Finished Or Not Friday: Over and Down Under

Welcome to my first "Finished Or Not Friday" for 2026!  

As always our gracious hostess is the lovely Alycia of Quilty Girl Alycia.  I've already checked and it looks like there were A LOT of quilters who took advantage of all the bad weather to stay in and get some projects moved to a finish!

 

Despite this being another very cold and chilly day,  I am warmed by this finish!  

This is Bonnie Sullivan's "Over and Down Under" design made from a Windham Fabrics kit featuring a Jelly Roll of their "Gala" fabric line by Whistler Studios.

I was thrilled to get this kit because it came with Bonnie's pattern which is one I had long wanted to make --- the fact that the kit was also on sale helped too, LOL!   Even better, the notice about the sale came right before "Sew A Jelly Roll Day" in 2023 so when I started this,  it presented a fun opportunity to particpate in that event for the first time.  The backing stash I collected also gave me an opportunity to pay tribute to a trip we were due to take in the Fall of that year:

When I shopped for the backing,  I saw these pillow panels sold as a yardage cut and thought the colors perfectly reflected the colors of the "Gala" Jelly Roll.  I was excited that I might get to see the actual attractions in the park that are featured in the panels when we went camping in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park in October that year.   I also added another print from the Riley Blake National Parks line to fill out the rest of the back. 

I had hoped to finish this in time to take a picture of the quilt in the park.  Since I am just getting this (finally) completed this year, needless to say that didn't happen.  We do want to visit that park again so if we do,  this time I'll be ready to bring it along!

When I had finished the top and backing and layered the quilt,  I decided on just simply outlining both sides of all the seams in both directions.  I find quilts that are grid stitched always seem to take way longer to complete than quilts stitched with free motion motifs although it could just be the "slog factor" of it all.  Additionally, because I chose to use monofilament thread on top to quilt it,  at least intially I had to battle getting my Juki to establish a smooth stitching rythmn with that thread to avoid it "catching" and breaking mid stitch.

I am really pleased with my decision to use the scrap HST cutoffs from the "flip and sew" corners of the edge units....

....to both accent the corners of the quilt top and the label area pieced into the back.

The quilt label will be written in here.

I used a Hobbs Tuscany Cotton and Wool Blend batting and with all the stitching,  it already has a built in "crinkly" look even before it has been washed!  I already have another Jelly Roll, this time of Bonnie Sullivan's "Woolies" flannel with which I hope to make the neutral colored version.

I also have a stash of bright colored flannel leftovers from other projects so would consider cutting strips to make the bright version too!  

The only downside of working on this now is that this wasn't even on my UFO list for this year.  It had already been partially quilted in 2023 and 2024 and I had planned to try to finish it up with projects worked on at the end of last year.  This puts me behind on the UFO I was supposed to work on this month but hopefully looking at a finished quilt should get me in the mood to try to tackle that one over the weekend.

So join me in heading back over to Quilty Girl Alycia's and see what everyone else is sharing for this week's "Finished Or Not Friday" quilt fest!     

First "To Do Tuesday" Post for 2026

Ahhh, glad to be back among the folks at Carol's "Quilt Schmilt" to chart my weekly doings for "To Do Tuesday".  It has taken awhile to come off of the holiday high and get back to working on projects.  Being buried by the big snowstorm this weekend helped since I had no choice but to stay home!

The view out of my kitchen window during "Snowmageddon".

I've spent most of this month doing Karen Brown's (of "Just Get It Done Quilts") "Declutter Challenge".  For the first twenty-one days of the year she prompted quilters to take a good look at their creative spaces and try to sort, organize and discard (if necessary) things from a variety of spots within your space as well as your notions and project stashes.  This is the first time I've done the Challenge from beginning to end.  My space really needed it and while some organizing and "re-homing" progress was made,  I can't say I discarded a lot or even cleared places fully.  

However, what I have really gained is new insight into having a better handle on where I currently do or would prefer to store things.  Most important is now I really appreciate what are the "capacities" of those spaces.  Going forward I can be more focused about answering the questions that will keep those spots clear:  

• "Do I really need this and does it need to be here?" 
• "How much space do I have or want to designate to this item/category of things?"
• "Do I really think I will use/need/make this thing in the near future or can it be discarded, donated or be more useful if given to someone else?"     

