NMAI • Top Finished! (Twice)

October 11, 2026October 10, 2026 Elizabeth E.11 Comments

I nearly always put the finished quilt top at the beginning of the post.

Not this time.

I’m putting the Finish, Before I Really Finished It, at the top of the post. Here it is:

This is the finished layout from the 2026 quilt-a-long project from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, with a few tweaks. As I mentioned in my BlueSky post, I absolutely am not a fan of piano key borders. You know those ones with a million little pieces that NEVER FIT? Sure you do.

And this was a type of piano key border, but the bits were subdivided to mimic a step design, seen on baskets from the designer’s region and people. I can honor that, but I was not keen about making it. That’s why you see two extra bands of yellow on top and bottom, as I’m trying to get that border to fit somewhat. I finally gave up because I knew I was going to do this:

(That fun figure I purchased in Northern Arizona is helping to show off my Really Finished quilt top.)

I got rid of all the inner borders, swapped out my sun symbol block for the hand, and tried to set the design to balance as well as it could. In her narrative about the basket inspiration used for the final border, Margaret Wood noted that the break in the design always points East. I intimated at this with my one yellow spacer, pointing to a traditional east.

So I consider this a successful finish.

(Early version)

But let’s talk about that final block.

Which leads me to ask, what is the real point of this quilt-a-long? Past all the designs, past all the paragraphs and aspirations? At first I viewed it as another traditional quilt-a-long, you know: get a free pattern, make a block, repeat.

But when I hit this one all that process abruptly ceased for me, because there was no way I was going to make that block. I went away for a couple of weeks (here, and here…always good for the quilty soul), and while gone saw another quilter on BlueSky make hers, changing it to suit her.

And then I started reading and reading; I read about the Yup’ik people. I read about their designs, where they lived. I found other artists in other venues. I searched for “Ellam Yua,” which is the black symbol floating over that random wave up there. And then I found this:

This hand-carved mask, from Jennifer Angaiak Wood of the Yup’ik people shows the river flowing from the upper right to the lower left. Things fell into place. Instead of that ocean wave representing water, I’ll do a river flowing over mountains.

The Yup’ik live in this area of the world where there are rivers, and oceans and mountains. After I borrowed Ms. Wood’s idea the creating began for me. I was — I think — finally catching the spirit of this adventure: learning about the native peoples who lived here before America was even a glimmer of an idea; perhaps that’s why the National Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian) was doing this for the America 250 celebration.

And if you haven’t been to that museum, please do put it on your list. We were in Washington, D.C. when it opened and it was just a party of different peoples from all over the American Continent (north and south) with a parade, food, programs. A good memory. And here’s a slideshow of that day, with all the amazing dresses (I love the Ojibwa Jingle Dress, slide 11) and regalia of the different nations. The first slide is a partial glimpse of the museum itself. The last three slides are inside the atrium, with the rainbows shining through the windows and down the walls.

Here’s a free pattern of my version of the final block for you to download. Please do not post this on your own site, but send others here to get it for themselves. Thank you. (This is already up on my pattern site, and eventually I’ll take this one down and the pattern will live over there.)

Yup’ik Block_opquilt Download

Okay, a quick review of how I made the block. I like using freezer paper when I do appliqué that has a tricky edge.

I pressed the raw edge (clipping at the curves) over the freezer paper. NOTE: please do pin your piece to the freezer paper as there is a tendency for it to move as you press.

Once cool, I removed the freezer paper, then put it into place on the “mountain” triangle, matching straight edges. I appliquéd it down, then cut out the excess behind. I chose to use hand appliqué but if you are familiar with using monofilament thread and a small zig-zag stitch, it would work well in this instance.

Similar process for the inner ring (the red center was appliquéd first, then I did cut out behind that). I trimmed the pattern piece on the lines, cutting away the seam allowances. Then, using a small-tipped iron, I pressed the clipped seam allowances over the edges of the waxy side of the freezer paper pattern. I pinned it to the block, then stitched down the inside of that first smaller ring. Then I removed the freezer paper, pinned it down again and went around the outside edges with my stitching.

Same steps. I clipped into the corner when the lines poke out from the circle, and tucked the raw edges under the shape.

I was in Scotland and England when researching this Ellam Yua shape and found it interesting that there were echoes of it where I was: a circles with the four points jutting out:

I learned a lot on this block, really enjoying my exploration of the Yup’ik art. And I learned a lot with all the other blocks and borders, too — expanding my horizons while doing a good challenge. Many thanks to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, and thanks to Congress’ America 250 Committee, which contrtibuted to this.

This final image is of a mask that Jen Wood made and put up online. In the text she notes that “the blue with white dots on the forehead represents the sky and stars, as well as our ancestors.” I liked the idea of this, so maybe the dots for my backgrounds evoke the same idea?

Thanks, Jen.

Happy Stitching!

Florere • Quilt Finish

October 4, 2026 Elizabeth E.10 Comments

I gave my sister my original Blossom quilt (happily) yet I missed it so much, I determined if I ever found the AMH border fabric again, I would remake it. At Road last year, I found the exact fabric; the personal challenge was on, and now it’s finished.

This is quilt #322, and is titled Florere, the Latin word for bloom (or so the internet says). I used a combination of all Anna Maria (and AMH fabrics), Soft and Bright batting, and I quilted it myself using a combination of Superior Magnifico thread and YLI Elite thread.

I cut out the 12″ size from my pattern. While many fabrics are similar, there are some changes, as Anna Maria had made some different ones that I wanted to use (like the coneflower fabrics).

There’s that border fabric. I started cutting this out in February 2026, only a month after Road (not bad).

While the top gets finished and pinned, it takes me a while to think of ways to quilt it. I went a little swirlier in the yellow-green petals. (That fabric is a Painter’s Palette Solid.)

