Quilt News 2026, Hand Quilting My HST Medallion Quilt with Borders in Red, and Snowball Blocks with Sawtooth Borders Small Quilt, Scrap Piecing with Batiks, Winter Color

I'm piecing saturated batik scraps for hot pads for the kitchen.

HST Medallion hand quilted in Baptist Fan pattern.

My Snowball Blocks with Sawtooth Borders inspired by Farm & Folk Quilting.

The two unfinished hot pads, to the left and top, will soon have their binding sewn on.

My red Amaryllis with this year's blooms 2026.

 

 

Happy New Year!! 

Here in the valley we have freezing temperatures and sunny skies!

I've been hand quilting 2 projects, it keeps my hands 'in shape.' My HST Medallion Quilt with Borders in Red is hand quilted in Baptist Fan pattern, the center medallion. The borders are next up.

Also I'm handquilting my red and white Snowball Block Quilt with Sawtooth Borders in cross hatch. The design is inspired by Sara Larson Buscaglia's book Farm & Folk Quilt Alchemy page 127, Hand-Quilting Tool Roll. Sara made her Snowball Blocks into a tool roll. I used different colors for my version, red and white, and added a Sawtooth Border for a small art quilt for table or wall. Sara has an excellent Snowball Block tutorial on her blog.

Going through my scraps and leftovers I found some saturated batik fabric scraps and decided they would brighten up a kitchen and decided to use them for hot pads/mats. I put a layer of Insul-Bright in the middle plus two layers of batting for heat protection. Finishing piecing I started machine quilting them and will finish up with binding and then into the kitchen, they make good gifts too. My scraps are getting used up!!

And a photo of my Red Amaryllis 2026 blooms. It was not a sunny day for the photo but the blooms are still magnificent. 

That's the quilt news, I hope you're enjoying your winter and are managing to stay warm!

I'll be by to visit. 

Quilt News!! Inspiring Improv by Nicholas Ball Book Review, 4 Improv Log Cabin Blocks Quilt Choosing the Backing, Snowball Blocks with Improv Sawtooth Borders Hand Quilting Progress.

Nicholas Ball shares his take on improv quilt design.

See the same sunflowers next to each other on the 2 logcabin strips?? Sunflowers too close for my liking.

Here is the new version I repieced. I took out the 'log' with the repeat sunflower and replaced it with a dark print.

This section in Nick's book, Part Two Practice, is my favorite, I love the color combinations.

Here are some backing fabrics I'm considering. The 4 Improv Log Cabin Blocks small quilt will be approx 18" x 18". Just right for sitting on a table.

My hand quilting progress on my Snowball Blocks with Sawtooth Borders Quilt.

 

 Hello Quilt Friends!! 

Sun and clouds here with warmer temperatures, a relief after rain for several days.

We welcomed a new grand daughter into our family, children are a miracle and a precious gift. 

This week I checked out Nicholas Balls book Inspiring Improv from my local library and it was a good read and yes, inspiring! My favorite part in the book is Part Two Practice where he gets into what he calls The Techniques. His very practical guide to improv piecing is easy to understand and implement. Excellent book for improv quilt design and piecing.

The last couple of weeks have been slow in project progress but I did get a piecing repair/replacement done on my new 4 Improv Log Cabin Blocks quilt done. I had pieced 2 "logs" next to each other that had the same sunflower on both pieces, too close for me. So I unpicked and restitched the "logs" back together replacing the repeat sunflower with a dark print and now the design flows.

And I'm currently hand quilting 2 quilts. I've finished hand quilting the center medallion in my HST Medallion in Red with Borders quilt. Now to start the borders! 

And I'm slowly hand quilting my Snowball Blocks with Improv Sawtooth Borders. I'm in no hurry, my hands need a few days break between hand quilting days. 

That's the quilt news from the valley, where we are enjoying the winter and the new year. 

I'll be by to visit.