Two More Compassion Quilts

Last week I showed you the two compassion quilts that were made from the 'ugly' blocks which actually turned out pretty. I decided to finish the blocks that were made from the 2" box. Most of them were already made, just needed to sew them together. These fabrics I like so much better than the 2.5" squares.

I had planned to just make simple patchwork quilts again, like I did with the first two quilts but then changed my mind. While I was looking at the stack of quilts that Koka Quilts just got back from her long arm quilter, one jumped out at me. It contained 6" finished 9-patch blocks with alternate star blocks. I have some unused star blocks that finish at 6" also.

I went with that idea and I love this quilt!

This quilt finishes at 58" by 70". 

I used every single star, no leftovers to go back into the orphan box.

I did have to rearrange several times to figure out the correct arrangement but it was fun.

For the second quilt, the blocks were sewn into a simple patchwork quilt. 

The patchwork quilt measures 58" by 64", a little smaller than the first one. 

If I did the math correctly, this flimsy contains 1640 1.5" finished squares. 

These two quilts made a definite dent in the 2" square box.

Both flimsies have the same border fabric, it's leftover from another quilt.

These flimsies will be quilted sometime next spring then donated.

So, what's next? I pulled a bunch of orphan blocks to arrange on the display floor. Nothing is going to happen immediately, I need to let the ideas germinate awhile.

I'm tentatively thinking about using the yellow fabrics as sashing. I'll probably add some cornerstones but I don't know what color, what do you suggest?

The center 9 blocks finish at 12" while the top and bottom blocks finish at 10". The little 9 patches finish at 4.5". There are 22 of them, 11 for each side. This quilt is definitely going to require math. 😔

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, Free Motion Mavericks, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

Ugly Quilts?

I decided to go ahead and sew the 'ugly blocks' together. Since they've been pieced into flimsies, they don't look as bad as I feared. They'll never be favorite quilts but I won't be ashamed or embarrassed to donate them.

Last week you all gave me several good suggestions as to how to set the blocks but I decided to just keep it simple with easy patchwork.

The first finished flimsy measures 59" by 79".

There are forty-eight 8" finished blocks in the center, set 6 by 8. The narrow brown fabric is leftover from a long ago project. The outside border is fabric from my mother's stash so it's old, from the 80's or 90's.

Here's the flimsy displayed on the grass.

I didn't mean for the quilt to become as large as it is but that is what the quilted wanted to be, why argue with a quilt flimsy?

The second quilt is made from the same blocks, again arranged 6 by 8.

This time I didn't add the narrow border, just the dark brown fabric so it's slightly smaller measuring 58" by 72".  I'm not sure why this flimsy is that much shorter than the first quilt, I probably measured wrong, oh well.

The dark brown border adds some zing to the flimsy. The first quilt looks more dull and muted but the same fabrics were used in both quilts!

I know I had said I had over 100 of these blocks pieced but guess what, I miscounted! I needed to piece three more blocks for this quilt which was okay, I'm glad to not have leftover blocks.

The backings for both quilts have been pieced, a soft yellow fabric that was gifted to me years ago with the understanding it be used in charity projects. 

The binding for both quilts has also been sewn. It's going to be very scrappy, using whole and partial strips that are similar to the fabrics used in the blocks.

Sometime next spring I'll spend a month or so quilting compassion quilts to be delivered to the cancer center at our local hospital. 

Someone commented last week that they only sew with pretty fabrics, they don't have any uglies. I didn't buy all those yellow toned background batiks, they were gifted to me by Nanette. She joined in some summer sew-along several years ago, I don't remember how long ago but it was before covid. She became frustrated with the project, took all of the bits & pieces and shoved them into a bag then mailed the whole mess to me. I looked at the pattern and decided I didn't want to deal with the pattern. That was my evening work that winter, taking all those blocks apart. That is where all of the yellowish background fabrics came from.

It feels good to have these fabrics out of the 2.5" box. Now I need to finish piecing the blocks from the 2" box, I might as well go ahead and get those blocks sewn into a flimsy also.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, Free Motion Mavericks, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

2nd Quarter Check-In

It's time for the 2nd quarter check-in of 2025 and time to check in with how my project list is going.

#3 is Elegant Garden. She is a flimsy! No, I didn't add the half star blocks for the outside border but I doubt Edyta Sitar is going to show up and complain. She is hanging in the 'to be hand quilted' closet waiting for her turn in the quilting frame.

