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.

Quilt Reveal: Orange Complements Blue Flower

The theme for the Project Quilting challenge this week is "My Complements". We need to use complementary colors in our project. 

My last project turned out to be much bigger than could be completed in a week, I decided to make a potholder quilt, and managed to finish one "potholder" in time for the challenge, but that left three more to finish in my off week. (An off week is the week between the challenge weeks). I already had projects to work on during the off week, so this just added to the load. By the way, I consider the potholder that I finished to be successful because it was started and finished during the week, but I didn't get it posted in time, so please do go back and take a look at it. I think it turned out nicely.

To avoid that problem, I decided to make sure I chose a project that could be completed in one day, and uses only scraps from the scrap box. I found an art deco quilt that uses a rounded flower. It was a tiny part of that quilt, which is perfect for my project.  

I found a six inch square of blue, some leftover binding strip and some smaller scraps. This is from the Heart and Arrow Quilt, which if you remember, is blue and yellow.

So I made this, fusible applique. A nice quick project and completed and posted on time. I kept it simply quilted in that I didn't quilt the background. That is a look that I like but I have a hard time leaving things alone. I did add some machine embroidery stitch at the bottom, which I didn't like, so I switched to straight stitch for the rest of the quilt. I even remembered to put a label on it though.

I don't usually use a color wheel, and know that green and red are complements, and for some reason I was thinking that yellow and blue go together.  I'm sure I knew at one time, but I didn't care enough to retain that information.  Once I figured out that the complement is orange, I found another scrap and added the orange over the yellow. 

I entitled this Orange Complements Blue so that I would remember this lesson. I needed to add Flower at the end in case I wind up making another orange and blue quilt, and need to know which one is which.

 

15 Minutes to Stitch and 100 Days of Index Cards

 

Continuing more of the same may sound boring, but it has been a fun and exciting quilting week.  I have continued making little pieces of art on index cards.

I have chosen background fabrics and finished sewing down the Dresden Plates. I've chosen the backings and bindings for each of the plates, which I needed to piece. 

I still need to decide whether I want to use the sashing fabrics. I thought about appliquing the sashing to the quilts, but that might be a lot of work, so maybe I should just sash two blocks, which will be a similar look. I still need to think about it.

The Project Quilting challenge theme was announced and I found a short quick project to meet the theme, so hopefully this theme won't carry onto future weeks. The Dresden plate was done in a week, but since I decided to make more plates, it is crowding into my free weeks and slowing down the progress on the Lupine and Laughter mystery quilt. I did take a day and sewed some of the pieces so it wouldn't feel abandoned.

15 Minutes to Stitch Week 9

Besides the aforementioned projects, I also made these little things. I saw a Facebook post where they made some Pocket Hugs.  They are made by hand. I figure they would be good to use up small bits of fabric. I will probably make some more of these little things because they are fun.

• 15 minute days / Feb = 28 / 28 days
• 15 minute days / 2026 = 59 / 59 days
• Success rate = 100%

Linked with 15 Minutes to Stitch 2026.

Quilt Reveal: Year of the Fire Horse

 

The theme for the Project Quilting Challenge for this week is Year of the Horse. This quilt must be started and finished in one week. This theme made me happy because I had a lot of fun making the horse quilt last year, and the mythical creature quilt.

The rule is to find inspiration from the turn of the year, in the animal, in our hopes and desires for the near future.  I looked up some information about the Chinese zodiac, and decided that I needed to make my horse red, to ward off misfortune and invite blessings.

The Horse embodies enthusiasm, speed and fieriness, bringing a year focused on bold moves and exploration.  While the zodiac cycles every 12 years, the Fire Horse year appears just once every 60 years, making it especially rare. This year is celebrated for its dynamic energy, symbolizing passion, change, and transformation. In simple terms, think: rapid change, fresh opportunities, personal growth, and a faster pace of life.

I was originally thinking of a sold red on a solid black or vice versa, but when I saw this red fabric that I had rejected for another quilt, I knew it had to be in this quilt.  The design didn't work so well on the horse. I had made an elephant with a different patterned fabric and the pattern was perfect for the elephant, but it looked strange on the horse. 

So I just added more applique to add some more fire and dimension to the horse, and I think it looks pretty good now. The patterned fabrics add enough energy and vitality to the horse.

I chose a horse facing right so that it would face left on the finished quilt. Because of that, I didn't think about having to reverse the numbers. Of course, I did know they would go on backwards if I left them like that, and I thought about remaking them, but I noticed that it said SOS, which I think is fitting for the current mood.  Maybe Save Our Souls and our Democracy.  I'm sure years from now people will think I was lazy and didn't bother to fix something easily fixable, and I will have to explain myself. Maybe I need to do that now!

I birthed the quilt because I wanted to include the fun fringe beads that my mother recently gave me. I think it looks fabulous on this quilt, and nice to be able to use incoming things right away.

Be sure to to to the link at the top of the page to see how other people interpreted the challenge. It is a lot of fun!

15 Minutes to Stitch Week Six

I have continued to quilt every day this week.  I trimmed more of the Lupine and Laughter blocks and worked on this Year of the Fire Horse quilt.

• 15 minute days/Feb = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 38/38 days
• Success rate = 100%

Linked with Kate's Life in Pieces 15 Minutes to Stitch.

Quilt Reveal: Change

 

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!

Quilt Reveal: Open Space to Breathe

 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.

Quilt Reveal: Ruby Buttons

 I managed to make this week's Project Quilting Challenge submission early. The deadline is Sunday at noon central, but here it is, Saturday evening, and I already have the quilt done.  It is also a proper quilt with lots of pieces, so not a small coaster.

The theme of this week's challenge is to make something that is the color of your birthstone, My birthstone is ruby, so it was easy idea for me to make a quilt for my red and white quilt collection.

I wanted to make a quilt with little red squares. I sewed them together in strip sets. They remind me of fabric covered buttons.

This quilt reminds me of the small squares in the Maximum Minimum quilt.

I quilted it with some straight lines, thinking of pinstripes, but looking at it, it looks more like button placards, which makes them look like buttons even more.

Although the other quilts for this challenge were made by birthing quilts, this quilt needed a binding. In order to make it quickly, I machine stitched the binding to the back, folded it over the front, and sewed it down using a serpentine stitch.

I am really happy that I get to submit this quilt on Saturday and not have to worry about whether I will finish it before the deadline.

Quilt Reveal: To Wash Or Not To Wash

 

The Project Quilting Challenge for the week is Common Blocks. The rule is to make a quilt with three common quilt blocks.  There is also a quote "No one owns the copyright on a 16-patch block, or an Ohio star."

You have no idea how happy this challenge made me.  I was working on a tutorial about whether you should pre-wash your fabric before making a quilt. I was thinking about making three nine patch blocks - one with all pre-washed fabrics, one with no pre-washed fabrics, and one with a mixture of both.  I was debating making three different quilts, but wondering if I could get away with putting them all in one quilt, separated by sashing. 

I wanted to keep as much similar as possible, so the experiment could focus only on whether the fabric was pre-washed.  I used fabric from the same layer cake, so that the manufacturer, the cotton, even the dye would all be the same.  I wanted to make the same block for all three blocks so that the comparison would be the same.

So when this project is announced, I read the post thoroughly.  Although I think there is an implication that the three blocks should be different, there wasn't anything that specifically said that. I didn't ask.  This challenge gives me permission, nay, it requires me to put them all three blocks in one quilt. Challenge accepted.

Making this quilt was fun. It took some added time to prewash the fabrics. I got impatient and pressed them dry, but they were small so it didn't take long, and these fabrics are not likely to shrink any more for sure. Strip piecing made the job easier, although with 10" squares, there wasn't much time savings involved with that. 

I also didn't plan the right set up for recording the process for the video, since I was using the same space for pressing and cutting, so I had to keep putting up and taking down the ironing board.

I had another, much busier, border fabric planned, so I added the peach sashing to highlight the three blocks, but eventually I decided to switch out the busy border. I did think about switching the peach with the green, but that would involve ripping out seams, and with the weekly deadline, I decided not to risk it.

I took the quilt outside to take a good photograph. The lighting is better outside than inside.

I thought I would ask Zoey to be in the picture, so I told her to come to me, but when she did, she jumped on the quilt.

And got mud on it.  It is a good thing I was planning on washing the quilt to complete the experiment.

Quilt Reveal: Al-Buraq

 The Project Quilting Challenge this week is Mythical Creatures. The first thought that came to my mind was Pegasus, but when I found pictures of a winged horse with a face, I immediately gravitated towards the Al-Buraq.  One of my rules for this challenge, since there is only a week to make it, is to not overthink any decisions and to just keep going with the flow.  Decision-making takes more time.

So I present to you, Al-Buraq. I love the metallic border that frames my creature and I think for a mythical creature it is a successful project.  Looking at this picture right now, the face reminds me of that photo that looks like a beautiful woman and an old woman at the same time. My quilt doesn't have that feature, I don't think, it just reminds me of that. My creature doesn't have an attractive face, but that wasn't a requirement for me.  Poor creature has to run against the wind, so there is bound to be some damage from that.

With my just in time inventory, I finished this quilt just in time to post for the Project Quilting Challenge

Al-Buraq Quilt by Shelina Virjee

This quilt fits the requirements of the finished projects in that it has applique, three layers and the edges are finished.  Just all of my quilts, though, I reserve the right to come back to do more. And right now, this quilt is calling for more.  I do want to add more quilting on it, and maybe some other embellishments like beading.

Here is the link to the other Project Quilting challenge entries.

Quilt Reveal: Pajamas Doll Quilt

 

It's time for another Project Quilting reveal! The challenge of this week is Wearables.

Your project must be wearable, or have been made from previously worn items, or have another connection to clothes, shoes and fashion accessories.

