This week I was able to finish up two more donation quilts by quilting and binding them. The tops were donated by Jo Kramer and her Community Quilt program and will be given as finished kid quilts to the Salt Lake chapter of Quilts for Kids.
Here is a cute basic transportation-themed quilt, perfect for a little boy. The interior squares received a crosshatch treatment and the outer red border was done with a stipple (meander).
This little cutie finished at 38.5 x 43”.
The next quilt I call Picnic Kisses because of the red picnic check and the lips. :-) I just did some basic loop quilting.
Picnic Kisses finished at 42x48”. These two little quilts, along with the three donation quilts I finished last week will be donated at our next QFK workshop in September.
Once those were done and dusted, I got to work on making a dent in my yellow scrap bucket. Yellow is the color of the month for August in the
Rainbow Scrap Challenge. First this week were three Four in Nine blocks. They will finish at 9”.
And then one of my favorites to sew, the Chaser blocks. I’m using black with white as my constant in these blocks instead of a light background. I think it’s going to look really sharp when all the colors come together for a quilt top party!
The
Chaser block is a Cynthia Brunz pattern, as is the Color Stix block, below. I plan to do Color Stix for RSC24, and this is just my first - a prototype, if you will. It is Cynthia’s block for the current block drive for her
Compassion Quilt program. Although she will have moved on to new blocks and a new drive long before I begin sewing these next year, I do plan to make the quilt(s) from these blocks and donate them to her when they are done. In other words, these will be dedicated to Compassion Quilts instead of Quilts for Kids. I don’t think the timing of the blocks really matters as the need for such quilts is always great, right?
In the coming week, I’ll be tackling my yellow strings. I hope to get at least 45 of them (6.5”, unfinished) made; I have plans for 15 of them this month and will donate the other 30 blocks to QFK for their quilt kit making.
I also finished cutting out and began sewing the first (of 40) of this next size of star blocks for the Christmas Stars quilt. My goal is to have all 40 of this size done by the end of the month, so I’m 20% of the way there.
My only other non-quilting news to share is that the vegetable garden continues to go gangbusters! Here is one bed’s-worth of carrots. This variety is short and stubby but good. It was all we could get at the time. But we have another half bed planted of the regular Nantes-type carrots we favor, and those are still a ways out.
The blackberries are almost done, the cucumbers have started producing, and the peppers and tomatoes are keeping me busy. I did roast a lot of Roma tomatoes this week (about 12 pounds worth), along with some garlic, onion (from the garden) and basil (also from the garden) to make some marinara. I’ll continue to do that as I collect the Romas in 12-pound batches. The slicing tomatoes and cherry tomatoes are being shared and/or eaten by us on a daily basis. And of course, we have to have our weekly Bacon (Costco turkey bacon), lettuce and tomato sandwiches on a weekly basis! Yum!
Have a great week!
What a beautiful array of special yellow blocks! SO sunny. And I love your Christmas stars as well. Good ideas for blocks there; I don't have very many yellows at all.
ReplyDeleteLots of sewing accomplished this week, Cathy. The Jo Kramer quilts are lovely and will be well loved I’m sure. Great yellow blocks - I love your prototype one for RSC24, reminds me of a block I invented for a block exchange many years ago. Must look on my Flickr site for them and the final quilt I made. Those carrots look delicious. Do you just scrub them rather than peel them? I think I would!
ReplyDeleteWow! The Chaser Block with the high contrast between scrappy colors and bold black and white prints, heavy on the block is going to be stunning.
ReplyDeleteI did something similar to your Chaser blocks one year for an older boys quilt and was pleased with the result too. Might have to think about the Stix pattern too, I love simple but effective ideas for donation quilts.
ReplyDeleteI love your Chaser blocks with yellows and the black outside prints! They're so striking. And that's a lovely basket of carrots, Cathy! My big crop this year is cucumbers - they just keep growing. We're enjoying refrigerator pickles!
ReplyDeleteThose little quilts are so cute! Did you know those blocks you call Four in Nine are also a vintage block called Thrifty Blocks published in 1939 by Kansas City Star? Well, a long long time ago I won a pile of pink ones from Block Lotto and made a quilt for one of my pink loving granddaughters with them. I might have to revisit that block now that I see your lovelies. I'm still picking blackberries. It sure has been a good year for them - for several weeks I've been picking about half gallon bucket every other day. I made a cobbler with grandma's recipe yesterday but most go into the freezer and I'll make jam when it is cooler. I've been digging carrots this week too. The last couple of years I've been growing an heirloom variety called cosmic purple and we love them. They do better than some other varieties in our soil. Cucumbers are accumulating and I see some pickles in my future. Tomatoes are slow to ripen this year, darn it!
ReplyDeleteYou are so generous with your quilting time! Do you ever know who made the tops that Jo sends to you? Another question -- do you sort/store your scraps by color rather than size? Or a combination thereof? Beautiful carrot harvest!
ReplyDeleteI'm liking the yellow combined with the black. I've never been a huge fan of yellow but it does look good in some things. More great finishes this time too. Your harvest of carrots looks wonderful...wish we could plant carrots on our balcony but they don't do well there.
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