Bee Rothko

For October, it was Felicity's @felicityquilts turn to choose our Bee Sewcial @beesewcial prompt, and she asked us to make one large block inspired by the work of American painter Mark Rothko.

If, like me, you aren't really familiar with Rothko's work, check out this post from breathing.art. For Felicity's purpose, we were asked to create a piece with at least two colours, with the colour(s) being the maker’s choice. "When you compose your block, please use at least two close values of the same colour for each stripe to give a bit of texture." I thought that was very clever, and really added to the fun of creating my block for her. Once complete, my block measures roughly 14" x 23", and yes, it's a little funky with that wider edge on the upper right. But I figured Felicity could trim as she saw fit, rather than me trimming everything 'square.' Some Bee Sewcial prompts are super challenging, some super easy; this one was just right.

No Rest for the Weary

Huuuuge sigh of relief, my friends. It always feels monumental when a Bee Sewcial quilt gets finished, and maybe even more so with this result from my Courthouse Steps prompt. At 64" square, I know it's busy, busy, with little space for the eye to rest, but I love it. Meet No Rest for the Weary.

I struggled a while deciding on a layout, knowing that, if possible, I'd like to add a bit more black and white to play off the centers of my bee mates' blocks. And once I came up with an idea, I felt pretty good about it, finicky as it was to create and work in amongst the blocks.

The center of the quilt back was made entirely from scrap, but I'd pretty much run out by that time, so I added stash to bring it to size, while trying to create a big ole courthouse steps design.

For quilting, I was inspired by a design I got from the AQS blog a couple of years ago: 25 Nine Patch Quilting Designs. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be there any more. But here's a diagram of it:

I've been calling it a zig zag grid, but honestly, before I'd even stitched all the lines, if felt like enough. I began with a 3" grid, then stitched at a 45-degree angle, followed by a 60-degree angle. It felt like a LOT of stitching! With so many colors in the quilt, I wasn't sold on any particular thread color, but finally settled on 

Aurifil 50wt 5006 [Light Turquoise], which worked well enough.

To finish, I decided on a faced edge. using the tutorial by Audrey Esaray @cottonandbourbon, and I'm glad I did. This is my 12th(!) quilt with Bee Sewcial, and I'm more than happy to add No Rest for the Weary to the collection.

Many thanks to my Bee Sewcial bee mates for their wonderful responses to my prompt. Leanne Chahley @shecanquilt, Stephanie Ruyle @spontaneousthreads, Felicity Ronaghan @felicityquilts, Karen Foster 

@capitolaquilter, M-R Charbonneau @quiltmatters, Tia Curtis @tiacurtisquilts, Emilie Trahan @mili.tra, and Kitty Wilkin @nightquilter all contributed blocks.

Kitchen Report | 8 Weeks

So when I left off two weeks ago, our new floors had just been covered up to project them, which is great, but we miss seeing them! Week 7 felt a little ho-hum, not that nothing got done, but it just didn't feel as impressive as other steps. The whole area was painted, and cabinet toe-kicks and molding were installed, so at least the space was looking more finished.

Week 8 though, saw some major improvements! Our quartz countertops were installed!

As was our sink.

Then over the next three days, the full-height ceramic tile backsplash went in. Note that an accent tile went behind where the cook top and hood will eventually be.

All the tile was 12" x 24", and I really like how it was installed vertically. 

I had fun helping pick out the grout, and once that was done, it looked so good.

Between the counters and the backsplash, it really feels like were close to a finish. Sure, we still need lighting, appliances, and a final coat on the floors, but considering how far we've come, it seems like the end is fairly near.

Weave Got This! :: Quadrants A & B

Once again, guild members were clamoring for an early release of the October BOM instructions - in time for a guild retreat - and our leaders happily complied. Though I incorrectly expected top finishing instructions, what we got was instructions to assemble four quadrants. And honestly, that was plenty!

So we were shown how to create two quadrants like the one shown above, and two like the one below.

The quadrants are good-sized! Each measures 27.5" x 39.5" unfinished. Just for fun, I put all four quadrants up on the design wall. I'm not sure at all that this will be the final layout, but it was fun to see them all together! And just a note, the colors of the quadrants in the photos above are more true, taken outside, than those below, taken in the late afternoon studio. But either way, it's looking good, and I look forward to finishing a quilt top come November.

Stripes Stripes Stripes

Émilie's @mili.tra Bee Sewcial prompt for September was stripes stripes stripes. Her goal for us was to create a pseudo-repeating pattern using a minimum of four colors in total: one light, one dark, one bright, and one muted. We could add more colors to each category if we wished, but the idea was then to avoid mixing two colors from the same category within a single stripe—for example, no pairing two light colors together. But I just used the initial four I chose, so that wasn't an issue.

