Hello all. Today is the day! Time for all of the participants in the Positivity QAL to link up their finished quilts. This has been such an exciting time for Mercy Hospital. We are truly grateful to Preeti for creating the great pattern and hosting this QAL. So far I have received nine quilts and more are on the way!!
Everyone who submits a finished quilt is entered to win one of three prizes donated by Art Gallery Fabric. AGF is my favorite brand of fabric – both for their designs and the quality of the fabric they produce. Also, they are incredibly generous and have supported several events for me! Thank you Art Gallery Fabric!
Above is a picture of the West Palm collection designed by Katie Skoog. I have a 16 piece fat quarter bundle to give away!!
This bundle is from a few years back. Designed by Jeni Baker of In Color Order, it is called Geometric Bliss. I have an 11 piece bundle of 1/2 yard cuts!!
Finally, this bundle, Mystical Lands, was designed by Maureen Cracknell. It is a lovely bundle and I have a 20 piece fat quarter collection to give away! How great is that?!
Since I didn’t finish my Positivity Quilt (yet!), I will share a few of the quilts I received this week!
Pieced and quilted by Preeti Harris!Pieced by Judy B. She calls it Cappucino & a Blueberry Muffin!Pieced and quilted by Roseanne and Sue from Home Sewn By Us.Also piece & quilted by Roseanne and Sue – but such a different look with these soft colors.Pieced & quilted by Arlyn P. Love the black and white polka dots framing the center!Pieced and quilted by Nikki M. Thank you Nikki!!!
Even though the quilts are made from the same block, there are dozens of ways to lay them out. With the variety of colors everyone chose, no quilts looks like the next. It is so much fun!
I cannot thank you all enough for making these Mercyful Quilts. You are all the best and I am totally grateful to be part of this tribe.
OK – now please link up your finish below. If you can’t (or don’t want to) link up, please email me a picture of your finish and I will upload it to this post.
Prize winners will be announced on September 5, 2021. Good luck to each of you!
I write a post something along these lines annually. That is because out here in dry, dry California we have fire season every year now. This year it started terribly early, back in June. A few weeks ago, for the first time, we had a fire happen very close to our property and it was scary. Fortunately the River Fire was contained in time but my husband did have the car packed and ready to evacuate as we were in the group that would be called next, if the fire spread. That was far too close for comfort.
Smokey skies
Right now the Dixie fire burning in the north eastern part of the state. It is the worst fire in California history and is currently consuming well over 700,000 acres. For perspective, this is more than 1,000 square miles which is basically the size of Rhode Island or 1/2 the size of Delaware. This fire is only 33% contained and has been burning for over one month. Allocated to this fire are 5,696 personnel (divided into 88 crews), 183 water trucks, 205 bull dozers, 463 fire engines, and 19 helicopters. It is a huge process to fight something like this.
The loss is devastating. Greenville, a small town of 1,000 residents, was wiped out. The whole town is gone. Because there is a lot of mountain terrain involved in this fire, the loss of homes isn’t as bad as with some fires. So far, 652 homes and 130 commercial structures have burned. This count will increase after the fire is contained and it becomes safe for the fire fighters to actually assess the true damages.
All in all, this makes me sad. Think of the wildlife that has perished. These mountains are home to deer, bear, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, bob cats and more. It will be years before the forests are re-established. We all watch the weather hoping for calm skies. The wind is the biggest factor other than the very dry land causing the fire to continue to spread. Smoke is all over California. This morning there was quite a bit of ash on my car and I am more than one hundred miles from the fire. I cannot even imagine the horrible air quality for the people living closer in.
OK – knowing all of you, those quilting minds are wondering how to help. If you are wanting to send quilt(s) for the victims, I have information for you. There is an organization called We Care which is headed up by Kathy Biggi, a quilter in my local guild (Pine Tree Quilt Guild). Kathy is devoted to providing quilts for those who have lost their homes to fire. There are numerous other fires burning where homes have been lost and Kathy is working with various groups to understand what the need is. If you would like to send a quilt to her, please let me know in the comments or by email, and I will send you her mailing information.
At the moment, she is collecting quilts. They should be lap size at smallest (so about 45 x 55″). If you can, a matching pillowcase in a great idea. All sorts of quilts are needed, juvenile themes, gender neutral, or quilts a man or woman might enjoy.
