End of Year Review

2025 has come to an end and it's time to review how I did with my long list of projects posted in January.

#1. The fabrics for the Fire Island Hosta Queen quilt have been washed and pressed but then nothing more happened. Hopefully '26 will be the year piecing actually happens.

#2. The Blueberry Pie flimsy was completed in 2024 and is hanging in the 'to be quilted' closet. He's in the queue for hand quilting but that won't happen until the relief sale quilt is finished.

#3. Elegant Garden is a flimsy and is stored in the to be hand quilted closet. I have a plan for this quilt when she's finished so she will probably be quilted before Blueberry Pie.

#4. Garden Party  Garden Party is designed by Bonnie Hunter and the pattern is found in her Addicted to Scraps book. The 'flower' blocks have been pieced and the chain blocks were pieced at a quilt retreat in November. The plan is to piece the half chain blocks at a quilt retreat in January. Maybe this quilt will be a flimsy in 2026?

#5 Relief Sale Quilt is in the hand quilting frame and is in the process of being hand quilted. It will be donated and sold in the 2027 Michiana Mennonite Relief Sale.

#6. Teal Stars -

#7. Log Cabin Hearts -

#8. Quadrangle -

#9 was a project from one of the many projects I have selected fabrics for and stored in a bag. This project didn't happen. 😉

#10 was a quilt from the Red & White Gatherings book designed by Lisa Bongean. I made a small quilt with the Love Triangle pattern. It's not quilted and I'm not sure when that will happen. The light colored background cries out for custom quilting. I'm not capable of doing that with my machine and I have so many quilts waiting to be hand quilted.

I really like the star design and I can envision several of these stars made into a quilt . . . using blue fabrics of course!

#11. Blue embroidered blocks  I appliqued blocks for the corners of this quilt. This flimsy has been delivered to Calico Point for quilting.

#12. Lavender embroidered blocks  I used the same idea as the blue embroidered blocks, four blocks were appliqued for the outside corners. This flimsy has also been delivered to Calico Point for quilting.

#13 - Four Patch Around the World was pieced early in January and a complete finish in February.

#14 Embroidered Crib Quilt

Two Compassion Quilts

#15 - Hand quilt an Amish Crib Quilt

#16 - 2025 Designer Mystery BOM  . . . This mystery quilt started in June and runs through 2026. 

#17 - I quilted Book Adventures or Peter Rabbit on my home sewing machine in May.

Several compassion quilt flimsies were pieced and will be quilted next spring to be donated. Overall, I think I accomplished a lot in 2025 and managed not to get sidetracked by squirrels. Next week I'll publish my 'to do list' for 2026 which won't be as intensive as the 2025 list. 

Linking to Quilting Jet Girl, To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Free Motion Mavericks, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts

Two Border Amish Crib Quilt

There is something very satisfying about connecting the quilted sections. Again the green fabric did not photograph its true color.

The right side -

The middle section -

And the left side.

I removed the quilt from the frame, trimmed the edges then stitched the binding. Here he is on the floor, the color is better than the above photos. 

A close up of the center. This isn't the right color either, this looks more apple green, like granny Smith apples.

This is the back side. I needed to make the backing wider so I added the red strip. 

A closer view, this is the actual color, except it looks a little blotchy which it isn't.

I placed the quilt on the little quilt ladder in the dining room, I folded it so you can see the feathered wreath quilting. It looks kind of blah.

So I refolded it so the red borders show, this added contrast and he looks happier now. 

He doesn't quit fit in with the other quilts but that's okay. This little quilt measures 43" X 55".

I'm tempted to put another small project in the frame to quilt this summer but I have a lot of applique to stitch. 

As fast as the first five months of 2025 have passed by, soon it will be autumn and time to put the relief sale flimsy into the frame for quilting. Then you'll be getting weekly hand quilting updates for a long long time!

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Handmade Monday, Sew & Tell, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday

Two Border Amish Quilt

The quilting is speeding along on this little quilt.

This is the right side.

The center section.

And the left side.

The green doesn't show the true color in any of these pictures, rather a blah shade of green.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Handmade Monday, Sew & Tell, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday

Two Border Amish Quilt

With a small quilt, it's easy to quilt across the long side. And this week I reached in farther than necessary, the quilt is halfway quilted!

This picture shows the true color of the green.

The center section of the quilt. I guess I don't have the frame centered under the lights correctly, the color is off shade.

WOW! This is even worse, definitely not the right color.

I have learned my lesson, don't buy off brand fabric no matter how less it costs. It's a sturdy fabric, it isn't going to fall apart when washed, it just quilts hard. I'm very glad this is a small quilt.

I won't be rolling this side anymore, I'm going to move my chair to the other side of the quilt and stitch toward the center.

This quilt is for my stash, I just wanted to make an Amish crib quilt.

I was in Wakarusa several weeks ago and took a picture of the quilt garden. They didn't have the sign up about the flower garden design but, to me, it looks it might be a pinwheel? I'll update you the next time I get my hair trimmed. Here is a link for you to peruse with information about the quilt gardens.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Handmade Monday, Sew & Tell, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday

Two Border Amish Crib Quilt

Even though this green fabric stitches harder than normal, I'm enjoying myself. I haven't quilted in a long time.

I always start at the right side and work my way left.

I'm reaching in farther than I would have to. In the center, the crosshatching reaches to the center design. I would rather stitch a long seam than a short one.

The quilting across this section is finished, I rolled the stick after taking the pictures. Since the outside border is already quilted, it makes the inside quilting go faster. At least it seems like that.

I do need to stitch in the ditch on both sides of the red borders. 

As I told you last week, I'm using the old sticks and stands frame because it think it holds layers better than the Grace frame does on the sides.

This is one of my favorite quilting tools, it holds the pins I use to pin the quilt to the frame. I used to keep my pins in a small plastic container but I lost the lid. I was constantly spilling the container and needed to pick up the pins all the time! This bowl is magnetic, the pins are no longer spilled. I keep my chapstick in it too. Since it's magnetic, I place it on the corner of the quilting frame and it locks onto the corner clamp.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Handmade Monday, Sew & Tell, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday

Two Border Amish Crib Quilt

I told you I would show you my new hand stitching project today. It is number 15 on my long list of quilts for 2025. In the January post I call it the Amish crib quilt. My inspiration came from this book, Amish Crib Quilts From the Midwest, the Sara Miller Collection, page 39. This book is available on Amazon.

Several of the quilts were simple crib quilts with two narrow borders. They were titled 'plain quilts'. I'm calling mine the Two Border Amish Crib Quilt. There were no measurements or instructions given to make the quilts so I did the math. I'm sure I posted about this little quilt before but I can't find the post. 

My fabrics are a green for the main body and a medium red for the borders. The red borders are Kona fabric. The green is fabric I purchased at an Amish fabric store, I never heard of the manufacturer. 

White YLI hand quilting thread is being used instead of black thread. I did stitch several inches with black but didn't like so I removed it. The outside border is a chain of feathers.

The first long side border is quilted.

I'm stitching in the ditch along the sides of the narrow borders next to the outside border. I'm using 4 needles so I can quilt all four edges as I go. For me, this is easier than quilting one edge all the way then going back and quilting the next edge.

I used a white Sewline marking pencil to mark the designs through the stencils. The marks will wash out after the quilting is finish. I like how it makes a narrow line and it doesn't rub off like a chalk pencil does. In my opinion, chalk pencils are worthless, you can't sharpen them without the chalk breaking.

See how the outside edge of the fabric is sticking up? I don't like that.

Now I've stitched the fabric edge down flat. When the quilting is finished and I'm ready to trim the edge, it will be easier because that edge is flat.

The four borders around the quilt are quilted then I rolled the two long sides in and I'm ready to start quilting the inside. The markings don't show in this picture but they're there! The inside looks a little loose but it will quilt out just fine. Sorry about my shadow, I was trying to get most of the quilt in the picture.

It is going to be challenging to take true color pictures of this green fabric, it really is prettier than it looks. When it's completely finished, I'll take a picture outside and you will see the true color.

I'm using the stick and stand frame because I think the tension is better than the Grace Frame.

YLI hand quilting thread is available from Red Rock Threads. 

Here is a link to a post about putting a quilt into this frame. I tried to be detailed. Hopefully it will answer any questions you have.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Handmade Monday, Sew & Tell, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday, Valomea's Patchwork