What I'm Working On

This did not post as planned last week, so here is a 2 for 1 report.

How did I do on the TO DO LIST FOR MARCH 15-22:

• deconstruct dress for wedding DONE
• alter dress for wedding  DONE
• make binding for baby sapphire jubilee  DONE
• bind baby Sapphire Jubilee  DONE
• sort fabrics from Guatemala  DONE
• make heart blocks for Little S's quilt group interview project  DONE 
• keep working on Scrappy Spools as leaders & enders  DONE
• prep more Scrappy Spools for when I got back to school the following week  DONE
• make the red crayon for the RSC  DONE

This has never happened before!! It was really helpful that I was on Spring Break! Back to school this week, so my list is smaller.  Without the professional development course, it is going to feel like I have so much time on my hands - I hope!!

How did I do on the TO DO LIST FOR MARCH 23-29:

• prepare a backing for a UFO - Baby Bricks  DONE
• pin baste Baby Bricks  NO PROGRESS
• quilt Baby Bricks  NO PROGRESS
• keep working on Scrappy Spools  DONE  
• pick out another UFO to focus on next NO PROGRESS
• choose fabric for corn hole bean bags for L&W's wedding gift NO PROGRESS

Working on chemo caps and getting back in the school groove took most of my energy this week.

TO DO LIST FOR MARCH 30- APRIL 5:

• pin baste Baby Bricks  
• quilt Baby Bricks  
• keep working on Scrappy Spools 
• pick out another UFO to focus on next 
• choose fabric for corn hole bean bags for L&W's wedding gift 

This feels like a "do over" week!

Unexpected Project

Well, this sewing project was certainly not on my radar.  My sister was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and has started chemo. She was asking my advice about hats, head coverings, etc.  She teaches at a local university and her daughter is getting married in early May. So her impending hair loss and appearance is on her mind.

She ordered some hats and we found this cute DIY reversible chemo cap.  Of course, I had to try to make one.  This is the first attempt - mostly following the video pattern.  It was way too small.  It said adult, but this was definitely more for a child.  I tried again adding 1 inch to all sides of the pattern pieces and that turned out much better.  She kept it and I didn't get a photo.  

This is an easy pattern for intermediate sewers.  I think it would be okay for beginners, except that the video instructions don't really work and the cutting of the ties is not efficient. Also, the post and the pattern and the pattern instructions do not seem to go together.  If anyone is really interested I can tell you how I made it work more easily.  The second one took about 1.5 hours, and I think a third would be even quicker, especially if working with yardage and not scraps.

Going back to school after Spring Break was rough.  It was also an odd week and most days I did not a really break all day, so I was just plain exhausted coming home each day.  One day I was asleep by 6:30.  The others, I set the timer for 15 minutes and worked on the Spool blocks.  Good progress, but no photos.

2026 15 Minutes to Stitch

15 minute days this week = 6/7

15 minute days/Mar = 22/28

15 minute days/2026 = 74/87 

Success Rate 2025 = 85%

Some stash out for the chemo caps.  

2026 Stash Totals

Used last week: 1.3 yards for 2 chemo caps

Used year to date: 19.09 yards

Acquired recently: 0 yards   

Acquired year to date: 30 yards

Stash movement for 2026: 10.91 more yards acquired than used

Linking up to:

Kate at Life in Pieces 

Donna at quiltpaintcreate  

Frederique at  quiltingpatch

Angela at soscrappy 

Spring Break Sewing Frenzy

It sure felt good to sew, sew, sew over Spring Break sewing.  I worked on a lot of things, but stayed focused on the priorities.

I finally altered the dress for my niece's wedding in early May.  I found the dress for $5 when thrifting last fall.  Everything about it was right, except it was too big.  I thought I could work with that.  The solution turned out to not be what I originally thought, but by basting and trying and unsewing and trying again I finally got it.  Having Little S home to give opinions on each step was helpful. I am not a shopper and I don't wear dresses, so even though this was not easy it was worth the trouble to me.  My goal was to finish this week come and I did!

