Positively handsome

 Hi all! Every year I forget just how exhausting it is to get ready for a new academic year. How is this possible? I've done this a lot of times, so I should know by now, but somehow, I always leave things for the last minute. This is what I've been doing all week instead of sewing or literally any other fun stuff. I know you'll all understand when I say that I really need more summer. Come back, summer! We need more rest in the sunshine!

Ah, well. I've been trying to finish up the summer quilts, and today is the day for the beauty shots of this year's Positivity quilt. Here is the handsome fellow himself:

Pretty good looking, huh? I quilted this one in a nice meander in a medium beige thread and it is so, so soft. The very definition of a comfort quilt, really.

The hidden quilt holder in these pictures is Preeti, who came over one afternoon and held the quilt so I didn't have to pin it to a tree. The fabric is from an old line called Woodroses in Winter by Holly Taylor. (I think) Years ago, I fell into that spell that comes over you when you're with friends and you buy fabric you would never buy otherwise, so I had a bunch of it. I've been trying to use it up ever since. I'm happy to finally see it go into a quilt that will bring someone comfort at a hard time. 

The backing for this quilt is a vintage sheet, which is 100% cotton and very soft. It was perfect for this quilt, and it quilted up really nicely. The binding is just more of the red. Unbelievably, I still have about half a yard of the red left over! I think it was the right choice for binding this quilt.

I like how the twisty blocks turned out, with the secondary pattern, and I am really happy with how the panel pieces worked, too. I was afraid it would look weird, but now I think they really enhance the whole quilt.

 

Some of you may be wondering about the red and whether it would bleed. I actually washed it before I stitched it at all, and then I washed the quilt before I sent it off. It had dragged on the ground, after all. Miracle of miracles, there was no bleeding in the finished quilt! 

 

So it's off to Mercyful Quilts for this quilt, with a prayer for the eventual recipient. I hope someone finds this very red and very soft quilt very cozy and comforting. 

Hope you all have a great weekend. I'm going to try to work on some rainbow scrap challenge projects this weekend and rest my brain a bit. My niece is also stopping by on her way home from vacation, so that will be fun too. I'm thinking there will be ice cream, which is always good, isn't it? And I've finished up more of the summer quilts, too, so more fun finishes are coming!

Sharing at Finished or not Friday, the Patchwork and Quilts linkup at Quilting Patchwork Applique, and the Positivity linkup at Needle and Foot.

Handsome in red

 Hi everyone! How was your week? I'm happy to tell you that my head is a bit better. It helps to stay indoors, away from the nasty allergens outside. Thankfully, it is plenty warm and humid, so I don't mind it so much. But I do hate the treadmill! It's much better to walk outside. 

 

So, I would have shown off this quilt top much sooner today, but Google was acting very strange. It didn't want to upload photos or save things, which seem to be among its primary functions. Anybody else have that happen? Maybe it was messed up by our recent storms. It was frustrating, but I finally got everything put together correctly, just to show off this handsome red and twisty quilt top:

 

 

Hurray, it's together! This is the quilt I'm making for Preeti's Positivity quilt along, which benefits Mercyful Quilts. There is still time to jump in, and Preeti has a very easy and genius method for making the blocks. They go really fast, and even I could not mess them up.

I wanted to make my quilt gender neutral and good for anyone, and I also wanted to use up these fabrics that are not really my style. I think I succeeded on both counts. I think it looks kind of woodsy and cozy and good for people who like many different things. This quilt top finishes up at just about 60 by 76, which makes for a nice generous size.

You'll notice that I didn't make 80 blocks, as directed in the pattern. Yeah, I kind of ran out of the tan fabric. I made as many blocks as I could, then dug through a couple of bins and found these pieces that I had cut from a panel. Thank goodness I save everything, because I was able to piece them together into two large blocks to fill out the quilt top. I like how they look like puzzle pieces, too. I also added a narrow border all around the top just to corral all those seams and bring up the size a little bit.

I had to piece together the final three blocks from the leftover bits and pieces of the tan fabric. It wasn't that difficult, but I did sweat it out a bit. I did have a backup plan if I needed it, but thank goodness I didn't. As it turns out, the fabric in the picture above is literally all that's left of the tan fabric. I can't even say how happy it makes me to use all of that up. Unloved fabric turned into something cozy to comfort someone? Yes, please!

So, there is my finished quilt top! I was thinking about how to quilt this, and I think it's just going to get straight lines. I like cross hatching, so I might do that instead, but I think the straight lines would work really well for this. Open to other suggestions! I have enough of the red left for a binding, and I'm thinking about just a plain tan for the back. We'll see what I can find lurking in the stash. Before anybody asks, I did wash the red fabric before I used it, so I'm hoping it doesn't bleed. I'll wash it again before I send it off, too.

And there we are! It seems that Google is behaving now, so I'll get this posted. This weekend we are going to see my parents, which is always a treat. They now use their oven to store cookies, and have discovered the joys of takeout. I think that's the makings of a great visit! Everyone enjoy your weekend!

Sharing at Finished or not Friday, Brag About Your Beauties, the Patchwork and Quilts linkup at Quilting Patchwork Applique, and the Positivity linkup at Needle and Foot.

Projects in progress

 Hi everyone! How's it going? I'm having the strangest sensation lately. I think it might be something called "relaxation." Not sure, though, because it happens so very rarely.

I'm getting back to the sewing room and making some progress on various projects. First, though, there is this little quilty piece that I made up from the leftover green blocks from the RSC medallion:

Gosh, I think this is adorable, plus it uses up those extra blocks and keeps them out of the orphanage. I'm going to have to make more things with this block, too, because I think it turns out really well, and was really simple to make. 

As a side note, I'm pretty sure I have chosen the wrong flowers for those pots this year. The squirrels have been at them like nobody's business. They seem to hate the vinca plants, because they keep uprooting them. What do you think, gardeners? Do I need some geraniums, or maybe more petunias? What will keep the squirrels away?

Anyway, I also started in on the new Positivity project over at Sew Preeti Quilts. These are my first blocks:

Yes, the background is red. I like it! I've had these fabrics, which are from a line by Holly Taylor called Woodroses in Winter, for a very long time. I used to belong to a quilting group and I ended up with a lot of pretty fabric that is just not my style, including fabrics like these. Does that ever happen to you? You just get carried away and you're afraid of missing out and so you get fabric without thinking carefully? Yeah, I get it.

Anyway. . .these blocks are really easy, and I think they're going to use up the rest of that fabric for me and make a quilt that is fairly gender neutral. I've been calling these blocks "twisties" (mainly because of how they're made), so does that make this quilt "twisted trails?" It's a working title, I think.

 

There are a few other things I'm working on, and I have a picture of one of them:

 

These are the blocks made of green triangles from my scraps. I've taken every dark green and medium green piece out of the scrap basket, and I've cut whatever I could into these triangles. Everything that was too small got cut into squares or strings, and everything that couldn't be cut into those bits got thrown away. It was very liberating! There's a few blues in there, too, and at least one black piece. Whenever I feel like it, I stitch a few triangles, and when I have enough, I put them into a block. It's very relaxing! I have no idea how many blocks I have cut. I guess we'll see!

So that's the report from this sector for now. Lots of bits and pieces, a red and tan quilt in progress, and a nearly empty green scrap bin. And at least one squirrel who eats flowers! Maybe I'll see what I can do about that. . .have a good week, everyone!

Sharing at Midweek Makers.