Quilt finish for charity

New finish Blue & White Wedges quilt 

 Recently I finished this new blue and white quilt of wedges sewn in long strips which were left over from a Dresden Plate quilt called Blue Diamonds I made almost three years ago.

Blue Diamonds quilt 2012-2013 a Dresden Plate set on point and hand quilted.

 I made too many wedges for my Dresden plates because I wanted lots to choose from when I was building them. I cut and cut six inch wedges and then put them together as I needed them to mix and match my dark and light plates. When I was done making two large bed sized tops I set the remaining wedges aside. At some point these wedges got sewn together into long alternating blue/white strips that laid in a pile of left over blocks for quite a long time. Opportunity this year to make a quilt for the homeless arose at the guild as it always does in Sept. We have 100 quilts for Kids as a challenge and I had a pal to help me assemble these into a quilt at our all day guild sewing day. Virgil, I met him over the summer, quilts but doesn't have much experience he says. We joined forces at the guild meeting and with his help we put it together in a top that measures about 40 x 64 inches. A nap quilt for a toddler or a throw for some one feeling the season chill. Our quilts this year are going to the Washington DC homeless family shelter at the old DC General Hospital I believe. Once the top was all sewn together and nicely pressed I was lucky to find a nice piece of blue and white tartan in a box of donated fabric large enough to cover the back. I brought the blue tartan yardage and our top home to finish with batting quilting and all the usual parts.

Since this quilt is going to be a donation, I did the straight line quilting on my featherweight Singer sewing machine so it was faster than by hand. I did a diagonal design to echo the wedges. Then on a visit to Manassas I whipped up a personalized label for the back and added the solid blue to bind the edges. 

front, back and label 

Long walks are part of my aspiration every day. It is good to get away from the sewing and in Manassas while I was working on the blue and white wedge's label this image of a local lake surrounded by white asters and blue sky and white clouds becomes a photo equivalent to the blue and white quilt. Guess I didn't get that far away from the project on my long walk seeing the same colors by the lake. 

100 Quilts for Kids, Sewing Day.

At DC Modern Quilt Guild we have been working up quilts to donate to kids in a homeless shelter next month. 100 Quilts for Kids began a few years back by Katie Blakesley  one of the guild's first presidents. It's a challenge to make a quilt and donate to your favorite kids charity.  Yesterday we had a sewing day meeting devoted to assembling quilt blocks, made by various members or working on a quilt you were making to donate. Many were using fabric donated to the group for this purpose. It's Denyse Schmidt's DS Studio fabric line mixed with solids and other scraps or donated fabrics. One of my favorite quilt book writers who makes pretty vintage looking fabrics in colors that are a bit vintage too.
This past month I worked on hourglass blocks that our guild treasure Heather chose and organized this year. I enjoyed the challenge of making Heather's blocks last year for the same project so I decided to join her team again. We received two fat quarters of fabrics in a bundle to make a pair of blocks and the tutorial to make them up in the block design I had never done before. It took some concentration and a new square trimming tool I didn't have but it was fun once I got going. I finished four hourglass blocks at home.

Then made up another set at the meeting Saturday with some help assembling and pressing from other members. Jessie Aller and her little Vivian did some pressing for this block you see laid out on my cutting mat and Susan assembled the first set of nine from this pair of fabrics.

While I was at lunch the blocks that were completed were laid out on the carpet at the library meeting room and assembled into a twin size top by Heather and several other quilters and was ready to go home to be backed and machine quilted over the next several weeks. It a crazy bold mix up of these funky colors but we know it is going to be some one's delight when it goes to a needy teenager.

I love all the shoes in this shot of the hourglass quilt top

Besides the quilt I worked on there were others that showed up completed and ready to donate we got see with Susan Fuller as the volunteer holder upper of the quilts for these photos. She is tall and did a great job, thank you Susan and these include several of her finished quilts!

There were a lot of groups doing various quilts with this donated DS Studio fabric and I caught a few photos of the quilt tops but not everything.

Melinda took the group fabrics and made a quilt all on her own and was binding it with a great orange-red, she had it quilted by SueZquilts the long arm quilter who is a sponsor to DC Modern Quilt Guild and it looked really sharp. Everyone was interested in the unusual mix of green, orange and purple that made up this quilt derived from one of the DS Studio prints. The best part of working on quilts for some quilters is the selection of prints colors and patterns and how they look when assembled. So even thought it is a lot of work that goes into all the quilts the chance to experiment with different fabrics that might not be your favorites is a good challenge to undertake. It was a fun meeting for charity quilting on a cool rainy autumn day, perfect weather for working inside.