Category Archives: Quilt Alongs

2023 Positivity Quilt Finished!!

I really wanted to get this posted during September! The goal was to have this finished by Labor Day weekend which, for the most part, it was. The only thing unfinished was the hand sewing on the back of the binding. But so much was happening and by evening I was too darn tired to stitch it down.

As Dad has gotten better and the worry lessens, life is getting to feel (a little bit) more normal. I finally got that binding stitched and am happy to show you this sweet quilt!

I loved making flowers using the Dresdens I had made some time ago. I only had to make one more to complete this. I was attaching the ‘flowers’ first to the quilt top by stitching around the border and along the seams of some of the petals. Then I attached the center circles using a blanket stitch on my machine. So they are firmly attached to the quilt top. As I was finishing the binding I kept thinking about washing this before donating it. I realized (luckily in time!) that I really need stitch through the Dresdens and backing fabric so they won’t pull apart when washed. The unquilted portion, especially on the larger Dresdens, is too wide.

Looking at the back side, it is obvious where the blank space is from the unquilted Dresden. As an aside, backing this quilt with the last of this bold floral was very satisfying. It has such a pretty, autumnal vibe to it. The background on the front and this print on the back were from the same fabric line so I wanted to put them both in the same quilt. I did have to add a chunk of blue solid to make this work.

The butterflies were made with tiny Dresden bits and pieces. I really like them as well as the partially blooming flower above it to the left.

Another little butterfly! Quilting was done with a simple stipple on the background and wavy lines on the leaves (thanks to Janine, Quilts From the Little House, for that inspiration)!

Many, many thanks to Preeti for this cute pattern and her time hosting this QAL for Mercyful Quilts. Also sending gratitude to the quilters who made and donated Positivity quilts to Mercy Hospital.

For those of you who were not able to participate but want to help, Mercy Hospital is in need of more lap size quilts. Basic requirements are no smaller than approximately 55″ x 55″ and no larger than approximately 65″ x 80″. For style, that is totally up to you. We do not serve children so no juvenile fabrics please. We love having a mix of male, female and gender neutral designs and colors. Also, if you want to, we do love having one or two patriotic quilts for our veterans. Lastly, please do not send us anything from a home where someone smokes inside the house. We need quilts free of fragrance. Should you decide to wash it before sending (which we do prefer) please do not use fabric softeners or any sort of scented detergents. If you have more questions, please leave them in the comments and I will get back to you.

I am just finishing up one more comfort quilt which I will share soon. Then they will be sent off to Mercy Hospital!

Linking up with Oh Scrap and Finished or Not Friday. Check them out too. I have been so out of the blogging world and had forgotten how much I enjoy looking at everyone’s projects!!

Positivity Quilt Along Link Up #2

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Hi All! Crazy busy here over on the western side of Washington state these days. There has been so much happening. Julia moved up here just a few weeks ago. My mom and dad were successful in selling their California house and just moved up here as well. The family has been working on helping them with unpacking which means no sewing time.

I did get some progress made on my quilt top before all of this began however. I am very happy with it. My plan is to use the Dresdens I made some time ago, as well as a few new ones, for the flowers. This is a time saver for me which is so helpful. Time is just not plentiful these days!!

I am experimenting with the placement of the Dresdens. They won’t be sitting right on top of the stem. If you look up on the left side, you’ll see a partial Dresden. I want to put a cone shape center at the top so it looks like a partial bloom. (Does that make sense)? I am loving how this is coming together. I borrowed some bias tape makers from my sister and will make stems with it. I want them to be narrower than the stems I made for the leaves. I may use a few slightly different fabrics to add some variety to the flowers.

These are sunflowers Ray and I planted in our backyard this year. They are blooming profusely. My favorite flowers by far are sunflowers and peonies. Anyway, see the pale yellow, partially open blossom? That is what I am trying for with the small, partial Dresden. In another week or so I should have the Dresden’s finished and will be able to baste the quilt.

OK – time to see some quilt tops!! Remember we will be giving away a number of quilt patterns for entrants in this week’s link up. If you don’t know how to link up or just want me to share a photo of your quilt top, please email it to me. Can’t wait to see what the quilts are looking like at this point! Thanks so much for participating in the 2023 Positivity QAL!!!

Linking up with Oh Scrap!

2023 Positivity QAL – Link Up

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Hello Everyone!! I hope you have stopped by this morning to link up your progress on the 2023 Positivity Quilt! Preeti and I are really excited to see the variation in colors and fabrics you are using this year. Remember, the pattern can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. Last time I posted about my work on this quilt, I explained my determination to use scraps I have on hand for the green portion (my leaves). This has been a challenge and my leaves will be different sizes but with some work on the background piecing, it will work out.

Because I have been traveling a lot over the past six weeks, my progress has been slow. Like the non-existent sort of slow…. But I am home and have no plans to go anywhere. After all the driving over the last week, Ray and I both have no inclination to get in the car for any reason all week! This means I should be able to catch up. I plan to assemble the leaves I have made into vines. I am super excited to make some flower blocks too.

This picture is from the tutorial on Sew Preeti Quilts. Click here to find it. I think the flower is adorable and doesn’t look terribly fussy to piece for this non-fussy quilter!

Not everyone will choose to make blooms – some quilters might choose to do a quilt of leafy vines and finish it that way. Not all vines bloom, right?? In the above quilt, Preeti didn’t make the flower blocks. I love the look of this lush green quilt. Kaffe Fassett fabrics for the win!

OK – lets take a look at some progress pictures! It’s ok if you are behind – I certainly understand. Show us your fabric choices or just a few blocks. We love to share the fun around here. The link up will be open all week. If you aren’t a blogger, feel free to email a progress shot to me. I would love to add it to this post so people can share in your quilting fun. Just click on ‘contact me’ at the top of this page and send me a picture.

Updated to add the above progress photo from @Justanaveragequilter. Danielle quilted along with us last year too. So happy to have her sewing along again with us this year.

Updated to add another quilt update. Made by @skynme, she did link up below but it won’t show the thumbnail so I put it here as well. Love the solids! Looks really different like this. She says she had all of these in her solids scrap bin. Yahoo!

The next link up will be on July 16th. This time we will be sharing quilt tops and there are patterns to be won! I am determined to have a finished top to share by then. (I think I can, I think I can…..)

Quilt Beginnings

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The 2023 Positivity Quilt Along has begun! The first post went up about a week ago at Sew Preeti Quilts where she shared the pattern choices as well as fabric cutting instructions. I am very excited about this year’s pattern(s)!

Above is a quilt based on climbing, leafy vines which Preeti has aptly names Positivity Grows. Very pretty, super simple and quite effective!

The other version, namedPositivity Blooms, is shown above. I am planning to make a version like this. I chose this version for a couple of reasons.

When I looked at fabric in the beginning, I was going to use one of two jelly rolls I have on the shelf. But as I considered each of them it was clear neither was going to work well. They really didn’t work for a botanically themed quilt. Some of you will pull this off and it will be lovely but I couldn’t figure it out. After this, I vacillated between buying a jelly roll or using scraps. I have sooooo much fabric and surely there was a way to use what I have. I found two large pieces of solid green fabric in two shades. I cut strips of these for half of each leaf. Then I went through all sorts of bits and bobs of green prints, cutting as many strips as I could. But not many of these were full width of fabric so this presents a bit of a challenge. My blocks won’t easily work out mathematically. But this is ok. If some of my leaves are different sizes they will just mimic nature that much more. The standard block goes together much easier than this! Please check Preeti’s recent tutorial explaining the process.

It will take a bit more time, but I can make it work. See the extra border I added to two of the leaves above? Even if a bit time consuming, in the end it will add a fun variety to the sizes of my leaves. Also, since I don’t have a lot of each of the patterned green fabrics, my leaves will be scrappy with a variety of shades in the leaves. I am not sure how I want to mix them together but I can figure that out later.

Not all of my blocks will be built in matched pairs. You can see above, on each column there is a single leaf. On the right column, look at the third leaf down. This will occur here and there due to the amount of leaves I can get out of the random size strips. Again, nature does this sort of thing all the time, right? As for the blooming version of the quilt, I thought this would be a good one for me since I have less than ideal amounts of the green strips. Making the blooms means making less leaves. I like the earthy colors of the background fabric. I hope it will give this quilt a bit of a fall feel to it.

So far I am having a lot of fun with this. For now though, I am setting it aside. Tomorrow I fly to Brooklyn NY to see my son and his wife. Normally they fly out here for visiting but this time, I am heading east. We have a few plans but mostly I just want to soak in the family and enjoy lots of visiting. I don’t see them nearly enough so I am super excited.

This isn’t the best shot but I wanted to share a picture of A wearing the pajamas I made for the girls. They fit but wow, it won’t last long. I made a size 3T and wish I had made the 4T. Oh well, for now they look adorable. (She was engaged with some TV show and wasn’t not at all into modeling for me.) Most importantly, she likes them and that makes it all worth it.

Time to do some laundry so I can pack for tomorrow’s trip! While I am away, my parents will be up here house hunting. Hopefully they will find just what they want!!

Baby Toys, Pajamas and More

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Hello there! This week sure buzzed by in a hurry. We have had lovely weather which means we have been able to get out in the yard. The flower pots on my front deck are planted which always makes me happy.

In the family post I wrote two weeks ago, I mentioned that great grand child number 17 had arrived. She is adorable and doing well. It is a bit early for her to be playing ball but I thought it would be fun to make a set of squishy balls for her to use when she is a tiny bit older. These always come together quickly and are great for using up scraps. I stuffed them with polypill and put some little rattle noise makers in them too. Now I just need to get them sent down to Southern California for her. If you want to make some, this is the link I used to get the template. You can enlarge or decrease the size of the ball template on a paper copier.

For some reason I wasn’t in the mood to work on any of the quilt projects I have going. Instead I opted to make matching summer pajamas for my grand daughters. They don’t need them, have loads of pjs, but what the heck? I saw this pink unicorn fabric at a thrift shop for $2/yard. Who can resist? They both love pink, rainbows and unicorns so I had to buy it! I will see my three year old over the weekend and I suspect she will enjoy these quite a lot. She can bring the matching set home for big sister.

Making those pajamas got me in the mood for sewing clothes. I bought this fabric over a year ago but never used it. It is some sort of rayon and has wonderful soft drape to it. So I cut out this summer dress. I didn’t have quite enough and need to look through my solids to find something that will work as the lining for the bodice. I am making the short version with the curve to the hemline. It should come together quickly.

The girls painted these frames for me as a Mother’s Day gift. I love them. The picture that H chose for her frame (on the right) is really something. The expression on my face is not one that I would normally choose to have framed and on display but there you go. It is on the mantle for all to enjoy! Hahaha. I think we were making fudge for Thanksgiving two years ago but why I have that expression is unknown to me. How silly.

These photos are also quite special. Julia will be graduating Cal Poly next month. She had graduation photos done and I just love them. I posted them on Instagram so you may have already seen them but I had to share again. The photographer (also a Cal Poly student) did a great job. These three are my favorites but it was a tough choice. Of course she had to have a series taken at the swine unit with her favorite animals. She is very excited to graduate but as is often the case, it is bittersweet. She will miss those rolling hills and her friends.

Finally, one more bit of news. My parents sold their house!! They are moving up to Washington. We are all so excited. This is a huge adventure for them but it seems to be working out well so far. They will be up here next week to begin looking at houses. Crossing fingers they find just what they want.

Just a reminder that the kick-off for the Positivity 2023 QAL happens on May 28th over at Sew Preeti Quilts. Preeti will be sharing the pattern choices and talking about fabric choices. I am very excited for this event and hope you will consider joining us!! We will be sewing lap size quilts to donate to Mercyful Quilts. Of course if you choose to donate your quilt to another cause, that is fine as well. We just want to extend more positivity into the world and this is one way to achieve this!

Positivity Quilt Along 2023

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Somehow another year has come and gone!! It is time to start planning for the 3rd annual Positivity Quilt Along. The Positivity Quilt Along was created by Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts to give the quilting community a fun, social way to make a new quilt for Mercyful Quilts. Each year Preeti designs a fun, easy to make, lap quilt. She shares the pattern for free and guides quilters through the process of making it. These QAL’s have been a huge help to Mercy Hospital’s palliative care program.

Just in case you are new to the Mercyful Quilts program, it all started back in November of 2018. A friend of mine is a nurse at Mercy Hospital in Sacramento, CA. She explained that they gave quilts to the family of patients who were dying. The family chose a quilt to snuggle their family member under and after the person’s death, kept the quilt as a memory of this time in their life. Patty, my friend, explained how comforted the patient and family were by these quilts and I started to organize lap quilt donations for the hospital. There is much more information available if you click here.

