3 police quilts

I had purchased a quilt kit at a garage sale, and then separated it all apart.  Part of the kit was a small piece of batting, and I saved it for "someday".  I finally used ti to make 

 

this Trip around the World quilt from leftover 2" squares.  So they ended up being 1.5" when finished.

These are two star quilts that I made form similar fabrics  After sorting my stash, I found I had several that just didn't fit into any one color, so I put them aside.  Then found this pattern in a magazine and it was perfect for them.  Since I had no quilts to finish on my hand guided machine, I just had a really good time playing with these quilts and using different designs.

 

Two from me for the police

I have decided to call this one "Sometimes a lack of math skills can be a blessing."  For those who don't know me, "Beth Math" is a common joke.  Yes, you'd think a quilter and musician would have better math skills, but no.   The name of this quilt comes from the fact that I pulled fabrics to start a quilt with  a plan to use up large quantities of a leftover piece of fabric, as well as make one for the police.  That turned into the initial quilt and a one made of leftovers.  Then there were STILL fabrics left that were cut to size, so I put them up on the design wall to come up with a pleasing arrangement.  I also got to dig through my stash of batting to find enough leftover bits to pull enough for these two quilts.  Quilted with continuous curves and a leaf meander in the border to hold it all togerher.

 This is called "An Out of this World Vacation."  I was about 3 days from leaving on a 3.5 week bike trip, but needed to finish a quilt on my computerized machine, with no other quilts to work on with my freehand machine.  Finally decided to pull a panel from the stash, add borders and quilt it for the police.  This panel was probably purchased on a bike ride as well.  

I quilted the path of the planetary rings, around each planet and astronaut.  Again, leftover batting and the same backing that was already loaded from the quilt above.  Dig through the binding bag and now it's complete and ready to give to an officer.

"One inch strings" by me

 

I found the idea for this quilt is a magazine, and then didn't even keep the pattern.  (There isn't much too the pattern).  Just cut strips of fabric to equal widths.  The pattern called for 1.5 in wide pieces.  Then the length can be whatever scraps you've got.   Piece them together into long "strings" of the desired length.  My measurement was to stretch my arms wide and when the piece reached between my fingers with arms outstretched, it was the right length.  Since this isn't an accurate measurement, you end up with crooked edges.  Those were cut off straight before quilting.

The backing is also pieced from multiple fabrics.I had a collection of flannel squares that I had serged together into several small potential quilt tops or backings, but changed my mind.  Stitched them all together to make the backing nearly large enough, then had to add a couple of pieces of found pieces of flannel from mom to make it large enough.  The only thing in this quilt that is not leftovers from another project is the batting!

Donated to a police officer who has someone in her life who has recently started a medical treatment and will gift this to that person.  I felt badly that they are getting such a funky quilt and not a "nice" one, but I hope that this will bring them some comfort.

"Officer Moose failure" by me.

This quilt is made from the blocks that I pieced for a pattern called "Moose be quilting" because it features appliqued moose.  1 large, and 12 small, then these blocks were to be placed under the moose heads.  I had sort of followed the fabrics suggested by the designer in the pattern and pulled from my stash.  By the time I finished piecing them, I decided that I really didn't like the fabrics, and that the way the blocks came together really didn't work for me.  So, added some sashing strips, and put it together to become a cop quilt for donation.

I was going to do an edge to edge design, but when I went to do that, I opted to make it special quilting and that was quite fun.  There are only about 3 different quilting designs in the blocks, but I like the cohesive aspect that gives it.

Then I used leftover pieces of wool batting that have been hanging out beneath my longarm for way too long.  Those are all now all used up, and off to a good home!
 

"Make it do" by me

 While piecing this and 2 other larger quilt tops from these fabrics, I had a really creative name for the series.  That's since been forgotten however.  So, this shall be known as "Make it do."  Not much of a fan of flannel, but when you make jammies and robes for your family members, you end up with scraps.  Too "thrifty" to just throw them away, so I keep them for years first.  Finally cut them into 2 different sizes of squares and just started to stitch them together.  The blue strip on the right side is because I had made the top, then the next morning found several more squares of blue.  As stated above, too thrifty to throw them away so I just added another strip to the side.  It's for a police officer to give away.  

