Each month, the guild hosts a Sewing Saturday where we come together to work on projects. Once a year, the projects are all to make charity quilts. This year, we teamed up in pairs to complete a Scrabble Patch pattern with the help of designer Karla Alexander. She gave each of us help with our Scrabble Patch and also a copy of any pattern we wanted for later. I picked the tumbling blocks (seen below).
sample of finished quilt
another easy pattern
our workspace
My teammate, Ruth, met up with me at Sharon’s Attic Quilt Shop to cut up our pieces (mostly from Ruth’s stash) ahead of time, so when we arrived that morning, we started right away designing our quilt.
our fabric
starting points
blocks to try
one version
rearranged a little
ready for borders
Other people used sports fabric, Hawaiian, floral, and many other color palettes. I took some pictures in black and white to see the contrast and how it helped with designing.
ours in BW
darker fabrics
florals
Hawaiian print
Karla’s tumbling blocks
ready for quilting
At the end of the day, we had finished our top except for adding the borders, which Ruth did at home and then together we sandwiched the quilt (using spray adhesive) while enjoying the company of others in my Piece and Quiet group. I used a straight line quilting pattern on it and Ruth completed the binding. It looks great and is ready to donate to a community organization!
This Christmas season, I had a fun time creating a few gifts and special orders.
Lana requested a few infinity scarves, and I made an extra one to give as a gift at the quilt guild meeting. At the guild meeting, I received a handmade gift of a zipper pouch filled with notions and a few fat quarters!
Scarves for Lana
Xmas party scarf
xmas party goodies
Ellen requested that I copy a pattern for a kids apron she made for her son years ago, using fabric especially for her grandson and granddaughter. They turned out cute and I practiced using bias tape.
Apron
Apron
I made a tree skirt (free pattern here) for Asami and Matt. This turned out to be an easy and fun project, and using the big space for ironing and laying out pattern pieces at Sewing Saturday was helpful.
pieces ready to stitch
in process
label on muslin back
finished
under their tree!
I also made a table runner for my friend Jill at work. She just bought a new house and I wanted to give her something sunny and positive for her new space!
At school, we came up with the idea of a “Season of Caring” where each advisory class came up with a project. Ms. Lowe’s group decided to make no-sew fleece blankets for charity. Great job, kids!
I’ve been working on this baby blanket since after Ryan was born this fall. It’s finally done as his belated Christmas gift!
I received patterns for a modern quilt block of the month from our Sewing Saturday group. They got permission to distribute this collection of patterns from the Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild. The other women have already started, which leads me to think about what color palette I want to use.
I decided on my fabric collection for this modern BOM. I’m intrigued by Amish style quilts with the contrast of black and solid color, so I’ve taken that up a notch to become more modern. Bright, saturated colors and a black/gray print background are going to pop! Thanks again to Deb at the Quilter’s Corner Store in Beaverton for her advice about fabric selection.
The January Block created an illusion of woven strips. Making the February Block was my first time making chevrons, using paper piecing for precision. Then for the March Block, the center block wonky star is from another online tutorial. I like how the colors I chose turned out looking like the sun.
Janurary Woven Strips
February Chevrons
March Star with Filmstrip
(3/15) Last night at the Sewing Friday in North Plains, I cut up the fabric for a few more blocks, and today finished sewing three of them! A paper piecing block is also started. I decided to color on the paper pattern to make sure I get the colors in the position I want (so it doesn’t look like a rainbow but includes all 6 colorful fabrics).
Two on the left are newest
And tonight, a third new one is complete
Paper Piecing beginnings
(3/16) The flying geese around in a circle block is complete now. I think this is my favorite block so far. Hopefully I have enough fabric at the end to make another one like it for a table runner project. I’ve started planning the next paper piecing block and asked Aaron to color in the pattern. It’s a helpful way to see how the block will look and plan out where to put all the pieces.
Flying Geese in a Circle
Coloring the paper pattern
The Color Wheel
The next block is made with 25 2″ squares, then I need to figure out how to cut out a circle and then set the circle on top of another circle (red fabric) and then both on top of black. To make the grid, lining things up carefully and strip piecing made it a quicker easier process.
Chain piecing and careful ironing
Center Grid
Raw Edge Block
(5/25) The final few blocks are now complete! Next step is to decide about how to connect them into a quilt top. The challenge from the guild is to have it ready to show in September.
Geese as the pattern described
My interpretation of the block
Diamond Block
Pixel Block
Now that all the blocks are finished, time to put it all together and create a back. At the September Sewing Saturday, I finished placing the 12 blocks, 11 on the front and one on the back with some scrap pieces. At the October Sewing Saturday, it all sandwiched together with black batting (purchased off the roll at Sharon’s Quilt Attic). I used a technique my mom showed me on youtube that uses two boards to provide the tension to flatten it out and not need pins. Instead, it’s basted with black pearl cotton and ready to machine quilt, perhaps I’ll practice free motion quilting.
