Elephants, a Giveaway and Positivity

Happy Saturday! Even though we’re retired, there’s still always something fun and exciting about reaching the weekend!

On Wednesday, I shared the two quilts I made from the awesome Masala Box pattern just released by my friend Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts. There is a giveaway of a copy of the pattern generously donated by Preeti. You can read more about it and enter by leaving a comment on that post. The giveaway is open until Sunday October 24 at midnight MDT. If you just can’t wait to get started, you can visit her Etsy shop and get a pdf copy right away! It’s a beautiful quilt that can be made in several sizes, and the instructions are clear and well written. 

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Speaking of Preeti, I finally finished my Positivity quilt. Preeti and Bernie hosted a quilt along, with the resulting quilts going to Mercy Hospital in Sacramento California . I started it last spring along with half the quilters in Blogland (that may be a slight exaggeration), and kept apace until I had the entire top pieced. But in July we had water issues in the basement from a storm, as well as basement flooding in August. So, while dealing with the construction of gutting my studio, repairing and restoring the walls, etc., I only had one table and a small area in which to sew. Thankfully, we’ve been “put back together” for a few weeks and I’m working hard to get caught up. 

Positivity measures 60x80”. The pattern and several setting variations were furnished by Preeti. I chose a simple arrangement using light and darker blue backgrounds. 

The quilting was done with a walking foot using the basic serpentine stitch on the diagonals and in the vertical and horizontal seams. The fabric in the above block (forming the cross) was one I purchased on Spoonflower. It and the striped fabric that I used for the binding are what inspired the colors and fabrics chosen.

The backing was a wide-backed blue piece from Connecting Threads. I’m so relieved to finally have this one done and off my plate! It will be mailed to Bernie next week!

This week I also had a chance to play with some lime green scraps to make a couple new blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. And as usual, I’m linking up to Scrappy Saturday to join in all the fun things that are going on there (come check it out!)

Are these elephants cute or what?!? The pattern is Stomping Ground by Wendy Sheppard . I’ll be making lots of these for RSC ‘22 and whenever the mood (or fabric) strikes me. I want to make at least one rainbow version for myself, a smaller one for Quilts for Kids, and one for my DDIL Kim. Yep, we’re going to have an Elephant-athon here at Chez Kizerian! The blocks are 10” (finished size) each, so I could also see setting these with an alternating Irish Chain block. So many possibilities! 

This morning, Cousin Kim and I are off to attend a Quilts for Kids workshop at Quilters Lodge in Draper. This is our annual QFK Scrappy Workshop, and I’ll be giving a small trunk show of scrap quilt ideas and teaching the Zipper Quilt to attendees. It’s a simple and bright block by Lynn Dykstra of Klein Meisje  Quilts. I’ve got lots of pre-cut kits ready for the ladies to check out and begin sewing. Good times!!