Red Needle Quilts: January 2026

Thursday, January 1, 2026

Two Finishes! Tomten's Quilt and BOM 2024

How come I've forgotten to take photos of these two finished beauties?!

I think the distraction of my faulty Bernina (in June) is to blame.

Now, for about two weeks, I've been waiting for nicer weather to take photos, but 'of course' the weather went worse. Today (Jan 1, 2026), the sun is shining from blue sky.

Tomten's Quilt (Keep Believing), #14 on my UFO list 2024 / #16 UFO list 2025

6 blocks were done in 2024 and the remaining 24 in 2025.

My intention was to make it into a flimsy at that point, which didn't happen.

I ran out of the red fabric (Moda Marbles Brick Red) and had to order more. When I got it, I decided to finish it.

There are 9 duplicate mini panels. I wanted to make the blocks all unique, but that meant buying a coordinating panel and that was no-no! As many of you know, I purchase fabric from abroad. International shipping has become extremely expensive. Sometimes the shipping cost comes to more than the item price! From this year (2025), I'm on SFD (Strict-Fabric-Diet)! That doesn't mean I'm not going to buy anything at all, it means only buying what I really need to finish a project. So far, so good!

How to quilt it, is always my question. Depending on the design, it doesn't always fit the quilt to do FMQ. For me, that is meandering or loopy swirls design. I decided to custom quilt the blocks. It takes time of course, but is well worth it for the final result.

Aren't these guys too cute?!

First, I quilted in-the-ditch (in the seamline) around the star spikes, then the snowflakes background. The four cornerstones got an X and I did another seam half an inch inside the HSTs.

I needed to do something with the small panels (star centers). I did in-the-ditch around the star center panels and from spikes to spikes. Quite a lot of quilting, AND wrestling (arm exercise!), for not to forget those not so nice words! LOL