Amethyst, Onyx, and Topaz

The working title for this piece was "Amethyst Crystals", but as I was finishing the binding on it, my love of semi-precious stones led me to think of stones in more of the colors of the quilt. Hence, the new name.

After tying off the thread on the last stitch of the binding, I placed it on my kitchen island while I went for my phone to take photos. That is when I noticed the matching colors in the gorgeous bouquet of flowers my daughter had given me. She works part-time for a neighborhood florist, and for Christmas she gifted me a "Bouquet of the month". This was the beauty she brought me in January. She knows how much I love these colors together.

The top of this quilt was finished 2 1/2 years ago, based on the Pam Buda pattern called Haunted Maze. I started it in a class she taught for Village Dry Goods in July 2023, and completed the top the following month. It became buried in a pile of small flimsies. I finally pulled it out last fall and started the quilting, doing stitch-in-the-ditch on my domestic sewing machine. When I got to the border, I switched to my Sweet 16 quilting machine, but tension issues would not resolve. So it was back to my DSM for some straight stitch quilting in the border. I had planned on something swirly, but I don't like to FMQ on my DSM, so this is what I settled on, and I'm okay with it.

An "almost finish" is my Circa 1880 quilt (another Pam Buda pattern). I had it quilted by my longarm quilter. I thought I would do it myself, and even practiced the Baptist Fans on another quilt to make sure I could handle it. But my shoulder didn't love all the pushing around of the quilt for those sweeping arcs, so I let the expert handle it--and she did it so well. It has been 6 years to the month since I had the top assembled and bordered. It is about time it got quilted!

When it came to the border quilting design, I didn't want it to look modern or fancy. In searching vintage and classic quilting patterns, I came across this book.

Can you see the design quilted on the border of the cover quilt? It is just diagonal lines, and I liked it right away.

Here it is up close.

I am very pleased with how this border design turned out for the Circa 1880 quilt, and I can't wait to get it bound and actually use it on our bed.

The stencil used for the Baptist Fan quilting is from Barb Vedder's Etsy shop. She designed it herself! You can find it HERE. My longarm quilter also quilted my Schoolhouse quilt using this stencil (hopefully I can share that in my next post), and she really liked it, so now I have ordered one for her.

That is the end of the quilty content. The orchids in the kitchen windows are blooming, which always brightens cold, winter days.

These keep blooming until spring flowers are starting to open, so I really don't care that they usually don't bloom again until winter returns. They are at their best when I need it the most.

The sunset was stunning a couple of nights ago. It was another one of those nights when the sunset was flaming in the west, but casting a beautiful glow onto the east.

Western Sky:

Eastern Sky:

Walking north from my home, I could turn to my left or my right for glorious color. It was magical!

Getting this post written in February was something I was determined to do, and I am just squeaking this under the wire. 

I hope that in this time of chaos and division, you are finding some calm and peace with needle and thread, good books, music, nature, family and friends--whatever soothes and comforts. Find the beauty and the good where you can, and create it, if you can't!

Until next time,

Be creative, and be kind!

Janet O.

Summit, Schoolhouses, a Swap, Sunsets, and CJ

Lori of Humble Quilts blog usually hosts a doll quilt SAL each year. This year it was called "Summit". I did not get it completed in time to be a part of the "Summit" linky party, but I wanted to share it with you. I finished the top on January 2, after having worked on it during two Zoom sessions with the Chookshed Stitchers the last couple of days of 2025.

Though the quilt that inspired Lori's SAL had three borders, I wasn't sure I was going to put any borders on it at all. Then I made the decision to pay homage to my house quilt, and use leftovers from that border to put a border on this little thing. You see, the five stars in this quilt were the leftovers from the cornerstone stars I made for the house quilt. When I saw that "Summit" had 5 stars that finished at 4", I decided to use these five leftover stars, but they finish at 3". That meant my 16-patches had to also finish at 3". Not as hard as I first imagined. The strips I cut in order to make the 4-patches had to be 1 1/4", so those squares finish at 3/4". I cut the borders 1 1/2", and the quilt measures 17 1/2".

I am also thrilled to show you the finished house (or schoolhouse--in order to maintain the alliteration of the post title) flimsy!

One side appears darker than the other--my sewing room lighting just makes it seem that way. This fits nicely on our queen-sized bed, but I haven't decided yet if I am keeping it. It will be a hard one for me to give away. I am planning on having my usual quilter do Baptist Fans across this one. If you are new to this blog, you will find the information on the pattern that inspired this in my previous post.

For Christmas my guild did a mug rug swap. I was feverishly working to get mine finished the day of our usual meeting, when a friend from the guild called to see why I missed our meeting the night before. Such a "duh" moment. We had talked the previous month about needing to have the meeting a day earlier in order for our president (who was hosting at her home) to have us over. I made that note in my guild notebook, and then promptly forgot all about it. Anyway, this is the mug rug I made, which someone will be receiving in our meeting this month. The rotary cutter is for perspective--and because it matched so well. ;)

We had some gorgeous December sunsets. It was hard to narrow things down. This was taken on December 9th. You can click on these for a full screen view.

The photo below is of CJ, my brother-in-law's llama. When I am out moving around the yard taking photos (or for any other reason), CJ moseys on over to the fence to see if I have anything to feed him. 

On December 10th I caught the following photos of the sunset.

Of course, CJ had to get in on the action.

I felt like he was saying, "This is my best side."

I hope your new year has begun well. I'm not a resolution maker. I work on goals each day, so I don't feel inclined to set new ones as a year starts. But I do like to continue to focus on being kinder, more grateful, more thoughtful, and more intentional. There is always room for improvement, and it usually works better for me one step at a time, rather than huge leaps and bounds that are hard to maintain.

Thank you to all who visit my little corner of blogland. I appreciate the comments, suggestions, inspiration, laughs, and most of all, the friendships. Blogging has broaden my horizons in ways I never dreamed!

Let's make it a happier new year!

Until next time,

Janet O.