Stitching Stuff: Week 46 of 2026

 

It got cold enough Friday night that we decided it was time to turn on the heat.  It was 24 F outside when we got up this morning and 66 in the house.  Definitely sweater and lap quilt time here.  Our days have been sunny, so my sewing room on the west end of the house has been pretty toasty, especially with the iron on. So getting my stitching time in hasn't been a hardship. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Nov = 14/14 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 311/318 days
• Success rate = 97.80%

It will get harder to keep up the stitching time as the holidays get closer.  Even being retired, there is a lot of other stuff that has to get done.  I suspect I'll be doing a lot more handwork between now and the end of the year to keep up my stitching time. 

Have you gotten more stitching time in with the cooler temps?  

To Do List for the Week of 10/10/2026

Last week went fast!  I always feel like time speeds up this time of year.  Maybe it's the shorter days? At any rate, it's been much easier to spend time in my sewing room this last week.  It's still warmer than the rest of the house, but as cool as it's been, that felt good.  I can't say I made short work of my to do list, there was good progress on some things and not so much progress on others.  

To Do List for 10/2/2026

1.  2026 Guild BOM: Finish borders ✔

2.  Glowing Hearts: Make label and binding ✔

3.  Marigold Mystery: Finish October blocks - progress 

4.  Celtic Solstice: Continue assembling pieced borders ✔

5.  Wild and Goosey: Continue making purple blocks ✔

I went a little off script last week. Once I had the binding and the label for Glowing Hearts, it just made sense to get that quilt finished.  I posted about it yesterday.  So that project will come off the to do list.  The 2026 Guild BOM is now a finished quilt top, so it comes off the list too, at least for now.  I didn't get as far with the Marigold Mystery as planned, but I'm not unhappy with what got done last week.  Two projects off, but there are two new projects to take their place this week.  

To Do List for 10/10/2026

1.  2027 Guild BOM: Work out instructions for setting blocks. 

I need to work out the construction instructions for the setting blocks. How the setting blocks are constructed will affect the fabric needed, so that needs to get worked out pretty soon as fabric requirements for next year's BOM go out at the November guild meeting. I may need to tweak my own fabric pull before starting the blocks.  

2. Betty (Meadow Mist Designs): Prep back for quilting, cut batting

This is where I went off script last week. Wednesday and Thursday are my walking foot quilting days. With Glowing Hearts winding down, I needed a new project to quilt. Betty was next on my list. I pieced the backing and laid out the batting so maybe some of the wrinkles would relax.  The backing needs a good pressing before I cut and lay the batting over it. Then it will be time to give the top a final press and deal with any loose threads. I may get that far this week, we'll see.  

3.  Celtic Solstice (Bonnie Hunter): Continue working on pieced borders

The side borders are assembled and are stitched to the quilt top. The last two borders are under construction at the sewing machine. I'm adding one more narrow border after the pieced border.  I'm pretty sure I'll get the pieced borders done, not sure about getting the last one added before next week.  

4.  Marigold Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Finish Oct, start Nov blocks

These may be a bit bold, but aren't they fun?  I've made good progress on the October blocks.  Those should definitely get done this week.  If I can get the fabrics cut for the November clue this week, I'll be happy.  

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

This has been my leaders project for the past couple of years. Which means I've made steady progress all year. I'd like to have all the blocks done so I can start assembling the quilt next year.  Once Celtic Solstice is a quilt top, I'm going to bump this project up in priority so I can get the blocks finished and sashed before the end of the year. That means I need a new leaders and enders project. 

That's my list for this week. It may be a bit ambitious, so I'll have to be gentle with myself if I don't get it all done. Dream big right?  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.  

The Fifth Finish!

Oklahoma has finally started it's autumn.  It's cool enough to need jackets, at least in the morning and evenings. We went out Saturday evening and it was really cool. It was so warm for so long that this cooler, need a jacket weather feels really weird.  

It was a good weekend to sit in the sewing room with a quilt over your lap. So I took the opportunity to sew the binding to the back of Glowing Hearts. 