And since I am so thrifty, the backing and batting are leftovers from a previous quilt of mine, and the binding are all scraps in shades of brown from the "binding bag".

So far, it's taking me longer to find an officer to give it to than it did to make all 3 quilt tops in the collection.  Oh well, I"ll find them!

"Penny Candy" by me.

My late grandmother Pearl taught me "Waste now, want not, eat it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."  So this one is for your grandma!  All those pieces of fabric that are too small to keep, but too big to toss are in this quilt.  It all started with a shoebox of 2" cut squares, then sewed together into rows of 4 going "Light, dark, light, dark."  Repeat and make blocks of 16 squares.  Throw them into a bin, and when you have enough, make them into a quilt top!

Because you also end up with some half square triangles, better throw those in too.  Sometimes they would be a full block of just those, or a few just random ones.  And one black oversized square.  I don't even remember putting that in, but there it is.   Next step, find a police officer to give it to.

 

"NY leftovers" by me

I so admire people who make scrappy quilts that are pleasing to the eye.  This one is more of "Well, my eyes aren't bleeding looking at it, so it must be okay"  This is made from fabrics leftover from a previous project with the fabrics that we bought in NY state on our 2023 bike ride.  Mostly made up of whatever pieces or blocks of fabric were already made from that quilt.  Then quilted with Simply Sunflowers panto since we often saw huge fields of sunflowers while there.

This will go to a police officer for donation. 

 I love how this was made up solely of leftovers or donation.  The backing came from my friend Darci who gifted me with several large pieces of fabric, and the wool batting is a leftover from Xande's most recent quilts

"Canada"

This is what happens when you go on a bike tour around Lake Ontario.  You start in New York State, and then ride into Canada, and finally back across the border once more.  Oh, and you stop at all the quilt quilt shops that you can find to purchase fabrics of things that reminded you of your trip.

The center panel actually came from the Sew What quilt shop in NY state.  Loved the name, and had a good time with the women who worked there,  I "needed" a small Canadian flag, and the only way to get it was to purchase the entire panel.   Now when I next find a police officer, this can go to them for donation.

The cobblestones were something that we seemed to encounter in the historic parts of town.  This one is particularly memorable because while riding over this type of road, Joe hit a pothole and broke the seatpost on his bike.  He was able to find a "bike repair shop" in that town, so we rode there.  Turns out it is mostly a porn store, and a few bike parts in the back.  Joe went to the back, while I wandered out front, trying not to laugh or be aghast.  The front door had many signs indicating that you needed to be over 18 years of age, that there were X rated items inside.  Just remembering that was a highlight of the trip.  And by the way, he didn't have anything that would work for Joe's seatpost.

The calm water fabric reminded me of riding along the Erie Canal section of our ride.  Smooth roads, calm water, very peaceful.  Also the water above Niagara Falls looked like this at times too.  Hard to imagine that it would all collect down to such a massive falls.

Also in Canada, again, small town.  Had stopped for coffee very near to the stream in town.  There were all these salmon spawning, and so thick you could probably have caught them with your hands.  Most people were doing catch and release, and a local said something about toxins in the water.
 

This quilt is completely made from leftovers.  Leftover fabrics on the top, but the backing is made from squares of flannel fabrics from previous projects.  Even the batting is pieced together.   All quilted with a loose meander to represent the way our bike route would wander  as we took wrong turns.  So much fun.

A string quilt by me

By my definition, "Strings" are the leftover bits of fabric that are too large to throw away, but too small to keep.  So I sort them into drawers by color, and every once in a while pull out a bunch, stitch the strings together to "Make" fabric, then cut them down to a consistent size.

 These are the blocks that were leftover from my most recent sewing fest.  Not enough of any one color way to make a quilt, so put them all together into rows.  It will keep someone warmer through the Portland police.

Hand dyed fabrics for donation

I always have a good time with the mystery quilts anonymous patterns, this is one of those, but I wasn't happy with how my hand dyed fabrics turned out  Or, not that I look at this, much of my piecing.  Mistakes galore! Oh well, quilted and finished for someone, and will learn to make better use of my design wall and camera before posting next time!

 

Pam has been busy!

