Jack and Benny (2025)

Here's my last finished and gifted quilt for 2025! Our dear friends Jeff & Kelly waited a long time for a special quilt. 

Neutral Jack and Benny quilt

In fact, they waited so long, I don't think they were expecting it at all. Lots of hugs, maybe some tears, and it went right to their bed. 

Holiday snacks, beverages and a surprise!

Gray grunge backing and striped bias binding. 

I had been collecting gray and beige fat quarters for a while knowing I wanted something to coordinate with their decor. I just couldn't settle on a pattern. So much overthinking....

I love the little stripe for the binding.  

I stumbled across Annemarie's neutral version of her Jack and Benny quilt on Instagram and knew immediately I was going to straight up copy her design. 

Annemarie Chaney's neutral Jack and Benny (Instagram)

    

Hmmmm something's not right....

Of course I was scrambling to finish in time for Christmas and was so excited to finish the top. I snapped a pic to text Hubs. Thank goodness I did. 😕

So Jack (the ripper) and I spent quite a bit of time together after that. Six.  That's the number of blocks I had to take apart to fix those two up there.  😩  After that, it was a dash to Donna for a longarm spa day. It's a special friend that will drop everything and quilt for you in December. 💕

Vanilla Grunge background ⭐⭐⭐

Sadly, I was in such a scramble, I didn't take any photos (again) before it was gifted. Would it be rude to show up on a sunny day to stage a photo shoot? Probably. They won't mind. 

The pattern is Jack and Benny by Annemarie Chaney and finished at 84" square. Thanks for a great pattern Annemarie!

Piece...

~ Cheryl

🧵🪡

Nana's Brightly (2025)

Back to documenting past finishes today. The current plan is to do all of my 2025 finishes and then switch to more of a summary post for prior years.  Otherwise, I'll never catch up. 😬

This is Nana's Brightly quilt, and it has quite a story. 💙

Years ago, I made Brent's (aka Handsome, Boyfriend, Mr. Quilt Holder, Enabler, Warden) parents a Christmas themed quilt, one of my first quilts.  They used it year round, and over the years we gave them much grief for that. (think snow globes and mittens in July) Nana said she would stop when she had another one to replace it. 😂😅  I had been planning to make another bed quilt for them for quite a while and finally put it on the priority list for 2024. Nana LOVES all things blue willow and ginger jar so that was my inspiration. (Thank you, Google images, for the inspiration pics)

I found the perfect fabric line at a local quilt shop, added some blenders and decided on the Brightly by Allison at Cluck Cluck Sew. It's another great pattern that seems to work with any fabric combo. (fat quarter and layer cake friendly, too!) No photo of the fabric pull. 😑

Anyway, I finished piecing Nana's Brightly in September of 2024 thinking we'd gift it for Christmas. Plenty of time to have it quilted, bind it and label it. Right?  Nope. Life happened in October. Their washer flooded and caused major damage to their home. Temporary accommodations and extensive remodeling ensued, followed by some pretty serious health issues and the difficult decision to downsize/relocate closer to their children. 2024/2025 was HARD. They lived nearly five hours away at the time, and Handsome went most weekends for almost six months to help with the repairs, packing, staging, selling, moving, etc.  

While a Christmas delivery didn't happen, Nana's Brightly made the perfect surprise housewarming gift. Jesus knew she'd need something special on a hard day. We sneaked in and left it on the bed while she was distracted with the movers. Her throw pillows and shams coordinate beautifully too.

Housewarming gift 💙

Moving day 2025

Relocation was a really difficult change for them, leaving their church family and community of nearly 50 years. But they've settled in nicely and are enjoying being a bit closer to us (3 hours!) and just minutes from Handsome's sister and family.  

Nana's Brightly finished at ~ 84" square and was quilted by my friend Donna. Zoom in for a peek at the backing. In all the excitement (stress) I forgot to get finish photos.  I'll have to take it off the bed and sneak outside for a photo shoot next time we visit. 

By the way, the Christmas quilt?  It now lives on the guest bed under a beautiful coverlet where I see it each time we stay over. But more on that one later...💕

Piece...

~ Cheryl

🧵🪡

Margie's Meadowland (2025)

 Last year, my sweet friend Margie welcomed her first grandbaby and will henceforth be known as "Gigi". The occasion had to be marked with a special quilt, one to be kept at Gigi's house for all the future grands. Here's to many more, Margie! 

