positivity finish

Last week they were on the longarm, this week one of them is finished - the Positivity quilts!

But let's take a quick trip down memory lane before I share the finished quilt.  (Don't worry, I failed to take many photos, so it won't take long!)

It started out with a jelly roll that came in with fabrics donated for cat hammocks.  I knew it wouldn't be useable for that and my volunteer told me I could use fabrics for personal use if I wanted.  Well, this is personal, I guess, but for a different charity, so I think it's probably okay.

No photo of the jelly roll.  No photo of the fabric I purchased for a background.

But I did take a photo once I started sewing!

The construction of these blocks is pretty ingenious (see link above for how to make them), and before I knew it, I had blocks!

On to a layout!

I knew this was another of those quilts that you could fuss with fabric placement until the end of time and always see something out of place.  So after not much time, I rolled with it and started sewing things together.

Then the hardest part was making sure the leaves were pointing in the right direction!

The original pattern has blocks being constructed with two leaves, two backgrounds, and a stem in the middle.  That seemed like a lot of skinny (stem) points to match, so I decided to construct the leaves in long rows and then add a stem as a sort of sashing.  It went fast and I quickly had a top.

Because my jelly roll was "skinny" (it only had 20 strips - that's the way it came, it had not been cannibalized by the previous owner), my quilt top is smaller than the pattern.  But after posting this, a quick email from one of the organizers told me it was just about big enough and with a little border addition, it would be great.

So I sucked it up and sewed a few more LOOOONG seams.

It sat for a little while, waiting to be quilted, but I did get a back for it.  I knew I had a deadline!

It is definitely more true-green in real-life, which matches the quilt front much better.

Last week I did some math and figured out how to get both of the Positivity quilts on the longarm at the same time - on the same piece of back!

I sewed the binding on the next day, but my hubby was home last week (vacation), so I got less done than I would have liked.  (Even if we aren't going anywhere or doing anything, he seems to drag me down into doing nothing.  Good thing he's back to work this week!)

While the hubby took a nap a few days later, I sewed the binding down to the other side.  It didn't take long, but I often procrastinate this step.  I'm so close, I don't know why.

Funny story - yesterday I was cleaning out the bin that held all the quilt parts for these two (once they're done, I can return stuff to the stash) and found the binding.  I had made it already.  And forgot.  So I made it again.  And didn't have enough of the chosen fabric, so I subbed in something very similar (which also didn't have enough for the whole quilt).  I was so confused.  I knew I had chosen that fabric and thought I had enough, so I couldn't figure out how I messed that up.  Now I know.  And have extra binding.

Okay, okay.  Enough stalling.  I promised a finished quilt!

Tada!

Quilt stats:

Pattern: Positivity 2023

Designer: Sew Preeti Quilts

Size: 54x56 I think maybe?

Pieced and quilted by me!

I mentioned above (again) about the cat hammocks.  Saved by Zade is the organization I work with and they have a newsletter that comes out periodically.  The latest one featured this photo at the top:

(photo credit: Saved by Zade)

That is a hammock I remember making!.  You can see the edges are getting a bit frayed, but I remember it.  It makes me feel so good to see these in use.  I know that getting photos for me of what I've made is the least of their concerns, so this is a nice treat.

While we're on the topic of kitties, Finn got a new scratcher-house:

(apparently I cannot take photos straight?)

This is the third one of these I've purchased over many years and he tears up the cardboard inside, as he is supposed to do.  But he is also a clumsy fat goofball, so he flops around in them and busts sides out and such.  This one seems a little more sturdy, though the top just sets over the scratcher pad, so maybe non-sturdy in a different way.

He likes it.  Can you tell?  (Goofy face and all, he's in there.)

Freddie helped me make some hammocks yesterday.

I use a large bias tape maker to help fold the fabric for the ties and then stitch along the edges.  I was trying to sort them out so I had just one end of each in my hand.  He thought we were playing.  So we did.

Soon after, I cut them down to size and he was almost as happy with the short (about 4") ends left over that we tossed back and forth for a bit.

I still have to quilt the baby quilt, but not today.  Today I will bake cookies and finish binding the other (bonus) Positivity quilt.

This past weekend at work, our company hosted a farmer's market in the parking lot.  All stores in our chain (so your store might have done it, too!) were invited to participate, but it's a newer thing, so we only had three vendors show up.  (We were very sad the food truck didn't show - we were hungry and ready!)  I picked up a few things at one vendor:

Yep, you read that right.  Peony jelly.  I asked, too.  It's made from the blossoms - boiled and then strained to get out the solid parts - and is quite good.  It does taste like flowers, so you don't need much, but I like it.

Time to go do more productive things!

Happy quilting!

Katie