UP Greens #20 no name yet top finished

Here it is! The next one.

I decided to make a simple checkerboard block using navy and greens - both darker and lighter greens.

Then I put it together with a 3 rail rail-fence sashing block using 1” finished strips. The cornerstones were a plus sign block.

I was going to make a darker border, but once I plugged in a lighter border around the outside in the EQ program, I liked it much better and went with that.

This is another one that I can’t wait to get quilted as it is really squishy. The cotton all feels very soft - and as such, it’s just not lying down very well. I am sure once I get it quilted, it will be fine.

It’s just so soft - and really doesn’t look all that great as it is lying on the floor.

But as weird as it is, in real life, it seems better.

I was able to use up quite a big of green with this one - because I used green everyone that wasn’t navy. The light sections are all very pale green - not white or off white. The placement of the sashing strips and cornerstone blocks were all very much “whatever I had next on the pile”. In other words, there is a place where there are several of the same sashing strips that make a sort of stair steps - but that just happened - I had no idea that was happening til I took it to the ironing board to press after I got it together.

Yes, I actually have pressed though I need to do a lot more, it appears! Maybe I should add some starch and see what would happen!

Speaking of the navy blue - this is about all of that I have. I had had a set of sheets that were retired - The top sheet is always in better shape than the bottom - so I could get more usable fabric out of it.

And so #20 is finished - as a top. I started working on those checkerboards some time since I came back from the states in August or September. I was looking for something super easy and flexible- where I could use ANY shade of green at all.

Once again, by using navy as the alternative block/color - because it is so dark, I was able to use lighter or quite dark greens and the design still works. It’s a tad bit boring as a design, but as I have said before, I am aiming for mostly simple - if not quick - with these quilts. And while maybe boring, I really am in love with checkerboards. You are not done seeing them yet in this series of quilts! :)

I do like the sashing and cornerstone blocks on this one.

And just in case you are curious, I am actively working on three more - one more ‘actively’ than the other two. I tend to have several in various stages of planning and or preparation.

For example, I’m actually sewing one of them - the blocks together. Another I finished trimming some of the blocks and am working on more of a different type of block. Yet another one, I’m cutting out squares when I am trying to get all the little misc. greens trimmed down. Note - I got a big tub of misc. greens pieces all cut up into strips of 1.5”, 2” and 2.5”. I had had that tub for a year now, so that felt really good today getting that all finished up. Not that there isn’t always more cutting - there is.

When you work with old clothing items there is a lot of cutting and a LOT of trimming with weird shapes after you cut. The curves in the pieces are causing that.

Then I have several more on my computer program that are planned.

It seems like I can squeeze more out of the piles of fabric than I had any idea I could. It’s really quite amazing, actually.

I keep thinking, “THIS one will make the difference - after this, I’ll see that I can only do 2, or 3 or maybe 4 more”. Then I make that one, but I still have lots left. So I keep going forward. I keep evaluating what is in my piles and trying to think about using them - and if my plans (on the computer) won’t work with them, well, I either need to tweak the design so that I can use it anyway, or just go on to something else and leave that plan for a different series.

Anyway - back to the series - here are all 20 of the tops I’ve finished so far!

And that’s it for today!

Oh- how many quilts do you think I’ll still have for this series? I’ll put a photo of what I’ve got left - with fabric taken on the floor in my son’s room. Take a guess. I simply don’t know either - but I’m not ready to be done yet.

Make a wild guess in the comments. The truth is - I don’t know how many there will be. But the fabric you are looking at here does NOT include the fabrics I already have designed for the next 4 - so assume I have 24 made (I only have 20 as you can see)…but don’t give me a number LESS than 24.

Whenever I do get down to only two buckets, I’ll let you know and if guessed right, you have the satisfaction of getting it right. At this point, I can’t even know yet. Of course, it depends on how much “other” color I use or the sizes of the blocks, etc.

I had filled my basket as full as it could possibly be. At Lidl.

I spent some time today shopping for one of the families that we are supporting through our Noble Packages outreach. The details can be found here!

We are getting close to reaching our goal. So far Quilted Twins’ customers have donated $6230 this year! Getting closer and closer to that $8000!! So fun! This year I’m trying to pretty much finish one family group at a time. I’m mostly done with the first group and am actively working on number 2. I say “mostly” because some things I’ve ordered haven’t come in yet.

Hopefully each weekend I can wrap up the actual gifts for the family that I’ve purchased (as opposed to food/cleaning supplies - necessary but boring stuff). I’ll try to get photos tomorrow of the fun stuff for the first family to give you an idea.

Have a great day wherever you are reading this! Thanks for coming along with me on my quilting/sewing journey!

Becky Petersen6 Comments