It is going to take me some practice to remember to post my progress on the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge every week. I have been stitching every day though.
I've shown you some of the quilting from this month already on the blog:
The Project quilting challenge #1 where I made An Open Space to Breathe (I originally wrote that as A Quiet Place to Breathe, which is also a good name)
The project Quilting challenge #2 where I made Change
The bunkbed blanket I am repairing
The peacock made with leftovers from the Lupine & Laughter mystery
The Lupine & Laughter mystery
Since then, I have made a little more progress on each of the unfinished projects aforementioned.
But that's not all. I found a group on Facebook that is making a Jane Stickle block a week, and I've made a couple of Jane Stickle blocks with them.
I have also started a small mystery quilt by Kathleen Tracy. I am very tempted to start a lot of quilts, but have been resisting, but I think this small quilt shouldn't take too much time. Plus it uses the tiny extra fabric from the Lupine and Laughter mystery quilt. The tiny blocks are the Valentine's mystery quilt and the bigger HSTs are from Lupine & Laughter.
The theme for the Project Quilting challenge this week is Plaid. That made me think about a pair of pajamas that I had relegated to the sewing room. I thought I could make a tiny wonky (in a good way) handmade quilt, like Zak Foster and others make.
Then I came across a quote on Instagram that caught my eye:
Change is made like a quilt: piece by piece together.
I really liked it, and it is short so I decided to embroider it on my little quilt. I really enjoyed the handwork on my last week's entry, so I wanted to do some more. I had this piece of African fabric on the table and it was the right size so I decided to embroider on it and let the flannel be the backing. I wanted to embroider something on the flannel, maybe some flowers.
I gathered three colors of threads for this piece - cream, green and black. They are leftovers from a weaving project that someone did when we took a weaving class. I think weaving is also a good analogy for change.
I added the quote, sandwiched, quilted, and enclosed the quilt. When I came to the "piece by piece" part, I noticed that the two lines were merging, so I added a second "piece by" to show how the pieces join in a quilt. I think the green thread would have worked better here, but maybe it shows that some change is made quietly and in the background, while others are more visible.
Then I remembered that I needed to add the flowers on the flannel. I added some random stitches on the flannel back, making it a double sided quilt. I had to be careful not to let the stitching get on the front so as to not obscure the quote.
I just added some french knots on two sides, but didn't want to make any more, so I added an arrow.
I added some flowers in the corner, because I wanted the arrow to point to something, like the change moving from the messy french knots, to the flowers, using the only other color of floss I brought down, which was black. After I was finished, I worried about pointing to black flowers because I don't want the change to happen for the worse. I looked up the symbolism meaning of black flowers, and apparently they symbolize mystery, rebirth and farewells, representing endings, deep transformation, new beginnings. They signify strong emotions, strength, rebellion, or a fresh start after an end. Accidentally Perfect!
Okay that looks awful, but I am still just trying to ramp up to follow all of the things every day. So far, I have been pretty good at doing a lot of the things, but I haven't been able to do it all, except for Jan 1. I've just been pulled in all sorts of different directions, motivation-wise. I am doing more than I did last month, and I will get there soon enough. My plan doesn't require me to be perfect every day.
15 Minutes to Quilt
This week, I worked on turning the peacock I made using leftovers of the Lupine and Laughter mystery quilt. I sewed the peacock and the lace onto the background. This quilt keeps calling me, and I think this will be a maximalist quilt with lots of embellishments and embroidery. We will see how it turns out.
I also made more progress on making the blocks for the Lupine & Laughter mystery quilt. I am piecing the flying geese border blocks and am focusing on finishing the blocks with the kitty ears. I haven't made all the half rectangle triangles so I will work on those blocks after I am finished with the ones that are ready.
That blanket that Zoey is sitting on is my childhood blanket. It is no ordinary blanket though, because it is a quilt that my mother quilted. She made two, one for each of the bunk beds. I just washed it and spread it on my couch, and forgot that Zoey stays off the couch only when it isn't covered.
I used the scraps from the Project Quilting quilt I made, way before today's deadline, I might add, to fix some of the damage in the bunk bed quilt. I am going to keep adding scraps until all of the damage has been covered.
The theme for the first Project Quilting challenge of the year 2026 is "A Clean Slate". I don't remember other challenges being based on Pantone Color of the Year, but this week's challenge is inspired by Cloud Dancer. I have mixed feelings about this color. It is plain and boring and more of a background color. Also hiding our heads in the clouds doesn't seem like the right thing to do this year.
