Repurposing with a Purpose

About nine years ago, a group of my quilting friends joined together with me to finish and/or repurpose an overwhelming pile of unfinished teaching and shop samples from my long career as a shop keeper.   Most of the pile is gone and in the past few years we've found ourselves repurposing other quilters' UFQ's!!

We are preparing another batch of small quilts to share in our community during the Christmas season and I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the inspiration that comes out of this group these days! 

 

This little charmer began as a shop sample -- just the appliqued heart block in the middle -- and with the help of a stack of stash rejects, it grew into this delightful piece.

My mother loved to make "pillow quilts" and hoarded lots of panels to use for the pillow part.  When she passed, her stash went into our resource boxes and this fall, one of the gals organized this for a little girl who enjoys dolls! 

These two stars were left over from something or a project that didn't get very far -- who knows at this point.  It's going to be perfect for a little boy!

A pile of purple and green inspired by four orphan blocks is now a cheerful quilt that we hope will be treasured by a young girl who just got her own bed, maybe even her own bedroom? 

Once upon a time there eleven blocks that needed another one to complete the set and then one got lost and there were only ten -- oh, dear!!  Have you ever tried to make one more block . . . . it never matches!!  Sharyn Craig's book, Setting Solutions, provided the inspiration for this setting!!  If you don't have it, you should and it's now available again!!  Check it out HERE on Amazon.

Where's the tenth block -- cut into fourths for the corner stones! 

There weren't enough of these log cabin blocks to even make a wallhanging but look what we were able to do -- another quilt for a lucky boy!

The next three quilts are triplets -- they were a set of 23 blocks I've had in my stash for about 25 years -- one block short of the setting I designed -- no idea why I stopped at that point.  They are lovely blocks and it was a shame to keep sitting on them so we created these quilts using the same setting but different fabric arrangements.

 We kept running out of fabric, but I always consider that to be a great spur to creativity.



We are still quilting these three and I'm pleased to finally have them in quilts and about to bless three little girls.

I think this one is my favorite from this fall's crop of repurposed salvages.  Given to us (perhaps anonymously), they've been ignored by us for quite a while.  Finally this fall, one of the gals took them on and isn't it great!!  Centering the green block establishes balance perfectly.

We still have a couple weeks of quilting and binding but once again this Christmas we'll be able to present a symbol of hope and compassion to eighteen young children and that feels really good!!

 

Have a peaceful, piece-filled weekend!!

 

Mary Huey

 

 

Have you discovered Fat Quarter Placemats?

Back near the turn of the century, we (I owned a shop, Erie Street Quilts) received our first fat quarter stacks -- 8 color coordinated plaids! 

And they didn't sell -- )-:

Happily about the same time, I noticed a set of  placemats in a mail order catalog and was inspired to write a pattern for Fat Quarter Placemats. 

 

The pattern instructions use a strip piecing process that yields eight placemats approximately 12" by 17".  We included the pattern with those plaid stacks and the idea worked. 

We sold all those stacks and went on to make dozens more to sell for the placemats.

 

Earlier this year, I added the pattern to my Craftsy shop as a FREE download.  Since then over 500 folks have ordered the pattern (and so can you by going HERE!!)

 

My teaching trip  to New York and Pennsylvania last month included three fabric shopping stops and a darling winter print with chickadees came home with me.  I knew how I would use it before the salesgal had it cut -- napkins for a set of placemats!

 

When I returned to my studio, I pulled out my copy of the placemat pattern and began to cruise through my stash to put together an assortment of eight different fabrics that would give a subdued palette suitable for use all winter.  Most of the prints I chose are textured designs to set off the focus print.

 

Step one is to cut strips according to the charts in the pattern -- since I only wanted to make a set of four placemats, I cut half of the required strips.   

Once the strips are cut, they need to be arranged in a random order.  In the photo above, the first and third sets are the same fabrics in a different order.  Same follows for the second and fourth sets.

 

Here are the four strip sets pressed and ready to cross cut into rows.  If you are making a set of eight, you will have eight of these strip sets.

Each strip set is cut into four rows.  In the picture below, the top strip was short and so I added another print to the top of the last part of the set before trimming it to the needed size. 

When the cutting is finished there are four rows from each strip set.

While working on this set, it occurred to me that I could do a completely scrappy set using my stash of fruit and veggie prints by cutting just one strip from sixteen different prints.

It is such an efficient process, that I started the second set while I was still working on the first set!

Here's a photo of the sixteen strips in an auditioning layout before stitching the strip sets. 

Once I decided on the basic arrangement, I piled up the four sets and added them to my chain piecing work at the machine.

Here are my next four placemats ready to stitch the rows together -- one row from each strip set. 

