First quilt top for March 2026..................

I love it when I can take a bunch of parts laying around and make a quilt top.  For this one I just needed to make 2 more flannel 16 patch blocks.  There was a box of squares and rectangles that make up the scrappy border.  It is approximately 48" x 72", close to the 50" x 70" size I like for throw quilts.  Most of these flannels are from the 1990s when the browns were very popular.

I decided to put these blocks and sewn panels up on the design wall.  The last time I had them out was 6 1/2 years ago.  I have totally lost interest in making these into a quilt.  My daughter-in-law wants a table runner the length of her table and I need to measure it to see if a column of this quilt will work.  I can see making placemats out of the loose blocks, 3 to a placemat.  They would end up about 14" x 20".

This is a picture of the pattern.  It was fun making the blocks in 2013 but once the assembly started, I lost interest in it.  I have other things planned, fun things, so I want to salvage these blocks in other projects and move on.

I pulled out a ball of cotton yarn a few days ago and started this dishcloth.  I couldn't tell from looking at the ball what the colors were.  It is a very subtle change between the 4 colors.  This was a newer ball of yarn, and I had been reading the reviews online by previous buyers.  Several of them mentioned the yarn wasn't soft any more.  I had to agree with them on this one, but in reality, a little stiffer yarn is perfect for washing dishes.

Flannel progress..............

I made some decisions since my last post on this flannel quilt.  I took out the darkest of the rectangles in the border but didn't have enough medium values already cut.  Instead I took the stack of squares that were in the box and sewed some pairs together and inserted them between each set of 2 rectangles.   I finalized the design after sewing 2 more blocks and got the top half sewn together and part of the bottom sewn after I took this photo (which is missing the bottom row of rectangles and squares in the photo).

A third bud appeared on the Amaryllis so I have 3 blooms on the second stalk.  I have a few buds on more of my cacti and one started opening yesterday, another of the white with pink edges.

While I was in the basement I pulled some fun Philip Jacobs and Brandon Mably prints.  No plan for them, just playing with my stash.
  

 

Play day on the first day of the month.................

I usually don't get started working on anything the first day of the new month, but yesterday I got busy.  First I found a backing for this table runner which I pieced several years ago.  I think it is the first project I made when I got the Hunter Star cutting die.

I decided to have a little fun looking through a collection of fabrics that I bought several years ago.  It is all Kathy Doughty fabric.  I have a couple of Kathy's books and have made a few quilts from one of them and one quilt from another one.

But...that wasn't all of them.  Here are a few more pieces that will work with the large bird prints.

And there are more......

Last night I decided to take the flannel 16 patches and put them on the design wall.  I have 38 blocks so there are 3 more on my table.  I need to make 2 more for another row.  My plan is to use the rectangles and squares as a border.  I think I'm going to remove the very darkest ones and use only the medium tones.

February 2026 monthly recap.................

Three finishes, one large, two small.  Purple Rosy joins Green Rosy on the finished quilts pile.  It is a Kaffe Fassett pattern in several of his books and I followed the pattern loosely, making my own version of it.  It is 65" x 82".  

The other two are baby quilts to add to my selection for parents and grandparents to choose from.  In the center is a quilt made from a pile of blocks using leftovers from another quilt and a large print.  It is 32" x 34.5", perfect for tummy time for a baby.  On the right is an original design quilt started in a workshop in 1991.  It is 29.5" x 37".

Two new tops were constructed.  On the left, Double 4 patch blocks made from batik strips that were cut many years ago paired with 16 patch blocks from the batik orphan block box.  It is 64" x 72".  On the right, the diamond quilt made from Wishwell Weather Report fabric was a smaller top that I increased by adding a column of blocks on each side and 2 rows across the top.  It's a much better size now at 48" x 72".

I didn't get any table runners made but did knit four dishcloths.  Two of them are smaller because there wasn't much yarn left on the balls.  I had to add a white corner to the blue variegated one because I misjudged when to start the decrease rows.  I can get 2 dishcloths from one ball of Sugar 'n Cream yarn most of the time, but even though they say they all have the same number of yards, some definitely have less yarn on them.

Now I need to add my stats for this quilt to my blog.  The colorful blocks are made from leftovers from another quilt, and they waited patiently in a drawer for many years.  I thought I was going to make them into mug rugs, but I didn't need any more of them, so the blocks waited.  The large print was an impulse buy on sale and it works so perfectly with these blocks.

The back is another impulse buy on sale and has always been a favorite but I never could figure out what to make with it.  I think it compliments the front of the quilt.  Black and white seemed the right choice for binding.  It is 32" x 34.5" and has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it.  I quilted it on my Pfaff 7570.

I decided I needed a photo of the full back of this quilt since it will leave my house and go to a baby at some point.
 

Choosing a binding...................

The quilting was finished yesterday, the quilt trimmed and now it was time to choose a binding.  At first I thought a multicolor stripe, but then I decided black and white might be better.

Here are my three choices.  There were many more to choose from but I settled on these.

This stripe has the most white in it and the black lines are curvy.

The black lines are straight and closer together on this one.

It's always fun to find a diagonal stripe in the stash.  This one is darker than the other two.  I'll make a choice today and get the quilt finished for my monthly recap.  Any opinions?  I think they all work. 

Quilting started...........

The basting was done before noon and quilting started last night.  I finally found the quilt that these bright leftovers are from.  Here is a post that shows the quilt top.  It's no wonder I couldn't remember it because it was 13 1/2 years ago.

I decided on straight line quilting and got it over half quilted.  The lines aren't perfectly straight but I challenge any baby to complain about it.

It's supposed to reach 60 degrees today and then snow predicted both weekend days.

Second finish for February 2026.................

This isn't a typical baby quilt design, but because this quilt is only 29.5" x 37", the size makes it appropriate.  It was started in a workshop in 1991 when we were to design several blocks, choose one, and repeat the block for an original design.  I used one of the very earliest packages of Cherrywood hand dyed fabric by Dawn Hall, the originator of the Cherrywood dyeing technique.  She was the niece of my employer at a quilt shop.  The other fabrics were from my stash.

I still had enough of the white, gray, beige print in the quilt for the backing.  I guess I knew I would finish this one some day and might need it.  I decided on a gray print for the binding rather than emphasize any color from the quilt.

I'm basting one more baby quilt that I hope to finish this month.