Positively grateful

 Hi everyone! Well, here we are, post-Thanksgiving and heading fast for December. Does this surprise anyone else? We had a lovely, relaxed holiday with tons of good food, even though my granddaughter demanded ketchup for her turkey, and video chats with everyone after dinner. The day after Thanksgiving I ate some pie and then got a screaming migraine that lasted two days. So, you know, bad with the good.

I planned to finish up photographing today's quilts on Friday but was busy moaning in a dark room, so today is the day! These are the two quilts I made for the Positivity quilt along from our friends Preeti and Bernie. I am really happy with how they turned out, even though the quilt along ended on Labor Day and I'm really behind. Oh well! Take a look at these lovelies:

They are very different, but kind of the same, and I'm so pleased with both of them. Let's talk about them one at a time, shall we?

I was going for neutral on both of these quilts and I'm not sure I achieved it, but the hubs was quite appreciative of the green quilt. I had to put those plants in pots, you know? It added a little zing to a quilt that was essentially two colors. If you look closely, you'll see that I used the same fabric as the pots for the binding.

 

 

I quilted the green quilt in a 2-inch cross hatch using a green-brown thread. I thought it might be too dark, but it was perfect. About a quarter of the way through it occurred to me that 2 inches was a little small for the cross hatch and I could have gone bigger (and therefore faster) but I was committed so I finished it that way. It might be a little close, but I think it turned out well.

The fall leaf/ neutral quilt was super simple, just straight(ish) lines across the quilt. It was fast and satisfying. In the picture it looks like there are a few wrinkles, but I promise there are no tucks. One thing with straight lines -- when you get close to the ends of the quilt, things start to wrinkle up, no matter how well you've basted. I ended up hand basting the ends to keep it all flat. It was tedious but it worked. I bound it in a nice fall-like golden brown.

For the green quilt I used a green leaf batik backing, which looks great. The neutral quilt was more difficult, but I managed to find enough of a cream print for the back. I think it contrasts nicely with the front but still blends well.

And then finally, here they are, all in their just-washed crinkly goodness:

These two are now packed up and ready for a postal pickup to go on their way to the palliative care unit at Mercy Hospital. I'm glad to have contributed a tiny bit to someone's comfort, and I'm extra pleased that I managed to get them both completed before the end of the year. Yay me!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week. If you feel a headache coming on, I highly recommend lying down on a nice comfy piece of furniture with something nice to drink. It could get you through the week! See you in December!

Sharing at Finished or not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Brag About Your Beauties, and the Patchwork and Quilts linkup at Quilting, Patchwork, Applique.

This way and that way

 Hello all! Well, that was a long and unexpected blogging break! Not to worry, I am fine. It was all for good reasons. My Dad and my sister came to visit, and when that happens, you drop everything and spend time with them. Which of course meant that I didn't finsih off any of the projects that I planned to before we had approximately 300 meetings. So I'm behind on everything, but this is pretty much my normal state, so it's all good!

 

We had a great time showing them around Baltimore and just hanging out, so no machine time for a couple weeks, but after they left I did finally manage to finish off the second Positivity top for the Positivity quilt along sponsored by our friends Preeti and Bernie:

I really meant to have both Positivity quilts quilted by now, but you can blame my Dad if you want. Or my sister, though she really deserves a medal for driving Dad all the way here.

Check out all those leaves on the ground! These are coming off the neighborhood trees because of all the heat this summer. It is odd and no fun. As you can tell, I did not follow the pattern exactly for this quilt either. I just have to be different, you know? If you look back at what Preeti now calls "the pot quilt" you'll see that I really never follow directions. I think this one turned out great, plus it used up a bunch of my fall-like scraps, too.

You may not be able to tell, but there is a lot of variety in those leaves. Anything I could get a 2-1/2 inch piece that was long enough and looked vaguely fall-like went into the top. There are a bunch od golds, some purples, various greens, and even a couple of turquoises. And I love the background fabric, too! It looks perfect with those scraps.

Because I rearranged the layout of the vines, my quilt is a little smaller, about 56 by 72. I think it's going to be a fine size, though, and I plan to send it along just the same. I think I'll quilt it in just straight lines going across. That will accent the vine movement, don't you think?

So, there we are! A second Positivity top, done before Labor Day. I can't believe the summer is over, can you? I just realized today is the first of September! Yikes!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend! It's supposed to be 98 degrees here, so this would be a good weekend to clean up the mess that is my sewing room, but I'll probably just take a nap. The last few weeks have been fun, but exhausting! Did I mention that classes started, too? No wonder I'm tired!

Sharing at Finished or not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Brag About Your Beauties, the Patchwork and Quilts linkup at Quilting Patchwork Applique.

Positively green

 Hello all! Bet you thought I forgot about the blog, didn't you? I didn't, but I did have quite the week. I am getting a little tired of the rain, but we had a good bit of it this week, and it was very hot, and I still had to go out and have some more fun medical tests. I think I passed, because I don't have to go back until the end of September, but who can really tell at this point? Also, I am walking out on the next doctor who says, "you know, you're getting older. . ." as though that's an excuse to ignore how I feel.

Yikes! Did not mean to rant! Today is a day for positivity, after all, because I have finished the green quilt top for the Positivity quilt along offered by our friends Preeti and Bernie! Take a look:

Yes, that is very green! And, as you can tell, I did not follow the pattern offered by Preeti exactly. I made one row with just the leaves, but it looked so bland that I had to add some zing. As you can see, I added pots for the leaves to grow out of. I think they added just enough zing and some nice depth, too.

