Some Hints About Making QAYG Blocks

As you've probably heard there have been 43 towns in my state of Victoria, affected by flood waters as well as some areas of NSW and Sth Australia. All together 5 states of Australia have been affected but to date the worse affected areas have been in Queensland. I will be making and donating quilts through Oz Comfort Quilts and documenting the donations here. How many and how quickly I get them made will depend on how many blocks are donated. But this is a marathon and not a sprint so please don't feel pressured to make and send blocks quickly as it will be some time before the people are in a position to accept quilts as they have no where to store them at present. I will be delivering the quilts through local contacts so they don't become stockpiles in storage, but actually end up with the people who need them. I found that this was a vital part of the bush fire quilt appeal, that I gave them directly to locals who worked with their community and I knew that the quilts were given to those to whom they were intended.

I've been making these blocks again today so I can get enough to make another quilt. I've been working on some which are all in various shades of blue as well as another set of prints which would be suitable for a boy. The reason for focusing on these blocks is to match some which have been donated. I don't usually make a quilt in just one or two colours but I have some blue blocks and I want to match them.
I've made hundreds of blocks as well as hundreds of quilts from these blocks and these were a major part of my quilts donated for the Victorian bush fire quilt appeal in 2009.

Things I've learned: * I try to make the blocks either "pretty" in colours for girls or with "boys" fabrics. The people who received them didn't really care they just wanted something which was sturdy, bright and cheerful. They appreciated the fact that they were handmade especially to comfort them.
* I cut the background fabric to 11" square and then trim them down to 10.5" after sewing down all the strips of fabric over the batting- as it is quilting the fabric as we sew down the fabric it can sometimes makes the background fabric creep a bit and it may measure smaller than what you start with. It also means that you will completely cover the background and batting with the fabric strips and not have any seams not covered by the binding strips.
* It doesn't matter what batting you use- it doesn't have to be lightweight and it doesn't matter if it doesn't match the other blocks. The batting will be completely enclosed by the fabric and as it is stitched to the backing as a foundation, it will not move when the quilt is assembled.
* You can also use polar fleece or tracksuit fleece for the blocks as they will work in the same way that the batting does.
* If using thicker batting I trim a triangle off each corner of the block so there is less bulk at this area where I'm joining the blocks.
I usually work with strips of fabric from 1" wide up to 2.5" wide as if I'm using batting strips for the block it makes sure that they are securely anchored and I think they look better to have more variety of colours in each block.
* I often use triangles of fabric in the corners to lessen bulk.
*The only rule I have for fabric selection is that I don't use the same fabric more than once in each block.
*I often join smaller pieces of fabric and cut them into strings which adds interest to the blocks.
* I try to make them a variety of bright and dark so they don't have murky colours but the binding strips allows the eye to focus and makes all the different fabrics work together.
* If cutting binding strips I cut them to 2.5" wide and across the width of fabric.
* Plain or tone on tone fabric works best to tame down the rest of the scrappy colours but it's not vital to use plain colours.
* It takes 21 strips of width of fabric to join the QAYG blocks set 5x7 as well as to complete the binding of the quilt.
* Have fun with the process as I find it's like eating peanuts and it's hard to stop at just one.

I'm sure there is something else that I can add but I don't want to make too many rules. Whatever you donate will be used. Sometimes I've received blocks that are a different size or theme and I work with them and often make more to match before putting them together. I'm going to avoid having quilts that are too brown and which will remind them of floodwaters, as with the bushfire quilts I avoided using predominantly red and black for the quilts, but apart from that have fun and use up your scraps. The quilts will be warm and sturdy and will convey the thoughts and good wishes of you all to wrap them in a warm hug from all of us. I write " A hug from Oz Comfort Quilts" on the label.
Any questions please ask and bear with me if I'm a little late in replying as I'm spending more time at the sewing machine than the computer.
Thank you all for your interest and I'll keep you updated with the progress on both blogs- here as well as at Sew Many Quilts
Stay safe and dry,
Jan Mac

Three More Finishes

The first quilt shown is the pretty pinks and greens made from blocks donated by Kaite and Coralie from Bathurst. It will be loved by a lady who has lost her home to the floods in Qld. The next quilt was made from QAYG blocks, some donated and some made by me and the last quilt was made today. I had 4 QAYG blocks donated which were larger than the others I had in the pile. I made another 16 today, using a UFO of bright strips which I'd started almost 2 years ago in a class on curved piecing. It will make a lovely bright quilt for a teenager and it's good to have that UFO finished up as well as a bag of bright scraps that I'd saved. I also made some more QAYG blocks 10.5" square and plan to make more tomorrow so I can build the pile of blocks up again and have plenty to select from when I put another quilt together. Thank you all for you interest and support and for helping to spread the word about making and donating QAYG blocks. I chose them when I was making quilts for the Victorian bush fire survivors as it is an easy way for people to use up scraps and an easy way for me to get quilts finished and out to the people who need them. It also is a huge saving for me as I don't have to buy a lot of batting to finish off tops. I will still accept tops though if you prefer to donate them and I'll quilt them and donate them on your behalf.
Time for a break now,
More to come, Jan Mac