Preeti became a loyal donor and would send me quilts whenever she could. Then during Covid, when we all desperately needed more positivity in our lives, she hosted the first QAL. I am so grateful to Preeti for her commitment to Mercyful Quilts. Because of her we have received so many stunning quilts for our families.

Positivity Quilt 2021; finished July 2022

This is the first Positivity quilt I made. It took me a long time to finish it because we moved in the midst of everything. This event garnered well over twenty Mercyful quilts!!

2022 Positivity Quilt for Mercy Hospital; August 2022

This was the quilt I made for the second QAL. I loved the pattern and the ease with which it all came together. This QAL resulted in over a dozed quilts for Mercy’s palliative care program.

Here is a sneak peak at the block the next QAL is based on. I see lots of leafy vines coming my way! The block looks super easy to make which is a good thing for me. I am not one for fussy quilts with millions of pieces!! Also, Preeti mentioned it is jelly roll friendly and I happen to have two rolls of strips sitting on the shelf!! Of course cutting your own scrappy strips is a great idea as well.

As before, the Positivity QAL will have a super relaxed schedule allowing plenty of time to make the quilt. The kick off is at the end of May and the event concludes over Labor Day weekend in September which means you’ll have all summer to work on it. We have a selection of lovely prizes that might be won by those quilters who finish and share their quilt in September! There will be link parties along the way to share progress and cheer each other on.

You are all invited to join us as we make a lap quilt for Mercy Hospital. Let’s work together to fill their shelves with quilts for patients and families who are struggling with grief and loss. We all know how comforting it can be to know someone out there is thinking of you and trying to provide a bit of solace. I hope you will sew a quilt with us! If you have questions, feel free to leave them in the comments.

(Also, if you are interested in Mercyful Quilts and want to donate a quilt but cannot commit to the QAL, that is fine too. We ALWAYS need lap size quilts. They can be scrappy, simple, complex, patriotic, or whatever you like. This particular hospital does not treat children so no juvenile themes or fabrics please.)

Round Robin, a Comfort Quilt, Princesses & Goats

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Well, where to start with this post? How about with the SAHRR? It is coming together nicely with two more rounds to add on. (Remember this is the Stay at Home Round Robin hosted by Quilting Gail. This year marks the third year of the event but the first time I have participated.

Hourglass blocks were the choice for this round. Chris @ Chrisknitssews took us through making these symmetrical blocks. Of course it is up to each quilter how to use them. I made tiny hourglass blocks to utilize the HST’s that I already had. Then I bordered them with strips of batik to get them to finish at 4.5″. At first I was going to put them on the darker blue batik because the colors are so vibrant on the dark background.

However, when looking at the quilt top I decided not to put two dark blue rounds side by side. Instead, I placed the hourglass blocks with the turquoise blue batik. Maybe I will continue to alternate the shades of blue.

On to the next project. Sometime before we moved I saw a post on Instagram from a woman who wanted to give up some blocks to anyone who would make a comfort quilt with them. I offered and she sent me two sets of blocks. The blue and light brown 16 patch blocks were one of the sets. These blocks had been made quite some time ago but after trimming them and reinforcing seams here and there, I put them together in this simple setting. They look sweet and with the added border, the top is just large enough to be a cozy lap size quilt. I need to look through my yardage and find something for the backing but the rest of this will go together quickly.

Spring has arrived in central California. Julia is happily working with mama goats and their babies. She is having a really busy term and the time she gets with these little guys make such a nice break in her day. Those rolling hills in the background are so pretty!

My son and his wife took the girls to Disneyland for the first time. It was princess heaven.

I thought the variety of expressions on A’s little face were so funny.

Posing with a princess and holding their dresses just so.

Little sister decided she needed a full hug.

The girls had a quick cuddle while riding the monorail into the park. I love this picture!

OK – that is enough for now. Feels like I have lots to work on this week. Hopefully you are all involved in a project that is causing those creative juices to flow! Linking up with a few favorites. Check the out at the top of the page, under Link Ups.

Make sure to check out the Quilter’s Color Mixer event coming on March 30th. It is going to be a great opportunity to learn all about color and placement from some really talented instructors. For more details on the event, click here to read my previous post.

SAHRR Round 3

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I was happy to see that Wendy (Pieceful Thoughts) chose stars (of any sort) for round three. Her example was the friendship star and I decided to go with that block. Friendship stars are sweet and very simple to make.

