On Saturday, PCQ had a Community Service sew day, open to everyone, but mostly attended by committee members. We had 16 kits ready to sew. Everyone was invited to use one of our kits or bring a charity project of their own, perhaps one of our kits from last year that they had previously started.
The kits were based on this prototype and this pattern:
We had good attendance, a full house! Because we're focusing on larger quilts, twin bed size, we encouraged people to buddy up with a friend. Or they could work on a kit themselves if they wanted. The girls selected kits and those who wanted to, teamed up.
We sewed until about 1:00; with snacks and chocolates available. Because we all know chocolate goes well with sewing! Normally we would have had the whole day for a Community Service sew day, but the room got double booked. We had to clear out for a beginner class whose members would be arriving at 1:30 to get set up. The reduced working time is another reason we encouraged teams to buddy up.
The room has one large design wall. Jackie and her partner made quick work of their four patches and were able to lay out their top on the wall. Theirs is a pretty kit; the borders are the same chocolate, teal and gold floral print as the four patches.
Knowing we'd need more design wall space, I brought a large flannel-backed table cloth which we spread out on one of the cutting tables. I've used it before as a portable design wall, and it worked well for laying out. Hiromi and Ruth teamed up. Their kit had a lot of pretty peach and terra cotta shades in it; their border is that brown floral.
The availability of fabrics in the club's stash with sufficient yardage for the borders is what drove the palettes for each kit. The committee chair and I pulled fabrics for the borders several weeks ago, and I cut all the borders. Then members pulled the remaining fabrics to coordinate. We ended up with about 16 kits, maybe 17. Only two pairs of kits had the same border fabrics. Big thank you to whoever started to make curtains and gave up!
Since I did all the cutting for the borders for the kits, plus much of the other cutting, I knew there was a kit that was cuter than the rest, featuring a blue daisy print plus a white and blue batik in the four patches that came from my own stash. I nabbed that kit to work on. I was able to chain piece the four patches fairly quickly. Then I laid everything out on my table cloth.
Obviously some of the solid squares need to be moved around. By this time it was time to clean up to leave, so I rolled up my portable design wall to keep the blocks in place. I can hang the whole thing on my home design wall, move blocks as needed, and kit up the rows for next time.
The March Community Service sew day will be a continuation of this project. We have 4 or 5 kits still available for anyone new who joins us. Like February, our March sew day got double booked with the beginner class, so again we'll only have a half day to work. Anyone or team who doesn't get their top finished by then can work on it at home. Sometimes snowbirds take an unfinished top with them when they return home for the summer, or leave it at their PC house and work on it when they come back in the fall. No worries, no deadline.
when they move on.
Linking up with Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Looks like great progress for a half day of sewing. It will be fun to see how all the different kits come together as they are able to be worked on and finished.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful project.
ReplyDeleteSo smart to make larger quilts that can be used on the beds for these women. Happy to see you so involved in your guild's community service team!
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