Fun Finishes

In between quilting for others and a commission quilt or two, I sometimes like to quilt and finish something quick and fun, usually a donation quilt. I have several finished tops hanging near my machine, ready when inspiration strikes.

I picked up a small piece of this cute owl fabric from our guild's comfort quilt fabric stash. I cut as many owl squares as possible, then found other bright fabrics to coordinate.

Too much sun so the photo is a little washed out, but it is bright and cheery and I had fun quilting hearts and loops. Finished at 50" x 64".

Another top I finished several months ago was inspired by a Covered in Love block drive. The block drive had finished, but I made a pile of blocks and put them together into two donation quilts. A great scrap buster, and it's always fun to try various layouts with asymmetrical blocks.

Quilted this week with squiggles and swirls, this donation quilt finished at 48" x 60".

I cleaned out lots of red prints for the scrappy back.

Linking up with Sarah at Whoop Whoop Friday!

Waiting for Power

Due to tropical storm Isaias, we have been without power and internet since Tuesday, and I miss my sewing machine! We are fortunate to have a backup solar system which provides about 30% power to our house (fridge, water, microwave, some lights and outlets) and it refills each day in the sun. And it hasn't been terribly hot. I wish I had prepared more bindings to hand sew, and I really should consider starting the wool hand applique project I purchased supplies for in December! However, I'm mostly taking walks and reading.

I did photograph a couple of finishes, tops I've blogged about earlier. I've seen suggestions lately to use fishing magnets to hang quits on the garage door for photos - that is genius!

Here is my quilted and bound "Twirla" quilt. I did simple double loop quilting on this donation quilt.

I also quilted and bound one of my scrappy plus quilts. Made with 3" squares and 3"x 9" rectangles. Simple wavy lines and occasional loops finished it off nicely. Another donation quilt for my growing pile. I hope my guild will be able to make some quilt distributions this fall even if we can't meet in person. I want my quilts to be snuggled and used!

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday and Whoop Whoop Friday.

Bright Beads

I had a pile of bright samples from Kim Schaefer's Doodlicious Retro Fabric Collection (Andover)  and wanted to emphasize the fun prints in a donation quilt. (The samples were donated to our guild for comfort quilt use). I decided on a "Beads" design using a bright turquoise background fabric.

Beads is a 9-patch variation on point and pretty easy to figure out, but I referred to the free download from Jordan Fabrics just to double check my math. It would work great with a charm pack or layer cake.

Beads - 48" x 66", 8.5" blocks, for donation

The top is finished and the backing prepared, perhaps I will get it quilted this week. Since our guild is not distributing donation quilts right now, I have been having fun making tops and will need to have a finishing marathon later in the summer.

Linking up with Oh Scrap!

Color Wash Squares

Sarah posted many wonderful donation quilt photos for Hands2Help 2020. A color-wash of squares caught my eye, and I opened up my box of scrappy 4.5" squares to give it a try. I have always been intrigued by color-wash quilts with tiny squares, but it was fun to get a similar effect with much less piecing. I hope whomever receives this cute donation quilt will have fun checking out all the novelty fabrics.

Color-wash Squares for donation, 48" x 56"

I quilted it with a simple meandering loop, and used two different green fabrics for the binding, one dark and one light.

In a continuing effort to use-what-I-have, I cleaned out some stash and pieced together some assorted green fabrics for the backing. It would be great if one of the campers who receives this quilt has a connection with Michigan or Michigan State since I included leftovers from a graduation quilt in the backing.

Linking up with Cynthia at Oh Scrap!

Big Plus and Little Plus

It seems the backing pieces I trim after quilting are often roughly 4" wide. I have been cutting many of these trimmings into components for "plus" blocks. I cut two 3.5" squares and one 3.5" x 9.5" rectangle and toss them into my "plus" box. I put a note in my box that the last time it was emptied for a plus quilt was March 2019. Wanting some mindless scrappy sewing, I arranged the pieces on my design wall and started sewing rows.

Plus Quilt - 48" x 57"

A nice throw size for a donation, I'm sure anything I find in my backing box will "match"!

Feeling the need to completely empty the box and do a bit more mindless sewing, I arranged the remaining pieces into another plus quilt.

Plus Quilt - 39" x 45"

I won't even need to piece the backing for this little one. I'll find something bright and fun for this kid donation quilt.

Linking up with Sarah at Whoop Whoop Friday!

Now I Can Close That Box

Inspired by Bonnie Hunter's scrap user system, I have several boxes in which I put scraps I cut into frequently used sizes. Often I add, add, add to these boxes and don't make anything with the contents for quite awhile. My box with 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles was overflowing!

I am still doing a lot of client quilting, but I took a break to play in my scraps. These 14" blocks use twenty-one 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles and two 1.5" x 14.5" strips. Twelve blocks make a quick comfort quilt, and now the box closes easily.

Almost an eye-spy quilt, which I hope some young recipient will enjoy. Finished size 42" x 56".

Comfort quilt are a perfect place to audition quilting designs. A client wanted large spirals across her quilt, and I was deliberating what to do between the circles ... an overlapping large circle, or a diamond echo? I tried both on this quilt to see which I liked best, I don't think the comfort quilt recipient will mind that the quilting is varied.

By the way, I decided not to do either large circles nor diamond echos on the client quilt, but rather small circle spirals that that just touch the larger circles. The client and I are both happy with the results!

Linking up with Cynthia at Oh Scrap!

Tossed Rabbits

I have always liked fabrics in which the design is "tossed." It is easy to work with with and there is no need to pay attention to direction or if the fabric grain aligns with the printed design. These tossed rabbits worked perfectly with the twirling block in the "Twirla" tutorial. I enjoyed pulling bright colors to coordinate with the rabbit print, and added a narrow sashing so the twirls float. My outer border was cut to use the last bit of this donated fabric, ending up with a finished 47" x 61" throw quilt.

Our guild was able to take 180 + comfort quilts to Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang Camp this month. Even though the camp is closed, the director plans to send a care package to each camper which includes a quilt and a pillowcase.

This rabbit quilt will be added to our guild's donation for next year. I'm still busy quilting lots of client quilts, but I look forward to finishing this when I get caught up!

Linking up with Sarah at Whoop Whoop Friday.