That was a big eye opener as I admit to being guilty of focusing on "wanting to make" things but not as much on if I think I'll get to it soon.  Who am I kidding, I always THINK I will make something sooner than I actually get around to doing, LOL!!  

Now before committing to another project or purchase,  I want to really take stock of how much I already have and whether there is space to accomodate storing it if it doesn't get into the "To Do" rotation immediately.  If not, I really have to consider waiting on a purchase until making it is either a more urgent need or space opens up to accomodate it.  

I did come across three project fabric stashes that I decided could be put back in general stash and will consider using in the mystery I signed up for this year.  

Reorganizing the remaining stashes meant cataloging exactly how much is already there (whew!) and then setting new priorites for getting some things started and out.   

Plans for the Year 

So with all that said, I did take some time to think about what I need or want to work on this year and when.  I also focused an eye on things that have already been laying around for a long time so need, once and for all, to get moved on so they can free up a project box or bag for a new project when the time comes.  I also am trying again to have a "UFO Challenge List" for the year and have picked twelve projects for that.  

I'll be following the Quilted Forest's monthly prompts on YouTube for that but I saw that Corey Yoder of Coriander Quilts is also doing it this year.  I also identified quite a few charity, gift and holiday deadline projects I want to tackle so have put those on the calendar so I have a heads up on the need to work on those in order to get them done in time.   

Finished So Far

Speaking of getting some long sitting things done, I have one completed:  last year I finished this replica of the quilt Beth Dutton used in the "Yellowstone" TV show but never made a label for it. 

Having done a unique label technique for a quilt during two of my "7 Days of New Year's" sessions,  I was thrilled that I had another quilt that needed a fun label idea.  While doing the "Magazine Declutter",  I came across these issues from Fons & Porter from 2003.  

I had them together because I had once considered making the "Jubilee Album" series in them.  I am still considering that project although this year it's for a special reason (hopefully more on that later if I get it started).  However the quilt on the cover of the first issue the series appeared in gave me the label solution for my quilt!  When I had finished the "Yellowstone" quilt I didn't do my usual procedure of piecing a label area into the back.  When I have to do a label that will be applied after quilting (which means it will have to be sewn on by hand),  I am thinking of how to make it a little special.  

Since this is a Western-themed quilt I thought a Western themed label would be appropriate.  I had picked up an interesting horse print while shop hopping last Fall that I had thought would be great for that label.  One idea I had was to cut out the big Y-shaped Yellowstone branding symbol out of it and do the label that way.  In my journal notes for this project I had at one point thought about doing a label in the shape of a cowboy hat.  Although the cover quilt also offered a block for that, what I liked even better for using the print that I had was the cowboy boot block on the cover!

It took a bit to get it done since printing the label text onto the fabric meant prepping it with Bubble Jet Set first.  The bottle I had was just about empty so I had to order more and then wait for it to arrive.  I also tried just cutting and ironing a label sized piece of fabric to just one corner of a freezer paper sheet to put through the printer.  I have two packs of pre-cut sheets and found that pages pulled from one of the packs weren't really securing the fabric well and twice the fabric shifted during the printing.  So the last and third time I prepped a full sheet of fabric and used a page from the other pack which stuck better and I got what I needed.  

To piece the rest of the block, I needed to find scraps of the barbed wire print from when I made a Western themed quilt for my MIL's husband to use for the foot of the boot and the backing fabric of the quilt to create the corners of the cuff and toe of the boot and fill the spaces above the foot and between the foot and the heel.  So that has managed to get done and been sewn on so is therefore off of my cutting and sewing tables!

Plans For the Week:

1.  At the end of last year, I had plans to finish  finish quilting my "Over and Down Under" quilt that I had started back in 2023 for the annual "Sew a Jelly Roll Day".   

I only have a few more columns of stitching to do on it and it will be done.

2.  The UFO Challenge number pulled by the Quilted Forest was  #4 which on my list is to finish the quilting for my "Modern Twist" quilt.  

This one had long stumped me as I wanted to do it with "water motifs".  I realized in the last few days that it might help to move this forward by making a small quilt sandwich to sample and practice potential stitch patterns rather than just trying to visualize them in my head.  

