Season's Greeting.....

It's never to early to think about making a lovely quilt for the holiday season *VBS* Here is another of Del Jeanne's creations, using Orphan Blocks. 

"A Christmas Gathering"--Christmas orphans collected over several years--made some, won some, had some given to me, but I think they look nice together!"
I hope Del Jeanne will continue to make Orphan Train quilts, she does a super job!

Doubled Delight...

Here I am, as promised, back with not just ONE, but TWO of Del Jeanne's orphan block quilts. I decided to combine them in one post, they seem to belong together. Here's what Del Jeanne had to say about the two of them. "Orphan Blocks Soldier Quilt"--just more patriotic orphans, put together for a wounded soldier (like "For An American Hero" which you already have a picture of)."

"Soldier Quilt"--same as above--fewer orphan blocks, but lots of orphan scraps that made crumb style blocks for it!"
I'll be back tomorrow with another great Orphan Train quilt. We're rolling.....


 

New Orphan blocks quilts...

Part 1 *VBS* I received a lovely email last week from Del Jeanne. She has been an Orphan Train traveler for awhile now, and her latest creations are lovely. This is the first of 4 that she is sharing with us. I'll let her tell you about this one in her own words. 

"Autumn Potpourri" was given to a friend who lost her husband. He was only 55, and she's a few years younger. I made several of these blocks from autumn charms I received in a guild swap shortly after plunging into quilting. Not really being a lover of autumn colors, they languished out of sight for a long time. Then I won a few autumn blocks in a guild block raffle, and was given a few more, so I finally got inspired to put all of them together. Right after I finished it, her husband died--in November, so it seemed like it was destined for her."
I've decided to split the quilts into 4 seperate posts *VBS*, come back tomorrow to see another lovely creation by the very talented Del Jeanne. As far as I know Del Jeanne doesn't have a blog, so be sure to leave her some compliments here!

Rolling.....

onward in my new quest *VBS* Have you decided to join Michele and I in the Virtual Quilting Bee for Charity? I hope so *VBS* This box of "goodies" from Chris in San Diego, CA has been adding and fueling my actions the past couple of days. As I use her generous donation of parts, bits, strings and blocks, I feel like a pirate with a treasure chest. As I mentioned yesterday, the hospital wash basin,filled to nearly overflowing with MAM beguns(or as friend Ila called it this a.m., "quilt seeds"...don't you just love it?)jolted me into action. I mentioned, over at Pieces, that I would estimate one to two hundred "seeds" that would become MAM blocks. I decided it would be fun(for me, who loves a challenge)to ACTUALLY count them. But not just count...to count out 10 PER DAY and finish them into 6.5" blocks. Why 10? Well, at 6.5", 10 of them gives a vertical row of 60". And that's a good length for a donation quilt *VBS*
 Here's the collage I made of various parts I found in Chris's treasure box. Some of these are already part of a quilt, some before the picture was even taken back in May. I am re-running it in thanks to Chris and all the others great gals who have donated orphan blocks, scraps and parts over the 2 years of this blog. The variety I have to chose from really makes it fun and much easier to make the Orphan Train and associated quilts. Thanks to ALL of you! *VBS*

In the midst of the letters and numbers.....

I sometimes get lost!! This is technically NOT a second post...*VBS*...I manage to mess up where I inserted the text in the post below. When I try to correct it, I get an error message that will NOT let me re-publish...soooooo...here are the links you need to Michele's Virtual Quilting Bee and to my post about the pan of scraps.

"Goin' take a sentimental journey....."

...gonna set my heart at ease". Yup, another old favorite song *VBS* Life is a journey, altho we tend to lose track of that little fact. Life doesn't happen all at once, it's a process and mostly we are too absorbed in our daily life to step back and measure. I don't know how other people feel about "measuring", I wish I did. I'm rather old to have just come to the realization that I'm an 'inchworm' in discuise. That's a song I like also *VBS*. The lucky inchworm measures the marigolds. I am, undoubt, a more sinister measure-er. The passage of time fascinates me. I might as well try to count the grains of sand on the beach as to grasp the passage of time, of things in motion, of movement. And yet, it is that ability to measure time that helps seperate us from the animal kingdom. So why all the talk of measuring?? Well, yesterday I blogged about scraps(and pieces)yet again at my regular blog, Pieces from my scrapbag. This sidebar, as well as that one, contain pictures and tutorial about my approach to scraps. I showed this pan(an old hospital wash basin)of "beguns" for MAM blocks. Read that post if you want all the details, cause to make a long story short...in order to find out JUST how many "beguns" were in that pan, I'd count out 10 PER DAY, finish them and set them aside, until all were finished 6.5" blocks for a mile-a-minute quilt top. The first half of the collage is the pan of "beguns", the second half is today 10 completed blocks, sized and ready to go!
 And since I finished that us, lickity split, I made 3 more of these string blocks that I need to enlarge the string quilt in first half of the picture. My friend Michele, of With heart and hands, a quilting journey, departed on a Virtual Quilting Bee of Charity quilts this past week. I joined her, but never got around to blogging about it. Last week, and part of this week, I have made MAM blocks from an abundant pile of flannel trimmings and scraps. As of today I am finished with them... they number 54-8.5" squares(to be made into a donation quilt). I'm going to carry on with sewing the bits and pieces, the backbone of frugal quiltmaking, the :scraps to treasure" way of thinking. I'm not sure how long this will last, but if you are so inclined, and not too busy measuring things,*VBS*, please join us!

