It’s hard to believe, but I’ve already been retired a month! In the last month, I have spent more time sitting on the couch than I have spent in my studio or even cleaning the house, which is a little sad, but not completely unexpected. This week is the first week since I retired that’s just a “regular week” with no celebrations, shopping, holidays or other distractions from day to day life. I am so excited!

I am spending this week working in the studio and getting things done around the house. Decluttering and organizing is not my forte, but it needs to be done, and done NOW.

Declutter Challenge, Anyone?

I am following along with declutter challenge over at Just Get It Done Quilts. Karen Brown runs this every year, and to be honest, I never had time to follow along in the past. Since it’s my first year doing the challenge, it’s brutal, but it’s also well past time for me to get this done. I’m not sure it’s going to get easier, but if I can divest of some of the stuff I’ve been hoarding, it will be time well spent for me. I think Karen is the true hero for even attempting this, and she does it every year!

So far, I’ve:

• Removed all the trash from my studio, which was important because that’s where we wrap Christmas gifts every year, so there was a lot of trash in there.
• I’ve cleared the squatters out, which was mostly Christmas gifts, because hello, the holidays just passed!
• I’ve gone through magazines and subscriptions, which was sort of easy because I got rid of magazines when we moved four years ago, and I just don’t buy them much anymore. I think when subscriptions were mentioned, it was more about magazines than quilting boxes and such, but I used it as a chance to re-evaluate everything from Sirius XM Radio to Kimberbell subs.
• I also went through books, but I didn’t get rid of much because I don’t buy a ton of books, much like magazines. I have limited space for things like that, so I tend not to buy a lot of them.
• I still need to go through patterns, and I need to catch up with the archives and memories. I don’t think I’ll have a ton there, either.

I think the biggest challenge for me will be tools and fabrics, when we get there. How do you let go of all the pretty things?!

January UFO Progress

This month’s project, as I mentioned in my last post, is the sea life themed quilt I made for my daughter in the early 2000s. This quilt, also known as the “fishy quilt,” was pieced when my daughter was still a child, and then I never got around to sandwiching, quilting and binding it. I was trying to remember why I didn’t finish it, and I think it was one of the first quilts I ever pieced, but I wasn’t really sure how to quilt such a large quilt on a smaller machine. Looking at the quilt now, it doesn’t really look very large, but when I first started making quilts, I’m sure I thought it was massive.

I pieced together the backing this morning, and I realized that even though I’m using Aurifil, which is a quality thread, and quilt shop quality fabrics, the amount of lint I’m producing is staggering. I clean my machine and oil it every morning before I start sewing, and today was no different. Yet, piecing this backing produced a ridiculous amount of lint. The photo below looks like an old machine that hasn’t been cleaned in years!

There’s something exciting about finishing a quilt, especially a quilt you’ve been holding on to as long as I’ve held this one. It’s moved with me several times and now I’m happy to think that the next move it makes will be to my daughter, who’s been waiting not so patiently for more than 20 years. Seriously, she brings it up every few months. This quilt has become something of a joke between us, because it’s taken so long for me get to the point of getting it quilted. But I’m so close now!

The blocks are 8″ x 8″ so they would be perfect for block by block quilting. The sashing is a standard 2″ sashing, so I could quilt just the blocks and leave the sashing unquilted, if I so desired. I’m leaning toward an edge to edge design which will look like it was done on a long arm, but I was a little concerned that it might be “too much” if the design isn’t made for a “large scale” project.

I was considering this design from designsbyjuju.com for quilting. I purchased it back in November 2022 with an eye toward using it to finish the fishy quilt, so I decided that today I need to run the design in the 9″x14″ hoop to see how it stitches out.

I like the way it looks, so I think this is the design I’ll be using to quilt the fishy quilt. I tried the 9″x14″ design, so I am thinking about trimming it up and binding it to use for a placemat or maybe a mug rug.

Spare Squares

I’ve been working on the Spare Squares quilt when I have time, and I have to be honest, I’ve done more than I thought I had. Yesterday, I realized that all of my 1.5″ squares have been, at the very least, sewn into two patches, and many have been sewn into four patches. I’ve also got most, if not all, of the 2.5″ squares put together. I need to take a look at it after I get the UFO project started with the quilting/embroidery and figure out just where I am in the process.

I have enjoyed the mostly mindless sewing of this project, and I’m looking forward to getting the top pieced. I think that going forward, I will plan to finish each quilt as the top is completed instead of holding on to it until whenever I get around to it. I think the only way to truly tackle UFO’s is to not create new ones!

I’m already thinking about the quilt design I want to use to finish this quilt, and I’ve never tried doing feathers of any sort for quilting a large project, so I might just go with this large scale feather design from Kimberbell.

I’ve had the Clear Blue Tiles set from Kimberbell since they were first introduced, but I haven’t tried them out yet, so this will be a new experience.

Maybe One New Year’s Resolution

I know I’ve said that I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions, but maybe I’ll make just one – to use the sewing and quilting things I’ve been buying and hoarding for years. Tools, fabrics, patterns … I have a room so full of these things, they are literally overflowing to other parts of the house. It’s time to stop being afraid or intimidated and start using the pretty fabrics, the useful tools and the interesting patterns I’ve been buying for the last twenty years.

Use one “new” tool/fabric/pattern a month that I already possess. That’s my resolution for 2026. Am I the only one who waits a week to set a resolution? Surely not, right?

Goals For The Week

This week’s goals are:

• Get the fishy quilt sandwiched and start quilting it
• Continue to make progress with the Spare Squares quilt
• Continue to work on decluttering the studio

What are you working on this month? Are you trying to finish up UFOs, or did you jump into a new project? I know a lot of people take January off from sewing so they can reset for the new year. Are you doing a reset now, or are you still sewing away?