Remember I am using blocks from a tossed aside project. Have to say, I am enjoying having these forgotten HST’s to work with. It is so much easier to cut tiny HST’s from oversized blocks. The bits for this block were cut at 1 1/4″ so they finish at 3/4″. For me, that is very tiny! The finished friendship star measures 2 1/4″.

Before adding the round of stars, I first stitched a border of turquoise to the quilt. I am trying to grow this quilt and will (probably?) keep putting borders on between the pieced borders. With this round of stars the quilt measures 30″ square. There are four more rounds to go.

I wanted the stars to be set into a darker blue. I also decided not to put very many on with this round. The quilt needed to be calmed down a bit. The navy blue border with just a few stars was the ticket. So this round is actually done with a couple of days to spare! Now to wait until Monday to see what comes next.

This popped up on Instagram a few days ago and it sure made me laugh. Likely more than a few of you can relate, right?

Linking up with Pieceful Thoughts today. Hop over there and see lots of interpretations of the SAHRR quilts. Enjoy your weekend everyone.

SAHRR – Border 2

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Last night I finished up the bow tie border for my round robin project. As I mentioned before, I am trying to use up pieces I had cut for a previous quilt that never came to be.

This week, I used a stack of HST’s that had finished at five inches. Using these worked our really well. I was able to cut three 1.5 hst’s from each one (much much easier than sewing new ones!!!) plus all of the 1.5″ squares needed for the rest of the block.

Before attaching the border, I added two narrow borders which brought the center to 12.5″. Then I played around with the orientation of the 3.5″ bow tie blocks. I like the way they look when placed end to end. However, I couldn’t decide how to orient the corner blocks. This led me to using a plain square on the corners. Fortunately, I was able to unpick some uncut HST blocks and use the red portion for these corners.

I finally decided to use red squares at the corners. The solid fabric looks much better than the dots.

For this week, Wendy at Pieceful Thoughts has declared stars to be the choice of blocks for the next round. I am going to somehow fashion tiny stars within a mostly solid border. I need to calm this down a bit. I love the polka dots but if they continue to be heavily used, the quilt will be a bit chaotic for my taste. I also need to decide how big I want this to be. If I want a crib quilt, I need to grow it a bit with some larger spacing rows. Decisions, decisions…. Currently, it measures 18.5 inches square. So, I need to figure out the goal and work backwards from there!

Hope you are all enjoying this fun QAL. It is a surprise to me to see how many quilters are participating! Each quilter’s interpretation of the prompts is unique which makes it so cool to look through the link ups. I missed the link at Roseanne’s but will link this up elsewhere. See my favorites at the top of the page, under Link Ups.

2022 Positivity Quilt Along Wrap Up

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Just stopping in to thank all of you for such a successful quilt along. Mercyful Quilts now has another batch of fresh, gorgeous quilts on the way. I am always looking for ways to keep the shelf full for their Palliative Care department and all of you are a huge part of that.

Many thanks to Preeti (Sew Preeti Quilts) for heading this Positivity QAL up for the second year in a row. Preeti designs the quilt, writes up the instructions, keeps the timeline and answers many questions from quilters needing a little help here or there. Without her, this event wouldn’t happen. Thanks also to the quilters who graciously spend their time and money to make a quilt (or two!) for the program. I believe we have about 15 quilts this year as a result of the event. There may be one or two more that get finished up later and that is totally fine.

Due to the generosity of Art Gallery Fabric and Benartex Fabric, each quilter who finished a quilt and either linked up or sent me a picture of the final quilt will receive a gift. I know the prize, or gift, is not the reason we make these comfort quilts. But it is nice to be able to replenish your fabric after you have given up some of your stash to make a quilt for us. These gifts will go out in the mail later this week. If Preeti or I don’t have your address, we will contact you to get the mailing information.

As I write this post, I am thinking about how grateful I am to have your support for Mercyful Quilts. When I consider the time it takes to make a quilt, the expense of the fabric, batting, backing and binding, possible expense of a long arm quilter, and the cost of the postage – this is no small undertaking. Many people don’t understand how many hours and hours go into each quilt. Nor do they know the amount of money spent to make one lap size quilt. But I know and am so thankful. When I count my blessings, each of you are counted.