3.  I just barely had gotten my blocks for December done for my Alaska BOM.  I had held off making a set of pieced triangle blocks last month as I got to working on the blocks late.  Now here I am again but do I have another easy set of blocks to work on since once again I am short on time?

4.  My MIL's (well also mine since I joined it last year) guild has a very active Quilts of Valor ministry.  I had picked up a kit for one when I joined the guild and contributed a top that was finished into a quilt last year but hasn't been awarded yet.  Last year the process was to have all QOV tops submitted by September in order for the guild member that quilts them to have them ready for the November presentation ceremony.  This year they are looking for members to submit tops all through the year so the finishing work can be distributed throughout it.  

We will be traveling to visit my MIL in February so I wanted to try to have a top ready to bring for that upcoming trip.  Two weeks ago I went through my QOV/RWB fabrics and QOV patterns to see if I had anything I could make up quickly.  I found two and have this one laid out on the design wall waiting for me to make the final fabric selection:

5.  Oh and the last thing is to get back to my Cross stitch!!  I was going gang-busters toward the end of last year and then got flumoxed when I realized I had miscalculated the width of the fabric I was using for my "NY Skyline" project.  I had come up with a possible solution but will admit I was nervous about pursuing it and procrastination set in.  Since I already have a frame for it, I am determined to get back to it but in the meantime to help get me "in the stitching mood",  I am also starting another "Year of" piece in celebration of the Chinese New Year.  

Over the past three years I've done the ones by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery but earlier in the month when Pat Sloan showed a freebie one being offered,  I jumped at the chance to get it and make one of a slightly different design.  I had shopped for floss for it a couple of weeks ago and just pulled some potential fabrics for it yesterday so today settled down and started the stitching.    

 Okay, last year I found keeping my "Tuesday" lists to only two or three items worked out well so I don't know how much of this longer list I'll get done but it is what it is now!  I look forward to going back over to Carol's Quilt Schmilt to see how everyone else is faring for this week's "To Do Tuesday" as we finish the first month of 2026 and head into the second at the end of the week!

The End of the 7 Days of New Year's and the Start of 2026!

First off, wishing everyone a safe, healthy and happy New Year!

"Gathering A Garden" Finish Recap

Today another "7 Days" quilt-a-thon draws to a close.  I had spent the last two days quilting my "Gathering A Garden Is A Snap" quilt with the grid quilting I had drafted back in the summer.  

It's easier to see it from the back....

Once the quilting was done, I could do the binding.  Except I had so many great fabrics compiled for this project (as well as what had been collected in the process of making the lavender-themed raffle quilt back in 2023) that it was hard to decide which to use.  I did audition all of them:

The floral at the top left, a dark purple, a stripe and a batik were all considered.

I liked them all for different reasons but also felt most took too much attention away from the center.  So at first I was just going to go with the floral that matched the border setting triangles which had been my original plan.  However, after cutting strips for that, I got a brain storm:  how about a flange binding?!?  I auditioned again and settled on using a combination of the dark purple sprigs print and the floral and am very happy with that result!

Surprisingly, a flange binding is really easy to attach being that it is fully done by machine and is attached on the back and finished by stitching it onto the front (I used the Fabric Cafe's tips to do it).  

So from the design that originally inspired me all the way back in 2010 (and it looks like it might even still be available).....

....I finally have a finish that I hope to hang up in the Spring! 

A Twist On Labeling a Quilt

Back in 2022, I had finished this quilt:

I had made it to use up leftover fabrics from this project and to participate in Angela Walters'  "Fabulous Feathers" free-motion quilting challenge.  At the time I had backed it with a wide back fabric designed by Kim Diehl so hadn't done my usual technique of piecing a label area into the backing.  In fact it wasn't until a year or so later that I realized I still needed to decide on a label for it.  

Then in 2024 I went to my first Quilt Con and went to a lecture on labels by David Owen Hastings.  He had an interesting and new-to-me technique where he prints his labels onto fabric where the label either matches or coordinates with the backing fabrics!  I thought that was a cool idea and knowing I had to still label this quilt I wanted to try it.  