Margie's Meadowland

The pattern is Meadowland by Then Came June. It's one of my favorites. This is my second version, and I already have plans for a third.  I treated myself to a 4x8 Bloc Loc flying geese ruler for this pattern.  I can't recommend it enough. 😍 The pattern is FQ friendly and produces very little waste. 

I pieced the top at our 2025 quilt retreat. We used these tables for layout work, and then looked down at it from the balcony to get a bird's eye view.  This always becomes a group effort - one or two arranging blocks while the others chime in from the landing.  😂 Works for us.

Look at all the finishes!

Here it is hanging from the balcony with other completed tops at retreat. I used a long-hoarded half yard bundle of Charleston by Amy Sinibaldi and some Art Gallery blenders. I'll just love this collection.

Quilting by Michelle 💗

Michelle did a fantastic job quilting it for me.  I'm amazed at what she can do with some rulers and freehand magic. I love how the tiny stippling makes the orange peels pop.

Labeled, bound, gifted!

Margie's Meadowland finished at ~ 48" x 64" and was gifted in May 2025 from 100% stash!!! (yay me!)

While at Lunch (2025)

The point of this blogging/journaling journey for me is to catalogue past finishes and do a better job documenting them going forward. Would it be better to do these all in one post? Maybe, but that would make for a REALLY long post right?  So for now, here we go - one at a time. 

I have a group of friends that meet monthly on the 2nd Monday at the quilt shop - a day when The Dancing Bobbin is closed for business so we are free to carry on without interrupting anyone. ;) The idea when we started (2022, I think) was to form a small group for a few ladies that could use some quilty friends in their life. We each started with a copy of the book Scrap School by Lissa Alexander and chose a quilt that we thought would work with our stash, and Scrap Club was born. 

While at Lunch

This is my version of While at Lunch made and gifted in 2025 to a dear friend Sandy who loves sports, travel and the color blue. Almost all of the blues and grays on the top were from stash. The backing is a cute Rifle Paper Company print with foreign stamps with a blue grunge-like print on the sides. It generated a pile of HST's in blue/white and gray/white.  They'll find a home eventually. It finished at ~64" square and was quilted by my friend Michelle. She free-handed the little flower pattern while I sorted/folded fabric in her studio. Because that's what friends do. 💕

And that's a wrap - February

Where did February go?  Well, there was that epic ice storm across the South, a Bucket List winter vacation, Gold medal olympic hockey watching (obsessing), a bike ride in the mountains during yesterday's spring-like weather, and as much sewing as I could squeeze in.  

I had a great time with my quilty peeps from The Dancing Bobbin last week at The Grand Oak Retreat center in Scottsboro, AL.  We've already booked a return visit for 2027!  The space was perfect for our gang. Great facility, yummy food and just so many belly laughs with friends. 

(I borrowed this shot from their website gallery) 🙊

Dancing Bobbin Friends minus one 💜

    

Swapping stars 💙

The star block swap was a big hit.  Can't wait to put them all together. We all have the same stars, but our samplers will vary drastically.  I mostly worked on WIPs from 2025 as I'm determined to focus on FINISHES this year. 

First up were fifteen little green houses for my Village quilt. I started these blocks last year for Angela's Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) at  SuperScrappy.  I added aqua and pale pink blocks later in the week (no photo again) so I think I only have neutrals left for this one.  

    

Next up, I worked on Carolina Chain blocks in various colors. It's from Bonnie Hunter's book Addicted to scraps, and I believe it is also available on her website. This is another RSC project I started in 2025. I think I only need about 30 more blocks for this one in light to medium grays.  

I started these two Riley Blake banner kits I collected last year.  I would have finished the bunny except who remembered to bring batting?  Ughhhh.

 

I've been steadily working on these Streak of Lightning blocks as a Leader/Ender project using up a shoe box of 2 1/2" strips. I spent some time cutting for future blocks to add variety. I literally stacked strips and cut a square and a rectangle from each.  Very easy units to make.  The challenge is keeping them going the right direction.  Ask me how I know.  The book More Nickel Quilts by Pat Speth is out of print now, but I found a used copy online.  

I'm going to attempt linking up with Angela at SuperScrappy a day late.  Take a peek at what other quilters are making for Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

Looking forward to March and whatever adventures it brings.  

~ Cheryl