Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. Surprisingly, I had a lovely holiday weekend myself. Normally holidays don’t always run very smoothly for me, but this one was relaxed, fun, and filled with quilting inspiration.

On Saturday, my parents, my dog, Bailly (yes, THAT cute little furry shih tzu featured on all my pillow patterns), and I headed to a really fun indoor flea market called Lisa’s General Store in Greenville PA, which is less than an hour’s drive away from home.

Bailly was good as gold (Lisa’s is a dog friendly place) and loved meeting anyone who wished to give her a little pat. Of course, she couldn’t understand why everyone who was there did not want to meet her because in Bailly’s world that’s why everyone was at Lisa’s in the first place. LOL! She loved riding around in the shopping cart and sometimes she would walk ahead of the cart like she was pulling it along behind her. I’m just sorry I didn’t take any photos of her little highness, but I definitely will next time.

Bailly has always had a personality larger than life (she weighs all of 12 pounds). One of her funniest quirks is that she absolutely loves green vegetables. I know, right? Completely adorable. Her love of green veggies actually inspired me to create a printable coloring book featuring Bailly and her beloved green beans. If you’d like to see Bailly’s coloring book, you can find it HERE.

VRD Small Project Summer Sew Along

All weekend long, I found myself thinking about smaller projects for summer. It is now unofficially the summer of 2026 – yay – summer! Summer can make quilting time feel almost impossible sometimes! Who wants to have a big quilt lying across your lap when the temperature is in the 80s or 90s so you can hand stitch the binding? Whose studio isn’t even air conditioned (sadly, that would be mine)? Who has time to even sit down at their sewing machine between soccer games, swim lessons, family vacation, gardening, and a million other things all going on at the same time in the summer?

With these things in mind, I started thinking about our smaller VRD projects like tote bags, pillows, snack mats, table runners, place mats, etc. and how those would be great projects for a VRD Summer Sew Along. I’m tentatively thinking 1 small project per week for 6 weeks – do you think that’s too much in too short a time during summer? Then again, I know that participating in a sew along can be a big motivator for finding little pockets of time to sew. I’m thinking to start the sew along after the middle of June.

Maybe we should simply make this a Small Project Summer so we can focus on creating without all the pressure and stress. And a sew along built around quick, fun projects would anchor that idea perfectly, don’t you think?

With all the go-go-go of summertime, do you get frustrated when you don’t have time to sew/quilt? I know I get kind of antsy and that’s not a nice feeling for me. I’ve discovered that sewing and quilting are a little like breathing and I need to do them regularly to feel my best. It’s not just a habit, it’s become part of my self-care routine. Sewing and quilting make me happy and it’s important to make time for happy in my life. Huh. I really think organizing and participating in a Small Project Sew Along would really rock my summer.

Speaking of smaller projects that finish quickly, did you know Villa Rosa Designs has a growing collection of smaller projects??? We have patterns for table runners, place mats, pillows, snack mats, tote bags, scarves, wall quilts, and other cute fun small accessories. You can find our VRD table runner patterns HERE and our VRD accessory patterns HERE. And of course, we have oodles of larger projects – baby quilts, throw quilts, and even big quilts that are fun to make and go together fast. With over 700 patterns, we have a lot of different options for fun summer sewing.

Progress counts too! Maybe it takes longer to finish a project in the summer, but you are still working towards that goal. And once you complete one project, then it’s time to pick another one to work on. Of course, if you are like me, you usually have multiple projects going at the same time in different stages from piecing to layering to machine quilting to binding. But the plan is always the same – keep working on a project until it’s finally finished. Finishing might take longer in the summer, but time spent working on a project is valuable, too. Don’t forget that.

Creativity doesn’t really disappear just because life gets busy – sometimes it simply changes pace. And we simply need to change pace with it. That’s perfectly okay.

When things get super busy and you are longing for your sewing machine, just remember a little sewing is still sewing.

You stitched one seam? Yay you!

You made one block? Awesome applesauce!

You sketched a quilt you want to make…someday? Great!

You had a sew day with friends? Fantastic!

You sat outside and read a quilt magazine? Wonderful!

All these activities are part of our quilting process. So maybe you don’t make any big quilts this summer. That’s okay. Maybe you started but haven’t finished yet. Perfectly understandable. Perhaps all you had time to do was listen to a quilting podcast in the car on your way to a work conference. Way to go!

Quilting isn’t just one thing. Quilting is pretty much a way of life with many many different parts. So take a little time this summer and enjoy some of those parts of quilting. At the end of summer, you might just surprise yourself with what you created in those little pockets of time.

So this summer, let’s challenge ourselves to do fun (and small) sewing. Go ahead and pick easy patterns. Use your favorite fabrics. Stop worrying about perfection and simply enjoy the process. Let’s have sew much fun!

Permission officially granted – sew small, sew simple, and sew joyful.

Would anyone be interested in participating in a VRD Small Project Summer Sew Along? Please leave a comment on this blog post or you can email me at tricia@villarosadesigns.com.

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD