Sewing Projects in 2020
Round Robin from 20 years ago
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In 1999 Concord Piecemakers guild organized a "round robin" project. Each group of 6 members made quilts by starting with a center block, passing it on to the next person who added a border, then passing it on again until it came back to the originator. Instead of keeping the results a secret for months, we met regularly at each other's houses to discuss our design process. I made lasting friends as a result but I wasn't crazy about the quilt top so it never got finished. My friend Elana Schreiber finished her top this year and asked me to remind her of the date. That inspired me to finish mine and donate it to the guild's "comfort quilt" project. Elana volunteered to machine quilt it for me. |
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I can't remember when I started this quilt but it was also decades ago. I used fabric left from making dresses for Bob's sister Lee to wear to work in hot, humid New Jersey. The pattern was suggested by a quilt I saw at a quilt show back in 1995. |
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I still had enough of the same fabric to make a few more blocks, set them together and make the border. Ellen Kahn, a friend from Concord Piecemakers offered to machine quilt it for me. It will also be given as a "comfort quilt". |
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We were invited to Charlie Gettys and Betsy Tainer's destination wedding just before the onset of Covid 19. It was to be held outdoors in Rocky Mountain National Park in July. Charlie's parents, our neighbors since before he was born, told us their favorite colors and I designed this wall hanging to look like purple mountains. To keep busy during the shutdown, I did all the quilting by hand. |
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The blocks have red linked hearts quilted with pearl cotton and the border has hearts all the way around. Charlie and Betsy hung the quilt in their California apartment and hope to hold their wedding in July 2021. We hope we'll be able to travel by that time and join them. |
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We were also invited to Hannah Freedman and Josh Novak's wedding in Boston in November. It was also postponed but provided another opportunity to make a fun quilt. I saw this pattern advertised in an Australian quilting magazine. I found the designer's website, ordered the pattern, and used the couple's choice of colors which reminded them of swirling water. Stores re-opened in time for Hannah to join me in picking out the fabrics. I hand quilted between the blocks, then added more hand stitching in pearl cotton to emphasize the swirliness. |
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After making dozens of Covid masks for the whole family, to keep busy, I made 2 more Comfort Quilts with the help of Concord Piecemakers guild. They collect donated fabrics and patterns for fun, easy quilts in various sizes. When I couldn't shop for fabric in stores, I could visit Eileen Ryan and pick up supplies from her porch. |
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The instructions for these quilts are found in Eleanor Burns "Quick Trip Quilts", a Quilt In A Day publication in 2009. They're not finished in a day but it's very quick to piece the tops, especially when Eileen provides the fabrics already cut into long strips. |
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Having finished all the above long before the end of the Pandemic, I needed more projects to keep me serene! Eileen had a donation from Kathy, another guild member, that needed finishing. Kathy had taken a class and made a bunch of different quilt blocks. She started putting them together but got stuck because they were different sizes. The only information I received with the blocks and remaining fabric was this photo of one way it could be assembled. No wonder she gave up! |
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My solution was to take the blocks she sewed together apart and make all her blocks the same width. That way they were easier to put back together. The fabric I got from Eileen for the back had diagonal stripes in the print so I turned the quilt over and machine quilted it along those stripes, through all the different blocks rather than custom quilting each block separately. |
The Last Comfort Quilt
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The other unfinished quilt Kathy gave Eileen for someone else to finish is this applique pattern. Kathy had pieced the background and started adding the vines and leaves when she decided it wasn't fun. This time I was lucky that she provided the source of the pattern. It's in this book I borrowed from the New England Quilt Museum Library where I volunteer (Super Simple Fat Quarter Quilts by Lynda Milligan and Nancy Smith). With all Kathy's fabrics, I have been able to finish the top and will find a guild member to free-motion quilt it, then add the binding and donate it to Comfort Quilts. |
Updated December 2020
