Daily Fiber

SAHRR 2026 Round 2 Make-it-a-double. Twice

Posted on February 2, 2026February 2, 2026 by Laura Kate

On Wednesday Kathleen McMusing declared that round two of this year’s Stay at Home Round Robin quilt challenge will be doubled. This very clever and open invitation sent me back to my Costa Rica photographs to consider how I might interpret the challenge within my theme. It was quite pleasant looking at photos of a tropical paradise while huddling inside away from the cold and snow. I remembered several animals that demonstrated the theme of doubles, starting with the Scarlet McCaw. This bird mates for life. In Costa Rica they are seen in pairs: flying, roosting, grooming – everywhere.

We saw other animal pairs frequently

While I would love to paint these creatures, in the interest of meeting my deadline, I went back to Kathleen’s post for more guidance. She had suggested a dozen blocks to choose from that included two of a kind. I liked the double tulip block. It reminded me of tropical flowers, and that I had this fabric:

Hibiscus print, with flowers that flow in an ombre effect. It was in my mother’s stash, and she let me have it a few years ago.

I quickly worked out the piecing needed, then cut and assembled my first tulip (hibiscus)

After making one other like this one……..

….. I cut and assembled two more blocks with a leaf background instead of a sky background. I also used the solids that appear in my center block.

Now I have four blocks, but no idea about where to put them. They may become the corner blocks of the quilt. Laying them aside, I got busy with idea no. 2.

We were fortunate to stay in a beautiful villa high up on a hill in the Osa Peninsula.

One feature of the décor was the generous use of tiles. They were everywhere, on walls and floors, the pool, deck and walkway. I was inspired to make a double border in the form of tiles. While I didn’t get any photographs of the tilework, I think I can come up with something close. On pale blue fabric, I used fabric paint to approximate a fancy glaze. Here are my swatches.

I cut this and some compatible blue-green fabric into 3 and 1/2 inch squares. To imitate grout, I cut cream colored solid fabric into 1 inch strips.

And here is my Costa Rica quilt at the conclusion of Round 2.

I’m quite pleased.

If you enjoyed reading this post, please consider visiting Kathleen’s post where the InLinkz party is happening right now.

Remember each week, the host listed is the one that has a link up for you to post your progress. The others will also be showing their interpretation, so you get the added benefit of seeing 6 different approaches to the same prompt!

✓ January 14: Each of the hosts will be sharing their center blocks
✓ January 21: 1^st Round: Brenda @ Songbird Designs
January 28: 2^nd Round: Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing <——-This Week
February 4: 3^rd Round: Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
February 11: 4^th Round: Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts
February 18: 5^th Round: Gail @ Quilting Gail
February 25: 6^th Round: Anja @ Anja Quilts
March 25: Parade: Your Finished SAHRRs!

By the way, my quilt is now 31 inch wide by 18 inch tall.

quilting

SAHRR 2026: The first round

Posted on January 26, 2026 by Laura Kate

It’s been a week of trial and error, as I struggle to make the first round of blocks suggested by Brenda of Songbird Designs: Hourglass, aka Quarter square triangles. I had come up with a plan for my Costa Rican inspired design and pulled suitable fabrics from my stash.

For this round, I chose green, yellow and pink fabrics. My objective was to have groups of blocks on either side of the center panel. The first attempt did not please me.

The border just didn’t look like a Costa Rican rain forest. My second attempt used more of the green with the blocks arranged to resemble the ginger flowers of the center block.

This looks a little better, but the scale was way off. The shape dwarfed my poor bird, which is the focus of this row. At that point, I dropped my rotary cutter and gave up for the day.

After a good night’s sleep, I had a new plan: Make the blocks smaller, placing the flowery colored fabrics in a more random way. That might suggest the lushness of the rain forest in an abstract manner. And if I cut the blocks to finish out at 2 and 1/2 inches, four of them stacked would fit the 10 inch length of my center block. Eureka!

Next came ripping apart, cutting down and sewing a total of 24 hourglasses. I added some pale blue fabric to represent the sky and separated the flower colors into discrete patches.

And here they are in the final layout.

To see what the other SAHRR participants are doing, visit our hosts and take a look at their interpretations of this round.

January 14	Everyone shares their center blocks	Gail @ Quilting Gail
January 21	Round 1	Brenda @ Songbird Designs
January 28	Round 2	Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
February 4	Round 3	Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
February 11	Round 4	Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts
February 18	Round 5	Gail @ Quilting Gail
February 25	Round 6	Anja @ Anja Quilts

You can find the link to see the rest of the participants’ quilts on Brenda’s post.

knitting, painting

Unraveled Wednesday from Here

Posted on January 22, 2026 by Laura Kate

Waking up again to new snowfall. The wind blew it all about, and it’s clear that we are in for some of the coldest weather I have ever experienced.

