Along with doing the declutter challenge in January I decided it was time to bind a few quilts that have been “waiting”. Waiting for what, I’m not sure. Anyway, these were made and even quilted a while ago–not saying how long–but finally getting them bound makes them the first finishes of 2026.

Besties I and Besties II were made from a Villa Rosa pattern called “Besties”.

My first idea was to use one of those landscape fabrics and make the squares as windows.

I was thinking of using this to teach beginning quilting. However, after making the quilts I decided the design wouldn’t work for beginning quilters. It’s easy enough, for sure, but beginners typically have a terrible time choosing fabric (OK they may not be the only ones) and I thought picking an effective focus fabric for the block centers might be too much pressure. So these are going off to Ronald McDonald House the next time my friend delivers a load of quilts.

This focus fabric was more successful, but I still thought having to choose it would make students anxious

This was a quick and easy pattern, so I do recommend it if you have a focus fabric you want to use.

I almost never do mystery quilts for many reasons, but I have liked what I’ve seen and done from previous mysteries by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr of Modern Quilt Studio. Of course, I signed up for those AFTER the quilts were revealed, so I knew what they would look like. This one, for example:

Here’s a Modern Quilt Studio quilt I made in 2024.

Last fall I was looking for something fun to end 2025 and signed up for Modern Quilt Studio’s Matchmaker mystery when it started–meaning it really was a mystery.

Well! I was only partly finished with my blocks when the final quilt was revealed and I didn’t care for it!!!  Here’s a link to one of the finished samples. Those rows were too lined-up-and-regular for my taste. The blocks were interesting, the quilt not so much.

So now I have all these beautiful blocks that I am NOT going to put into that design. And there are other blocks I didn’t even make.

The current plan is to combine some of these into composite blocks of various sizes and go from there. One of the things I recall from basic design class is that each component of a composition should be a good composition in itself, so I’m trying to make composite blocks that look good on their own. Then we’ll see how they go together. Here are a few block combinations I’m trying out.

I love these big dancing blocks, so will leave them as they are:

And here’s my initial idea for layout, primarily because I thought the dancing blocks could lend structure by going diagonally through the middle.

I thought it needed help, so some friends came the other day, and we worked on it some more to make bigger groups.

That’s still not it, but we’re getting there. I like the color choices and the individual blocks, so this will NOT be a UFO forever! Stay tuned…

We seem to be trying to have a real winter here in the south! We got about 10 inches of snow over last weekend, so you know what I did.

We got 10.5″ of snow!

I dug out these little blocks I had started as leaders and enders a couple of years ago. I had about 100 of them, but they finished at 4″, so I needed a lot more of something for a quilt.

These are just a few of the little blocks I had made up

When I finish a quilt I cut my scraps into strips of standard widths from 1.5″ to 4.5″ and store them in little drawers by size. I decided to use some of those to enlarge the blocks.

These blocks have the first round of additional strips; some blocks got two rounds

Eventually I ran out of precut strips in the purple and blue color family. Also, these blocks were looking awfully BUSY. So I decided to set them with alternate plain blocks.

Finished top, about 62″ x 72″

And here it is. This will go to my friend who quilts our tops for Flying Horse Farms. I’m getting pretty close to my goal on tops for them for the first half of the year!

We had snow toward the end of January, and thank goodness it wasn’t too much, BUT I got a couple of snow/sew days!

A friend of mine made the Smidge pattern, by Villa Rosa Designs, and I liked it.

So I drew a larger version, 60″ x 70″, to make it suitable for donation. I drew it in EQ8, and the program figured yardage for me.

Luckily, I had the necessary fabric left over from a previous project. For starters, here’s the previous quilt:

There are many chandelier quilt patterns out there, but this one was free on the Free Spirit website

And here’s one more quilt that used that same fabric collection. I guess I really liked that fabric!

Finished top is about 61″ x 71″

And here’s my version of Smidge, now 60″ x 70″.

I changed the name of this quilt to Blips for my version

This is just a top. It will be passed on to my friend who quilts our tops for Flying Horse Farms and then delivers them for us! This was quick, easy, and fun. I recommend either the original pattern or drafting your own version.

I’m taking part in Karen’s annual Declutter Challenge and have found a number of things to straighten up or get rid of. I’m a book lover, but I long ago joined my blogging friend Melanie in limiting the number of books to the shelf space available. Despite this I found about 30 books that will be passed on because I don’t use them any more.

See that almost-empty space? I got rid of about 1/3 of my books!

However! One of the other “declutter” categories was mementos and I had no idea I had so many. They’re little, so they’ve been stored in a dresser drawer too shallow for anything else and I hadn’t thought about them.

There were all these pins, mostly from QuiltCon in various years, though some from AQS shows as well:

And all these nice enamel pans from many other quilt conferences and one art museum:

I threw away the cheap button pins and put the enamel pins back in their box. I always think I should make a hanger to display them, so maybe this is the year for that project.

In the same drawer (different section) were my show ribbons, another thing I don’t know what to do with. I just left them for now. I know some people leave them on the winning quilts, but since I give my quilts away that’s not an option.

No, I’m not sure why they’re all “upside down” when viewed from the front of the drawer!

