Full Circle

At our guild holiday party, I happened to be perusing the items on the free table when my guild-mate Cordelia @notmadebyrobots walked up with a stack of good stuff to donate. Thinking back, all I can remember her saying for sure was, "there's even a quilt in there that just needs a binding." Memories may be fuzzy, but I do know that said quilt came home with me.

It did indeed just need a binding, so recently I went to see if I could find fabric for one in my stash. I discovered a piece of RJR Cotton Supreme in Raven that was just the right size, and that matched the background pretty well. 

It dawned on me to look through Cordelia's insta feed to see what I could discover about the quilt, and boy was I surprised. The quilt I came home with was made with bonus blocks from a quilt she made during the Improv Stripes QAL I hosted in 2017! If that's not kismet, I don't know what is.

Well I thought that was all pretty amusing, and it kind of made my day. At any rate, this quilt that measures 54" x 54" is now finished, and both Cordelia and I agree it would be a great one to donate to our guild's giving committee. We can rest assured they'll find a perfect home for it.

Patterns to Try | Treasure Pouch || Bee

If you saw my posts with all the items in my Dropcloth Samplers @dropcloth Advent calendar, you may remember that I received five exclusive embroidery samplers. I already shared about my word of the year sampler, and next up was the little bee.

Of course it was a fun little (3") one to stitch, but I'm also super pleased with how it turned out. Sharing that I was debating what to do with it, my friend Yvonne @quiltingjetgirl suggested something honey-related, like a little bag to hold thread conditioner for my embroidery. I'm not a super consistent user of thread conditioner, but I liked the idea of a little bag very much, use TBD.

Though I'd made my share of drawstring bags in the past, I was drawn to the shape and size of the Treasure Pouch by Larisa Shurupov @stitchingnotes, so purchased the pattern. I ended up scaling the template to 110% to allow for seam allowances around the embroidery.

Using a pretty little floral fabric from Folk Song by Anna Maria Horner (now Parry) for the exterior back, lining, and casing, the tiny pouch measured just 3" wide by 4" tall, including casing. I'm thinking it will hold my thread conditioner and thimble (and needles?) in my embroidery pouch, and that's about it. 

Maybe I should have used the full size of the sampler for my pouch, but then again, it's pretty darn cute the way it is.

So that was a super satisfying little make, finished off with a bit of hand-stitched top-stitching. And it's given me the idea that I may be able to use other of my smaller samplers to make treasure bags. Time will tell.

Calendar Cascade :: Next Steps

Back last January when the Calendar Cascade BOM began and I heard the final dimension of the quilt - 70" x 92" - I knew I'd probably ask someone to quilt it for me. At this stage, anything close to 90" is more than I want to deal with. So once my quilt top was done, I contacted my friend Dionne Hersh @dinglebobbins, and happily, she was willing to do the quilting for me, so we made an appointment to meet up.

Meanwhile, I needed to make a quilt back! For long-arming purposes, it needed to be 78" x 102", and after getting Dionne's OK, I dove into making a pieced quilt back. I began by piecing leftover quilt blocks and scraps and putting them up on the design wall.

And that process just continued, making it up as I went.

When the smaller scraps started running low, I began adding in larger solid pieces and swaths of fabric from my original fabric pull.

At some point I did need to grab a couple of larger coordinating pieces from stash, though I did cut and set aside binding strips from the original pull before using what I did on the back. It was close, but I made it! The back was too big to get a decent picture, but you get the gist from the photo below.

So I was able to drop the quilt top and back off with Dionne last week, and we spent a time deciding on a quilting design, batting, and thread. After auditioning quite a few, the design we both agreed would be a good choice was Modern Twist X3, stretched horizontally a bit. It was great that with Dionne's quilting software, we could lay the design over the quilt top and adjust the scale. With that capability, we were able to choose a density we both liked.

I decided to go with Hobbs 80/20 cotton/poly blend batting, and for thread, Fil-Tec Glide polyester in Clover 60577.

So yes, I'm pretty excited that the big step of quilting Calendar Cascade is now in Dionne's capable hands. One day soon I'll be back with a finished quilt to share!

Collection/Mosaic

Our first Bee Sewcial @beesewcial prompt of the year came from Leanne @shecanquilt, with Collection/Mosaic, and she provided a pin board for inspiration. She requested saturated colors, and a very dark background if one was used at all. I used my cookbook collection as inspiration for my first block, which turned out approximately (slightly larger) 12" x 16".

Next, my Aurifil thread collection was used as inspiration, and I created this block, which if trimmed square, would be 11".

What a fun prompt! And I enjoyed playing with the colorful scraps already on my cutting board. Can't beat that!

2025 Quilting Goals Review

You may have heard that Yvonne/Quilting JETgirl is hosting her final goal-oriented check-in, and suggested that we reflect one last time on the entirety of 2025. To start, I looked back at my 2025 Quilting Planning Party post, and was pretty pleased with what I found.

• I completed most of the quilt-related goals, though did not choose to complete a small quilt with the triangle blocks begun in January's Perfectly Pointless workshop. I actually took them to use in a class at QuiltCon, but I didn't love the result, so I let it end there. Randomly, I came across said blocks this week, and they seem to be finding their way into a current project. Go figure. | I also have yet to completely finish the Seattle MQG BOM quilt. The top and backing are ready; it just needs to be quilted and bound. Give me a few more weeks.... | And then, of course, I made several quilts that weren't even in my mind's eye at the beginning of the year, one of my favorites being Vertices.

• The sewing goals consisted of participating in Block Studies Collective, which I did - finishing off Season 2 and beginning Season 3. I'll share a wrap-up of the current season when it ends in a couple of months. | I also participated regularly with Bee Sewcial. Here's a round-up of all the blocks made in 2025. I did finish two Bee Sewcial quilts this year, which felt very good! The first, Ode to Joy, will be at QuiltCon; Spare was a hold-over from last year, so yay for completing it also.

• As for handwork, I still embroider nearly every evening. I finished the Year of Doodles from Stitchdoodles @stitchdoodlesdesign...

and stitched so. many. Dropcloth samplers. The ABC Bloom Needle Roll was a favorite, and extra special as I made it into a usable item right away.

The final category on my original list was community, and that expressed itself in a myriad of ways.

+ I was pretty consistent with blogging and publishing monthly issues of The Scrap Basket.

+ Ongoing participation with my local Seattle MQG was good. I attended meetings in person as much as I could, and joined on Zoom when I couldn't.

+ I thoroughly enjoyed participating with Open Jar @open____jar, hosted by Jen Broemel and Bob Bosscher. Here's one of my favorites from those prompts, UN(settled). Unfortunately, Open Jar ended abruptly, but I certainly enjoyed it while it lasted.

+ I participated in the Pantone COTY quilt challenge, with my Brew.

+ And I did contribute to my local Free Little Art Gallery at least twice.

+ My final goal was to go to QuiltCon 2025 in Phoenix, and it was a joy to attend after an absence of a few years.

So there's a recap of my 2025 quilting goals, and though specifics might be a little different heading into 2026, I expect a lot of the same. Basically finding joy in making and community whenever I can. Thanks much to Yvonne, who has been hosting these check-ins. They've helped me be more thoughtful and appreciative as a maker.

At the Table

A regularly-scheduled Table post isn't the norm these days, but that doesn't mean that food and pretty much everything about it doesn't occupy a lot of my thoughts and time during the week. I still try oodles of new-to-me recipes and ingredients, and am always looking forward to the next good meal. Or food item obsession, the most recent being cheese.

It was my mom's fault really. (jk) She generously gifted hubby and I the most magnificent charcuterie box full of wonderful items from Murray's Cheese in New York City. It couldn't have been fresher if we'd stopped by ourselves to pick it up, and consisted of:

• Two Sisters Isabella Aged Gouda
• Taleggio
• Vermont Creamery Herb Goat Log
• Murray's Young Manchego
• Murray's Sliced Sopressata
• Palacios Mild Chorizo
• Blue Cheese Stuffed Olives
• Divina Sour Cherry Spread
• Murray's Camembert Fermier
• Murray's Alp Blossom
• Murray's Speck Sliced
• Firehook Sea Salt Cracker
• Murray's Marcona Almonds
• Shropshire Blue 

And as a bonus, mom had tucked in some Meredith Dairy Marinated Feta. What a fun mix.

So of course, charcuterie boards were a requirement over the holidays. Fortunately some long-time friends came over to help us get started.

And then mom was over on Christmas Eve, so we shared her gift with her. Obviously, I thought of taking a photo after we'd been nibbling for a while....

Hubby and I enjoyed another board over the new year. I actually looked up a recipe for Baked Camembert, and the one I tried from What's Gaby Cooking? I highly recommend.

So that was certainly a tasty (and fun!) gift, something very unique and suited us perfectly. I know our grocery store carries some items from Murray's, so you can bet I'll keep hunting them down.

Shattered

This month with Tara Faughnan @tarafaughnan and Block Studies Collective was a little different, as we had a guest designer, Jen Carlton-Bailey @bettycrockerass. If you know Jen, you know curves are part of pretty much everything she does. So it was a bit of a surprise that our blocks for this month began with multi-colored HSTs.

Curves were in our future though, and when it came time to cut those, I chose to use Jen's 4.5” single template. I loved that they allowed just a bit of extra leeway for trimming.

THEN it was time to rearrange the blocks to determine a final layout. Unfortunately I didn't take photos of the other arrangements, but in every one, I was definitely trying to lay out similar colors together.

For the backing, I pieced together all the cut-offs from my quarter-circle blocks, then added a couple of fabrics from my original bundle. This was almost as fun as the front!

I chose to straight-line quilt the piece using Aurifil 40wt 1231 [Spring Green], and bound it with a skinny black and white stripe - Tiny Treaters Stripe Charcoal, knowing Jen loves a stripe.  

I thought the small scale and improv nature of this particular stripe suited the piece well. Plus it's a favorite.

My Shattered quilt finished at 12.5" 16.5", and I'm quite taken with it. Both sides. I'm sure glad I took the time to explore this month's prompt, as it was so, so satisfying.

All the Dropcloth Samplers 2025

Pretty much my favorite thing to do in the evenings is to stitch on the latest Dropcloth @dropcloth sampler. Yes, I know I've stitched a lot of them over the past few years, but they still hold appeal. Which you'll see if you dare to add up how many I stitched in 2025. I especially love those that have gotten made into a usable item.

ABC Bloom Needle Roll

All Seasons Wreath | Circle Needle Book

Christmas Candles | Pillow

Floral Stitches Year One #8

Floral Stitches Year One #9

Floral Stitches Year One #10

Floral Stitches Year One #11

Floral Stitches Year One #12

Floral Stitches Year Two - Echinacea

Floral Stitches Year Two #2

Floral Stitches Year Two - Daisies

Floral Stitches Year two - Daisies and Sea Holly

Floral Stitches Year Two - Big Daisy

Floral Stitches Year Two - Bouquet

Love Needlebook Project

Stick and Stitch | Tote Bag

Whew. I know I've shared a lot of embroidery lately, but trust me, quilt-related sewing is happening, and I should have more to share soon! I feel like I've been dabbling in a lot of projects since the new year began, and I'm anxious to finish something!

Just for fun, here are links to the samplers I've finished in 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024.