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The pattern is free and the mini charm squares are abundant at my house.

It seemed a perfect combination!

In this version, the colored squares are all from the grunge collection by Moda. But just about anything would work and look great.

If mini doesn’t appeal to you, the pattern is available in three different sizes and you can use that layer cake or 5″ charm pack that’s been talking to you. Enjoy!

PS–Yes, my hand quilting is badly out of practice. A mini was a good warmup. Don’t look too close…

This is becoming a go-to pattern for baby quilts. (It just occurred to me that it could be done with two charm packs. I may have to try that soon.)

I found the yellow floral print during my cleaning just before the new year. There was only a little, but it seemed a shame to throw it away. 

I love the bright and happy results.

The plan is to donate it to the local children’s hospital. Ta-dah!

kits for 12 blocks

I decided for the RSC to make 6 log-cabin blocks from my 1" strip collection in each month's color. I finished the green/January blocks this morning. 

Green log cabin blocks

The 100 Mad Dash blocks are finally assembled. Now, sashing. I am adding mostly white sashing to 50 of them, and mostly black sashing to the other 50. 

Things are starting to shape up…

Evergreen (Annette Plog, designer)

I have a ton of scraps, already sorted by color, and have been focusing on trying to use up what I have as much as possible. 

The color for January is "dark and bright green." There was a quilt called ...

There were 21 blocks in the bag. The construction technique is one I am not familiar with, so making more wasn’t really an option, but 20 blocks was enough to make a baby quilt.

A quick trim squared them up to 7″.

The blocks are interesting, but not enough on their own. What was needed was sashing, something dramatic, to complete them.

I settled on 2-1/2″ sashing with coordinating colors in the cornerstones.

And matching binding.

Look around your sewing space and see if you have a bag of possibilities. Sashing might be just the thing you need ...

Well, it turns out that….

1. I didn’t really make 324 blocks, I made 274.
2. That is a dumb number of blocks because it doesn’t make a logical number of rows.
3. I did it because I was running out of background fabric. And, I don’t know for sure what “white” it was and couldn’t match it. (NOTE TO SELF–mark the selvedge of “white” fabrics with color name and manufacturer.)

SO…

1. I made 14 more 4″ blocks.
2. The layout is now 8×9 4-patch (sets of four/8″) blocks
3. The top finishes at 64″ x 72″.
4. Total ...

When I said that I had two WIPs (Works in Progress), I had sort of pushed one out of my mind: The Jewel Box Quilt.

I started this project in March of 2022, making 4″ blocks based on 1-1/2″ squares. All solids with a single white background fabric. By June of 2023 I had 324. 

And that is where I got stuck. The thought of laying out 324 blocks…

But, Monday I had a brainstorm! I could sew them into 4-patches, changing 324 blocks into 81 blocks. That doesn’t seem nearly so daunting. Now, I am back in ...

I haven’t had many finishes lately, partly because I have been busy with the rest of life. But, partly, too, because I have two WIPs (Works in Progress) that can feel like the song that never ends.

The first is a 1-1/2″ version of Film at Five, one of my most popular quilt patterns. The original is based on 2-1/2″ squares and takes 25 blocks to make a nice size quilt. This one will take 100 blocks. I have finished nearly 60.

The second also will need 100 blocks, Mad Dash blocks. I have 63 currently complete ...

I'm a stress eater, and if I had had an Advent Calendar with candy in it -- well, it would have been Christmas Eve by 1 PM yesterday! 

It wasn't seriously bad, but it involved scammers, and I'm sick and tired of scammers. I'll let you know the details later. No money (per se) was handed over, so I'm okay. But I'm just tired of all that. 

I can see why people with mental health issues or even physical issues are taught coping mechanisms. I needed a coping mechanism to get me back on track ...

I spent a lot of time in the sewing room over the weekend, but don't seem to have much to show for it.  Here's the last round of chain piecing sitting by the machine.

Just 3 more weeks left in 2023!  That's really hard to take in.  Have you started crafting your goals for 2024?  I've given mine some thought here and there.  I've made a start on my quilt plan for next year, but that's about it in terms of written commitments.  The 15 minutes to Stitch/Stitching Stuff linky party will continue next year.  Some days I still need encouragement to get into the sewing room.  Though scrap and fabric management will be a bigger part of my Sunday linky party post in 2024. Fingers crossed I can ...

I'm never ready for December.  I just never seem to get to all things I had planned to finish before the end of the year.  But to put a positive spin on that, it's also the month to start planning for 2024 and theoretically have the chance to make up for where you fell short this year (funny how it rarely works out that way).  One area that has worked out well for me this year is my stitching time, this week was another good one.  

• 15 minute days/week = 6/7 days
• 15 minute days/Nov = 24 ...

Hard to believe that Thanksgiving is over and we are into the Christmas season already. With it being a holiday week, I tempered my expectations of getting in much stitching time. However, Grad Girl and I did manage a few sitting and stitching sessions over the holiday weekend. 

• 15 minute days/week = 4/7 days
• 15 minute days/Nov = 20/25 days
• 15 minute days/2023 = 278/329 days
• Success rate = 84.5%

At least I stitched more days than I didn't this week.  I'm still over my 75% stitching goal for the year, so I'm going ...

Hard to believe that Thanksgiving is this Thursday.  At this point I'm not ready. Lots to do between now and then.  Likely my stitching time will suffer a bit this week. It's a good thing this last week was really good. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Nov = 16/18 days
• 15 minute days/2023 = 274/322 days
• Success reate = 85.09%