This and That • February 2026

February 5, 2026 Elizabeth E.Leave a comment

Update on the SAHRR for 2026: The theme for Round Three was “Animal Kingdom,” so I spent a long time scrolling through my BlockBase+ software (really, it’s Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns in digital form–you should have this). I looked at all the names with something from the animal kingdom and found the one in the upper right corner: Bird’s Eye View.

After all that I sewed for last week’s double-double Round Two, I opted for SAHRR Lite. The yellow border is a sketch — to see if I like it. (I do, but I’m waiting to see what the Round Four prompt is.)

Here’s a free handout to make a 5 1/2″ finished Bird’s Eye View block, if you don’t have BlockBase+.

Handout Round 3 block Download

(I don’t have an illustration for you, but if you click on the title: Handout Round 3 block, it should pop up so you can see it. Then click the Download button to download it for free.)

I rough-cut the rays, then seamed them together. Placing the center line on the seamline, I pinned the pattern down and cut around it. I did use a giant plastic circle to help coax that outer seam allowance into place, pressing the seam allowances over it. I hand-appliquéd the circle. And yes, I didn’t end up using this version in the quilt, but instead made another.

Since this is a This and That Post, here’s the first thing for February: glasses. I’m at the three-glasses stage: one for regular walking-around-life, one for the computer (middle), and a new pair of sunglasses (they’ll come with tinted lenses). I only get the sunglasses every few prescription changes, but definitely the clock is not running backwards for my eyes. I had a new optometrist for this exam, with a brand-new machine, and I was totally impressed with her enthusiasm for All Things Eyes.

I updated my Mercantile Links at the bottom of my blog, and included Harts Fabric. They have a super selection of lots of clothing patterns (including Merchant and Mills) and this new feature if you buy fabric: they’ll pick your matching thread. Whoopee! for those of who have no decent fabric stores now that JoAnn’s is gone.

Because of SAHRR, I’m meeting some new bloggers and Ms P Designs is one. I really liked their guidelines for their PHD. You’ll have to read it to know what I mean. I participated in this kind of thing about six years ago and it really helped me clean out the backlog of projects I’d accumulated. I know there are other Linky Parties out there as well. If you are overwhelmed with Projects Half Done, join one. Because of this post, I dusted off my 2026 list:

I picked some that were new, some that are in process, and some that I need to design. One quilt is on the list because this year is the 250th anniversary of our country, and I wanted to think about how to celebrate it. Obviously with some new stamps…

…as I can certainly celebrate 250 years of the Post Office! Number 4 on my list, above, is about making a red, white, and blue flag day quilt and celebrating those things about my country that I love. I’ll be picking and choosing, and writing about them until July 2026. Here’s another set of beautiful stamps, complete with a quilt:

(You already have read about my affinity for stamps. When I travel overseas, I also buy stamps in whatever country I’m in!)

This stumped me this week. I used this (Kona Wasabi) in an earlier completed quilt and I was trying to recreate that quilt. I didn’t have any of that yellowy-green from Kona as I’ve switched to Painter’s Palette Solids.

QUILTY SOLID TO THE RESCUE!!!

Steph Skardahl, a Very Talented Quilter, put this app together and it’s a-may-zing.

So the original query was if Kona Wasabi was similar to Lemon Ice in Paintbrush Studios’ Painter’s Palette Solids:

I was able to compare it in her “Harmonies” section, which gives readouts for Hue, Saturation and Value. Thank you Steph for this really helpful app.

I have an iPhone (Apple) and this is what the landing page looks like in the App Store. So happy to have this and it’s free!

He always makes me laugh.

Another clever crocheter is here. Go read it for the comments. She asks the people responding to speak about current events as if they were talking about crocheting. I think if we all adopted this language we might not be so grumpy with each other so much.

A little HOORAY for this milestone, and yes, it is already on my 2026 Planned Makes list. I actually have made one more, but I don’t count them until I cut out the back and put it in the box. The original post, with free handout and pattern is here.

We are now eating the front yard’s mandarin oranges! It’s so hard to wait every year until February, but it is now, and we are enjoying them.

So why was I on the hunt for something similar to the Wasabi solid? I gave away one of my favorite quilts and was happy to do so, but I missed it. What made it special was the fabric for the borders, an out-of-print Anna Maria Horner (now known as Anna Maria). Gone. But as I was strolling the vendor aisles at Road to California, oh-my-goodness! There was a whole bolt of that fabric!

It was karma, as I already had a stack of AMH/AM at home, so I was good to go. (I will post about Road in the next couple of weeks, never fear.) And now, with a bunch of petals of Lemon Ice cut, within a couple of days, I was cooking:

Hmmm. Missing one.

I finished it just as the sun went down and rushed out to my back patio to try and catch the last few rays of sun.

On the patio. It’s from my pattern Blossom:

(The original quilt, above.) I also want to make a spring version in a smaller size. The pattern has three sizes of this block, with two different borders. It can be found in my pattern shop, and for this February, it is on sale…and without a coupon! It expires at the end of February. Okay, we are almost finished with this post.

Another wonderful quilter, discovered through another online collaboration, Janine of Rainbow Hare made this wonderful combination of wee blocks. She is also in SAHRR. We have a lot of quilty friends out there!

Sometimes I forget to hold space for my quilting, for creativity. I tend to pack things in, rushing from one thing to another. While the thought above relates to how we treat those close to us, I think sometimes giving my creativity a chance without harsh judgement can be a challenge. Sometimes I need to relinquish control and let serendipity find me, as the Queen Anne fabric found me at Road to California, on a day I was just feeling less than subpar, overwhelmed by all the beautiful quilts as well as by the current events in our country. And then, just like that — the spark came, the space opened, and a quilt was made.

Find your people. Find your creative space. Find those quilts that touch your heart —

The schedule:
*January 14: Center Blocks, led by Gail and shared by each co-leader
*January 21: 1st Round: Brenda @ Songbird Designs
*January 28: 2nd Round: Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
*February 4: 3rd Round: Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
February 11: 4th Round: Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
February 18: 5th Round: Gail @ Quilting Gail
February 25: 6th Round: Anja @ Anja Quilts
[An asterisk* means I finished that section.]

Guild Visits · Patterns by Elizabeth of OPQuilt

Blossom Quilts • Santa Clarita Quilt Guild

September 19, 2021September 14, 2025 Elizabeth E.12 Comments

I had a great visit to Santa Clarita Quilt Guild this past week, presenting a new lecture: Exploration Through Modern, Art and Traditional Quilts. I then taught a Workshop on 9-11 (!) using my Blossom pattern. I’ve worked with this Guild before and they are delightful. I thought I would share (with their permission) some of the quilts they made for our Follow-Up meeting about a week later.

The pattern has three sizes of blocks, and some quilters chose the smallest size, and some chose the largest, but the impact is great with whichever size was used, as the basis — the Flowering Snowball block — is really adaptable to many different fabrics.

Carol C. used the smallest size, wanting to make a quilt in autumn colors. I think those oranges fairly glow against her dark border.

Jean C. chose dark tone-on-tone batiks for her petals, and backed them with brights. I love that grayed aqua border. While you can’t really see it here, she used a flanged binding, so outside the burnt orange is the dark color again.

I think Joan used the small block again, and I love how the bright cranberry background is balanced by the soft floral petals and the muted green border.

Kristeen D. started out with a white polka dot fabric at our workshop, but by the time we met again, she’d swapped all of that out for the black/white polka-dots. That was a really great choice, along with that border.

Melissa N had pieces of three different black florals, which she combined to great effect for the backgrounds and border. Several quilters finished their quilts completely and she was one of them.

Vickie R used the smallest block in a limited palette of yellows and blues. But she finished hers into a pillow–a great use for this mini-mini quilt.

