Back to Minimal Shapes

OK! This last week it was finally time to face a project that's been stashed away for a while. It's my Minimal Shapes quilt for Bee Sewcial @beesewcial that I initially set a prompt for back in July 2024. I pulled out the blocks (16 total), and cut them all into circles and half-circles using the amazing Clammy by Latifah Saafir Studios. I started placing them on the design wall with a bit of an idea in mind, thought the layout wasn't final quite yet.

I had ordered up two solids to fill in around the shapes - Kona Lupine and Espresso. Unfortunately, as I was adding pieces to the design wall, the Espresso seemed way too overwhelming.

So I changed plans, and luckily had enough Kona Overcast on hand, and I liked that much better.

The top is now complete, measuring 76" square, thanks to a 4" Overcast border I added all around. I did that, even though borders aren't usually my thing. But I wanted the gray rectangles at the edges to look like they were attached to the border, and the gray rectangles around the center of the quilt to look kind of like holes. So for better or worse, that's where it stands now. And it'll stay there while I make a quilt backing, hopefully from the scraps and leftover solids from my original pull. I have a machine-quilting plan, and thread picked out. And I even have an idea for some hand-quilting after that. Time will tell!

Floral Stitches Year II - Big Daisy

The minute I saw this flower in the Dropcloth Sampler @dropcloth Floral Stitches series, I was excited to stitch it up!

I chose some really bold Wonderfil perle cotton threads for the main flower, and I questioned my choice the entire time I was stitching. That said, I kinda love it.

It felt like I used a smaller variety of stitches than usual, but not too bad. I see couching, French knots, seed stitches, and lots of chain stitch. Whatever, it was another fun one.

At the Table

Believe it or not, there are readers of A Quilter's Table who have always loved my At the Table posts the best. It's been a while since I was committed to the weekly Tuesday at the Table feature, but occasionally, why not? If it's not your thing, trust me. I'll be back with something quilty soon!

So the topic today is broccoli rabe.

Though I go through spurts of trying vegetables (or ingredients of any kind, really) that I haven't tried before, for some reason, I had never tried broccoli rabe before. I'd seen fellow participants in Rainy Day Bites Cookbook Club enjoy using it, so I really wanted to try a recipe I'd found in Colu Cooks Easy Fancy Food by Colu Henry @coluhenry, a book I was cooking through all through September. I tried many stores throughout the month, and no one had it (maybe because it's seasonal??), though one store had a sign with a product, which is why I accidently purchased and discovered what escarole is. 

But finally, I found it, so I got to try Broccoli Rabe Toast with Melted Provolone. Yum. 

Of course, this is only one way to use broccoli rabe (though a tasty one at that!), and when I see it again, I'll buy it to try something else, as I'm still curious. Holler if you use it on the regular (or escarole, for that matter), as I'm open to learning more.

Inside/Outside

I, and apparently most of my Bee Sewcial @beesewcial beemates, were pretty keen on the prompt Felicity @felicityquilts set out for us this month, and were making their blocks faster than I'd ever seen - haha!

There were several components:

• Composed of white/light cream fabrics of a variety of substrates if possible
• Most seams sewn with black or charcoal thread
• At least one seam sewn with neon or brightly colored thread 
• At least one seam sewn on the front of the block with raw edges showing 
• Added texture on the front through a small section of fabric manipulation

Fun, right?? For my first block, I created an area of diamond pin tucks, as well as the other requirements, and the finished block measured 12" x 13".

For my second block, 13" x 13", I included a few twisted pin tucks in addition to the black/neon threads and exposed raw seams.

Here are the blocks together....

And from the back sides.

Well that was indeed an enjoyable and low-pressure prompt, and of course, I'm loving seeing the other blocks folks are making as they respond to Felicity's prompt. That's always half the fun.

Subsequent Studio Refresh

Last year in July - see here and here - I shared about a couple of refreshes in the studio. There were quite a variety of things I was organizing, like threads, needles, labels; recovering my pressing and cutting tables; even replacing old irons with a new one. And most of that has continued to work well. (The lazy susan for the batting roll, not so much.)

That said, I meant to post more refreshing tasks, but got held up, and I know exactly why. I bought this:

 >> Handheld Steamer. The Conair Hand-Held Turbo ExtremeSteam Garment Steamer was recommended by Shannon Fraser @shannonfraserdesigns, and I got it because I thought it would be handy before gifting, showing, or even using quilts that had been stored away. And I fully expect it will be. Except I've never tried it. AND it is no longer available where I bought it, though I provided the link anyway, both as reference, and in case knowing anything about it is handy. Let's just say, I have it in case I need it.

