Andrew & Patrick Sail Away Flimsy Complete

I finished assembling this little 31" x 40" quilt called Andrew & Patrick Sail Away:

 I'm happy with the novelty anchor fabric I found in my stash for the border.  

I found this pattern in The Simple Joys of Quilting ~ 30 Timeless Quilt Projects by Joan Hanson.  I borrowed the book from our local library.  Finished block size is 6".  This will be a small quilt.  There are only 12 sailboat blocks.  I cut all the pieces for it at school one day in November, 2026.  I'm super cautious about taking a rotary cutter to school.

Slow Sunday Stitching -- Kawandi

My Kawandi project is coming along.  I am really enjoying making the stitches and feeling them!  It's so relaxing for me.  I like the organic look of not having to be perfect.

I stitch in rows and turn when I feel like it.  My stitches aren't even or straight.  I love it!

I somehow managed to also put the sashing/border fabric around the Kite Girl quilt.  This was an RSC project I think I started in 2014.  It was also a slow stitching project.  It was a good place to learn how to embroidery a chain stitch.  For some reason all of the blocks got done except for that last orange one in the bottom right.  I didn't make that one until 2017.  

The block is made from 2" squares.  The block pattern can be found at Q is for Quilter blog.  I enjoyed finding things that fit easily into my school bag that made me feel productive vs. doing cross stitch projects where I had to focus on counting and couldn't keep a good eye on students in study hall.

For some reason the blocks sat idol until I made the last one in orange in 2017.  

I was excited to get it stitched and wanted to get a photo of it in the snow before the "muddy" days come to Ohio.  Looks like a doom and gloom photo with the time of day (about 5pm) and the cloud situation.  Hopefully there will be sunny days ahead to take the photo, but I doubt if it will be on the ground with warmer temps predicted this week.

I'm hoping to get to the quilt room today to look for something fun in my stash for a backing.  I'm pretty sure I will longarm quilt it with my Baptist Fan Circle Lord giant template board.

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching here.

 

I'm also linking to Quilting Patch Blogspot and Life in Pieces.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2026 (RSC26) Green

I couldn't sleep one night this weekend.  I got up in the middle of the night and stitched the Tall Fly blocks that I won in the Block Lotto.  I picked this project to work on because it has green in it.  The guidelines when we made the blocks for the Block Lotto was that the colors were tomato colors of red, green, and black.  It measures 43.5" x 47" like this.

I won these tall shoo blocks back in February of 2013 (I think) from the Block Lotto.  The Block Lotto helped me learn so many things one block at a time.  Each month, quilters would make blocks for the lotto.  At the end of the month a winner was drawn.  Blocks were mailed to them.  I won more blocks than this, but used some in a table runner.  You can read about that here.  Photo below:

Three Scarborough Fair blocks were made in green.  These blocks are so simple, yet make a cool jiggly pattern that gives the quilt a lot of movement.  Each row alternates the block framed with the neutral on the left or right.  I have found a new interest in this project--yeah!

I moved my Lupines & Laughter Bonnie Hunter 2025 Mystery along by a few blocks.  You can find out the details about the quilt along on Bonnie's blog here.  I didn't really care for the colors of pink, purple, and ice blue.  I let my husband pick the colors of black, grey, and forest green.

I somehow managed to also put the sashing/border fabric around the Kite Girl quilt.  This was an RSC project and a slow stitching project.  I was excited to get it stitched and wanted to get a photo of it in the snow before the "muddy" days come to Ohio.  Looks like a doom and gloom photo with the time of day (about 5pm) and the cloud situation.  Hopefully there will be sunny days ahead to take the photo, but I doubt if it will be on the ground with warmer temps predicted this week.

I have been coaching our son to be independent for years.  Each week we take two grocery carts to a small grocery store.  He selects and pays for his own groceries with a debit card (money is not his strong point--yet).   He loves to try new things.  The first week I let him pick something new, I cook it for him to see if it's something he wants to purchase again.  If he picks the item the following week, he has to learn how to cook it with me.  I excited that he's looking at the instructions when he buys things to see if they have microwave or air fryer instructions.  He's super confident with the microwave and quickly learning that the air fryer isn't that hard.  This may seem simple to a typical person.  It's really helping him gain confidence in things with multiple steps.  This week he thought of his girlfriend while at the store.  (Using the calendar in his phone is a strong point for him.) He proudly added a box of chocolates shaped like a heart in his grocery cart.  Notice he wrapped them with my expensive wrapping paper... aluminum foil.  LOL.  Then he was thrifty and made her a personalized card.  Yes, we are so proud of him.

