Kathy's Quilting Blog

Thursday, January 22, 2026

Bubble Gum Pink/Blue Quilt is Complete

The Bubble Gum Pink/Blue quilt is complete. It measures 77" x 104". I did not piece this quilt. I just made the back, longarm quilted it, and did the binding. I focused this week on my quilt closest to a finish in the RSC (Rainbow Scrap Challenge) color of the month (blue).

I started using panels for pieces of quilt backs. I have two large boxes of donated panels. There are door panels, pillows, vests, toddler vests with matching hats, cheater fabrics (look like quilt blocks but it's just fabric), book panels, toys and decorations to stuff... Many of them came from Amish country. Instead of passing them on to Goodwill, I decided that since it's good, quality cotton and in large chunks, it's going on the back for an interesting quilt back. The faceless dolls with clothes are super cute. They deserved to be put to good use.

Here's a closer look at that bunny door panel. I like the fact that the instructions are part of the quilt. I always get excited when someone throws that part away and I get it in my bag. I LOVE to use that part as an interesting neutral in a scrap quilt.

I can see why this old quilt never got to leave the "to be long armed" basket at the quilt guild club house. I haven't been an active member in our local guild for over 10 years. Our son's schedule just doesn't all that time that I needed to go to meetings and work on group projects.

I'm linking my finish to Wednesday Wait Loss. Happy NINE years anniversary!!!

The winter homecoming here on Saturday, 1/24, has already been postponed. Possible polar vortex making its way to Ohio. Ha Ha. I survived and LOVED the blizzard of '78. Kids today have no idea what that kind of one week of fun home from school is. My mom worked at the high school. She packed my brother (a senior) in the car with as many of his friends that he could round up. She picked me up a the middle school. We had so much fun that week digging tunnels in snow drifts and sled riding behind the Willy's jeep in the fields using an old hood of a car and a long, yellow nylon rope. We never thought of if the kids would run out of clothes. My mom just managed it all with what we had. I remember her making huge vats of spaghetti and sloppy joes. Since she worked in the kitchen at the school she was allowed to bring home trays of school pizza. When the school announced that kids were released to go home any way they could she grabbed what was already made for lunch that day. There were no special signing out lists or calls made until all of us got to our home. It was a BLAST! Wonderful memories...

2026 finishes -- 6

Here's my Fall 2025 Ravelry UFO Club Projects:

1. Bit Con quilt -- Needs more rows of strips sewn together -- size yet to be determined

2. Rail Fence 3.5" RSC block -- 900 blocks needed/need arranged

3. Piccadilly Circle -- Need a few more circle blocks

4. Kite Girl -- Needs sashing sewn and put together

5. Folk Art Birds -- Need more birds and alternate blocks

6. Hourglass Mini -- Needs sashing

7. Maroon Sampler -- Needs two more blocks

8. Dicey -- Blocks need sewn together with sashing and cornerstones

9. Fireflies Wall Hanging -- Blocks need appliqued

10. Tall Shoofly Block Lotto Win -- blocks need sewn together

11. Sail Away crib quilt -- Blocks need sewn

12. Aqua/Brown HST -- binding in process during my lunch periods this upcoming

13. Aqua/Brown arrow crib quilt -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

14. Fish -- a 12-block RSC26 project -- 2 fish sewn

15. Scarborough Fair -- Needs more blocks made

16. Random Blue Blocks -- Hand Quilting -- In the hoop

17. Acorn Harvest -- Quilt top needs assembled

18. ~~Bubble Gum Pink/Blue Quilt -- finished 1/22/26, 6th finish~~

19. Green king-sized quilt -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

20. ~~Green king-sized quilt #2 (problem child won't lay flat) -- finished 1/10/26, 3rd finish~~

21. Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter 2025 mystery quilt) -- in the piecing process

22. Christmas Memories 4-patches sewn, need more

23. ~~Noel -- finished 1/15/26, 4th finish~~

24. Zip It Sew Along (started sewing blocks together)25. True Blue Sew Along (starts 1/15/26) -- 9 blocks made

26. Kawandi 17.5" x 22" -- backing and batting sewn together. Rows are being stitched

27. ~~Cameo Rose embroidery quilt -- finished 1/18/26, fifth finish~~

28. King Rosebud embroidery quilt (flimsy completed by my grandma around 1973) on the frame

29. Kathleen Tracy Mini #1 (pinwheels)

30. Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (squares)

31. Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (HST and a Square)

32. Classic Meets Modern QA from 2014 -- block complete, need sashing

33. ~~RSC UFO (six blocks for a crib-sized quilt)--finished 1/8/26, 2nd finish~~

34. ~~Betty House #1 -- finished 1/7/26 -- 1st finish~~

35. Betty House #2 -- some stitches done

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

New Toy -- Accuquilt BOB Butterfly 9" Finished

Yes, sometimes quilters are like a kid with a new toy in my opinion. I didn't have any plans to buy this BOB (block on board) Accuquilt die. I was shopping for new mats. But this came up as a great deal at $39. I had free shipping AND I got a free thread caddy as a gift. I just did it.

I don't have any quilt plans right now. Something tells me there will be butterflies with chain blocks around them. We shall see. It makes a 9" finished block.

If you are considering using Accuquilt products. Realize that the mats that are needed to run the dies through the cutter do wear out. When they are not replaced they make the cuts not cut all the way or crooked. I think they are a little pricy, but necessary.

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

Zip It Progress

Did a layout of my Zip It quilt this early morning before everyone was up. Looks like I counted one of the rows incorrectly and need ten more block sets. Whew... easy fix. I have the perfect Civil War fabric for that spot that wasn't used at all in the quilt top.

While I'm at it, I may even add just one more row to make it a tad wider. I counted the pieces that I have left from my guestimate of how many to cut and it wouldn't take much to make just one more row. Use 'em up. Zip It is a sew along with Emma Jean Jansen on facebook here.

Linking at Quilting is more fun that housework for Oh Scrap!

Quilting is more fun than Housework

Monday, January 19, 2026

Temecula Quilt Company QA

Do you follow Temecula Quilt Company? They are having a FREE quilt along! Here are the details from their blog post today:

Woven || Scrap Happy Stitch Along
Finished Quilt 56" x 67"

Next month I will be starting a new free stitch along here on the blog.
What you will need to participate is simple.
A large variety of dark prints and 5 yards of light print.
Light print yardage is generous to be sure you have plenty.

Come back on the third Monday of each month for
each step and free printable pattern.

I'm marking my calendar now to motivate myself to finish the Zip It quilt top. I may or may not have that quilted by the time the QA starts, but if it's a top, I will probably jump in.

I'm posting this so that I have a good reference for it.

https://temeculaquiltco.blogspot.com/2026/01/tqc-journal-issue-147.html

Rosebud Embroidery on the Frame

With the completion of the Cameo Rose quilt, I loaded and started the quilting in hopes of a "snow day" on Tuesday due to the feels like temps that are predicted of about 10 below zero. We have today off school for MLK day, but that is a day that we utilize to make appointments.

Because of the negative space at the top and bottom of the design, I decided to use the Marmalade design board from Urban Elementz. The quilting of this one may take a little longer. I am pretty sure it will work out in the center of the wreaths. This quilt top was also stitched by my grandma around 1973. She passed away in 1975. Yes, it is a 50-year-old UFO. I'm sure she would be thrilled that it is being finished. Oh the conversations we would have about all the "modern" stuff quilters have now. I know she would jump right in and play with all of them--yet I also bet she would have convinced me to set up her old quilting frame and we would have hand quilted this together if she was still here. I can only smile as I typed this.

Sunday, January 18, 2026

Slow Sunday Stitching -- Cameo Rose is Complete

The Cameo Rose quilt top was finished by my grandma around 1973. I worked on the binding in front of the tv this week. I finished it on Tuesday and got a pic before the snow came. It measures 90" x 103". The backing and binding are the same print pink fabric. I longarm quilted it using the Circle Lord giant template board called Clam Shells. I love the neat spacing between her stitches and the binding edge.

I did put a special label on the back that included my grandma's name along with mine. (No photo.). Obvisouly I finished this quilt early in the week. By Thursday the ground was covered in snow AND our son got a snow day home from school on Thursday. I, on the other hand, worked in a district that had school. Five out of 18 students reported off that day. Four of them were "walkers" that walked to school and one had the flu. It was definitely an easy day and dismissal went super fast. It was 11 degrees in the morning, but the feels like temperature was negative 3. Typically if the feels like temperature is negative 6, school is cancelled in our county. BUT NOPE... Not negative 6...