Glowing Hearts was started in May of 2025. This pattern was Sandra Walker's, MMM Quilts, quilt along that year.  This was the first time participating in one of Sandra's quilt alongs. I really enjoyed it. Sandra's version only had 9 hearts, I added another 3 to end up with a rectangular quilt. The hearts are made from a half yard bundle I won someplace.  No idea on the fabric line or where it's from.  The teal and yellow background is from Wilmington Prints, called Falling Leaves.  Both the half yard bundle and the background have been in the stash for a while, it was nice to find a project to use them up. 

 

Use them up I did. What didn't make into the blocks got used on the pieced back.  

The quilting was done with my walking foot.  The 1" grids in the hearts took forever, but they turned out pretty well.  I had planned to donate this quilt, but with all the quilting I did, I'm keeping this one in the closet as a potential gift. It's 46" x 55", so it would make a good baby quilt or lap quilt for someone.  

I added a small label to the back and changed the name. The inspiration was Janis Joplin's song "Piece of My Heart".  It's definitely a classic.  I'll admit that song kept playing in my head while I was making the label. 

Pieces of My Hearts will probably be my last finish for 2026.  I've started prepping another quilt for the walking foot. The batting is laying on the bed in hopes some of the wrinkles will soften a bit and the backing got made. We'll see how far I get on it before the end of the year. I'm still contemplating how I'm going to quilt it, but definitely not doing as much as I did on this quilt. So maybe I'll have one more finish this year? 

Linking up with Patchwork & Quilts, as well as, Sew & Tell Monday and I Quilted This.  I'll link up with Quilting Jetgirl for My Favorite Quilt Finish once it's posted at the end of the month.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 45 of 2026

 

How are you adjusting to the time change?  The early sunset seems to have sapped my evening energy.  But that's not new. I started the 15 minute stitching time challenge because I remember driving home in the dark after work and just having no energy to carry me to the sewing room.  It was easier in the summer. I must be at least partially solar powered.  Now that I'm retired it's not so bad as I can get into my sewing room before it gets dark.  So it's no surprise that time change didn't play too much havoc with my sewing time.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Nov = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 304/311 days
• Success rate = 97.75%

It was another good week on the stitching front. I never manage to make as much progress on my to do list as I think I will. Thankfully I still have some time to work on what I haven't gotten to this week. 

How are you doing at getting in some sewing time each week?  

1. Gretchen 2. maggief 3. Julie in GA

4. Melissa G 5. Karen 6. Frédérique

7. Andrée at Quilting & Learning 8. Bonnie in Va 9. Quilting Gail

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October PHD Report

October ended with a rainy day, very autumn like weather.  Something we didn't get much of till after mid-month.  It really seemed like we had an endless summer, so I find myself very surprised to be in November and realizing there are just 2 months left in the year.  

With the start of a new month, it's time to review what actually got done the previous month.  So it's time for the October PHD Report sponsored by Ms. P Designs.  My October report has a finish on it. 

My 4th finish, Squared Away (SoScrappy) was started in 2018 as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge sew along that year.  It took me forever to figure out what do do with the blocks.  I'm happy with how it came together. It's a gift for one of My Girl's college buddies.  

 In addition to the finish this month, progress was made on several other projects.  Celtic Solstice, the 2013 Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt, has moved from an incomplete set of blocks in August to quilt top just needing the final two borders.

Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter) was started in 2019 as another Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  I've been working on these blocks steadily for about 3 years now as my leaders project.  The teal blocks are all sashed.  That just leaves me to finish all the purple blocks and sash those. I may have to bump these blocks up to a priority project to get all the blocks finished by the end of the year.  

Glowing Hearts (Sandra Walker) is quilted. It just needs to be trimmed, a label made and bound.  This project will probably be my last finish for 2026. 

The 2026 Guild Block of the Month project is coming to an end.  The instructions for quilt assembly go to the guild in November.  I gave everyone the December block back in January as it was a lot of flying geese.  One of the flying geese borders was on by the end of October.  There's been more progress since then. 

All the September blocks are finally finished for the Marigold Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs).  Just in time for the November clue to come out. All the pieces for the October blocks were cut before the end of the month. I've finished some of the October blocks since, but I'll still be playing catch up in November. 

  

The progress graph shows a lot more color in the middle section, but there are also lots more bars that go all the way across the chart in the top section. 

I'm hoping to add a bit more color before the end of the year. At least one more finish and hopefully at least two more projects to finished quilt top.  This year has definitely been better than last year in terms of finished quilts. I'll take that.