March Madness!

 I don't follow basketball, but there is a lot of madness happening in my sewing room! 

For years I carried a box full of hexies wherever I went. I would work on them whenever I had a free moment (lull in conversation, boring movie, extra long traffic light😅). When I get enough together, I make something. So, early this month I counted them up and decided that I had enough to start something new. I took 134 of them and appliqued them to a 5" square. Then I took my little worn out 6" ruler and taped a hexie cutout to it (for accuracy of layout) and trimmed them down to 4 1/2". This is what I came up with. Not sure where that center panel came from, but needless to say it has been lying around for quite a while. There only a few repeat fabrics (just enough to make it fun for the kids to find them!) so there are well over 300 different fabrics in this one. You will never get bored with this one on your lap! 

 

 

 

 

Earlier in the month, my Seven Sistahs group got together at Fotini's to make fidget quilts for the local hospital for their alzheimer's patients. They were such fun to make! 

 

 

Charlotte's idea of just stitching an old pair of jeans with pockets to a background was sensational!  

And, I'm plodding along in this year's sewalong #Fancyfourpatchchallenge with Taryn Falkner on Instagram @Reproquiltlover. I've chosen to make mine with c1890 repros that I call neons. Lovely black backgrounds with wild neon colors. 

 

 

I also finished my part of the second round robin in my Kaleidoscope group. This was what I received: 

And this was my contribution. 

That's enough madness for one month! I've been working on a few other things too, but can't seem to catch up on proper photos. Crocuses are peeping through the snow, so I hope to have more to share when the tulips begin to appear. Happy Spring!

2026 Finishes (Thus far)

 Winter is always a productive season for me. All that beautiful snow really inspires me. 

My second finish thus far was this sweet little doll quilt for Linda Collin's (Quilts in the Barn) annual swap. Since it has been received by her new owner I can tell you that it traveled all the way to the UK. I was delighted to be a part of this fun swap again this year. You can go to @QuiltsintheBarn on Instagram and check out all the very sweet and oh so creative little treasures. 

 

 

 

Next up was made in an effort to use up some of my strips. Once again, instead of depleting the basket of scraps, they seemed to multiply! It was a quick effort though and those center crazy blocks were really fun to play with. And once again, because I made it in the potholder method, the back was as much fun as the front. 

 

 

 

I had intended to donate it to the Infusion Center, but I got carried away and it is really too large for the chairs so I will just have to keep it. 😉  

My neighbor's grandson is expecting a baby next month so I whipped up this little cutie. It is very similar to the one I made for him as a baby over 20 years ago! They both love animals so I had to use the Pokey Little Puppy in the center. 

 

 

I joined in the fun of the "Round Robin" at my local "Kaleidoscope" group. This is my first one. I just received the second one so hopefully I will post that next month. 

 

Block number one. And here is my border. 

 

I have a few other irons in the fire, but as usual I'm behind on my photography. Hope you all enjoyed the Winter Olympics. Stay warm and healthy my friends!

Welcome New Year - Let's Spread Some JOY!

 My first finish of the year is my "Liberty Bird" sew-a-long 2025 with Barbara Brackman on her Civil War blog. Although it is done in the potholder method, this one is a bit different in that I chose the same fabrics for the back of each block. It was due to pure laziness on my part. At the time I quilted my first block, I just didn't have the gumption to pick different fabrics for each one. I plan to donate this to the auction at the American Quilts Study Group (AQSG) at the end of the summer. Barbara and I are both long term members of  AQSG so the combination of her design and my assembly usually brings a good amount for the coffers. Thanks Barbara for another great sew-a-long! Since it is my first finish for 2026, I've decided to call it "Love Thy Neighbor". This quote has meant more to me in the past year than any other. 

 

 

I also finished this top last week. A few year ago I bought a table cover at my favorite junk store with 4 of these fabulous fruit bouquets on it. The label on the back said "made in Czechoslovakia" and I'm guessing it is from around 1890. 

I auditioned a few fabrics for the setting fabric and decided on the neutral. 

