Recent Echoes Quilts

Echoes quilts is a term I use for quilts made from leftover fabrics from earlier quilts. Echoes quilts are donated to charity.

A is for Angela II

Created partly from leftovers of A is for Angela, made a few years ago.

Based on Craftsy class Dot to Dot Quilting. Quilt to be donated to Stanislaus Family Justice Center.

42" square

Completed 9/1/2015

Original A is for Angela

For daughter of coworker Margarita A.

Completed December 2011

Guitars

Improv quilt created partly from leftovers of Larry, made a few years ago.

Quilt to be donated to local agency.

45" x 60" 

Completed 9/2/2015

Close-up

A few units made from scraps

Larry

For former worship pastor and boss Larry B.

Completed April 2012

Debbie

Two Quilts Finished and Delivered

Today I delivered two quilts to Stanislaus Family Justice Center, a local agency that helps people who have been abused. Each child who comes through gets to choose a quilt to keep.

Improv Quilt

Inspired by a color challenge found at The Color Throwdown blog of navy, pale plum and green.
All from stash and scraps

38" square

Original design

Completed 10/24/2014

Close-up

Did a little straight line machine quilting. I usually tie quilts, but I decided to do some machine quilting, after taking the online class Creative Quilting with Your Walking Foot at Craftsy.com. It's not perfect but some child will love the quilt, anyway. The quilt is quite small, also, but I have faith that it will be just right for someone.

Superman Remixed
Turning Twenty style, made largely of leftovers from two previous Superman quilts.
All from stash and scraps.

59" square

Completed 11/21/2014

Close-up

The Superman print with smaller figures is from a quilt I made for my grown son Robbie, a Superman fan since childhood. The print with larger motifs is from a quilt I made for friend Andy D., also a Superman fan.

Superman

This is the first Superman quilt, made for my son Robbie in October 2010.

Superman Opus No. 2 in A Double Flat Minor

This is the second quilt, made for friend Andy D. in January 2013.

Purposely, I did not repeat any of Robbie's fabrics for Andy's quilt. I wanted each to be unique. But I did combine the fabrics for the charity quilt, and I think they go quite nicely together.

I hope that the Improv Quilt and Superman Remixed will bring a bit of cheer and comfort to the children who choose them.

Debbie

WIP Wednesday - Superman Remixed Quilt Top Finished

Tonight I finished Superman Remixed quilt top.

Quilt top

Close-up

Much of the quilt top is made from leftover fabrics from two earlier Superman quilts. I filled in with other stash fabrics. I may finish the quilt this weekend. The quilt will be donated to a local agency that helps abused children and adults.

Debbie

Make It Monday 6/30/2014

Fabrics for Superman quilt

Each column plus Superman print on bottom will make 5 scrappy blocks

Cut Superman print 13" square, set aside for later

Bottom layer, also 13" square

None of the second Superman print was 13" square. I'd have to layer scraps. Here I've cut the largest piece 13" wide and a little shy of 13" tall.

Second scrap - more than 5" tall and more than 6.5" wide.

Third scrap - same as above

There are areas of overlap, which will be resolved in cutting later.

This is probably the fourth layer. Having to do some overlapping again.

Fourth layer complete

Brought back the Superman square, placed on top.

First cut, through all 5+ layers.

Second cut

Third cut - added since last blog post. It makes the overall design seem more complicated, eliminates the need to trim a 1/2" from the edge of a long strip.

All four sections

Next I went through each stack, removing the "waste" strips.

Here they are for this first set of blocks.

Once I removed all of the waste strips, I re-organized the sections Stack the Deck style so that there was a variety of fabrics in each block, with no exact repeats.

First block, top and bottom pairs of fabrics sewn together

First block completed

First five Superman blocks done

I repeated the steps to make the second set of blocks - 10 Superman blocks done, in total.

There are three more sets of five blocks to go. I should have them finished by the weekend.

Debbie

WIP Wednesday 6/25/2014

I'm working on a Superman quilt, made partly from scraps from two previous Superman quilts: Superman and Superman Opus No. 2 in A Double Flat Minor. I added other fabrics from stash.

Fabrics for Superman quilt

Superman Quilt - Electric Quilt Sketch

Turning Twenty style

Quilt will be scrappier than the sketch.

