dots collection by Michael Miller.  

(That stash really does come in handy sometimes!  Please tell Hubby that!)

As you know the January color was purple and I made string blocks.  I have made some progress there as well.  Hmmm, I didn't realize until I started typing that I also tortured myself trying to make this one more interesting.   I wanted to make a piano key border (really just want to use up every bit of purple I can!) ..... 

..... but it was just not working.   Someone suggested it was the orange border that wasn't working.  Not so.  I love the way it looks.  Plus it brings out the orange in the white print.

I decided on a final border using one of the purple fabrics and called it done.

This one is basted, too!

The March color will be announced tomorrow, so I need to get busy quilting or I will end up with a ton of UFO's at the end of the year.   You know what?  That is so not gonna happen!

I am linking up with So Scrappy's Linky Party.  Check it out.  There will be a bunch of teal projects there.

SaveSave

Teal - Now That's More Like It

February's color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge hosted by So Scrappy is Teal.   It just so happens that teal is one of my favorite colors so that makes me happy.  (It beats purple, anyway.)  I decided to make pinwheel blocks for a baby or toddler quilt depending on how many blocks I can get from my scraps and stash.  

Half-square-triangles turned into components......

.....which turned into blocks. 

I thought I had 60 blocks made using 12 different fabrics. 

Then I counted them again to decide on a layout, but there were only 58.   I guess I'm even worse at the dreaded math than I thought.  Now I can't even count!   Anyway, I made a few more blocks, using 15 fabrics in addition to the background.

The next decision will be sashing or no sashing.  I can't think about that right now.  I'll think about that tomorrow. 

I'm linking up with the rest of the bloggers involved in this challenge over at So Scrappy Saturday.  Then I'll take a look at their blogs.  You should too!

I'm also linking up with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.

One more thing.  Remember I said that teal is one of my favorite colors?  I really meant it! 

SaveSaveSaveSave
SaveSave