Project Linus 2012

As those of you who read here regularly know, I like to make blocks and sometimes make them into tops much more than I like to finish quilts.  And I am trying to reduce unnecessary stash & especially scraps. Consequently, I make a lot of small quilt tops which I donate to a Linus coordinator who is a friend of a friend, who is happy to take tops and organise them getting finished into quilts.  I also donate tops & blocks and things to my blog friend Sarah's quilt ministry.  In 2012, I donated 35 or so tops to these causes.  Here's a post showing them!

In 2013, I am to donate at least one quilt top per month to some sort of charitable cause - some months, there may be more, of course. Depends on my sewing time!  And in 2013, for the first time in a while, I am working full time again...


October

September

August

July

May

April

March (I originally made another top in March to donate, but decided to keep it, as I liked it a lot!)

February 

January 

More log cabins

No sooner said, than done - some purple and green log cabins! Again, I have only shown 9 of these, but I made 16 to join the blocks pile. Not sure how I will lay them out, as they are not as high contrast as some blocks - but I did get rid of lots of small pieces of fabric, which was the point of the exercise, of course!  And don't worry, Ruth, I was leaning towards this colour combo anyway...

Scrappy Christmas

Because I've actually had some time to sew lately, I've been taking advantage of it to do what I enjoy best - making blocks. I'm not even bothering to put them into quilts at the moment, though that will come - but at the moment, it's just blocks.  I decided to further bust my Christmas stash by making some more of these blocks, which I've made in the past - they are very simple, you just join 3 3" squares and add a 3x8" rectangle down the side. You then stack and slash them and trim to your desired size.  I didn't have a lot of Christmas fabric to start with, and I am now down to very little, which is good.

Granny squares

I've been using these blocks as enders and leaders for a while, and have now made 16 of them, so I think I'll stop for the time being, and perhaps sew the blocks into a top at some point. Or else just let them hang around in a pile for a while!  I was really good in 2012 about not just making blocks, but actually assembling them into tops and doing something with the tops (in most cases, donating them) but at the moment, all I want to do is make blocks, so I think there will be some block set accumulation in the early part of 2013. So be it!

More granny squares

I'm not getting a huge amount of sewing time, with one thing and another, but I did get a chance to make another granny square or two. I am now up to 7. I think I set aside enough unique squares for about 16, which will make a nice, small baby quilt. Eventually. 

Granny squares

Lots of people seem to be making granny squares at the moment, so I couldn't resist. I'm trying to use up scraps, though, so there's no theme to mine, just scrappy scrappy scrappy.

Green Stars

This isn't actually a completed top, just 9 blocks with green stars in a pink and purple background - another scrap user.  I've not been sewing much lately - too busy - but I do try to do a little bit now and again...

Roman stripes, of a sort

Still trying to use up those strips - I decided to cut some solid squares (I have almost no solids in my stash, as it happens) and use them as half-foundations to get rid of some more strips.  There are still strips in the bag, but not quite as many as there were...

Little top

Here's another small top using largely strips - I started with two orphan blocks and went round them log cabin fashion with strips of a single fabric (found some more strips - in a bag of binding offcuts!).  It's only small, but should work nicely as a cot quilt for a small baby, etc.

Finished Strippy Top

Doesn't look all that different from last time I posted it, I know, but I added a few more rows just to make the size work better...  Still thinning out the strips a bit, but for the moment, that might be it.

Another strippy top

Actually, this one's not quite done - I want to add another row or two - but I didn't have time to finish it today. And I still have quite a large pile of strips to get through...

Pink Stripy Strippy

Finally had a little sewing time - it's been few and far between this month - and finished the little strippy top. Tomorrow I'm hoping to have more sewing time - perhaps several hours in a row, if I'm really lucky!

More stripping

In addition to working on a small piece for a swap, which I'm not going to show until it's finished (the swap, that is - the piece is finished already) I did actually do some other work this weekend. I decided to tackle my strips again - they were getting a bit out of control.

This is the after photo; beforehand, the strip pile (at the back of the photo) nearly reached the top of the basket.  What I've done this time is to cut them to the closest quarter inch, then stitch them together into long, long strips (rolled in top photo) and then use those rolls for some small strippy quilts. The first one, which is only a start uses some strips of hand-dyes interspersed, and I will carry on in that vein, but I also think I'll do another in just strips.

It also occurs to me that I have  bag of binding offcuts, which are 2 1/4" strips, really. I ought to incorporate them, as well!