Meanwhile, it's way past time to report on other things I did in my studio to organize.

>> Perle cotton storage. Mine was an absolute mess, just jumbled all together in a basket. So I bought two of these large square plastic bins, and it's better. Still not great, but it's better than what I was doing so there's that.

>>New iron - THIS is probably what folks are most interested in. Still back in July 2024, to my dismay, I realized I had SIX irons in the house, most of which I was not happy with, for one reason or another. I ended up replacing all the full-sized ones with a model recommended by Maria Shell @mariashellquilts in a workshop I was taking. It's a Beautural - my first - and I've been happy with it for over a year now. One caveat - I have yet to put water in it, even though Maria says she does it all the time with no bad results. I confess I like steam, I really do, though I've been getting along without it. So this is my current iron of choice. Until it's not.

>>Large booklet pouch for my Aurifil 12wt threads. My 12wts have also been stored in a jumble, and it wasn't going well. I made the large version (9" x 11" x 3") of Aneela Hoey's Booklet Pouch, and it has been a life-safer. It has four large vinyl see-through zippered pockets, that hold all of my 12wts loosely organized by color. I use it all the time.

>>Small booklet pouch for needles. After having the large booklet pouch work so well, I made the small version (6" x 8" x 3") for my hand-sewing needles. They aren't organized in a super logical way, but at least they're all in the same place now.

>>Recover pressing table. A year hence, it was time to recover my pressing table again. This time, I used Rifle Paper Co.'s  Lea in Navy Canvas from the Bramble collection. It always feels good to refresh this space.

>>New sewing machine! This is a biggie, I know. It wasn't entirely planned, but I'd been thinking about it. As you probably already know, I got a Janome Memory Craft 6700P, and so far, I'm really liking it. I've posted about it twice - here and here - if you want to know more about why I got it, and my experience so far.

>>Thread box storage. Just last weekend, I did the latest refresh, in the form of a new little Pixie Basket, a tutorial by Heidi Staples @fabricmutt. I've made oodles of these before, but I needed one more for the base of my miscellaneous thread bin.  

I rescued this small toolbox (my husband's childhood art box) from the donation pile ages ago, and it's perfect for a nice collection of threads. These are all those random small Aurifil spools + odds and ends ...other brands, metallic, etc. More threads that I use occasionally rather than my every-day spools and cones. The new Pixie is on the bottom left, and will help keep that bottom section neat. 

So whew! It feels good to finally gather all these things together and share about them. If you have other organizational tools or methods in your sewing space that you love or suggestions for me, I'd love to hear about them in the comments!

Patterns to Try | Modern Madras Table Runner

Next up in the Patterns to Try series is the Modern Madras Table Runner pattern by Jennifer Sampou @jennifersampou. The pattern is actually designed to use and feature Jennifer's beautiful SKY Ombré, and that would have been super nice to try. But I wanted to use fabric from my stash, and had a Ruby Star Society warp & weft charm pack that I though would be a nice option.

I had gotten it off the free table at guild meeting a couple of months ago, and it was perfect for fall. Mine is Moonglow, a woven collection by Alexia Marcelle Abegg @alexiamarcelleabegg. The only issue - if there even really was one - was that I'd be using 5" squares rather than the 6" squares suggested in the pattern. I really thought that would still be fine, and set to work arranging the squares.

It took me a while to choose an orientation I liked, and finally just laid them out as they were stacked in the charm pack. I needed to save out six squares for the 'sashing' and chose a couple of solids plus there were two prints that had a bonus square, so I used those too.

I used a layer of Quilters Dream Select batting for my quilt sandwich. Jennifer's pattern suggested an envelope-style finish rather than quilt binding, so I decided to do that for something different. For the backing, I used a Diamond Textiles Textured Woven that I have no idea where it came from. But I had enough, it coordinated well with several of the fabrics on the front, and I think the color is Pink Ginger. Whatever, I'm glad I had something with a similar weight and texture to the warp & wefts. With the woven fabrics and that batt, the quilt sandwich was pretty thin, and easy to turn and press. 

Rather than matchstick quilt the length of my runner, as suggested, I stitched lines across the runner, every three or four stitches wide. I purposely went varying distances from the edge to give an off-set look I really like. 

I used Aurifil 40wt 6722 [Sea Biscuit] since there was such a color-variety amongst the fabrics, and I'm happy with that choice. With using the charm pack, my runner ended up measuring 14" x 54".