But as I read on the blog post, it says "the choice is at heart an open place to breathe and let creativity sing ... What do you notice has been whispering for you to listen?" These statements made me get a better attitude about the color of the year.
The week's theme itself is exciting to me because I was looking at some leftover strips I had cut for another quilt, and they reminded me that I had planned to make a low volume quilt way back when I bought the book that had a bunch of low volume quilts in it.
So this was a great motivation for me to do just that. To honor the promise I made, I resisted the urge to make the quilt bigger or complicated. I strip pieced some four fabrics, and subcut them into rows.
Then I cut a couple in half, flipped them and sewed them together to keep the same fabrics from being in the center. Then I cut another couple and sewed another piece between just so it wouldn't look like a strip pieced quilt.
I added a soft fusible batting and a flannel backing. I resisted the urge to add beads or lace or anything to make it louder, but I did add hand quilting. Hand quilting makes it more interesting without volume, and if you think about it, it is relaxing and slow, so it adds to "open place to breathe" theme.
Lots of bonuses with this quilt:
A great way to share pieces from another quilt.
This quilt is finished way before the deadline of Sunday!
I wound up with an inadvertent fussy cut with the bird in the gray fabric.
I love how the tiny strips on both the top and the bottom look like pieced binding. I birthed the quilt so it is another bonus.
Although I did try to sew for at least 15 minutes a day in 2025, I did not keep track of it, and I wound up losing some motivation in the summer. More importantly, I didn't have a good record of what I did during the year. So I have decided I am going to try again to report my progress on a weekly basis. To help with that, I am going to try to take photos every day. I won't show them all to you, but at least they will be available for my posts.
I have probably committed to more than I can do this year, but I have decided to go ahead and try. I'm following the saying, "Reach for the Moon! Even if you fail, you will still land among the stars". Or something like that, I didn't look for the actual quote. Anyway this picture represents the 75 Day Soft Challenge. It is a mental toughness challenge that was created by Andy Frisella. He requires strict adherence to these rules:
1. two 45-minute workouts, one outside, with hours in between
2. your choice of diet with zero cheat meals and no alcohol
3 drink a gallon of water
4. read 10 pages of a non-fiction book
5. take a daily progress photo
Because his rules are not tough enough (ha ha), he requires that if you miss a day, you have to start over from day 1.
I like the challenge because it isn't just a weight loss / exercise regime. It adds fun things like the reading which helps with the mental part, and the progress picture that serves as a reminder to stay on track and can let you see changes. Although it seems strange to say that something that takes this much time out of your life is a good thing, it helps make sure that I prioritize my health. Since the diet is more of a lifestyle change, I like the idea of actually thinking through the lifestyle I want and then making a plan to make sure that I do things that make that plan into real life. I love that I am choosing my own lifestyle and making it happen.
Since I want to make this a sustainable habit, and because I want to be a laid back nice boss to myself after decades of working for corporations where each year we had to do more and more with less and less, I have changed the rules for myself to be easier and more sustainable for the long run.
1. One 45+ minute workout a day
2. spend at least 10 minutes outside
3. drink 6 glasses of water, about half a gallon
4. read 30 minutes of a book (I usually read nonfiction books, but I like flexibility).
5. take a daily progress photo
6. more importantly, I add the 15 minutes to quilt challenge here.
7. to make up for the second exercise, I am cleaning instead for 30 minutes. I can get a physical workout and get my house cleaned at the same time. This is mostly for deep cleaning, like the basement, closets, etc., but if I don't feel like daily cleaning, it serves as motivation for me to do the daily stuff too.
8. Follow a healthy diet with no cheat meals / alcohol
My list looks longer only because of the way things are broken up. It takes approximately the same amount of time. I try to do some cleaning or reading outside to save time. I did do this challenge in 2025 and since I didn't keep it up after the 75 days were up, I am starting again. My daily videos in December meant I dropped the exercise and the deep cleaning, and I am picking them up again.
Anyway I guess I can post updates for that here too. I did well on the 1st but have already started sliding. I don't like to call them fails because if I miss one thing (say eat a cookie) then that means I can take the rest of the day off. But if I continue to stay onboard by exercising, reading, etc., I think that is better for me in the long run. Plus, when you start something new (again), it takes a while to get everything in gear and form habits.
75 Day Soft Tracker
Met every goal / Jan = 1/3 days
Met every goal / 2026 = 1/3 days
Success rate = 33%
15 Minutes to Quilt
This week, I worked on my peacock quilt using leftovers of the Lupine and Laughter mystery quilt. I have the background chosen and pieced. I sewed a fusible behind this peacock so it could be appliqued in one big piece. I also have cut the lace I am going to add to the background.