I finished the binding on the Noel quilt on my lunches and planning periods this week at school. It is crib sized and didn't take long to stitch the soft binding and fabrics. The longarm quilting on this quilt was done when I was experimenting with my Circle Lord giant template board called Wanders.

My kwandi project also went to school with me. I marked more rows and stitched a few. I am using random scraps of different green embroidery floss that I found together in a bag. I found that I like using two pieces. I marked more lines. I will stitch on the lines and between them. Both projects are very relaxing.

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching here.

2026 finishes -- 5

Here's my Fall 2025 Ravelry UFO Club Projects:

1. Bit Con quilt -- Needs more rows of strips sewn together -- size yet to be determined

2. Rail Fence 3.5" RSC block -- 900 blocks needed/need arranged

3. Piccadilly Circle -- Need a few more circle blocks

4. Kite Girl -- Needs sashing sewn and put together

5. Folk Art Birds -- Need more birds and alternate blocks

6. Hourglass Mini -- Needs sashing

7. Maroon Sampler -- Needs two more blocks

8. Dicey -- Blocks need sewn together with sashing and cornerstones

9. Fireflies Wall Hanging -- Blocks need appliqued

10. Tall Shoofly Block Lotto Win -- blocks need sewn together

11. Sail Away crib quilt -- Blocks need sewn

12. Aqua/Brown HST -- quilted, binding attached -- being stitched on lunch and planning periods

13. Aqua/Brown arrow crib quilt -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

14. Fish -- a 12-block RSC26 project -- 2 fish sewn

15. Scarborough Fair -- Needs more blocks made

16. Random Blue Blocks -- Hand Quilting -- In the hoop

17. Acorn Harvest -- Quilt top needs assembled

18. Bubble Gum Pink/Blue Quilt -- Binding being stitched this week in front of the tv in the evenings

19. Green king-sized quilt -- quilted, binding attached -- needs binding sewn by hand

20. ~~Green king-sized quilt #2 (problem child won't lay flat) -- finished 1/10/26, 3rd finish~~

21. Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter 2025 mystery quilt) -- in the piecing process

22. Christmas Memories 4-patches sewn, need more

23. ~~Noel -- finished 1/15/26, 4th finish~~

24. Zip It Sew Along -- all pieces cut in navy and cream. Some blocks sewn but not in rows yet

25. True Blue Sew Along (starts 1/15/26) -- all blocks made except for the block corners that are strip pieced. All strips cut; some sewn.

26. Kawandi 17.5" x 22" -- backing and batting sewn together. Rows are being stitched

27. ~~Cameo Rose embroidery quilt -- finished 1/18/26, 5th finish~~

28. King Rosebud embroidery quilt (flimsy completed by my grandma around 1973) on the frame

29. Kathleen Tracy Mini #1 (pinwheels)

30. Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (squares)

31. Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (HST and a Square)

32. Classic Meets Modern QA from 2014 -- block complete, need sashing

33. ~~RSC UFO (six blocks for a crib-sized quilt)--finished 1/8/26, 2nd finish~~

34. ~~Betty House #1 -- finished 1/7/26 -- 1st finish~~

35. Betty House #2 -- some stitches done

Saturday, January 17, 2026

RSC26 True Blue Sew Along

I fluffed through more navy and neutral scraps to make the third set of blocks for the True Blue Sew Along. These are just the centers of the blocks. They will be set on point in the quilt with scrappy neutral and blue strips. True Blue Sew Along--American Patchwork and Quilting --you can get the details here.

The original pattern called for a 4-patch center of smaller blue blocks. I didn't really like that look so I used a single block of that size.

All of the corners require four strips that are strip pieced. All pieces are cut. Only a few are sewn together. This project is moving right along.

Here are all the strips covered with the blue and cream Zip It Sew Along blocks in progress:

I chain pieced along and five rows are made. I'll probably do 10 or 12 rows. We shall see. This is not necessarily the order the rows will go. The fourth row needs a block taken off the top and one added to the bottom so that the pieces land correctly. Easy fix. No school for me or our kid on Friday due to teacher personal development day. I got busy on sewing rows together.

And yes, you can tell through the dirty window that all that white stuff is on the ground outside. The feels like is negative 3 during this pic on Thursday after school. A few cold days are predicted during the next five days or so. We shall see. Looks like good sewing weather to me.

I'm linking up at Angela's blog, SoScrappy, for the RSC26 here.