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.
I had quite a few hand work on my queue and this one didn’t make its way to the top for a while. I initially was going to do the circle by hand and the trellis part by machine. But after doing the circle decided to continue the handwork on the trellis. I love it.
September Block
Some of my friends are continuing with the big stitch around the circle and I kinda love it. I may go back later and add it on like I did the August block but for now this is done.
Blocks Made
December blockNovember BlockAugust Block finished July – all stitched downblock #5 – JuneAll the blocks so far. Block #4Block 3Block #2Block #1
The first local mini is now in the books and here’s my post on what I’ve got done and any homework that came up.
#1 – Jane Austen’s quilt – prep Hampshire Blocks
Finished Block 1- Chawton Block – 2/9/26
Next: Hampshire Blocks – There are 4 blocks for this set. Same block different fabric. I prepared the template paper and pulled the called for fabric. I cut the background fabric. I wanted to move on but I didn’t bring all my retreat projects with me so ended up cutting all the interface and fabric. It’s ready to sew. I added this to my ‘Homework’.
#2 – Monthly Door banner from 2024 – cut the final door banner kit – November.
—- done! I finished cutting the last door banner from 2024! Woohoo!!!!
#3 – 2023 Saturday Sampler from QP.
step 1 of finishing part
I’m at the “putting-the-inner-top-together” stage and next is step 3.
Here is step 3-
#4 – William Morris BOM – The next blocks to make are October, and January. Since my last post, I added the hand stitching around the August block and now that’s complete. I’ve also been working on the September hand applique as part of my homework since the last mini retreat. And I finished it at this mini retreat.
I added the outside sashiko stitching. September block is done!
I cut the January block and it’s ready to be sewn.
#5 – Tula Pink Butterfly 2.0 – Find out where I am next
Part 1: Stripes
#6 – Spooky Halloween – Row 2, block 3 – take a picture
Row 2- Block 1
I’ve started it and I’m needle turning the traditional method. I want to prep the next block as I work some in Block 3.
#7 – Tuella and Friends.
#8 – “Allietare” Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilt from 2015 – My goal with putting this here is to start getting it into my queue. I don’t have time for it now but it’s on this list to start making its way from my head, to actually working on it.
I almost finished 3 rows. I finished the stitching but I need to add the beads in. There is beads in the last row of the 3rd row and I don’t plan to do those. I like how it looks when I do all the stitching and then finish it off with the beading. I feel like the beads then sit on top of the stitching rather than getting mixed in.
I am still enjoying the row by row at a time stitching on this project and I love how much I’m progressing on it.
Here’s where I was the last time I reported on this.
Last report- week 6- 1/10/2026 – the little nibs are biggerweek 7- 1/17/2026 – the green nibs are bigger nowweek 8- 1/24/26 – starting to unfurl a close up- 1/24/26week 9- 1/31/26 I think the little nibs are fruit and we can’t have that I’m going to have to take them off. for now I’m leaving them on in case I’m wrong.1/31- close up of what I think are baby mulberriesweek 10.5 – 2/12/26 – I missed taking a picture last weekend and this weekend is almost upon us. the nibs are fruit and I’m cutting them off as they appear. It saddens me to do so but I know it’s best for root health. There seems to be 8 viable cuttings of my 10 so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they continue to be strong. I do not see a ton of roots yet so i’m holding off on potting them up.week 11.5- 2/18/2026 – there’s been so much rain I’ve had to come out and remove excess water. I’m hoping they are still good despite the too much water.
I started putting together the October Banner during my evening sewing sessions. I don’t generally have a lot of time but I enjoy getting one or two or 5 steps done on this homework item. This was a very interesting set of instructions and not something I remember ever doing in the past.
Flower #2 – this one came out so much better
I usually would do the flowers at the same time but I didn’t this time because I wasn’t sure about the instructions. You have to partially sew one of the sides together and then after the rest of the sides are together then you finish sewing the unfinished side from the first step. It broke my mind. The second time around, I made sure to pin and line each piece up at every step and it came out so much better than the first one.
The pumpkin
After the flowers were done, the next several steps were to put the pumpkin together.
And one weekend I was able to finish the rest of the banner.
October banner
November – still needs to be cut
Here are the ones that I’ve finished and posted about before:
JanuaryFebruary BannerMarch BannerApril Banner May BannerJune Banner (shown in a previous post last year)July Banner (shown in a previous post last year)August BannerSeptember BannerDecember Banner
Nov. 2024 – last row completedA page finish. 10/2025Last post – Jan 20262/11/2026- another diagonal done
I’ve reached the top right corner and that’s the end of the page. The next 3 diagonals are the longest diagonals and then it’s all downhill from there. at least on this page. But now I get to play with the next project on my queue.
I finished all the appliqué on the center block. I am enjoying working on this piece. I won’t be able to start the next block until the next mini retreat so the project will be tucked away. Until then I’ll work on my next homework task.
Keep on quilting!
Melanie
Started: October 2025
Kit purchased from Quilty Pleasures in Simi Valley, CA.
Okay so now that the Fingerless mitts (WIP #1) is done, I picked up the mini cozy. I’ve been doing a little bit here and there since I went through my knitting project stash and created my 2026 WIP list. But after finishing the one square that I was working on, I realized I didn’t have any more yarn to put into the project. The picture above is where it is at the moment and I stashed it back in my knitting project bin. It took a while for me to locate the bin so when I did, I put a label on it. I pulled my regular cozy blanket to possibly take its place. I can’t make a commitment now but I want to do a square a week and at some point I’ll probably run out of yarn again. Then I can use whatever comes out of that project and use it for the cozy mini. Here’s hoping. But I’m thrilled that even though this WIP is not a finish, I can’t do more with it until I use more of my stash!
One of my things to do when I pull this project back from the bin is to figure out how many grams of yarn does it take to finish a mini square.