Three quilts flimsies for granddaughter Joanna were pieced in the first quarter. They have returned from Calico Point with the quilting completed.

Teal Stars was #6 on the project list.

#7 is Log Cabin Hearts

#8 is Quadrangle

#14 - The blocks in this little quilt were embroidered by granddaughter Miriam. Now it's finished!

Two Compassion  (along with several others) quilts are quilted and delivered to Goshen Hospital to be used in the cancer center.

#17 - Book Adventures or the Peter Rabbit Quilt was finished in May. I machine quilted it myself with my sewing machine.

Linking to 2nd Quarter Planning Check-In, To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, FM Mavericks, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

Zippy Strippy Compassion Quilts

The last two compassion quilts are finished. I pieced the center sections before I went to retreat in April using an old jellyroll that has been guilting me for years. Deanna and I both bought the jelly rolls and extra fabrics years ago at the Pumpkinvine quilt store. She finished and gifted her quilt long ago, I didn't.

Remember when jellyrolls were first invented? Quilters were making zippy strippy quilts, some even participated in races to see who finished their quilt first. 

The problem with a zippy strippy quilt was it was too wide and not long enough. You could add borders which made it larger but then it was too big for me to quilt on my sewing machine. 

I started sewing these strips together but do the final doubling. I had a longer pieced strip which I cut in half to make the center. Sorry, I didn't take a picture.

I added borders to my centers and quilted them with simple straight line vertical quilting. The peach colored quilt was quilted in the ditch with lines 2" apart. The turquoise border quilt was quilted 1/2" from the seam line in the center then in the border. Both quilts were stitched in the ditch around the center sashing. Very simple but it works! 

They both measure 45.5" X 63.5".

This is the end of my machine quilting binge and I'm glad to be finished. Eight quilts have been quilted, five of them will be donated. The other three will be gifted eventually.

In the meantime, since I pieced these quilts, Michelle has published a jellyroll book, Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts. Several bloggers made quilts and posted about the book. I won a free e-book from Quilting Jet Girl just by leaving a comment on her post. The next time I make a jellyroll quilt, I'll use one of the patterns Michelle designed, they really don't look like typical jellyroll quilts.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Free Motion Mavericks, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

Two Little Quilts

Two more small quilts have been completed. One is a compassion quilt and the other one will be a gift to a special person in my life.

Several years ago I pieced a Moda Love layer cake quilt. I purchased yardage and cut it into 10" squares then sewed the HST's. I did not read the instructions thoroughly because I thought I knew what I was doing, wrong! I ended up making way too many HST's and needed to buy more fabric to have enough yardage to finish the quilt.

After the quilt was pieced, I placed the leftover fabrics and extra HST's in a bag with the intent of someday making something with them. That happened last winter when I pieced the small quilts that both measure 44" by 52".

They were easy to make, the first one has large broken dishes blocks.

The backing is very scrappy. I had finished piecing the teal quilts for Joanna so I incorporated leftover blocks into the backing. This quilt is the compassion quilt.

There aren't as many HST's in the second quilt. I could have pieced 2 more HST's and made a square quilt but I just didn't want to piece another HST!

The backing isn't as scrappy as the first quilt but I thought the flowered fabric went well with the teal/purple fabric. 

The quilting these quilts was very simple, first I quilted the blocks horizontally then vertically in the seam ditch. 

The next step was to  stitch diagonally. Lines were marked 2" from the seam lines. I stitched diagonally to the marking then stitched around the square which brought me back to where I had been on the diagonal then finished sewing the diagonal stitch in the ditch sewing. 

The border quilting was straight lines. I had planned to use the serpentine stitching in the borders but I couldn't find my machine book that has the different stitches. Oh well, straight line works.

It didn't take long to quilt these quilts. The light fabric was marked with a washable blue marker while the dark fabric was marked with a white Sewline marker.

Again this was simple quilting but no pleats or tucks on the back!

Here is a link to the Peacock Moda Love Star quilt I pieced in 2021.

My Christmas cactus plants are on the south porch but back against the wall so they don't receive direct sunlight. This one is in full bloom! It was full of buds when it came in the house last fall and starting blooming in October. It had some flowers all winter long. I've never had one do this well. Several of the other cactus have flowers also but not like this one. This must be the perfect place for them in the summer.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Free Motion Mavericks, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

Two Compassion Qults

This week I have two compassion quilts to show you. The first little quilt finishes at 41" by 50". The blocks were leftovers from a quilt I pieced probably 20 years ago, time to move them out. I posted about the flimsy last November.

