Slow Going

Hard to believe it is June already. I'm hoping this month has much fewer health issues, May was rough on that front.  I've been reading more than I've been sewing the last couple of weeks, but I'm still making slow, but consistent progress on several projects.  My priority project has been Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter).  

I'm not a fan of sewing large quantities of HSTs at once, one of the reasons it's hard for me to keep up with Bonnie Hunter mysteries.  Plus, part of the block is paper pieced, which is a bit time consuming. So I've been making enough block components to make one block, while I'm sewing the parts together into blocks.  I spend a lot of time pinning, but it does move things along.  All the alternate blocks are done, but I've only managed to finish 2 of the main blocks. 

What looks black in the photo is actually a very deep purple.  There are 5 more main blocks under construction in that first photo.  It's slow going, but there has been more progress than shows on the design wall.  

Linking up with Patchwork & Quilts plus Sew & Tell Monday.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 22 of 2026

Summer showed up yesterday. It was sunny, hot and humid.  Hard to believe I was commenting on our cooler weather last week. So I wasn't far off on my prediction that summer would be here pretty quickly.  

The back is better, the knees are better, but I had to schedule an emergency dentist appointment last Tuesday.  They put me on antibiotics because they were pretty sure the tooth in question was infected.  I'm waiting on a referral for additional imaging, there may be a root canal in my future as well depending on how that comes out.   I'm really hoping this falling apart stuff only comes in threes, I'm ready to be mostly healthy again.  Thankfully the dental issues didn't stop me from getting into the sewing room. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/May =  29/30 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 148/150 days
• Success rate = 98.67%

I made it to the sewing room most days, but have to admit not a lot got done on Tuesday and Wednesday till after the antibiotic kicked in.  Still it wasn't a bad week.  

How did your week in the sewing room work out?

To Do List for the Week of 5/26/2026

My reading time encroached into my sewing time this last week.  I'm sure part of the reason is that the stairs up to the sewing room haven't been fun to navigate with my knee giving me fits. So it takes a bit more motivation to head that direction.  Thankfully, I was in the sewing room enough to make good progress on last week's to do list. 

To Do List for 5/19/2026

1. 2025 Guild BOM: Make backing - progress

2. Chilhowie: Continue quilting ✔

3. Lupine and Laughter: Continue working on A blocks ✔

4. Wild and Goosey: Continue sashing blue blocks ✔

Definitely not a bad week even with the reduced sewing time.  What does this week look like. More of the same with one new addition as I'm finding it hard to just work on one quilt at a time.  

To Do List for 5/26/2026

1. 2025 Guild BOM: Make backing

The pieces for the backing are cut, I just need to sit down and stitch them together.  

2. Chilhowie (Bonnie Hunter): Continue Quilting

Quilting of Chilhowie is moving along.  I'm finally getting a better handle on how to handle a large quilt on my sewing machine.  I'm getting better at keeping the lines straight and the stitching even. I'm debating if I need to go back and add one more set of lines in each direction.  The space between the stitching lines is 4", that's the maximum recommended for the batting. Is that going to be enough?  

3. Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter): Continue working on main blocks.

Construction of the main block has been pretty slow.  I decided to paper piece the star points. You need 8 for each block, so that's been the slow part of the process.  At least I can see visible progress.  

4. Good Fortune (Bonnie Hunter): Pull project box, assess status

Good Fortune is the 2018 Bonnie Hunter mystery.  Looking at my records I haven't worked on it since February of 2019. Based on the mock ups found in my EQ files, I'm about half way done with the blocks.  Not sure what's in the project box, I suspect the next step will be to cut more fabric.  

 

5. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue sashing blue blocks

I haven't made a lot of progress with sashing the blocks. It's been slow but steady progress, which is fine for now.  

That's my list for this week.  Hard to believe this is the last list for May.  This month certainly went fast.  June probably will too.  It always seems like the year moves faster the closer you get to the end of it.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.  

More Lupin and Laughter

Saturday was rainy, but the rest of the holiday weekend has been gorgeous. My Guy and I went for a walk last night after dinner.  My back seems to have recovered, but my right knee is still giving me fits, so it wasn't a long walk.  

The sewing room hasn't been as attractive the last couple of weekends.  I've been reading more than I typically do.  That's OK, sometimes you need to mix it up a bit. There was enough sewing time to finish up the "A" blocks. 

What looks black is actually a very, very dark purple. My version will be about half the size of Bonnie's.  I prefer throw sized quilts to bed sized.  

With the A blocks done, my attention moved to what Bonnie called the main block.  

Not a lot of progress there, but enough got pieced to make one block.  The plan today is get more of these blocks put together. It's a lot of stitching to get the parts for just one block!  

It's rare for me to work on just one quilt at a time.  It's probably time to decide on another UFO to make some progress on. That's my goal for 2nd and 3rd quarters, focus on moving the UFOs to finished quilts.  Do I pull my oldest UFO or the one that's closest to being finished?  

Linking up with Patchwork & Quilts, plus Sew & Tell Monday.      

Stitching Stuff: Week 21 of 2026

 

It's been a wet and chilly week.  We needed the rain and I'm not going to complain about a bit of cool weather. We'll hit summer pretty quickly, so I enjoyed it while it was here.  I had to see the orthopedist this week, my knees took a beating while my back was out of commission and my right leg has been very, very unhappy.  We'll be working on that in addition to my back issues in PT in a couple of weeks.  All that to say, I didn't have the best week in the sewing room.  The stairs were outright painful early in the week.   

• 15 minute days/week = 6/7 days
• 15 minute days/May = 22/23 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 141/143 days
• Success rate = 98.60%

It was never my plan to end the year with a 100% success rate. If I can keep it over 90%, I'll be really happy. I'm still on track there.   

How did your stitching time work out this week? 

1. Gretchen 2. Julie in GA 3. maggie f 4. LeeAnna 5. Karen

6. Frédérique 7. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting 8. Melissa G 9. Quilting Gail 10. Andrée at Quilting & Learning

11. Bonnie in Va 12. Linda at Texas Quilt Gal 13. Kathy S. 14. Marsha's Spot

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