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.

Elephants on Parade - a Finish!

I finished my baby boy quilt, Elephants on Parade.

Here it is:

 

And a close up of some of the blocks:

 

 

I am so pleased with this quilt.  Such lovely 'cool' colours, all found in my stash to compliment the elephant Fat Quarter I found.

 

Then I used this pale green with lemon spots fabric for a backing - I literally had just enough for the quilt backing!

 

 

It's not the same shade of green as the fabrics in the front of the quilt but is somewhere between the green and turquoises in those fabrics so, in my eyes anyway, it works. The lemon dots tie in with the lemon stars in 4 of the charm square patches.

 

The batting was a piece I had in my stash of remnants.

 

The hand quilting is a mixture of deep turquoise Quilting thread in the ditch between the blocks and in the sashing joins and a variegated turquoise Perle cotton larger stitch around the appliqued hearts and in the sashing.

 

So, another finish for 2015 and a baby Boy quilt to add to my stash of completed quilts.

All of the fabrics and the batting and threads were from my stash so nothing bought especially for this project.

 

 

 

Another finish for 2013

I've had a busy week, finishing one quilt, sandwiching a WIP quilt top and two little premature baby quilts ready for hand quilting and labelling a little quilt I made exactly one year ago.

Firstly, my finished Zigzag Quilt:

 

I am so pleased with this quilt, all made from stash, nothing new bought at all. 

A few statistics:

Quilt measures 40", which I think is a nice size for a cot quilt/playmat.

I used 72 of my completed 4" Crumb blocks and paired those with 4" squares of yellow, orange and ash Kona Cottons to make the 144 HST units. 

Borders cut at 2.5" from a bright orange polka dot fabric I also had in my stash ( just a small piece of that left now)

Bound in a marbled effect bright green fabric which was sent to me recently in one of the Swap bots I joined.  I had a fabulous parcel of scraps from Shevvy, several of which were very generous sized pieces, including this green one.  Again, I have a little left over.

Hand quilted with a variegated yellow and orange Perle cotton.  I just outlined the zigzags and quilted 1/4" inside the borders.

 

Exactly a year ago I made my first Freckles Quilt fron Emily Cier's Book Scrap Republic. I didn't have anyone in mind for the quilt and put it away with my pile of finished quilts. However, a good friend has recently become a grandmother again so I decided this pretty quilt would be an ideal gift for little Nisha. 
I have embroidered a label ( I have called the quilt Rainbow Bubbles) and sewn it onto the quilt and it is now ready to be mailed.

Here's a reminder of the quilt:

This Close up shows how the circles are constructed from strips of scraps joined together.  It's so effective, especially as the concentric lines of hand quilting make the circles pop out of the background fabric.  I shall have to make another of these quilts!  Again, the quilt was all made from scraps I had in my stash as I even pieced the background of this quilt.

There are three babies due in April and May, all grandchildren of New Zealand friends so I am making a few cot quilts to add to my little stash of finished cot quilts. My Zigzag Quilt was added this week and I also decided to turn a quilt top I made some months ago into a baby quilt.  It's orange, blue and lime green, featuring a lovely Owl fabric.  Simple squares and rectangles.  I managed to find enough pieces of fabric in my stash to stitch together for the backing and sandwiched the quilt a couple of days ago.  The batting is a pale green one made from recycled plastic bottles, a Cot sized piece I won in a Giveaway ages ago.
I even had enough of the batting left over to use for two Premature baby quilt tops that were also sitting in my WIP box. Last night I sandwiched those together, backing them with more of the vintage sheet I used as backing for my Siblings Together quilt.

So, all in keeping with my New Year Resolutions to finish WIPs and to use up my stash!

So, a productive week!  I can now enjoy looking after our little 3 year old granddaughter this weekend, all sewing put safely away, out of reach of little hands!

Have a great weekend and do comment on this post if something has caught your eye.

 

 

 

New Year Resolutions

As a general rule I don't make New Year Resolutions but a few years ago I decided to make One Rule for my Quilting Life.

To use up scraps as much as I could.

I have to say this has worked really well, particularly as I love making ( and looking at ) Scrap Quilts.
During the past few years I have made loads of quilts, many of them Baby or Children's Quilts in a variety of designs.  Wonky Star quilts, I Spy quilts, Log Cabins, String Quilts and Cushions, Ticker Tape Quilts, Coin Quilts, Freckles Quilts ( inspired by the book Scrap Republic), Crumb Quilts etc etc.  My Flickr photos show them all in their glory.

I also started to piece backings, backgrounds to my Freckles Quilts and extended the piecing to joining pieces of batting.  Batting has always been expensive but now seems to cost more than ever so I have every intention of using up all the odd bits you get left with after measuring out wadding for a quilt. I even sorted it all out a couple of months ago so it is all 'to hand'!

One of my Christmas gifts this year is a book produced by York Museums Trust. 
It's called Through the Needle's Eye: The Patchwork and Quilt Collection at York Castle Museum.  I have so enjoyed reading about all their Patchwork and Quilting collection.
We all know that Patchwork and Quilting started off as a utilitarian way of making warm bedcovers from scraps and recycling fabrics, reusing the 'best parts' of worn out clothing and this collection reflects that so well.
As a child born not long after the end of WWII, when rationing was still in place, I was brought up not to waste anything so of course this has been carried on in my Quilting Life as well as in other aspects of my world. So I was delighted when I came across the following in the York Museums Book:

" Old patchwork quilts were frequently re-used as wadding inside newly made covers.  Even in well-to-do Victorian homes thrift was assiduously practised, and books on household economy gave advice as to the best use for old materials.  In the early 1870s Cassell's Household Guide enthusiastically recommends wadding for counterpanes in patchwork for the upper rooms.
' Take all the old blankets and flannel petticoats to spare, wash them clean, and dry and air them well.  Cut out all the best portions and join together.  You may make them two or three thick. Line with a sheet of cheap unbleached calico, first soaked, or even an old sheet, neatly patched.'
Perhaps aware that this procedure might deter rather than encourage useful economy, the writer adds: " We have also seen old counterpanes and quilts in mere rags tacked together, placed between a patchwork quilt and a sheet........ Of necessity such arrangements are as warm and comfortable as they are thrifty.' "

Well my continuing thrifty New Year Resolution will not take me quite that far, but I shall continue to join pieces of batting together for my quilts and continue to use old pillowcases and sheets as the foundation squares for my String Quilt blocks and feel proud of myself for doing so and keeping an old tradition alive!

And of course, the scraps, however tiny, will continue to be used!  ...................  Only one problem:  mysteriously, however many scraps I use, more and more scraps magically appear!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A few of my 'Scrap Quilts':