I use plain flannel as the interlining of my table runners and placemats -- I like the flatness -- just be sure to preshrink it by washing the flannel in hot water and drying it on high before using it.

 I've discover another use for one of Marti Michell's templates!  Template A from the regular Drunkard's Path set is perfect for marking uniform rounded corners quickly.  A rounded corner is easier to turn and looks nicer in my opinion. 

The mass production continues!  I stitch around three and a half sides of each placemat sandwich with the flannel on the bottom, then the backing right side up, and the pieced top right side down, leaving a 4" opening to turn it through.

I trim the flannel right up to the stitching line, then trim the seam allowances down to 1/4" and they are ready to turn. 

Once I have them turned, it's time to press the edges and slip stitch the openings close.

I always edge stitch 1/4" from the outer edges but don't add any quilting.  No reason you couldn't, I just don't. 

 

 I always make a set of cloth napkins to match the placemats.  I use a 17" square -- four more fat quarters used up!!  I roll hem them with my serger -- have to keep justifying owning that machine and it's faster (for me) than hemming them with my sewing machine.

Here are my two (almost) finished sets -- the openings are still being stitched closed. 

Isn't this set fun!!  And it's three yards of stash off the shelves!!! 

I use the placemats sets as gifts, as donations to fund raisers, and to spruce up my dinner table.  Think about it, do you have a stack of fat quarters that would look wonderful in this simple project?

 

We want to keep using that stash!!

 

Mary Huey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best kind of "black Friday"!!

What you ask is the best kind of "black Friday"? 

I think most of you can guess.

It's a wide open, nothing else going on, stitching day!!

And that's how I spent Friday, November 27, 2015 -- stitching.

 

I finished up three small projects and worked on a fourth I'll be sharing next week!

This cloth version of the perennial 1950's favorite, The Poky Little Puppy, has been cut out and hidden in my studio for longer than I can remember.  Earlier this month, I laid it on the cutting table in hopes that looking at it every day would stimulate me to finish it. 

And it finally made it today!!

Another preprinted panel project that was malingering away up there was this lovely apron panel.  Actually it may have been one of my mother's UFQ's.

But now it's finished and ready to use or gift.

Finally, I'm putting together a bundle of Christmas gifts for a 7 year old girl who adores all things Frozen -- I shopped last week for fleece to make a throw but decided instead on this much cuter cotton to make an Easy Peasy Drawstring Backpack.  This is the fourth time I've used this tutorial from Sew Can She -- takes less time every time I make one!! 

Want to try one -- you can find the tutorial HERE!

Need inspiration?   You can see the first two I made HERE!!

It was a good day!

Time to retire to the couch to enjoy some apple pie, a romantic movie, and some sock knitting!!

 

More stitching waits the morrow!!

 

Mary Huey

 

 

 

Firing myself up!!

Firing myself up consistently has been a bit of an uphill struggle for several months.  The achiness of osteoarthritis was taking it's toll and finally I relented last month.  After a long talk with my physician and some blood tests, I'm trying to manage the pain with medication.  Early returns are encouraging although as those of you who have the similar issues know, just taking a pill doesn't do the entire job.  We'll evaluate the benefits against the side effects the end of January and in the meantime I have to modify and find routines that minimize aggravating my body.

 

At this point, I'm delighted to be feeling more energetic!!  Saturday morning, I was inspired to set up George for a morning of machine quilting and tackle one of the stack of layered quilts that has been waiting patiently for me!  I was headed to a Therapy Balls Workshop at my yoga studio in the afternoon and thought a morning of being hunched over my machine would set me up perfectly to see if the ball therapy would give me relief from the upper back tightness. 

(Yes, I know I'm not suppose to "hunch" but it's proving to be a hard habit to break.)

 

The easiest piece at hand was a Christmas wall hanging that I put together a couple years ago.  Rather than struggle with "how to quilt" the fussy cut motifs and balance that out with the pieced stars, I went for a simple approach.

I turned the quilt upside down and quilted it from the back with simple wavy lines that followed the contours of the fabric design.

Since the bands of "sand" were narrow, I quilted along each side of them. 

Then I came back and added a line through the mid-section of the "sky" areas pausing every so often to stitch out a funky little star.  There's one in the picture below just behind the wiseman's head - they were disoriented at that point  (-;

I'm pleased with the results -- it was fun, it works with the design of the front, and it only took about 90 minutes which is the upper limit of the time I can "hunch".

I left for the workshop with aching shoulders and the beginnings of a crick in my neck.

Happily, the ball therapy worked and when I returned home, I was able to bind the quilt.

That evening, I added a casing and it's ready to sell!! 

I listed it yesterday in my Etsy Shop (which I'm currently revitalizing) along with two other small quilts.  Wanna' take a peak?

