Monday, August 3, 2026

Another Finish!

It was a good week on the stitching front. It's always fun to have a finish.  My goal was to finish the 2025 Guild BOM quilt before the end of July.  I put the last stitches in the binding at about 5:10 PM last Friday, the 31st.  Not up to the wire, but close.  




I'm really happy with how this quilt turned out.  This is the second time I've made an Inverted Star quilt.  Here's the original started in  2014, finished in 2019.




The newer version is more scrappy, a consistent white one white background was used for the original version. I made the second version as the guild BOM because it was an good way to ease into being responsible for that program.  Just two block patterns and quilt assembly instructions to write.  Each month was a different color. Having to write instructions for someone else really helps you to simplify the construction process. I added the narrow blue borders as a stop between the scrappy whites in the sawtooth stars and the speckled background fabric in the new version. It just didn't look right without them.   

The first version was for one of My Girl's writing class buddies from middle school. The new version is for one of her college buddies. Ansley's Palette is the name My Girl chose for this quilt.  




The friend enjoys painting water colors and My Girl thought the quilt looked enough like a painter's palette to select that as the name. She wrote a personal message for the label that's on the quilt. My Girl has always told her friends that have quilts from us to think of them as a big hug from her whenever they curl up in one.   

This is the first quilt in 16 years that I've sent out for quilting that wasn't quilted by Trudy.  She's a hard act to follow, but the new long armer did a wonderful job. 




I picked Stars and Loops for the quilting and that worked out beautifully.  The background for each star is different, but I used a "paint spatter" print for the background for setting the quilt together. Something different than my typical white on white. But it definitely works with the quilt name My Girl picked.  

The backing is a Connecting Threads sale fabric, Mum's Garden.




The copyright says 2018, so this has been sitting in the stash for a bit.  It was picked because I wanted something light to go on the back and this was what worked best of my stash options.

I used all of the blue fabric in the narrow borders, there was none left for the binding.  I tried a few other colors, but My Girl and I decided a scrappy binding would work best. 




It's hard to see all the colors, a bit of green shows there in the middle. I managed to incorporate all the colors but black, brown and yellow.

My Girl has one more quilt picked out for me to finish for another of her college buddies. That will be my next project to send out for quilting. I have a potential backing selected, just need to see if there is enough or if it needs to be supplemented.    

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

Sunday, August 2, 2026

Stitching Stuff: Week 31 of 2026


 

It was a very calm week. Physical therapy is finished, but now starts the round of dental appointments to address a few years of not having a dentist.  But other than those appointments, not much has competed for stitching time.  So it was a good week on that front.  


  • 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
  • 15 minute days/July = 31/31 days
  • 15 minute days/2026 = 209/213 days
  • Success rate = 98.12%

July is the first month in a bit that I've managed to stich every day.  I've missed 4 days total this year, not bad considering how much traveling happened and my not so fun year with the back, knee and tooth.  All the stitching time has made for a pretty productive year.  

How are you doing at getting to your stitching time with rest of all the stuff going in your life? 

Tuesday, July 28, 2026

To Do List for the Week of 7/28/2026

We were home most of this week and with the triple digits outside staying in my sewing room seemed to be the best option.  I did get a lot done, it just doesn't feel that way.  

To Do List for 7/21/2026

1. 2025 Guild BOM: Make binding and label - progress
2. Glowing Hearts: Piece batting, prep backing ✔
3. 2026 Guild BOM: Cut fabrics for remaining blocks - progress
4. Good Fortune: Continue to assemble quilt 
5. Wild and Goosey: Continue making teal blocks ✔

Only three check marks, but there was progress on all 5 to dos from last week.  I'll take that.  The goal is progress, and that happened. It's pretty much the same list for this week.  

To Do List for 7/28/2026

1. 2025 Guild BOM: Bind quilt



The binding strips are all cut, they just need to be joined together.  The plan is to use my time at late night sew to get the binding sewn to the quilt.  I have a lot of hand stitching to do for this to get done this month.  

