I am off to a good start this first week of 2026. Inclement weather has helped keep me indoors, and I am making the most of my time by ignoring household duties. Although I am caught up on laundry – only because I can watch the longarm and fold clothes.

I finished and bound the last Christmas quilt and took a few pictures of it with the tree in the background. I got the placemats (the ones I added on to the extra backing) cut, still have to bind them though. The second Peter rabbit quilt is quilted and I was able to fit the mini rings quilt on the end of that backing. Those two need trimming and binding. I got the Quandary quilt loaded and started yesterday, its huge 102 x 102. My favorite finish is the Blooming beauties BOM top. I persevered and over two days sewed it all together, actually completing it in 10 months – it was a 9 month block(s) of the month. I didn’t get a picture of it after I ironed it, but it looks the same as the cover photo. I also got the Winter Visitor quilt top done, I would like to get it quilted soon, I found a really cute cardinal panto to use.

One Thomas the Tank quilt top is done, I got the train block done for the second. I want to make two of these quilts. The kit had enough of the prints, I just had to get a few yards of the white and red print, and the grays for the track blocks. The tracks are a bit of a pita to piece, mine came out ½” too short, you really have to use a scant quarter inch seam for all those skinny strips.

I am picking away at the Decluttering 2026 project. Got the first 6 days done, although I skipped the magazine culling. I did get all my Quiltmaker issues together, I might sell them, or donate them. The Knitting magazines are more numerous, and then there are the cross stitch Mary Hickman series. I made good progress in the patterns, now they are organized and I can open and close the drawer. If I can’t, or don’t want to do one of the days prompts, I try to do a hot-spot instead. I took “before” photos, which I may post here with the “after” photos.

New this year is the PHD badge on my page sidebar. It only took a few hours to figure out how to put it there, but I am learning. I also downloaded two charts from Maker Valley, called the 2026 Quilting Organizer PDF pack . They will help me keep my projects organized a bit more. I’ll be keeping a hard copy on my design wall, in plain sight. Once I finish the Declutterring I’ll get that list going. Right now, the UFOs are scattered and mixed in with WIPs and it’s turning into alphabet chaos.

Consider the Lilies got stitched on a bit too. I finished all the bricks, just need the grout lines, and I “wrote” a few more words in the verse. I am feeling the down slope of this project, YAY!

Finally, I finished the hat baby sweater. It started out as a hat, but I was using worsted weight, I thought it was going to be okay for an adult sized hat, ha, more like a tea pot cozy. 120 stitches is too many in that yarn size for a hat. However, I was able to find a bottom up knitted raglan sleeve kids sweater pattern. I think it turned out pretty well, the yarn isn’t the best, but for an everyday washable sweater it’ll do.

Be Kind.

I made 52 posts with 29.7K words, have 946 views from 656 visitors, 16 “likes” and 6 comments. I have 60 subscribers, which may include a few family members. My top post was Blue Houses, written on 02/02/25. I’d probably have more traffic if I did more link-ups, but I just like reading through them for other peoples thoughts and accomplishments. Not really an influencer in today’s realm, but you know, it is more than I had ever thought I would do.

This years accomplishments include:

• 26 quilts sold
• 4 Customer Quilts long armed
• Knitted 10 hats
• Made and finished 45 quilts
• 9 table runners/8 placemats
• Knitted 2 baby sweaters
• Made 15 bowl Cozies for gifts

On the To Be Quilted list are:

• Simple Days
• Swordfish
• Rings
• Quandary
• Peacock quilt
• Halloween Cat Quilt
• Peter Rabbit Quilt
• Ice Quilt
• Reunion Quilt
• Asilomar Star
• Growing up Odd

The UFO list:

• Consider the Lilies – 70% done
• Starry Signs
• Blooming Beauty
• Bird Watchers BOM
• Winter Vist
• Message in a bottle – appliqué border blocks

Favorite Finishes of 2025

• Tilda Anniversary Applique quilt
• Fabulous Houses Cross Stitch
• Wallaby Sweater

My Goals for 2026 are to keep whittling away at the UFO and TBQ lists above. I will be transferring them to my white board, so they will be in plain sight. I did sign up for a BOM for a Halloween wall hanging quilt. I have kept up with the Starry Signs, one more constellation and the mountain borders to do. Blooming beauty is almost done too, just the final borders. Sadly, I had the best intentions of doing the Bird Watchers BOM, but I only downloaded the patterns. I also have two more Thomas the train quilts kitted up, for the store, and the Winter Visit quilt is on my sewing table now. Plus three commission quilts for the coming year. I didn’t add the items from my previous years UFO lists because I didn’t do anything with them this year. I feel like it may be time to let them go during the de-cluttering. I REALLY want to finish the Lilies cross stitch, it’s closer to a finish in early 2026. I have a few new charts kitted up that I really want to start, I am steadfast though, I will finish the Lilies.

I am hoping to get my goals off to a good start with the de-cluttering program from Just Get it Done. This year I will try harder to get through the whole course, last year I quit when the fabric sorting started. I also was away for a few weeks in the middle of it, so I lost my initial momentum. Karen is a really good motivator, she says the questions that you need to ask yourself about the “things” you are culling. More importantly makes you think about the reasons you are keeping things. It’s not just “Does it Bring me JOY?” because all my (sewing) things have the potential to bring me joy.

Be Kind.

This past week has been a whirl of family and activity, not too much of the Quilty kind though. The tree is up all the presents are made/wrapped/shipped, cookies cooked and winter solstice celebrated. The only thing that hasn’t really been good is the weather. It is perfect stay at home and sew weather, but there is barely any of that going on. I made one more golf shoe bag, sewed the cardinal block and one wreath together for the Winter visit quilt. I managed a few stitches on the Lilies while on the phone, and started another hat, for me, to knit before bed.

My friends at the Barn liked the bowl cozies, they are not crafty, so it’s the little things that make them happy. I was able to fix a leash the other day, two rivets and it was good to go. I have done blanket repairs and velcro replacement, I even adapted some hanging feeder bags for the two mini horses that live there. My horse is the only one with his name machine embroidered on his stocking though.

My Long arm has had the week off, the Christmas quilt will be for next year. I did sell two quilts this week that squeaked in under the last shipping date for holiday delivery. I am looking forward to this coming weekend for sewing and relaxing. I think I will be joining the “Just Get it Done Quilts” Sewing Room Declutter Challenge 2026 January 1st. I did a little of it last year, but was away from home for some of it. My main goal for 2026 is/will be to get my fabric into a more manageable state. I have all the infrastructure in place, but everything is a jumbled semi-organized mess. I think the first step, if I remember from last year, is to clear the floor. Just this would be a major improvement for my room. I really need to clear some surfaces too. I have an entire shelf top of magazines (knitting and quilting) that need to go, I hope I can find a person or group to take them, but I may just end up recycling them. I did try to remove the patterns I like from a few years of Quiltmaker magazine. I put them in a binder, that reduced the space they took up, but I have not opened the binder since then. I doesn’t help my state of mind that I keep seeing reels of “Millennial Inheritance”. They show children who inherit their parents collections – the Raccoon Room was particularly gruesome. I have enough trouble getting my kids to take all their own treasures to live with them in their homes. This past summer I gave away over 50 golf clubs during my garage clear out.

Be Kind.

I thought I was done with Christmas gift creating yesterday. I power knitted a beanie to include in a package that was headed to the east coast. I had to stand in line for 40 minutes to send said package too. While at the post office, the delivery mailman came in to empty the box and bring all the mail to the main office for sorting etc. I was amazed at how stuffed that box was, before he came in, people were trying to put more letters and cards into it, and they could not squeeze one more in. I remarked to the woman in front of me that each one of those letters was at least 78 cents to send. It warmed my heart to see, I have an affinity for hand written letters and cards. Back in the days of non-instantaneous communication, when phone calls were few and long distance calls kept short due to expense, letters were so nice to send and receive.

I will have to go back to the post office today, I got an order for a Christmas quilt. It is the one that I finished Saturday, so quick turn around there. I am especially happy because I actually made a profit on it. The fabric was from a kit that was on clearance sale (from Craftsy/Blueprint). Funny that I made the same quilt, a few years back and it sold quickly too. When I saw the kit for sale, I figured I might just get it done for Christmas this year.

I want to finish the quilting on these placemats at the bottom of the other Christmas quilt that I made this month. I had a bit of left over backing at the end, so I cut a piece of snowflake print backing and started to quilt snowflake placemats. These will be for me, and the backing will be the front, it is the same print that is on the borders of the quilt.

Facing a cleared off cutting table had me thinking of starting one last Christmas quilt. The Winter Visit quilt, which is a QAL with Krista Moser. I had been too busy to start it a few weeks ago, but I got all the strips cut for the background and bird last night. I needed 34 green strips to make all the wreath blocks. I ironed all those green pieces, and had them ready to cut today.

As I was thinking of what I want to do today, I realized that I could also start the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt. I have all the clues so far, four weeks in. I guess I’ll finish the Winter Visit first, then leisurely work on it in January. I kinda want to see the color placement, on the finished design anyway. I’m not really liking the color assortment, pink, purple, ice blue and neutrals. I want to add green for some reason, maybe the Lupine name? Also thinking today that my holiday guests are arriving tomorrow and that I REALLY need to get the house cleaned up and presentable.

Be Kind.

I have been working diligently to finish up gifts and quilts and shopping. I really need to get to the post office today, but first I need to gather all the things and pack them up. I did make a list, so thats a start. I have been getting the last Christmas themed quilt together, it was a kit from Backside Fabrics. I really like the fabric line, Holly Jolly from QT fabrics. Vintage looking Santas and ephemera of the 50’s and 60’s. Cozy and soft, I briefly entertained making another quilt from the scraps, I would have to buy more yardage though. Maybe after the holiday, during a sale or something. I just remembered that I was going to make the evergreen quilt with the layer cakes I bought back in November. The best laid plans for quilters and…

I did buy more fabric this week, for the Winter Visit QAL I joined. It is a Krista Moser quilt, I think I wrote about it a few months ago when it started. I went through all the Cherrywood scraps I have and there is only about 1 ½ yards of the creamy yellow background. I need three for this quilt. I may use the yellow for the accent triangles in the background.

In a flurry of activity, I finished off the bowl cozies, and the tissue box covers. I was not really happy with the embroidery on these. The tension is off, and the bobbin thread was coming through to the top. I scrapped two, and tried using more stabilizer and matching the bobbin color. It looks better, but just okay. I also put the binding on the placemats, runner and throw I made using the Art Haus fabric line. The runner is pictured under the tissue box.

I did finish the quilting on the Country trees quilt. I haven’t taken it off the frame yet, because there is enough backing fabric left to do a table runner. I just need to find something suitable for the front, I carefully put the scraps from the Country trees quilt away, so I wouldn’t loose them. Now I can’t remember where the bag is.

Be Kind.