Happy Valentine's Day

I'm linking up with Angela at SoScrappy for the RSC26.

Aqua/Brown Arrow Crib Quilt Finished

 This is the project I took to school with me to finish on my lunch periods this week.  

The aqua/brown arrow crib quilt measures 24" x 52".  That's a great size to be drug around by a toddler.

The backing and the binding is the same fabric.

2026 finishes -- 9

Here's my Fall 2025 Ravelry UFO Club Projects:

1.  Bit Con quilt -- Needs more rows of strips sewn together -- size yet to be determined

2.  Rail Fence 3.5" RSC block -- 900 blocks needed/need arranged

3.  Piccadilly Circle -- Need a few more circle blocks

4.  Kite Girl -- Needs sashing sewn and put together

5.  Folk Art Birds -- Need more birds and alternate blocks

6.  Hourglass Mini -- Needs sashing

7.  Maroon Sampler -- Needs two more blocks

8.  Dicey -- Blocks need sewn together with sashing and cornerstones

9.  Fireflies Wall Hanging -- Blocks need appliqued

10.  Tall Shoofly Block Lotto Win -- blocks need sewn together

11.  Sail Away crib quilt -- blocks need sashing and borders

12.  Aqua/Brown HST -- finished 1/30/26, 7th finish this quarter

13.  Aqua/Brown arrow crib quilt -- finished 2/12/26, 9th finish

14.  Fish -- a 12-block RSC26 project -- 2 fish sewn

15.  Scarborough Fair -- Needs more blocks made

16.  Random Blue Blocks -- Hand Quilting -- In the hoop

17.  Acorn Harvest -- Quilt top needs assembled

18.  Bubble Gum Pink/Blue Quilt -- finished 1/23/26, 6th finish

19.  Green king-sized quilt -- finished 2/6/26, 8th finish

20.  Green king-sized quilt #2 (problem child won't lay flat) -- finished 1/10/26, 3rd finish

21.  Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter 2025 mystery quilt) -- in the piecing process

22.  Christmas Memories 4-patches sewn, need more

23.  Noel -- finished 1/15/26, 4th finish

24.   Zip It Sew Along -- on the longarm frame

25.  True Blue Sew Along (starts 1/15/26) -- all blocks made; starting the strip-pieced corners

26.  Kawandi 17.5" x 22" -- backing and batting sewn together.  Rows are being stitched

27.  Cameo Rose embroidery quilt -- finished 1/18/26, fifth finish

28.  King Rosebud embroidery quilt -- hand stitching the binding in the evenings during tv

29.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #1 (pinwheels)

30.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (squares)

31.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (HST and a Square)

32.  Classic Meets Modern QA from 2014 -- block complete, need sashing

33.  RSC UFO (six blocks for a crib-sized quilt)--finished 1/8/26, 2nd finish

34.  Betty House #1 -- finished 1/7/26 -- 1st finish

35.  Betty House #2 -- some stitches done

True Blue Cutting Progress

I had a very productive day cutting True Blue strip sets.

All of the strip sets are cut now.  It's time to arrange them around the blocks and see if I have enough.

I also trimmed a few of these half rectangle paper-pieced blocks for Lupines & Laughter (2025 Bonnie Hunter Mystery).  Check out Bonnie's blog for info on that here.  I am not very good at making this block.  It is taking me longer than usual.  The block assembly is pretty and something I don't often do, so it is worth it.  I'll keep plugging away at them.  There were no issues using my rotary cutter during my breaks at school.

I let out a little squeal of excitement when I walked into the art room -- I got to help the kids learn how to make stitches with big plastic needles and yarn on burlap pieces!  This bin was waiting for me.

True Blue Sew Along--American Patchwork and Quilting put out a pretty tempting quilt along that starts 1/15/2026.  It's called True Blue.  You can get the details here.

 

Prepping My School Bag -- True Blue Progress

I'll be the substitute teacher in art class today and tomorrow.  Big tables, two planning periods, lunch...sounds like a good time to cut strips.  I got up early this morning to press my strip sets.

Pressing these is one of my less favorite parts of this quilt.  But this should be enough for today:

I'll be using my easy angle ruler, a fresh rotary cutter blade.  I just got this rotary cutter on Amazon last week or so.  I'm not sure if I like the design yet or not.  Sharp is good though.  It will definitely be buried in my bag and under the desk when I am not holding it and only out during planning periods and lunch.

The goal is a bunch of these:

True Blue Sew Along--American Patchwork and Quilting put out a pretty tempting quilt along that starts 1/15/2026.  It's called True Blue.  You can get the details here.

I'm linking up at Quilting is more fun than housework for Oh Scrap!

Slow Sunday Stitching

Current project I'm working on in front of the tv in the evenings is the embroidery quilt that my grandma did 50 years ago.  I am slow stitching a light blue striped binding on it.

I finished the binding on my big green charity quilt.  We didn't have school due to snow days during the week of 1/26.  Temperatures were in the negatives and we got over a foot of snow.  Bus stops and bus loops were snowy and icy.  Last weekend volunteers shoveled and shoveled in area school districts so that students could go to school this week.  It was nice to sit and stitch under this quilt in the evenings on our days off.

I also finished all the applique of an old dragon project.  I'm not that in to dragons, but this was something we did as a learning thing at the quilt guild I used to be a member when our son was small.  I'll most likely add some pink patchwork blocks around it to make it crib sized.

Cold stitching... I only had to take the 22.5" mini Kathleen Tracy QA to work with me for two days to have the binding complete.  Here it is on Monday in the parking lot of the school.  I arrived early due to the fact that good parking spots are limited with all the snow plowed in the lot.  Yep, that says -9 degrees.

Here's the finished cutie:

You can find the Kathleen Tracy Facebook group here.

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching here.

 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2026 (RSC26) Green

I added some green pieces to my Kawandi table topper.  All the little white strings are where I basted to the piece so that I don't have to worry about pins in my sew-to-go bag.  I'm also working with various green embroidery floss pieces.  Oh how I love the texture on this project.  It is very relaxing to stitch and touch as the rows of stitches grow.

I finished my 90" x 92" big green charity quilt this week:

I finished my Kathleen Tracy mini quilt in blues this week.  It makes me smile almost every time I walk into the kitchen.  I know I should be decorating with pink and Valentine stuff, but I just love this one.  It has a wintery feel to it.  With all the snow and cold weather here, wintery is definitely a theme.

I'm linking up with Angela at SoScrappy for the RSC26.

Big Green Charity Quilt Complete

 The binding is now finished on this big green quilt.  It's ready for donation.

This is a rare photo of my quilt husband holding a quilt.  He saw that I made my way out to drive up to care for the chickens/ducks.  He noticed from the back part of our property that I was stopped at the fork in the driveway.  I think he thought that I was stuck.  When he got closer he realized that I just stopped to take photos in the clean snow pile.

This quilt measures 90" x 92".

The back of the quilt is a wide piece of double wedding ring cheater fabric.  It wasn't wide enough.  I had to add a neutral strip down the side to make it work.  It was quilted with 6" circles and cream thread.  I picked red for the biding to give it some interest.

2026 finishes -- 8

Here's my Fall 2025 Ravelry UFO Club Projects:

1.  Bit Con quilt -- Needs more rows of strips sewn together -- size yet to be determined

2.  Rail Fence 3.5" RSC block -- 900 blocks needed/need arranged

3.  Piccadilly Circle -- Need a few more circle blocks

4.  Kite Girl -- Needs sashing sewn and put together

5.  Folk Art Birds -- Need more birds and alternate blocks

6.  Hourglass Mini -- Needs sashing

7.  Maroon Sampler -- Needs two more blocks

8.  Dicey -- Blocks need sewn together with sashing and cornerstones

9.  Fireflies Wall Hanging -- Blocks need appliqued

10.  Tall Shoofly Block Lotto Win -- blocks need sewn together

11.  Sail Away crib quilt -- blocks need sashing and borders

12.  Aqua/Brown HST -- finished 1/30/26, 7th finish this quarter

13.  Aqua/Brown arrow crib quilt -- in my bag to stitch binding at lunch

14.  Fish -- a 12-block RSC26 project -- 2 fish sewn

15.  Scarborough Fair -- Needs more blocks made

16.  Random Blue Blocks -- Hand Quilting -- In the hoop

17.  Acorn Harvest -- Quilt top needs assembled

18.  Bubble Gum Pink/Blue Quilt -- finished 1/23/26, 6th finish

19.  Green king-sized quilt -- finished 2/6/26, 8th finish

20.  Green king-sized quilt #2 (problem child won't lay flat) -- finished 1/10/26, 3rd finish

21.  Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter 2025 mystery quilt) -- in the piecing process

22.  Christmas Memories 4-patches sewn, need more

23.  Noel -- finished 1/15/26, 4th finish

24.   Zip It Sew Along -- waiting to be quilted!  Top and back completed

25.  True Blue Sew Along (starts 1/15/26) -- all blocks made; starting the strip-pieced corners

26.  Kawandi 17.5" x 22" -- backing and batting sewn together.  Rows are being stitched

27.  Cameo Rose embroidery quilt -- finished 1/18/26, fifth finish

28.  King Rosebud embroidery quilt quilting complete, needs binding made and attached

29.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #1 (pinwheels)

30.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (squares)

31.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (HST and a Square)

32.  Classic Meets Modern QA from 2014 -- block complete, need sashing

33.  RSC UFO (six blocks for a crib-sized quilt)--finished 1/8/26, 2nd finish

34.  Betty House #1 -- finished 1/7/26 -- 1st finish

35.  Betty House #2 -- some stitches done

I Found It! -- Cheddar Jack

 I have been looking for these three Cheddar Jack blocks hooked together for the longest time!  

I finally found them when I got out another project.  I put them in the wrong box because I was using the same neutral for both projects.  Ugh...  Now I can move with making a postage-stamp quilt of 2.5" Halloween color squares for the rest of the quilt as leader/enders.

I'm running out of small quilts that I can take in my sew-to-go bag to school.  I think the kids that come in the mornings with their breakfasts and after lunch breaks that are very interested in my stitching will like the cats.

You can find the pattern for this block at Mama Spark's World Cheddar Jack Block Pattern Release.

Zip It is on the Frame

 I loaded this pretty blue/cream Zip It quilt.

Zip It is a sew along with Emma Jean Jansen on facebook here.

Kathleen Tracy Mini February Quilt is Complete

 Just as Patty the Quilt Lady predicted, the blue mini is complete.

I quilted it using an Urban Elementz design board called Marmalade.  It measures a tad bigger than the quilt along instructions because I already had this size square cut in my scraps.  It measures 22.5" square.

I backed it with this floral neutral that I had in my stash.

You can find the Kathleen Tracy Facebook group here.

I only had to take it to school with me two days (Friday and yesterday).  Here's the situation in the parking lot as I wait to go in to work.  Luckily I have heated seats.  Yep, that says -9 and we still had school.

Andrew and Patrick Sail Away Baby Quilt

On Saturday I posted my RSC26 (Rainbow Scrap Challenge at Angela's blog, SoScrappy) blue progress on the blocks for Andrew and Patrick Sail Away baby quilt.  These little 6" finished blocks were so cute that I just couldn't help myself and made the other eight.

I found this pattern in The Simple Joys of Quilting ~ 30 Timeless Quilt Projects by Joan Hanson.  I borrowed the book from our local library.  Finished block size is 6".  This will be a small quilt.  There are only 12 sailboat blocks.

Happy Groundhog's Day!

We celebrated our senior bowler last week.  Here he is being escorted by his Aunt Jo during the last bowling event in high school.  His average is about 140.  He will continue his bowling adventures with various social groups after graduation.  He loves bowling.

Pink Applique Dragon

I'm working on finishing some of the applique of a pink dragon.  This is a block that I lost interest in a long time ago because the applique just took too long for me.  I used the method where I turn the applique piece and baste it.   To me it was like sewing the thing twice.  A lady in the quilt guild was showing us this method.  I don't know why I picked the dragon... I don't even like dragons and I'm not really a fan of batiks.  The result is good.  I made stitches that were tiny, tiny, but also time consuming--but seems worth it to me in the end for a project like this.

I know I'm not doing another block of this dragon.  (Pattern from someone at my quilt guild--I don't know if they made it up or if they got it somewhere.  I no longer have the pieces...  This will be a one-block baby quilt.  I will most likely do some sort of patchwork around the panel to make it big enough.

I'm excited that I have the quilting done on the Rosebud embroidery quilt that my grandmother embroidered in 1973ish.  I will be making and attaching the binding this week.

I only worked on day of school this week due to area schools being closed.  I took my little Kathleen Tracy mini from a facebook group here. so that I could put on the binding on during my planning period while my students had music class.  It measures just a little over 22" square.  I hope to take it to work with my on Monday.  It fits nicely in my bag.

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching here.

 

Although we've had temperatures in the negatives this week, the chickens and ducks seem to be content.  This little radiant heater seems to keep them happy when it is on warm.  It looks like a computer monitor.  It does not get hot like a heat lamp.  I usually use it when I bring home new chicks in the late fall to keep them warm.  When I go into the coop there are no chickens gathered near it, nor on the other side of the coop.  That means to me that they are not too cold or too hot.  Yes, I need to clean the coop, but it's too snowed in right now.  I can also analyze the droppings to see that they seem to be pretty even--meaning they are just resting on the 2x4 perch in the evenings and not huddled together.