I also made more progress on making the blocks for the Lupine & Laughter mystery quilt. I moved my African quilt to the back of the design board so I could see how the L&L look together. I trimmed the flying geese and have started the kitty ears blocks.
The Project Quilting challenge was announced today, and I will be participating again this year. I will do my best to keep all of the submissions small enough that I can complete them in one week.
It's time for the annual parade of the quilts, this time for 2025.
This year started, as many of the past years, with the Project Quilting Challenges. This is sponsored by Kim Lapacek. Thank you, Kim, for hosting this every year. It has inspired me to make many quilts. For the challenge, every other week, the theme of the challenge is announced, and the participants are to make a quilt or quilty project from start to finish in just one week. That is right, just one week. This means that it is best to keep the project as small and simple as possible. I keep telling myself that, but somehow the projects keep morphing bigger and more complex, as you will soon see.
Mythical Creatures
The first challenge, 16.1 Mythical Creatures was announced January 5, 2025. For my entry, I made an Al-Buraq. It is the creature that took Prophet Mohammed to heaven.
I didn't finish it on time, because the project kept expanding, and it has a lot of techniques including pencil drawing, an applique border and beads.
There is a series of six videos that show you more details and how I made this quilt, and they are on a playlist for your convenience.
Ombre
16.2 Ombre challenge was announced on January 19, 2025 I knew that I had a small piece of sunset fabric that was ombre but I couldn't find it. I didn't think I had any other ombre fabric and was thinking I might have to make one, which would ruin the small and simple mantra I kept saying in my head. Just then I noticed that the piece of fabric I was using for a Glitter block, and I was able to get this one finished pretty quickly.
I finished the quilt early, but lost track of time and did not report it on time, which means I missed the deadline on this one too.
There are three videos that go with this quilt.
Common Blocks
16.3 Common Blocks was announced on February 2, 2025. This made me happy because I was already planning on making common blocks to test out what happens when you prewash fabrics and what happens when you don't. My original plan was to make three separate quilts, but I decided this challenge is giving me permission to make one quilt with three blocks, one with prewashed fabric, one with unwashed fabric, and one with a mix. My original plan was nine patches, but I thought a sixteen patch would provide more intersections to really see the results.
And amazingly, this quilt was finished and posted on time for the challenge.
There are four videos that show all the details of making this quilt.
Birthstone
16.4 Birthstone challenge was announced February 16, 2025. I decided to make a red and white quilt.
I did make and finish this quilt on time. I'm glad I am making this post, because it is good to remember that I did submit some entries on time.
Since the announcements are every other week, we get a week off to recoup. Instead, I tried to make something out of the leftovers of the Ruby Buttons quilt. I'm not sure what it is, but I've been calling it Perfume Bottle. I think it just needs to be quilted and viewers can decide what they see.
Arrow
16.5 Follow Your Arrow was announced on March 2, 2025. I found lots of arrow patterns that used multiple arrows, and finally found a block with just one. I decided to add a heart to it. It looks like I didn't post this quilt on my blog, because it was definitely not done on time. I will show you a picture here, and do a separate post with more details on this quilt.
Button It Up
16.6 Button It Up challenge was announced on March 16 2025. I had already made Ruby Buttons so I decided I would make a quilt with actual buttons. I remembered a quilt that was on my to-make list for a long time, and decided to make it. Although it is a small enough project, the fact that I was trying to recreate something from memory made it difficult to accomplish and I knew going in, that I would not be able to complete it on time. It is one I'd rather get right than fast.
I am calling it my Everchanging quilt, which does make it hard to photograph. The yellow pieces are sewn with a different fabric on the reverse side, so that they can be placed the way they are (with eventual buttons) or they can be opened to reveal the fabric on the other side, and more of the fabric square that is underneath the yellow triangles.
I have a series of videos on this quilt. There are 7 videos but since the quilt isn't finished (I need to add buttons and finish the quilt), there are likely to be more.
Scrappy Fish
In between these challenge weeks, I thought I should clean the sewing room or finish something I had already started. So I did both of those things, to some respect. This Scrappy Fish is using leftovers from another project, and I have made several quilts with these leftovers. I don't count them as starts until I actually get a finish because it is trash until it is used, but then I have to backdate the start date to the date that the scraps were made. So although this was a quick finish, it took years to make.
There are two videos on making this quilt.
