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This week I completed blocks 13 and 14 of the  2026 Sew Along: Scrappy Sampler.

I appreciate more and more Jessica’s videos and the two different printable patterns. You can find blocks 13 and 14 HERE. The piecing for Block 13 was new to me, but with no hurrying and better pressing techniques, I am happy with the results.

Only one more week of blocks, then on to borders. I am looking forward to it.

In spite of life events, I have managed to stay caught up with the  2026 Sew Along: Scrappy Sampler.

While I have been quilting for some time, it is never too late to try something new. While working on this quiltalong, I have focused on pressing the seam allowance of my HST open after trimming them. I am surprised at the difference it makes. There is less slip due to bulk when I am assembling the blocks, and the blocks are flatter in the end. Who knew?

Not only will I have a fun quilt, but also a new-to-me technique ...

I got a little behind due to…well, life! But, I am caught up with the  2026 Sew Along: Scrappy Sampler.

Week 3 and Week 4 are available on YouTube.

I changed to using the red, white and blue color patterns. They work better with my scrapp-ier plan. I am very pleased at how blocks 7 and 8 went because of that.

I was also glad to use some of the pre-cut items that Debra included in the mystery kit she sent me. No, those are not going to waste.

Looking forward to the coming blocks this week.

Have you heard of the 2026 Sew Along: Scrappy Sampler with Jessica Dayon?

Here are my blocks 3 and 4. I don’t love block 3. I tried reversing the colors, and it is a little odd.

Perhaps it will grow on me, but, if not, I have a Bonus Block created from the HST cutoffs and some 2-1/2″ squares. Perhaps I should have made the centers of the smaller 9-patch blocks from the solids?

You can learn more about these blocks HERE.

Have you heard of the 2026 Sew Along: Scrappy Sampler with Jessica Dayon?

It has just started, and here are my first two blocks.

Thanks to Debra, who sent me an abandoned mystery sew along project a while back. The fabrics seemed perfect for this sewalong. I have added a few solids for variety, and I really like the look so far. Thanks, Debra!

I’ll keep you posted as we go. Learn more about the sewalong HERE.

Quilt-Alongs

One of the good things that came from Covid is the Quiltalong which kept us busy once we had finished making masks.  We could hop online and join like minded quilters quilting along and sharing our project online. Recently some of the customers at the Old Craft Store joined me in an IN PERSON QUILTALONG. It was fun and of course we had them parade their quilt tops out along the downtown square.

TIME FOR ANOTHER QUILT ALONG

The “Little Light of Mine” quilt was on display at The Old Craft Store in Carrollton, Texas and some of the ...

Each week, we have a random drawing of those participating. Enter your photo to be entered. Make all 12 blocks, sew together the quilt top as shown in the book and enter your finished quilt top for the random drawing of all participants in Week 15 for your chance to win ...

Good morning, and welcome to the first day of this year's 12 Days of Christmas in July!  There are some exciting things happening here over the next twelve days - a little bit different from past years, because taking a year off (through no choice of my own!) and getting a late start wreaked havoc on getting more bloggers this year - but we have some great bloggers who are participating, and I'll also have some of my own favorite Christmas ideas to share with you.  So strap in and get ready for a little Christmas overload - maybe ...

Over Thanksgiving we visited my parents in rural Colorado. Their house is full of quilts they have very kindly accepted over the course of my quilting career. I thought to share a few from the way-back machine.

This one is very early. Not labeled, but it has to be one of the first few I made, probably about 1999 (First quilt was 1998). Throw size. Tied. Rough binding. But, my mother loves it. She says it is her favorite of all I have ever given them.

This one is a little later. Sometime between 2000-2002. A friend did the handquilting ...

Dear Quiltmakers,

Hello quiltmakers,

I am back from my trip to India. Mom's surgery went well and she is on the road to recovery. I appreciate your kind thoughts and warm wishes. 

Although my visit wasn't a vacation and I stayed home (near the A/C) due to the heat, my friends (Ruby and Savita) visited me. I felt spoiled with spicy food and sweet mangoes. 

Happy to see you :-)

Veggie Delight (Don't ask me the English name)

Vanilla icecream with fresh mangoes

The Indian street food that I loved would most certainly kill me now. So Meetu recreated ...

It was a long time coming. As I have said before, it seems so harmless to cut the block size in half to fit the sizes of my scraps, but it meant it took a lot of pieces to get anywhere. Should you want to try the pattern for yourself, you can get the (full size) information HERE.

That said, I am really happy with the results.

Scrappy happiness, mostly reproduction prints, but a few authentic pieces thrown in.

The yellow binding works with with the stars to give some unity and rhythm in the scrappiness.

It is a gift ...

I am so happy to see this quilt complete.

It was all I hoped for.

For those who participated in the quiltalong, you are welcome to share pictures any time.

Those who might be interested in building a similar beauty, information can be found HERE.

Jetzt haben wir schon bald das Ende des Jahres 2021 und den Penny Sampler, den ich nach dem Pattern von Rachel Hauser - Stitched in Color bereits letztes Jahr gemacht habe, ist hier noch nicht aufgetaucht....

It is time to share your finished quilts, tops, or progress so far.

Mine is being quilted, but isn’t there yet. Maybe next week. Sometimes life gets in the way.

In the meantime, visit Katy and put your progress in her link-up (if you have a blog), or send her (or me) a picture and we’ll have them to share.

Thanks for joining us, however far you are. This has been fun and we hope to do another one (together or separately) sometime soon.

There were days I thought it would never end. When I saw Pat Speth’s North Star State Quiltalong I immediately knew I wanted to stitch along. But I also knew that the small scraps of 1930s repro (and some original) fabric that I had on hand would mean making the pieces smaller…much smaller. Yep, that star is 3″.

But, off I went, sure it was all going to be ok.

As I stitched, my ambitions had to be adjusted. NO, I wasn’t going to make a queen size quilt. Not even with borders. I finally decided that ...

Time to stitch all those strips into a top. So exciting!

I like to lay things out and consider my options.

This quilt has many prints and colors and it is probable that it will never be perfect, but I try to avoid color blobs.

When stitching long, pieced strips I don’t find it necessary to pin. Just stitch seam to seam, taking a moment to match them up.

The results will be beautiful in the end.

I love it when it all comes together.

Make sure to visit Katy and see how her version using larger pieces turned ...

There are many different ways you could assemble your piles of blocks into a quilt, but for this quilt we’re going to assemble all those blocks into strips.

First, sort them out. Make 7 piles of 20 blocks each of the 4-patch blocks. Make 8 piles of 20 blocks each of the fence rail blocks.

And sew them together.

NOTE: FOUR of your strips of four-squares should have light squares in the upper left; THREE should have dark squares in the upper left. And, don’t worry too much if you make a mistake. It will be easy to ...

My Friday Night Sew In (FNSI),(Wendy of Sugarlane Designs) began with an hour of sewing Friday morning, and continued with more time Friday night. And, continued into Saturday. Between other necessary things, I was determined to get the last 13 setting blocks for the North Star State quilt finished.

YAY! All that are left are the friendship star cornerstone blocks. It is so good to see it finally coming together. It seemed like such a good idea to do the quilt in miniature…or at least much smaller scale. I am glad to have found a use for my ...

How are your 4-patches coming? I hope very well. They are both endlessly interesting and a little mindless. Just chain piecing along…

This week we go to work on the rectangles. Make two piles–all the colored ones and all the backgrounds.

Piece one of each together. Repeat 160 times. Press towards the colored rectangle.

TIP: In case you didn’t know, pressing the seam flat, then pressing it open, helps prevent distortion. If you have noticed that your seams are a little wavy when you just open them up and press down, try this. It helps.

It is such ...