As usual I did simple machine quilting. 

Using white thread I quilted through the purple chain then stitched in the ditch along the edge of the HST blocks. It still needed more quilting so I horizontally and vertically along the seam line every 4" which went through the center of the HST block.

The white border has quilting on both sides. 

I did mark a design in the border with a disappearing pink marker but I couldn't see it so I just kind of did my own thing. The border fabric is so pretty though, hopefully it will cover my poor quilting design. 

Years ago I had pieced two simple quilt tops to spiral quilt and donate. I quilted one and thought that was enough spiral quilting. The other quilt top was the perfect size for the back of this quilt.

Maybe they'll decide they like the backing fabric better and use it as the top side.

The second quilt was a store kit I bought at Caroline's last July and pieced in October.

The kit is named Trip Around the Cottage, a play on Caroline's Cottage Cottons. The flimsy measures 67.5" square.

I liked the touches of gold in the fabric so I pulled this thread to use for the quilting. This quilt has easy quilting, I stitched in the ditch on the side of all the seams. This was enough quilting so I called it finished.

I challenged myself to not buy backing fabric for these small quilts, I had these fabrics in the stash so that's what I used.

I did prewash the red fabric (which is more maroon then red), it bled a lot but the excess dye finally left.

I'm pleased to say that neither quilt has any pleats or puckers on the front or back.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Free Motion Mavericks, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

This 'N That

Elaine came one afternoon, the week between Christmas and New Year's. She has the applique finished for the center of the relief sale quilt (Rhapsody in Blue) we're collaborating on. We don't have a pattern for this quilt, we're just making it up as we go. 

We trimmed the center and added a 2" border, then it measured 36.5". We added a double row of 9 patches, both types. I had sewn the 9 patches last autumn sometime, maybe in October?

We laid out a single side and I sewed them together. The border looked good so Elaine left to run errands while I kept sewing. 

Three hours later the center looked like this.

This isn't the greatest picture but you get the idea. Does the center applique look familiar? Elaine contacted Nancy Rink and received permission for us to use the center applique from Lady Jane in this quilt. We did decide to change the center circle in the bottom center flower, that fabric is too dark, you don't see the circle!

As of now the center measures 54.25". The project went home with Elaine so she can add another applique border, this time a improvisation of the Lady Jane applique.

Rhapsody in Blue is #5 on my long list of projects for this year.

While I'm piecing blocks for other projects, I also sew 4 patches, leader/ender fashion. I try to clean up scraps after each project and cut various sizes of blocks. Right now I'm sewing to diminish the 2" square box. You already know how to make 4 patches so I won't bore you with details. This box contains twosies.

These 4 patches were sewn while I was piecing Peter Rabbit.

I know, poor picture 😕.

I did sew some of the 4 patches into larger blocks several months ago, now I'm piecing 4 patches again so there is more variety. Eventually there will be enough blocks to piece a large quilt. These blocks are 8 across by 10 down and will measure 12" by 15" finished.

In 2024 I sewed bindings on 59 comforters. It's a new year so it's time to start a new tally. I've sewed bindings on 3 comforters last week. They are all very pretty.

First is a bowtie quilt. The squares finish at 3". 

I don't know the name of this pattern but it's a fun design made with bright fabrics. The squares in this comforter finish at 5".

Who doesn't love a scrappy trip around the world? These squares also finish at 5".

These comforters were delivered to the MCC resource center where they will be distributed to the many places that need them.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

More Comforter Binding

Elaine dropped off seven comforters for me to bind. I used this tutorial for binding.

Sometimes the comforters are rather bland but these comforters are very pretty! 

Fern pieced these tops then passed them along to Elaine who then took them to be knotted at Prairie Street Church. The bindings have been turned, stitched and delivered to the Depot to be sent with the next shipment to wherever they're sent.

Isn't it interesting how we all have our different niche in the process?

Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

More Comforter Bindings

The comforters for binding had been piling up while I had been machine quilting binging. Of course I took pictures.

Some of the comforters are more attractive than others but they will all be loved.

These comforters have been take to the MCC rescourse center where they will be distributed for use.

Let me clarify, I did not piece these tops or knot them, I'm one of the binders.

This is the way I bind these comforters. There is a quick link to this tutorial on the top right hand of my blog.

Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts