Relaxing 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 11

This was my week off from the Project Quilting challenges. The new one was announced today. So hard to believe that this is the last theme for the year.

The theme is Happy Handful in which we make something small enough to hold in your hand. My Pocket Hugs would work for that. 

Marsha Cooper wanted more information about these, but she may be a no-reply blogger, so I will answer here. It is not a formal organization or anything, so they can be any size, or shape. Pocket Hugs are little things you can make (or buy) to give to someone as a remembrance of your love and support. You can give it to someone especially when they are going to do something like a trip, getting married, job interview, etc.  Or you can just surprise someone with it in their lunch box, pocket, etc. for a random act of kindness.

I am working on a video tutorial for it, and will make some printouts that can explain its purpose and be attached to them for gifting.

There is a related thing which is more formal called I Found a Quilted Heart, where you make little hearts and hide them around the world for strangers to find. You put a note on it so people know it is for them, and not something that has been lost or stolen. There is a Facebook group where people can post the ones they find or hide.

Anyway, this challenge makes me excited. Although I could easily make another Pocket Hug (and I still might do that), I have a glass cookie jar I got from the thrift store several years ago. My plan was to make little bowl fillers, and this challenge is a great way to start on that challenge. I have also been thinking about making those hanging chickens (prosperity hens) that I saw in a tutorial. I was about to make the hens, but then I didn't want to start anything new, and I started about thinking about other shapes to make instead of hens.   I hope this is a good start to make those little stuffed things.

15 Minutes to Stitch

 I have continued to make progress on my week away from the Project Quilting challenge. I felt like I should be continuing at a speed pace so that I could make good progress on my off week, but then I decided that I needed to rest up so I could be successful next week.

Also, sewing is supposed to be fun, and productivity is something for the job, and not for quilting.

In my relaxed snake, I made the "snake" I made for my Dots and Dashes quilt a little bit bigger and sewed it around the quilt, log cabin style.  It is now about 30 inches across, and I think I want about 10 more inches, so I have started another snake. A snake, in case you don't know is one and a half inch strips sewn end to end. They are from scraps so they can be long strips (dashes) or super short ones (dots).

Apparently, part of the sentence I wrote in my last post was deleted while I was editing it, so I completed it.  I continued to make progress on the Lupine and Laughter mystery quilt, and it is now looking more like the intended quilt than just parts and pieces. Although I have seen posts from people who made their quilt scrappy, I think I will probably win the award if there was one for the most scrappy. I hope it will look okay in the end.

• 15 minute days / March = 14 / 14 days
• 15 minute days / 2026 = 73 / 73 days
• Success rate = 100%

Linked with 15 Minutes to Stitch 2026.

Busy 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 10

 This week was Project Quilting Challenge week, with today being the submission date. But since I submitted a quilt earlier in the week, I felt like my "off week" started early, and I have been busy relishing my time off.

I finished a bonus quilt.  I showed both of my quilt finishes in my last two posts.  Then, I worked on making progress on already started quilts. 

 I added some more patches to repair the bunk bed quilt my mother made. counted what still needs to be made for my Lupine and Laughter quilt.

I made more "snake" for my Dots and Dashes quilt.

I did some sorting in the sewing room and made a pile of quilt tops that need to be finished.   I even found backing and batting for most of them, so they are all ready to make more progress to the completion line.

I trimmed some half rectangle triangles, made some half square triangles, and counted how many more blocks and parts and pieces I still need to make.

• 15 minute days / March = 7 / 7 days
• 15 minute days / 2026 = 66 / 66 days
• Success rate = 100%

I was sick one of these days, and although I didn't do any housework that day, I did manage to get my sewing time in, so I am still at 100%. Good thing we aren't tracking housework!

Linked with 15 Minutes to Stitch 2026.

15 Minutes to Stitch Week Seven

 There is no project quilting theme this week - the theme is announced every other week. This means there is time to take a break, but the momentum of making the Fire Horse is high, and with the theme being announced the following week, it makes sense to keep the momentum high.

I have been tempted to start lots of quilts. Right now, I am thinking about making a simple sawtooth stars quilt in greens, with an emphasis on teals. I am also thinking about joining a challenge by Reprolover with four patch made with HSTs. I could use the teals scraps and add other colors with that.

But so far, I have been resisting, because I need to keep working on the quilts I have already started. The Lupine and Laughter quilt is still hogging up the design wall. I did this on purpose to keep things organized, and keep my focus on it. I followed along making about a quarter of the blocks, but I ran behind, and then I decided I needed to make a few more blocks to make the size I want. I have been making more pieces to fill in the missing blocks.

So this week, I have been trimming more half rectangle triangles. I printed out templates for Jane blocks. 

To take a break from those, I brought out the Dots and Dashes quilt. I have been thinking about that quilt because my plan is use my leftover scraps from the L&L quilt to the D&D quilt. I am cutting all scraps into one and a half inch strips and sewing them together end to end. One of my viewers called them "snakes," and I think that is a fitting name.

I brought out the quilt and sewed two rounds. The "rule" is that the snake gets sewn into the quilt, around and around, log cabin style, and letting serendipity decide where the pieces land. I like how some of the fabrics turn a corner, but it does make me nervous as to how things will turn out.