Kathy won’t distribute right away as it takes some time for a person who has lost their home to get settled again. But your quilt will definitely be given to a family who is rebuilding and it will being comfort.
Thanks for reading all of this. Not exactly a fun, upbeat post but this is what is happening here. I appreciate all of you and if anyone has a way to send some rain our way, it would be hugely appreciated.
On Sunday we will have the final link up for The Positivity QAL. Please come on back and take a look at the gorgeous quilts made for Mercy Hospital!!
Oh my gosh, I have been going a million miles an hour lately. Sometimes life is like that. We have had a trip to San Diego (family wedding), tons and tons of gardening because my farmer husband planted so much this year, and fire season has begun in fall force. So, I am behind on blogging and blog post reading.
My immediate family!
This picture was taken at the recent wedding. My parents are standing on either side of the bride and groom. Just to explain; my parents had six kids, who then provided 21 grand children to the group. Following that, those grand children produced (so far) 16 great grands. This picture shows our family less about 15 people who weren’t able to get to the wedding. I love our huge, very noisy family.
When we got home from the wedding there were four quilts waiting for me! It was like Christmas morning!! Let me show them to you.
Positivity Quilt made by Cheree L.
Just gorgeous and if these colors don’t make you ache for autumn, than nothing will! Cheree blogs over at the Lively Latte and she actually made two quilts during the Positivity QAL one of which we were fortunate to receive!
Positivity Quilt made By Janine H.
Here is Janine’s version of the Positivity Quilt. Adding the triangles gives it such a different feel. She blogged the details for this quilt here. She also pieced the backing which I love!
The color sequence she used is so pretty. This is a double sided quilt, if you ask me!
Donation Number Two by Janine!
Janine included a second quilt in her box. I remember when she made this one and I just love it. Looking at the quilting design, I suspect it stayed hidden in my brain and was my inspiration when I quilted the Ninja baby quilt I just finished. 🙂 Janine based her design of this quilt on a pattern called Nines in the Middle by Doris Rice for Moda, The blog post with the back story is here. Also, she made sure to tell me that she received the fabric from Louise of My Quilt Odyssey . So actually, this pretty quilt comes from both Janine and Louise!
Another beautiful quilt back!
Looking at the back side, you will see that Janine made another pretty, pieced backing with her leftovers. This side also really shows the quilting pattern off.
Positivity Quilt, Pieced by Julie K and quilted by Rebecca Grace
This beauty was also made by a participant in the Positivity QAL. Julie K pieced this pretty quilt. The blues on a scrappy neutral background are so soothing. She sent it over to the talented Rebecca Grace to be quilted. Rebecca did a custom quilt motif on it using several different patterns. The effect is really fantastic. I offered to bind this quilt so that Rebecca could send it directly to me as opposed to sending it back to Julie for binding and then sending it to me. Might as well save on some postage!
Another pretty backing!!
Isn’t this a cool backing? I love the huge plus or cross, depending on what you want it to be, with the blue fabric. I have enough of the blue fabric to use as binding and hopefully this will be done soon.
Let’s move on to summer gardening! Like I said earlier, Ray put in a lot of plants this year. With just the three of us here, there is no way we can eat all of it. We share it with neighbors, friends and family but there is still too much! I have taken extra fruits and veggies over to our local food ministry twice now.
These peaches all went to the food ministry yesterday!
We have had grapes for at least five or six years now. Usually the raccoons and birds take most of them and the individual berries on the plant are quite small. Not so this year! We have beautiful clusters and, as you can imagine, more than we can possibly eat. So I have been taking those to the food ministry as well.
Poblano and Anaheim Peppers
The peppers are very happy this year as well. I will be roasting these in the next day or too. We love roasted peppers on sandwiches, in omelets and in salsa.
As far as the shop goes, the sale continues and the number of bolts on hand has been steadily decreasing. I appreciate all of your support. Whether by shopping or sharing the word about the close out sale, you are such a help!
The regular price fabric is now 30% off! Patterns and notions are 20% off and ship free. The clearance and remnants are 10% off. Come by and browse the sale; see what might strike your fancy!
OK – this post is getting on the lengthy side. I will close now and hopefully get back into a better blogging schedule. I hope all of you are well and happy!