Above is my first block, roughly 15" x 19". The second block, below, would be approximately 10" x 18" if trimmed, and could be kind of angular, or not.

Stripes are almost always fun to create, and these were definitely as expected. They'll be heading off to Émilie soon to join those of my bee mates.

2026 Quilting Check In Q3

Unbelieveably, the year is three-quarters over, and it's time for the third quarterly check in with Melanie Meyer @mellmeyer. I'll keep things simple and report on my quilting finishes for the quarter.

July - September 2026 Quilts

Gotta say, I'm pretty happy with what I've been able to accomplish this last quarter. Five of the six quilts I made were made primarily from scraps, and that feels very good.

• Stackables - a scrap quilt inspired by Ophelia Pang's @opheliapangg Stacking Stools. I'd been wanting to try that block for ages.

• Tangled Strings - scrappy strings inspired by Free Form Quilts & Patchwork by Jessie Cutts @cuttsandsons.

• Overmuch - made of so many scrappy grab&piece blocks.

• plethora - all the purple scraps were used in this one.

• Elate - made during the Elate QAL with Carolyn Friedlander and her latest fabric line, Memento.

• Slim Pickings - A bit of an interlude, which used the last of the warm solid scraps in the scrap basket.

Even with all that, I still have solid scraps gracing the bottom of the scrap basket. I'm kind of hoping to see the bottom before Q4 is over!

Linking up with Melanie and her 2026QuiltingCheckIn Q3 Link-Up!

Jimothy

Not quite sure how I happened across the Jimothy Embroidery Pattern by Fife Fibers, but when I saw it, I thought it would be perfect for my friend Louise's @imfeelincrafty birthday. 

The design is 8" big, and I used my lightbox to trace it onto a gray-blue Kona cotton that I can't remember the name of unfortunately. I backed it with a piece of Essex before stitching, which was great for stitching, but caused a bit of a challenge later on, but more on that later.

For all of the embroidery, I used embroidery floss in a varying number of strands - I honestly just followed the designer's suggestions. In stitching Jimothy, I happily learned a new stitch - the rice stitch. Basically you layer what I know as seed stitches, using different colors of thread. It was a great way to fill in.

The only challenge in the whole project came when I went to insert the finished stitchery into an 8" wooden hoop. The gathering of the fabric on the back was a little heavy due to the double thickness. But I was slow and careful, and once the gathering was complete, I lightly pressed the edges on the back before adding the felt. 

[Just for the record, I traced the felt along the outer edge of the inner hoop, then cut out with scissors. For the gathering and sewing the felt on the back, I used a single thickness of Wonderfil Spagetti 12wt hand quilting thread.]

Louise received Jimothy a few days ago, so I'm happy to be able to share him now. This little stitchery was definitely a joy to stitch.

Slim Pickings

Throughout September, I've been working pretty steadily on two big quilt projects, and the other day, I just needed something small. And scrappy. So I peeked in my solid scrap basket, which is honestly getting pretty low, and pulled out all the warm scraps I could find. They were a fun mix, but it felt like they needed something. So looking into my stash closet, I chose a small-ish (1/4 yard?) of deep Kona Deep Blue.

With the blue, I cut a few strips both 1" and 1.5" wide, and then just started piecing the scraps in log-cabin-like blocks, inserting a strip or two of the blue into each one. Then I squared them all up, but obviously not too square. Then I used more of the blue to puzzle the blocks together with the same 1" and 1.5" wide strips.

I had just a few pieces of warm solids left to start a pieced quilt back, so I grabbed my warm print scrap bucket, and stole a few from there to bring it up to size.

For quilting, I stitched an angled grid using Aurifil 40wt 5015 [Gold Yellow]. Maaayyyybe it was a bit much, but it felt right at the time, and I was all about just having fun with it. I bound the little quilt with the very last of the Deep Blue, and it finished at 16" x 23".

So that was a fun little interlude, and it encouraged me to get back to quilting the bigger project, so yay! Plus I used up even more scraps. I'm thinking I might just have enough solid scraps for one more quilt, so we'll see if I can get to that before long.

September Fabric Usage

I'm feeling pretty good about how September went in regards to fabric usage. The only purchase was a bundle for October Block Studies Collective. I mostly went for it because it's the start of a new season and it included a couple of Tara Faughnan's Handloom fabrics, which I haven't played with yet.

Otherwise, it's been sew, sew, sew. Bee, BOM, and kitchen project blocks; filler and backing for my courthouse steps quilt; as well as the Elate quilt and a couple of small scrappy projects - all that added up to quite a lot. Dare I say that it's feeling like my stash is really getting down there? That's a problem for another day, but for now, I'm happy with how much I was able to do with what I had on hand.

September Fabric Usage

Used up: 15.09 yards [10.71 projects + 4.38 recycled]
Brought in: 3.25 yards
Net: -11.84 yards

Elate

By now you likely know that I joined Carolyn Friedlander's quilt-along to make her Elate quilt pattern, using her new fabric collection, Memento. And I have to say, working with those new CF fabrics was just a delight. The trio of blocks comprising the quilt design were quick and easy to piece, and I really liked how they were designed to mix together in a final layout.

There were cut-offs from making all the blocks, so of course, they were the beginning of a pieced quilt back. Luckily, a few years ago, I'd stashed several yards of Carolyn's Architextures Ledger, as I couldn't see my quilting world without it. It was bittersweet to use most of it here, but then again, it felt pretty perfect.

I went easy with the quilting by doing a 2" grid with Aurifil 50wt 2479 [Medium Orchid] from Carolyn's Color Pop collection. A unique choice, I know, but it just felt fun.

It was  a bit difficult when it came time to choose a binding, but I finally settled on the Memento print, Explore in Altitude. And, as expected, my Elate finished at 60" x 72", a nice generous lap quilt.

Elate was a nice bit of precision piecing after all the improv I've been doing, but I was reminded that I enjoy piecing blocks a lot more than I do putting rows and columns together. But it was all worth it to use that Memento, and I was again in awe of Carolyn's sense of color and pattern. I enjoyed working with those fabrics very much, and I'm happy to have a quilt just full of them.

Linking up with Quilting JETgirl's Favorite Quilt Finish {September 2026}.

Kitchen Report | 6 Weeks

There were a couple of no-work days in the last two weeks, just due to timing of the different phases. BUT, cabinets are all in, upper trim done, and hardware on.

I couldn't be more pleased with the cabinet pulls - actually called Quilted in a flat black.

Once that was all done, the flooring install began, which meant weaving in new red oak hardwood in the kitchen with our old flooring in the dining room. Between install, sanding, and refinishing clear to the front door, that process took four full work days - ie. pretty much all of week 6. So the flooring is done now and looks great - so much better than 40yo linoleum.

I think I'll leave it there, as the team is here now covering those new floors with ram board to protect them for the rest of the remodel. A bit of a happy surprise is that the painter will be coming Monday, fit in before the countertops arrive in early October. There are a few other things that can be taken care of during that time - installation of toe-kicks, new molding, maybe even installing the refrigerator. And if next time I report in the tile/backsplash is being installed, then I'll be a very happy camper, and the end will be in sight.

Step by Step

Looking back, it's been over ten days since I posted a finished courthouse steps quilt top on IG. About 64" square, I know it's busy, busy, with little space for the eye to rest, but I love it. For now, I'm calling it No Rest for the Weary.

Then I took time away to piece my Elate quilt top, which I'm glad I did, but that means I'm still plugging along on making a quilt back for the courthouse steps. Honestly, I chose a pretty slow route, starting by piecing together the scraps left from the puzzling of the quilt top, following my own prompt by making the center black and white. Then I kept building, first making and attaching scrappy warm sections....

and then the next steps were scrappy cool. Is it obvious that I'm making one big ole courthouse steps block for the back?? I hope so.

I'll continue on with another round of warm and cool, and since I'm super low on solid colored scraps by now, I think I'll go with big swaths of color. We'll see what I've got stashed to work with, but hoping to feel inspired to finish this back in the next few days.

Elate Quilt Top

So I dug into my fat-quarter bundle of Carolyn Friedlander's new Memento, and chose some fabric pairings for my ELATE quilt. I second-guessed myself a lot, but finally got serious about making blocks, and overall, I'm really happy with my fabric choices. 

The pattern consisted of three block styles, all 12.5" unfinished. They could be laid out horizontally, vertically, or mixed, but I went with horizontal, like the cover quilt I first saw and admired. I have some block trimmings that I'm planning on using as the beginnings of a pieced quilt back, but that'll have to wait, as I really need to get back to my Bee Sewcial courthouse steps quilt back first. But it feels good to have kept up with the quilt along thus far, and at least I have a top to show for it.

Kitchen Report | 4 Weeks

Week 3 of the kitchen remodel was productive - sheetrock, sheetrock, and more sheetrock - and so very dusty, in spite of the temporary sheeting that was hung. The final day of that week, which was when the crew did texturing, was the worst, but it definitely did improve the look of the space a lot. 

It felt like we were rewarded in week 4, with the cabinets arriving!

It took just three days for all of the cabinets to be installed, with a start on trim being added - see top of upper cabinets on left side, below.

Also in week 4, the flooring guy stopped by to see our existing hardwoods in person, and will drop wood for the kitchen flooring off on Monday. AND the countertop people came by to make their templates. Sounds like it'll be October 1 before they are back to install. So some major progress behind us, and more still ahead. As our contractor said, "every day from here on will be something new and exciting."