I’m enjoying the decluttering challenge. And now I need a decluttering plan for the rest of my clutter, not just the quilt room. Maybe start with my desk? (No, I’m not showing a photo!)

Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions for my oval orphan blocks! I decided to use 4 of the 5 to make a quilt to for Flying Horse Farms, and here it is:

Finished top is about 61″ x 71″

There were some anxious moments before it came together, but I’m happy with it. Those prints, designed by Chong-A Hwang, definitely give it a punch. The top will now go on to my friend who quilts and delivers to Flying Horse Farms.

I saved out my favorite block to do something with later:

AND when I was cleaning up/putting away after finishing, I found an additional block!

Oops! I think it will just go in the orphan bin!

BUT all this means that I’ve finished my UFO for January! Woo-hoo!

These blocks are my first UFO (unfinished object) for 2026, and the big question is WHAT to do with them?

They are actually a DOUBLE UFO because I made them from orphan blocks as a way to experiment with my new (at the time) oval ruler.

These are big blocks, about 18″ square. My default use for orphan blocks is to combine them into a donation quilt top BUT these all have different backgrounds (using up scraps) so I’m not sure about that. Plus I’m thinking of taking that middle one on the bottom apart because I don’t like the orientation of the upper left quadrant…huh.

Here are the options I’ve come up with so far, but I would appreciate any ideas:

1. Finish one or more individually as art quilts.
2. Mount one or more individually on canvas as art quilts–some of my blogging friends have started doing this, but then what?
3. Cut them up some more! Always an option…
4. Make them into a donation quilt anyway, possibly with black sashing.
5. Put them back in the closet and choose another UFO–maybe another day will bring better ideas!
6. Make a lot more of them and then decide.

One more option I considered but will NOT do: take them apart and re-cut so backgrounds are all the same. Too much work for orphan blocks!

Help! Any ideas???

A note before we start: A reader has pointed out that, on some devices, you will need to click/tap on a picture to see it clearly. Although WordPress does a pretty good job of adapting to different formats, there are a lot of different devices out there, so if my photos look distorted, please try clicking on them. And best wishes for the holidays, whatever you celebrate!

I finished 49 quilts in 2025, ranging from postcard size to twin size. Most of those have now been donated, but a few are displayed in our home. Here are some of my favorites.

Quilt Drama, 63″ x 77″

I made this to showcase the fun novelty fabrics I was “forced” to buy because they made light of quilting “disasters”. I keep it on the living room couch!

Pattern is BQ2, available hereIce Cubes, 54″ x 54″

I got this design idea from a Zen Chic quilt and made this to use up scraps. I store my scraps as strips cut to uniform widths, so this was fast.

Don’t Forget the Orange, 18″ x 25″

This little quilt was a fun experiment. It’s supposed to have a companion, but I haven’t figured that one out yet. Maybe in 2026?

An Orange, Not An Onion, 57″ x 68″

I started Karla Alexander’s Blue Onion quilt but really hated her process, so I made only a few blocks and used them as the focus of this quilt.

Orange Star, 50″ x 50″

I designed this in EQ8 because I had admired several similar quilts.

Curious By Nature 2, 61″ x 61″

I liked this pattern so much I made 2 of them, then taught it as a class. This is hanging in my upstairs hall now.

Elizabeth’s Quilt, 61″ x 69″

Made from a pattern by my friend Elizabeth, using fabric she gave me.

Half a Bubble Off Plumb, 57″ x 59″

I designed this to integrate some of the blocks I made in Tara Faughnan’s block studies class. It’s probably my favorite quilt of the year.

Indian Blanket, 45″ x 58″

I made this using ideas from both Tara Faughnan and Brenda Gael Smith. I sleep under this one!

Swirl, 60″ x 66″

This was made from a pattern by Triangle Frenzy. It was easier than it looks, and so dramatic that I made 2 of them!

Whew! On to 2026!

Here are some projects my friends and I are working on, or plan to work on in the coming year. It’s not that we’re abandoning our many “regular” quilt projects; we’re considering these items as ways to try out some new things. Maybe you’ll get some new ideas, too!

One of my friends is a collage maker, and she got me going on this Laura Heine design, which is unfinished at this time.

Another friend just made this wonderful hummingbird from a Legit Kit.

This version of the Legit Kit, complete with batiks in the amounts needed, was ordered from Quilt A Bit in Greenacres, Florida (U.S.). The shop has a few kits on their website, but you can also phone and ask for Dawn to find out if they have or will make the kit you’re interested in. They use the Legit Kit pattern, which is included in their kit, but Quilt A Bit kits with batiks rather than the Kona cottons the Legit Kit people use. I’m a fan of the batik option!

Another friend has decided the solution for her EPP (English Paper Piecing) issues is to make BIG pieces! She’s cutting her scraps all to the size she needs for these hexies!

Which brings us to another larger-size EPP project. We’re going to try out the bowls in this pattern.

And here’s a book we want to try!

Finally, a couple of us found this fabric and finished the bolt. Now we have to design something to do with it.

This is one of Brigitte Heitland’s Zen Chic fabrics for Moda

Stay tuned, and please share any new ideas you have! I’m always looking for something new to learn.