Frugal Friday feature....

a very special quilt, made by Orphan Train Volunteer Carol. Carol blogs at Scraps and Pieces of Our lives. She's our newest orphan train volunteer but once she got started she discovered how much fun it is to play with Orphan blocks and offerings. She had sewn many of her scraps into HSTs(half square triangles) and was debating how to use them. Combining them with some donated panel fabric was the perfect solution!! Another lovely quilt that will go off the the organization she supports. It's a Canadian organization and you can read more about it at Carols blog.*VBS* Great job Carol!!

New Orphans come to play in the Valley....

They rolled in from Texas last week, and a fine bunch they are *VBS* I've been getting acquainted with each one. The new orphans are from my good friend Julie, of Julie Q Quilts.
 I put these new orphans right to work. Sorting them by size and color, stacking some, joining up others.Sometimes, if they arrived already sewn into a row or block, I unsew them and use them differently *VBS* That is pretty much how I work with orphan blocks. Sometimes color is the deciding factor, sometimes it's the height of the block. A great asset to have close at hand, if you are joining up orphan blocks, is an assortment of scraps or precut strips. More often than not, a strip can/will be used as a space filler. That helps you achieve the desired width of the row. When the joined together blocks aren't quite equal to the size you want, you "fill in" with a spacer strip.Sometimes in between the blocks, sometimes at the ends of the row.
 And a treat Julie sent along for me *VBS* A Moda Scrap bag of assorted sized strips from their pink, reds and whites collections. I love it!! Thank you so very much Julie, you are way too good to me *VBS*!

Frugal Friday Feature....

and excellent Orphan Train volunteer, Sue, of From the Magpie's Nest. Sue and I have been corresponding since before the Orphan Train began running *VBS* She's great fun to have as a friend and she makes wonderful quilts for many causes. Some premie quilts for a Neo-natal unit and some for foster children. Often Sue begins with the likes of these....the boxes, drawers and bins of unwanted and leftover blocks...the orphans.
 From them she creates wonderful useful things. Here we've got examples of her creative touch in placemats for a DGD, and a premie quilt...they are small in size. She also creates "units" or blocks to work into her designs, ala design wall.
 Often her blocks come from outside sources and she swiftly blends them into wonderful quilts in many sizes.
 I don't want you to think she just makes small quilts. Here are a couple of her earlier efforts. I know she labored longer and harder on these as seen in the number of orphan blocks used. And for you Gwen and Freddy fans, in their new book, Gwen has a couple of antique quilts near the end of the book. Take a good look at Sue's and then look at the ones in the book. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Frugal Friday Feature.....

my friend Carol, of Scraps And Pieces Of Our Lives. Carol is a brand new face on the orphan train. Welcome aboard Carol, happy to have you with us *VBS* This is Carol's first orphan blocks quilts. She's been following our progress for awhile and decided to hop aboard. 

Here is what Carol had to say about working with orphan blocks, bits and pieces: "I've been wanting to "stretch" my quilting and branch out into making some quilts without using patterns. I've been following Finn at her blog. She has such a creative way of quilting which I find really intriguing. When I seen a quilt hanging at the library I decided I would try to make a block like it. Needless to say, it didn't turn out quite the way it had at the library (my math is horrible), yet I really enjoyed the creativity of doing something totally different."
"I only had 8 flower squares which I fussy cut. I kept all the scraps from each square. I needed a block in the middle, so decided I would use up those scraps along with some of leftover scraps which I had used in the 8 blocks. The outcome....the middle block."
"I made each block 15 inches so that I would have a fairly nice size quilt. All pieces in this quilt were material that had been given to me or scraps in my scrap box. Cost for this quilt...approx. $2.00 for the batting & thread."
"This is my first "orphan train" quilt. It will be sent up north for my Quilts for the North project."
"I want to thank Finn (my dear friend) for the Orphan Train blog, for her creativity in quilting and for encouraging us to quilt with scraps and orphan blocks. Your the best!!" Thanks Carol! *VBS*

Making it work...

is exactly what is required as you work with orphan blocks. Here are two examples. Both of these came in the package from Chris in San Diago. I can imagine anything more odd to work with than a stack of triangles *VBS* Sooo much bias! I puzzled over them for abit, and decided if I added a triangle to each side that would take care of the bias edges. What did I use? Some large triangles leftover from a Delectable Mountains quilt top. The orange square w/fish is a fun block to work with. But a bridge is needed before it joins others of similar size. Thus the funny little odds-n-end piano keys are beinging added.
 On many of my Orphan blocks quilts, this is how I work. I build them. I suppose, in a sense, that's how we make quilt anyway. Part of the difference is that the blocks are multiple sizes. Spacers are needed fairly often. If I used all spacers, it would function like sashing or lattice, and that's not what I want.
 I don't always lay the blocks out to see what will fit where. More often I stay seated at the machine, with a "beginnings" in my lap and audition other orphans, blocks and bits. If I like it, or it mostly fits, I sew it on. Too much? Just cut it off! I have both of these in progress at the same time. The last picture is a lovely box of donated fabric,blocks and quilt tops from Diannia in Iowa. Thank you so much Diannia, it will all get used *VBS*
 

