Scraps + Strips = QAYG blocks

I have followed Jan Macfadyen's blog for a few years.  She does the most amazing work making quilts for charity. At present she is concentrating on making quilts for a Woman's Refuge.  I am just amazed at the sheer quantity of quilts ( and crocheted blankets) that she produces. She also works shifts at a hospital so where she finds the time to juggle sewing, a job and a husband and family is incredible. And when does she sleep??????????

Jan receives donated tops as well as orphan blocks, QAYG string blocks, fabrics etc and turns them into completed quilts so quickly.  Do have a look at her blog where you can see her work.
sewmanyquiltstoolittletime.blogspot.com

I have made QAYG blocks for Jan a couple of times but promised to make some more once I was settled in NZ. I have looked through my small NZ stash and decided many of the scraps have hung around far too long.  So I cut them into strips of various widths, found all my bits of leftover batting and made some blocks to send to Jan. You can even piece the batting for these QAYG blocks ( she explains all this on her blog) so they are economical to make as well as putting those scraps to good use.

I also used Bonnie Hunter's video to find out the best way to 'de-bone a shirt".  You can find this under the Tips & Techniques tab on her blog quiltville.blogspot.
I had one of my husband's shirts to cut up - perfectly good fabric except for a slightly worn collar. It took about 10 minutes to de-bone it into good sized pieces to use to back some of my QAYG String blocks.

Jan uses both 10.5" and 12.5" blocks so I made as many of each as I could with the fabric sizes I had.
I even pieced some of the backs of the blocks.

Here they are: 13x 10.5" blocks

 

And 6 x 12.5" blocks:

I know Jan has completely depleted her stash of blocks so I hope these will start her off on her next couple of Charity quilts. I will post them when I go into town tomorrow.

YEH! WIP finished

I am so pleased to announce my First WIP finish for 2013!  My Siblings Together Charity Quilt using fat quarters won in a Giveaway that Katy of Imagingermonkey fame hosted last year.

The winner had to make a quilt at least 50" square for the Siblings Together Charity to give to children who had been separated from their siblings and were meeting up at a summer camp.

The fat quarters were called Savannah Bop, a children's novelty-style design.  I found them pretty but not enough contrast in colours for me and a couple of the designs did not lend themselves to being cut up into patchwork pieces. So, I really had to think how to use them.  I love Gwen Marston quilts and her liberated style so I decided to make a Medallion Quilt in her style, using the giraffe print for the centre square.  Then I used some strong coloured fabric from my stash to add ZING!  An orange with white polka dot, a bright egg-yolk yellow stripe and a bright lime green Kona cotton.

I used the idea from Emily Cier's book of circles to showcase the fat quarter designs appliqued onto the lime green Kona cotton background as another border.

The final border was made from squares of the fat quarters interspersed with piano keys of the scraps.

The Giveaway asked for a quilt measuring a minimum of 50" square.  My quilt finished at 56" square.  Result!

Now for the backing.  Because of the size I was into piecing the backing and really didn't have anything suitable but I did have a vintage sheet used originally on my son's bed in the 1980s.  Just the colours and surprisingly, a patchwork design of hexagons.  To add more interest I added appliqued circles of the fabrics used in the quilt:

I did a combination of hand quilting:  Perle cotton to outline stars, giraffes etc and to outline the piano keys. I used ordinary quilting cotton to quilt in the ditch between the borders.

Then the binding was made from three different yellow fabrics I had, including one I had used in the Wonky Stars borders of the quilt.

So, here at last is the finished quilt:

I am really pleased with it.  It is bright, cheerful and has lots of things for a child to look at and discuss.  I used a good quality batting and, along with the soft sheet backing it gives a lovely feel to the quilt.

I am sorry it took so long to make but I hope it will make one child feel loved and wanted.  I will be posting it next week to Delma Hughes, the Siblings Together Group's organiser.