2. Glowing Hearts (Sandra Walker): Prep quilt top and assemble quilt sandwich. 




The quilt backing and the batting are laying on the My Girl's bed waiting for the top to be prepped.  I haven't completely figured out how I'm quilting this one.  Once the quilt sandwiching is done, I'll need to commit to something.  

3. 2026 Guild BOM: Cut fabrics for remaining blocks



I did get the fabrics cut for one of the blocks and actually got that one assembled.  That leaves the last two blocks.  I finally sat down and looked at what I needed for both, so I can optimize my strip cutting. I'm getting low on fabric and I don't want to run out.  

4. Good Fortune (Bonnie Hunter): Continue to assemble quilt. 

The third row is under construction, just 4 left to go. This project will take a back seat until I can finish up the 2025 Guild BOM.  There will be progress I'm sure, but it probably won't be a finished quilt top by the end of the week.  

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

I need to cut some additional teal triangles because I'm running a bit low on that color.  I'm just a bit over halfway done with these blocks so I still need lots of scrappy triangles.  

If I can move each to do along a bit, it will have been a good week.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.

Monday, July 27, 2026

A Bit of This and That

We had a pretty quiet weekend. After all the running around last weekend, that was definitely on my agenda for the week.  We hit triple digits both days of the weekend, so hiding out in my sewing room was definitely my preferred retreat from the heat.  

In an effort to work down my UFO list, I finally found a local long arm quilter to try.  My Girl needs a few graduation quilts for school buddies, so I'm trying get those finished before everyone graduates this year or next.  Last year's guild BOM has been picked as one of those quilts to be gifted.  So I gave the new to me quilter a try. The quilting turned out beautifully.  Now it just needs to be bound. But before the binding it needs a label.  After a bit of back and forth with My Girl, this is what we came up with (minus the personal message). 




This friend enjoys painting as a hobby.  Since the quilt has all different colors in it, My Girl decided it was a good substitute palette.  So I went with it.  I'm hoping to have the quilt bound before the end of the month. Which means I need to do a lot of hand stitching this week.  

There was also good progress on assembling Good Fortune (Bonnie Hunter).





The the sashing has been pinned to that third row, I just need to stitch that long seam. So I'm close to another finished quilt top. My 5th finished top for the year.  Which will bring the total of tops hanging in the closet to be quilted to 15.  The long arm quilter did a good job with the 2025 Guild BOM at a reasonable price, so I'll definitely be using her again.  I already have the next quilt top and a potential backing selected for the next quilt to be sent out. Hopefully I can finish 4 more quilts this year between the new long armer and my at home quilting efforts.  That would take the UFO list lower than it's been in a long time.  

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

Sunday, July 26, 2026

Stitching Stuff: Week 30 of 2026

 


We were all looking forward to a laid back weekend after being at a family wedding last weekend. It's fun to see family, but driving in Dallas traffic and navigating all the road construction was definitely not the fun part of the trip.  I came back from the weekend not feeling my best.  I didn't get much done in the sewing room till about midweek, but it got better from there.  


  • 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
  • 15 minute days/July = 25/25 days
  • 15 minute days/2026 = 202/206 days
  • Success rate = 98.06%

With all the sewing this month, I'm back over 98%.  I'll definitely take that. It's been a bad couple of months on the health front, but hopefully I'm on the tail end of those issues and will have lots of time to stitch over the next few months. I'll definitely be in the sewing room this week, the temps are going to be triple digits for several days.  

Are you playing in the sewing room to avoid the summer heat? 

1. maggief
2. Melissa G
3. LeeAnna sewing every day
4. Karen
5. Bonnie in Va
6. Patricia in New Mexico
7. Andrée at Quilting & Learning
8. Carol @ Quilt Schmilt
9. Frédérique
10. Linda at Texas Quilt Gal
11. Marsha's Spot

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