A few finishes early in the month

I hope you had an enjoyable 4th of July. We had storms so we stayed home and watched World Cup soccer games. Of course, I found some time to quilt. Today we got up to cooler temperatures - at last! It's been way too warm. 

You may know about my big clean out/use it up fabric thing. I am trying to make lots of quilts (maybe 40) this year to use up leftover fabric. I'll have more space and more quilts will be donated. Win-Win!!!

Early on, I decided to cut some 8.5" squares from leftover backings and pair with something complementary. After kitting fabric for 3 - 4 quilts, I decided that I would call them Simply Squares. The number of these are growing and I have 3 finishes to add.

The first is Simply Squares - Black with Colored Dots and Orange. The first picture is indoors and it doesn't look like orange.

This photo, taken outside, shows the true colors and some of the quilting.

I had this backing, a turquoise fabric, in my stash, and I recently bought the exact same fabric for more backs.

It was so nice to get some photos outside. It's gorgeous today although the grass was still wet when I was taking photos.

Size:         56" by 56"

Thread:    Glide 50-wt, top - Autumn #50172

                 back - Lt Turquoise #32975

Batting:     Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:    Double Loop

Simply Squares - Red and Blue with White Dots is one of the larger quilts in the series at 56" by 72". The amount of fabric I have is dictating the size.

You can see the quilting in this photo.

The back almost matches the red on the front, and it has tiny blue dots in a grid pattern.

This is my favorite quilt from today's quilts but it and the others will all be donated.

Size:         56" by 72"

Thread:    Glide 50-wt, top - Blueberry #30281

                 back - Cardinal #70001

Batting:     Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:    Large Loop de Loop

Simply Squares - Black with colored Rings and Yellow has a surprise turquoise back.

You can see the quilting here. I enjoy doing loops and it makes quilting these quite fast.

Size:         56" by 56"

Thread:    Glide 50-wt, top - Lemon Ice #80607

                 back - Lt Turquoise #32975

Batting:     Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:    String of Loops

Am I getting tired of the Simply Square quilts? Sometimes, so I just switch and work on something else. There are lots of works in progress..

The flannel quilts are finished!

You may remember that at the March quilting retreat, Krista gave me some flannel for donation quilts. (A friend gave her the flannel for me.) There were eight pieces—enough for nine quilts. I paired them with cottons from my stash and eventually bought a few blender fabrics to go with them.

Flannel #1 (blue with white sports) is 50" square. The blue cotton fabric is from my stash as is the backing.

I quilted this with spirals. It's one of the things I have trouble quilting so I thought I'd get some practice. I also put four-leaf clovers in the corners where the square joined. 

The back is blue cloud print. This quilt is very soft and cuddly.

Size:          50" by 50"

Thread:     Glide 50-wt, top - Bone #17443

                 back - Steel Blue #38201

Batting:     Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:    Spirals and 4-leaf clovers

Flannel #2 (flannel daisies with blue dot cotton) was finished a while ago and can be read about here.

Size:         42" by 50"

Thread:    Glide 50-wt, top - Bone #17443

                 back - Battleship #10430

Batting:     Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:    Meander and Lazy Eights

Flannel #3 (pink, purple, and teal) was finished a while ago and can be read about here.

Size:         43" by 45"

Thread:    Glide 50-wt, top - Lt Turquoise #32975

Batting:     Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:    Lazy eights, string of loops, wavy lines, straight lines

Flannel #4 (green giraffes with white dot and green) began with a large piece of fabric. I didn't want a quilt with just one fabric used for both the front and back, so I made two quilts. I decided the print was quite cute, so I just added two borders to it - white with green dots and green. 

The green back is monochromatic. The borders and the backing are from my stash.

Size:          41" by 41"

Thread:     Glide 50-wt, Lt Grey #17543

Batting:     Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:    Loop de loop

Flannel #5 (green giraffes with yellow and green) is 42" by 46". Again I decided to not cut the cute fabric and just add borders. This quilt is just a little larger than #4. 

I bought the yellow border fabric and the backing, a green with blue dots.

Size:          42" by 46"

Thread:     Glide 50-wt, Linen #10WG1

Batting:     Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:    Meander

Flannel #6 (blue flower bricks with yellow) is 46" by 49". The yellow fabric from my stash dictated the size of this quilt. I used all of it. 

I've been wanting to quilt a figure 8 that overlapped rows - it worked great here where I could imagine a grid. The figure 8 is really enlarged and looks more like a loop de loop.

The backing, yellow with flowers, was purchased. I had enough of the blue binding fabric (from my stash) to use for part of the back. 