Usually we have a full week in between, but we shortened the interval to five days. Sue B. was able to get her quilt pieces cut out and arranged on the wall — I am happy to see quilts in progress in our Slide Shows, as that reflects Real Life. I love that border she chose, and it’s a perfect foil to the bright colors in the center.

Robin T. was at the Guild Meeting and once she heard that I have several videos in the class materials, she realized she could sign up even though she couldn’t attend the Workshop. She used autumn tones again, and then brought the center petals forward with her bright pop of yellow. We all liked how she stepped down from that to the polka-dotted half-petals, then out again to another muted floral fabric.

And this is my mini-mini, made in the smallest size. I had decided I’d better try the quilt myself, in preparation for teaching. I loved using the subtle stripe in the border, and rotated the corners 45-degrees so the pattern would continue around the outside. I also demo-ed on this fabric, so this is the front and a large version of the block is the back. Note: the tiny lavender flowered fabric in the outer border is one of the oldest in my stash, as I think it’s about 25+ years old, and was used in a quilt for my then young daughter.

Thank you to the women in the Santa Clarita Quilt Guild for their creativity and imagination and quick work. Hope you enjoyed the Blossom Quilt Show!

300 Quilts · PatternLite · Patterns by Elizabeth of OPQuilt

The Flowering Snowball Block Grows Up

June 20, 2021October 20, 2025 Elizabeth E.22 Comments

Now where were we?

I think we left the Flowering Snowball block here:

Don’t get me wrong…that was a good place to leave it, and I still might try to make this version of it, but the idea that I should do one in Anna Maria Horner fabrics just wouldn’t leave me alone. Thanks to Patti, I just had to give it a go.

First draft, using 12″ blocks from the PatternLite Flowering Snowball pattern:

The finished quilt center:

For some time I was stumped on what to do for a border. I try to subscribe to the Ruth McDowell school of sneaking in a border if you can, that is, having it be integral to your quilt, but not the same as the quilt.

I tried to do that with Summer Snowcone.

As well as a version of it with Sawtoothmania.

I looked at the center section for a long time, and was bothered that the tips of the petals were cut off. So I had the idea to extend the petals, re-draw a new border piece and see where that took me.

First draft of border, using the petals I’d originally cut for the center (but in the end, chose the warm yellow-green instead):

This is still an AMH fabric, called One Mile Radiant, a lovely design with Queen Anne’s lace all over it. I’d show you what it looks like, but I cut it all up.

(Aren’t we supposed to do that with fabric?)

The white was ho-hum, just didn’t sing it for me. So I auditioned different colors of solids: medium purple, light periwinkle and deep pink.
But as I said to Carol, “That dark pink on the left just looks like freshly manicured fingernails to me.”
And then she said, “Once you see that, you just can’t un-see it.”

Reject.

The smart and handsome youngest son and his brilliant and lovely girlfriend came yesterday for an early Father’s Day lunch (which is why this post is late but that’s a good reason), and they graciously posed in front of Sunny Flowers just before Dave (DH) suggested they go up to the sewing room to help me with my conundrum of freshly painted fingernails. They were like, what?

But then I showed them the stack of AMH and started flipping through the bits, and one of these two said, What about that one? pointing to what is now front and center.
I think that might work, I said.
We all agreed (by now Dave had joined us) that the tips of those leaves were like an extension of the yellow-green and that the pink bits echoed the center of the larger flowers in the quilt.

So, after church today, we went out back to the pavilion and park and took a few pictures, before heading home to celebrate Father’s Day. As usual, Dave was my Quilt Holder Supreme. My newest pattern, Blossom, contains all the parts for this quilt, as well as three other sizes, including that original border block.

Happy Father’s Day to the man who married me and four children, all at once, and raised us all.

The day my husband became a father to four children. He’s a keeper.

I was also fortunate enough to have a magnificent father, who raised me, as well as being surrounded by many fine fathers: brothers, brothers-in-law, our sons, friends we know — all men who are doing their best to influence their families for good.

Happy Father’s Day, everyone!