Baby Sapphire Jubilee

I also made myself finish the baby sapphire jubilee quilt.  It only needed binding, so I just used the same fabric as the backing and called it done.  Binding actually comes right after piecing for my favorite parts of quilting!

The backing is perfect.

Next up was the patchwork hearts for the exchange for the Savannah Quilt Guild meeting Little S and I will attend.  She needs to finalize the interview part of her research project and it felt right to participate in the monthly block exchange.  A nice change of pace for me.  The pink heart will have a disclaimer that it needs finishing.

Heart Blocks for Exchange

Unfortunately while doing the top stitching around the edge of the pink heart, my machine gave a "thunk" and stopped stitching properly.  The needle will not move side to side.  I'm glad the more important things were already done this week.  I will have to figure out what to do about the machine.  Turning it on and off again - repeatedly - did not work. 

"FQs" ready for gifting

We thought it would be nice to do something for her interviewees, so I picked a variety of fabrics and made some FQ type bundles to give them.  

RSC Crayons all caught up!

I also got caught up on the RSC.  My red crayon is finished!  

I did a lot of prepping of Scrappy Spool blocks to use as leaders & enders.  It was a good thing too!  I used up way more than I imagined and will have to prep more.  Being very intentional about using the spool blocks as leaders & enders has really advanced this project.

2026 15 Minutes to Stitch

15 minute days this week = 7/7

15 minute days/Mar = 16/21

15 minute days/2026 = 68/80 

Success Rate 2025 = 85%

Worked on overdue numbers over Spring Break.  All is well.  It was important that I help my MIL eliminate some of her stash while we were visiting.  I do like having "her" fabrics to work into special projects.

2026 Stash Totals

Used last week: 4.70 yds for Baby Jubilee + 0.43 yds for Heart Exchange Blocks + 2.5 yds for 10 FQs

Used year to date: 17.79 yards

Acquired recently: 30 yards brought back from MIL in Guatemala  

Acquired year to date: 30 yards

Stash movement for 2026: 12.21 more yards acquired than used

Linking up to:

Kate at Life in Pieces

Donna at  quiltpaintcreate 

Frederique at  quiltingpatch

Angela at soscrappy 

What I'm Working On

It's been a while, but let's see how I did with my TO DO LIST FOR FEBRUARY 22-28:

• work on quilting Sapphire Jubilee as after school sewing  DONE after 2 weeks of sporadic sewing
• deconstruct dress for wedding started
• finish sorting fabrics that came back from Guatemala didn't touch

I knew things would be busy and that's why I made a short list.  I'm okay with the progress that I did make.  However, this week is Spring Break and I FINISHED my class!!!!  I have a few small things to work on for school, but I am planning to do what I want to do as much as possible. Little S has her college Spring Break this week also, so spending time with her is a priority.

TO DO LIST FOR MARCH 15-22:

• deconstruct dress for wedding
• alter dress for wedding
• make binding for baby sapphire jubilee
• bind baby Sapphire Jubilee
• sort fabrics from Guatemala
• make heart blocks for Little S's quilt group interview project 
• keep working on Scrappy Spools as leaders & enders
• prep more Scrappy Spools for when I got back to school the following week
• make the red crayon for the RSC

The hearts are for the Savannah Quilt Guild that Little S visited as part of a course project.  She interviewed members of the group at the February meeting.  I helped her prepare the questions. They do a monthly block and then someone wins them all somehow.  When I take her back to school on Saturday we will go to the meeting together.  She will finalize the interview part of the project.  I think we will make FQs from my stash as thank yous.  I can't wait to participate in their meeting.  She has already decided what to take for show & tell - Dear Jane! I'm also eager to have her here all week, so I can understand the project better.

The End is in Sight

I missed checking in last week.  Changes at school along with the professional development course were just too much.  Even having the baby sapphire jubilee quilt ready to quilt in mindless spirals was just too much. 

big, boring spiral

After I passed the halfway mark on the course and saw that the new students were doing as well as could be, I was able to relax a bit.  Setting the timer for 15 minutes each day I ended up finishing the quilting.  Woohoo!  I do have to go back and add a strip of backing to make up a gap and finish that area, but at least now I can take the walking foot off the machine and work on piecing which I enjoy much more.

extra backing ready to sew on

I have known that quilting was my least favorite part of quilting, but these weeks confirmed that for me.  At least it is done now. Next time I need to set myself up for something mindless, it will be with piecing, not quilting. 

Spring Break starts this week.  I am excited that I will finish the course in the next day or day, and then be able to move on with my life!! The sooner I finish, the sooner I can sew guiltfree!!  

2026 15 Minutes to Stitch

15 minute days this week = 6/7

15 minute days/Mar = 9/14

15 minute days/2026 = 61/73 

Success Rate 2025 = 84%

Still working on the course, so I haven't worked out any numbers.  Maybe next week.

2026 Stash Totals

Used last week: 0 yards  

Used year to date: 10.16 yards

Acquired recently: 0 yards  

Acquired year to date: 0 yards

Net used in 2026: 10.16 more yards used

Linking up to:

Kate at Life in Pieces

Donna at   

Frederique at quiltingpatch

Angela at SoScrappy

What a Week!

There are not enough words to describe the week.  Due to major changes at school, each class on our entire grade level (7 4th grade classes) got 2-4 new students last week.  I got three, one of whom is known in teacher lingo as a "special client"!  To his - and my - credit, we had a good week.  Then the other boot dropped just after dismissal on Friday and due to totally different grade level difficulty, I will be getting a "special, special client" this coming week.  I can't even think about it.  

On top of that my professional development course that is hard to get into and not flexible timewise started on Monday.  It is more complex that I even imagined,but at least I find it interesting!  So every waking moment has been spent on that.  Thankfully this week was academics "light" with the new students and I didn't have a lot of grading or prep.  Also, thankfully, I had a plan in place for sewing.  

Slow and Steady on the Sapphire Jubilee

I set up the quilt to just do spirals and that's all I did!  Usually sewing is soothing, but this week it wasn't.  Maybe it helped me and I didn't realize it.  I will continue with it this coming week.  My sewing took a hit since I was on autopilot, but that's okay.  I knew not to force it but just do what my mind and body needed.

 2026 15 Minutes to Stitch

15 minute days this week = 5/7

15 minute days/Feb = 24/28

15 minute days/2026 = 52/59 

Success Rate 2025 = 88%

No notable stash movement this week. 

2026 Stash Totals

Used last week: 0 yards  

Used year to date: 10.16 yards

Acquired recently: 0 yards  

Acquired year to date: 0 yards

Net used in 2026: 10.16 more yards used

Linking up to:

Kate at Life in Pieces

Donna at  quiltpaintcreate

Frederique at quiltingpatch

Angela at SoScrappy

What I'm Working On

How did I do on the LIST FOR FEBRUARY 15-21?

• add tips to blue and green crayons  DONE
• prep leaders and enders  PROGRESS
• decide which UFO/PhD to work on next DONE
• get the UFO/PhD ready for after school sewing DONE
• deconstruct dress for wedding NO PROGRESS
• finish sorting fabrics that came back from Guatemala  PROGRESS

It's going to be a busy week.  I'm getting 3 new students due to major changes in our grade level, which is unusual at this time of year.  I had already registered for a professional development training that pays! It starts Monday and has a strict timeline and is known for making us work hard for the money, so I can't slack on that.  With all that in mind, I decided to work on quilting this.  

Smaller variation of Sapphire Jubilee.

It has been sandwiched and ready for months and months.  I had planned to do a giant spiral, and that works well in that I can just sew a few rounds each afternoon without much thought.

TO DO LIST FOR FEBRUARY 22-28:

• work on quilting Sapphire Jubilee as after school sewing
• deconstruct dress for wedding
• finish sorting fabrics that came back from Guatemala