February Recap

Trouvaille was my first finished quilt for 2026.  It's informal reveal post is HERE.

Camp Sefton was in action for 10 days while Mommy and Daddy were out of town.  

Biscuit's and Nutsie's new stuffie quilts were designed and made during Young Man's stay (link here).

He also worked on the layout for their new autumn ottoman quilt named Ruska (click here to see him in action).

(Ruska - the time of fall foliage, the process of tree leaves turning various shades of red, yellow, purple, and brown in the autumn)

The quilt top was finished after dinner on the last day of February  - it's roughly 52" x 70" at this point.

The filmstrip backing is perfect since this will be used in the room where they watch their television.  The long-stashed KF diagonal stripe will make wonderful binding. 

They don't need the finished quilt until fall so Ruska can now wait until the three gift quilts are finished.

Fandango, no. 7 of 12 in my Macnas series, was also quilted and finished.  That post with outdoor photos is HERE.

In between, I finalized two small journals that were started last year.

This one contains a lot of magazine photos containing typewriters and a few with old cameras, ink bottles and fountain pens mixed in.

I keep thinking I'd like a typewriter again but then I remember how much space they take up and how little I would actually use it and I step back; remembering I can use a typewriter font on the computer for the bits to go in my journals.

But these photos still remind me of the hours on end that I've spent at a typewriter and/or keyboard . . . none of which were as cheerful and colorful as this photo.

This is the final page in that journal.

The other finished journal - titled Just Words - is my second creative commonplace book.

This was the approach I took throughout the eclectic mix of pages, which ironically hold just over 100 quotes or saved passages.  

No need to worry about an official 100 Day Project when I have just finished an unofficial equivalent without any of the fuss or pressure to document the process day by day.

And this is the piece I plan to write on the final page of Just Words.

This is the March first backyard photo.  Still very much khaki season here, but if you look closely to the right of the tree and just under the azalea, there's a clump of blooming daffodils. And, when the light is just right, we are starting to see the first subtle hints of hazy green softening the bare branches.  Not yet, but soon.

Next up - quilting and finishing Incandescent.

Quiltdivajulie

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"The best part about making a mistake is deciding if it will be an anchor or a sail."

J. K. Kennedy

Trouvaille - the Quilt

Trouvaille is a fully finished quilt measuring 52" x 71" and I'm more than delighted with it.

For now there are no outdoor beauty shots.  Too windy and far too cold.

Quilted using Glide thread in Pink using my free motion nested spiral fans.

Backed with Kaffe Fassett's Millefiori in pink and bound with Baby Bias by Loralie Harris.

Finish number one for 2026 - yes!

Quiltdivajulie

P. S. If you want to read the earlier posts for this quilt, you can click on the label below.  

Sigh

I have finished the quilting on Trouvaille.  I haven't trimmed off the excess batting or worked on the binding because DH and I have developed miserable head colds thanks to the one younger son brought home from one of his volunteer sessions.  He's on the mend from his, aside from the deep cough.

So, handling a rotary cutter is not wise right now between the coughing and nose blowing, and my head is definitely up to doing any kind of mathematic calculations.  

I did manage to get my FDC4 collage tag done earlier in the week.  This is the front.

And the back shows the prompts that I used from the complete list.

I also played with the punched out circles to create my weekly collage.  

* * *

As you've no doubt heard, Winter Storm Fern is headed our way.  The early forecasts had us in the over 20" of snow range.  As is typical here, we are now being told to expect sleet, freezing rain, ice, snow of 4-6", and almost certainly extended power outages.  No matter the amounts, the entire area will stop aside from emergency responders and a few idiots who think they can drive in anything, schools will dismiss early, churches will cancel services, etc.  The grocery store shelves are already empty with no bread, milk, eggs, lunch meat, grab and go snacks in sight.

We have a small generator so should the power grid fail (meaning no heat in the house) we can power a few basics plus one furnace.  Our pantry stays pretty well stocked (we both grew up in snow country), water continues to flow even when the power goes off (unlike where we grew up), and we're well stocked on batteries for our portable lanterns.  

Our biggest concern is the effect of the freezing ran and sleet on our mature oak trees.  We lost the top out of one last time this happened and we anticipate more damage this time around.  Given that concern, we took the glass bottles off our bottle tree and stored them in DH's workshop for the duration.  No need to mix broken glass in with broken tree limbs.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This, That, and More

In the game of bobbin chicken, this has to be my "best finish" to date. 

I had literally just finished the seam. Whew!

A long time ago, I pulled this mix of grays to use as backing for Fandango (Macnas series no. 7) since the "light" rectangles featured a lot of grayed neutrals.

Once up on the design wall it was a quick NO WAY - this is too dull and heavy.

(Note:  later in the day I decided to make a second set of January placemats for 2027 using the large scale KF print; I've tried numerous times to work it into a quilt but it has never played well and it really needs to stop hanging around in the stash)

I wasn't sure this Rubin design from eQuilter would work but it was the largest piece of stash yardage that even came close to Fandango's palette.

Again, it was a NOPE.  

Hmmmmmmm

A quick review of the waiting-to-be-quilted closet yielded this wide back that had been set aside for a future project.

That is not going to happen since it "is just right" to back Fandango.

For the sake of accountability on my weekly challenges, here is my scrappy paper nine-patch.

And my scrappy paper circles featuring 2" punch outs from food packaging.  I may go back in later and add smaller circles in the open areas.

