Project Update: 10.11.2026
Hello Friends and Welcome Back!
As the Autumn days slowly slip away, quilting, crochet, and renovations blur together, filling my days and making the new house feel more and more like home!
This week, we've taken an exciting step in the renovation process as we began moving furniture back into the sewing studio, so for the first time since moving, I'm finally back to posting from my desktop computer!
I still have a lot of files to move around before everything will be organized in one place again, but it's another step forward that I'm excited to take!
Of course, file management isn't the most interesting topic for a post. Instead, let's take a look at how my stitching projects have been progressing recently!
Crochet Afghan
When I last shared an update on my crochet progress, I was in the middle of blocking my first batch of squares!
At the time, I had planned to leave them for two nights, giving them lots of time to dry and take the proper shape, but I was a little busy that week and they ended up being left for three.
I'm sure there's a point when leaving them to block for more time stops making any significant difference to the finished shape of the square, but I don't have enough experience to know when that is. If you have any thoughts, please share those in the comments so I can learn more!
When I finally took the pins out, I was pretty happy with how the squares were holding their shapes and was so excited to start sewing them together that I forgot to take any photos, whoops!
I'll have to remember to do a better job of documenting the process when I get around to blocking the next set of squares!
To distribute the colours evenly across this chunk of afghan, I planned a Sudoku-like layout, with each row and column containing one square in each of the three colour schemes!
I plan to make a different Sudoku layout for each of the different chunks of the afghan, but haven't gotten around to drawing those up yet.
With the layout decided, I stitched the first sixteen squares together using an invisible feather stitch—the same one I use for my hand piecing—and am really happy with how it's coming together!
I still need to weave in the ends of my feather stitching yarn, but since it's the final row of stitching that holds the project together, I think I want to do a little extra research on the most secure way of doing that. If you know of any good methods, I would love for you to share those in the comments so I can look them up!
With that research happening in the background, I've continued to work on the remaining squares; some of them came out the wrong size and I've needed to restitch them, while others just needed to have the pale blue sashing round added to them!
Since the last update, I've completed a pair each of the Narrawong, Spike, Melbourne, Zahra, Lazarev, Radius, Bismarck, and Bobbled patterns, and am currently working on the second of my two Sibuyan squares!
This brings my total to 51 completed squares, so I think it might be time for another round of blocking soon! I can't wait to see which squares will land in the next chunk of the afghan!
My squares are based on a variety of patterns from Granny Square Flair by Shelley Husband.
Stitches in Stone Sample Quilt
Since we are now into November, I released a new unit for the Stitches in Stone quilt along last week!
This month's unit is the three quarter square, made using a mix of different background fabrics! And though there are more units to make this month than in October, it's easier to assemble and ended up taking me less time to complete!
And now that I'm back on the desktop computer, I'll have to remember to get all of my documents in order for the Stitches in Stone pattern so everything will be ready to release on 01 December!
Stitches in Stone is my own original design, by Valerie Anne of the Fibre Arts blog, and is currently running as a free quilt along.
MQG Favourite Blocks Sampler Quilt
It's been quite a while since I made any progress on the sample quilt pattern test for my friend, but she's been very understanding of how busy the renovations are keeping me, and I haven't been the only one helping out, so I don't think I'm holding her back too much.
But with December fast approaching, I need to get through all the Winter blocks before we go virtual for the season, so I've recently gotten back to stitching!
I recently completed all of the blocks for the month of January, which include Pinwheel, Disappearing Pinwheel, and Crazy Quilt blocks!
From there, I began working on February's blocks!
So far, I've only finished the Flying Geese blocks, but this month has some of the blocks that I've most been looking forward to working on! I can't wait to share them soon!
The MQG Favourite Blocks sampler pattern was designed by Sonja Vandermeer of Sonja V at Home and is exclusively available to members of the Mississauga Quilter's Guild.
The Generations Quilt Project
After taking some time to think through and draft a quilting design, I presented my idea to Mom and Grandma when we got together last week!
They agreed that they liked my ideas, both for the quilting design and for the thread choice, so I'll be ready to start quilting soon!
There is a little bit of prep to do first though; I have to piece the backing fabric to make it the right size, and the quilt top has done a lot of travelling and needs a good pressing, but neither of those things will take too long once I get started!
The Generations Quilt project is based on the traditional Dresden Plate and Six Pointed Star blocks, using templates drafted from extant blocks by Valerie Anne.
Friends, thank you all for joining me for this week's project update!
I've found that taking a look back at your own progress can be really inspiring, as well as a great way to adjust your focus and decide which direction each project wants to take. Sometimes the next step forward involves a little look back!
And I'd love to hear what all of you have been working on recently too! Please share photos and stories in the comments below, by sending me an email, or by visiting me on Instagram!
I can't wait to see what we'll make together next!
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