Last Finish of 2025

Before we rang in the New Year 2026, I was able to finish this Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) Windmills quilt from blocks made this year. It was my 31st quilt finish of the year, of which 7 were Rainbow Scrap quilts. There were probably many more, though, if you count the number of string blocks I made and added to existing fabric squares or single-colored quilts (looking at you, green) when the color-of the month produced enough scraps to warrant its very own quilt right then and there. 

Let’s start with Windmills, though, and work backwards. or in the order that Blogger decides to load them. 

Windmills finished at 48x56”. My bestie Ruby quilted it on her longarm for me when it was still early days after my knee replacement surgery. I don’t think the pattern is too visible here, but it’s a bit easier to see in the photos below. It’s a sort of squareish meander.

I loved being able to use this Tula Pink teacups print for the back, but had to supplement it with a bit of green. That’s OK to me - just that much more fabric gone. 

The previous RSC quilt I showed last week was Weathervanes. Sorry for the bad picture. This was also made from blocks sewn in 2025. Weathervanes was 48x60”.

Paint Chips, my own design, was the third and final quilt I sewed from 2025 RSC blocks. I used 2.5” squares or 2.5x4.5” rectangles to randomly sew these blocks. Actually, I’m not sure if they look more like paint chips or some sort of audio noise scale. Whatever. Another quilt that measured 48x56”.

And two of my favorite finishes this year were never given the dignity of even a meager photo when they were finished. But I do have photos of them basted. Both were the Little Bricks pattern from Sylvia at Treadlestitches. 

Both of these Little Bricks quilts, like all the others shown here today except Weathervanes, were donated to Quilts for Kids, Salt Lake City Chapter. The Little Bricks blocks were blocks made during 2022.

And who could forget the Rainbow Candy blocks? LOL - well, I did for a year or two. But these 2023 RSC blocks were finally made into two quilts in 2025. 

Both quilts were sashed with the most fabulous multi-colored print I bought on clearance at Hancock’s of Paducah and measured 42x 52.

I still have at least four sets of past years’ RSC blocks to complete into quilting tops; night flying geese, split nine-patch, and some bordered economy blocks. The fourth set is one I’m carrying over from last year - the little Switchplate blocks. To those, I am adding the Broken Wheel block, the Gameboard block, and my usual strings and crumb blocks. 

The January color for the RSC has been called as blue. I’m still sorting scraps and don’t have anything to show. In the mountain of blue scraps, though, I did discover 28 blocks cut at 6.5”. I will use those in an all-blue little quilt this month, alternating them with simple blue scrappy 6.5” blocks. I’m cutting alternate block parts now; 9-patches, rail fence, and other simple standard blocks. Going where the scrap sizes and colors lead. I’ll share that in the next week or two.

We’ve made it to 2026 folks. After the hellacious year that was 2025, that is no small accomplishment. I wish you all nothing but good health and happiness - and lots of fun, relaxing sewing time - in 2026.

Linking to Rainbow Scrap Challenge and the first Scrappy Saturday of 2026. Come and see everyone’s lovely quilts on display!

Year-End Recap

Well, this year flew by, didn’t it? It’s time to grab a cup of your favorite warm beverage and pull up a chair. I’ll do all the work as we hit the highlights of the quilting year here at Chez Kizerian. I had hoped to finish one more quilt this week (month/year), but my Bernina is in the shop for her annual “spa treatment”.  I’m excited to share some (studio/machine) changes that are in the works! I won’t say more than that now, but next week I’ll share the whole story. 

In the meantime, I’m using my backup sewing machine, Bob. It’s a Brother. As in “Oh Brother, why isn’t this da** thing feeding evenly?” In the past, I have quilted on it using a serpentine stitch, but Bob was having none of that this week. No sirrree. So, I’ve ended the year having made 57 quilts, and quilting/binding another 24 “community” quilts (explained below) for donation. I’ll take it. 

So for this roundup post, I thought I’d share my Favorite Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts, Favorite Personal quilts, Favorite Donation quilts and favorite Community Donation quilts. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane, shall we?

Favorite Personal Quilts

There wasn’t much to choose from in this category, so there are only two favorites. There would’ve been three if I could have finished the Zipper quilt I was trying to get done this week, but I guess that will now roll into 2023.

First up is Swimmingly. This was finished as part of this year’s Stay At Home Round Robin (SAHRR). Bruce claimed it and uses it regularly. 

The other favorite personal quilt was this Antique Tiles quilt I finished earlier this month. It’s going into my depleted “To Be Gifted” pile, waiting for its assignment. 

Favorite Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) Quilts

The first RSC favorite quilt is this January finish, made from Split Nine Patch blocks. This little quilt used the warm colored blocks made during 2021.

Next up is this bullseye version of the classic Courthouse Steps block. The perfect fabric to tie these colors together was given to me by my RSC friend Julie. It was used for the borders and backing. 

My final favorite donation quilt was Rainbow Elephants. It was one of 5 elephant quilts finished this year. 

Two more will be coming in the first quarter of the new year. At that time, I’ll show all of them in a post. My friend Nann donated the cute elephant print fabric used in the border and backing.

Favorite Donation Quilts

I think this category is honestly just an excuse to show more quilts because every quilt in this entire post, with the exception of the two personal quilts, was donated to Quilts for Kids. 

This sailboat quilt was made from a pattern and some fabric scraps that were donated to our chapter of Quilts for Kids. I added some of my own fabrics and scraps to expand the quilt and complete the border and backing.

This next quilt is simple, but I fell in love with it early on in the creation process. I had been saving blue and green batik scraps for a couple years and finally had enough to take a stab at making a checkerboard quilt in blues and greens. So, I channeled my inner Wanda (who also has been a very generous fabric donor), set to work, and ended up with this quilt. I thoroughly enjoyed the process.

And speaking of Wanda, she also donated the backing fabric that was the inspiration for this strings-and-patchwork quilt. This was another favorite make, largely because the creative process with strings, scraps and a limited color palette was so much fun.

Favorite Community Quilts

What is a Community Quilt? It’s a quilt whose blocks - or the entire top - are made by someone else, which then is gifted to me to quilt, bind and donate. Sometimes the donors provide the backing (although that is NOT necessary). I provide the batting, thread and labor. This year, two quilts were donated to Wrap Ukraine with Quilts , and every other quilt was donated to the Salt Lake Chapter of Quilts for Kids. 

This first quilt was donated by McGill U.  The pattern is called Ring of Stars and can be found at Connecting Threads HERE.

My other favorite Community Quilt was this beauty donated by Julie K - the same Julie who donated the border fabric for the bullseye courthouse blocks quilt (linked above under Favorite RSC Quilts). 

Honorable Mention:

Another blatant excuse to show more quilts. Remember, I did warn you to get a beverage and pull up a chair. Which I probably didn’t even need to, because who reads blog posts while standing up?

This little number is the cool-colored version of the split nine-patch quilt shown above. It was as enjoyable as the first, and makes me realize I need to add this versatile block to my RSC repertoire for 2023.

I couldn’t leave this elephant quilt out. I actually made two of these in identical colors and fabrics. 

And finally, this quilt helped me whittle down some random width-of-fabric strips and bright solid scraps. I plan to make more of these in the future. So many ideas, never enough time!

As you can tell (by the names and links in this post, which is in no way exhaustive), there were so many wonderful people who contributed fabric, ideas, blocks, tops, patterns and feedback to help me with my quilting efforts this year. I am truly humbled and appreciative of your friendship and generosity. I also want to thank my dear readers for following along, offering comments and support. You’re the reason for being here. Thank you!

May you all have a wonderful New Year celebration, and good health and happiness in 2023.

Wrapping Up 2021

It’s time to wave goodbye to 2021. It seems this year flew by, but we always think that at year-end, don’t we? The deep winter here in the northern hemisphere allows us time to reflect during the year-end holidays. All in all, it’s been a pretty good year at the Kizerian Cottage. There are always ups (good health, family and friends, quilting and traveling) and downs (basement leaks/floods, the pandemic and politics). I’m so very grateful that we have another year to look forward to together. There are so many good things ahead! And did I mention cats? CATS! Our dear fur kids Alfie and Darla always liven up the time we spend at home. Yeah, cats are near the top of the Good Things category. 

This year I sewed a total of 68 quilts. That’s a lot, to be sure, but remember that most of them were kid-sized quilts for my favorite local charity, Quilts for Kids, Salt Lake Chapter. Those kid quilts usually measure 40-42” wide and under 50” long. I had my machine “Bernadette” (a Bernina 550QE) serviced this week, and the technician noted on the service notes that I had put on 2.8 million stitches this year! 

Looking back at the year, I can divide my quilts into those I made as donation quilts for Quilts for Kids, those I made for person use or gifting, and those I made for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (which may have ended up as a personal or donation quilt). 

**** Donation Quilts ****

Here are five of my favorite (or your favorites, judging by comments) QFK quilts from this year

“Creamsicle”, Orange and Cream String Quilt, September

This was just a fun make and used up so many string scraps. I got into a groove and when I came to, the blocks were done, LOL!

Riverdance , July

Riverdance came about when I was gifted some navy and orange scraps. I already had some four-patches in those colors set aside and they all blended well. To set the blocks apart, I used white strips to make them “dance”, hence the name.

Stringing the Blues, July

It’s no secret that I love string blocks. But when I had more than enough in blue to make an entire quilt, I figured “why not?”

Bright Blocks, June

This was a fun challenge I set for myself. I had some multi-colored patches aging in my scrap stash (the middle patches), so I pulled limited-quantity scraps and strips that matched it in reds, blues and greens. Eventually, this is how it came together. It was a blast! Sorry it’s pinned up wonkily on the design board!

Seahorse With No Name, March 

This was inspired by the border fabric, picked up at an estate sale. I used a Kaffe Fasset fabric for the sea floor and a solid light green for the water. The seahorse is my interpretation of one similar that I saw online. For added interest I pieced a color-gradient reef and appliquéd some “coral”. The water was given wavy line quilting.

**** Personal Quilts ****

My personal favorite quilts I made this year were:

Pinwheels (for Lauren)

Beachcomber (for Graham)

Zipperumpazoo (for Megan)

Stay at Home (for Kelly)

Ring Around the Roses (for me)

Ring Around the Roses was finished just a couple days ago. I made the blocks in January and February as I sewed along with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. The rose fabric is one that’s been in my stash probably 8-10 years, and I absolutely adore it. It’s been something I’ve been looking forward to finishing, and the wait was worth it.

Ring Around the Roses was quilted with a small vine-y loop. In the four corners I stitched a large rose motif, one of which you can see in the above picture. The quilt finished at 60x72” and I am enjoying it already!!

**Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) Finishes**

Top Row: Spring Stars, Waffles, Cats

Middle Row: Windmills I and II

Bottom Row: Beachcomber, Sampler

I still have two RSC quilts to finish from 2021’s blocks: Chips and Split Nines.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Our Christmas was spent at the home of my son Ryan and daughter-in-law Kim. The grandkids Lauren (and boyfriend Graham) and Easton were there, too, of course. Easton was home from the Navy in South Carolina for Christmas.

L-R: Bruce, Lauren, Cathy, Graham, Kim, Easton, Ryan

All of Kim’s family was there (except one brother and his son), but there were 23 of us all together. Everyone was vaccinated, and we took a Covid test upon arriving before joining the festivities. We had a great meal (everyone contributed), great conversation, lots of laughter, gift opening and lots of catching up.  (Bruce and I aren’t in this picture. I was photographer *cough*).

So, this week we’ve been having snowstorm after snowstorm (at least the snowblower is fixed!) and are staying home for New Year’s Eve. 

Thanks for joining me this year! Your support and comments and friendship have meant the world to me! I hope you’ll continue to drop by in 2022. I’ll be continuing with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and Quilts for Kids among other things. 

May your New Year 2022 be healthy and happy!  (Oh! Dang it! Can you believe that our beloved Betty White died on December 30?!? Say it ain’t so!). 

Best of 2019

It's fun to look back at the end of the year and see some of the projects that were completed and goals that were met. Although 2019 will go down in many books as a year of both good things and bad things (like any year does), I would have to say that for us, personally, it's been a good year.

2019 saw the loss of some friends, a number of medical operations for Bruce (removal of arm sarcomas, with good results each time) and me (carpal tunnel surgery - no more numb hands!) and the removal of our beloved apricot tree.

But we had great times with the family and saw everyone - even those out of state -  at some point in the year. The grandkids are all healthy, happy and growing strong, our adult children all have new (this year) and better jobs, and some even have new homes. We had a banner year with our garden and got several little projects around the house taken care of. We hope that 2020 brings more of the ups and none of the downs!

Before I get to my quilting recap, I'd like to show you the finishes I had this week. Instead of making one huge quilt of the 9" Rainbow Scrap Challenge string blocks, I ended up making two quilts which will be donated to Quilts for Kids.  First is the yellow, orange, pink and red one.

The other is the blues, green and purple quilt. Both measure 40.5" x 49" and were quilted with a loopy design on my machine.  These were Goals #13 and 14 in my 4th Quarter Finish-Along list, which you can see here.

And last but not least is the kitty quilt for our grandcats. It's nothing much to speak of, but used lots of leftover pieces and scraps on both the front and back. It measures about 42x48".

That brings my total quilt finishes to 32 for the year. However, I basted, quilted and bound dozens more for Quilts for Kids, quilts that were pieced by others. Additionally, I made a half dozen kennel quilts for cats, 3 zip pouches, about 8-10 pillowcases, a pressing mat, ironing board cover, pajama bottoms, and dozens of blocks that were either sent to others or are currently residing in my sewing room orphanage. All in all, very productive year!

Oh! Now that my hands are no longer perpetually numb, I have gotten back into embroidery a little. This little dishtowel (which needs a good pressing) was finished on Christmas Morning as Bruce and I listened to The Nutcracker on vinyl. I'll take this little tea towel with us to Arizona in February to give to my sister-in-law.  It was a little pattern and kit I bought about a year ago at a local quilt shop, but I didn't save any of the information once I finished it. I’ve tried searching for it online, unsuccessfully.

Here, then, is a collage of my "Best Nine" quilts of 2019. Actually, they aren't necessarily my best nine, but more my favorite-ish nine.

From top, L-R: "Gumdrops" selvage and fabric tumblers, Red String Stars, Lattice Birds, Saguaro Sunset, Crumbcakes, Blossoms and Spokes, Stringing in the Rain, Newport Butterflies, and Good Fortune.

Honorable Mentions go to Midnight Scrappy Stars and Kitchen Sink - because they were both so much fun to make!!

Have a Happy New Year’s Eve, and I’ll see you in 2020!

Linking up to Scrappy Saturday at Angela’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Year-End Recap and a New Machine!

Hello! Did you all have a nice Christmas? Ours was alternately quiet and then busy with family - just the perfect mix of down time and fun time. But too much food, even if it was mostly healthy. There are the yummy neighbor gifts, of course. And then the cookies I ended up baking “for Bruce” (well, they were for him, but it’s not like I ignored them....) And even some margaritas. Cousin Kim and I got some sewing time in this week and drank some skinny Margaritas while listening to Jimmy Buffet’s Christmas album, LOL. And they were both surprisingly good!  New Year’s Eve here is just a quiet time with the cats. We do stay up until midnight if for no other reason than all the racket that everyone in the ‘hood makes at midnight!

One fun thing we did is give our oldest Grandson, Easton, his usual Christmas cash. He’s a sophomore in college (nuclear engineering) and any money he gets supplements his earnings from scholarships and working part-time at In-n-Out. But this year we put a different spin on it. I saw a picture on Pinterest where someone had used a 2-pound candy box and put in coins, folded dollar bills (of varying denominations), etc. So, we did the same thing. And then re-wrapped it so it didn’t even look as though it had ever been opened. Seriously, though, the big bills we put into his Christmas card, and the candy box was filled with about $50 in coins and bills. Everyone loved it! He was a bit puzzled at first by the “candy” gift (but infinitely too polite to say anything), but laughed heartily when he opened it.

And here is Easton with his sister Lauren. You may remember that Lauren accompanied her mom and me to Kenya last July.

I was going to combine my recap post for 2018 with a looking-ahead post for 2019, but decided that would be too much. So, I’ll just do the recap here and save the new project introductions for my next post.

Because I’m an organized person for the most part, I use a personal written planner, spreadsheets, and online goal groups (like the Finish-Along and One Monthly Goal) to keep track of my goals and progress on them. Truly, no UFO (UnFinished Object) is left behind in my studio!

In December, I finished All You Need is Love,  a kids’ donation quilt,  two Rainbow selvage quilts, and a table runner.  You’ve seen pictures in previous posts of the quilts, so I’ll spare you. But here is the table runner I made for my friend Terri. It’s similar to the one that I made for us, but these reds and greens are prettier fabric!

Here is a collage of my favorite nine quilts that I made in 2018.

Top, L-R:
AB Baby - a baby quilt for daughter Stacy on the birth of DGD Evie in June
Autumn Sampler, sewn late last year but finished in January
Dancing in September - A Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) quilt of bowtie blocks

Middle, L-R:
Starry, Starry Day - finished in January
Groovy Guitars - finished in August for DH Bruce
All You Need is Love - for daughter Megan, finished in December

Bottom, L-R:
Linked Squares - another RSC quilt finished in August
Exploding Boxes - a RSC quilt finished in November
Orange Lozenges - finished in September

And here is a collage of all my Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts completed this year EXCEPT the two selvage quilts I finished last week. Some of these overlap with my 9 favorites in the above collage.
 

Top L-R:           Pawsitivity 2; Squared Away Sampler; Dancing in September
Middle L-R:      Rainbow Strings; Starry, Starry Day; Geese Migration
Bottom L-R:     Linked Squares; Exploding Boxes, Pawsitivity I

All my quilts are shown in my Quilt Gallery (2012-2018). You can check out the blue link just under the header. I plan to start a new page for Quilts 2019-? this year.

And finally, I’ve been worried for weeks about what I would do for a back-up sewing machine when Bernadette (my Bernina 550QE) went in for her annual spa treatment after Christmas. I do have a friend at Weight Watchers who is also a quilter, and she has a Singer Featherweight (white) that she’s going to sell me - but I won’t see her until January. My poor Kenmore sewing machine is so frail; he was serviced last year and the motor is dying. Bruce said he can replace the motor if we can find a new one, so we’re on the lookout.

So, I took Bernadette in and looked at their trade-ins at the shop yesterday. They had a Brother Innovus (2 years old) - solid state metal insides, not the cheap plastic models they sell to big box retailers. Anyway, it does embroidery (which is NOT a feature I was looking for or even care about) and has a hard case and a soft cover. Also, since its previous owner bought it there and then traded up to a bigger embroidery machine, they offered to continue the remaining 4 years of the original 6 year manufacturer’s warranty. The price? Only $399, and they cleaned and oiled it, threw in a pack of 12 bobbins, a bottle of oil, and a quarter inch foot. Needless to say, it came home with me, and I’ve been sewing happily away on it. It has an automatic thread cutter, which my Bernina doesn’t have AND an automatic needle threader. The Bernina has that, but it’s awful and never ever works for me. Bernina is not known for their needle threading prowess!

What’s with all the Disney crap stuff on the machine? It’s pre-programmed with lots of Disney embroidery designs. Apparently, Brother is the only sewing machine manufacturer licensed with Disney. So, it looks like a kid’s machine, but I so do not care! However, I still have have to name it, LOL. Not a Disney name, though.

So Bruce and I talked, and will still buy the Featherweight. It’s going to be our gift to Cousin Kim, whose Kenmore motor is also failing. Her Kenmore is only 2 years newer than mine (mine is a ’74, hers is a ’76), so they’re both over 40 years old. Now we’ll have two happy endings!!

Have a safe and wonderful New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day! We’ll see you on the other side!!

Linking up to:  Rainbow Scrap Challenge.