This quilt has been sitting in my quilt space for months as another of those things it has taken me a while to tackle which made it a prime "7 Days" project!  So yesterday I took a picture of the backing fabric, imported the image into my wordprocessing program and following his instructions, set up the label information to print "on top" of it:

The contrast is better close up.

I had purchased the printable fabric based on his instructions although I could have also used Bubble Jet Set and prepared my own fabric.  Given the need to turn this around pretty quickly,  I was glad for having the prepared fabric!  After printing the text on the fabric sheet,  I used my Accuquilt eight inch circle die to cut it out and then followed the package instuctions for rinsing it (to remove excess ink) and letting it dry.  

David's instructions call for piecing the label into the backing and I agree that would look better however this quilt has already long been quilted so I decided to add a border to the new label before sewing it on by hand today.  So now that's done too!

I'd like to try that again if I could be sure that I'd actually finish a project close to the date printed on the label.  Something to shoot for this year! 

Update:  Flannel Rag Pillow

Back in November I talked about making a flannel rag pillow.  I had made it up but kept forgetting to throw it in with the wash to "rag it up" so I could post it to the blog.  I finally did so this week so here is what it looked like right after making it up:

And here it is once it's been "ragged up"!

I really like this technique!  So of course I just had to get this book with some rag quilt designs courtesy of a used book sale:

I also hope to make it a habit to make a coordinating pillow to go with flannel quilts whenever I make them.  Hmmm, now I am wishing I had more of the fabric I used to make the raffle quilt back in September.  If I come across some at a good price, I might just make good on that!  

Now on the agenda is to do some decluttering with Karen Brown of "Just Get It Done Quilts".

Yet another way to get a good start on the New Year!

7 Days of New Year's - Day 5 & 6: Two Squeakers Just Under the Wire!

Whew, just made it under the deadline -- the New Year rings in a few minutes from now!

One last finish for 2025:

"Gathering A Garden Is A Snap" is now d-o-n-e!  Details to follow tomorrow.

And finally another thing I can move out of the studio and call done: a long desired label!

Well it's prepped anyway.  I'll attach it tomorrow and again, more details to follow.  Now to go celebrate the ball drop!

7 Days of New Year's - Day 3 & 4: A Long Overdue Accessory Finished and a WIP Set Up for Quilting

On the way to New Year's, the days of cleaning up continue!  On Day 3 yesterday,  I got started on two more projects:  an accessory I've long wanted to make and a project I had expected to complete back in the Fall.

The accessory:  A little dresden spool pin pad!

This is my second mini dresden project in a little more than a week!  I've been dying to make one of these ever since I saw it on the Singer Featherweight Shop site many, many, many years ago.  So what took so long to make it?  Well first of all, when I first put my machine in service back in 2016, I had purchased one of these:

Since I already had a cute spool pin pad,  I admit I was in no rush to make it.  Then it was deciding what fabrics to use for it.   When I made another "Catchall Cutie" and a pop-up trash bin for my Featherweight travel set,  I finally settled on going with a red and white color scheme.  I then combed through my scraps for the blade and center fabrics and made up the plastic templates needed to cut out the blades and center circle.  However my little kit has still sat, moving from spot to spot in my quilt space waiting for a good time to make it.  

So when I started compiling my  "7 Days" list,  I decided that this was one of the things that finally needed to get done!  The other reason I was excited to make this is that it calls for something special:  in the pattern, they use a Singer Buttonholer attachment to make the eyelet buttonhole for the center.  This would be the maiden voyage for mine!

At the time that the Singer Featherweight shop debuted the pattern they had also started selling vintage refurbished buttonholers.  They also sold the vintage eyelet cams which are hard to find and so very expensive (whew, I see they are even more expensive now than they were then!).  They also had new custom molded eyelet cams manufactured which are more reasonably priced.

However,  I found that buttonholers often came up for sale on eBay and eventually snagged a nice one for $20.  However, while the one I got came with a lot of cams,  it didn't come with the eyelet one.  Eventually I found out on a vintage machine chat group that a company called Greist also made buttonholers around the same time that Singer made them and the cams they made were identical to the Singer ones.  Not being as well known a company, there are also alot of those on the eBay market and of course are a lot cheaper which is how I eventually got one for my machine.  