Pattern can be found here.

I liked it so much, that earlier I made another one, smaller and for springtime. All four sizes are in the pattern.

A little stained-glass view for you.

300 and Beyond · PatternLite · Patterns by Elizabeth of OPQuilt · Quilt Finish · Quilt Patterns · Quilts

Pursuit of Craft with Spring Dots & Stripes • Quilt Finish

April 3, 2026May 29, 2026 Elizabeth E.16 Comments

One of the challenges in our modern life is to deal with disruptions, distractions, and never letting us have a minute without someone telling us the five steps to a better life, to better breathing, to being a better whatever. Or as tech, culture and political writer Derek Thompson observed on his podcast Plain English, these voices tell you “everything is figureoutable. And if I just listen to these five steps, I can figure out all my life’s problems” (from here).

But for me, I escape to quilting to not figure everything out. I mean, yes, sometimes just cranking out on a pattern and whipping up a quilt is a good time and I like that as much as anyone. But hopefully, as Thompson noted, “you can have intimacy with a craft.” The challenge “is if we are constantly being distracted or interrupted, it’s hard to find that intimacy. It’s hard to get into the slipstream or the pocket of a creative project” (same source as above).

I like my pursuit of my craft. Of taking a well-known-to-me pattern like my Blossom, and seeing what I can do with it that sends me into discovery, of finding a new way to see what I’ve seen before. Because, really, haven’t we all seen it all before: make a cut, stitch a seam, sew it together, quilt it, and don’t forget the label?

For this quilt (Spring Dots & Stripes), I chose to work with just two elements:
• dots and stripes (had to be white dots on bright colors),
• Tula’s Tent Stripes (in only four colorways).

It was this challenge that coaxed me into flow.

What is flow? The Czech psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi coined the word “flow” to refer to the psychological state of optimal performance.

“He recalled in an interview how he would watch painters in their studios and how he was fascinated by their ability to forget everything while working. He was also surprised by what happened when they were done: They’d finish a work of art, and instead of enjoying it…they would put it against the wall and start a new painting. They weren’t really interested in the finished painting. What these artists were after, Csikszentmihalyi realized, wasn’t the finished work itself but the experience of full immersion and absorption in the act of creation” (from here).

To understand it better, I watched several videos online, and liked the one from John Spencer, titled “What is Flow Theory?” He highlighted it like this (click arrows to advance):

Since no matter what I tried, the slides kept getting out of order, the basics are:

The task has to be intrinsically rewarding;
The task has to have clear goals and a sense of progress;
Clear and immediate feedback is critical;
It’s a balance between the challenge of the task and the set of skills needed to complete it; and
The person in the flow state has an intense focus on the present.

I cut out pieces in certain colors — the ones I thought I would want — and started putting them up on the design wall. And then in an a-ha! moment, I could see that I could group them differently to create a pattern of interest. Maybe that came from trial and error, maybe it came from being in the flow? I was able to discover a different way as I grouped the petals into colors, cutting and discarding and pinning up and sewing, as I ignored all that was going on around me.

I took the finished quilt out into the garden for some photos this week.

Side Note: I’ve decided there are two categories of fabric design that I don’t like on the front of my quilts: the first is sharp things, like anything on this fabric. The second is insects, so these often end up on the back. (Cute small bee prints are the exception.)

I needed a mini-quilt of just the right size to fit in a specific space (photo near the end), and it needed to be spring colors.

So when I turned to the Blossom pattern (which in turn has it beginnings in the traditional Flowering Snowball block), I didn’t have the right size. Because…

…last spring I discovered that over half of my computer files were corrupted. Not a virus. Just gone (it’s complicated). And 50 percent of those were my more recent pattern files. So many patterns that I’d written could never be updated. Unless…unless…I recreated all the missing, corrupted files to revise the pattern. Like this one:

So I have been busy re-drawing the files I lost, and while I was at it, adding a new size (7″ block), and re-writing the pattern. If you’ve purchased Blossom from me before, you can go to the email you received with the pattern and re-download it. And for those who haven’t made one of my patterns, and want to try it, I put it on sale for a few days if you want to grab it now in my pattern shop.

This a photo of another quilt, Aerial Beacon, that is stuck in re-write-land. I was about a month away from the release when I discovered the corrupt files. Talk about a way to stop the flow! I’ve slowly been re-creating this one, too. (Slowly is the operative word here, but it’s coming.)

UPDATE: The quilt patterns (there are actually two different Aerial Beacon quilts) are finished, and can be found in my pattern shop.

Yes, I should have had it done by now, but this is what I call a “reverse flow” task. All those glowing ideals in the list in the beginning have their counterpart: discovering and ferreting out and crying inside over lost work and then redoing the lost work, I would say are just about the opposite of the bliss of being in the flow.

Since I was in the Blossom flow, I re-made the larger 12-inch block version as well, especially since I found that outer border fabric at Road to California this year. It’s in the needs-to-be-quilted stack.

Quilt #316 • 28″ square, shown in that space where I needed a quilt

I’ll let this paragraph from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s book, flow The Psychology of Optimal Experience, close up this post:

In the course of my studies I tried to understand as exactly as possible how people felt when they most enjoyed themselves, and why. My first studies involved a few hundred “experts”—artists, athletes, musicians, chess masters, and surgeons—in other words, people who seemed to spend their time in precisely those activities they preferred. From their accounts of what it felt like to do what they were doing, I developed a theory of optimal experience based on the concept of flow—the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it. (from here)

I wish you all a week of flow, of enjoyable quilting, and a most happy Easter–

This and That • February 2026

February 5, 2026February 9, 2026 Elizabeth E.17 Comments

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 some cloth:

(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.