The 100 Day Stitch Book, my second Make Nine finish

There’s a particular satisfaction that comes not from speed, but from endurance—consistently staying with something day after day—until productivity culminates at 100 days and results in a soft, textured fabric book. That’s what finishing the 100 Day Stitch Book feels like. 

100 Day Stitch Book 2026

This is the second year I’ve participated in The 100 Day Stitch Book project, hosted by Ann Wood. (It’s becoming an annual thing for me!) I used a different collection of fabric scraps this year and also incorporated the yarn thrums from my 2025 crocheted Taos Wrap that I had collected in an ORT jar. [ORT = Odd Random Threads.] 

I also remembered the lessons I learned from assembling last year’s book—like creating front and back covers as part of the 20 book pages, stitching a title, date and author on them, and making these pages slightly larger to accommodate the book’s spine. 

Back cover page with my initials.

This year’s book also holds more weight—as a tragic incident that happened in the U.S. during the making of this book was interpreted in stitch on one of the pages. 

The practice of using what’s on hand 

Per Ann’s guidelines for the Stitch Book, the page compositions are made entirely from remnants—fabric scraps too small for other projects, bits of patchwork trimmed from previous makes, and my addition of the yarn tails from my crocheted wrap. 

Appliquéd fabric scraps, embroidery stitches, couched yarns.

The materials dictate the process: improvisational, intuitive, and mindful. I used several embroidery stitches—some of my go-to favorites, and some referenced from books and previous projects. Working the yarn bits into the compositions was my challenge this year. The yarns were couched, giving more dimension to the page compositions. Every page was a different adventure. 

Couched yarn thrums with French knots.

Couched yarn scraps and crocheted medallions stitched to the page.

The back sides of the pages are interesting, too. However, they can no longer be seen once the signatures and book are assembled. 

Back side of pages.

Back side of pages.

Back side of pages.

Back side of pages.

Marking time 

One engaging aspect of a 100 day project is how it becomes a record—not just of creative exploration, but of life as it unfolds. 

There is one page in this book that I will never look at casually. 

On January 24, 2026, I stitched in response to the killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse at a VA hospital, who was shot by federal Border Patrol and ICE agents in Minneapolis, MN during an immigration enforcement protest. 

January 24, 2026, “Enough!”

I remember hearing the news—how shocking, unnerving, and heavy it felt. How unimaginably difficult to comprehend and process. I abandoned the current page I was working on that weekend and began stitching in response to that horrific event. Stitching that day wasn’t about technique or composition, it was about bearing witness. 

This page is not quiet. 

It stands out among all the other pages because it holds that moment: confusion, grief, anger, and a need to respond in protest through fabric and stitch. 

Left page is the back side of “Enough!”

One of the valuable things about slow stitching (and other art forms) is that it creates space to unleash feelings, to mark time, to work through confusing, frustrating, or sad times. It allows for a kind of reflection or response to the events of the day. 

Hand stitching the openings of the signatures.

The focus of the 100 Day Project: process 

As with all of my past 100 Day Projects, it’s about process and practice more than the end result. This stitch book is a continuation… an on-going promise to my art practice. 

Five signatures ready for the book assembly.

Make Nine 2026: fulfilling the Slow Stitching prompt

The 100 Day Stitch Book 2026 marks the second finish for my Make Nine 2026 list, fulfilling the Slow Stitching prompt.

Make Nine 2026 tracker, April 24, 2026.

I’m pleased with the result of this stitch book and look forward to making more fabric books soon.

“Slow Stitching” prompt from Make Nine 2026 tracker.

100 Day Stitch Book 2026

16 days into the Scrap-a-Day 100 Day Project

My second 100 Day Project for 2026 is a Scrap a Day project. This 100 Day Project started on February 22 and I’m adding a 1-1/4” square to a small, handmade journal to document ordinary, daily activities.

100 Day Project 2026: Scrap-a-Day

This is the front cover of my Scrap-a-Day journal (4-1/4” x 5-5/8”) beside the paper punch I use for punching out the daily squares. At some point, I’ll add a title to the cover.

100 Day Scrap-a-Day Journal. 4-1/4” x 5-5/8”.

With four scraps per page, here are the first 16 days.

Day 1: from a fabric header 

Day 2: I bought spools for thread and this is from the bag 

Day 3: sandwich from Donato’s Pizza, Bowling Green, KY

Day 4: second dinner from Donato’s

Days 1 - 4.

Day 5: the plate from hotel breakfast 

Day 6: stamp from today’s mail 

Day 7: label print-out; sending a USPS package 

Day 8: sticker from an “ugly” orange fruit

Day 9: label from a French Fat Quarter (approx 19” x 27”) 

Day10: Ray’s BBQ sauce label 

Day 11: packaging from Pilot roller ball pens (for a class) 

Day 12: Small Shells pasta box (dinner side item)

Days 5 - 12.

Day 13: from an email with a supply list for a workshop

Day 14: logo on a flyer for the workshop location

Day 15: marketing flyer for a painting workshop

Day 16: practice lettering on a scrap of paper 

Day 12 - 16.

Easy.

     Simple. 

          Do-able.

                            Marking time.

Create Daily Tracker: month three begins

March 1st marks the start of a new month on my Create Daily Tracker 2026. I’m currently immersed in two 100 Day Projects: The 100 Day Stitch Book and A Scrap a Day. 

Create Daily Tracker 2026.

The 100 Day Stitch Book is now at Day 45, with nine pages complete. I love incorporating fabric and yarn scraps with slow stitching. The pages fill slowly—but the steady act of commitment adds up and the compositions get more complex and interesting each day. 

Pages 7 and 8 of the 100 Day Stitch Book, 2026.