I'm super happy with the end result, and would consider doing something like this again. It's relatively quick and easy, and with the mix of fabrics and colors (and texture!), it just makes me smile.

September Fabric Usage

Though it's true I've brought in quite a bit of new fabric lately, it's also true that I continue to find and use stashed fabric that is perfect for a particular project at hand. Such as a recently gifted Divided Drawstring Bag and a new project I haven't even shared yet. And I was reminded that you need to acquire fabric to have fabric to grab from stash, and as long as I'm consistently using what I have, I think I'm ok with the additions. Plus, most of this month's purchases had intended uses, so that's fun too.

September's first intake was a few Sardine Pillow fabric options, of which I used the top two, paired with some stash finds.

This guy was made and gifted in the same week, so fabric in, fabric out!

Next, I needed a bit more of the Crossweaves Pink + Starry Witchy for my Bright Side Boo quilt. While I was at it, I nabbed a pair of prints that I'd been curious about - RSS Geometry Ladders & Hump Day in Turmeric. They did not disappoint, and I'm happy to have them in my stash for another day.

Next was a freebie. With my pre-order of Rashida Coleman-Hale's @iamrashidacolemanhale new book, ZakkaSewn, she sent a fat-quarter of one of her prints. 

And then this was a splurge.... a stack of Kona solids for October's Block Studies Collective prompt. Yep, I signed up for another season, and though some months I'll work from stash, I just wanted to start off with one of Tara's @tarafaughnan original palettes. I have a few other stashed solids that have since been added to round out her palette, which you'll see in an upcoming post.

So there we go!

September Fabric Usage

Used up: 15.93 yards [11.47 projects + 4.46 recycled]
Brought in: 9.0 yards
Net: -6.93 yards

Patterns to Try | Divided Drawstring Bag

So I have a folder on my desktop named Patterns to Try, and it's exactly what you'd think - several patterns that I've acquired that I really do want to try. So in between the quilt projects I have in the works, I'm going to try to get some of them made

First up was the Divided Drawstring Bag by Lou Orth Designs @louorthdesigns.

The pattern comes with four size options, and this is the small version, 5.5" x 6" x 5.5".

The striking feature of this particular drawstring bag is its centered pocket on the interior of the bag, indeed making it divided. Very clever!

I wasn't familiar with the interfacing mentioned in the pattern (H640 and G700 by Vlieseline) so used my standard Pellon SF101 for both the pocket pieces and the exterior, and that seemed to work just fine.

The only tricky part - for me anyway - was boxing the corners once the pocket was already in place. Not sure I did it as intended, but it worked fine, and I was really happy with the result. I've already chosen my next small-make pattern to try, so I'll be working on that this week.

Bright Side Boo

It's been a while since I made a full-sized quilt with newly purchased fabric, so it felt like a special treat to make Bright Side Boo, so named because I used the Bright Side pattern by Meghan of Then Came June @thencamejune with Halloween-themed fabric. The pattern is considered a simpler version of Meghan's Sidewalk Chalk pattern, which I made for our bed several years ago. I really enjoyed making it, so thought it would be fun to try Bright Side. Plus, I thought it would go fairly quickly so I could get back to other projects in the works.

The gathering of fabric for this quilt happened pretty impulsively, after I saw the Boo-tiful Mischief Bundle at Sewtopia @sewtopia. I needed just a few more fabrics than were in the bundle, which I picked up at FabricBubb @fabricbubb, finishing with the bundle below.

So the quilt top was pretty quick to put together, and honestly I do love a mix of substrates. Once pieced, it measured 60.5" x 72.5".

For the back, I just used all the scraps and leftover yardage from the front and began to sew it all together. There wasn't much forethought to it, but I was happy enough to use so much of my original pull in it.

I went with an easy uneven grid for the quilting, in three colors - Aurifil 50wt 1104 [Neon Orange], 2535 [Magenta], and 4241 [Very Dark Grey].  I began by hera-marking lines 5" to 6" apart, depending on whether they were horizonal or vertical, as the blocks were rectangular, not square. Then I just eye-balled it to fill in, as you can attest by the view below. 

For binding, I had held out Katarina Rocella’s Grid in Negative for Art Gallery Fabrics and Ruby Star Rising Basic Alexia Marcelle Abegg Starry 2025 Witchy, debating whether to use both or not. But since I had plenty of the Grid, I decided to go with that alone. Curious what you might have chosen in my place. 

Anyway it feels great to have my Halloween-themed Bright Side done before October even starts. For now, it's hanging over the banister in our dining room, but it's all ready for a good cuddle.

