March Fabric Usage

Well March was a high-intake month, what do I say? Half of it has already been cut up and is on my design wall. The other half was acquired as opportunity struck. First up was Cotton Couture Soft White and Painters Palette Rice Paper, both being used in my Pantone Quilt Challenge project.

Then I saw that FabricBubb had the Kona 2026 COTY Wander available, so I grabbed some along with some Diamond Textiles Top Stitch in White for that aforementioned Pantone Challenge project.

Lastly, while on retreat, us girls visited the local Cotton Gin, and I couldn't help but support buying local and went home with some Fableism Camp Gingham in Sunshine and some Figo Fabrics Space Dye in Green and Navy. I have no doubt I'll be able to put those lovely fabrics to good use.

I have a hunch next month won't be much better as far as fabric intake goes, so meanwhile, I'll just keep sewing.

March Fabric Usage

Used up: 14.25 yards [10.43 projects + 3.82 recycled]
Brought in: 10.47 yards
Net: -3.78 yards

Floral Stitches Year II - Blue Daisy

It's hard to believe that this blue daisy sampler is the next to last in Year II of Dropcloth's @dropcloth Floral Stitches Series. Dare I say that this was one of my favorites to stitch of this round.

Something about that big flower, the ring of greenery, and that gingham background made this one very fun to stitch.

For everything except those little red circles, I used two threads in each color - one solid and one variegated. It's more obvious in some areas than others, but that's been kind of my go-to technique lately, plus using a double strand throughout.

For the red outer ring, I stitched a wrapped chain stitch, which is also a current favorite. It gives a bit heftier look while still going really quickly. At any rate, I love this one - the design and the colors I stitched it in.

2026 Quilting Check In Q1

If you haven't already heard, Melanie Meyer @mellmeyer has taken over the quarterly quilting goal check-in link up party previously posted by Yvonne Fuchs @quiltingjetgirl. I plan to keep checking in quarterly, but in a simpler format than years past. Melanie suggested reflecting on our Q1 2026 quilting progress, so I'll keep it to that.

January – March 2026 Quilts

It's actually been a pretty productive quarter, which is great. For one, I participated in several groups and workshops that resulted in quilts in a variety of sizes.

• Block Studies Collective

Shattered

Pillars

Shift

• Improv for Everyone :: Fat Curves and Skinny Lines workshop with Maria Shell @mariashellquilts

Upended

• Quilt Improv Studio

Configured

• Building an Improv Toolbox workshop with Sarah Goer @sarahgoerquilts

Imp

Happily, I finished the 2025 Seattle MQG BOM with the help of longarm quilter Dionne Hersch @dinglebobbins. That sure felt good!

Calendar Cascade

And I made a wall hanging for our son to (hopefully) hang in his office.

Liturgical Calendar Wall Hanging

Finally, I made a scrappy quilt, my first quilt finish for the 100 Day Project/AKA 100 Days of Scraps.

Strings

Going into Q2 of the year, I'll continue working on my Pantone Quilt Challenge project, and once that's done I have another quilt challenge I want to make a quilt for. There's also the current Seattle MQG BOM to keep up with and I suppose I should start another scrappy quilt for my 100 Days of Scraps. So plenty to keep me going. One day at a time.

Linking up with Melanie and the #2026QuiltingCheckIn Q1.

Patchwork Pop Open Pouch

Over the years, I figure I'm made Aneela Hoey's @aneelahoey Pop Open Pouch at least nine times. The result is always lovely, and though I still need to follow the pattern, the construction is very straight-forward. When I saw that Aneela came out with a patchwork supplement for her pattern, I knew it was time to make a new one for myself. 

So while on retreat recently, I managed to piece the two exterior panels starting with a mini charm pack of Artisan Cotton, along with squares cut from a Cotton Couture charm pack.

As you can see above, I used the fusible grid method to arrange my squares, and then sewed all the seams. 

Before continuing on, I trimmed the panels ever so slightly, and if I make this version again, I'll be more careful about trimming so the panels line up better on the final construction. Oops. But it's super cute, just the same.

After seeing the patchwork exterior pieces made up, I went with the purple zipper, and a black gingham lining. Due to using the fusible grid method for piecing the exteriors, I could omit the fusible fleece usually used in this pouch, so that was nice. 

I went with the leather zipper tab, as I usually do. I find that using a little of my glue pen to adhere the leather to the zipper end keeps things pretty secure while I do the top-stitching. Another trick, thanks to Aneela, is the way the pattern has you align and stitch the boxed ends together, so the lining stays nice and snug during use. It's an optional step, but one I find easy to do and makes for a neat finish. (Not shown, but trust me.)

I used a black 1/8" leather strip for the zipper pull, and ta da! I have a super cute finished pouch, which in my case, will get used for make up. So glad I decided to try this pop open pouch variation. I see that just today, Aneela has put out a pattern supplement to make a scrappy patchwork version of her Zip Up Tray Pouch pattern. I haven't tried that one, so it might be next!

Weave Got This! :: :: Blocks 1 & 2

One project I am hoping to keep up with this year is the Seattle MQG BOM that we're doing, Weave Got This! A mystery quilt design inspired by woven textiles, it's being hosted by our guild-members Nora Bauser @norstar_german and Rachel Singh @liketosew. Last month had us making strip sets, some of which were used to make the blocks in this month's assignment.

Block 1 involved cutting up two strip sets and arranging them into the pieced blocks on the right, above. We made four of those, and also of Block 2, which was done by cutting up another strip into 7.5" widths. So my work on this is done until we get April's assignment. I'm anxious to add in the greens from my palette, but who knows when that will be. So far, so good though.

Imp

I could tell I was feeling better when I had a free hour and started piecing together the improv blocks from the recent workshop I took from Sarah Goer @sarahgoerquilts, Building an Improv Toolbox. And.I.Could.Not.Stop. Before I knew it, I had a 26.5" x 29.5" little quilt top and had named her Imp. 

Happily, I was able to squeeze 28 of the 29 blocks I had made in the workshop together with very few additions.

Then I made a pieced quilt back that included the one block I couldn't fit into the front, adding in all sorts of bits and pieces, though I also needed to pull a couple of pinks from stash to bring it to size.

After enjoying quilting with a variegated thread on Strings recently, I went ahead and chose Aurifil 50wt variegated 4660 [Pink Taffy] for Imp, and quilted a 1" grid. In person, it really makes for some fun color play as the variegated thread moves across the quilt. 

And finally, since I'd used up all the fabrics from the front, I used a small-scale black and white stripe for the binding. Knowing that it was perfect, but wouldn't quite go all the way around the quilt, I pieced in a pink dot that I'd used on the back. I think it's a very fun finishing touch. After trimming, Imp measured just under 26" x 30", and in continuing to build my improv toolbox, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. 

Linking up with QuiltingJETgirl's Favorite Finish {March 2026}.

BSC Year Three Round-Up

I waited to post this thinking I migghhtt get another piece done for the final prompt, but yeah, I didn't get to that due to sickness and then travel. And then, unfortunately, I missed the farewell zoon gathering with the group as I was just getting home from said travel. Oh well. It was a most enjoyable season - my second with Block Studies Collective with Tara Faughnan @tarafaughnan. Finished projects aren't really the goal in BSC; it's all about a 'block' prompt and a color palette. But I really like to have finished pieces to show for my experiments, and for this round, I made finished 5 small quilts - two of which I hand-quilted - and a drawstring bag. So here are each month's finished, with a link to a post 
about each one:


Crosswalk

Garnish

Star Brite Lined Drawstring Bag

Shattered with guest presenter Jen Carlton-Bailly @bettycrockerass

Pillars 

Shift 

Playing with Tara's prompts and palettes was definitely a treat these last six months. Working small made it all very doable. Plus it was wonderful to see the work from my fellow participants. Fingers crossed I'm able to join in for Season Four.

Many Square in Squares

So I'm back from retreat, which was a really fun getaway. (Random: It got up to 97-degrees while I was there; I'm home to 43 today. Yikes. I really soaked up the CA sunshine for sure.) Anyway, I was able to use my friend's Janome Horizon Memory Craft 15000, which is bigger, and more of a sewing and embroidery combo machine than my Janome 6700P. So quite different, but with enough similarities that I adapted pretty quickly. I enjoyed sewing on it very much. I had a nice little set-up with my own pressing and cutting station. For larger pieces, a full-size ironing board and cutting boards were set up for us to share.

