Carolyn's little sweat shop for a week

 The week of binding May quilts is done and now I have a bit of a sweatshop happening.  I cut some kits for preemie quilts earlier this year and also cut some kits for Quilts of Valour last December.  On Saturday was our guild sew in and I took kits with me to work on.  Pressing at the sew in is a bit of a nuisance with me being taller than most so as I got a project to the pressing stage and sub cutting, I packed it up and started on the next... it was very productive. 

I started my pressing and next step in each project and laid them all out, ready to go... some are to the top (flimsy) stage and others are still ongoing to get the basic blocks made and then stitched up into a top. I also have been working on Heartstrings charms.  I found a set of 5" squares called Funtime 30's and added frames to the blocks in a variety of colours and made a couple of preemie quilts. 

These are blocks from a swap that we did when I belonged to the Candianquiltswappers at yahoo groups.  Each person in the swap chose 4 six inch squares and they got sent to each other so a set of 13, one from each province and territory.  This was in 2009.  Since these blocks have been hidden away for so long, I decided to do something really simple and create a Quilt of Valour. 

This is the second funtime charm on the design wall and the first on the ironing board. 

Lots of these kits were cut... some using my rubber ducky fabric (I have/had a lot of it) or there are trains, and some trucks. 

An example of one of the duck combinations.

I worked on the strips for this 3 yard quilt on Saturday. It is Stepping stones by Fabric Cafe. 

And here it is, all put together. I didn't have enough of the maple leaf print to cut more squares so I used some dogwood and totem pole squares that were leftover from the Canadian block swap many years ago. 

Running Doe is having a fun sew along using a different pattern from her each month.  This is called Pink and I put together an odd assortment of strips that I found in my kid's fabric box.  So many variations of fabric combos that have been posted that I think I will make another one. 

Another Quilt of Valour and I had stitched the alternate block pieces together.  I have it laid out and am missing a few blocks so will make more and get this to the flimsy stage. 

Back to my stitching up of these kits for the local NICU.  Once I have these projects hanging, waiting for quilting, it will be time to work on my Rainbow scrap challenge blocks (blue) and patterns by Jen (raspberry).  More driving for an appointment this week and only one day of tennis but two guild meetings.  So, as usual, busy days for me. 

Adding to my previous post

 

This was my pile of quilts with batting and backing cut and ready for the quilting marathon last week in May.  I emptied a few boards of fabric that I used for backings.  

I played binding chicken with each of the quilts and won on most - this one was a definite loss and had to prepare another piece to be able to finish. 

I pulled out some fabric for making kid's quilts from charms for my Heartstrings group and this one is called Square Dance.  I had a stack of 10" squares that are jungle themed.  I put two together, cut as shown (and described in the last post) and started stitching. 

My day of working outside ended up with some pictures of some of my garden areas.  My rhodo is never spectacular no matter much fertilizer I feed it.  But, at least there were some flowers.

Marigolds always add a lovely bright colour and there are lots more starting from seeds that self planted last year.  The wild rose is beginning to bloom and my Rose of Sharon is showing signs of green.

A few more orphan blocks were found and enlarged to 12.5" for Survivor quilts and will head to Quilt Canada with a friend who is attending the show.  Vanessa of Quilts for Survivors is hoping for 1000 blocks and am sure I have contributed 10% of her goal.

We had an afternoon without any electricity so I pulled out my box of hug blocks that I take to guild meetings and organized, started a new system with a sample of each block on the bag.  I used to drag my finished hug block quilt to each meeting but this method will be much easier.  My goal is have a completed block for each hug block pattern and here are three more completed. 

Such a lovely full moon though this was taken the night before the actual event.  The weather forecast was not looking great for the next night so I grabbed the opportunity to get a picture. 

I still don't know why my pictures from my phone won't upload to my blog while I am on the computer but, I figured out how to sign into my blog from my phone and uploaded them that way.  Where there is a will, there is a way! 

