Getting Started on the 2026 SAHRR

I  wasn't going to play along with the 2026 SAHRR hosted by Quilting Gail.  

I had so many new starts last year and so few finishes, that my project list is longer than it's ever been.  So why add another project? Especially when I was already so far behind on the projects started in the last quarter of 2025. It's such a fun challenge and I've loved all the quilts that have come out of it.  What if I used fabric left over from previous projects? (This is why my list is so long, using up my stash is always enough justification to start something new). I found the fabric pretty quickly.   

This older Batik line from Timeless Treasures was purchased as part of a kit, but was used in a completely different project a couple of years ago. There's not a lot of yardage, but maybe I could make this work?  Was there a background fabric that would work? Yes, but there's not a lot. Some of my previous SAHRR's used a lot of background.  So limited fabric was a challenge. Could this still work?  

Looking back at the 2026 SAHRR Quilt Parade provided some inspiration and a way to deal with the limited fabric. Several of the designers made blocks, not rounds of borders for last year's SAHRR. Using Electric quilt, a design using 6 blocks arranged around a center block developed. Some fabric may need to be added for the final border, but I can work with that. Here's my center block:

 

Using left overs is challenging because you are limited in yardage, so you have to use what you have. Even though this wasn't my first choice of fabrics, it still turned out nicely.  This block is 36" X 36", so it will definitely be the focus of the quilt.  The pattern for this star came from Quilting Jetgirl's Diatom pattern, it's block 9.  The original block finished at 18", so I had to double the size of the pieces to enlarge the block. The only tricky part was the flying geese and that worked out once I played around with a few scraps to get the size of the "geese" right.   

I'm excited to get the first prompt and see what block develops from that. But before we get to that point, I'm going to check out all the other center blocks over at Quilting Gail's kick off post.