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.

15 Minutes to Stitch Week Five

 Look at me, posting on time.  This week was a week off from Project Quilting challenge.  The challenge for this upcoming week, is Year of the Horse, which makes me happy. I was hoping that they would do that. I made a horse quilt last year, and even though I was afraid it wouldn't turn out right, tracing a pattern does let me make a horse that looks like a horse.

In this time off, I continued to work on the recently started quilts.  That is the Lupine and Laughter mystery quilt. I had one block done, but I still needed to finish the half rectangle triangles to make the star block.  I also decided to make another couple of blocks to make a 4x4 setting. These quilts look better with repetition, and although a 4x4 setting doesn't create a lot of repetition, it is better than a smaller setting.

I also finished the quilt top for the Valentine's mystery hosted by Kathleen Tracy.  I still need to applique the heart. Her small quilts are fun to make and although I usually resist making them, I usually also regret not making them.

• 15 minute days/Jan = 31/31 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 31/31days
• Success rate = 100%

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

15 Minutes to Stitch Week Four

 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.

• 15 minute days/Jan = 24/24 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 24/24days
• 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!

15 Minutes to Quilt Week Two

75 Day Soft Tracker

• Met every goal / Jan = 1/10 days
• Met every goal / 2026 = 1/10 days
• Success rate = 1%

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.

• 15 minute days/Jan = 10/10 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 10/10 days
• Success rate = 100%

Linked with 15 Minutes to Stitch

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.

15 Minutes to Stitch Week 1

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.

• 15 minute days/Jan = 3/3 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 3/3 days
• Success rate = 100%

Linked with 15 Minutes to Stitch