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.

Dancing and Disappearing 9 patch quilts

Life changes quickly.  Just when I was thinking that it would be really nice not to have to get up each morning and go to work, my position at work disappeared and I was terminated.  I truly believe that God has a plan and I can't wait for the next chapter in the book of my life.

I've had some time lately to work on a few projects and get some sewing done.  This week's project has been 3 quilts for a family of boys in our church.  I wanted to make it easy on me, so I used the same block - a disappearing 9 patch block using 5 1/2" cut squares.  I had planned for a regular sashing and a border.  I found this dancing arrangement while surfing and decided to go this route.

Why I started with 5 1/2" squares, I have no idea....but they did make nice big blocks and they sewed up quickly.  The math may have been a bit easier if I had cut them at 6", but too late now.  The tops are done!

I started by cutting my fabrics into 5 1/2" strips, then each strip into 5 1/2" squares.   Now, I don't have, and never really had a lot of scraps in my stash.  So, yes, I did go out and buy fabrics for these "scrappy" quilts!  Now, I do have a stash and will probably make more blocks/quilts for future give aways.

I didn't pay attention, just sewed groups of 3 units together. Then I sewed 3 sets of 3 together.  The only rule was that adjoining squares could not be the same fabric.

Once the block was sewn, I cut the block in half horizontally and vertically.

Then I took the top left and the bottom right and rotated them 180 degrees.  The block looks good....but, if I took 4 units from different blocks, I get a really great scrappy arrangements

 

 
All the units were sewn into pairs.  The pairs were sewn into blocks.  Again, the only rule was that I didn't want 2 adjoining pieces the same fabric.

I added sashing to two sides of the blocks as per the info on the Quiltville blog.  I added the sashing to the same two sides of the blocks.  Once the blocks were together in the quilt, the blocks were rotated....look at the little squares in the corners of the blocks.  They aren't all in the same position. The quilt does "Dance" a little more.
 

I wasn't sure if I liked it that way, so on the 2nd quilt, I took my time and made sure the blocks were the same way round once the sashing was sewn on.  I am not sure that it makes that much difference.  In the future, I will probably not worry and do the first arrangement as it is faster and there is less chanc of me making a mistake!

I needed to do 3 quilts for 3 little boys.  The youngest is a new born, so his quilt is smaller with only 6 blocks.  As I had made enough quilts for 3 quilts with 12 blocks each, I now have two smaller quilts with 6 blocks.  Woot, Woot!  I have an extra quilt ready to finish and give away.

 

I have  more 5 1/2" squares cut, not too many.  I have scraps left over from cutting the squares from the strips.  I need to find a project that I can sew to use up these scraps.  Maybe I should have cut 6" squares, so they can be cut down into 2" or 3" squares. ....hind sight is 20/20!   I'll come across something perfect one day.  For now, they'll go in a clear plastic tub and be put on the "TO DO" shelf.