The quilt is for charity. I'll start sewing by the weekend.

Debbie

Like my Facebook page Traveling Quilter and get more updates on my quilting and my travels.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Make It Monday 6/23/2014

Fabrics leftover from two Superman quilts

Beginnings of a charity quilt

I don't have a quilt due for a while, which is unusual for me. I made a list of different projects that I could work on, mostly scraps from earlier quilts. I typed the list onto the List Randomizer at Random.org, thenhit the randomize button a few times to really mix up the list. The project at the top was Echo - Superman. Echo quilts are my term for quilts made mostly from leftovers of previous quilts. Echo quilts usually are made for charity, like this Superman quilt will be.

The fabrics are leftover from two Superman quilts: Superman and Superman Opus No. 2 in A Double Flat Minor. I'm going to combine the fabrics to make one new quilt.

I haven't decided on a quilt pattern yet, but I'm leaning strongly toward a Turning Twenty variation, which I've used several times in the past. I'll probably add some other fabrics, like navy.

I'll begin working on the quilt in the next couple of days.

Debbie

Like my Facebook page Traveling Quilter and get more updates on my quilting and my travels.

WIP Wednesday 5/30/2012

Relay For Life 2012

Fundraiser quilt donated to office Relay for Life team

Purchased by $100 donation

Quilt top completely from stash

Original design. 48" square.

Completed 5/28/2012

Close-up

This week I finished and delivered a fundraiser quilt to benefit a Relay for Life team in my office. The quilt was paid for last week with a $100 donation, sight unseen, before I finished the quilt or showed it to anyone. I knew nothing about the pre-purchase until after I had given the quilt to the team's fundraising coordinator, who didn't want to say anything to me ahead of time, in order not to influence my creativity. The funny thing is, I spoke to the buyer of the quilt last week, discussing how the color scheme had changed. She told me that whatever I made would be beautiful. She gave no clue that she had already planned to buy the quilt. Wow!

There's more to the story. As I was running out of time to finish the quilt on Monday, the quilt became smaller than originally planned. I ended up leaving off four rows of checkerboard and the border. I felt badly that the quilt was going to be so small, but I began to get the hunch that  maybe whoever got the quilt needed it to be small - lap size rather than my usual throw size. Get this, as it turns out, the quilt is going to be given to a 14-month-old little girl. At 48" square, the quilt is just the right size. Amazing!

As for future quilts, I have nothing pressing right now. It happens now and then, and I've spent the last couple of days going through papers and planning a vacation to visit my daughter Lisa in San Diego. My tentative quilting plans for the next few weeks:
- Make a couple more Echoes quilts for the Redwood Center. I purchased background fabric months ago to go with leftovers from A Study in Stripes and Cristine's Bosties.
- I am participating in a trade for ATCs (artist trading cards), which must be mailed by the end of June.
- I'd like to finish up a Fourth of July wallhanging; the quilt top has been sitting in my closet for nine years or more. Yes, I do have a handful of UFOs.
- I have a shirt that has been waiting for months to be cut out and sewn together.
- I'd like to make another mixed media wallhanging. I have a couple of greeting cards that would be good starts.

We'll see what this next week brings. Hopefully I'll be working on something again.

State of the Stash Report 2012

I am a member of Stashbuster Yahoo Group. Members are expected to give a stash report during their birthday month. I’ll compare my results to those of last year as I go.


Before I start, I should mention that last summer I gave away one-third of my stash to Vacaville Binky Patrol. That big reduction of stash helped my numbers for this year.


Most of my fabric stash is made up of smaller sizes, fat quarter to 1 yard. I keep them in gallon zip bags by color family. Total: 26 bags (down 9 bags from last year).


Scraps 2.5" to 13" wide of various lengths, organized by width and cool/warm colors: Six 12" x 12" drawers plus 2 gallon size zip bags--most quite full, about the same as last year. I do not keep all of my scraps. I have a grocery bag near my sewing machine where I deposit the scraps that no longer interest me. When the bag gets full I donate to a quilting charity, lately the aforementioned Vacaville Binky Patrol. Also, recently I have been using scraps and leftovers from previous projects to create charity quilts (the Echoes series) that have similar fabrics as the original quilts. I'm hoping this will help to keep my scrap collection manageable.