Not to fret, I have my yarn (and blog friends) to keep me warm. Here’s what’s on my needles today.

In December I promised Bill that I would knit him a pair of socks. At Christmas, I formalized the promise with this gift, wrapped up with a swatch of the yarn.

This yarn has been in my stash since last January. It is Regia, by Schachenmayr. I have wanted to try this classic self-striping sock yarn for a long time. It was a bit fiddly getting started. I chose to knit from the cuff down using a 1 by 2 rib pattern. Getting cast-on with four sock needles was hard and the first few round tedious. But now I have my rhythm going.

As far as reading goes, the desire to stay inside and curled up has me almost desperate for new reading material. Succumbing to the stacks of detective novels that Bill has sprinkled throughout the house, I chose StillLife, by Louise Penny. I pretty much raced through it in two days. As murder mysteries go, it was fairly gentle, with more writing about relationships than graphic descriptions of violence and cruelty. It turned out to be just what I needed to get through the long, cold nights of January.

To read about posts by Kat’s other Unravelers, visit her site and link into the party.

knitting

First Finish of 2026

Posted on January 18, 2026 by Laura Kate

Hello friends. Despite the fact that I have been silent for more than a month, my needles have been busy. I cast on this shawl pattern by designer Andrea Mowry in early December. I cast off on Friday. The close-up above gives you an idea of the shawl’s textures and colors. In the past, I would have photographed my yarn selections as I bag them up into project bags. This project got all knitted up without any photographs of the yarn. Reviewing my yarn buying history, I found these Knit Pick skeins were purchased in January of 2025. So I’ll just link you to the vendor’s site.

Hawthorn in colorway Goddess

Hawthorn in colorway Sweet Home Tonal

Twill in colorway Lavender

I am particularly fond of the Twill yarn. Because it is a 3-ply yarn in a plump merino wool, it makes very nice stitches that have good definition. I’ve already bought more for a fun cardigan that is planned for later in the year.

Anyway, back to the finish: This shawl is Big:

It stretches beyond the width of my queen-size guest bed. I’m guessing the wingspan is about seven feet. That will make for a good couple of wraps around the neck. Iowa is COLD. I have discovered that the more wool items I have on, the better I feel.

To learn more about Andrea Mowry and her fabulous designs, click here.

What’s on your needles?

painting, quilting

A New Stay At Home Round Robin

Posted on January 14, 2026January 14, 2026 by Laura Kate

Yes, friends, Quilting Gail and her talented co-horts are at it again. The Stay at Home Round Robin for 2026 (better known as SAHRR 2026) is on, starting this week. For readers who are unfamiliar, I offer a link to Gail’s post, which explains it all.

https://quiltinggail.com/2025/12/18/announcing-the-2026-sahrr/

. As usual, there will be six rounds, plus the kick-off round. That’s happening now. Each participant makes or chooses a center block from which to build the quilt, then adds a border to it each week. This will be my sixth year to make one. The thing I love about SAHRR is how it provokes my creativity while providing a gentle amount of structure to keep me corralled and focused. For 2026, I want to make an art quilt that tells the story of our Costa Rican adventure last September. My DH took terrific photos, which support my memories of what we did and saw.

My center block is a fiery-billed aricari, a smallish toucan.

Using one of Bill’s photos as my subject, I painted the background fabrics with Jacquard Dyna-Flow, fused appliques into place, stitched them down, and painted details with Jacquard Textile paint. I’m pretty happy with my choice. If all goes well, I will draw on other vacation photo images to incorporate into future rounds.

I’m aware that my choice is complex and unconventional. But that’s just me. If you want to participate in SAHRR 2026, you can start with any block you have left over from a past project, or sew up a new one. There are no rules, only suggestions.

To see the co-horts who are providing the weekly clues, check out their posts from the list here:

The Schedule

January 14 Each of the co-leaders will be sharing their centre blocks (you will have to visit each of their blogs to see them). Gail will host the first linky party where you can show your centre block.
January 21: 1^st Round: Brenda @ Songbird Designs
January 28: 2^nd Round: Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
February 4: 3^rd Round: Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
February 11: 4^th Round: Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
February 18: 5^th Round: ME!!! @ Quilting Gail
February 25: 6^th Round: Anja @ Anja Quilts
March 25: Parade: showing all of your finished SAHRRs!