 

Binding and labelling plus major tidy up in my studio

 The May quilt tops that I pulled out for quilting are finished!  They are quilted, bound and have labels.  What a great feeling for the 4th day of the month.  Of course, I have new projects started but so far, no pictures for you.  

- Heartstrings: charms for June and lots of ideas but will be all kids quilts. 

- Rainbow scrap challenge: colour is blue and of course, I have far too many types of blocks I am making.

- Quilts of Valour: I pulled out some blocks that were a Canadian quiltswapper yahoo group block exchange in 2009 with 13 of us contributing four 6" blocks from our province/territory.  I have sorted the blocks and stitched the four together that belong each area. My brain is busy thinking about a layout. 

- One more quilt top I want to quilt and bind that was given to me for Quilts of Valour. 

- Make a quilt for my sister to give as a gift for a newborn. 

- Work on some of the kits I have cut from 3 yard patterns. 

- Continuously clean, tidy and organize.  I really need to start adding labels to everything... I look at something and it takes me forever to remember what I was thinking at the time I packaged up the fabric. 

So... the last week of May was quilting marathon week.  Such a great idea that I gleaned from Stephanie and it is working for me.  I managed to finish a good number of quilts considering that there were many appointments for my husband as well and one day of lovely weather that I dedicated to yard work. 

This is the second of four Plus block quilts I made using my rainbow scrap challenge blocks from 2023. I changed up the layout from blocks being neatly in horizontal rows and offset them a little.

I did not make this quilt.  It was donated to Quilts of Valour by Darlene and will make a lovely quilt for a veteran from the navy. 

 I did a sew along with GE Designs and this pattern is Strips and Salsa.  I added on a border to make it a little larger.  A great use of a set of batik 5" strips that were in a package.  Not sure if I got them as a gift or I purchased, another case of not remembering.

I also joined a group on Facebook that was being offered by Running Dove.  She designs for Villa Rosa patterns and this one is Throwback.  If you google the pattern or search for it on FB, you will see so many great designs and colour ideas.  I was a bit lazy and didn't want to match all the vertical rows when putting the blocks together so I turned each one and created a different design than on the original pattern.. I managed to use up some odd red/white fat quarters and added borders using some Canadian themed fabric and it will be perfect for a Quilt of Valour. 

Stepping Up is a 3 yard pattern by Fabric Cafe and it was made 2 years ago and went to the long arm quilter in a bundle with other quilts.  Apparently, I forgot the batting and backing for it so it came back unfinished.  I now have it quilted, bound and labelled.  I will make this again because it showcases two fabrics and good use of fabrics with a theme. 

My May challenge to myself was to open up the bin of well aged florals.  I am not sure floral fabrics are like wine and get better with age but there was a huge variety and I pulled out some greens to go with the flowers. The first step I took using most of the yardage was to cut off a 10" strip.  That meant I ignored fat quarters or bits and pieces. Ha ha... they are still intact and waiting. I then cut again into 10" squares creating my own layer cakes.  A huge stack of them.  I looked for patterns that I like making that used that size of square.  The first pattern I worked on was Kimberly by GE Designs and this is easy and fun to make. 

Square Dance is a really simple design.  Two 2.5" strips are cut off the 10" square and shortened to 9" in length.  Then, two 2.5" slices are made that are 5" long and that leaves a 5" square.  If you cut two at a time and switch out the center blocks, you get a simple, easy framed square. 

Villa Rose Take Out is a another simple pattern and I made one of these earlier this year with batiks.  I didn't have a great selection of fabrics with really light and really dark values, most of them were medium but I went ahead anyway.  Another good pattern for 10" squares.

This last one was made using a tumbler ruler that fits on 10" squares (from Missouri Star). The heartstrings group I belong to had a challenge in May to use a tool or pattern that was being neglected and I have only used this ruler once before, a long time ago.  So, it got some love and attention.  A very simple way to make a quilt with the larger blocks. 

I would love to show you more photos but for some reason, suddenly, google photos will not load to my blog?  What is up with that?  

But, the results of my work last week are here and hopefully some inspiration for you to dig out some older fabric and use it in a quilt?