Blue Old Italian Blocks

There wasn't a lot of time this week to work on my Old Italian blocks in blue for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, but I did manage to double the number of finished blocks. I'm up to an even dozen!

Old Italian blocks, 3" finished size

I also cut pieces for more blocks from the rest of my blue 30's fabrics. It was surprising how many different blue fabrics I had in that box, probably another 20 or so blocks in blue. I'm keeping the pieces next to my machine to use as leaders and enders.

I got the instructions for these blocks at Barbara Black's blogpost HERE. She also includes directions for 5" and 6" blocks.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday and Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Trip Around the World Mini

Our quilt guild has taken on a new Community Service project this year. We are planning to make extra-long twin quilts for a children's home. The quilts need to be gender neutral and not too childish because the residents range in age from early teens up to 21.

In looking at many design options, I realized that I have never made a bed-sized Trip Around the World quilt. I figured out how to make one that would end up the right size, and I checked out a variety of patterns and tutorials. My favorite technique is Bonnie Hunter's, which is available as a free pattern.

In case there were others in the guild who wanted to try the same pattern, I decided to make a miniature version as a test sample. My plan for the twin version would use squares that finish at either 4.5" or 5". Squares in this mini quilt top are 1" finished.

Trip Around the World mini

13.5" x 19.5"

I still need to figure out the total amount of yardage I will need for a twin version, and I might work up a couple of diagrams for others to follow if they want to try the same design. We have a group prep/cutting day planned for next week, so it's time for me to get ready for that.

I'm  linking up with:

Wednesday Wait Loss at Inquiring Quilter

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Sunday Stash & Stitching 1/18/2026

Once again, there are no changes to show on my stash report this week. I thought I had finished the top of my 2025 Temperature Quilt last Sunday, but I decided to remake a few of the blocks before calling it done. Maybe I'll have a completed top to share next week.

2026 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                    0.0 yards

Used year to date:                0.0 yards

Added last week:                  0.0 yards

Added year to date:              0.0 yards

Net used in 2026:             0.0 yards

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. Much of my time was spent taking care of guild business before our meeting and workshop on Thursday. I did start one new project for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, which you can see in yesterday's post, plus I've been preparing backs for quilts to be long-arm quilted.

15 Minute Challenge 2026

1/11 - 1/17              7 of 7 days

2026 Total            17 of 17 days

Success rate                100 %   

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. Thanks so much to Donna and Kate for continuing to host these link-ups. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

2026 Rainbow Scrap Challenge

After about a dozen years of very active involvement in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, last year I felt the need to back off a bit. I loved piecing the many projects I have made through the years, but I haven't done so well at finishing them, leaving me with a large collection of rainbow quilt tops, plus some sets of blocks waiting to be joined together. 

I didn't start any new RSC projects last year, but I did manage to assemble three more rainbow quilt tops, Hollow 9-Patch, the Scrappy Colorwash "Terry" Quilt (one of my favorite projects from last year,) and Hearts Applique. I also made some placemats early in the year based on the color of the month.

Scrappy Colorwash "Terry" quilt top, 60" x 81"

It sure felt like something was missing from my quilting experiences by not being a part of the RSC last year, so I'm getting back into it again. I decided to start small, making 3" Old Italian blocks from my 30's scraps. I was inspired by recent posts by Barbara Black and by Cathy at Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting. Cathy's blog is a constant source of inspiration, and I am always amazed at her productivity and organization.

Old Italian blocks, 3" finished size

My plan is to keep a stack of pieces for these blocks next to my machine and use them as leaders and enders. I expect to set the blocks with a plain alternate block, but I'm not convinced this yellow is the right color; maybe something a little softer would be better. There's plenty of time before I need to decide that.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday and Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Temperature Quilt 2026

My main project over the last week was joining the sections of my Temperature Quilt from 2025. I'm excited to be getting very close to having a finished top, and I hope to have photos to share soon. I had such a fun time making last year's quilt that I have started a new Temperature Quilt for 2026. I'm using most of the same fabrics as last year, which are  Glaze and Glaze II by Libs Elliott for Andover Fabrics. Here's my color palette for the 2026 quilt.

A few of the colors were swapped out from last year's lineup, and the order of some of the others was switched around. I have 28 colors, and each one represents a range of 3 degrees going from 21° or lower up to 100° and above. The black fabric shown at the top will be my setting and sashing, although I might switch to a solid black.

This time I am using a Herringbone pattern that is foundation pieced. Here are the first nine days. The strips on the left represent the daily high temps, and the shorter strips on the right are the lows. We've had unusually warm weather for the beginning of January. The three bright yellow strips represent highs of 70 degrees.

