Positively finished

 Hello everyone, and happy weekend! So, late last week I was walking across campus, along a new sidewalk, when I kind of fell off the sidewalk. There was a trench of sorts next to the concrete, where they hadn't filled in with dirt yet, and my ankle turned right to the side, exactly the wrong way. Funnily enough, it didn't hurt right away, but later it ballooned up, and it hurt like crazy. The good news is-- soft tissue injury, like a bad sprain. Not broken! The bad news is that it still hurts like crazy.

So, could I make my way down to my sewing room? No, I could not. Luckily, I only had to trim and bind the second quilt that I quilted up last time, so I could give good directions for bringing up an old machine and locating my already-made binding. Best hubby ever, really, even if he has no idea how a sewing machine works. (Hint: you must have the foot pedal for the machine to work.)

But once everything was set up in the dining room, success! Here's that finished quilt:

 

 

Hurray, hurray! This is the second Positivity quilt, all quilted and even bound and ready to go off to Bernie. (Pictures by me, quilt positioning by my weird helper. Teamwork makes the dream work!)

 

 

I made this top as part of the Positivity quilt along, then missed the deadline because I wanted to quilt this on the longarm. It was so much easier! I just made somewhat wavy lines across the quilt with a deep tan thread. Lorna is the master of this, and I keep trying to make mine look good, but these look okay, and the quilt is quite cuddly. The design of the quilt is the star, after all. Right?

 

 

The backing is a lovely warm tan with a small paisley print, which I got from Bernie's shop. It turned out to be a fantastic backing which doesn't compete with the front. You can see in this photo that I ran out of the main background print, so I used a different print for the four corners. I think it works fine, and it doesn't compete, either.

 

 

I wanted this quilt to be neutral, for a man or for someone non-binary, or for any outdoorsy kind of person. I think I accomplished that and that it turned out great. It will be a nice comfort to someone who likes the colors. I've been calling this quilt "Woodsy" in my head, but I don't want to officially give it a name. I wouldn't want to get attached!

The quilt came out of the washer and dryer looking terrific and is now packed and ready to send off to Bernie for Mercyful quilts. It used up all of those old fabrics clogging my stash, and will get sent as soon as I can hobble off to UPS. That could take a few days, but it will get there.

As luck would have it, this weekend is our anniversary, so I'm looking forward to lazing around and resting my ankle, and also having some very tasty takeout while we watch a movie. Sounds awesome to me! Hope your weekend is just as fun and relaxing! 

 

Sharing at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finished or Not Friday, Brag About your Beauties, TGIFF, and the Patchwork and Quilts party.

A double dose of positivity

 Hi everyone! Can you feel the summer winding down? I can, and I want to hang on to it with both hands so it won't go away. Unfortunately, it's so humid that it's far too slippery to hang on to, plus I have a hard time breathing the soup that is our air right now. True fact: it has been so rainy and soupy that this week there was a full-grown frog on our deck. Or maybe it was a toad. I'm no scientist, but it was weird. He just hung out there, then literally hopped away, over the side of the deck, which is elevated. Perhaps he needed a break from the rigors of being a frog and just decided to hang out away from the fam for a little bit?

I have not been hanging out this week, on the deck or otherwise. We've started having meetings again (have we learned nothing?) and gearing up for the year, but I did sneak in a few minutes to finish up these cuties:

 

These are the two Positivity quilts I've made for Preeti's Positivity Quilt Along. Okay, I know it's really only one and a half because the one on the right is not quilted yet, but I can totally explain! And I really think I should get some points for finishing at least one of the quilts on time, which is something that normally is pretty rare around here. I get bored pretty easily, and life often interrupts, and UFOs abound.

 

Let's talk about the quilt top first! I actually really like this one, though it went through several changes before it got to this stage. My first idea didn't work, so I changed my mind, eliminated the alternate blocks I had planned, and added sashing and cornerstones. I wanted something that would be gender-neutral and for someone who liked the outdoors, and I think it works. And I like the secondary pattern with the flipped corners and the cornerstones. If you're looking carefully, you can see that I ran out of the main batik, but I had something else and I think it works just fine.

 

The picture up top doesn't give a good view of the fabrics, which have been in the stash for a long time. The blocks are mostly batiks, and the prints are a very old collection called Woodroses in Winter by Holly Taylor. And here's why it isn't quilted yet: I was planning to quilt it on my machine, but then I took that lesson on the longarm, and I completely changed my mind about using my machine. Why wrestle with a quilt this size if I could longarm it instead? So that's the plan for this top. It will get to Bernie a bit later, but I'm pretty sure they'll still be able to use it. The top doesn't have a name but I've been thinking of it as the very imaginative "neutral" quilt, and I'm looking forward to quilting it.

 

Turning to the blue quilt, this is the finished Whisper quilt, and I like how it turned out. Once a top is quilted, it really changes, doesn't it? I am so much more pleased with this than I was with the top. Now it looks cozy and comfortable, not bland.

 

I used a walking foot to quilt diagonal lines across the quilt, and I backed it with a soft blue. I'm happy to say that there are no tucks in the backing, and the quilt washed up really well and is now on its way to Bernie. I was worried that the binding was too dark a blue, but now I think it makes a nice frame. 

So that's my contribution to the Positivity Quilt Along! I'm happy to donate both of these to Mercyful Quilts, and I hope they bring some families some comfort in a hard time. We've been in that situation a few times, and quilty hug definitely helps.

Hope you all are having good luck finishing up your quilts! Have a lovely weekend, and I sincerely hope there are no frogs staring at you through your sliding glass doors, plotting how to get inside away from the heat!

Sharing at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Brag About Your Beauties, Finished or Not Friday, and Preeti's Positivity linkup.

Positive progress

 Hi everyone! Yes, it's a very rare Sunday post! I'm usually busy doing family stuff-- or scrubbing something-- on the weekends, but I took some pictures of the progress I've made on my Positivity quilts to share today, so that's what I'm doing. Always good to have a plan, isn't it?

 You probably know by now that my friend Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts is running the Positivity Quilt Along to benefit Mercyful Quilts, which is overseen by my friend Bernie.  How could I not jump in and support some friends and contribute to a good cause? And I get to make a quilt, too, which is one of my favorite things to do.

You may recall that I had a problem with the first quilt I started, so I started a second one in case I couldn't figure out the first one. Doesn't everyone do that? Here is a small section of the second quilt:

 

 

It doesn't photograph really well because the colors are so soft (and I'm not a great photographer), but I think you get the idea. Here's a little bit better picture without so many shadows-- or flowers:

 

 

I've started to call this the Whisper quilt, because it's so quiet. I have all of the plus blocks made, and many of the alternate blocks. Sharp-eyed readers will notice that I changed the alternate blocks. I had planned to use this block in the first quilt, but am not using it now, so why not use it here? I like the trail it makes better than the first alternate block I showed. 

As for the second quilt, which is the first one I started, I think I've worked out what to do with that problem child. Here is a small section of that quilt:

 

For this one, I abandoned the idea of alternate blocks and used a sashing and cornerstone instead. This meant I had to make more plus blocks, and that meant that I really had to squeeze the fabric and get every little bit out of it. I just have a few more blocks to stitch together, and I think we're going to make it-- but only by a little bit!

 

 

I really like the "block" formed by the corners of the blocks and the cornerstones, and I think it makes a nice overall look for the quilt.

If you'd like to make this layout, you'll need to make 30 blocks and then sash them with 20 cornerstones, then also add a border to make it the proper size. In my diagram above, all of the grid squares equal 2 inches finished, so I think you can figure out the rest of the cutting and whatnot from there.

So, that's the progress I've made so far on my Positivity quilts. The blocks are really easy, and there is plenty of time to jump in, so consider making a quilt and joining in the quilt along. There is a lot of information--including something like a dozen possible layouts-- over on Preeti's blog, so you can get started right away. And did I mention that there are prizes? Yep, Preeti has lined up some great sponsors, so you may get something more than a warm feeling from making this quilt!

Hope you all are making progress on your quilts,  and thanks to Preeti and Bernie for the fun quiltalong. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Sharing with the Positivity linkup at Needle and Foot.

A second dose of positivity

 Hi everyone! How is your week going? I am happy to tell you that the noise from the cicadas is fading. It's fading because they're all done with their life cycle and are now dying in droves. The front walk looks like the site of a massacre. We keep using the leaf blower to clear it because the crunchiness when you go out to the mailbox is really disconcerting, and using a broom is just icky.

Other than that. . .well, I started another quilt, and it turned out to be another positivity quilt for Preeti's quilt along. I had some trouble with the first one, so it had to go into time out for a little bit while I figured out what to do with it, and in the mean time, I cut out another quilt. Here are the blocks for the second quilt:

 

Okay, that's only two, but I've now made 10 of the plusses and some of the alternate blocks, too. I wanted a very calm quilt, so I chose this piece of pale blue and paired it with some very old, but still pretty, beige. I think it's very serene and will be a nice, calming quilt for a palliative care patient. 

