QCE Community Quilts Progressing in Leaps and Bounds

 

QCE Community Quilts – September Newsletter article

COMMUNITY QUILTERS - Please see the FACEBOOK posts for current pattern ideas. 

This month we will be concentrating on things to do with leftover 2 ½” strips. Mostly 4-patch blocks and several ways to use them! Bring some 2 1/2 " strips along on Sept. 26^th to play with.  Full width strips, leftovers from jelly-rolls, remains of bindings, and any other strips you have laying around. The ideas will work with a variety of strip lengths, widths, and accuracy (or lack thereof) so bring your strips and let’s make up enough kits to hand out for the guild members to take for the next few months.  You might not need to sew, but there will be lots of planning, pressing, cutting and sorting.

Many of the quilt kits include scrappy blocks – this is how they grow – feel free to grow your own!
These were made using the “straightening cuts” to square up fabric for the ‘real’ cutting.

1. Starting with the smallest bits of scraps - join together any two pieces, then add two more pieces all around. 
2. Next add strips as desired - until the block is about 4" across it can be wonky, but once it gets a little bigger you can square up the sides before adding the last four pieces around the outside - I save the wider strips (up to 2") for the last round to allow for easier intersections when joining rows.
3. Sewing in sets of 3 or 4 without cutting between blocks conserves thread.
4. Blocks should be "squared up" to 6 1/2" (6" finished size) for the quilt.
5. Blocks can be combined with alternate solid pieces when joining rows.
6. With 18 of each you can make a quilt center of 36" x 36" plus a border of your choice for up to a 42" square quilt.

The September 26th Community Quilts Evening Sew-a-long at First Presbyterian Church in Greensburg might be the last ‘in person’ event for the Fall season.  I’m thinking it might work better as a ZOOM sewing event as the days will be shorter and the weather will likely be worse as we go into the winter months. This also has the added benefit of being in our own sewing spaces without needing to pack up and haul everything to the meetings – although it will be fun to do it again in the spring once the weather is more cooperative. The ZOOM links can be up all day and into the evening so members can drop in as they are available.

We are collecting quilts for delivering to Project Linus, hospitals and nursing homes. There are 17 quilts collected so far. Please bring your completed quilts or fabric/batting donations – batting scraps that can be cut to 10” squares (or larger) are especially appreciated. Quilt sizes: 36”x36”, 40”x 40”, 40”x 50” and up to Twin size.
Also, if you have a coupon or happen to be in Joann’s and get the sudden urge to donate batting, a twin is a better bargain than a crib.

There may be a need for “Fidget Quilts” for Memory Care Units, so start collecting ‘Fidget Fodder’ for a future project. Similar size to the placemat project we did last season. Links and posts will be added to the QCE Facebook page as well as the blog. Watch for more information in future Friday updates!

Any suggestions or questions? Call or text Thea at 724-516-1439 or email grannygoodstuff@ymail.com