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*

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*!

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*
 

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.

Frugal Friday....

A package of hidden treasure! And a new "buzz" word to play with...Frugal Friday!This package of delicious possibilities came in the mail from my new friend, Nannergirl in Canada. She was part of the New Years Eve Countdown Challenge that I hosted at my Pieces from my scrapbag.As the Engineer for the Orphan Train, I work with spare parts, bits and pieces as well as Orphan blocks. I happily accept donations of such as those. Nothing perks me up faster than a challenge to make something out of what I am given *VBS* Thank you K, for adding new fun to my Frugal Friday.

Rolling along....

Lots of sewing going on at my house *VBS* I'm working on 'finish up' projects.  Saturday mail brought a BIG surprise *VBS*. Well, I confess to knowing it was coming, but it DID feel like Christmas. I received this wonderful jam-packed-full computer paper box of scraps and pieces from a quilter in Iowa, Diannia. She had emailed a week or so ago, offering a collection of scraps, pieces, yardages, and orphan blocks. You don't think I'd say "no",do you? Not likely for an old scrap hound like me! Lots of future orphan quilts in this box!! I've begun sorting over the weekend, while watching old movies...Thanks a million Diannia!!!
 My current work, in progress,is based on the Indian Hatchet blocks(browns with tea dye background) my OLDEST UFO. I other odds and ends and some donated rectangles from Gypsy Quilter. They are all finding a home, right here. I have the 60" length, and am working out to 40" wide that WTIL needs. How are your orphans growing???

New Orphan Blocks.....

These really lovely Sunbonnet Sue blocks were donated by Norma of Random Stitches for our orphan train project. There are a dozen of them, with a few needing to be finished. I'm thinking I will use 9 of them with a 3 part lattice from the blue and pink fabric, and the extras will join up with other donated blocks. Time for me to get busy stitching! I'm hoping to make 2008 my most productive year yet!!
I have a couple more pictures of ways that orphan blocks have been used and will post those tomorrow. See you then *VBS*

A new friend and kindred spirit.......

of our orphan train effort *VBS* Many thanks to Sandy of New York!! I got a lovely email from Sandy, a kind of 'out of the blue' email *S*, offering orphan blocks to use in donation quilts. Of course I said YES!!
Sandy's box arrived last week with all these goodies enclosed!!! There were orphan blocks and 'bits and pieces' and parts *VBS* I have Sandy's permission to add a bit about her life(and her charity work) to our Train blog. Her enclosed letter says, : "It's so great that you make these donation quilts. Hope you can use these. I do baby quilts(at least 3) a year for our local hospital through my quilt guild.
I also volunteer 4 hours/week at a local charity house(I'm a retired RN). And I knit and crochet hats, scarves, etc for charity. I have a good life( 5 healthy children, 7 healthy grands)and a great husband, who loves me and tolerates my "endeavors". Good Luck and God Bless, Piecefully, Sandy"

Along with saying "thank you", I'll echo Sandy's words, 'God bless'...one of the greatest things we bring to the Table of Life,to share,is an awareness of 'need'. Thank You Sandy!!! Keep up your own great work! Hugs, Finn

P.S. Quilting Fitzy asked about my comment about being 'charged'. It's not money, Fitsy, that they charge us. They 'charge' by taking a % from the 1042 MB(of picture space)that each of us is 'allowed'.(I post pictures on 3 blogs) I hate it when the pictures don't publish and I still get a % of space subtracted!! Just a bit of a "grumbly old bear" moment....sorry!

P.S. 2...I have a few great pictures pf orphan quilt progress, and some totally new orphan blocks projects to show you over the week!

Slow going....

things seem to be pretty quiet right now. A couple of you are working on orphan block tops, and I am too *VBS* I know it's not something that we do full time, like piece our regular quilts...but it makes for a fun 'play' day...with no little to nothing that can go wrong...just rather mindless sewing...*VBS*Here are the blocks I've been playing with this past week. They came in as a donation from Gypsy Quilter. I sewed 2.5" X 3.5" rectangles together into long 'stacks' of bricks, and then sewed a bagful of HST sqs. around the school house block(well, half of it at least..LOL). Obviously I have more to do, but that was it for one day and then life 'happened' again. I'll be getting back to it soon..*VBS* How about you???

Another Kind of Orphan....

This is the picture I got from Gypsyquilter yesterday. She wasn't sure I would want it, or consider it 'orphan', but told me it's story anyway. She had set off to clean old stuff out of the

basement. She found a big, old box labeled "tote bags" and opened it of our curiousity. I'm assuming it came with the house, since she wasn't familiar with it. In side were these pieces of fabric. Some were already joined into sections, but not enough to make a quilt. Maybe they had been going to be tote bags in some other 1960 or 1970's life. She felt compelled to finish it, and in the process needed to cut more rectangles.(Which we tend to forget we can use..rectangles).

I totally feel this is every bit as much an orphan quilt as if it were made from 'odd' blocks. It had been abandoned, unowned and unloved by anyone. It needed rescuing and finishing and found both in the loving hands of Gypsyquilter. I think she did a great job!!! It's really a great quilt, wish we could see the fabrics better. Thanks Gypsy, think about joining us in blogland! Hugs, Finn