Looking at it, I thought the blue with the beige would be a *lot* of beige, and the plusses would kind of get lost, so I decided to add an alternate block in a slightly different blue as well:

 

 

An alternate block was always my plan, and I chose this one just because it adds more color into the quilt but still keeps everything very calm, with nothing really jarring. When I look at the pictures, the alternate block looks much larger than the plus block, but that's some kind of photographic trick, because they are exactly the same size. 

Fun fact: if you want to use an alternate block, you only need to make half the number of each block. If you check out my diagram, you'll see that I'm making 18 plus blocks and 17 alternate blocks. This fits my fabric really well, and I'll add borders to bring it up to the right size. Fun fact number 2: all of the blocks from the Squared Away sampler finish at 10 inches, the exact size needed for alternate blocks. Check them out!

As for the first quilt, I had to abandon the brown. I really liked how the blocks looked individually, but once I put them together with the alternate blocks, it was waaaay too dark. And somewhat depressing. A failed idea! The only thing to do was start over, but I really wanted to use the red fabric and others I chose, so out came the seam ripper. I'm ending up with these for the plus blocks:

 

Not sure what to do about the alternate blocks right now. I still want it to be "woodsy," but some of my original fabric won't work with the new background. So, the plus blocks are getting made, but the alternate blocks are still in time out. A little bit of a problem child, this one!

Hope you all are having a really good week and coming along on the quilt along, or your other projects. There are many other irons in the fire here, but for now I think I'll make some lunch and get back to stitching. I have a lot more blocks to make! And work to do, but that's a different story. . .

Sharing at Midweek Makers.

Brown plus red plus progress

 Hi everyone! How is the beginning of summer around your place? This weekend I stained the small deck off my bedroom. Only two cicadas landed on me, which means I only got huge wipes of stain where I screamed and swatted them away with the brush on one arm. I didn't even spill the stain, as freaked out as I was. This is a major win for me. I still have to do the floor, but the new planters have been screwed into the deck and there are flowers in there! It's very exciting.

You may have heard that my friend Preeti is hosting the Positivity Quilt Along, which is a nice and relaxed QAL that doesn't end until just before Labor Day. It is completely free and Preeti has already shared the patterns and more than a dozen different layouts and the fabric requirements for each. The goal is to create charity quilts, many of which will go to Mercyful Quilts, but all worthy causes are fine. (Jump over to Preeti's for more information and inspiration!) You knew I would jump in, so here are my starter blocks:

 

 

Why is that photo so weird? The blocks are brown, with a red print plus sign. I wanted to make a quilt that felt more neutral, for a man or for someone non-binary, or really anyone who would like something with some darker colors. I had some fabric that I wanted to use, but (as usual) I didn't have enough to make a whole quilt just from that fabric. I added the brown and drew myself up a new layout, moving some of the colors around, and I'm pretty happy with how it's starting to look. Here are the fabrics I'm using for the quilt:

 

 

I know what you're thinking-- those are too many fabrics for the quilt! Not to worry! I have a plan, and it's going to turn out pretty great. 

To make my blocks, I've been strip piecing, which has made it all go really quickly. If you're not using scraps, you can save yourself quite a lot of time by strip piecing:

 

 

The colors in the picture above are much closer to the real colors of the blocks. I think the green grass in the top picture threw everything off. I would have hung them on a tree for a better shot, but you know-- big ugly bugs.

So there's the beginning of my Positivity quilt! It doesn't look like much now, but it will soon. And in that same vein, here is my progress on the Edyta Sitar mystery quilt: 

 

I'm up to step 7 of 12, and it's starting to look like a real quilt top. I've really enjoyed working on this, and I hope to finish off the piecing really soon. Laying out the grid as it is in the pattern and filling it in as I go has been really motivating. I may do this with other patterns, because it really does keep me going to see all the progress. 

 

One last thing before I wrap this up: my friend Bernie is retiring and closing her Etsy fabric shop. Sadness for us, but great for Bernie, who will get a lot more Grammy-time. She is having a big sale on everything, so hop on over if you need some fabric, and who doesn't? 

 

 

Hope you all are having a wonderful and positive week and making lots of progress, and that you find some treasures over at Bernie's shop. Happy stitching!

Sharing at Midweek Makers.