Now you may wonder how a straight stitch machine like the Featherweight makes the zigzag stitches needed for a buttonhole:  in this case, the machine needle doesn't move side to side, the buttonholer moves the fabric!

That video is the test I ran on the unit yesterday.  The manual for it says you should oil and lubricate it "for each day of use" so I had to take the unit apart to do that.  Hmmm, if people really did all that back in the day, no wonder these things last forever!

If you are interested in the pattern or a kit to make the Dresden spool pin pad, you can purchase them from the Singer Featherweight Shop here.  For details about the buttonholer and how to also use it for monogramming (!), check out their blog post about the attachment (that also has a detailed video of it in use) here.  

 The WIP:  "Gathering A Garden" wallhanging

Over the Summer and Fall,  I had finally got this long over due project moved off of the UFO list and onto the WIP - Flimsies list.

The top and pieced backing.

I had even given some thought to how I wanted to quilt it and came up with a simple plan for that.  However, a busy Fall meant that I never moved forward on that until now.  Another reason why it has taken a bit to get to that is that I had planned to make up a "Frankenbatt" for it to use up a bunch of batting scraps.  I finally got that done yesterday.

Okay, not the smoothest assembly of batting but hopefully it will quilt okay.  So today's task was to get it all layered -- Done!

I could barely see all the pins in the picture.....

Not much better but they are there!

Since this is a small quilt, the actual layering didn't take long -- even with having to re-do the intial layout because the back had not been pulled out tight enough.  I had to go back in and tape it down to get the basting done.  What really took long was clearing off my cutting table which had alot more "bits and bobs" than I thought buried on it!  All of a sudden I had to remember what I had planned to do with things sitting there or remember why I had printed out certain designs or finally decide if I was going to work on that scrap project I had pulled some fabrics for now (and if so find a place to keep it "in sight") or if it would have to wait until later (and if so, where is it going to go now?!?).  

I wish I could say that the table will stay clear but I doubt it.  I doubt it because I pushed a bunch of stuff onto my sewing table to facilitate the basting so now will have to move things again in order to quilt this.   I had mapped out a simple plan for quilting it so I am hoping I can get that done over the next day or two and eliminate this project (and the remaining bag of its stash) from my space and open up another clear spot.  

So that's the plan for tomorrow although I also hope to work on a label for a quilt as well.  However, I have an appointment and some shopping to do so I'll see what I am able to get to.   

It's Time Again for the "7 Days of New Year's"!

For the past few year's I've taken a cue from various "countdown to the day" blog hops and quilt-a-thons and embarked on my own during the after-Christmas period.  I've found it is usually easier than normal to chill out, check out and put in extra time in my quilt space while I await the start of the New Year.

As far back as October,  I had started making a list of the things I wanted to try to tackle during this period.  Needless to say the impetus as I roll towards the end of the year is to also try and clear out a few things so as not to carry them into the New Year.

There Was Some Christmas Gift Quilting Done

Speaking of clearing out, I did do a little prior to Christmas as well.  Since the biggest Christmas gift I had to give was this one finished back in October.....

....I only had to wrap it along with a few other treats I was sending with it.  My husband and I took it over to its recipient on Christmas Eve where it was well received!  

I also made three bowl cozies.  One was for my MIL which arrived in North Carolina yesterday.  When we had visited her back in October she had been frantically looking for the "Yellowstone" one I had made her last year and that she had misplaced.  I found her frenzy about it funny since she's a quilter and can make her own.  She even has access through her guild to the Accuquilt die for cutting them out, LOL!   

Even though she has since located it (hidden between some stored fabric as I had suspected),  I made and sent her a new backup one along with the Peanut Butter cookies I bake for her this time of year.  We are going to be working on curved ruler quilting on her longarm when I go back down to visit her in February and I took the opportunity to do a little of that on it with my domestic machine.  Unfortunately, in my rush to get it packed up and out in the mail last weekend, I forgot to take a picture of it which seems to be a theme as you will see.   