Herringbone Temperature Quilt 2026

The Herringbone design that I am using is a free pattern from Tina Craig at Seaside Stitches. I enlarged the pattern a bit and am planning to add sashing between the monthly herringbone panels. I look forward to another year of tracking the weather here in Georgia.

I'm  linking up with:

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Monday Musings at Songbird Designs

Wednesday Wait Loss at Inquiring Quilter

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Sunday Stash and Stitching 1/11/2026

My stash report doesn't show any movement yet for 2026, no usage or additions, but I expect that to change next week. I'm trying to finish up a couple of projects from last year, and I desperately need to do some tidying in the sewing room. It's getting hard to find any open spaces on my cutting table!

2026 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                    0.0 yards

Used year to date:                0.0 yards

Added last week:                  0.0 yards

Added year to date:              0.0 yards

Net used in 2026:             0.0 yards

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. Assembly of my Temperature Quilt, along with taking care of some guild business, has kept me quite busy. Very soon I will complete my term as President of the guild, which will be quite a relief.

15 Minute Challenge 2026

1/4 - 1/10                7 of 7 days

2026 Total             10 of 10 days

Success rate                 100 %   

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. Thanks so much to Donna and Kate for continuing to host these link-ups. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Sunday Stash and Stitching 1/4/2026

The first Sunday of the new year means it is time to reset the numbers back to zero as we start over with the Sunday Stash Reports. That is good news for me this year, since my final stash totals for 2025 ended up in the red by quite a few yards, mostly due to some large purchases late in the year. I did have 3 yards used in the final week on a pair of pajama pants for my Braves-loving husband.

2025 FINAL STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                    3.0 yards

Used year to date:              76.5 yards

Added last week:                  0.0 yards

Added year to date:       103.875 yards

Net added in 2025:     27.375 yards

For many years, my yearly fabric goals have remained the same: 

1. Use (or donate/get rid of) at least 100 yards of fabric.

2. Use more fabric from the stash than new fabric added to the stash.

I was not successful at meeting either of those goals last year, which was surprising because I finished more quilts than I had in recent years. I looked back at all my finished quilts for the year and realized two things that impacted the stash usage. First of all, most of the finished quilts were quite small, either baby quilts or wall hangings. Second, the tops for several of the finished quilts had been pieced in previous years, with the fabric usage counted in those years. In a couple cases, they were already partially quilted, which means the backing had been counted earlier too. 

I've been tracking my stash usage and additions since 2012, and it was very interesting to compare my totals through the years. I used at least 100 yards in 8 of those 14 years, and I achieved the goal of using more than I added in 7 of 14 years. 2025 was the first time since my retirement in 2020 that I didn't use at least 100 yards. 

The most interesting fact for me from all these numbers is to see how close I've come to balancing usage and additions over the years. The grand total comes to 14 yards net usage in the past 14 years. I'll continue to track my stash and try to reach the same goals again in 2026.

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. It ended up being one of my best years ever for the 15 Minutes Challenge, and I hope to do just as well next year.

15 Minute Challenge for 2025

12/28 - 12/31           4 of 4 days

2025 Total         360 of 365 days

Success rate              98.63 %   

15 Minute Challenge for 2026

1/1 - 1/3                  3 of 3 days

2026 Total                3 of 3 days

Success rate                100 %   

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. Thanks so much to Donna and Kate for continuing to host these link-ups. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Best of 2025--Year in Review

The end of the year is always a good time to look back and reflect on what we accomplished this year. Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs is hosting the Best of 2025 Linky Party, a chance to link up our top blog posts from the past year. I've been having a great time going through my posts from 2025 and revisiting my quilt projects. Each listing has a link back to the original blog post.

1. Favorite finished top: Scrappy Colorwash "Terry" quilt top

I began making the scrappy little 3" blocks for this quilt early in 2024 as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and the top was completed this July. I was inspired by Terry Rowland's amazing colorwash quilts, which are featured in her series of three YouTube videos. I ended up using a total of 540 blocks in the quilt top, each finishing at 3" square, and I'm extremely happy with how well the colors flow across the quilt.

 Scrappy Colorwash "Terry" quilt top

60" x 81"

2. Favorite year-long project: Temperature Quilt 

In November of 2024, our guild enjoyed a presentation by Jo Avery on Temperature Quilts, which led several of us to start our own Temperature Quilt projects. I came up with a block design that is fairly easy to make every day, and I've mostly managed to keep up making the blocks. As you can see in the photo, I  have all the blocks for the year finished except for the last few days of the year, and I hope to have a finished quilt top before long.

