Joyful, joyful, joyful!

Hi everyone!  Today's post has massive doses of joy and happiness, along with lots of bright, happy colors.  There are at least three joyful things happening today, so come on in and let's talk!

Since this is a quilt blog, let's start with the quilt top:

I call this quilt Joyful, because really, what else could you call it?  Doesn't it just scream "joy?" This is the patternless medallion quilt that I've been working on for a few weeks.  I started with the orphan block in the center and then just built rounds around it, making it up as I went.  There are eleven rounds plus the center block.

Every bit of this quilt is scraps, including the leftover hunks of black and white fabrics.  If you saw the earlier posts you can tell that I made one significant change-- I changed the first "round" around the center block to white from a pale yellow.  This just makes it stand out a little better and coordinate with the rest of the rounds. 

It's hard to pick a "favorite" part of this quilt, but I really like how the round of flying geese turned out:

I made the geese and then just added a 1 inch finished strip to the bottom of each goose, then turned them in opposite directions.  I think it's a great effect.

This was very fun to work on since there was no pattern and therefore no rules.  It let me sew without thinking about it too much, which was great for the stress I've been under lately.  Maybe I should have called it "thankful" instead.  This happy quilt finished at 66 inches square, which is plenty big.  I had planned a piano key border, but really I just didn't want to cut up more fabric. 

The second joyful thing around here is a bit of family news-- on Wednesday, our son and daughter in law had twin babies, a boy and a girl! These are our second and third grandchildren and we are still dancing on air.  Mom, babies, and big brother are all doing great.  Dad is a little freaked out.  Of course the babies are completely adorable and I can't wait to see them in person. I can't post pictures on here, but if you hop over to Instagram (@academicquilter) you'll find the first picture of them together!

Which brings us to the third joyful thing in this post:

These two quilts are called Happy and Lucky and were made by my friend Preeti, who sent them off to me for my new grandchildren.  What a kind and generous gift! Thank you Preeti!  I know these will be used and loved, and probably be fought over by siblings, if my own siblings and I are any indication.

These two scrap quilts are wonderful, with lots of fun things to look at, like I-Spy quilts. And I have to tell you that the bindings are absolutely perfectly stitched and flat, way better than any binding I've done. Maybe I can get her to teach me how to do that.

So there we are-- joyful times three! I think I could burst from happiness!  I may come down by Monday, but I wouldn't count on it!  Hope you all have some serious joyfulness in your life, too, and that everyone has a great weekend.  I think I might shop for some baby girl clothes, how about you?

Sharing at crazymomquilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finished or Not Friday, and Oh, Scrap!