More Positivity Blooms

 Another one-photo post, but there is progress on my Positivity Blooms quilt for the QAL with Bernie at Needle and Foot and Preeti at Sew Preeti Quilts.

Yup, the bathroom was the best place for a photo of the quilt top. Too breezy outside to take one of a flimsy. Disregard all those wrinkles. The light showed every one. At least the towel kind of coordinates. And really, the quilt fits in that space just right. 

I was able to finish this top really quickly thanks to still being indoors because of poor air quality from wildfires way up north. I didn't take any in-progress photos, but if you look closely, you'll see that--again--I didn't quite follow the instructions. I just drew the flowers from the pattern onto a piece of graph paper and made my own draft to reduce a few seam lines.

As you might recall from my last post, this Quilt Along is for a collection of quilts for the palliative care unit of Mercy Hospital in Sacramento, California. The pattern was designed by Preeti, and Bernie is doing the promotions and link ups. My quilt is a bit smaller than Preeti's and I will likely be donating it closer to home. You can read more about the QAL and the collection on either of their websites (posted below). There are two versions of the quilt, one with just vines/leaves and one with flowers. 

I am so appreciative of Bernie and Preeti for encouraging us to make these quilts and spending the time to design and promote them and for giving us a relaxed schedule to make them. My summer has been full of all sorts of activities that don't quite fit with quilting mess, so this has worked well for me. 

Most of my other-than-quilting activities have been fun. But one activity this past week was getting at some long-overdue dusting. I absolutely hate dusting. The dust just comes right back, so it seems like such a waste of time. But the other day, I noticed that the dust lying around had a brown tinge and smelled pretty funky. That must be from all the smoke in the air a few weeks ago. So I got to work and dusted/vacuumed EVERYTHING. I was so proud of myself. The house seemed lighter and brighter--and cleaner! Well, guess what's back as I'm writing this. Needless to say, the house is closed up tight. I do not want to have to do that massive chore again before guests arrive later this week. Hopefully the smoke won't be as thick this time or as long-lasting. Really, it is a smallish thing for me to complain about. I know that weather-related concerns (and climate-change effects) are much worse in other parts of the country right now, and my heart goes out to all who are affected. 

Here's where to check out the links to the QAL:

Mercyful Quilts tab and current link-up for quilt progress this week at Needle and Foot. 

Tab for the schedule of the QAL (You could easily still start this quilt), sponsors, instructions, and Preeti's design and quilts here and here.

I already have the back pieced and the binding made for my quilt. I'll share those when the quilt is finished. Now I have to figure out how to quilt it. I was first thinking of poppies when I chose the colors, but now I think the flowers look more like bee balm. I part of me wants to quilt Bee Balm in fancy script in the big background area above the shortest flower, but maybe it's better to let the recipient decide what the flowers look like. I have a couple weeks to figure it all out before I get back to my machine. 

Time to go link up for the party. I'll be back (I hope) with the finish on August 20. In the meantime, I'm toying with another QAL, although it might be a Quilt Alone Later rather than a Quilt ALong as I'm going to be very late starting. 

If you are sewing a Positivity Quilt, and even if you aren't, I hope your summer sewing has you smiling. 

(Just a reminder: I'm not affiliated with any company, so when I mention products, services, or stores, I'm just documenting what I used or liked.)