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.

Quilt Reveal: Spread your Dreams and Soar

 

When I went to the sewing room to make the Orange Complements Blue Flower for the Project Quilting challenge, I saw a pattern I had printed out of a hot air balloon. I thought it was a great pattern to use and was hoping I could manage to find a way to make it fit whatever the upcoming theme was.  

I think it would have been great to use for the challenge, but I had already thought of the flower, and wanted to make that.  I realized with the small scraps I have, that I could cut out the zig zags out for the balloon, I could use the scraps for the flower. Then I wouldn't have to choose which quilt to make. I could make both.

So that is what I did. I managed to make both of these early in the week. I could have made them the same day, but I did make them a few minutes a day.

I was afraid I wouldn't be able to cut the zigzags perfectly to make them fit with each other.  I was afraid I would wind up with places there may be background. I thought about using a darker background, but instead of cutting zigzags of both the yellow and the blue, I cut the yellow zigzags, and made the blue into larger pieces. This gave me more peace of mind and worked well to avoid any gaps.

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.

#100 Days, Dresden Plate Reveal, 15 Minutes to Stitch

100 days

Today marks the first day of the #the100days challenge on Instagram. My plan is to decorate index cards. I already have a box, and this will give me a tangible way to show the results for 100 days. I was initially thinking of incorporating the 100 days to the 15 minutes to stitch, but since I work on different projects which are in varying states of completion, the results aren't as easy to identify.

Also, an index card is quick to do, even on days when there isn't much time and energy. It also doesn't require perfection or a pretty result.

Project Quilting

Today is also the deadline for the Project Quilting challenge. The theme was "Another Era". I don't know why I put that in quotes, I don't know if that is the exact wording. 

I decided to make a Dresden Plate because it makes me think of the Art Deco movement.  I have a template and I had been planning on making one for a long time.

I decided to make these with stripped pieces. I made different sizes of strips so that the green would look like it is whirling around. When you cut these, you wind up with two different sets -   one with a peach tip, and one with a green tip. Which meant I could either alternate, which wasn't my plan, so I needed to make two plates, but two plates doesn't make a size of quilt that I use, so I made four plates.

I decided to go ahead and bind these individually and make a potholder quilt with four Dresdens. This works well for the challenge, since I only needed to complete one plate to have a finished quilt. 

I managed to finish it yesterday. The narrow single fold binding is a challenge for me, since I am not used to machine stitching the binding down. 

I think it wound up okay though, and I have a sashing fabric that I might applique over the inside bindings. I really like the fabric and was tempted to make it all one quilt, but I also knew that this four block quilt would be a great way to try out a potholder approach.  

I probably will add the sashing fabric because I like it so much.  I used decorative stitch to sew down the center.

These are a lot of fun to make. Even though I finished this yesterday, I wanted to wait until today to take pictures in the daylight and didn't do that by the deadline. Oh well, since this is technically part of a bigger quilt, we'll just say it doesn't qualify as finished.

15 Minutes to Stitch Week 8

Every day this week, I have been working on the Dresden Plates.  I was highly motivated to make progress so it was exciting to see how much more progress I could make.  I haven't made a Dresden Plate quilt, and the pieced wedges with the many different fabric combinations did add some mystery to the project.  I haven't made a potholder quilt, which is also a fun challenge. 

• 15 minute days / Feb = 21 / 21days
• 15 minute days / 2026 = 52 / 52 days
• Success rate = 100%

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.

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.