The first project I tackled was the batik Mini Square in Square blocks for the current Many Hands and Many Hearts March-May 2026 block drive hosted by Cynthia Brunz @cynthiabrunzdesigns.

I just happened to have a small handful of batik fabrics in my stash, which I used for the outer portions of the blocks. Then I also had a batik jelly roll from which I was able to cut 2.5" centers for the blocks. Cynthia was ok with me sending just light center/dark outer blocks, so I was grateful for that. All the blocks finished at 8.5" square, and I plan to get them mailed off to her in the next day or so. I'm glad I was able to participate in another round, and honestly, these were the perfect retreat project. And there's still time to join in, if you are able - all the details are here.

Off On Retreat

Back in March of 2020, my long-time quilting group of friends - AKA the Basket Case Quilters - had a retreat planned. Three of us would be traveling from out of state to meet up in CA at another friend's house, but at the last minute, it got cancelled due to the many unknowns of the pandemic. Finally, finally, we've rescheduled, and I'll be traveling in a few days to meet up with them.

Of course, I need to take projects! I didn't actually have a lot going on, so I've planned some stuff. I thought it might be fun to share it all here - both as accountability - and just to keep track.

1. My Pantone challenge project. Basically the stack of fabrics I shared last week + a gingham I added in for a bit of color. I have a rough plan of what I want to make - at least where I want to start, so I'll share more of that as I get started.

2. I found just enough batiks in my stash to participate in the current Many Hands and Many Hearts March-May 2026 block drive making Mini Square in Square blocks. Cynthia Brunz @cynthiabrunzdesigns is host, and I'm happy to be able to participate for another round.

3. For reasons I won't share quite yet, I hope to make several of Heidi Staple's @fabricmutt Pixie Baskets. I'm made quite a few over the years, and am looking forward to making them again.

4. I've also made numerous Pop Open Pouches over the years, using the pattern by Aneela Hooey. Last year sometime, she published an add-on pattern for a patchwork version, and since I need a new one, I decided to try this variation. I found a mini charm pack of Artisan Cotton in my stash, and will add in what I need from a Cotton Couture charm pack. And I'm taking a couple of options for both lining and zipper, and will use what I like best in the moment.

So it's always a mystery how much one will accomplish on a retreat, AND what I'll feel like working on, so TBD what I actually get done. So stay tuned. I'll try to share progress on IG while I'm away, and of course, via blog posts once I return. See ya in a few days.

Strings

Well, I finally have my first quilt finish for the 100 Day Project/AKA 100 Days of Scraps. Meet Strings, a quilt whose front is made entirely of scrappy strings and other bits from the scrap basket.

Folks have asked, and no, I didn't use a fabric foundation. I just sewed a bunch of strips together, and then added corners. Or sometimes, I actually started with a corner, and added strings from there. I didn't worry too much about the size of each block. I just let the strings I chose to use together determine that.

What that means, is that sometimes I didn't gauge well, and bits I actually liked got trimmed off. Oh well.

Eventually, I had enough blocks to make a good-sized quilt (54" x 55"). You can see that there were places I had to add in pieced strips or much smaller blocks that I made specifically to fill a certain space.

I continued on to make a scrappy quilt back, though I did have to pull a few fabrics from stash to make blocks large enough. Other than that gray solid, all the fabrics I pulled were in pretty short supply, so it felt just fine using them up here.

I think I mentioned that I had a cold that really hung on, and by the time I was feeling up to quilting, I was also in the mood to get this one done. So I chose to quilt using a diagonal serpentine stitch about 1.5" part. I marked every 3" with my hera marker and quilted those lines, then quilted between them all again by eye. I confess that quilting in that way was relaxing but quick - ie. barely over an hour. This time, for this quilt, it felt just fine.

The thread I used was an Aurifil 50wt variegated 4570 [Silver Fox]. I thought it suited this mostly gray quilt very nicely.

I had just enough of a gray print to make a binding, which I hand-finished. So even though I did end up using a few stash pulls for this quilt, the front is 100% scraps, and what I pulled was 95% used up in the back and binding, so that felt good. All in all, I'm happy with the finish, and plan to donate Strings to our guild's giving committee.