Wishing everyone all the best in the new year.

Happy quilting! 

Disappointed

I recently finished two quilts for donation. Our group had a special request for some quilts for four young boys who have had a particularly rough time recently. And, could these quilts please be made with Superhero fabrics? Of course, everyone responded immediately and quilts were made right away; more than were requested. That's a good thing because the two I made will probably not be donated.

And, I thought they turned out pretty nice.

 

I used the same fabrics in both quilts. I loaded them both on the frame using one wide back that was perfect. I liked it so much that I used it for the binding too. 

I used the same quilting design on both also.

 

And, then I washed them. 

That's when the disappointment set in.

There are three red fabrics in these quilts. One, or more of them, bled turning the one fabric with a white background, pink.

I know it's hard to see it in these photos so here's a photo of one of the quilts with a white paper towel.

And the color catcher sheets. These quilts have been washed three times with four color catchers each time. The last ones (on the left) are almost as red as the first ones (on the right). 

Those quilts are still losing color. I can't donate them if they are still doing that.

So I gave the three red fabrics a short soak. Clearly, it is the one on the left. That's the backing fabric. The selvage got tossed when I trimmed the quilts and I can't remember where it came from. 

 

I watched a YouTube video tonight about fabric bleed in a quilt. That person said she washed her quilt nine times before there was no color loss. I guess I could try washing these some more.  

 

I'm so disappointed. I really thought that today's fabrics didn't have bleeding issues.

 

Happy quilting!

Retreat

 Last week was a three-day retreat for my quilt group.

I love seeing all the wonderful quilts that are being made. I only got photos of a few projects in progress.

Pumpkins!

She decided to cut one square from each of her batiks. She didn't even cut into half of her collection!

Scrappy!

Beautiful!

Patriotic.

Superheroes. This one is mine and will be donated to the local foster care program.

This one is also mine - We the People.

Now I need to get busy and get it quilted.

Around my yard - 

This morning's sunrise.

A bumble bee snoozing on a sunflower.

That same sunflower with the corn behind it and the cloudy sky.

Beautiful Hibiscus.

Happy quilting!

Two at a time sewing

 I am trying to get into the habit of sewing two projects at the same time.

Some people call this starts and stops, or leaders and enders. I am sure there are lots of names and 'two at a time' is probably one of them.

Anyway, I have lots of 2-inch squares and 2 1/2-inch squares that need to be turned into quilts. So while I was working on the We the People quilt I started piecing 2 1/2-inch squares in between. 

As you can see I was piecing orange squares here.

Here is a blue block.

Originally I had planned to just sew these blocks together randomly.

Now I am thinking of making one-color quilts. Hmmm.

But, as you can see from my project notes I need at least 80 blocks to make a lap size. I really prefer to make the larger twin size since these will be donation quilts and twin size is what is needed. That means I would need to make 108 blocks. 

You can also see that I started this project in January 2022. It will take a long time to get enough blocks of any one color to make a quilt. I guess I need to stick with my original idea. 

Happy quilting!