Frugal Friday Feature....

and for this first FFF, I have chosen Barb C. of Thinking Out Loud. Barb is a prolific quilt maker and multi-talented gal. She knits, quilts, beads and makes wonderful embellish Madonnas and other pieces. She leans toward creating from recycled objects and does it with great talent and dedication. There are many of her quilts listed on the sidebar under Barb's Orphans. A few weeks back, I was stuck by the beauty of this "leftovers" quilt in progress. In this collage you have the beginnings and a glimpse of what is to come. *VBS*
 This isn't the entire top, but gives you a good idea of where it's going.Here's what Barb had to say about it:"I've made all the blocks for this charity quilt and I've got the quilt designed. I have used up all the pre-cut squares I had made, and I found more of the yellow and white in my stash to finish up the corner squares. Finally putting this quilt together, I remembered why I liked this block design in the first place.
The quilt measures about 72 x 80. One of the long print strips (on the far right) is narrower than the one at the far left, and I may leave them uneven. In this design, I don't think it matters that they're not symmetrical. I should have time this weekend to stitch the top together."
 This collage features 5 of Barb's small quilt tops. Again, working with what she had on hand, and what was leftover from other projects or recycled fabric, she created these for Debra S. Deb is collecting quilts for a woman's shelter, I believe. The single block(a shoofly)is a wonderful example of taking something and MAKING it work with what you have. Barbs sums up with with leftovers with this insight:"Here's what I learned from the process: pre-cut strips are an asset. If I needed a piece of sashing or some 4-patch blocks, it was great to leaf through my strips to see what was already cut. I've made a big dent in my store of 2.5 and 3.5" strips, so I'm going to cut into some of my fabrics and replenish the drawer. Orphan blocks are great starters for these little projects too. I think I've gone through a lot of stash in the process, but more importantly, I've uncovered some works-in-progress that I want to go back and finish. It's been a mind de-cluttering as well as a destash exercise. Next I'll be making a larger quilt for Debra's efforts, then I'm going to round up some the ghost projects that are haunting my sewing room, and finish them up and show them the light of day." I've seen absolutely astonishing results from her recycle efforts. A recent inspiration has resulted in recycled cotton yarn. Who knew you could unravel a cotton knit and reclaim the yarn? Not me, but it is being done. Check out Barb's blog and archives for multiple projects using reclaimed materials. You're one of the most creative people I know Barb!! High Fives and a "way to go"!!

New Feature on the Orphan Train...

I've decided to do a "featuring" of one of our Orphan Train volunteers. I haven't decided as yet if it will be weekly. Keep coming back to see what I decide...LOL This lovely orphan blocks quilt was recently put together by Barb, who blogs at Thinking out Loud. She makes many, many dontaion quilts, generally using semi-rescued or re-purposed fabric. There truly is such an abundance of materials to work with, without going out and buying everything new. Here's what Barb has to say about this one:"Here's a close-up of another one. I pulled from what Finn would call my orphan block stash and included a couple of blocks Debra embroidered that were left over from another project. Most of this fabric had been cut into half-square triangles for a project I never made because I decided I didn't like these fabrics together after all."

A new train load of Orphans...

The camera is working again! Hurray for chargeable batteries! The mailman rang my doorbell yesterday, and delivered a box of Orphan blocks from Chris, of San Diego, CA. A nice email last week let me know she's been following my blogs and had orphan blocks she would like to donate. I'm always happy to accept Orphan block donations. She said there were quite a few, and what an understatement that was!!
There is definitely more than one quilt in these pictures. *VBS* What a treasure trove of goodies here.
DD#1 had surgery yesterday, and the hours between noon and 3 were long ones. Her DH was at the hospital, and her best friend, but Mom wasn't needed. Thanks to Chris's timely package, I was busy during those hours,fingering the blocks,sorting and stacking. Some ready to go "as is", some that will need modification. Some spare parts set aside, some taken apart.She came through the surgery just fine, and is back home this afternoon.
Earlier today, the log cabin units in the first photo were just a stack of blocks. I sorted out the finished ones. There were about 4 or so, that were begun, but with a backwards first strip. Took those apart, re-assembled them and finished them out to 6.5". By noon today I had the units of 4 blocks each ready to march across the top of a new Orphan block quilt.
I have many happy days ahead of me, playing with all these new babies, introducing them to other Orphans on our happy train. Thank you Chris *VBS* I appreciate you reaching out in friendship, and enriching my stash of Orphan blocks and bits.