I used up the snakes I had already prepared, so will make more snakes with the small amount of strips  have already prepared..

• 15 minute days/Feb = 14/14 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 45/45 days
• Success rate = 100%

Linked with 15 Minutes to Stitch 2026.

Filling the Work in Process Drawers

There are five drawers in my new WIP cabinet and I am trying to figure out what to put in them. In no particular order, but numbered for clarity, here is how they will be filled:

Drawer One will be for the current Work in Progress. Right now, it is the Postage Stamp quilt.

Drawer Two will be for the current Leader / Ender. Right now, it is the Dots and Dashes quilt. Even though this is the current Leader / Ender, I am using Postage Stamp quilt as a Leader / Ender while working on my mini quilt.

Drawer Three will be for the Current Mini of the Month. I rarely work on more than one of these at a time, and when I do, I think there is room in the drawer for more than one. This drawer will probably be empty most of the time, since the work will probably be on the table, but I have to leave it empty for when I have to clean up my space. The current Mini is Pink and Other Colors.

 

Drawer Four will be for the Beautiful World project. I haven't worked on it since March.  Is this the UFO drawer or the handwork drawer, I'm not sure. It will identify itself in time.

While it is tempting to find another project for Drawer Five, I am opting to leave it empty. It will help make sure I can truly convert my sewing room back into a living room without having to put anything out of sight and out of mind.

2021: Weeks 45 and 46 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

 

We had a nice extended colorful leaf season. It has been wonderful to see all the different hues of autumn and see the colors fall in the breeze.

The cold season has begun.  First we had frosted tips on the leaves.

It's getting colder now and we had snow showers yesterday and big puffy snowflakes this morning.

Let the animals eat the Halloween decorations.

2021:  Week 45 and 46 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

I didn't get around to posting my status last week, but I did a lot of quilting. Besides making the red postage stamp block, I also added more to my dots and dashes quilt and started a Halloween mini and a scrap mini quilt. I will take photos of all those soon to show you.

This week, I only did some quilting today, so my progress last week helps cushion the blow from this week.

15 minute days this week --8 out of 14

15 minute days this year -- 270 out of 318 days

Success rate  = 85%

 

 

This week dropped the success rate but I can take heart in the fact that I was at 83% last year.

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch

 

2021: Week 36 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

I really like using my blog to document my thought process of a quilt, to see why I start the quilts I start and how they wind up the way they are finished as compared to what I was envisioning when I started.

I got the American Patchwork and Quilting magazine (Issue 172) in the mail a couple / few weeks ago and have been admiring the Golden Glow quilt. I loved the beautiful cheddar, and the simplicity of the quilt. It looks like something that would be fast and easy to make.

When I looked at the pattern, it looks like they make blocks to put together the quilt. I got the bright idea that it would be easier to strip piece it more like a Trip Around the World, although not exactly since I still wanted to use rectangles in the quilt. Looking at the pattern again now, it is a clever piecing method and they did strip piece, so probably either way would be just as fast. Since I am making the postage stamp blocks, I just don't want to make blocks this time.

Although I bought a bunch of white and cream fabric the last time I purchased fabric, I am hoarding  them since I had been out for a while and they were precious. I decided that I could use the black. With these big blocks, I thought a lap quilt would be better than a smaller quilt, and I needed to find fabric that had enough yardage for a lap quilt. Most of my stash is fat quarter or quarter yards since that is what I buy when I don't have a plan for the fabric and I like variety, but my recent purchases which were bought online or for pick up have more yardages.

 

So this quilt morphed into a nice simple two color quilt to a more complicated color scheme.  As I sewed the strips together, I started to doubt whether they would work together, but after I sub-cut them and laid them out, I can see that I will like the quilt.

I can see that I cut the floral fabric too small, but that will work just fine for a smaller lap quilt - it will provide more room for more diagonal rows going across it.

This color scheme makes me think of a tuxedo with a bright floral vest, even though there is more orange than black in the quilt. I will call it Tuxedo Vest for now since I have to name the quilt for the blog label.

And because starting just one quilt is not enough, I have started yet another one. This is using the pieces that are leftover from the postage stamp quilt. I have to cut two strips of the constant fabric and don't need the entire length of the second strip so I can use it here. Also some scraps are wide enough for the postage stamp quilt but don't have the one and a half inch length I need for the stamp so I am adding them here. I am sewing them together as I go so I don't try to use them in the postage stamp quilt.

I haven't decided exactly how to use these, but I am thinking I will just sew them together to make (maybe different widths of ) blocks and sew the blocks together with all the fabric going in the same direction. 

I will call this Dots and Dashes since the pieces are either very big or very small. This will be a long term project. I've made other quilts this way. Well, they are unfinished so I should say I have made other quilt blocks this way.

2021:  Week 36 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

I spent a lot of time sewing this week, I have been cutting postage stamps and sewing them together.I started two new quilts.

I also sewed down the binding to the Quote quilt. I will hand stitch it to the back after I add a label and hanging sleeve.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 226 out of 248 days

Success rate  = 91%

 

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch