BAM BOM Friendship Star Wreath

BAM BOM Friendship Star Wreath
BAM BOM Friendship Star Wreath

This block (for Month 3) took me a long time and I had some detours along the way. Finally, I finished it.

I am not 100% happy with it. I would have liked to use the grey Pearl Bracelets, but I didn’t have enough. 

Using the white Pearl Bracelets as the background introduces another color of background into the piece and I had hoped to avoid using white for the blocks. Since I have not used white in any of the other blocks I have to figure out how to make it work. 

First step: go see if I can find more grey Pearl Bracelets. Doubtful, but you never know.

Lupine Border Decisions

I chunked the Lupine quilt top, then sewed the spacer border on. The next step was the Flying Geese border.

Option 1:

Recommended Lupine border
Recommended Lupine border

The directions were to assemble two Flying Geese so it looks like the above. The look was ok, but didn’t grab my attention.

Option 2:

Zigzag Lupine border
Zigzag Lupine border

I saw a zigzag border that someone made and tried that with my fabrics. This option looked more cohesive to me. 

Option 3:

Alternating chevrons Lupine border
Alternating chevrons Lupine border

Just to see if another configuration would be better, I tried alternating chevrons. This wasn’t terrible and created a lot of movement, but I thought it was a little confusing for the viewer.

I went for option 2 and started sewing long rows of Flying Geese together.

BAM Creative Play

January 2026 Creative Play
January 2026 Creative Play

I started a project at the guild called Creative Play. This was loosely based on a concept I had during COVID that kind of petered out. It was also inspired by a quote I read in Libs Elliott’s newsletter. The quote is “I have made a promise to myself that I will make time for creative play in 2026. Because, when work gets overwhelming, I find joy in taking even just a bit of time for myself to experiment and try something different without an end goal in mind.”

I am determined to have it take off this time and so far, so good.

I started out by handing out the rectangles in the center. Cyndi took it and added the orange border. That is an amazing choice. I don’t think I would have thought of it, but I love it. The orange has an interesting texture as well.

I handed the piece to Sue next and she added the half square triangles. I am really pleased with the work so far.

Chunking Lupine

Lupine center complete
Lupine center complete

I had to stop chunking when I realized I had to fix a couple of block mistakes in Lupine. I fixed those quickly and got back to chunking, which is easier than putting a quilt together in rows, but still tedious. It seemed to take me forever. Finally, I got all of the blocks together! Yay!

I was worried about the density of the dots in some of the black background, but looking at the quilt in the photo, I think it looks ok. I can see a couple of places where the dots are really dense, but the background pieces don’t make the blocks look wrong. 

Lupine with spacer border
Lupine with spacer border

After the blocks were together I put the spacer border on. Also, tedious, but necessary. 

I really like that Melody Miller Carousel blue. I am glad I bought more of it so I have enough for the borders.

Now I am on to the Flying Geese border. 

I noticed that Bonnie has taken down the directions on her blog for this quilt. I almost had a heart attack when I clicked on the link to look at the border directions and it was broken. Fortunately, I had saved the PDFs.

Fixed the Lupine Blocks

It’s a dreary day here as I write this. We are waiting for rain which seems poised to pour down any minute, but hasn’t gotten around to it yet. This means that my workroom is a little dark and grey. It makes me really happy that the life-sucking beige is gone.

Fixed Lupine block
Fixed Lupine block

I ripped them out while I watched TV one night and then re-sewed at them at a Sew Day I had with SueS, Lee Ann and SueG. I spent a bit of time over a couple of days doing random quilt tasks and this was one of them. 

Now I am ready to continue chunking the center of the quilt.

Lupine Oops!

I slowly worked on chunking the Lupine top together. I had to do it before putting on the border, because Bonnie has us put on spacer border, which prevents me from chunking the border. C’est la vie.

Lupine Alternate: wrong!
Lupine Alternate: wrong!

As I was working away I saw one block where I put the corners on wrong. The purple needs to be on the outside. 

🙁

I looked at the blocks on the design wall for awhile to decide if I could stand the mistake and decided it had to come out. I ripped out the corners, flipped them and re-sewed them.

Yay! No problem. Stuff happens. I was done and could move on.

Lupine blocks: wrong!
Lupine blocks: wrong!

Then I noticed another one. And another. 🙁 I have indicated the wrong blocks with arrows, but you’ll have to make the image (right) larger to see the arrows.

Now I have all the blocks that are wrong unsewn from the chunks. Next step: rip out the corners and re-sew them. 

Lupine block fixed
Lupine block fixed

I fixed one block and it looks fine.

It’s a process, right?

 

More White Strips #3

White Strips #3 in progress
White Strips #3 in progress

Without putting the blocks on the wall, I added sashing to my white strips blocks. I don’t have any design wall space and just had to go for it. I have a few donation quilts I need to make and this one will help me free up some design wall space. 

As you can see, not having the design hampers my process. Somehow I missed adding top sashing to 6 blocks. 

Yes, I used red. Dangerous, I know, but all my fabric is washed. 

This is a good quilt for Valentine’s ‘month’.

Lupine Blocks Done

Lupine blocks done
Lupine blocks done

Finishing the Pandora Charisma was great! It freed me up to work on other projects. I made my BAM BOM units, worked on the last Four Patch Fun blocks, made a donation block, got back to my normal leaders and enders system and FINISHED the last of Lupine blocks. YAY!

The quilt isn’t done by any stretch, but this is a huge achievement IMO. I am really pleased about it. Now I get to sew all of these blocks together and then start work on the border.

Happy Valentine’s Day, BTW!

Lupine Gets Larger

Lupine, early Feb. 2026
Lupine, early Feb. 2026

Slowly, but surely Lupine is growing.

In between trying to finish the Pandora Charisma and working on other bits and bobs, I am sewing blocks together as well.  I have about 5 more of each of the blocks to make before I can start on the border. 

This is a really dramatic color scheme and I LOVE it.

And Even More Lupine

Lupine blocks, late January 2026
Lupine blocks, late January 2026

I spent most of the day on Sunday making blocks for the Lupine quilt instead of working on the Pandora Charisma. The white strips blocks have been on my mind and I wanted to sew some sashing on to them, so I worked on the Lupine blocks and made the white strip blocks my leaders and enders.

I am quite ready to sew this quilt together. Though I am nearing the end of block making I still have some to sew.

More Lupine

I used piecing the Lupine blocks veg a bit. Now that I know what the two blocks look like I am able to piece them pretty quickly. I mindlessly pieced about nine of them one day when I needed a rest, but also needed to sew.

Lupine blocks- end of Jan 2026
Lupine blocks- end of Jan 2026

I know I keep bouncing between the Pandora Charisma project and this project. These are the two that are front and center at the moment.

Lupine Blocks

Lupine Alternate block
Lupine Alternate block

I have a few bits and bobs still to cut, but I decided I had enough pieces to put a few blocks together. 

“Lupine Alternate block” is kind of a sad name for this great block. The pieces from Clue 7 are so cleverly incorporated into this block. While the pieces were a little fiddly to make, they make the corners so much easier than other methods of construction. Also, using the Simply Folded Corners ruler** makes the cutting and sewing easy peasy.

Two Lupine alternate blocks
Two Lupine alternate blocks

I thought I would just make one to see where I was doing, but like the Potato Chip blocks, I couldn’t make just one.  

Lupine Star block
Lupine Star block

Once I saw two of the alternate blocks together, I had to make some of the Lupine Star blocks. I had cut the center strips with the last of the Melody Miller Carousel blue,  so I made a couple of blocks from what I had. 

I had decided that I wanted to use more of that fabric, so I went looking for some and found a couple of yards at the Bloomerie. The fabric was in the washer as I was making some of the alternate blocks.

Lupine block combination
Lupine block combination

The pink I used in this one is darker than the pink I used in the alternate block above. I was a little concerned about that, but once I had a few of both blocks sewed together, I thought the variation was fine. 

I used only a few fabrics and am trying to vary which are sewed to which others. It won’t be 100% possible since this isn’t as scrappy as Old Town, for example. However, I think the block combination is looking good so far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

N.B. Bonnie will remove the posts to which I have linked from her blog sometime in February 2026. Download or save the clues now if you want to make this quilt.

 

 

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White Strips #3 on the Wall

White Strips #3 in process
White Strips #3 in process

I finally dug out the white strips blocks I made last year and put them on the design wall. With the Patchwork Palooza no longer taking up valuable design wall real estate, I am able to work on this project. 

I haven’t started on sashing yet, but did decide to just make my normal strip quilt rather than another Sidewalk quilt. However, since I haven’t started the sashing yet, that could change.

I am thinking about red sashing as I have at least two bins of red fabric. I could use more by making a Sidewalk version. We’ll see. I know I don’t want to make another white on white strips quilt. 

I haven’t really decided to make 12 quilts for the guild this year. I am giving enough time to the guild. That doesn’t mean I won’t make donation quilts. It just means I don’t (yet?) have a goal.

Patchwork Palooza Top Complete

Patchwork Palooza top done
Patchwork Palooza top done

I finished the Patchwork Palooza top, back and binding last weekend and took it to Colleen yesterday. That is one project off of my overcrowded plate. 

I started this project in September. I was late to the scene, but caught up. September-January isn’t too bad for piecing a quilt. 

What I found annoying was that I had to receive a lot of marketing emails along with the patterns for the blocks. I don’t mind exchanging my eyes for a few marketing emails, but there were many, or what seemed like many, per week and it got old. I unsubscribed after not receiving the finishing instructions promptly and went my own way. I am pleased with the edge, which is comprised of ‘finishing’ off the Irish Chain bits of the design.

Patchwork Palooza back
Patchwork Palooza back

I made the binding right after I finished the top, which was a good move on my part. The back took me longer than I expected and I am sure I wouldn’t have had everything ready when Colleen contacted me if I hadn’t done that. 

One thing I need to do is collect ideas for quilting as I go along or before I go to Colleen.

 

Finished: Chain Link

Chain Link front
Chain Link front

I finished the Chain Link just in time for Christmas. All I had to finish was the binding. It required hand stitching, which seemed to take forever. As DH was holding it up for the photo, he commented on how large it is. I guess that’s why the binding seemed to take forever.

Chain Link back
Chain Link back

I don’t mind. I like having some hand stitching to do in the evening.

I made the back as cheerful as I could after digging into my backing pile.