Here are 3 from  Pam all destined to be donation quilts for charity.  What a fun idea, take a churn dash, and then make a really big block.  Only needs four of them to make a good sized quilt, and then sashing between the blocks is a perfect  compliment

Quilted with "Hippity Hoppity" panto, but I don't see any bunnies in this myself.

A "Crumb" quilt.  Where you take all those little bits of fabrics that you have in random shapes and stitch them together until they are large enough to make a block of whatever size you choose.

I  especially liked Pam's limited color palette.  Mostly greens and blues with a few black and white thrown in for fun

Quilted with "Radiate Pearls", and there are small "pearls" strung through

Pam told me that this was called "Skip to my Lou", but I don't know if that is the pattern designers name choice, or if Pam created this on her own.  Regardless, it's darling!

Quilted with Baptist Fans
 

"Penny Squares" by Carol

Carol inherited a bunch of these fabrics and they were already cut into 2.5" squares.  She started sewing them together into groups of 2's then 4's etc and finally blocks, and then a quilt top.

Quilted with a thread called "Red Chilis" and the "Sun Scallops panto.  Perfect for a donation quilt.

 

"Animals crumb quilt" by Carol

Carol is a friend who either pulled these fabrics from her own stash, or was gifted them, or a combo of the two.  All of these are 6" finished blocks and most of the blocks have a theme that ties them together.  The theme of the entire quilt is "Animals", so each block has different types of animals.

Okay, sometimes you don't have enough squirrel fabric, so you add other things, like horses to it.  it all works in the end!

Cats

Bugs

Dogs

 

Fish to name a few.  There's even a sloth in here, but when I tried to find it after quilting, he was hiding from the camera.

Carol provided flannel fabric in place of batting and will donate the completed quilt to Friendly House.

"Whole Cloth" by me

I love to handquilt, and Leigh and Michael think that I'm nuts.  (it's okay, they love things that I hate, so we're even).  This was a pre-printed panel, and I wish I had paid attention to when I started it.  Feels like I worked on it for years, even though it's only crib sized.  Fun and soothing to work on, but not a summer time project with wool batting in the middle.  Will raffle this off for the police and hopefully raise some money for Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS)

 

Photo dump of donation quilts from me

I have had a pile of donation quilts piling up, and it was time to just get them completed.  (There's still more to do, but this was a start).  Also gave me an opportunity to decrease my stash of batting and binding leftovers.  All were made with franken-batting where you take pieces of leftover batts from other projects and put them into the same quilt.  They are all made with a consistent type of batting in each quilt, but I used up whatever was there.

Many of the quilts are also made from scraps of fabrics.  This "Black and White string quilt" is from my time pulling all of my string pieces of fabric out of the bins and sewing them into rows.  These are then cut down to 6.5" because I have a square ruler that size.  This time, I focused on only the shades of grey blocks, but more are coming that need to be pieced with other colors.  Quilted with circles to counteract all of the straight lines in the quilt top.

From "Mystery Quilts Anonymous", here is a computed "Double Down."  Again with the scraps!  The blues are leftovers from 108" backing fabrics that have been in my stash, the occasionally pieced to the necessary size to cut them.  I actually bought the red bears with a plan to use it in a donation quilt, but I didn't read directions well, and didn't realize how much would be left over.  Look for more of this fabric in a future quilt!

Since the bears are wearing winter sweaters and hats, I opted for a "Christmas Star" design for quilting.  Seasonal, but not just for Christmas.

"Miscalculation #4"  These are all hand dyed fabric leftovers from a future donation quilt.  Just a little baby quilt that helped me to empty out a bin of fabric  Quilted with "Lotus Peel" design.

And finally "Scotty Dogs"  Found this in a magazine, and loved it.  They designer had made it with 2.5" squares, but I've got an overflowing shoebox of 2" squares, so opted to use those and an even more scrappy look.  This worked great until I got to the setting squares of 15 patch units. Since there is a strip of black at the top, bottom and sides of this to build the block to the same size as the dogs, my math was off (What a surprise).  Trimmed them to size on the sides and moved on. 

 This is quilted with a paper pantograph of Scotty dogs.  It was too perfect not to use for this quilt, but since it's done with black thread, it doesn't show in the photo.