Temperature Quilt, blocks through 12/27/2025

3. Favorite (and oldest) UFO finish: Chinese Coins

My Chinese Coins quilt was started at a quilt shop sewing day way back in 1998! The quilt shop called the design Chinese Coins, but they look like Snowball blocks to me. The quilt top was completed very quickly, but I always struggled to figure out how to quilt it. Our guild's 2025 UFO Challenge motivated me to finally get it done, and I'm so glad that I did.

Chinese Coins, 44.5" x 51.5"

4. Favorite workshop: Outspoken (Improv Alphabet)

This was a tough choice because I was able to take several excellent workshops this year, but this was the one that I just couldn't stop working on until the quilt top was complete. Our "Outspoken" class was taught by Elaine Poplin, who shared her techniques for making these wonderful scrappy improv letters.

Improv Alphabet, 53.25" x 55.75"

5. Most challenging new project: Jane Stickle Sampler

I've admired many beautiful versions of the Jane Stickle Sampler Quilt through the years. For some reason, 2025 was the year that I decided to try making one myself. I bought several different blue, teal and turquoise shades of Grunge in the spring, plus a cream Grunge for the background, and got started. At present, I have made 76 of the 169 blocks needed for the center of the quilt, which means I'm nearing the halfway point. After that comes the 56 triangle and kite-shaped border blocks.

Jane Stickle Sampler

My greatest satisfaction in 2025 is the fact that I finished more quilts than I have in many years. I ended the year with 12 finished quilts, ranging in size from wall-hanging to throw quilt. Half of those were new projects in 2025, and the other half were UFOs that are now completed. I also assembled 10 other quilt tops, most of them started in 2024 or 2025, but a few were older projects. My focus next year needs to be on quilting up more of those quilt tops.

Thanks to Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs for giving us all the opportunity to share our favorite posts and projects from the past year. I'm joining up with her Best of 2025 Linky Party.

Happy quilting and Happy New Year to all!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 12/28/2025

It was a surprise when I sat down to write my blog post today and discovered that I didn't post a stash report last Sunday. I can't even remember what kept me from posting last week, just holiday busy-ness I guess. But I'm back today, and it's the last Sunday of 2025.

Improv Alphabet, 53.25" x 55.75"

My stash report shows fabric both coming in and going out. The usage side has 4.5 yards used in my Improv Alphabet quilt top, shown above, which I was very pleased to finish last week. You can read more about it in my post HERE.

Spell It with Fabric

While working on the alphabet quilt, I remembered a set of blocks I made a few years ago for another alphabet quilt called Spell It with Fabric, a free pattern available from the Fat Quarter Shop. I first blogged about that project HERE. The blocks are all made and have been waiting patiently, but I was never quite satisfied with my border fabric. Last week I ordered another option for the border, which I think will be much better. That's the grey piece in the photo below. The lime green prints are part of a single piece of fabric that will be divided into four different fat quarters. Total added to the stash was 4 yards.

2025 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                   4.5 yards

Used year to date:             73.5 yards

Added last week:                 4.0 yards

Added year to date:       103.875 yards

Net added in 2025:     30.375 yards

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. I missed one day in the last two weeks, but managed to get at least a little quilting time every other day, and I'm very happy with my numbers for the year.

15 Minute Challenge for 2025

12/14 - 12/27        13 of 14 days

2025 Total         356 of 361 days

Success rate               98.6 %   

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. Thanks so much to Donna and Kate for continuing to host these link-ups. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Improv Alphabet Quilt Top Finished!

The holiday season has seemed even busier than usual this year, which has really limited my time in the sewing room. For the past month, almost all of my quilting time has been focused on a single project, and now my Improv Alphabet quilt top is complete!

Improv Alphabet, 53.25" x 55.75"

My alphabet quilt was started in a workshop called "Outspoken" with Elaine Poplin of Huntsville, AL. We learned Elaine's techniques for making scrappy improv letters. Below is one of Elaine's quilts that includes letters.

Be Strong by Elaine Poplin

Some people were making letters for specific phrases, but I decided to make the whole alphabet, using bright colors on a background of scrappy black and dark grey fabrics. I added chunks of bright-on-black prints for the outer border to finish it off.

This is probably my last finish for 2025, but who knows what I might get done between now and the end of the year. I've been thinking about quilting plans for the new year, including UFOs for our guild challenge and which quilts I hope to finish for an upcoming show. There's always plenty to keep me busy around here.

I'm  linking up with:

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Monday Musings at Songbird Designs

Wednesday Wait Loss at Inquiring Quilter

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Rainbow Scrap Challenge at So Scrappy

 Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. 

Happy holidays and happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA