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.

Corgi fund banner by me

 When your dear friend asks if you can make a banner, the response is "of course!  What size?"  So, that's what I asked Mariellen.  With help from darling husband for the lettering, here it is .

This year's Corgi Walk in the Pearl is Aug. 19, 2023.  If you need a dose of adorable Corgis and their parents, many in matching outfits, here's more info.

https://corgiwalk.com/

"Hedgehog Hollow" by Carla

We live in a small world.  Carla got my name from Kathy W.  She asked me to quilt this in a hurry as a gift for her mother's birthday in July.  Plan A was this was for Christmas 2023, but life changes, so now it's a birthday gift. (Shh.  Don't tell.)

Through conversation,  I found that she is a flutist who played with the Oregon Symphony until her retirement.  When I was in high school, I took double bass lessons from a fellow symphony member, so there is our small world connection.

I also have to say that this quilt was beautifully pieced.  Flatter than a pancake, even edges, you name it  Wish mine were this well made.

Quilted with a design of butterflies that I've forgotten the name of already.  Spring dreams maybe?

 

"Stunning" by Sharon

I think that "Stunning" is a very apt name for this quilt.  Clearly, Sharon chose ombre fabrics in rainbow colors and black then carefully pieced it to make the color gradations match.

Quilted with a straight line design along the strips, then echo quilted the insides and out of the star blocks.

All done with a light grey that will blend well.

 

2nd Vintage Fan quilt from Sandra.

This is another stunner from Sandra's relative.  I honestly asked her if she was sure that she wanted it back.  Ever hopeful, but yes, she did.

Both of these quilts were beautifully pieced, the fans and green background hand pieced together.  Although Sandra had asked that I finish the binding by machine, I kept getting a voice from the piecer of this that "I put all that work into those tops, piecing them by hand, don't you dare finish the binding by machine!"  So, although I don't think I've ever done that before, sometimes you just have to do what the quilt, or in this case, the piecer, needs.

 After I contacted Sandra to let her know that her quilt was ready, she sent me the following background on the piecer.

The background of the quilt is my Mother-in-law's Grandmother, Marian Degman Balsiger, born in Kentucky in 1901, made these and was working on them when she passed away in 1981 in Washington. We don't know how old the fabric is though. They were put into cedar chest and passed through a few family members before getting to us. 

My m-i-l shared, "Marian did a lot of sewing, quilting, baking, canning, and all things Farm. And she wore 3-inch heels to Grange meetings! A fiery curly redhead with brains and brawn."

 

I think the "fiery, curly redhead was speaking to me from the grave, and I was honored to help complete her heirlooms.

 

"Orange Batiks by Carla

This is one "hot" quilt with great, bright hot summer colors.  Maybe this is why it's been so hot in Portland recently.

 Quilted with a simple design called "Simple Squares", just enough to hold it together but not detract from the quilt top.

"Hedgehog Hollow" by Darcy

Oh what a cute quilt!  Darcy is someone I know from other parts of my life, and she found this quilt as a kit, and couldn't resist.  She's a relatively new quilter, so there was a quick lesson on a couple of things before she jumped in, and finished with a fabulous job! (Including mitered borders)

There is a sweet bunny, a hedgehog (My favorite),

And Darcy's favorite, the fox.   This was also the reason for choosing the "Outfoxed" panto.

 

Sevral from Sue

I really thought that I had adjusted the quilts so that they were oriented correctly.  I was mistaken.  This will be a quilt for a child, but I don't know if this child has been selected or not.

Stars for her daughter.  Sue says that her daughter's home is decorated in muted colors of greys, black and white, so this is for her to snuggle under when it's cooler. Quilted with a free hand design due to the flange on the border that we did not want to "nail down"

St

Snowflake for son in law.  This will go to the husband of the daughter above, so a similar color theme/

Christmas Carpenter's star.  This will be donated by Sue as a raffle prize.    Funds raised will be used for whatever charitable organization is chosen this year.

 

"Lego's #1, #2 and Logos" by Michael

This is how Michael uses up fabric scraps.  If pressed, I could probably identify which is which, but that would take time.  Suffice it to say that there where 3 quilts, 2 pieced with smaller bits into 8" squares, and the "Logos" was made using larger squares into 8" squares.  I got to choose thread, and patterns.  Too much fun for me.

 

Queen and Corgi's by Michael

Oh Michael, where do you find the time, energy and patterns?  I love this one, and all of the sweet corgis! 

The  faces of the queen are all pieced with a flesh tone fabric, but I have to say that they look rather greenish to me.  Quilted with and edge to edge design called "Woof" of dog paws and hearts (Of course)

 

Vintage Dresden Fans

This quilt is amazing, and there's another one coming!  I'm not completely sure of the full history of this quilt, but I do know that it was discovered in a cedar chest of Sandra's.   I believe that it was pieced by a relative of her husband, but she may need to correct for about that.

Probably 1930's, but having no knowledge of fabric history, that's a mere guess.

The fans were pieced by machine, but each fan was stitched to the background by hand.  Each block was stitched in the ditch along each seam, no quilting in the green "base" of the fans, then feathers in the background of each block and in the borders

 

Miscalclation #3 from Fiona's.

 Another quilt where I miscalculated how much fabric I needed.  So, the squares are what was already made, then just put them all together into a somewhat pleasing design.  Donated and off to someone who will use it.  Hurrah!

Donation quilts by me

 I love emptying fabric bins, and this one is made up fully of strings.  Bits of fabric that are too big to throw away, but too small to keep.  I took all of my various colors of strings and pieced them all into 6" squares.  This is just the Black and White fabrics.  More to come