A quilty update - September 2026

Earlier in the year I set out my quilt plans for 2026, and to be honest it seems like yesterday since my update in June, but another three months have gone by and so here I am checking in with my next quilty update.

So how am I doing?

1. The teal flying geese

I have news. I have started this one, finally.

As this will be for a king size bed I decided to go with the larger size of flying geese, as I thought that too many small geese might send me seriously quackers. The fabrics are great, and although I had a minor cutting hiccup for the first few blocks, I’ve got around that with an extra seam which I’m ok with. The second cutting session went a lot more to plan and I’ve already got a steadily growing pile of blocks of four geese.

SOME OF THE ALREADY COMPLETED FLYING GEESE BLOCKS

THERE’S MORE IN PROGRESS, WAITING TO BE SEWN TOGETHER

AND MORE ALREADY CUT OUT, SO I REALLY HAVE NO EXCUSE!

I know I will need a fair few more - I haven’t counted exactly how many yet - but this project is go (maybe not go, go, go just yet - but go is good!)

2. The jeans and pyjamas

3. My floral fancy

The update for these two is there is no update, their time will come I’m sure.

4. My English Paper Piecing (EPP) blue diamonds

The small, slow-burn progress continues. I’ve started to move beyond the already constructed blue and green shapes and have started to build larger blocks around the vintage tablecloth diamonds. It’s going to look great, but it is still a project that you mustn’t hold your breath for!

ATTACHING FOUR OF THE BLOCKS WITH A VINTAGE TABLECLOTH DIAMOND

THE FIRST OF THE LARGER BLOCK CONSTRUCTS

5. Scrappy houses charity quilts

More news here, with villages 2 & 3 also now complete. Each of these quilts is different, which is amazing really as there are many common fabrics between them. They continue to be a joy to sew - as it’s a great way to experiment with patterns and colours, and I don’t think I’ve put together a house which I completely dislike yet.

VILLAGE QUILTS 2 & 3

6. Wonderland meets Moda

7. Word Star

Again, there is no update on these.

A bonus quilty update

While I missed the annual Project Linus sewing day that my patchwork group hold, I was able to donate the pile of nine quilts that have been amassing in the corner of my craft room, including all of the village quilts I’ve made so far, and the quilt that mum made which I shared in my last update.

They were very pleased to receive this stack of nine quilts, and it’s great to see that corner of my craft room again, even if it is only for a short time until more charity quilts fill that space!

So there has been quilty progress against my long list, and none of it has been a chore - I just need to work out how to do more with my sewing time, and to make time for more sewing time, though with the winter months approaching I think that that will become easier.

Village quilts 2 & 3

It’s been a few months since I shared my first village charity quilt, and back in May I wasn’t as on track as I’d wanted to be to meet my ‘one a quarter’ plan, but it’s amazing what a difference a couple of months can make, as here I am with the second and third of this style of quilts - and I still love making them so I think there will be plenty more.

But 2 & 3…

Mum came along to the July Saturday sewing group meeting with me and at that meeting I seemed to steam through topping up my house pile to make another top. I know I need 30 houses for each quilt top, so when I think I’m close and then find out I’m not as close as I thought, I put my foot down.

Anyway at that sewing group meeting I completed the top for the second quilt - and as you’ll notice one of the houses on the second row has a more modern take on the roof shape. It’s an oops, but an acceptable oops in this style of quilt, as well, not all houses look the same anyway do they?

VILLAGE 2 QUILT TOP

I enjoyed piecing this so much that over the next few days I completed the top for my third village quilt.

VILLAGE 3 QUILT TOP

I love how they look so different, but are so clearly the same design. Some fabrics are used in both quilt tops, and some will continue to feature for a quilt or two more I’m sure, while I’ve probably used the last of some in these quilts.

I decided it would be sensible to choose two different backings for these quilts, as it made sense to batch the remaining tasks. This led me to another ‘design decision’. I was keen to use the bluey/grey and white dot fabric with the yellow flowers as a backing for the final time, but if I added two borders I wouldn’t have quite enough. I guestimated that with a single border I could use it as backing, and even better I could use that material on the front too as a border, though I wasn’t quite sure how it would work as previously I’d used the cream border.

There was only one way to find out

So both quilts were basted and quilted, then trimmed ready for binding.

VILLAGE 2 QUILTED

VILLAGE 3 QUILTED

The patterned border makes them look quite different again, doesn’t it?

I like it though, and it’s persuaded me to be bolder with some of these quilts in the future. But discipline meant that I needed to finish these quilts before I’d let myself play with any future colour schemes, and I wanted to include both of these in my donation early in September.

VILLAGE 2 FINISHED

VILLAGE 3 FINISHED

I’m pleased with both of them and love how they’re both the same but also so different - and I hope that they’ll provide a hug to someone that needs one soon.

You can see my other quilts I’ve made to donate to Project Linus - a charity whose mission is to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children, who are sick, disabled, disadvantaged or distressed through the donation of new, homemade, washable quilts and blankets.

A quilty update - June 2026

It was only March when I set out my quilt plans for this year, and to be honest it seems like yesterday - but one of the things I want to do more consistently this year is my quilty updates, even if there isn’t that much to share.

I’m being harsh on myself, there are some quilt updates to share but while last year’s stretch project took over a bit, I’m finding that without that structure I’m not quite so productive. I’m sure I’ll work it out, but hopefully when the weather’s not so warm!

So how am I doing?

1. The teal flying geese

2. The jeans and pyjamas

3. My floral fancy

The update for all of these is there is no update, so that was easy!

4. My English Paper Piecing (EPP) blue diamonds

There is progress of sorts on this one, albeit small. It’s become my project to take to my monthly Monday evening sewing group, and so it has had an outing and a small update. I’ve even moved it into an organised bag so I don’t need to think about getting it all together before I head out, the issue has been life - and I’ve only managed two out of five of the monthly meetings, but then again this was always going to be a slow burn project.

5. Scrappy houses charity quilts

I have completed my first village quilt, and I’ve almost got enough houses for the second one, so that’s real progress. I’m really pleased with how it’s turned out, especially as these are all pieces of fabric that were leftover from other projects (mostly the stretch project) and might have been deemed on the small side for keeping. And I’m sure whoever the recipient is won’t mind about that one bit.

6. Wonderland meets Moda

7. Word Star

Again, there is no update on these.

A couple of bonus quilty updates

1. My mystery block of the month quilt has been playing heavily on my mind, but now the quilt top is finally finished. After I joined the monthly blocks together and added the sashing between those blocks, I spent some time pondering the borders - or specifically how wide they should be.

I wanted them wide enough to add some width to the quilt so I can use it on a double bed, but not so wide that it looked silly. In the end I settled on increasing each border by an inch, and ahead of adding the final border I did the sensible thing and took it to my patchwork group for confirmation and reassurance, and the use of the floor in the village hall to check it out once and for all.

So the quilt top is now done - yay! Now it needs basting, quilting and binding which for the size of the quilt is no small job.

2 The second bonus quilty update is another quilt, but not one made by me. Mum decided to use up some of her charm packs and make a quilt to donate to Project Linus, which I’ll take along with me when I donate mine.

Isn’t it bright and cheery - I love it (but will still donate it, honest)

So there has been quilty progress against my long list, and none of it has been a chore - I just need to work out how to do more with my sewing time, and to make time for more sewing time!