The leaves of these plants were made from neutral scraps, which paired well with the green background. All those neutrals were hard to photograph in the outside light, but I promise that there is a nice variety. And do you like my "tree farm" on the balcony? They'll have to get planted in the ground soon, because those pots are not going to hold them for much longer.

The quilt was easy to make, and mine turned out a little smaller than Preeti's, at about 55 by 68. I think this size will still work for a Mercy quilt, and I do think someone will really like this one. The green is one of the tonals from Connecting Threads, and I got it a while ago for a backing. It turned out to be much too bright for the quilt I bought it for, but it worked well as a background here. I have a backing for this and I plan to quilt it in a nice crosshatch. What can I say? It always works and always looks good.

Oooh! Accidentally artsy!

So there is one quilt top finished! The second one is still in progress, but I had to put it aside for a while while I finished off the wedding quilt top that I've been working on. That quilt will be a bit late, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Hope you all are having a great weekend, and if you want to, you can still jump in on the quilt along. Just hop over to Preeti's blog and check out all the details!

 

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

Positive progress

 Hi all! How are things going for you? I'm just hanging out, watching it rain and getting over that stupid embolism. I am feeling MUCH better, plus I'm glad to see the rain, even though it's been going on for a while now. Unbelievably, we still haven't made up for all the rain we didn't get for weeks, and we're still way below average for the year. It hardly seems possible given the amount of water that has fallen from the sky over the last week.

While I'm lazing around, I'm working on several projects, including this year's Positivity quilts, but first, here's one that I just recently started:

This is the very beginning of what will be a gift for the wedding of a friend and colleague. I love this center part because it's so hard to get gradations in yellows. I'm very proud of myself for this! It's not a hard pattern, so I'm hoping to have all the blocks made this week, so that I can get a longarm rental appointment and get this quilted up and sent off in time for the wedding at the end of July.

Then I have the two Positivity quilts. First are some of the blocks that have the green background:

I just love how these have turned out. You know how sometimes you get an idea in your head and you're not sure how it will work out? That's how I felt about these, but they are turning out okay.

And then I have the fall-themed Positivity quilt:

I have a bunch more of these blocks in pieces, but not together yet. The scrap thing is working out pretty well, though. I'm liking the half-drop in this layout, too, so that might make its way into the finished quilt.

So that's what I'm up to, other than re-doing some travel plans. I can't fly for a while, so it looks like we'll be driving to various places around the country. Not California, though! Still too far for me to drive. Hope things are going well for you. We're expecting more smoke from wildfires, so that will be fun, won't it? I understand it was quite smoky in the Midwest over the last few days, so believe me, we feel your pain. Ick.

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Sharing at Midweek Makers and Wednesday Wait Loss.

Positive thoughts

 Hi all! Hope you are having a lovely, lovely week. We got back from the conference, which was pretty good, and the air has cleared up quite a bit. I was still a bit hoarse for my presentation, but at least I had a voice! Glad to be home, though, no matter the weather.

When I got home and rested a bit, I started playing around with some colors and pieces for the Positivity quilt along, sponsored by our friends Preeti and Bernie. You can find all the info and directions for making this year's quilt right HERE.

Here is the first set of blocks I made:

Can you tell these are meant to be fall themed? I wanted to use a bunch of scraps that have been hanging around here forever. These are the darker reds and the golds that I very seldom use, along with a few dark greens and even a couple purples. There's even a really dark turquoise in there. Most of them are leftovers from old quilt projects, and I just could never throw the scraps away. I pulled out everything I had that was at least 2-1/2 by 9 inches and threw it into these blocks. I think they're turning out okay.

The background, which you can''t see very well in the picture above, is this fabric:

I got this from a destash and I'm really pleased with it. The leaves are a dark blue ( I think) and it's way better than a plain beige.

Then, because I'm just never happy unless I'm overwhelmed, I also made these:

Yes, a second quilt. I know, but I had two different ideas, and two separate sets of fabric that I wanted to use up, and the blocks are very, very easy, so why not? I just have some leaves right now, because I haven't settled on a stem fabric, but the leaves are made from beige and other neutral scraps. The green background is just a faux linen tonal that I got from Connecting Threads and intended to use for a backing but didn't. I'll know more when I get them put together, but I think it works so far.

Here's an important question I have about these quilts: I wanted gender neutral colors so that everyone can have a choice of a quilt that suits them, no matter their gender. Are these gender neutral? I think they are, but then I look again and they look feminine. I'm probably just second guessing myself, but what do you think?

And here's the question I know you're asking: how do you use scraps to make these blocks? It's pretty simple-- you make shorter tubes:

I made tubes from Preeti's directions, just shorter, then cut one leaf block from each tube. My tubes are about 9 inches long. There is fabric waste, and you won't have any blocks for a second project, but it works. I think you could probably figure out how to cut the different strip lengths for less waste, but that sounds like too much math for me. 

And those are my Positivity projects! You can still join in-- the quilt along doesn't end until Labor Day. And the blocks are really, really easy, too. And now you know you can use scraps, too!

Everyone enjoy the rest of the week!

Sharing at Midweek Makers and Preeti's Positivity linkup.