Lupine and Laughter Mystery Quilt
I have been pretty good at not getting into the mystery quilt craze when Bonnie Hunter announces her quilt every year, but I do enjoy seeing all the camaraderie and do regret not joining in. But they are a serious time commitment which is hard for me to make since I have so many unfinished quilts. I decided to join this year, but only make about a quarter of the blocks. Hopefully I can get a nice wall hanging and skip the serious time commitment.
I did well with the first clue, but didn't keep up starting with Clue 2. I am chugging along though and made a lot of progress yesterday.
African Stack and Whack
While you have the last photo on your mind, take a look at the Stack and Whack quilt on the left. On my channel, a viewer asked for a tutorial for how to cut fabric for a Stack and Whack that I showed a while back. By the time I had done the video for the Opulence quilt, the squares were already cut and I was sewing them to each other. So I did a tutorial using some African fabric that had a short repeat. I really like the way this turned out and have thought of border options. This quilt needs a better name.
I am hoping to make this quilt bigger, like 40" square or so to make it big enough to put on my curtain rods I use to hang up my bigger quilts.
Also while you are looking at that photo, did you notice the letters I made to decorate my design wall? That's the name of my YouTube channel.
Quarter Square Wreath
I had already started Clue 1 for the Lupine and Laughter mystery quilt when I noticed that some people were having trouble making their quarter square triangles. So I made a tutorial on how to make quarter square triangles. I decided to not to use my actual quilt to make this, so I found a quilt block that uses them. Once I did the tutorial, I went ahead and finished the quilt to give as a gift. We were exchanging handmade gifts in 2025.
As usual, I wind up taking horrible photos of quilts I am giving away. I think I will be able to get better screenshots from the videos. I am making a tutorial for how to quilt a quilt and using this one as an example. I have to edit it still. I will do a separate quilt reveal blog post on this quilt as well.
Peacock Quilt
I made a tutorial on my YouTube channel for how to make half rectangle triangles, and I made some blocks to show how not to make two at a time blocks. I knew this was going to happen and had a grand plan to use up the bad blocks.
I am having a lot of fun making this quilt and it draws me to it every time I walk in the sewing room.
Quilt Journal
Not a quilt exactly, but it is quilt related. I published a fill-in-the-blank book that lets you tell the story of your quilt. The book tells the entire life story of the quilt, not just about the quiltmaker and how the quilt was made, but then how it was given to a recipient, and its life with the recipient. It also has space for another recipient, because quilts do exchange hands over time. I made it a long time ago for a quilt I was making for my teenage daughter. I knew she wouldn't remember the pertinent details so I figured putting it in a book would be better. Looking back at that book again made me realize how much had changed and how grateful that the details that I thought were unimportant became more important over time.
It comes with three different covers for the hardback version and there is a softcover version as well. Here's an Amazon affiliate link if you want to get the book. Quilt Journal: Recording the Story of Your Quilt
Lace Canvas
Last but not least, although it isn't a quilt, I wanted to show you a lace I painted. I stapled a piece of lace to a framed canvas and painted it. It was fun to do, and was given as a gift so another dark photo and probably upside down. I have plans for the leftover lace.
And yes there is a video for that.
Recap of 2025
This year didn't have as many finishes as 2024, nor as many starts. I've given up on getting more finishes than starts, but am tracking it anyway. I plan to do better with posts on this blog so making a year-end wrap up isn't so difficult, and so I can stay in touch with you. This starts with taking more photographs. With the videos, and the crazy amount of space they take up on my computer, I keep forgetting to take photographs, so I am going back to taking daily photographs.
I had to switch software programs, and I couldn't find those fun numbers I was using to keep track. I liked having them even though they look like I made more quilts than I did. So I finished 7 quilts this year and started 11. I didn't quilt much in the summer as I spent time cleaning out my garage and basement. The basement isn't finished but I am about half way there, and that makes me happy.
Annual Quilting Starts and Finishes for Shelina
And while we have the spreadsheet pulled up, here is the long term view showing the starts and finishes. I started and finished fewer quilts this year, but it looks more like an average number of starts and finishes.
Here, you can see that the gap between starts and finishes keeps increasing. Since I want to make bigger quilts this year, I'm not sure I will be able to narrow this gap, but I guess we can keep trying. I'd rather just enjoy starting and making quilts and not worry about making any rules.
I hope you had a great quilting year and I hope that 2026 goes even better for you. I will post separate posts for the quilt reveals I missed this year, and a separate post for my plans for 2026.
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