Mixed Bag Progress

Lots of good sewing time lately has countered all the wet and windy cool weather we've been having in SoCal lately.  This is Falling Charms from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  Very simple and fast block construction--there is a video on their website.  I used two each of 40 prints for my layout.

I have since sewn all the block rows save for one more seam to join the two halves of the center. I'll add narrow borders then hopefully cobble together a back from stash--I'm on a fabric diet as all my storage bins and drawers are groaning!  We had a sew-in for guild and I used a different charm pack to make 25 blocks for this same layout for a baby quilt, but don't have a picture of that.  

For guild this month, we were to make new nametags.  I wanted to make a more modern style than my simple embroidered one from a few years ago, but it wasn't until the last minute that I dove into my "extra parts" drawer and found some little HSTs to inspire me. 

I used another leftover large HST sewn to the top and bottom of my name, turned under and stitched around all the edges and popped the nametag in a badge holder.  Do you keep leftover sewn parts in a separate drawer?  I find them handy now and again, but that drawer is also full!

A guild member proposed a round robin of another sort, the Pizza Box Challenge, and a bunch of us signed up for that.  The Pizza Boxes contain one finished block of our choosing and whatever "must use" fabrics and instructions.  I made a version of a Grayscale Quilt block (Cluck Cluck Sew blog--she has a tutorial) that we helped make at Sewtopia New Orleans for victims of the Las Vegas mass shooting.  The Las Vegas MQG member who was cutting pieces had devised a quick method to cut from sewn strip sets instead of individual pieces.  

I used the same method for my larger block, adding a final white 12.5" strip to the outside.

I put in the background white and invited others to add whatever solid color they wanted.  We will swap to the next pizza box every month and get ours back in a year.  I haven't peeped in the box I brought home yet, but it was very heavy with fabric!

Here's my written instructions for the block I made:

Clear as mud?  I may get questions...:)

My sister also brought back the baby quilt from charms I showed last month, so I need to apply the already-made binding and create a label for Sid's quilt.  It will be good to get a few more finishes this short month with the quick charm pack projects.  With my sister having a longarm, the already finished quilt tops in my closet will get in line too.  I need a roll of batting, I think!