At the Table :: 2026 Rainy Day Bites Cookbook Club | February, March, and April

Since 2026 began, the Rainy Day Bites Cookbook Club has been embracing the Year of the Deep Dive, with our main cookbook being Something from Nothing by Alison Roan @alisoneroman. January got its 
own post, I know, but here's what I've cooked up the rest of the months using this book.

February challenge - Soups On: Make any recipe from the Soups & Stews chapter

Spicy Pork Soup with Pasta & Parmesan

Ginger & Greens Noodle Soup

March challenge - Pasta is Life: Make any recipe from the Pasta & Noodles chapter

Creamy Cauliflower Pasta with Pecorino Breadcrumbs

April challenge - From Land to Sea: Make any recipe from the Meats & Fishes chapter

Goodbye Meatballs

Meanwhile, we'll be baking from Baking & The Meaning of Life: How to Find Joy in 100 Recipes by Helen Goh @helen_goh_bakes through this entire year. Below are what I've made for our February - April last day of the month baking challenges:

Chocolate Ginger Beer Cake

Dutch Baby with Mortadella & Arugula

King’s Coronation Scones with Morello Cherry Jam

Looking back over the last few months, I think it's a toss-up between the soups and the meatballs, which new recipes we enjoyed the most. Whatever, I really enjoyed trying recipes from both of these books. It'll be great to keep baking from The Meaning of Life, and I'm anxious to hear what our new savory book will be for the next four months. Hopefully we'll find out tomorrow!

Making Scrappy Potholders

A while back, my friend Linda @flourishingpalms said she'd appreciate a tutorial for how I make potholders - specifically the layering sequence of fabric, batting, and Insulbrite. Knowing I could quite easily provide that, I put it on my 'to do' list for 2026. Finally, when I was in the mood for some scrappy free-sewing last week, I knew the time had come.

Not all potholders need to be scrappy, of course. Feel free to use orphan blocks, or make any pattern you wish for the front. For the purpose of this tutorial, I sewed scraps together with the goal of two 8" square-ish potholders. I stopped piecing when my slabs were 9"-10" square.

Of course, then I needed backings. I opted to use larger sized scraps this time, though sometimes I choose a stashed print so the pair has matching backs.

I like my potholders quilted, so here's where the layering comes in. I place the backing right-side down, then top it with a layer of Insulbrite.

Next comes a layer of cotton batting.

And finally, the pieced slab is placed on top, right-side up. I like to baste the layers with a shot of spray baste, but feel free to baste in whatever way you like. It won't take much, since the quilt sandwich is so small. 

Now quilt as desired. Here too, it won't take much. I often like straight lines or a grid, often following the lines of the piecing OR marked with a hera marker. Below are examples of the type of quilting I usually do, from a batch of scrappy potholders I made back in 2022.

And below is how I quilted this pair.

Though I've made potholders in a variety of shapes, these days I almost always trim them with the unique shape I saw Hannah Haberkern @verdigrissewing use several years ago. For my template, I drew an 8" square on copy paper, then rounded two opposite corners. The nice thing about making your slabs a little larger than needed is that you can choose the orientation later in the process - straight on or angled.

For this pair, I chose angled.

Once trimmed into a square, I use a marking pen to trace the rounded corners, and then cut along those lines with scissors. I just get a neater corner that way than with a rotary cutter.

Then it's time to bind! Though maybe not quite necessary, I like to use bias binding on these. About 42" of binding is plenty for each one. Though I often use 2" binding for hand-binding quilts, I like 2.25" wide for potholders, as I tend to sew it completely by machine. Machine sew onto the back, then fold over to the front. When machine-binding, I find frequent use of wonder clips to be a big help in keeping things in place.

So once they're bound, they're done! 

I hope you find this tutorial helpful! Let me know if there are any questions. And I sure hope you enjoy making some of your own. I find them a terrific way to use some scraps!

Floral Stitches Year II - The End

Sad, but true.... the final sampler in the 2025-2026 Floral Stitches Year II from Dropcloth Samplers is done. The good news is, I enjoyed stitching this final one very much! Below is a photo of the sampler before stitching....

And here it is finished.

Of course, I needed to get a photo of all 12 together. Looking back, I definitely have some favorites in this bunch - do you?

One thing I've realized in two years of stitching these little samplers every month, is that I add a lot more of my own stitching than I did at first. I used to only stitch on the lines, but now I fill in, add to, or just keep creating more texture if I'm in the mood. That's definitely been a fun part of this second year. 

Scrap Report One

Honestly, I pretty much feel like a failure at this year's 100 Day Project, where at the start, I declared my own 100 Days of Scraps. It all started on February 22, so we're roughly two-thirds of the way in, and though I've done very little in documenting my scrap usage, I have been sewing with them here and there.

I did finish the scrappy quilt I began on day one of the 100 days - Strings. And the front is truly 100% from the scrap basket. The back and binding is a mix of scrap and stash, but I still feel really good about the scrap usage in this one.

The pyramid pincushions I made for my retreat buddies were also 100% from scrap. The cute pattern is from Mira @bluebellhillcrafts.

Backgrounds of my Leaf Study bee blocks may have been from stash, but the leaves themselves were scraps, which just added to the fun.

And much of the fabric used in those Pixie Baskets was from scrap. I don't think I ever showed that these ended up on our Easter table as little party favors, filled with candy. Gotta say I loved the response from the family, especially the "do we get to take these home?" Yes, indeed. Oh, and these cute baskets are from a tutorial by Heidi @fabricmutt.

Imp wasn't quite from the scrap basket, but I did choose small pieces from my pink stash. If a piece is foldable, I often keep it with my yardage, for times such as this. So while some pieces may have been close to a quarter yard, most were much less, and all that I pulled got used up in either the front, back, or binding.

Though I originally intended to use more Essex Homespun scraps in my Pantone project, Billows, they really weren't a usable size. But they are the darkest spots you see below, so I did use a handful of them. I also used up that gold gingham, which I'd gotten from a scrap stash bundle from FabricBubb, which I counted as scrap since they were in random small-ish sizes.

Lastly, all the Maple Street Pouches, a pattern by Svetlana @sotakhandmade, were made from a mix of scrap and stash. I could have just kept on making these, I enjoyed them so much.

So, definitely not the 100 Days of Scraps I anticipated. And truth is, there are still several weeks left. So I'll try to at least keep squeezing them in as I can. 

Patterns to Try | Patchwork Zip Up Tray Pouch

After trying - and loving - Aneela Hoey's @aneelahoey patchwork version of her Pop Open Pouch, I knew I needed to try another pattern I've had lurking in my Patterns to Try file - her Patchwork Zip Up Tray Pouch. 

To start, I cut and pieced the necessary 2.5" squares from a Cotton Couture Charm Pack. Shown below is just the exterior panel; there were also two patchwork end pieces as well.

The patchwork panels and the separating zipper were a breeze....

.... though things increased in difficulty somewhat from there.

• Piecing of heavy interfacing were inserted to create the four sides of the pouch, and for some reason, I needed to trim them ever so slightly to fit. Easily done, and the sides seem to have ended up evenly enough.

• Creating and attaching the patchwork tray ends was a bit of a mind game - maybe it was just me. Thankfully, I was able to get them attached correctly, but it took some real concentration and reviewing of the instructions. No worries; it just took some time.

• The trickiest step of all (for me) was the final one - the hand-sewing of the binding. The stiffness and shape of the pouch made it difficult to get in there with my needle to take the needed stitches! In theory, it should have been easily done; but in practice, I found it frustrating and spread it out over several days. Until I didn't. I was just two-thirds finished with the first end when I gave up and went to the machine, setting it up for a zig-zag stitch. My closest matching thread was not really close (though pretty), and the process was still cumbersome, BUT I'm happy enough with the end result. I will note that I glued the binding down before starting in on the zig-zag, and I think that helped a lot. Of course, the end that was partially hand-stitched was easier yet.

The finish is unique, darling, oh-so-practical, and I have already put it to use. I probably won't be making a bunch of these, but the pattern does get rave reviews, so other folks haven't found the tricky parts as daunting. The tray finishes at 11" x 4" x 4" closed and 11" x 4" x 7" open, so has the capacity to be a very useful addition to one's sewing practice.

Billows

It feels like my Pantone challenge entry has definitely been a journey, but it's done now!

Choosing fabrics was the easiest part. Once that was set, I decided to make a bunch of slice-and-shift blocks, as that at least was easy to get started on while I was on retreat.

I'd originally hoped to include some Essex Homespun Yarn Dyed in Natural scraps, but turned out that not many were a usable size, but I did use a handful. I also began incorporating a colored print - an unidentified orange-ish elongated grid that I'd gotten in a FabricBubb scrap bundle.

Once I was home, I made even more blocks, then got them all up on the design wall to see what I had to work with.

After sharing on Insta, it was suggested that I rotate the whole thing, so after removing all the blocks from the wall, I slowly began to rearrange the blocks into a real layout, including the rotation. In piecing it all together, I added some filler blocks with larger/longer pieces of that striped fabric. Once squared up, I had a quilt top that was 45" x 47".

You can see the entire process of creating a pieced quilt back in Making a Pieced Quilt Back, but basically, I went from this....

to this....

For batting, I used a leftover piece of Quilter's Dream Select, a little lighter in weight than my normal Warm and White. For quilting, I chose to use the Tower of Triangles design from Jacquie Gering's WALK. I'd used it once before, and though a bit time-consuming and involving a lot of reverse-motion quilting, I liked the unique shapes it created across the quilt. For thread, I used Aurifil 50wt 2021 [Natural White], keeping things as light as possible, but not stark.

To finish, I used the last of my Cloud Dancer, Cotton Couture Soft White, for binding; and the quilt, which I've named Billows, measures 43" x 47". The 2026 Pantone Quilt Challenge linkup will be open April 20-27, and you can bet I'll be there.

Entry Details

Project Title: Billows

Quilt Dimensions: 43" x 47"

Country of Residence: USA

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