Wander

After all the emotional reaction to Thursday's announcement from Pantone, I'm pretty sure many of us were on pins and needles awaiting Robert Kaufman's announcement of the KONA color of the year. So yesterday's release of Wander, was at least to me, a relief and a joy.

As a lover of green, I of course, was more than pleased. Called "A calm, confident green that invites curiosity and open-ended possibility," I see it as a welcome addition to my sewing stash.

Cloud Dancer

Unexpected, underwhelming, unimpressive, ridiculous. Those were all reactions from folks in the quilting community yesterday when Pantone announced their 2026 Color of the Year, Cloud Dancer. "A lofty white that serves as a symbol of calming influence in a society rediscovering the value of quiet reflection. A billowy white imbued with serenity, PANTONE 11-4201 Cloud Dancer encourages true relaxation and focus, allowing the mind to wander and creativity to breathe, making room for innovation." Hmmm. I honestly don't know what to think, but admit to some disappointment.

But as is tradition, I'll share my Pantone-inspired quilts from the past several years.... 

:: Mocha Mousse 2025 :: "Brew"

:: Peach Fuzz 2024 :: "Keen"

:: Viva Magenta 2023 :: "Verve"

:: Very Peri 2022 :: "Red Cross Meets Very Peri"

:: Ultimate Gray and Illuminating 2021 :: "Some Like It Medium"

:: Classic Blue 2020 :: "Utterly Blue"

:: Living Coral 2019 :: "Timeless"

:: Ultra Violet 2018 :: "Grape Fizzy"

:: Greenery 2017 :: "Evergreenery"

:: Rose Quartz and Serenity 2016 :: "Pantone Meets Bias Tape"

:: Marsala 2015 :: "Sizzling"

:: Radiant Orchid 2014 :: "Radiancy"

:: Emerald 2013 :: "An Emerald Table"

:: Tangerine Tango 2012 :: "Tangerisk"

It'll be interesting to see what the selection of white(!) means as far as the upcoming Pantone Quilt Challenge 2026 next spring. Now hosted by Sarah @bysarahruiz and Audrey @cottonandbourbon, debate is underway on what the challenge should look like. So stay tuned!

QuiltCon Entries

I'm ever so happy to report that in the flurry of selection/not chosen emails coming from the MQG regarding QuiltCon 2026 in Raleigh, I was notified that Ode to Joy had indeed been selected to hang at QuiltCon 2026. There were 2041 quilts submitted this year, and 470 quilts chosen for the show. So I'm feeling very, very fortunate.

Ode to Joy (Bee or Group)

Blocks made by Leanne Chahley @shecanquilt,

Stephanie Ruyle @spontaneousthreads, Felicity Ronaghan @felicityquilts, Karen Foster

@capitolaquilter, M-R Charbonneau @quiltmatters, Jen Broemel @jen.broemel, 

Tia Curtis @tiacurtisquilts, and Emilie Trahan @mili.tra and myself.

Even though I didn't have high hopes for the two other quilts I entered, I decided I owed it to myself to at least try. 

UN(settled) (Small Quilt)

Vertices (Modern Traditional)

So, I'm feeling grateful to have the one selected, a quilt I had a blast creating and one I'm very proud of. It means a lot!

A Year of Doodles Finale

Well it's hard to believe I worked on this embroidery panel for a full year! But it's true, and I was very conscientious to work on each month's section only during that month. 

The design measures 8" in diameter, and I had ordered the pre-printed panel from StitchDoodles @stitchdoodlesdesign. I used a double-thickness of Aurifil 12wt thread throughout, except at the very end - in December I needed a true red thread, and I only had that in Wonderfil perle cotton #8, so I used just one strand of that where needed.

A little finer than many of the samplers I've done, the 12wt was perfect for this design, imho. I really enjoyed switching up the color focus each month, admittedly inspired by a finished sampler I'd seen by @stitch_happy24. 

Now time to move on to my (many) holiday-related stitching projects.....

Twinkling Triangles

The Twinkling Triangles Advent sew-along hosted by Melanie @mellmeyer is just one of the new projects/activities I started on Monday. This year, rather than make a quilt, we have the option of two pillow sizes or a wall hanging. I'm going for a 24" pillow.

This entire project will be paper-pieced, which isn't my first piecing language, but I don't mind it on occasion. Melanie suggested several palettes, and I've chosen to do mine monochrome in greens, letting the fabrics be randomly arranged. Here's the fabric I'm working with, all pulled from stash and just a bit from the scrap basket.

For a background, I chose Cotton + Steel Freckles in Cloud White Metallic, pretty much the only neutral cut I had that was large enough. And yes, I just bought that for giftbag linings - oops!

Anyway, the mystery begins today, and here is my first 'block!' I'm loving those greens together!

Oh, and there's been a bonus behind-the-scenes activity the last few days.... Our sew-along hostess, Melanie, had a little incident with her rotary cutter, and is currently unable to sew! So guess who's been helping just a bit, sewing ahead, and sending pictures of her blocks to Melanie so she can post them? Yup, me! It's been good, and we were able to chat over IG call (??) between her home in Germany and mine in the US. Fun times!

2025 Dropcloth Advent Calendar

Watching in awe as online friends open their Advent calendars each year has sort of become a tradition in itself, though I had never succumbed to the temptation. Until now. When I saw that Rebecca of Dropcloth Samplers @dropcloth was offering her first ever Advent Calendar Set, it didn't take me long to sign up. It didn't hurt that my daughter Rachel @snippetsofsweetness encouraged me with her, "mom, you have to!"

So in due time, I received a package full of cute little bags and packages - 24 of them! I gathered them all into a basket and now it's time to begin opening. 

Today, on Day 1, I got the cutest little Beehive floss bobbin. Kinda makes me anxious for tomorrow!

November Fabric Usage

With the holidays (aka giftbag-making) coming, I dug into my Christmas fabric stash, to see what I had to work with. Not much. So when I needed a couple of solids - Konas Pepper and Windsor to finish up my Luminary project - I went ahead and added a few bits of holiday fabric to my cart.

What I ordered would work well with using what I already had in my stash, but I needed a new line to make several more coordinated bags, and I finally found that in Deco Frost by Giucy Giuce. I curated my own bundle, enough to make a handful of bags in a variety of sizes and get free shipping to boot.

(T-B: Tempest Crystalize, Blizzard Snowfall, Flurries Snowfall, Winter Icicles, Ice Icicles, Arctic Snowflakes)

So that's kind of a lot, and it's fairly non-traditional, but I loved those blues. Now I feel ready for some fresh bag-making, and in my family, that's pretty important stuff.

November Fabric Usage

Used up: 14.32 yards [10.47 projects + 3.85 recycled]
Brought in: 14 yards
Net: -.32 yards

Block Studies Collective | Garnish

As planned, I did work from stash this month for the Block Studies Collective with Tara Faughnan @tarafaughnan. I didn't have all the suggested colors, but that's ok. I definitely had enough to work with.

Problem was, I let the month get away from me working on other projects, and made just a handful of the assigned orange peel blocks. In fact, the one in the upper left in the photo below got tossed somewhere along the way, but I'd made one more, so I had four small blocks to work with when I got back to it.

So I decided to just let that be it, and to finish them into a little quilted piece before moving into next month's assignment. A little sashing, a little mitered border, and it was ready for quilting. 

I used a serpentine stitch - quick and fun - using Aurifil 50wt 2423 [Baby Pink].

Then I bound it in Kona Pepper. So nothing too complicated for this month's BSC challenge, but in the end, an enjoyable little (9" x 10") piece. Honestly, after orange peels also being the prompt for this month's bee sewcial blocks, it's not like I didn't get a little practice.

The Potholder Project

It all began when we were in Eastern Washington earlier in the month, celebrating an early Thanksgiving with family. My niece and her husband were hosting, and wouldn't you know, she was using potholders I'd made over the years. She'd managed to snag THREE sets in the various family gift exchanges - these (in 2012!), these, and these. Which was great, but. They were, by now, very very worn and not looking their best anymore. Long story short, I ended up bringing home a stack of partially-made potholders that needed quilting and binding, and a stack of insul-brite ready and cut to size. I'd offered to finish the ones my niece had started, and make some new ones, so I had my job cut out for me, no pun intended. Here are the ones I finished by quilting and binding, ones intended as gifts for her camping friends:

As for the rest, I was left to my own devices, so I chose a variety of fabrics and designs.

Yay! They all finished about 8.5" square, and are ready to ship off to my niece to gift and to use. Potholders are so fun to make, I'm always happy to make more.

Leaf Napkin Rings

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate today! 

When I saw Bo @thesweetstitches post her Autumn Napkin Rings, I immediately thought it would be a fun project to do for our family Thanksgiving table. She shared a video that gave the basic technique, so I made up a sample. Not perfect, but good enough for me to move forward. If you guessed that free motion quilting isn't my first quilting language, who would be correct! But I was game to try.

On our next walk, I gathered a variety of leaves. Then I prepped a bunch of scraps and actually asked my granddaughter to help me with placing the fabric on the leaf shapes while she was here for lunch over the weekend. After she left, I finished up with the thread-stitching, placing the leaves on pieces of Pellon 71F | One-Sided Fusible Ultra Firm Stabilizer. The tutorial suggested firm felt, but I wasn't sure what that was, and had the Pellon on hand. Personally, I think it worked great - easy to sew through, but sturdy and easy to cut out after thread-stitching.

After the leaves were done, I just needed to cut a couple of toilet tissue rolls into quarters to make 1" rings, which I then hot-glued to the back of the leaves. Ta da!

Aren't they cute?! I'm super happy with them, and they inspired me to get the table set for the Thanksgiving meal pronto. Hopefully the family will enjoy them too, especially my granddaughter, who arranged all the fabrics.