PIGs (Projects in Grocery Bags): 20 (23 last year), with about many of those set aside for charity, including a good deal of Echoes quilts.


UFOs (UnFinished Objects): I tend to do my projects start to finish, so I have just 3 items that sit unfinished (down 4 from last year). Of those, two just simply need to be finished; one will be given to charity. The remaining project I am quite proud of and would like to be quilted professionally with the intent of displaying in a quilt show someday.


WIPs (Works in Progress): Linda's Plaid, which I have just begun. Also, Quilter's Playtime, which I will continue working on during my at-home retreat in May.


I weighed all of the above to have something to compare to from year to year. All told, my stash weighs 118 pounds, down 20 pounds from last year. Woo-hoo! Giving away a bunch of my stash last summer helped.


I made 17 quilts last year, many of which were from new fabrics. I’m not in Stashbuster’s No-Buy group but my fabric purchases would have been okay since the projects were gifts. However, leftover fabric from those projects increase my stash. It helps to make the Echoes quilts, but I may do another stash giveaway this year to lighten even more.

WIP Wednesday 3/14/2012

Echoes - Frog Quilt

Made mainly of leftovers from the original Frog quilt

To be donated to Redwood Family Center

Original design

70" x 90"

Completed 3/14/2012

Close-up of lily pad block. There's a little yellow frog top center of the block.

A peek at the back of the quilt. There's no purple on the front of the quilt, but the fabric fit the theme and was on clearance. Done deal!

Tonight I finished Echoes - Frog Quilt. The quilt is made mostly from leftovers from a frog quilt I made last October. The quilt will be given to Redwood Family Center.

The next project is Spring Flowers - twelve paper-pieced flowers in a variety of purples. I plan to draw each paper pieced pattern separately, so each looks slightly different, aside from purple fabric. I'm thinking of doing a needle punch circle in yellow to go in the center of each flower. I bought a needle punch last weekend and I'll practice to see how it goes. This will be a quick project, so I've got to get moving.

WIP Wednesday 3/7/2012

This week I did a pillowcase finish on Echoes - Frog Quilt.

Here is the quilt turned right side out.

A peek at the back of the quilt.

My work space in the choir room at my church.

I usually lay out the quilt sandwich on my bed, but the previous Echo quilt was too big to be workable. These tables were a better solution.

Backing fabric - frogs on purple and white polka dot fabric.

There's no purple on the front of the quilt, but the frogs fit the theme of the original quilt, and at $2.97 per yard on clearance, it was a good choice.

My first task was to sew the backing. Here it is draped over one of the sofas.

I laid out the quilt top on the tables to get an idea of how big the backing and batting needed to be. If I cut them a little bigger than the table I should be okay.

Here's another angle.

Laying out the batting. It was king sized, a donation.

The batting hangs off the table quite a bit.

I trimmed the batting even with the width of the three tables, knowing there would be extra.

I trimmed the top and bottom edges, leaving a foot or so. Next I laid the quilt top over the batting. I wished I'd brought tape with me to keep the batting from moving, but I managed. I stuck pins through the layers to hold them in place. 

Quilt top placed right side down on the backing, pinned the layers together.

I made my way around the quilt, trimming to about an inch from the quilt top's edge. The layers are held together with hair clips. The fourth edge was going to be hard to reach, but I figured out that I could get to it easily by moving a table. I have to remember that trick for the future.

Layers sewn together along the edges of the quilt top, leaving a space unsewn for turning right side out. Topstitching closes the opening, and continues all around the perimeter of the quilt.

Once again, the quilt top.

Tonight I began tying knots in the quilt. The quilt should be finished in a couple of days.

Sunday night I added some embellishments to Remember to Play, a mixed media piece. There are marble-looking buttons and little black beads on the red ribbon. The red buttons near the bottom are a little crooked, but I like them. The piece feels finished now. I like its playful mood.

Spring Flowers Quilt - EQ Sketch

Above is a sketch of a quilt I'll be making this month. I'm planning to use lots of different purples, one fabric for each flower - my preference versus several purples in one flower. The quilt will be paper-pieced, but I may not worry about being too exact. I'd like each flower to have its own personality. I may even draw each paper piecing pattern individually, which would give each one a unique shape. I'll start the quilt in a few days. The Darrell quilt (guitars and music) will wait till Spring Flowers is done.