I gave myself two choices: 

1. Make a blouse that I have been planning to make for a very long time. I already have the pattern and the fabric chosen.
2. Make a quilt out of all the pajamas I have been saving to make a quilt.

Since I hadn't made a blouse since high school, I didn't think I could handle the pressure of making it in a week, even though the pattern says it is easy to make. I am keeping it downstairs and hope to make it this year.

Making the pajamas quilt will help me reduce clutter in the sewing room since these flannel pajamas take up a more room than flat fabric would. 

I had seen a quilt in a show I watched recently that was a scrap quilt made entirely out of squares but it was set on point, which added a nice interest to the squares. I decided to do that.

So I cut up the pieces and laid out the blocks on the design wall. I am trying to use up all the fabric as I can and make a nice big lap quilt. Even though these girly fabrics would make a good gift for a girl, I don't feel comfortable giving a gift with my used clothes so I will have to use it or maybe I can give it to my dog Zoey.

I recorded videos as I was making this quilt to give instructions on how to make a quilt on point. I need to learn to be better about taking photographs as well as videos.

Cutting pieces out of clothing, even simple squares, takes longer than cutting them from a flat fold of fabric. Some of it is stretchy, and some of it is faded and I had to decide which part of the fabric to use. I soon realized that there was no way I was going to be able to make a big lap quilt, quilted and bound, by the Project Quilting challenge deadline, so I decided to make a small one out of the fabric I saved in case I needed to piece a block.

The smaller quilt also makes it easier to show in a video as I move pieces around for a tutorial. The squares finish at 1".

I pieced the smaller quilt, and then somebody stole an hour from me. Daylight Savings Time.

This meant I had only 15 minutes to finish it, so I quickly trimmed it and the backing, and sewed around the edges. I turned it right side out and didn't really take the time to carefully poke out the corners. I secured the edges and called it done.

The teal fabric in the photo above in the top left corner is the start of the Pinwheel quilt I will show you on March 21.

15 Minutes to Stitch 2024

I have been quilting every day this year.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7 days

15 minute days this year -- 70 out of 70 days

Success rate  = 100%

Linked with: Life in Pieces 15 Minutes to Stitch

Quilt Reveal: Red and White Hourglass Quilt

I have finished the Red and White Hourglass quilt for the Project Quilting challenge for this week . The challenge is to make a quilt that is inspired by an hourglass. It must be started and finished in one week.

I've actually wanted to make a red and white hourglass quilt for a long time, years. I saw one in a museum and the docent would not allow me to take a photo of it, even though it is a simple traditional pattern. I drew it out and shaded in the red parts so I would remember what it looked like, but I must have been on a No New Quilts Until the Old Ones are Finished rule, so I did not start the quilt and it stayed on the To-Do List.

I thought about making a red and white hourglass quilt for this challenge, but I wasn't sure I would be able to make a good one in time. I wanted one with enough blocks that the secondary patterns would show through and I also had the blog hop quilt to finish.

So I thought I would make one with one long hourglass block, and a quote on the other side. I got the bright idea that I could print the quote on fabric and that would make the words easy to get on the fabric.

Then I got the bright idea that I could applique an hourglass. So I looked for a pretty picture, and while I was playing in Canva, I thought I could make the whole design, print it on fabric, and make a wholecloth quilt with minimal quilting, easy peasy.

The printer didn't cooperate. I don't think it is the printer's fault. I think that with new releases of Windows and printer drivers, the printer is becoming obsolete even though it works perfectly fine. Or maybe I don't use the ink fast enough and it dries up before I get a chance to use it. This problem has been happening, so I don't think it is just this ink cartridge. There was some faint picture but not enough to see what it is.

So I went to Plan B, or is it Plan A? I used some solid fabric and decided I wanted a bigger quilt so I added other reds from my scrap pile. I didn't make the block with half square triangles that turn into quarter square triangles. I made stripes and set the squares on point.

I found some more red scraps when I went to look for a backing fabric so I made more blocks.

Since this is a quilt that I wanted to make for a long time, I wanted to make it right, so I quilted on both sides of the ditch so that the hourglass blocks are more apparent. The lines are organic sewn. I am hoping that the flaws in the points get hidden rather than accentuated.

I have always admired lightly quilted quilts and I really like the look of this one.

I trimmed the quilt. My original plan was to birth the quilt, but I decided to use the leftover red fabric I had. I didn't have the time to make the quilt bigger, but I thought it would show the quilt better if the backing fabric could not be seen from the front.

I machine stitched the binding to save time. This is a skill I am learning and have not perfected, but I guess I won't learn it if I don't keep trying.

I'll take some glamor shots later, but I wanted to make sure I got this blog post up. I missed the deadline on one of the challenges because I didn't have the blog post up.

Thank you for this challenge again this year. I finally got my red and white hourglass quilt made!

I will post a Youtube video about this quilt and give you a link here next Sunday.

15 Minutes to Stitch 2024

I I have definitely been quilting every day.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7 days

15 minute days this year -- 56 out of 56 days

Success rate  = 100%

Linked with: Life in Pieces 15 Minutes to Stitch