Stitching Stuff: Week 35 of 2026

 

Its still hot and dry here.  At least there were no triple digit temps this week. It's amazing how much cooler 10 degrees lower feels even when the temps are still in the mid to high 90s.  I suppose it's a conditioning thing.  Even with the slightly lower temps, my sewing room is still my preferred hang out spot.  Which means it's not been hard to work in all my stitching time. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Aug = 29/29 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 237/241 days
• Success rate = 98.34%

So far August has been a good month on the stitching front.  Hard to believe it's almost September. Hopefully that month brings some cooler temps and a reason to be tempted to get out of the house and not sew for a day or two.  

With all the time in the house due to the heat, we started another decluttering project. I need to get back to cleaning out the attic, but that would be life threating in this heat. So we started in on the cabinets in the laundry room. They haven't been cleaned out since we moved in 20 years ago. The two upper cabinents have been emptied, sorted and now we have one completely empty cabinet. I started on the "junk" drawers later in the week.  

We apparently have quite the collection of lanyards and extension cords.  I found 7 cords in the drawer, two of them were still in their packaging. Thankfully, My Girl is in need of a couple of extension cords.  So those will find a new home. Haven't decided what to do with the lanyard collection just yet.  

Have you spent all your in door time stitching or have a few not fun chores snuck in there too?  

   

To Do List for the Week of 8/25/26

This is the last to do list for August.  Next Tuesday we'll be starting September.  I'm hoping that means at least a cool down for us.  But it does feel like the end of the year goes faster than the first of the year does. It will be the holidays before I'm ready that's for sure. 

The one thing about this August, it's been so hot that the only place you want to be is home. So I've been spending a lot of time in my sewing room. That shows up in my progress on last week's to do list.  

To Do List for 8/18/2026

1.  Glowing Hearts: Continue quilting ✔

2.  Squared Away: Cut fabrics for backing - no progress

3.  Good Fortune: Work on pieced border ✔

4.  Marigold Mystery: Work on August blocks ✔

5.  Wild and Goosey: Work on teal blocks ✔

It was a good week on the progress front. So good that Good Fortune and Marigold Mystery will drop off the to do list for this week.  Marigold Mystery will be back in a couple of weeks when the next clue comes out.  Good Fortune probably won't be back on the list till next year when it's turn to be quilted comes around.  So this week's list is a bit shorter than it has been. 

To Do List for 8/25/2026

1. Glowing Hearts (Sandra Walker): Continue quilting

One block is quilted and the second is half finished.  It does go faster with the blocks on the ends of the row. It's just easier to maneuver the quilt. Hopefully my speed will pick up as I go. Otherwise this one is going to take a couple of months to quilt.  

2. Squared Away (Soscrappy): Decide on backing

My plan was to use stash fabrics for the backing.  This quilt is intended as a gift for one of My Girl's college buddies.  She wasn't really thrilled with the options I could pull together from the stash.  The quilt shop has a 5th Saturday sale this weekend, so I'm going to check out the wide fabric selection and see if there is anything that will work for it and the other quilts that are going to be gifts.  

3. Celtic Solstice (Bonnie Hunter): Work on incomplete blocks

Celtic Solstice was the first Bonnie Hunter mystery I sewed along with.  That was back in 2013.  Now it's my last BH quilt that hasn't been finished to at least quilt top stage.  I pulled out all the block components that were made and counted how many more I needed to make to finish my version.  The plan is to cut the fabrics needed and get started making those subunits.  

4. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue making teal blocks

First thing is to cut a few more teal triangles.  I still have a decent pile, but there is very little variety in what's left.  I'll search my scrap bins to see what's there that can be added.  There's not that many blocks left to make, so I won't need to cut much.  

That's my list for the week. It's shorter than it has been.  Hopefully that means I make more progress on each project.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.  

Something Old, Something New

We spent half the weekend in Tulsa. Saturday was a charity event for the Sutton Avian Research Center. That's the organization that runs the Bald Eagle survey teams in our area.  My Guy has been part of that team for at least 5 years.  We stayed in Tulsa for the night and spent Sunday morning hanging out at a coffee shop and then getting lunch before we headed home. Something different than our normal weekend.   

I did get some good sewing time in before we left and then after we got back.  The pieced borders for Good Fortune (Bonnie Hunter) were finished and attached just before dinner was ready last night.  

The plan is to add one more narrow black border to frame the quilt. I'll call it good at that point. Good Fortune should reach finished quilt top stage sometime this week.  

So if Good Fortune is the old, what's the new?  The August blocks for the Meadow Mist Designs 2026 Marigold Mystery also got finished just before dinner on Sunday. 

 

I'm pretty happy with how they came together. Now I have to wait for the next clue to come out to see what's next.  

With the Marigold blocks done and Good Fortune just about a finished quilt, it's time to pull out another UFO to push to finished (or at least to finished quilt top).  Linking up with Patchwork & Quilts and Sew & Tell Monday.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 34 of 2026

 

If the weather man has it right, this next week we'll see a cool down into the 90s for most of the week.  It's been so hot here this August many of the trees are dying. The leaves are brown and falling off like it is autumn. So I'll take the 10 degree drop in temps and a bit of rain that's in the forecast.  We definitely need both.  

Taking refuge in the sewing room seems to be my thing this summer. It's certainly paying off.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Aug = 22/22 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 230/234 days
• Success rate = 98.29%

It's easy to stay on track when it's too hot to do much of anything else.  

How are you doing with getting in your sewing time?  

1. Gretchen 2. Julie in GA 3. Frédérique 4. maggief

5. Melissa G 6. Karen 7. Andrée at Quilting & Learning 8. Bonnie in Va

9. Quilting Gail 10. Marsha's Spot 11. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

To Do List for the Week of 8/18/2026

It's tempting to start another post off with the weather, it's been an exceptionally hot summer this year.  But I'll try to stop with that and move on to all the sewing that happened last week as a very happy consequence of not wanting to leave the house.  

To Do List for 8/11/2026

1. Glowing Hearts: Start quilting ✔

2. 2026 Guild BOM: Finish October block ✔

3. Good Fortune: Work on borders ✔

4. Marigold Mystery: Work on August blocks ✔

5. Wild and Goosey: Work on teal blocks ✔

It was a good week on the progress front. I've not reached any big milestones with the projects on the list, but I'm getting close on Good Fortune. For this week, one project drops off for a bit and another UFO comes back onto the list.  

To Do List for 8/18/2026

1. Glowing Hearts (Sandra Walker): Continue quilting

I'm quilting this quilt on my new Bernina, so I had to play around a bit to figure out all the settings and do a few practice runs on a mini quilt sandwich.  I'm hoping to make progress on all three blocks in that middle row this week. 

2. Squared Away (Soscrappy): Cut fabrics for backing

Squared Away was the 2018 Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler.  I finished all the blocks back in November of 2018.  It took me 6 years to pull the blocks out of the storage box and set them into a quilt.  The finished quilt top has been patiently waiting in the to be quilted closet since November of 2024.  This is another quilt for one of My Girl's college buddies.  Hopefully I can get this one sent out quickly so it comes back before Christmas.  

3. Good Fortune (Bonnie Hunter): Work on pieced border 

The blocks for the first border have been sewn into pairs.  Not sure all 4 pieced borders will get done this week.  A lot depends on how well they fit and if I have to redo any seams.  

4. Marigold Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Work on August blocks

Still working on the flying geese blocks for the first set of blocks.  Just 2 more colors to cut and assemble after this green set.  

5. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue working on teal blocks

 

 I cut all the paper patterns needed to finish up the teal blocks. When one color gets close to being finished, this is the best way for me to know when to stop without counting every time I finish a block.  Just 9 teal left to paper piece. 

A few older items on the list, but a few new ones too.  I'm hoping to make good progress today, after my dentist appointment this morning.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.