Two More Down

 I have a final number of 9 more quilts to make for the kid's camp for abused kids so I've been working hard as I really want to have them finished before we take our trip. I put together 2 more QAYG quilts today. The last quilt used 12 " blocks which Lesley L brought over yesterday. So there's two done today and 7 more to go. It looks like tomorrow will be another day of donation quilting.
  I did take some time late this afternoon to pin one of the quilts I want to finish for me. It t will be quilted simply as it is from the 1930s to 1940s and I don't want to out too much stress on the fabric. I bought it as a cutter quilt and took it apart, then I trimmed the blocks down to a smaller size so I could remove the tattered pieces and also a large black ink mark on one of the sashing pieces. The embroidery is in good condition and I added a new border to make it a bit larger. I think it will be quilted using the hanging diamonds design and I have used new batting as the old batting was very thin. It was originally quilted with Baptist Fans but I think that will stress the fabric too much. I also found another top I had put away as well as a set of blocks which are an old UFO and they are all being washed now and will make some more nice quilts to donate as well as clearing my shelves.
    Back to the machine now to see if I can get another one finished.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Just in Time

I'm still recovering from working night shift but manded to stay awake long enough today to put together another QAYG quilt. Lesley Lowe from Rochester met with me today and is transporting more quilts to Needy Stitches for me. I sent off 8 today and I think I need to make another 7 or 8 before we head off on our travels again so I want to get them done by the end of next week.
    Lesley also handed over a huge number of QAYG blocks made by the KyValley and Rochie quilters so I'll be  making them up as quickly as possible.
Now it's off to bed for me as I need more sleep before I'm back to normal.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Clearing Out the Scraps

 Before night shift on Friday I spent  most of the day sewing up the scraps that have been accumulating in various containers. I have almost made enough blocks to make another String X quilt top using Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville pattern. It's a great way to use up those shorter scraps and I am using up the leftovers which are too short for the string pieced QAYG blocks. As you can see I filled a wastepaper bin with the leftovers from the leftover scraps. lol.  I have been saving scraps and cutting them and then sorting by size as Bonnie Hunter recommends but I find that once they are in the containers I rarely use them and just work with what are current leftovers from whichever quilt I am finishing. The system isn't the problem but it obviously doesn't suit the way I work.
 I've enjoyed clearing out all the scraps and emptying the containers without trying to hand on the "special" scraps, although I have been putting triangles aside and really need to think about whether they should be saved for a pattern which uses up lots of triangles, or whether it would be better to use them up now and get them into scrappy quilts. The triangles work well with either the string pieced blocks or the String X blocks so they won't go to waste.
  It's good to get some more quilts finished to donate as well as restore some order to my sewing room. I'll need to think about the triangles as I don't want to start another pile of scraps that will sit unused for a while.
  I also received these beautiful QAYG blocks as well as a generous donation of money, from Colette Truscott of Perth in WA and these will be made into a quilt and donated ASAP before we leave on our travels again. Thanks Colette for your generous donations.
Hugs, Jan Mac

 

Power Sewing

 I still haven't managed to pin the two quilts I need to quilt for me but I have been powering through the scrap bins and finishing off more blocks. This was a mis-mash of donated large blocks so I made enough extras QAYG so I had enough to make another donation quilt. It may not be pretty but it will be warm and hopefully appreciated. As you can see I also used up some block pieces for the back as well.
 Not as much sewing today as it was time to take my Dad out for the afternoon with shopping and a coffee as a nice way to finish the day. I plan to stitch some more scraps tonight and tomorrow before I head off to work some more night shifts. It's just the right weather for a good rummage in the scrap bins as we have finally had some nice showers of rain. I'm still not working on my projects but it's good to see some progress with decreasing the scrap bins and a clearing of the piles of blocks too.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Scrap Therapy

 In the process of cleaning out my scrap bins I found these blocks with pale blue triangles. There were 24 and I thought they would make a quick quilt if I added a border to make it larger. Then I found these blocks which were similar but different. I decided to make more blocks to make the quilt larger and took these blocks apart and then re-made them to suit the first set of blocks. I like the effect of the different coloured blue blocks on the outside as it makes it more like a border. The pattern is one of Bonnie Hunter's from Quiltville and I think it's known as String X. It's a great way to use up lots of shorter scraps. The second set of scrap strips for the blocks were half an inch narrower so I just cut the triangles larger. I like to make them larger and trim them to size and the blocks end up 7.5" before they are joined together.
 I also quilted one of the tops I've made smaller and it's a really pretty donation quilt for a little girl with lots of lovely machine embroidered hearts. Then as I was enjoying cleaning out more scraps I worked on making more QAYG blocks as well as a new set of the String X blocks.
 They are quick to make and I should have another quilt to show very soon.
It was lovely having such a productive day of playing with scraps while we seem to be heading towards winter very quickly here.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Happy Stitching

 Our weather was much cooler today and it's perfect weather for more tidying of the sewing room as well as finishing off more quilts. I still have some kids' quilts to finish for the camp for abused and neglected kids. I was on a roll today and finished off two more QAYG quilts as well as clearing out more bins of fabric. I'll post photos tomorrow of the next UFO I'm tackling.
  I've also had a few requests to keep the Oz Comfort Quilts blog site up so I'll continue to add the photos of finished quilts which will be donated. I've also made a few QAYG blocks from scraps and it's good to have some of those older fabrics used up and out of here.
  I hope you are having some time for some stitching as well. Back to the machine again to see if I can finish off a few more quilts.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Happy Mother's Day

 I hope you have all had a lovely Mother's Day with some time for yourself as well as seeing family. My children couldn't come home this weekend so we celebrated last weekend instead. Today I have been busy making half square triangles for two different projects. The first lot were in 1930s reproduction fabrics and measure 2.5" square. I think I have almost made enough so I decided to continue on with making them in civil war reproduction fabrics as I need 128 of those in the same size.
 Now that I've sorted my repro fabric into colour-ways it was an easy way to pull 13 light and 13 dark fabrics from my fabric collection. I prefer to cut them a little larger and then square them up when they are stitched together.It may take a little longer but this way I know they are accurately pieced. I have almost made all of the 128 needed so I hope to finish those tomorrow.
  I'm working backwards on this quilt as it was made in sections and I have been making the different sections before I put them together. I need to get all the parts together and see how many more sections are needed. Check back soon and I should have more progress to show you.
  It's not easy to change my way of working to working on my projects but I have also been hand-piecing stars for a donation quilt as well as de-constructing more house blocks. I think I had planned to make them into a vest many, many years ago. I hope to have enough blocks to make a quilt from then and will probably donate it when it's done.
   I have been asked to keep the Oz Comfort Quilts blog site still active so I will keep it and post photos of donation finishes as they happen. Thank you for stopping by.
Hugs, Jan Mac