Wanted: more Joy in the world

In these bleak, gray, cold, February days of winter, it seems the world could use some color and comfort to shift our collective mindset. Last week, I foraged time to finish three kitty quilts—all improvisationally pieced from scraps that were ready for a second life. Letting the scraps and color lead the way, the patchwork was built organically around blocks from fabric panels. 

Two scrappy kitty quilts with blocks from a fabric panel.

One quilt is going to a cat-loving friend and the other two are keeping our pack of outside cats snuggly in their cat boxes. The backing fabric is a cute bunny flannel print to make the quilts extra soft and cozy. 

Three blocks from a fabric panel make this scrappy quilt.
Finished quilt size: 27.75” x 24.25”.

All three quilts were free-motion quilted—a simple quiltmaking task that keeps me grounded and renews my mental energy. The bindings were also finished by machine. 

Scrappy binding made with seven different fabrics.
The flannel “bunny” backing fabric can be seen here.

I love the binding on this quilt that was made from scraps from seven different fabrics! Piecing together leftover bits for these quilts and the bindings—turning fabric scraps into something of value—is in keeping with a resilient spirit that is much needed today.

Scrappy kitty quilt. Improvisationally pieced and free-motion quilted.
Finished quilt size: 27.5” x 23”.

I recently read a blog post by a collage and mixed media artist, Lucie Duclos, that stated, “making something with your hands can help regulate your nervous system. It can be art, baking, knitting, stitching, whatever works for you.” 

Detail: quilt block from a fabric panel incorporated into an improv quilt.
Finished quilt size: 27” x 24.75”.

Making and finishing these scrappy quilts gives me a sense of calm and joy. I’m sending this calm and joy to the recipients as well.

Junk Journal January: first 2026 Make Nine finish


Four years in, still learning and loving it! This January marked my fourth time participating in Junk Journal January—and it was just as fun and fulfilling as the first. 

Junk Journal January 2026

I did my very first Junk Journal January back in 2023, not really knowing what to expect, but I was curious. I also wanted to get back into making art and thought a junk journal was a good place to experiment—with no expectations or judgement. Fast forward to 2026 and this challenge has become something I look forward to as January rolls around to begin a new year. 

2026: more pages with watercolor and drawings 

Generally, most of the pages in my junk journals have been collage. This year, I’ve enjoyed responding to a few of the prompts by reaching for my watercolor paints and drawing pens. On Day 5, the “Echo” prompt was illustrated with a wacky mandala (techniques learned in the Artsy Marathon session I attended on New Year’s Eve) and slow drawing patterns. 

Freeform mandala with slow drawing patterns.

Day 14 “Morning” was illustrated with an abstract watercolor exercise. Just watercolors and color mixing. So fun! 

“Morning.” Watercolors.

Day 23 “Layers” was all about preparing for a predicted major winter storm that stretched from Texas to New England. This journal page has ink drawings of articles of clothing that can be layered to keep warm. The tonal background is a simple watercolor wash.

Watercolor and ink drawings. Day 23, “Layers.”

After Day 23’s watercolor and ink drawings, the Day 24 prompt “Blank” turned a blank white page into a canvas for black and white slow drawing. And Day 25 prompt “Rest” again combined slow drawing and watercolor. All three of these pages were restful and relaxing to create and I enjoyed using my watercolor paints and drawing with ink pens.

Ink drawings and watercolor.

I’m also especially pleased with Day 29 “Wrapping” page for which I painted a small cherry blossoms watercolor composition. 

Watercolor painting of cherry blossoms with a story about the Cherry Blossom Festival.

Four years in… why I continue to participate in Junk Journal January 

Returning to the Junk Journal January for multiple years has become easy for me because, even though the prompts are different and each journal page is new, the process is familiar. 

• Junk journaling doesn’t demand perfection or mastery—you just have to show up and put something on the page. 
• Sometimes the prompts are easy to interpret or immediately inspiring. Other prompts require research; a stretch of the creative muscle to interpret them on a journal page. 
• The journal is made from recycled papers [aka “junk”] and I get to practice my bookmaking skills with each new journal I make.
• The art supplies can be inexpensive, multiple, and various. A junk journal is also a great place to try out new art supplies.
• JJJ is a solid, creative endeavor to start a new year.

What’s fun about the Junk Journal process?

Using scraps: I save old catalogs, found objects, and fabric and paper scraps, that I think would be interesting for art projects. I get to combine these various bits in new compositions… and get to use the collectibles I’ve been savoring.

Two page spread for Day 13 prompt: “Paper trail.”

Experimenting with art supplies: The small ritual of creating a daily journal page—a small format, inspired by a given prompt—is a great way to experiment with my stash of art supplies and try different techniques I’ve wanted to test. It’s a small investment of time and supplies while still learning something. 

Watching the journal grow: Watching the journal “bulk up” with layers of paper, paint, marks, stitching, and ephemera—beautifully imperfect—is exciting to me. Your hands can literally feel the progress made when holding the journal. I add extra signatures to my junk journals so I can continue to add slow drawings, notes, and practice hand lettering, even after the Challenge month has concluded. 

Day 6 prompt: “Page as object.”

New prompts, new language: One of the things I was introduced to this year were prompts that were unfamiliar to me. I had to look up the terms “page as object” (above) and “still frame,” and I feel my interpretations were illustratively successful. 

Day 12 prompt: “Still frame.”

First Make Nine finish for 2026  

This journal is my sixth junk journal and I’m counting it as my first Make Nine finish for 2026. I’m fulfilling one of the Wild Card prompts. 

Make Nine 2026, January 31.

I love all my Junk Journals! Paging through past journals, being reminded of different supplies and techniques I used, and reminiscing about the time the page was created, is so inspiring as well. 

Six Junk Journals so far.

I enjoy this art practice and it’s a great way to do a creative reset at the start of a new year.  

Day 4 prompt: “Landscape.”
Collage with catalog pages.

Six journals in. Four Januaries down. Still showing up and enjoying an art-making ritual.

Stitch Book, Day 10: Holding a thread

Sunday marked Day 10 of my 100 Day Stitch Book project. I should have spent my “15 minutes of daily stitching” to finish up my second composition, but I was compelled to start a new page. It’s difficult to focus on something as relaxing and quiet as hand stitching when the world is screaming.

New book page for the 100 Day Stitch Book.

The violence in our country weighs heavily. It’s impossible to ignore how these heart wrenching acts are tearing at the fabric of our country. Families ripped apart. Communities living in fear. The damage isn’t abstract. It’s felt—in bodies, homes, communities, in the future. 

This new book page may be out of sequence, but it’s stitched as a form of witnessing, and perhaps speaking out through fabric and thread—“Enough! We’ve had enough.” 

“Enough!”

Each fabric scrap is a fragment that the chaos has created. Each stitch is an act of hope for repair. What does repair mean… how long will it take… and how do we bear the cost? I don’t know. Thread can mend, bind things together; but it also shows the seams—the places where the division was.

I’m continuing with my 2026 stitch book—each day, a stitch at a time. This page is not as light-hearted or seem to fit cohesively with the other pages, but neither is the world right now. The Stitch Book project is a record of time spent… but it also documents the days in which we are living.

A return to slow stitching with the 100 Day Stitch Book

There is something grounding and meditative about the ritual of daily hand stitching. Whether it’s a simple running stitch, tiny French knots, the randomness of the seed stitch, or the act of pulling thread through fabric, it serves as a quiet punctuation mark to the end of a busy day. Aside from being totally in love with the binding method for this fabric book, this is why I am participating in Ann Wood’s 100 Day Stitch Book Challenge again in 2026.  

Fabric pages for the 100 Day Stitch Book 2026, with my completed 2025 Stitch Book.

This is my second time participating in this project. The first was in 2025. The Stitch Book is not only a wonderful scrap buster project but a visual diary… remembering from where each fabric scrap was generated—from previous quilts, in a workshop, from fellow students in a class, in the throw-away bin, or simply found objects. They are fragments of memories from the past. 

The scrap collection box has a variety of prints.

My first book used trimmings from various improvisational patchwork pieces I made and were mostly solid fabrics. This time, my scrap “collection box” has a variety of prints (shown above). It will be a new journey to discovery. I’m also thinking about incorporating bits from my jar of yarn ORTs [odd random threads] to explore surface texture and layers. Scraps love other scraps, right??

Stitch book prep 

I’ve cut a variety of fabrics for my 5.5” x 7” pages. The majority are soft, supple, yarn-dyed wovens from Diamond Textiles with the addition of two blue pages from a chambray—because the color was so inviting and a lovely contrast to the neutral palette of the other pages. 

Cut and serged fabrics for the pages of the Stitch Book.

The edges of the fabric pages were serged since the fabrics will be handled a lot during the stitching process (a proven idea I used last year). I cut sixteen fabric pages in the 5.5” x 7” size and have reserved the last 4 pages for the front and back (inside and outside) covers which will be slightly wider in size. The extra width accommodates the thickness of the spine of this fabric book—another lesson learned last year. 

Scraps are ironed and ready for appliqué. 

A bundle of scraps for the appliqué has been ironed and I’ve gathered my ORT jar of yarn tails from last year’s Make Nine Taos crocheted wrap. 

Serged pages, ironed fabric scraps, and ORT jar ready for the 100 Day Stitch Book Challenge 2026.

The power of "Small and Often" 

The beauty of the 100-day format is that it removes the pressure of the “Big Masterpiece.” You aren't making a quilt; you are making a moment… stitching 15 minutes each day… the pages are only 5.5” x 7” in size. By the end of the 100 days, those moments build into something tactile and beautiful that you can literally flip through.

To everyone else picking up a needle and thread for this 100 Day Stitch Book Challenge—whether it’s your first time or your fifth—happy slow stitching! Stories and memories will unfold, one thread at a time.