Therapy dog activities resumed this week after an extended holiday break. Sadie was ready to get back to work! Here she’s showing off her recommended reads display at a school we visit each week.

In addition to working with our regular students, we visited several classrooms and checked in on two special friends in the AU unit. One even proudly shared his Sadie countdown calendar, where he marks off the days until her next scheduled visit. 🙂 I am thoroughly enjoying this season of therapy dog work with Sadie. We made a total of 48 official visits in 2025.

My guild hosts a large quilt show every two years. Our 2026 show will be held in June at the Cobb Civic Center. On Wednesday, the entire quilt show committee met in person for the first time. It was nice to finally put some names with faces. In person meetings reveal so much more about people that a Zoom call ever could. There are definitely some strong personalities within the group! I have a lot of respect for those willing to chair an event of this magnitude. Not me! I’m perfectly happy in my role as the kid’s exhibit chairperson for this year.

Private lessons and CraftLAB continue. Since late September, I’ve been mentoring a high school senior with her admission portfolio to FIT. We’ll complete the final required garment on Monday (then take a bit of a break!). My ‘tween students have requested a summer quilt camp hosted at my house in lieu of schlepping an hour each way to the SQTM this year. I’m mulling over the logistics involved in making it happen. Below is a sample of the gingham quilt they’ve requested. It’s a wonderful size, but will require daily sewing homework to complete in a week.

What about the SQTM? Last year, I taught a number of classes at the SQTM. For 2026, the executive board decided to modify class formats, scheduling and fee structure in an attempt to boost attendance. Classes are filling, so it appears to be a good call on their part from that perspective. For me, I simply live too far away to be able to make things work under the new model. (And if I lived closer, I’d be a much more active volunteer!) I’ve been told that Sewing Machine Maintenance falls under a separate category, so I do anticipate teaching this class in the spring and fall.

Meanwhile, I spotted a new art studio in Smyrna. They offer painting, mixed media and embroidery classes. I’ll be reaching out soon about the possibility of sewing classes. Stay tuned.

Today, I joined 1500+ other quilters in the Stitchin’ Heaven New Year’s Day Livestream mystery quilt-a-long. This has become a NYD tradition for me. There’s no charge to participate and the quilt shop gives away some really good prizes every 45 minutes or so. Today’s prizes were electronic gift cards with values ranging from $50 to $250.

How does it work? A cutting guide and Team Rob/Team Tiffany fabric selections are released a few weeks ahead of time in their FB group. You can order a laser cut kit in your choice of those 2 colorways or use fabrics from your stash. I opt to pull from my stash. During the livestream, each block is broken down into units. The hosts usually demo a couple of different techniques and show the audience how to use new notions. I precut enough fabric to make 2 blocks and go from there. There’s a 30 minute lunch break built into the schedule and a soup recipe is shared ahead of time. (Hint: I buy a ready made version at the grocery store).

In the past, I’ve made the blocks in a patriotic colorway (go Team Rob), which were turned into placemats to donate to Meals on Wheels. This year, Team Rob chose a colorway that I really, really liked! I mimicked the colors as closely as I could, using fabrics from my stash. Once I saw the final quilt reveal, I knew I wanted to make a 3×3 block layout with borders (finished size: 48″ square). I actually have enough fabric to make the 9 blocks and borders! Haven’t decided if this will be a donation quilt or a Sadie quilt. We’ll let her decide!

This year, my husband was actually home on New Year’s Day. Normally, he’s out helping with a community service project or away on an active operation with Team Rubicon. He thoroughly enjoyed being able to watch college football uninterrupted today. 🙂

A TV for my sewing space is on the to-do list for 2026. Perhaps, I’ll be able to host a small group here to join in next year. We shall see.

Meet my scrap bin. It’s a medium plastic decorative storage basket found at stores like Target and Hobby Lobby. Nothing fancy. Most of what you’ll find in my scrap bin are bits smaller than 5″ square and random jelly roll leftovers.

I realize there are quilters who have elaborate stash management systems and cut all leftover fabrics to pre-determined sizes. Some even write books about their stash management systems. Me? I prefer a much simpler approach.

At the end of a quilting project, I “process” any leftover fabric. Random, full-size precuts are stored with my 2-1/2″ strips, 5″ squares and 10″ squares. Any larger pieces are returned to color-coded bins.

My quilting bee group makes several scrappy quilts a year for charity, so I sort the remaining bits for future charity projects, the scrap bin or the wastebasket. When the scrap bin gets full, it’s time to add a project to the rotation to use up some of the scraps.

Here’s my current project:

The FPP paper pad yields fifty 6-1/2″ blocks. I have enough of this white-on-white print to make about 12 scrappy HSTs. I’ll grab another white fabric hunk when it’s time to make block #13. Said blocks will be made into items to donate to my guild’s community service (placemats or a baby/toddler quilt).

Once a scrap become smaller than 2-1/2″ square, I toss it. If it’s been a busy, active quilting season and I’ve accumulated way too many scraps, I’ll pass them along to a friend or donate them to Scraplanta.

As a former librarian, I culled different sections of our book collection on a regular basis. It’s a key part of collection management. Applying those same principals to my fabric stash, including scraps, keeps things manageable. It’s great to save the scraps, but you also need a plan to use the scraps and/or divest of the scraps.