Orange, Orange Everywhere

Spring 2019 I made this triangle quilt using the Chopsticks pattern by Jaybird Quilts. My daughter requested this pattern for her dorm room in a "bright color." I decided oranges and pinks fit the bill. I used different gray prints for the middle of the orange triangles, and a common light grey fabric (Connecting Threads light silver chambray) for the narrow borders around the orange triangles. This is the second time I made this pattern and I love it. However, there are a pile of half triangles left over after the edges are trimmed. I hate to toss big pieces of fabric, but they are an awkward shape to use, so I put them into a box ...

Fast forward to February and I still had a box of orange and pink scraps. The color for February at Angela's Rainbow Scrap challenge was orange. I had decided to try making some Checker Blocks using Elven Garden Quilts tutorial. I dug into my box of scraps and quickly made seven orange blocks. The angle cut end pieces for the Chopsticks quilt worked well for the half square triangles in this quilt. However, I wanted the quilt to be rainbow, so I put the breaks on making orange blocks and made some other colors to balance out the orange. I decided to finish the quilt top right away rather than wait for each color to be announced on RSC.

Last week I finished up the quilting and binding on this donation quilt. I quilted it with some wonky ribbon candy and lines.

Meanwhile, I still had a box of orange and pink triangle cut-offs from the original quilt. When sorting through projects in my sewing room as the stay-at-home recommendations rolled in, I decided to make some random blocks and empty the box once and for all. This scrappy orange quilt was the final result and will be a happy quilt to donate. I quilted it with big swirls in hot pink thread.

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict!

Another Week in My Scrap Pile

Although I really miss seeing people, like many other quilters I know I am making lots of progress on projects old and new.

All the great quilts from the Elvira Quarantine Quilt Along inspired me to use some patriotic batik fabrics for a QOV. To get the size I wanted, I modified the throw quilt layout slightly with 3 pieced blocks and one setting rectangle in each row.  I didn't have quite enough batik samples, but the blue and red tone-on-tone fabrics blend well. It was a fast finish which is next in line in my quilting queue.

An older guild member asked me to help her with quilting some comfort quilts, so I quilted her four 4-patch and furrow tops. I dropped them off at her front porch (while maintaining social distance, of course) and she can now work on the bindings. She lives alone and said she is going a little bonkers, so she appreciated receiving a project to complete. She made two of the tops from kits provided by our guild, then made two more from her stash. It's fun to see the same pattern in different color-ways.

I've joined Bonnie Hunter's Unity Quilt Along and still have row #3 to complete. There are lots of little star parts cut and sitting next to my sewing machine. This might end up as a Quilt of Valor, but I'll see how it goes. I'm digging through my blue, red and gold scrap bags to find lots of treasures for this project.

The quilting and binding are complete at last for this graduation gift quilt. I will be sending this to a college graduate in our extended family who will not have commencement ceremonies this spring. I finished the top in January, using the "Tangerine Dreams" pattern from Cynthia Brunz Desings. I enjoyed picking out bright colors for the top.

The graduate is hoping to work in the music industry, so I found this perfect fabric for the backing. My daughter, home and attending virtual college, voted for the lime green binding.

I quilted it with an allover double paisley design, with elongated spirals in the border.

Linking up with Angela at Scrap Happy Saturday. I didn't work specifically with blue this week, but I certainly included lots of blue in my scrappy projects!

Bee Fun

My husband keeps bees, so I've been enjoying all the bee fabric lines that are popular right now. I had an assortment of samples from the Andover Fabrics "Sunny Bee" collection and had fun making this modern square-in-square pattern (tutorial here.) I added a few fabrics to make 30 blocks, but I didn't have to look long to find several other bee-related hive fabrics in my stash along with some black and white prints that carried on the theme.

I quilted it with a large wonky ribbon candy design. Easy and fun for a donation quilt.

I finished the quilting and binding on my scrappy batik Urban Cabin (Atkinson Designs). I was glad to have a sunny day to photograph outside. I was pleasantly surprised that this project actually made visible dent in my batik bin. This will be donated to Habitat for Humanity for a new home dedication ceremony.

I quilted it with vines, swirls, berries and flowers.

Linking up with Alycia's Finished or Not Friday.

Creating With Border Prints

I have been having fun with some border print fabrics donated to our guild. These ducks were the start for this strip quilt, and I found adding some coordinating fabrics quickly finished off this comfort quilt.

This sailboat border fabric had cute tossed sailboats in between the borders at each selvage edge. I used some of the tossed sailboats with the arrows, inspired by the Onward and Upward quilt pattern. (Available many places including here.) The half square triangle row is leftovers from the arrows. And I had fun making a few sailboats for the center strip of the quilt. This flimsy is ready for quilting, and there was just enough of the border fabric left for the backing.

I spent time working on a tote bag using some of my late father's ties. I used extra firm stabilizer, and zig-zagged the intact ties to this base. Horizontal on one side, vertical on the other. It is a nice firm tote, and I had some good memories of my dad while I sewed. It's ready to carry a project next time I get together with sewing friends.

And I continue to make a little house block each day while I stay at home during these strange times.