Thanks to Fiona @spunstraw and Laura @silversstitches for hosting
#spookyseptembersewalong2025 and Sewtopia @sewtopia for giving me the incentive to make this quilt!

Forbidden Words Quilt Project

A few weeks ago, Lorraine Woodruff-Long @quiltinginthefog and Patricia Hickey @trisha_quilts shared about a community group quilting bee they were forming in response to the scrubbing of particular words from government websites and documents in an attempt to remove references not only to diversity, equity and inclusion, but also to climate change, vaccines, and a host of other topics. The list of 370+ banned words are identified by PEN America @penamerica. "PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide."

So I decided to join the project, and the first step was to choose three words or phrases from the list: Federal Government's Growing Banned Words List Is Chilling Act of Censorship - PEN America.

SO many people were signing up so quickly, that it was suggested we could return a word/phrase, to allow more folks to join in the project. So I returned low-emission vehicle and was left with one phrase and one word to create into blocks.

Complete instructions were given on how to construct our blocks - using a particular template, cutting out letters in black fabric....

adhering them onto white fabric, and cutting out with pinking shears. I obviously got busy working and forgot to take more process pictures, but once the black on white letters were cut out, they were arranged on fabric from a repurposed button-down shirt, in particular one from my husband's closet. (Thanks babe!)

THEN, I learned how to free-motion quilt on my new Janome, as I needed to FMQ in black to assure durability of the letters. That was actually pretty fun! So my finished blocks are 6" x 12" and 6" x 22", and I'm anxious to get them in the mail this week so they can be included in the project. Hopefully, I'll be back early in 2026 to share a picture of the finished quilt! Meanwhile, we can follow the progress on Insta under the hashtag, #forbiddenwordsquilt.

Beginning Bright Side

Cutting into the fabric for my #spookyseptembersewalong2025 project meant I'd be in the thick of three quilt projects (and another sardine!) at one time, oops! I was hoping to have all of these done by the end of the month, but I'm already doubting that can happen.

I already shared a photo of my fabric pull, but I wanted - for the record - to identify all the fabrics I'm using in my Bright Side quilt. As for the Boo-tiful Mischief Bundle itself, it consisted of these fabrics:

1. Ruby Star Society Sarah Watts Glow Garden Tangled Web Black

2. Ruby Star Society Alexia Marcelle Abegg Warp & Weft Hue Crossweaves Vibrant Pink

3. Stacy Iest Hsu Home Sweet Haunt Little Black Cat Bone from Moda Fabrics

4. Ruby Star Rising Basic Rashida Coleman-Hale Speckled Metallic Witchy

5. Ruby Star Rising Basic Alexia Marcelle Abegg Starry 2023 Sunshine

6. Moda Fabrics Warp and Weft Ooh Lucky Lucky Star in Soft Black

7. Ruby Star Society Rashida Coleman-Hale Speckled 2021 Sorbet

8. Ruby Star Society Alexia Marcelle Abegg Warp & Weft Ooh Lucky Lucky Flicker Natural and Black

9. Ruby Star Rising Basic Alexia Marcelle Abegg Starry 2025 Witchy

10. Anna Maria Textiles Garden Variety Seeds Zinnia

11. Ruby Star Society Rashida Coleman-Hale Speckled 2021 Burnt Orange

12. Ruby Star Society Sarah Watts Glow Garden Tangled Web Natural

13. Diamond Textiles Manchester Pluses Black Orange




And then I selected a few more fabrics, a couple of which were from my stash:

14. Ruby Star Rising Basic Alexia Marcelle Abegg Starry 2023 Nutmeg

15. Kona Carrot

16. Robert Kaufman Fabrics Carolina Gingham 1/8 Inch in Black

17. Katarina Rocella’s Grid in Negative for Art Gallery Fabrics

18. Lori Holt’s Cross Stitch in Autumn for Riley Blake Designs

19. Kona White

And here's what they looked like just before I started cutting into them.

As mentioned earlier, I'm using the Bright Side pattern by Meghan of Then Came June @thencamejune. It mentions grouping fabrics by color family and considering value, but since I'm using a bundle to start, my colors will come off with less attention to value. I'm more focused on including my chosen colors and fun prints for this quilt, and though maybe not the original intent of the pattern, I think it'll be ok for this particular quilt.

So Friday night, I finished the quilt top, 60.5" x 72.5". Now I'm working on a back for it, using a cute Halloween print from stash, along with some of the leftover fabrics from the original pull. Hopefully I'll be basting the thing in a day or two.