I decided to keep the quilt simple. The inner border was from a fabric that my friend Karen had given me. Then I just pulled colors from the bouquet and made a simple "squares" border. I liked it more than I thought so it is now in the "hand quilting" queue. It will likely be my first finish of 2027! 😏

 

 Last weekend our Kaleidoscope Quilt group had a quiltathon dedicated to making quilts for veterans. I finished this little top but decided it might be too small so I'm going to dd a border of this Cadet blue. I rarely get much done at our quiltathons. Too much yacking and eating, but I was determined to finish this one and get it out to one of our quilting angels. 

 

In this time of global unrest I am determined to "live, love and give locally". 

I will continue to spread joy and happiness to all that I can. 

I hope you have something delightful to work on in these wintery months too! 

Farewell 2025

 I'm not making a New Year's Resolution this year, but I do hope to "try" to get back into blogging. I'll start by catching up since my last post in August!!

Some time in mid summer I started this Triple Irish Chain which was inspired by a number of quilts that Diedre of "Hat Creek Quilts" had made. It is still just a top.😏

I did a lot playing with my feedsack scraps this summer and made a few little quilts for next year's silent auction at our state show. 

 

 

I love throwing these happy little prints around! I call this one "Village People".

 

 

This one was done in the potholder method. I simply stitched the feedsack strips down by machine and then hand appliqued the squiggle in the center. I call it "Ribbon Candy". 

 

 

In October I attended the American Quilt Study Group annual seminar in Portland, Maine. Barb Vedder and I worked at the silent auction for most of the week, but we did manage to meet new friends and greet old ones. Barb participated in this year's "Study Quilt" whereby you pick a vintage quilt and make a smaller version of your own interpretation. This year's theme was "Quilt Designers of the 20th century". I was so honored that she chose my "Grapes of Bath" quilt to replicate. Although I made this particular quilt in 2012, I was designing quilts as early as 1965. I was even more blow away when she told me that she intended to give me her quilt as soon as it returns from the photographer. I just could not believe my fortune! Her quilt is stunning!! Here it it in our hotel room lying on top my original. We surely did have fun!! 

Later in October I had a visit from my friend Linda Collins (Quilts in the Barn) all the way from Australia. Oh what fun we had! We tried to squeeze as much into 5 days as we could. We attended the Cocheco Quilt Show in Rochester, NH. 

 

We hiked on some of our local woods trails. 

 

We went to my monthly quilt study group meeting. 

 

And one of the greatest things about Linda's visit is that she likes to cook. And she is excellent at it!! 

 

And to top it all off she made me this adorable little quilt. Can't have a better guest than that! 

 

My latest quilt was also made from vintage feedsacks. I had been playing around with some solid green fabrics that needed to be used up. This is what I came up with. Thanks to my friend Barb, I am calling it "Mixed Greens". 

 

 

And last but not least I am working diligently on Barbara Brackman's (Civil War blog)  Liberty Birds. I'm hoping to have the borders done by next week so I can assemble everything in January. As usual, no promises. 

 

I hope you all enjoy a Happy New Year with lots of quilting! 

A Summer Sampler

 As usual, So much quilting, so little blogging! But, here are a few offerings since my last post in June😕

Our statewide quilt show (Maine Quilts 2025) has come and gone, but here are a few highlights:

My friend Laurie LaBar showed her tribute to her mother quilt. It is made of three panels (potholder style) and the detail is simply remarkable. This is Laurie's SECOND quilt ever! I just adore this quilt! 

My friend Carmen made this potholder version of a sewalong project with Taryn Falkner on Instagram. What a fabulous job!! 

 

 

I really loved this one made by my friend Beth French. So very sweet and oh so much work!

 

I won this treasure in the silent auction made by my friend Carol Reed. It looks great in my sewing room! 

 

I ran into an old friend I hadn't seen in over 20 years! Nancy bought one of my silent auction quilts. It was so good to see her! 

These were my entries this year. 

 

 

 

It was a great show!

I managed to finish another potholder quilt for the infusion center.

 

And, I've had fun just playing around with colors!

 

back

That's it for now, although I'm sure I've missed something. It can wait until next time. 

Have a super day!