Last Quilt of 2025

This was not a big sewing year for me. I completed a few projects here and there, but I almost went through all of 2025 without a sewing post. Just this week I finished a quilt that was 2 years in the making. This quilt was started in November of 2023. Jeanine had a book that I was flipping through for inspiration and found this picture. It became the pattern for a scrap quilt. I made this design 4 times and then rotated the block 90 degrees for each corner. 

Block for each quadrant of finished quilt

The fabrics are a combination of things in my collection and scraps given to me. Nancy, you will probably recognize several fabrics from your collection in there. As usual, I didn't have yardage to make all of the blocks without piecing so each quadrant ended up a bit different from the other three based on what scraps I had available. 

One quadrant coming together

Working on 2 quadrants

It took until December 2, 2023 for the top to be finished. I don't get a lot of sewing done during garden season. Any time I can be outside, I'm going to go there first. 

Finished size just fits on the kitchen floor

The backing was made a year later on December 29, 2024. I used several fabrics that do not match the front, but they won't be seen when the quilt is hanging on the wall. 

Backing gets pieced

On December 31st 2024, I took the quilt top to my parents' house and mom helped me baste it on the living room floor. 

Basted with safety pins

In September of 2025, I spread the quilt out again on the kitchen floor to get ideas for quilting.

Taped to the kitchen floor

The quilting was done by hand and is a mixture of Sashiko and quilting. I used a Sashiko thread I purchased at Sew On Central and made up my own technique. There are different patterns in most of the smaller blocks and then 7 of the rectangles in each quadrant are finished with horizontal or vertical lines. At times I used the 15 inch square Q-Snap quilting frame and then for the larger rectangles I finished with the floor Q-snap frame.  

Each rectangle gets a unique quilting  pattern

The binding was sewn on with the Juki and then finished by hand. The binding fabric is from Sew On Central and I was very pleased to find some of the chartreuse color.

I did have 'help' with the binding. 

Stewie inspecting my work, Lainie taking a nap

Slow and steady

After a wash the quilt hung dry on the shower curtain rod. This morning I hung it up on the wall and I can see that it isn't hanging square. It may settle and change shape a bit, but I'm not going to worry about it. It looks great on the wall already. 

Here are a couple close-ups of the variety of quilting designs used on the rectangles.

It feels good to move this quilt from the work-in-progress pile to completion. There are so many more sewing projects that are calling my name now. Happy sewing!

Tablecloth to Skirt and Harvest Apron

 This was a tablecloth that I found by the side of the curb when Winnetka did their anything goes trash day last April. It is some sort of cotton/linen mix and I really liked the stripes. The blue borders offered a good contrasting solid. There were some holes, scratches, and stains in the fabric but I could work around those. 

First step was to wash the fabric and see if I could get any stains out. They seemed fairly set in there. 

Lainie helped with laying out and cutting the fabric. The first project was a wrap skirt with front and back pockets.

After picking apples in a neighbor's garden last fall, I decided to try my hand at making a harvest apron. I found a free pattern online and used almost all of my scrap fabric from the skirt. 

I'm looking forward to trying out the apron in the garden this season. Construction of the skirt at the apron were done on a Juki 2010Q, my Bernina 1120, and my Babylock 1034D serger. 

Tea House Dress

 This is the Tea House dress pattern by Sew House Seven. I made this once before, but now I have used a smaller size and changed the length for the second sew up. This dress was finished earlier in June, but I'm just not getting around to taking pictures. They are not great pics, but it's going to be in the 90's here today and I wanted to get these in before the heat. 

Surrounded by squash plants

The fabric is from Lillian and is great for a breezy summer dress. It is very lightweight and I like the subtle stripes. It sewed up beautifully and really feels almost gauzy when I'm wearing it. One drawback to its 'lightness' though is that it is fairly translucent bordering on transparent. I knew I needed to wear light colors of undergarments, but after my first round of picture taking I realized that I also needed to wear a slip.

The hibiscus and roses are blooming

The large pockets are wonderful and after I lengthened the dress above the waist I can put my hands in them without hiking my shoulders up. 

The sun is really starting to heat things up

This dress is shortened in length from my first version and I think it will make it easier for moving around in the garden.

Checking on the potatoes

Under the clematis

This dress affords plenty of room to sit, reach, stretch, etc. within it. I don't feel restricted by it in any way. There is a good chance that this fabric is going to wrinkle easily though and you will be able to tell when I have been sitting.

Geraniums, petunias and a zinnia

Looking up to the sunflowers

Only a few wrinkles as of yet

There are two different ways to tie the waist. I haven't decided which one I prefer. Maybe I need to look at a fancier way of tying in the front?

Tied in front

Tied in back

The pics were a bit tricky in the bright sun and heat, but I'm glad this will finally get posted. 

Sasha Trousers

 Fabric- Joann

I took Brooks Ann Camper's Skirt Skills class and then her Smarty Pants class and I was looking to try out adjusting the fitting on an existing pattern. I chose to try the Sasha Trousers by Closet Core Patterns. I did re-size the waist of the pants so that they matched the block I had made for the Skirt Skills class.

                                                       

Outside my classroom at school

Seated in a student desk

Pocket lining is a quilting cotton

                                                                  

These trousers were made last March. It has taken me quite awhile to get these pics posted and the pants currently do not fit. Maybe it's time to modify my block again?

Green Lander Pants

                                                             

These pants were finished near the end of the school year in May. I used my TNT Lander Pant, size 12, from True Bias Patterns. The fabric was donated and there was not enough for full length trousers, so I hemmed them at a capri lenth. I think the fabric is a lightweight denim with no stretch, but it should hold up very well over the years. The buttons, which somehow matched perfectly, were also donated but not from the same source. I was delighted to find that they coordinated so well coming from different collections. The thread for seams was also donated, but did not match the fabric and button color and then top-stitching thread is a bit lighter so it doesn't disappear into the fabric. 

I photographed these pants during the course of one day in May. There are pics from school, from my walk at the forest preserve after work, and at a baseball game.

Love having those big front pockets

Elastic in back waistband

Another hack I made to the pants was to put some elastic in the back of the waistband. I used the tutorial from Lladybird as guidance for how to complete that modification.

Shadows from the trees 

Could have been twins. When I stopped at my nephew's baseball game after work, my brother and I realized we were both sporting the purple/green outfits.