Here is a closer look at the back.

Size:          46" by 49"

Thread:     Glide 50-wt, Lemon Ice #80607

Batting:     Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:    Overlapping Figure Eight

Flannel #7  (blue perfume girl with yellow gold cotton) finished a while ago and can be read about here.

Size:         43" by 43"

Thread:    Glide 50-wt, top - Baby Blue #30290

                 back - Bone #17443

Batting:     Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:    String of Loops

Flannel #8 (pink flowers with yellow) is a 44" square. The yellow sashing is from my stash as is the binding. I didn't have enough of the sashing yellow for the binding, but I found another yellow in my stash.

I wasn't sure how I wanted to quilt this quilt but decided on daisies since there were daisies in the top. 

I bought the pink print for the back of this quilt and connected the pieces with the leftover yellow from #5 quilt.

Size:          44" by 44"

Thread:     Glide 50-wt, Lemon Ice #80607

Batting:     Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:    Big Daisies

Flannel #9 (rail fence blue/pink/purple) is 48" by 60".  I used a 3-yard pattern that used 9" by 12" blocks. The strips in the two blocks needed are different widths - the strips in one direction are 1" narrower than the strips in the other direction. I bought all the coordinating fabrics to go with this flannel piece including the blue for the backing.

Size:         54" by 60"

Thread:    Glide 50-wt, top - Bone #17443

                 back - Baby Blue #30290

Batting:     Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:    Loopy Spirals

I have a small pile of quilts to bind (4), a large pile to quilt(12), and a few in progress(13). It's almost like an assembly line some days but I love it. I said I had 24 donation quilts done last time but it was only 23 donation quilts. Now the correct number of finished donation quilts is 29! I love that I am moving fabric out of my stash. (Most, if not all of the fabrics I bought will be used  with little left over.) 

Donation quilts and one for us

I saw a picture of a quilt with red and white stars a while back that I wanted to try to make. I remember red stars and white stars somehow mixed together. This quilt is my attempt at recreating something like I remember. Red and White Stars uses scrappy reds with Bella Solid white.

my final draft

The quilting is string of loops which really shows especially on the white fabric. 

I didn't have enough red fabric for a back without piecing. This blue fabric with white dots was in my stash. I love unexpected backs so it was perfect.

Although I love this quilt, I'm planning to donate it. 

Size:         49" by 60"

Thread:     Glide 50-wt, top Battleship #10430

                                      back Navy #32965

Batting:    Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:   String of loops

I finished another Simply Squares Quilt, Simply Squares - Teal Squares with Big Dots on White. I love that I'm using fabric scraps, the way these quilts are turning out and that they are easy to make. I think they'll be great for a child of any age.

This is another donation quilt.

I quilted this with a meander motif.

The back is a turquoise fabric from my stash. It matches the light turquoise in the fabric squares on the front of the quilt.

Size:        56" by 64"

Thread:    Glide 50-wt, Lt Turquoise #32975

Batting:    Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:   Meander

Blue and White Bricks was a fun quilt to make. I love working with different shades of blue. This scrap quilt has blues from left-over bindings as well as scraps from my blue bin/drawer. I used 3.5" X 6.5" blocks of blue and 3.5" X 3.5" blocks of white.

When I decided to quilt this with a horizontal pattern, leaves on a string, 

Leaves on a string with wavy lines

I kind of forgot I don't quilt leaves very well. The leaf here isn't too bad; it might be the best one. And now, I've had more practice.

At least you don't really see each leaf since it's an overall pattern..

The back is a red fabric that I bought awhile back from MSQC. It's kind of unexpected.

This quilt is larger than most donation quilts for the Children's Hospital - it is 63" by 63". It should be a nice size for a teenager.

Size:        63" by 63"

Thread:    Glide 50-wt, top - Battleship #10430

                                     back - Ruby #70189

Batting:    Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:   Leaves on a string and wavy lines

The last quilt today is Sunny Rainbow, a Table Topper of the Month (June) by Riley Blake. This quilt will stay with us. 

I quilted the center medallion with ruler work. 

The background is done with a large meander,

and the small hexagons have free-handed daisies.

The back is a fabric from my stash. The color matched amazingly well. 

Size:        36" by 36"

Thread:    Glide 50-wt, Battleship #10430

Batting:    Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:   Ruler work on the center, meander in the background and free-hand daisies in the small hexagons.

I've been working with the fabric that I bought on our trip - quilting quilts (since I now have backs) and kitting quilts using the blenders with fabric in my stash. It's time I stop blogging for a while and quilt!

The 2026 Finished Donation Quilt Count is now 24.