Cutting, cutting, cutting - border strips, squares, rectangles, triangles - at last count 822 individual pieces cut to complete the piecing on this quilt top.
That doesn't include the five appliqued blocks completed a few weeks ago.
Very thankful that the pieces aren't all tiny 1 or 1-1/2 squares!
And, our quilt ministry recently received a donation of a huge box of semi-pieced squares/rectangles/ trapezoid pieces of fabric that someone had undoubtedly started as a big donation project or perhaps quilts for her grandkids. We'll never know, but she had pinned together sewn strips of squares into nine quilt tops and there was another large bag of miscellaneous pieces. Our group immediately decided that we could help a few of the victims of the devastating wildfire in the Fort McMurray Alberta area by completing at least a few of these tops, doing simple ties and machine binding so that they could be sent off as soon as possible. And so, for the last three weeks several of us have been hard at work meeting a couple times a week to work on this project. As of today, there are two quilts finished, another awaiting binding, and two more needing backings, layering, tied and bound. We quickly discovered that the original sewist had cut her fabric pieces with scissors in "approximate" squares (and I use that term loosely), and we attempted to make the strips fit together without unsewing the 1/2" seams and recutting what she had already sewn. The resulting three quilts turned out OK, but everyone decided that we will bite the bullet and unsew and recut the remaining thousands of "squares" into standard size squares before we stitch up any more. This also gives us the advantage of playing around with some more creative color placement, 9-patch, 16 patch, etc., if they desire, not to mention practice with 1/4" seams, all of which will help our newbie quilters improve their basic skills.
These are the first two quilts that will be heading to Fort McMurray soon:
Single bed size
Large baby or toddler size quilt
Baby/toddler quilt's pieced back with central panel
If you or your quilt guild are interested in making quilts for some of the thousands of displaced residents of Fort McMurray, there is a Facebook group dedicated to that purpose, with addresses of where donations can be sent from the U.S.A. or Canada. A link to this wonderful group of quilting angels can be found here.
So, between running back and forth to our quilting meetings and recutting hundreds more squares, not to mention getting the three gardens in over the past few days, there hasn't been much time for blogging. But I know you all understand ... you're all doing much of the same!
5 comments:
Mmm, love your Autumn project!
Looks like your ministry is doing good work.
I've encountered blocks that were "eyeballed". Next to impossible to make them play well together. : )
Wow, you are busy but it sounds wonderful. Did you imagine your life would change so much with that great idea for a quilt ministry?
Well, you've been getting a lot of important quilting stuff done. Who needs clean clothes anyway?
First, your Autumn Nights quilt is going to be beautiful. Secondly, Your guidance in the quilt ministry is showing others how to be innovative and that quilting can be hard work. But most of all how quilting can touch so many people close by or far away. Bravo!
What you are doing for the Fort McMurray people is so wonderful! What a challenge though to tackle someone else's work. A quilt ministry is such a great thing though.
I'm loving the look of your appliqued masterpiece!
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