Hurricane Sandy blocks

While blog surfing, I came across an opportunity to contribute to quilts for Hurricane Sandy victims.  I've made some Disappearing 4-patch blocks and will be mailing them to a young woman who is making the actually quilts.

These have been fun to make and are perfect for using up large scraps.  With just a few cuts and twists, I've turned these large 4-patch blocks............

into these cool blocks..............

 
The method is explained here.  

I've made 10 blocks to mail off, shown here all together.

I really enjoyed making these and plan on using this pattern for local donation quilts.

I've also decided to jump into Bonnie Hunter's new online mystery quilt, Easy Street, which starts next week.   I plan on using black, red, blue, gold (for the constant) and light prints. 

With my vast UFO collection, do I need to add another one?  No...but it's so much fun and will use up scraps! 


                                                                                                     Louise

March lotto blocks, and Stash report

Here are my March blocks for the Sunshine lotto. The color green is so cheerful and alive!




This block is just full of frogs. I had one oddball pink square that was perfect for the center.


I've been busy sorting and culling fabric. Year to date, I've acquired 30.25 yds & de-stashed a whopping 113.25 yds, for a net depletion of 83 yards! I don't expect to de-stash anywhere near that next quarter because I've already gone through almost everything. As motivation, though, I will be counting the estimated fabric contained in any UFOs that I complete. My completed UFO count of ZERO is downright dismal!
Also, the 30.25 that I've acquired was more than I expected, making it clear that the smaller amounts of fabric I bought here and there certainly add up!

Louise

Sunshine Lotto blocks for February

Here are my blocks for Sunshine, mailed out today. The theme, if you couldn't guess, was Red!




This was a fun scrappy block from Quilter's Cache, called Four on the Road.




The designer, Marcia Hohn, is so generous to offer all these free patterns to us quilters!
This pattern would be a great candidate for reproduction fabric.

I've been going through my stash finding yards & yards to donate. It feels so good to pass along fabric that I'll never use, and to declutter!

Louise

January lotto blocks

These are the January lotto blocks that I will be sending to Tammy, to be made into Sunshine quilts.



I tried a new (to me) block, seen above in the top-left and the center.
I'm not sure of the name, but saw the block on the internet. I started with a big 4-patch:


I divided the 4-patch into 9 equal squares, like this:


I rearranged the 4 side-center pieces to make this block:

I love the llama fabric!
This block would be great for scrap quilts & I'm sure I'll be using it again!

Louise

Orca Bay, step 6

Step #6 of Bonnie Hunter's mystery are Ohio Stars --- They are so cute!
They use the hourglasses from step #1, and newly cut red, light & black squares. I have 12 completed so far, with many other blocks partially completed.


The close-up shows fabric from my precious stash of reproduction fabrics, combined with a fair amount of recycled shirts.

There will be 27 blocks with black corners and 27 with light corners, for a total of 54, so I'll be sewing away on it all week. I'm looking forward to seeing how this puzzle will work itself out!

Louise

Orca Bay, steps 4 & 5

I'm almost finished with step #4 of Bonnie's mystery, which are string triangles (produced by cutting string squares in half). I'm happy with how all the reds are working together. With 1900-era being my guide, I used all kinds of reds from double-pinks to light burgundy.



Step #5 is completely done. Wings were added to the HST units from step #3 to make triangle-shaped units, shown below. These took several hours, sewn over a few days. I don't understand how some of the quilters get these steps done in one day!



My cat Tiger found the quilt pieces in no time flat!

Louise

Huswife needlecases

A huswife (or housewife) is a small kit for sewing supplies, made & used by women in the 18th & 19th centuries. Civil War soldiers were given these kits to store mending supplies as they went to war. (source: Remembering Adelia, by Kathleen Tracy)

I just finished making several of these to give to friends, using Kathleen Tracy's pattern from her quilt book Remembering Adelia. It was fun to play in my Civil War repro stash! Below are the huswifes, showing the front and the back (I made them in pairs). I made one pair in 1930 repro fabrics because a few of the women prefer those over Civil War fabrics.




I made them slightly different from Kathleen Tracy's pattern: I blanket-stitched down the wool needle holder, and I used a loop & button as a closure instead of ribbon.

I really enjoyed this project! I learned that I could felt my own wool, and I learned how to do a blanket stitch. And....I finished them in time for Christmas!

Louise