I am still quilting, jumping from one project to another one. Eventually, all will be finished. The Maine Guild challenge for 2026 – 2027 has been decided. A block would be made with the colors of a piece of fabric. The block can be any size. The smallest is six inches square. Everyone who participated brought a piece to be voted on and this one was chosen for the challenge. It is a beautiful fabric with all the colors of the rainbow.

When I was in the cutting line at Mardens, earlier in the year, I saw fat quarter packages. They were beautiful. I bought them with no quilt in mind. Some fabrics just jump into your cart, and you have no control over them. They are perfect for the challenge block. Seventeen quilters have signed up for the challenge, so I have to make seventeen blocks. Which block hasn’t been decided yet. I’ve been considering flying geese, potato chips and several others. The due date for the blocks is March 2027 and the due date for the quilt is September 2027 so I have a little time to make a decision.

Another community quilt is finished. There are two more of the seven that I chose to finish. I have started to quilt one of the last two and the quilting is going well.

This is another potato chip block quilt. It was made with the final pieces of the Robert Kaufmann fabric. Where it is so dark, I knew that the quilting would not show. I found a floral print for the back. The flowers were outlined in black. I free motion quilted the quilt upside down, following the black lines.

The Temperature Quilt is up to date. We have had some cold mornings, but the afternoons have been beautiful. The deck furniture is in the shed. The shrubs have been trimmed. The leaves will be picked up after they are all off the trees.

I saved some trimmings from the Japanese Willow. They have been in a pitcher of water. The leaves are dry so I was going to throw them out, but I notices little shoots coming off the ends. They will stay in the water for a few more weeks. When the shoots get big enough, I can plant them in the house and put them outside next spring, There is always hope.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

Summer is over and fall is here. When I look back at the summer, I think that I haven’t quilted very much. A good book on the deck called me quite often. Most of what I finished was ufos and very few new projects. I did finish the three challenge ufos.

Most of what I finished has been in past blogs. With fall here, maybe I can finish some more ufos and start new quilts.

The Temperature quilt is up to date. I’ve found that it’s easier to make a week’s worth of flying geese at a time. They are easy to make with Kimberly Einmo’s Flying Geese ruler. We had a few very hot days this summer.

A new quilt was one that was repeated. My daughter and I were at a quilt store in Salt Lake City years ago when we saw a quilt on a bed display. We both said “Mile A Minute” at the same time. I took a picture and made a similar quilt with mile a minute blocks when I got home. One day a family group came to my house, and they all went home with a quilt. The Mile A minute was one of the ones chosen to go. The second quilt will be a community quilt.

I inherited some red and blue patches from another quilters sewing room. They have been in my stash for years. I have no idea where they came from, but they are in another community quilt.

A lot of my scraps were cut into potato chips. This is an easy quilt to make.

This quilt was the example for a class that I taught. It was called Four pins and a Needle. Hand piecing and hand quilting was taught. It was the basic quilting before all the “must have” tools were invented. A quilt can be made with just four pins and a needle. And, of course, scissors, fabric, thread, a ruler, a pencil and cardboard. It doesn’t take all the expensive gadgets to make a quilt. I did start making it by hand but finished it with the machine. It is much faster.

This little baby quilt was made from the example blocks from a Mile A Minute class. The center of each block was fussy cut. I still have a large stash of other Mile A Minute blocks from the class. I’ll be making more Mile A Minute quilts in the future.

The quilt under my needle is being quilted upside side down. The back has large flowers that are outlined in black. I’m free motion quilting on the black lines with black thread. It does take longer than regular quilting, but I’ve started it that way and will finish it that way. A new class with Angela Walters has just started. I’ve watched some of her instructions and will use them on one of the ufos that I have in the basket.

Have a great day and happy quilting.