My Scrap a Day 100 Day Project began a week ago on February 22. I’m filling up a small pocket journal with daily found papers—punching out 1-1/4” squares. I’m looking forward to filling the pages with a variety of small images. 

Scrap a Day, 100 Day Project.

The new month starts the next section of the Create Daily Tracker—with new boxes to color, new stitch patterns, and collecting more paper scraps. I’m feeling energized to continue the daily practice and making progress.

My 100 Day Stitch Book: Conversations with projects past

We’re 31 days into the 100 Day Stitch Book project with @annwood and I’m enjoying the intuitive stitching of creating small textile compositions with fabric and yarn scraps. Six of twenty pages are complete and page seven begins today, Day 31. 

Pages 1 and 2 of the 100 Day Stitch Book 2026.

A slow-built rhythm 

Each page is built slowly and intuitively—in 15 minute increments, over five days. There is no plan or sketch for creating the compositions. They evolve organically. I’m guided by the shapes and colors of the fabric bits which is followed by the addition of texture and detail with hand stitching and couching various yarn tails. 

Pages 3 and 4 of the 100 Day Stitch Book 2026.

The base fabrics for my pages are yarn-dyed wovens—most are from Diamond Textiles. These textiles hold an innate subtle texture and dimension. They possess a tactile depth even before I add my own stitches. And the soft, supple hand is very welcoming to hand stitching.. 

Yarn-dyed fabric for the book pages. I serge the edges to keep them neat and tidy while stitching.

The 100 Day Stitch Book is about mindfulness, creativity, being present… and making small compositions with fragments and scraps. It’s satisfying to be able to give fiber fragments (fabrics and yarns) a second life. Appliquéd fabric scraps create color-blocked backgrounds. Saved yarn tails become texture. Embroidered motifs and couched yarns become focal points. Stitches create texture and hold the fabric and yarn on the pages. 

Pages 5 and 6 of the 100 Day Stitch Book 2026.

As I appliqué the scraps to the base fabric, I remember the earlier projects from where they came. Every page is like a small conversation between eyes, hands and materials.

Bonus page

On January 24, I was drawn to create this page as witness to the horrific events happening in the country. This is an additional page—not one of the 6 above. I’m pondering how to include it in my final stitch book. I’m sure by the end of the 100 days, the project will tell me.

Bonus page from January 24, 2026.

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.

A 100 Day Project made into two textile books;a Make Nine finish

A revisit to my 100 Day Project from 2023 resulted in a two-volume set of stitched and collaged textile books. I learned the slot-and-tab binding technique through this year’s 100 Day Stitch Book project, and decided to use it to compile the individual stitched and collaged compositions from 2023 into a finished piece—a book. Learning from the experience with the 100 Day Stitch Book, the assembly for these two books was smooth and I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome.

100 Day Project 2023.
Volume I (left) and Volume II of stitch and fabric collaged compositions.

The new books required covers

With 18 compositions to work into a textile book (a lot of pages that would make a very thick book!), I decided to divide the compositions into two volumes. This made the assembly more manageable and allowed the compositions to relax and expand on the pages.

Making two books/volumes required making two [new] book covers. With these newly stitched covers, I was able to document the name of the project. This is the cover for Volume I (a 12-page book + cover) …

Cover for Volume I. Measurements: 9.75” x 9”

… and this cover is for Volume II (an 8-page book + cover).

Cover for Volume II. Measurements: 9.75” x 9”

In my group of stitched compositions, I had one partially finished page. I decided to finish it so there would be less blank pages. This made a total of 19 compositions divided into two books.

• Volume I: 12-page book with 11 stitched compositions.
• Volume II: 8-page book with 8 stitched compositions.
• Front and back covers are in addition to the inside pages.

A partially completed page from 2023 was finished in 2025 and added to the book.

The inside compositions/pages were all 9” square. The front and back covers, as well as the inside front and inside back covers, were cut slightly wider, at 9.75” x 9”, to accommodate the spines. 

View of the book spines.

View of the front and back covers that wrap around to create the spine.

Discoveries, notes, and tips

To make note of a few things for future slot-and-tab books:

• All the pages are yarn-dyed fabrics [from Diamond Textiles] which are a dream for hand stitching.
• The surged edges of the book’s pages helped when turning the signature right-side-out.

Sewing past the corners on each side.

• When sewing the signatures, I sewed off the edges at the corners (rather than pivoting and turning). The stitch line was used as the guide for turning the corners right-side-out.
• I love the stitching on the backs (wrong sides) as much as the stitching on the fronts! So, I took photos of the compositions (fronts and backs) before assembling the signatures. 

Back sides of two of the stitched compositions.

• The paper folding dummies were extremely necessary as the slot-and-tab assembly does not follow the conventional pagination scheme for book signatures. 
• I’m thinking about adding a pocket in one of the books to hold the paper dummies.

Paper folding dummies for pagination.

Four-page signatures.

Here are a few of my favorite page spreads.

Page spread. 100 Days of Stitch and Fabric Collage, 2023. 

Page spread. 100 Days of Stitch and Fabric Collage, 2023. 

Page spread. 100 Days of Stitch and Fabric Collage, 2023. 

The left page on the spread (below) was the newest composition that was started in 2023 but completed this year.

The additional, new composition is on the left.

A Make Nine 2025 Finish

These textile books are fulfilling one of the UFO prompts for Make Nine 2025.

Make Nine 2025 “UFO” prompt.

Make Nine 2025 tracker. June 1, 2025.

The last page of Volume II.

I’m happy to have these stitched compositions from my 100 Day Project from 2023 in book form. And I do see more slot-and-tab textile books in my future.