Seminole Patchwork Samples

I am leading a virtual Seminole Patchwork workshop for my quilt guild early next year. So, of course, I needed to make some samples for the class. I found great instruction and designs in the book Basic Seminole Patchwork by Cheryl Greider Bradkin.

First I made this 20" x 24" wall hanging.

I had a lot of fun pulling strips from my solid bins, and did simple quilting in matching colors. However, when I showed it to some guild friends, they thought the tiny pieces looked a little too intimidating. So I did three of the designs at twice the size.

This 20" x 20" piece would be good for a wall hanging, tote bag or center of a medallion quilt. Hopefully, not as intimidating.

Our guild is still ironing out the kinks with zoom meetings and workshops, so I'm not sure how much we can accomplish in one day. I will demonstrate the three larger designs, and then if people are inspired, they can add more and/or smaller designs.

Our guild had a very productive Quilts of Valor virtual Sew Day in October. Many members participated, some making one or two star blocks, others making complete quilt tops and still others finished quilts. I'm doing most of the quilting, but others are assembling tops and adding binding. Here are the first seven we have completed. We have ten more in the works! People are mailing pieces and parts to one another, as well as meeting in parking lots and outdoor space to pass things off. Great to see how we're making it work.

It was great to have a nice sunny day to spread out the quilts for a picture!

Linking up with Oh Scrap!

Around The Block

I started making house blocks in March as we all started to quarantine at home. I made one each day, and put 68 into a wall hanging when our state started to re-open. However, I was still enjoying making the little blocks (3" x 5" finished), and kept making one daily. I now have a pile of little houses in my sewing room and am playing with different ways to use them. My guild decided to have a virtual challenge this year with houses as the theme. I used some of my house blocks to make a bright wall hanging to share at our virtual guild meeting next week.

The wall hanging measures 38" x 38". My corner houses were inspired by the Dresden Neighborhood pattern by Kim Lapacek.

The house fabrics remind me of past projects and what I was working on that day.

I found just enough of a pink and orange stripe for the bias binding.

I had fun using lots of bright fabrics and quilted clouds and wind swirls in the outer purple border. Everything came from my stash except for one yard of Kona purple. 

Linking up with Oh Scrap!

On The Diagonal

 Back when I made a bunch of 12" Split 9-Patch blocks, I arranged the second pile into a furrows layout (I posted about my first top here.) Lots of fun scrappy fabrics in big blocks. Sometimes I like the immediate gratification of using my stash in a comfort quilt! The top was finished a few months ago, but now it is quilted, bound and ready for donation.

Quilted with a square spiral across the blocks and elongated loops around the border, it finished at 47" x 59".

I found a perfect bright fabric for the backing. Given to me by a friend when she moved away, it made me remember fun times we sewed together when I pulled it out of my stash.

I also recently quilted this Quilt of Valor, pieced together volunteer topper. A simple design with big blocks, but I think the bold graphics of the star fabric and the stripe fabric are terrific! The fabrics do all the talking.

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!