  It's right HERE!

There's only one and I've set it up with FREE shipping!

 

Today I'll be back at the machine -- my group still has a handful of quilts to finish quilting by mid-December to gift to children at The City Mission!!

 

You can check out the Yoga Tune-up Therapy Balls HERE and see if your local yoga studio is offering workshops with them.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

Mary Huey

 

 

 

Trunk Show Fun!

This morning while catching up on blogs I've missed while traveling last week, Julie at Pink Doxies shared a link-up for a trunk show organized by Whims And Fancies that is happening right now!!

 

 

Since I'm unpacking and putting away a huge pile of stuff and up against a wall for a topic this morning, I'm in!!
 

I was teaching Set-In Piecing Simplified this past week in upstate New York so all those samples are at the top of the piles.  These are just the finished ones -- there are half again this many that still need to be quilted!!

My journey started four years ago while teaching this workshop for the quilt guild in Watertown, NY with a student named Mary O'Keefe who figured out how to chain piece through set-in seams (y-seams)! 

Back in my studio, I started this scrappy tumbling block quilt and worked to make it a teachable skill to share with my students.  It's one of my favorite quilts.   I just love it -- so much in fact that there is a second one in the works.

This is a close-up of the quilting -- lots of continuous curve with some leaves thrown in. 

Then I tackled hexagons by machine -- these are 1 1/2".  It's a large laprobe size and was made with the intention that it will be a gift to someone one of these days.

I made this giant tumbling block with 4" diamonds to use as a workshop project that was manageable.  It only uses 6 prints plus the conversation print.  It's crib quilt size -- another gift in waiting!

By the time I finished those three quilts, I was feeling confident enough to do something more challenging.  The Kaffe Fassett Collective print in the border inspired the color scheme and was the only "new" fabric I purchased for this quilt.  It's a wall hanging and might pop up for sale this winter when I rework my Etsy shop.

There are a couple other projects between these two, but they aren't quilted.  This one, Pieceful Constellations is my masterpiece.  It was rotary cut with Marti Michell's Template Set G and pieced by machine.  The inspiration was Kerry Dear of Australia's Candied Hexagons.

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This workshop sample finishes up as a tabletopper.  (The worksheet/cutting guide is available in my Craftsy Shop -- http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/quilting/home-decor/hexagon-tablemat/123114)

 

When Marti Michell introduced the Kite and Crown Template Sets, I launched into an assortment of new samples -- this bed runner is perfect with a vintage woven white spread I use on my bed in the summer.

And my most recent finish was this table topper for the Kaffe Mini Quilt Swap on Instagram -- it also gave me another opportunity to test a block, Dresden Star, that I'll be offering as a workshop this winter during the 2016 Lake Farmpark Quilt Show.

Time to go finish unpacking the travel bags and spread the quilts out flat on the guest bed until the next time we hit the road together. 

 If this is your first visit to my blog -- thanks!!
I hope you'll come back again and again to see more of my y-seam obsession!!

And click on the Trunk Full of Quilts icon at the top of this post to enjoy some more quilts!!

Mary Huey



Quiet Mary

That's who I've been for the past couple weeks -- quiet Mary.  No particular reason, just feeling quiet.

But of course, I've been busy.

 

We've had a week of rare beautiful, mild November weather and there has been lots of woods walking but I finally finished quilting this piece for my younger daughter.  The only table with available work space was out on the patio so that's where I trimmed it for binding. 

She pieced and appliqued it at least 10 years ago and I noticed it wadded up in her knitting supply closet earlier this year and offered to bring it home and quilt it for her.

I might have quilted the border too densely for the interior of the quilt, but I'll wait to make that final decision until it has been washed -- it would be easy enough to go back in and add some more quilting.  I'll bind it this weekend and take it to her next week.

My studio time has been used cutting and organizing Rose Star kits for workshops this coming week in upstate New York.  It provided another opportunity to test my cutting strategy for this block -- you can read about that HERE. 

I'm even "marking the dots" since it's only a half day workshop and I want everyone to get the entire block pieced.  No two kits are exactly alike and I'm a little nervous about everyone liking my choices but if they don't, they'll have a holiday gift almost done when they leave the workshops.

This little spot of color in the garden caught my eye yesterday morning from the office window.  The new fall crocus bulbs were up and blooming.  I took some pictures to remind me where they are planted so I don't dig them up next summer while planting something else.

And my red witch hazel shrub is absolutely glowing.

A friend remarked that it would be a good color combination for a quilt.

The handouts are ready, the quilts for my lectures are almost piled up, and this weekend I'll assemble the workshop supplies and review everything for an early launch on Monday morning!

Maybe I'll see you in Syracuse?

 

Have a pleasant weekend!!

 

Mary Huey