Community Quilts is the guild’s program to make quilts for children and adults in need. We make many quilts for foster children, victims of wildfire, and other situations where a quilt could fill a need for someone.
Community Quilts meets on the third Saturday of the month in a Templeton church hall where we sort fabric, cut quilt blocks, sew tops, layer, and quilt them. We start at 10:00AM with a “Show & Tell” in which members bring in the quilts or quilt tops they have completed at home so we can admire them.
March 19th Show and Tell
Many quilts and tops this month were simple 5″ squares sewn together with visual diagonal lines. If you look closely you can see that many of the squares are pieced with smaller scraps and then squared off. This is a good way to use up a lot of small scraps!
Below are more quilts made with squares or quilt blocks from this month’s show and tell:
Usually we like to make quilts that are around 40″x 60″ in size but sometimes that doesn’t work. Community Quilts inherits many a sewer’s fabric stash and unfinished blocks. Then we try make a quilt out of those blocks by adding extra blocks, sashing, and borders so the size will vary. These quilts can end up in our quilt auction in November or donated for a fundraising raffle for charity if they are not appropriate for a lap quilt. Here are some examples from this month:
A good way to use strips of fabric is to sew them onto 12″ square sandwich paper and use the flip and sew method. Start with a strip laid diagonally across the center diagonal finished side up and cover it with another strip finished side down and sew through both layers and the paper. Flip the top fabric over and repeat till you have covered the paper with fabric strips. Rip the paper off and cut the squares into triangles.
This produces interesting quilts like these examples from this month:
Here are some more quilts that are made by using strips of fabric in creative ways. These are mostly made from 2½” strips.
Our Production Line
Our Quilt production is done in an assembly line format. Members pick through the fabric and put together kits for quilt tops with attached patterns or they get creative and design unique quilt tops that they usually piece themselves.
The kits are usually sewn at home but can also be sewn during the meeting. This is a great way to improve your piecing. They are easy quilt designs and there are many knowledgeable quilters who can help with problems!
The quilt tops are then brought back and given fabric backings and batting and then bundled ready for another member to quilt. This is a great way to master your quilting skills before starting on a treasured quilt top!
After they are quilted they are brought back for binding and members take them home for hand sewing.
Lastly, they are given a Community Quilt label and stored for a giving occasion.
Sometimes a quilter will start and finish a quilt but many times they are passed around with people doing their favorite parts.
Mysterious Find
Julie collects fabric scraps too small to use for stuffing dog beds. In her last collection bag she found this at the bottom, which is way too big and nice to shred!
If the owner wants to collect it please call Julie (and congrats on the beautiful quilting). Also don’t feel bad, the last time I gave such a bag of scraps to Gail it included a pincushion (complete with pins) and a ruler that had fallen off my sewing room table!
Julie says she will finish this off for the quilt auction if no one claims it, but she would love to know who put in all this work.
What a wonderful article. I love it. The story line is fantastic. I wish everyone would see and read it. Community quilts are doing a wonderful service. Bless everyone who contributes, time, material and supplies.