Important info: BOM with my fave LQS, Quilt Emporium, in Woodland Hills, CA. The shop owner, Lisa Hanson designed this mystery quilt with William Morris fabrics and I think it’s super inexpensive for a BOM at $15/month. Even though I decided no more BOMs, I couldn’t help but cave on this one.

Started: 02/2025

Previous posts here, here, here, here, update #4, update #5, update #6, and the most recent #7.

On New Year’s day, a few of us got together at a friend’s house to get caught up on some of our outstanding blocks. I had September’s prepped and ready but I didn’t feel like doing handwork. October is a repeat of July’s hexis so I jumped right in to November.

I would have gotten it done the same day except that when I got to one of the latter steps, I needed some pieces that were not part of the original cutting instructions. Luckily I had enough fabric to do the cutting but it’s not fun to get up after settling down in front of my machine to cut more fabric.

The September one is still prepped and ready to be sewed down. My friends did their August block much better than mine and turned out so much nicer.

Blocks Made

Keep on quilting!

Melanie

I received these cuttings around Thanksgiving, 2025 and for awhile they were looking the same. But suddenly, 1/3/2026, the tips were turning green so I think they are worth reporting on now:

Can’t tell by the above picture but the little nibs have green tips. Not all of them but quite a few have them.

It’s my first time growing mulberries from cuttings. These came from a member of a SoCal gardening group in Walnut, CA who posted that she had free cuttings for anyone who wanted to grab some. I happened to be out of town so my ex drove the three hour round trip to pick a few up for me. It was a happy Xmas gift that he didn’t have to pay with money for. He’s so much nicer as an ex than as a husband.

I have been taking pictures on a weekly basis and if you start at the bottom, and scroll up, it’s more accurate in terms of chronological order. However the first month basically didn’t show any difference. Maybe I’ll do it monthly after this point.

When Chawton Block (the first block or Month 1) came up on my homework / handwork to do list, the first thing I needed to do was sew all the lines on the interfacing. It took a few days but I got those done. My 790 did a great job with sewing on the lines. the knee lift made quick work of it and I was glad that I had set this aside at the last 2025 retreat to work on later.

Then I flipped everything inside out.

I smoothed out lines as much as I could. Here is where I realized that the sewing was very important. I had to sew slow and adjust constantly so that the lines would be as smooth as possible and not have weird points anywhere. I don’t know why this BOM started with the very center block to make your initial mistakes and learn from.

Once that was done, I pressed to set everything nice and thin.

I placed all the pieces where they went. The YouTube tutorial from Riley Blake were very precise at this point making use of a ruler to make sure things were exact all the way around. I’m particular and persnickety with my craft but that’s beyond me. Some may take that as not being very particular or persnickety but whatever … to each their own.

I took the parts that I could applique to each other and did those first

I’m ready to start gluing the pieces down so I can applique everything to the background. I’m hand appliquéing everything and because I did this method my stitches are not as tiny as I’ve done when I needleturn regularly. It’s making the applique quick work so far. I am enjoying the process and I hope it continues. For those who finished this quilt fast, either they are monogamously working on this or are really fast hand appliquérs or they are machine appliquéing. They all look good so how ever it gets done works.

Keep on quilting!

Melanie

Started: October 2025

Kit purchased from Quilty Pleasures in Simi Valley, CA.

Previous posts:

1. new start post
2. update #1

One of my mom’s friends loves Pineapple Guava. I tried it because she raved so much about it and I have to say she’s right. They are so very good. She has a very small yard with no room for a Pineapple Guava tree in it so she bought me and my mom one to try and grow. I’m in the Los Angeles area while my mom is in the San Francisco Bay Area. So, two different localities. She’d love it if it grew well at my mom’s house because it’s closer to her and we know of one of my mom’s friends who grows and sells the fruit when they are in season. Hopefully mine does well too.

I received the plant around 11/11/2025 in the mail and immediately planted it in this shallow pot not meant for a tree. I was heading out of town and needed to get it planted in something so that it wouldn’t die. It’s been about 6 weeks and it’s interesting. The first picture from 11/11 looks to be taller and fuller than the second picture a couple of weeks later – 11/29. It might have been the angle because I was standing up whereas the previous one I was kneeling down. But even so, I had to look several times to make sure they were the same plant.

The pic from 12/14/2025 shows a taller more fuller tree again so I really think it was the angle. But it still looked the same or very similar to the first picture. The final picture from 1/2/2026 looks really good. I finally figured out to put a background behind the tree so the leaves wouldn’t get lost with the grass. It had been raining a lot in LA at this time so I turned the water system off and the leaves look more green and stronger. I plan to buy another tree or two in the next couple of months. But I do have quite a few to plant in the ground.

The tree guy is coming sometime next week to trim my non-fruiting trees. He was supposed to come out a few weeks ago but it’s that time of year and he’s swamped. He was going to come this week but along with the rain came the Santa Ana winds. They brought down some trees that he had to take care of first as my non-urgent need got pushed out another week. I’m not complaining, it’s going to cost me $2500 so another week to not have to spend that kind of money is fine with me. I have one big tree in the front of the house that I will eventually have him take out. I want to plant more fruit trees in the front but that one big tree puts most of my yard in the shade. But for now, I can plant the trees as bare roots and they will have enough sun for now. In the next 2-3 years I’ll need that big one to come down and will do so then. For now, he’s trimming that tree, along with the trees right by the garage, and then he’ll move to the back where I’ve got another huge tree and then my neighbors trees that hang over and interfere with some of my landscaping. Once the trees get trimmed, I’ll be planting the baby trees that have been in pots the last year or two. I want to replace some of my non-fruiting trees that are being used as a privacy fence” between my neighbors. I will plant the baby fruit trees between the non fruiting trees I will be replacing and as the baby fruit trees grow I’ll be trimming the taller non-fruiting trees. I hope this works. I’m not very good at making sure everything looks good so the yard generally looks a mess. I am okay with that but eventually I hope to make it look nicer as I figure out where I put my plants.

Happy gardening!

Melanie