I made the other two for a friend of mine who I share a love of certain TV shows with.  I finally made good on at least some of the plans I've had for a while to make ones for us for a bunch of shows.  This week I got one done for "Call the Midwife"  so we'd have them just in time for the airing of their annual Christmas Day special.  I also made a (long over due) "Game of Thrones" one which can now serve in honor of the "Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (Dunk & Egg)" GOT prequel coming out on January 18th.  Since these were also rushed into production and packaging to get the gift out in time,  I forgot to take pictures of those too!   However, yesterday for Day 1 of the "7 Days" projects,  I got to work on two of the same for myself.           

I had actually miscut by a 1/2" the fabric squares for the two for my friend so had to cut new squares to complete hers.  I then planned to use the miscut squares to make cozies for myself and to see if it actually made a big difference in how they'd come out.  One of the reasons I had opted to re-cut the fabric for hers was that I used these precut batting squares for them to save some prep time:

Having cut the fabric squares to be used with them the wrong size, I didn't want to have to cut down batting that was already prepped.  For the mis-cut squares for my cozies, I cut new batting squares and trimmed them with this:

I had purchased this template back when I first embarked on the project of making multiple bowl cozies.  While it is primarily designed to be used for cutting  the corners when you make bags, Carolina Moore who designed it also has a pattern (available in print or digital) for using it to trim the parts for bowl cozies.  I had used the template to cut the rounded corners on the fabric squares I used with the pre-cut batting pieces but also love that it has notches to cut the side darts for squares cut from my own batting.  

Inside and Outside of the finished cozies (although they are also reversible).

Ta Da!  They are not quite as wide and deep as they should be even though I thought I adjusted the length of the dart on the smaller pieces of batting enough to make them so.  However, they still work fine with a soup bowl.  It's actually good timing to get them done since DH and I didn't get to watch the "Midwife" special yet, so I can use mine when we watch the recording of it this weekend.  I still have plans for cozies for at least one more show that my friend and I both like but since it doesn't come on again until the summer, that can wait. 

The last of the Christmas gifts I worked on this week was for another friend of mine who I've made a lot of things for before.  She is a big fan of Gnomes so I am often on the lookout for things with that theme for her.  Two years ago while doing the All Carolina's Shop Hop (and note they are changing the regions and dates for next year),  I came across a cute little Fall themed applique mini quilt kit in one of the shops.  Hanging near it was one of those Ackfeld hangers just the right size for it.  So of course I bought both!  

Back in November when I planned to work on a wool applique wallhanging for my home,  I also pulled out her kit and figured I could make it up along with it and get a Christmas gift done too.  Well, while I only got as far as tracing the templates out for my wallhanging,  I did sit down this week and make up her mini quilt!

The little buckle on his hat is a button that came in the kit.

Ironically, plans for us to get together for Christmas fell through but we are going to do a meet-up in January and exchange Christmas gifts then so now I'm all ready for that!   

Catching Up on the December To Do List

Unfortunately, all of the actual plans I had for December quilting and cross stitch fell by the wayside this past month.  After having an incredibly productive Fall, it looks like I had burned myself out since I didn't even sit down to stitch anything until the week before Christmas!  So the "7 Days" task for Day 2 today was to do some catch-up which first and foremost was to cut out my "Alaska" BOM blocks for this month.  

Originally my plans for December had been to make these blocks which would have continued the "pieced triangle" journey I had been on for the last few months.  

However,  I needed to make eight of those so rather than stress myself out with just a few days of the month that I have left,  I decided to pivot to making a block that has the simpler plain triangles and for which I only needed four blocks.  However as I gathered the stash I needed to make the blocks I thought I was going to make, I happened to glance at the bag where I've stored the blocks finished to date and saw these:

This picture was taken right after I made them back in November.

Turns out I had actually made these up the day before Thanksgiving and totally forgot I had done so!  Guess that means they must have been pretty easy to make huh?!?  Fortunately there was another set of "easy" blocks that needed to be made up.  So now these are the blocks I made today for my December BOM blocks:   

Now that they are finished, I can put this project away until I'm ready to start the blocks for January.  I am also thrilled that I've managed to stay on track on this project!  

So the plans for Day 3 tomorrow is to work on a couple more "clean-up projects".  I also realize that one of the projects on my list -- a "to be quilted" project -- I may actually save to take with me to finish at my MIL's in February.  Hmmm, that means I'd need to find something else for that spot.  Well, I certainly have plenty of candidates around for that so we'll see what happens!