2015 Donation Quilt #1

Posted on February 22, 2015 by zippyquilts

A couple of my quilty friends try to make a quilt a month for various charities, so I thought I’d try that this year. The group with which I make donation quilts sends them to a Ronald McDonald House to be given to sick children. The House wants all quilts to be 40″ x 40″, which doesn’t seem too big to do one a month. Here goes….

For January I took some of my orphan blocks and related fabrics and made this quilt. The blocks also happen to be on my UFO list for 2015, so there’s TWO projects accomplished at once 🙂

February finish and January donation quilt

The blocks finish 12″ square, which means that with a 2″ border the quilt comes out 40″ x 40″ as planned. The 9-patch blocks were made using the stack and shuffle method I learned years ago from Karla Alexander’s books. It’s easy and fun. To end up with blocks this size, I started with 15″ x 15″ squares of fabric (since they’re cut wonky on purpose it takes a bigger starting square than you might think).

The center block has little inset strips using a technique I modified from one of Judy Niemeyer’s ideas. To make a quarter inch inset that doesn’t “wobble”, do this:

Block pieces, including yellow insert

Cut a 1″ strip of fabric and lay one edge along the raw edge of the piece where you want a narrow inset. Stitch through both the strip and the quilt piece 1/2″ away from the edge, either by using the 1/2″ mark on your machine’s throat plate or by marking the center of the strip.

The center pieces of the block have been jointed and the insert laid along the side

Fold and press along the seam-line so that you now have 3 raw edges, all lined up.

Strips have been added to all sides of the center pieces and pressed along the seam

I don’t usually trim away the extra fabric because I like the stability, but it DOES make for some weighty intersections if you choose not to trim away the bottom 1 or 2 layers. Then assemble the block as you normally would, using 1/4″ seams. The strip you added will show up as a 1/4″ inset.

Let me know if you try either of these blocks. I thought they were fun!

10 Donation Quilts!

Posted on June 8, 2014 by zippyquilts

Ronald McDonald Quilts

I have a little group of quilty friends that I retreat with at least twice a year. We all make quilts for Ronald McDonald House of Cincinnati. This last time, just 3 of us finished a total of 10 quilts! Here are some of them.

R McD House of Cincinnati wants all quilts 40″ x 40″ so, as I’ve mentioned before, these are a good opportunity for a lot of experimentation:

Try new designs to see if you like them
Make orphan blocks into quilts
Try new color schemes
Donation Quilt, 40″ x 40″
Use up fabric left from other projects
Use your scraps to make an improvised quilt top
Use up charm packs (yes, we’ve all bought a few extra!)
Make a simple quilt as a rest from challenging projects
Quilt the tops yourself for practice
Try out binding entirely by machine–makes the quilt more durable
Anyway, enjoy this little quilt show! And check with your local Ronald McDonald House if you’re interested in donating quilts to them.
Quilt with teddy bears

Pieced back

Charm Squares

Leftovers

Girlie Colors

More Charm Squares–this one more of an I Spy design

More leftovers–can you tell some group members have grandsons?

Boy Scout theme–there were 2 of these–and look at the quilting, 1/2″ apart!

My improv 9 patch

Orphan blocks with improv sashing

Pop-up Show

Posted on March 30, 2014 by zippyquilts

Asheville Modern Quilt Guild Show

Here are some pictures from the Asheville Modern Quilt Guild’s Pop-up Quilt Show, held Sunday, March 16 at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We had good attendance and gained several new members! As you can see, we had some members demonstrating quilt making, as well. If you missed it, the Guild will have a show at the Handmade in America gallery in Asheville from mid-May through mid-August. Meanwhile, here are some of our members and their quilts:

First, here’s Diana Kantor with her amazing table runner. It has 3-D folded flowers and leaves in addition to that beautiful quilted design in the center!