Quilts for Fort McMurray

On May 3, 2016, the news was full of the wild fire raging through and around Fort McMurray in Northern Alberta.  Mandatory evacuations and the loss of many homes have changed the fabric of this bustling city.

Many quilters in Alberta, Canada and the US have come together to stitch and donate many, many quilts to give comfort to those who have been affected by this event.

Gail at Erie Quilt Arts offered very early on to collect quilt donations and make sure they got to where they needed to go.  I dropped off 10 quilts this morning and learned that the quilts will first be going to Fort McMurray Fire Fighters and First Responders  and their families who lost their homes and worked tirelessly during this crisis and secondly to Fort McMurray United Way and Salvation Army to distribute to those who are in the greatest need.

I have been working my way through my fabric stash and had a bunch of tops ready for quilting. This was the perfect opportunity to try a new pantograph and a new quilting design.

I recently took a Craftsy class from Angela Walters on Borders and Backgrounds.  This was a fun quilt to try some of her techniques.

These few quilts are a way to de-stash my older fabrics.   I cut up all my fabrics on the cool side of the colour wheel.  This is a 3 x 4 block quilt.  I think the blocks were 16" square.

Here is the same quilt in my neutral fabrics.

A number of years ago I designed and offered a 6 month Stash Buster event.  Each month we were given a supply list of fabrics to bring from our stash and we cut and shared fabric strips, squares, etc for a greater variety in our scraps.  This Buzz Saw sample was my test to see if my Winter Ice pattern would work.  I finally got it quilted and bound and it is on its way to its new home.

I often say that my mother is the queen of scrap quilts.  She made this disappearing 9 patch years ago and I finally pulled it out and got it quilted and bound.

Here is another of the Scrap quilts using my green fabrics.  These were strips and "mile a minute" blocks.  The blocks are 12".

During this past year at Heritage Park Quilt Guild we were encouraged to participate in the block of the month.  I grabbed some fabric for the background from my stash and tried to use up what I had.  I liked the blocks, but when it came time to put them together I was stumped.  I chose these two blue/greys that went well.  I like the quilting and decided to gift it to someone who would enjoy the comfort more. 

Another scrap quilt in Reds.  This time I cut 5" strips of fabric and sewed similar to a jelly roll race.  I cut my strips into 50" lengths and sewed together.  I first did this as a kids quilt class and it was easy enough for the kids to finish.

Here's what to do with fabric you've had in your stash forever!  I loved this stripe when I bought it but could never decide on a project. In this case I cut it into squares and rotated alternate squares for this lovely effect.

Last but not least, this quilt was a block swap from quilting retreat a very long time ago.  I had the top done that weekend of the retreat and eventually loaded it and quilted it on the longarm.  I set the timer and this quilt took less than 1 hour to load, quilt and unload!  It's a simple double loop and leaf free-hand design.

Now that these quilts are done and delivered, I am working on a few other scrap/charity quilts.  I hope to have a number ready to go when the next need arises.