Happy April Fool's Day!

This post is short and sweet, but it speaks volumes. 

Had a bit of an incident earlier this year when I was doing some cutting; I have to admit that this is a first for me! Thought you might enjoy a little smile this April Fool's. 

Checkers Anyone?

My scrappy Checkerboard flimsy is complete. It's such a bright and cheery collection of scraps that it's hard not to smile a little when I look at it.

For an exercise that began as an effort to get the scraps on my cutting table under control, I have to say that it's turned out better than I had expected.

And much quicker than I had expected, too! There are 64 squares in each block, which sounds a little overwhelming, but when you whittle away a few at a time, it really wasn't. It was one of those projects that didn't require a whole lot of thinking so when I just wanted to sit down and sew something it fit the bill nicely.

I bordered it with a white strip and then a string of blocks, alternating a coloured block with a neutral. There was to be another white outer border but I goofed up a little. I'd been working on the star blocks that I showed you a post or two ago and inadvertently used too much of the white for that project, so all that I had left in terms of a solid was my go-to Kona Snow, but it just wasn't white enough.

Time to audition potential options. This pink floral lattice was the first thought but it was quickly dismissed.

Then I thought of this little black pin dot. It would be nice with the black and white line drawing print that is scattered throughout the blocks, but somehow it just seemed too austere (it's whiter than it appears in this pic).

I had the same pin dot in red so I went with that. It's subtle enough to add a little interest without competing with everything else.

I think this little block might be one of my faves - it speaks to the QuiltBee in me 😉.

So another flimsy to add to this year's shipment for Quilts for Survivors. Happy, happy, happy....M

 

Sister Act

Today I'm sharing a beautiful project undertaken recently by my friends Jane and Linda, who many of you know by now also happen to be sisters. They dug deep into their stashes to make this beauty for a raffle in support of their local food bank. I'll let Jane tell you about it in her own words:

"Last fall, our friend Donna Marie asked Linda and I if we would make a quilt for the annual food bank raffle. We agreed to do it as long as we could choose the pattern and fabrics, and that it would be a sofa quilt, or wall art rather than a bed-sized quilt. Our goal was to have it finished by March 1.

Donna Marie is a tireless volunteer for the Killaloe Food Bank (note to reader: we all grew up in Killaloe) and she organizes an event called “Mild to Wild” the weekend following Victoria Day in May. The event features a hot chicken wing eating contest, hot sauce sales, and a dance. To promote it, she organizes a raffle with several great prizes. Winners are announced at the event.

Linda and I wanted to use some of our wildest fabrics in the quilt and we chose a pattern called Cascade to showcase a collection of rich purples and greens. Using fabrics from our personal stashes (and vowing not to buy anything new!) we settled on a collection and started cutting blocks on Sunday, January 19.

We laid the blocks out on Linda’s spare bed and moved them around till we were satisfied with the arrangement. Each block was carefully pinned together and then we each took home half of the blocks to assemble by hand.

By Saturday, February 15, we had completed and ironed the blocks and the quilt top was ready to assemble. The rows were sewn together by machine and the final top given a good press. For the backing, Linda had a bright purple and green floral that was perfect, but not quite wide enough. We added a row of blocks bordered by a bright fuchsia to it and then it was ready to go to Roberta for quilting. We went with the panto called Moulin Rouge.

Roberta completed the quilt in record time and on February 27, Linda and I got together one last time to bind it. We used a purple with tiny orange and fuchsia dots. I dropped the quilt off to Donna Marie on February 28, just in time for the ticket launch! 

The quilt is on display at various locations where tickets are sold, including the drugstores in Killaloe and Barry’s Bay. I hope whoever wins it will love it as much as we loved making it!"

I say it all the time - quilters are just the best, aren't they?....M

An Unexpected Checkerboard

Surprisingly, this checkerboard flimsy is on my design wall. It started out as a way to use scraps that have long been accumulating on my cutting table in the hopes that I might actually have use of the entire cutting board rather than just the bit left by the scraps that continue to encroach.

I got the idea from Jean, one of the quilters at the church. She recently made a few checkerboard blocks for Quilts for Survivors in an attempt to use  remnants from a flimsy that she made for them last year.

The idea wasn't to make a flimsy, just a few blocks. Sound familiar? Well, I started cutting 2.5" strips and squares and it seemed like there was just a never ending supply to work with. Eventually, I added a few strips from yardage - particularly the low volume prints - but most of it came from the table!

I was keen to use up the white print with the line drawing and a piece of pink and white stripe. There was lots of pink so I've included several squares in each block; still plenty left.

Since the top photo was taken, I've made all 12 blocks and now I'm working on borders: a strip of blocks bordered on either side with a strip of white. It's almost there!....M