Sewing for Boston

It has been fun seeing all the cool blocks and flags that people are creating in support of the victims of the Boston bombings, hasn't it? I dedicated all day Wednesday and a little of Tuesday to sewing for the cause and here's what I accomplished:

 

A Starburst Cross block, tutorial at Sew Crafty Jess

 

         Capital T block, tutorial here, though I think there is a mistake in it...

Whirled block, tutorial at A Bright Corner

Block #3 from the Virtual Quilting Bee at Diary of a Quilter, tutorial here. 

I added borders to get the block to 12.5"

My fifth block, made using leftover HSTs from the Capital T block

And my final block, made using scraps from the previous 5. This one went together really quickly since most of my scraps were already rectangles with at least one similar dimension.


 I had just a little time left on Wednesday to make this flag, but I'm hoping to make a couple more next week. We had friends over last night and my parents are coming for a quick weekend visit later today, so yesterday was devoted to cleaning up this neglected house and today is cooking! Have a great weekend!
 

For Boston

In the wake of tragedies, one of the first things most people look for is a way to help those affected. As quilters, we know the warmth and comfort that a handmade quilt provides. After the recent bombings and aftermath in Boston, many of us have been wondering how we can use our crafting skills to help support and give comfort to the people affected by these events.

The Boston Modern Quilt Guild has organized a block drive and is asking for our help. They will be assembling and giving quilts to the victims of the bombings so sending in a block or two would be a great way to help. They are asking for any style block, 12.5" tall by the width of your choice.

By greenleaf goods, via flickr

The blocks should be based on a color scheme of yellow, blue, white, and grey as these are the colors of the Boston Marathon and of OneFund, the organization set up to accept monetary donations for the victims. Please use "quilt-shop quality" fabrics that are 100% cotton or a cotton/linen blend, prints or solids are fine. Click here for more information, including the address to send your blocks. If you do make blocks to donate, consider adding them to the Quilts for Boston flickr group.

Another way that you can help show your support for those in Boston is by helping the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild in their "To Boston with Love" campaign. They are collecting handmade flags to be displayed in Boston, hopefully by early June. This is an easy project that can be done in an afternoon or less. For design guidelines and a tutorial, click here. 

I don't know about you, but I'm excited to get started on both of these projects! Any idea what block design you will use? I'm thinking stars. Or maybe one from the Modern BOM series at Sew, Mama, Sew. Now I'm off to go check out some flag tutorials before the kids wake up. Have a great day!

Finsh-Along: Q2 Plans

Time to make the list of projects that I hope to complete before...July? Gosh, that seems like so far away. It has only been somewhat Spring-like here for a couple of days so mid-Summer seems a ways off. But I'm sure it will fly by! So what made the list?

1. Max's quilt:: Rolling this one over from last quarter. Need to press the front and backing then I can get on with it.

2. Chicopee Herringbone:: These were the bee blocks from my awesome Always Bee Learning ladies. This is a quilt for me and I love it. I have four rows complete and another 5 blocks halfway done, then I need to decide if I want to go bigger. 

 

3. Constellations Baby Quilt:: I haven't shown this one on the blog yet, but according to Instagram I finished the top 6 days ago. Yesterday evening I got the quilting done so hopefully this will be an easy one to check off the list. 

 

4. dGS April quilt:: I chose these paper-pieced square-in-square blocks using Tamiko's template. I asked the ladies in my Imagine Circle to make their blocks using navy, coral, aqua, yellow, and white/grey prints. I am really excited to see what they send back!

5. Diamond Ripples quilt:: These blocks are from the Modern Blocks Bee that I was in last year. I love these blocks but they keep getting pushed aside because I still need to make a few more since not all the blocks found their way back to me. I'm also out of Kona Snow and apparently can't be bothered to order more. I really don't have a plan  for these, but would love to cross it off the list, especially after seeing Hadley's amazing version.

 

6. Hometown Road to Tennessee:: I recently unearthed this long-time WIP and actually have a bit of enthusiasm for finishing it, but that darn Kona Snow has me stalled. I have enough blocks completed to make a baby quilt, but I have enough of the prints to make it lap sized, so that's what I'm shooting for. We'll see what happens. 

 

7.  Stacked Squares Baby Quilt:: Another rollover from Q1. Still not feeling much love for this one, but I have a goal for it. Hopefully I will be able to finish it up in a way that I don't completely hate.

 

So it looks like I've made another list of 7 this quarter. I will be absolutely thrilled if I can finish with another 5 out of 7 like last quarter, though I'm not expecting that much productivity this time!

FAL 2013 :: Q1

I'm surfacing from the depths of our germ-stricken home to write up a quick post for the Finish Along. Looking back on my list I was pleasantly surprised to see that I really did finish a few things. I have been very bad about starting new projects lately and shoving old ones to the back when they become a bore.

The successes:

1. October dGS quilt,  now known as "Gathered Geese"

 

2. and 3.  Twin Baby Girl Quilts

 

 

4. "Love" mini

 

5. Patchwork Baby Quilt

I had two other projects on my list that did not get finished. I got the top for Max's quilt all sewn together and even got the backing cut but haven't gotten around to basting yet. It is a little more of a challenge now that Jill is crawling everywhere and I have no desire to stay up late basting a quilt. The other project still hasn't seen the light of day and likely won't for a while. 

Still, I like to think that 5 out of 7 isn't too shabby. Now to figure out what to put on next quarter's list...