This is my shipping tag for Full Deck Challenge 4 (prompts used include cat, red, yellow, clock, flower, ticket, postage stamp)

And lastly, I put the sticker Lynne sent in a magnetic photo holder and added it to the inspiration board in front of my sewing machine. 

Oh, and I've started quilting Trouvaille!

Quiltdivajulie

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"Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder."

E.B. White

Another L-O-N-G Runner

In the spirit of moving things along that are nearly finished, I decided to quilt the second long runner made with scraps from Esperance and Haru (first one is HERE).

(I was tired of moving the not-yet-pinbasted-quilt-sandwich bundle)

It seems that Fluffy, the newest member of the studio squirrel clan, is a curious fellow.  He had to get up close when he heard Max working.

And then he insisted on quality testing the freshly quilted runner.

The runner on my studio floor.

12.5" wide by 75" long.

Quilted using Glide thread in Amethyst (top) and an assortment of partially-used bobbins (which emptied three of them).  

I will bind the runner using the backing fabric.

Meanwhile, Fluffy decided to rest in/on the newly pin-basted Trouvaille quilt sandwich.  That's Mischief looking on from the bookshelf and the plate-sorted blocks for Hanabi (Macnas series No. 10) in the green basket.

* * *

Ah yes, the studio squirrels apparently took me seriously about getting things done.

Quiltdivajulie

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"open your day like a squirrel opens the misplaced acorn with purpose curiously ready to devour."

Joey Doherty

Githerments - First Flimsy of 2026

Githerments, one of the Macnas bonus quilts, is a flimsy - the first one of 2026.

(Githerments is an old Yorkshire word that refers to a random assortment or mix of items)

Approximately 52" x 72" and made from the excess cut pieces and leftovers after piecing the top for Fandango, Macnas No. 7.

On the right side of the flimsy in this photo you can see a strip pieced using blocks left after piecing Githerments.  

Waste not. Want not. 

Onward to the backing for Githerments . . . 

After I pieced Trouvaille (which is currently on the pool noodles ready to be pin basted/quilted before month end), I cobbled together this scrappy backing.  

Originally I had a panel in the center but removed it and replaced it with more of the one pink fabric already in the back.

I like pink, a lot, but this back was overwhelming so I never sewed it together aside from the left and right columns.

I tucked the pieces into a project box, hoping that another quilt would come along where I might be able to salvage all or part of that fabric.

In that same box I also added a long insert strip pieced with half-rectangles from Pretty in Pink and another long insert strip pieced with more leftovers from Blossom and Fandango.

When I started work on Githerments, I knew I had found the elusive project for all that pink.

But this time, I added more scrappy goodness, creating vertical columns to take advantage of all three leftovers insert strips and two different leftover binding strips.  

I like this and will get it sewn together in the next few days so Githerments will be ready to quilt right after I finish Trouvaille and Fandango (similar color palettes and likely the same quilting thread).

* * *

One of my primary goals in the studio this year is to move the remaining Macnas quilts along so that all 12, and maybe even the four bonus quilts (Holus Bolus, Rastro, Motley, and Githerments), are finished by year-end.  I've set the studio squirrels a challenge to keep me on task as the year progresses - we'll see if they can keep their end of the agreement.

Quiltdivajulie

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Githerments and Trouvaille Make Progress

I decided that since Fandango (Macnas series no. 7 of 12) will be quilted early next year, I'd like to have Githerments (a bonus quilt made with leftover rectangles from Fandango and Blossoms) ready to be quilted as well.  With the same color palette I should be able to use the same quilting threads.  

To that end, I went ahead and spent part of an afternoon power sewing the remaining sets of color rectangles with black and white squares. 

The half-block strips are much neater since being pressed.

Next step was to sort the half-block strips based on the rectangle's color (41 unique fabrics in the mix).

This photo was taken after I'd started pairing pinks with purples (that's the taller stack at the far end of the dining room table).

I came up a few pinks short so I'll cut 24 additional rectangles, pair them with the leftover black and white squares and then pair the new half-block strips with the leftover purples.

I need a total of 156 4" x 6" (finished) blocks to lay out the quilt top (along the lines of Caim and Comfortable).

The nutcrackers on our dining room buffet kept a close eye on my work.

I've also gotten the back pieced and pressed for Trouvaille.  The back (left), batting (center) and top (right) are rolled onto pool noodles ready for me to pin baste the quilt sandwich early next week.  Trouvaille will be the 12th quilt for my annual quilt calendar so I need to get it done soon - the calendar itself is laid out and ready to order as soon as I have photos of this last 2025 finished quilt.

(the wrinkled batting on the far right is the last 62" from the giant roll - it has plenty of time to relax before I use it with one of the smaller quilts in the waiting-to-be-finished queue).

Quiltdivajulie

Since My Last Post

Let's start with the weekend first - Young Man was here for an overnight so little else was done beyond enjoying him.  

That said, while he was busy playing video games on DeeDah's computer I was able to take some better outdoor photos of Kefi:

I really do love this happy, scrappy quilt!

Late last week I was able to get the backing sewn together for Shirts and Such which is next up for quilting.

And as soon as Shirts and Such is quilted, Trouvaille will be ready for its turn with Max.  

The Kaffe yardage on the left will be the backing.  The bias stripe will become binding.

I hope to get both of these quilted and finished by early December.  

Time will tell!

Quiltdivajulie

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"A stash should not be a museum with everything behind glass forever - but a restaurant with revolving door and changing menu."

Amanda Leins