They Have Started to Arrive

Today I received two lovely parcels of QAYG blocks and they will be quickly put together. The top photo shows the blocks sent by Terry P. of Quaker's Hill (NSW). She made 8 blocks using fabrics that would appeal to a boy and they are lovely and bright. I've started making some more to join them and have found a cute print with frogs and spiders to use.
The next set of blocks are from Kaite M. in Bathurst (NSW) and they are a set of 35 blocks made in pretty pinks and greens. She also sent a lovely burgundy fabric for the binding strips and also a burgundy bag to use to give the quilt out when it is completed. Kaite and her lovely Mum, Coralie, are making more blocks. Coralie is in her 80's and had never made a quilt block before but got involved with the bush fire quilt appeal and made a really pretty quilt in pink which was loved by the little girl who received it. I love how these type of quilt appeals allow people to join in with a positive contribution no matter where they live.
I've already heard from quilters in the UK, Canada, Holland and Africa and Ulla in Finland has already posted off some QAYG blocks as well as binding strips and fabric bags. What a generous group of friends we have in blog land and hopefully more will join in and send some blocks for quilts.
I mentioned blocks arrived from Shona (NSW) this week and they have already been made into a quilt shown on my other blog at Sew Many Quilts

I made more blocks today as well as crocheting squares for blankets for a homeless person. There were many homeless people living in some of the areas which were flooded so they will need some dry clothes and blankets as well. If anyone has any wool or acrylic yarn they wish to donate I can use them to knit hats and scarves, baby clothes and crochet blankets for the homeless.
The last photo shows the large pile of baby wool that Terry sent in her parcel and boy was that bag stuffed full. I have almost finished knitting a premmie jacket with the wool that Kaite donated this week and plan to get started on the lemon wool as there will be a need for warm clothes before we know it. It gives me a break from the sewing machine too.
I hope you are all safe and dry at home and please spare a little time to make a few blocks or even just tell your friends about how they can help. If you would like to spread the word please add the blog button that Kaite made for Oz Comfort Quilts to help get others involved.
Thanks for your interest.
Hugs Jan Mac

What Else but QAYG

I'm sure that many of you are as stunned as I have been at the devastation caused by the floods. Who would ever expect an inland tsunami with a wall of water at 8 metres high and no warning. Now there are 10 confirmed dead and they are still searching for about 60 people.
I know that at the moment people need man-power when they can start their clean-up as well as money to help replace their household items. It's just incredible that some houses have been completely submerged under the water and there will be nothing salvagable when the water finally goes away. Then there is the raw sewerage which has also contaminated many houses and will require everything in contact with it to be thrown out.
I find that it's better for me to stay informed but not focused on the television reports as there is not a lot I can physically do to help from where I live in Victoria. However I can make quilts- and I can make a lot of quilts if you are able to donate a few QAYG blocks or even binding to help me get them finished. I worked all day at the sewing machine and wasn't going to post a blog and then thought I'd better tell you what progress has been made.
Firstly, my wonderful friend Kaite has made a blog button to help promote the need for donations of QAYG blocks. She even talked me through how to install it and is willing to help if anyone has problems uploading it. Please consider posting the button on your blog and help to spread the word about the need for QAYG blocks. There doesn't seem to have been as much media attention internationally this time, compared with the bush fires 2 years ago and I really need help from the blogging community to make this happen.
Of course I am also making blocks and today I made 2 quilts- one with a set of 5x7 blocks and the other set 6x8 blocks. I ran out of blocks for the second quilt so had to quickly make some more. It's so hot and humid here while I was wrestling with the larger quilt that I'll be happy to spend tomorrow making more blocks.
Here are 3 of the quilts I've made this week and the other quilt didn't get photographed so I'll post that later.
It's only possible to make all of these quilts so quickly because of your very generous donations of blocks. It's 11.30pm and time for bed now. Don't feel pressured to make blocks quickly as it will be some time before the people are in a position where they have somewhere clean and dry to keep their bedding and I believe that the donation of the quilts then will help in the recovery process as it did following the bush fires.
More to come, Hugs and thanks, Jan Mac

Heartbreak as Floods Spread

Anna Bligh the Premier of Queensland has said "It might be breaking our hearts at the moment, but it will not break our will."
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/floodrelief/desperate-and-grim-situation-facing-qld-premier-anna-bligh-warns/story-fn7ik2te-1225985275828#ixzz1Ai2YaNdx

