Green: One becomes Twenty

I jumped in with enthusiasm using some of my green scraps. I was inspired by The Academic Quilter's  rainbow Dancing Stars and pulled some 3.5" green squares from my pre-cut scraps. The bright pink star with the green made me smile and think of spring, even though the ground has been covered with snow this week.

Not wanting to stop with just one, I kept going. I used some old, old, old fabric squares I inherited from my step-mother, their dated look disappeared among the other greens. I cut more squares from scraps and small pieces in my green drawer. I planned for 12 blocks, a nice comfort quilt size. However, I still was enjoying the process and the results, so I ended up with 20 blocks and made a good dent in some of my greens. I'm not sure this quilt is going to comfort quilts any longer, I'll see what I end up doing for sashing and borders.

Other recent finishes include this Wedge Star quilt from this Missouri Star tutorial. The bright batik fabrics printed with squares are all from the same line, samples donated to our comfort quilt program. I cut them into 10" squares to follow along with the layer cake required by the tutorial. Only a little extra fabric from my stash was required to finish the border.

Finally, another monochromatic star quilt with crumb blocks. I was happy to use a nice piece of fleece on the back which was leftover from a jacket I made 10 years ago!

Check the Rainbow Scrap Challenge to see other green creations this week!

The Scraps Continue

I've been playing along with RSC19 and continuing to work through lots of scraps, even though my blog posts are few and far between. I know several people in my life with fabric accumulations bordering on hoarding, which scares me and makes me want to use what I have and share my quilts with others. I'm glad my guild has an active comfort quilt program which will find a good home for anything I want to make.

This yellow scrappy rail made a good dent in my bag of yellow scraps. I always try to use up larger pieces on the back, and this is no exception with pieces from one of the graduation quilts I made last year.

For years I have cut many of my scraps into usable sizes, inspired by Bonnie Hunter's scrap user system. My box of 4.5" squares was overflowing, so I pulled squares with blue and/or green for this scrappy quilt, anchored by the solid blue star. At least the lid on the 4.5" square box snaps securely now!

Check out other scrappy projects at Angela's blog. I'm looking forward to tackling some of my green scraps in March!

Last Minute Finishes

Our guild meets tomorrow and I successfully finished up a few more things ...

The scrappy rail top I made earlier this summer is now quilted, bound and ready for the comfort quilt team.

My addiction to happy blocks continues, this quilt is finished for comfort quilts. I love the bright colors and seeing fabrics that have been hidden away in my stash included in a quilt at last. I have enough centers and borders cut to make two more when I'm so inspired.

This little wall hanging (19" x 25") was made with a photo I took, printed on a fat quarter at Spoonflower, and then cut into an attic window setting. I have seen panels done this way, but I like the intimate look of a smaller photo. I have four more printed photos in my sewing room to try soon. This wall hanging is destined for a charity auction.

My work-in-progress is a double square star quilt (instructions found at Missouri Star Quilt Company) destined for Quilts of Valor. I like it's scrappy look so far, but it didn't make much of a dent in my red fabrics.

Check out Oh Scrap this week for lots of inspiration!

Fat Quarter Creations

Our guild has a very active comfort quilt program, and I was the chairwoman for 4 years. We provide kits to members which include fabric, batting and an easy pattern. Now that two other ladies are chairing the committee, I am the "comfort quilt consultant" and stop by to check out the (huge) fabric stash, suggest pattern ideas and make samples.

We receive many yards of donated fabrics and try to find patterns that work with the fabrics we receive. The fat quarter bins are overflowing, so I set out to find some easy, free fat quarter patterns. I started with 2 different sets of 12 fat quarters. This first quilt is the small lap-quilt size Fat Quarter Fizz from the Fat Quarter Shop website.

I quilted loops in the rectangles and funky flowers in the squares.

I used up the remaining fat quarters and some extra fabrics from my stash for the backing. I cut one binding strip from each fat quarter as I cut the primary pieces. The only downside of this pattern for our purposes is the size: it is 48 inches wide, so the backing must be pieced. We try to make most of our kit quilts 38-40" wide so the backing can be a single piece of fabric.

With my next set of 12 fat quarters, I made this triple square quilt. I found inspiration and instructions here, but I modified it slightly. My center squares are cut 5", the first border is cut 2.5" and the second border is cut 3". This gave me 13" finished blocks, and I could cut a binding strip from each fat quarter as well. Overall size 39" x 52", no piecing required for the backing.

Even though piecing the backing was not required, I found several flannel pieces to combine for a cozy scrappy back.

One other fun comfort quilt completion was this Hoffman Supernova panel. Adding stars in the border gave it a perfect finish!

Linking up with Moving it Forward where I always find lots of great inspiration!

Something Old, Something New

An old project finally finished! This top has been finished since January 2017, but this month I finally quilted it and finished the binding this week. The blocks were made month-by-month in the 2016 Block Lotto, a fun group I have participated in from time to time. It was a great project to use lots of scraps, and I really loved making the chickens and chicks.

I found a perfect chicken backing fabric to finish it off!

A new project (using old fabric). I decided to use up my small pile of Halloween fabrics using Happy Blocks. These blocks are terrific for novelty prints and leftover strips. My kids loved when I made Halloween themed place mats and pillow cases when they were little, but now they are teens and I haven't touched these fabrics in years. Time to clear them out. I'm sure our comfort quilt team will find a kid who loves Halloween to snuggle with this quilt. I pieced the remaining Halloween fabrics for a scrappy back, and I just need to finish the binding for our September guild meeting.

Linking up with Cynthia's Oh Scrap where there are always many wonderful scrappy projects!

Sewing From Stash

I've had lots of sewing time this summer and I continue to try and sew from my stash. After a series of graduation quilts this spring, this summer I'm sewing this and that, mostly for charity. The lid on my batik bin would not close, so I made this quilt inspired by the Bermuda Sunrise pattern. I made my blocks 12", adding half blocks along the sides for a rectangular quilt. Our guild gives quilts to new Habitat for Humanity homeowners, this is a nice gender neutral quilt for that program. The lid on the bin closes now, but I'm sure I could make several more quilts from it.

This orphan block quilt started with the four house blocks in the middle. When I helped our guild's comfort quilt team sort through some donations, these blocks came home with me. This and that from other projects easily filled the other rows.

When I was making the orphan block quilt, I added a row of scrappy blue rails across the top. Looking at my bulging blue scrap bag, I decided to try to empty the bag. Usually an impossible task for me! After making 108 six inch blocks, the bag is very close to empty and I like the look of this scrappy top. Of course, as I look around my sewing room I have found more blue scraps to start refilling the bag.

I continue to be inspired by so many scrappy project shared by others, hope I give someone else a few ideas. Linking up to Oh Scrap where there are always great ideas to try!

Graduation Quilts

I have not done much blogging, but I have done a lot of sewing and quilting. My daughter graduated from HS this year, and I made graduation quilts for 10 of her friends. It was a fun year-long project, with my daughter providing lots of input and suggestions about what each of her friends would like. I used lots of stash fabric, but also added some specific fabrics, like science fabric for the pre-med friend and word fabric for the future journalist. I hope they are enjoyed in their respective college dorm rooms across the country!