I'm so sorry to be asking all of the blogging world for help again when you were all so generous with your donations for the bush fires which devastated parts of my State- Victoria, almost 2 years ago. Then I asked for donations of QAYG blocks so I could make and donate quilts to the people who lost their homes, family and friends in the fires.
Now unbelievably the devastating floods have also caused loss of life. To date 8 are confirmed dead and many others are still missing. I always thought that floods were less devastating than fire as there was less chance of losing lives but this has certainly proven me wrong. The sad part is that they are continuing to evacuate part of Qld and even New South Wales as the flood waters continue to spread and even the city of Brisbane has 6,500 homes under threat.
So dear readers I am asking again for your help to make and donate QAYG blocks so I can put more quilts together and bring comfort to those affected, to let them know we are thinking of them. This was what meant the most to the people devastated by the bush fires- that we were thinking of them and supporting them.
This will be an ongoing project as it is going to take some time before the water even recedes and the clean-up can begin. The Qld quilters were so generous with their help for our bush fire quilt appeal that I want to repay their kindness and generosity by offering our support now. Imagine having to clean metres of thick and smelly mud from your home- some of which have had water up to their ceilings, and some were even washed off their footings. Then while sorting through the debris you couldn't find any thing to salvage. Wouldn't you love to have a fresh and pretty quilt, pillowcase, toiletries and so on to give you a little hope that things will improve.
Thanks to Kaite from Bathurst whom posted a tutorial on how to make QAYG blocks on her blog http://kaitesyarngarden.blogspot.com
as well as a lovely quilter from Holland (who has a DD currently living in Qld) and who has requested quilters from Holland via her blog (http://://batiklady.web-log.nl/blog) to send either heart blocks or string pieced blocks, same as QAYG but without batting to cut down on postal costs. I have also posted a tute on my blog to show how to make the QAYG blocks. There is also a tutorial on my blog in the notes for Feb 2009 which shows how to put the blocks together. However dear readers I am not asking you to join them togther but if you have a small amount of time, as well as some fabric and batting scraps then any you are able to donate will be put together and donated on your behalf. I also use 21 strips cut across the width of fabric and measuring 2.5' wide which are used to join all the blocks.
If you are able to donate any QAYG blocks, or even any blocks, they will all be used to make quilts for the flood survivors in Qld. My address is shown on both my blogs and I would also really appreciate if you could get the info out to as many quilters as possible so we can get the quilts ready while they are doing their recovery. I will be investigating help from a transport company to deliver the quilts to some local ladies who will give them out to the people affected and I prefer this to delivering to a general donation area where they could be "lost" among other donations.
I'm sorry to ask for your help again so soon after our last quilt appeal but the situation is much more serious than first thought and many more people will be needing help now.
Thanks for reading.
Love and hugs Jan Mac

Week One Finishes

I've decided to post photos of finishes a couple of times a week and post the total number of quilts finished every week and will try to keep the report on target. I was trying to calculate how much stash I was using but I get so busy quilting that I forget to keep an accurate count of what fabric I use. I doesn't matter much really as I make a lot of quilts and use a lot of fabric. I'm a member of a stashbuster group online but I don't need to get rid of stash as I use it up all the time for the donation quilts.
The pinky mauve sashing makes the first quilt a pretty one for a lady, then the next quilt was a QAYG made using different blocks. I put this one together using the more traditional method of hand sewing the covering strips on the back of the quilt as it would have detracted from the design if I'd used my quicker method. The next 3 quilts were made from donated tops and will be loved by the people in Qld who receive these. The last quilt was donated as bits and pieces of blocks and long strips and I put it together using Bonnie Hunter's pattern of Scrappy Bargello.

So for the first week of the year I've finished 10 quilts to donate and I hope to get more done tomorrow. Having so many QAYG blocks has made it much quicker to get so many finishes and I've also been making up QAYG blocks to match some which were donated and not the same size or type as the diagonal string blocks. It's good to empty out the boxes of bits and pieces and I just have a few more blocks to match some which were 13.5" square. Four were donated and I'm making another 8 and should have that one done tomorrow.
Thanks for stopping by.
Cheers, Jan Mac

I Still Love QAYG

Luckily I don't tire of making these QAYG quilts as I have made more then I remember but they all have a charm of their own. I've made these in the last couple of days and have also made bags and a pillow as well as a couple of scarves. I'm also making more QAYG blocks as I have almost exhausted my supply. These ones will go to the people who lost their homes to the severe floods in Qld but they won't be going for a while until after the cleanup so I plan to make some more to go with them. Luckily my sewing machine is behaving and I made 3 yesterday and I have another almost finished today.
Better get back to it.
Cheers, Jan Mac