Tuesday, April 21, 2026

To Do List for the Week of 4/21/2026

The storms put a hitch in my stitching time last week.  I still got a lot done, but didn't complete all of my to dos from last week. 

To Do List for 4/14/2026

1. 2026 Guild BOM: Work on May, June, July and Dec blocks ✔
2. SAHRR: Add final border 
3. Magnificent Mystery: Finish half blocks, start quilt assembly 
4. Chilhowie: Piece backing, start prepping for quilting - progress
5. Wild and Goosey: Continue working on blue blocks 

It was a good week even though I didn't get as much done on Chilhowie as I wanted.  There's always this week.  

To Do List for 4/21/2026

1. Guild BOM: Finish June and July blocks





All the flying geese for December are finished. The May block is ready for guild meeting tonight.  The pieces for the June and July blocks are cut, they just need to be assembled. So I'm on track with this project.  

2. Magnificent Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Finish assembly, decide on borders.





I've made enough progress on assembly that I should be able to finish that this week.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to add a simple border, but just not sure which fabric to use.  

3. Chilhowie (Bonnie Hunter): Make backing





I work on quilting projects on Wednesday and Thursday.  I didn't get much sewing time last Wednesday because of the storms. The blocks for the borders didn't get used on the quilt top, so I decided to use those on the back.  The plan is to get all this blocks sewn into one strip that will separate one backing fabric from the other.  I'm trying hard to use left over stash or older fabrics that haven't made their way into projects yet for my backings.  

4. Lupine and Laugher (Bonnie Hunter): Work on A blocks

I've not touched this project since January. It's going to take a bit to get back into a groove on what I was doing.  

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

Just a few left to make. Hopefully those get finished before the end of the month.  

I'm hoping for a productive week. It would be nice to get back to some of the older projects on my UFO list.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.  

Monday, April 20, 2026

Catching up in the Sewing Room

We've been home a little over a week from our vacation. I can claim that laundry is all caught up. Still a few chores to do before I'm caught up there.  Catching up in the sewing room has been a bit harder.  My biggest focus has been on getting the Guild BOM block done for May. There has been good progress on that front, it should get finished today.  

The other focus has been trying to move projects from first quarter to finished quilt tops.  The final borders finally made it on to the 2026 SAHRR (Quilting Gail).



The border photographed darker then it actually is. It looks solid black, it's not. It looks much better in person. My SAHRR quilt for this year is definitely different from my previous three finishes.   



I was going to skip the quilt along this year, but then decided if I could do a sampler, that would be manageable. The fabrics for this year's project are left over from another project (there is enough left over for a third project).  I really like the big center star and the pieced border.  I don't do small projects as you can tell from my previous quilts. It was nice to just make one block each week. Now the quilt top goes into the "to be quilted' closet.  Hopefully it will get quilted before the end of the year.  

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

Sunday, April 19, 2026

Stitching Stuff: Week 16 of 2026



It was a busy week. Taxes took up a good part of Monday.  By Wednesday, I was mostly caught up on laundry. Still a bit behind on my monthly chores, but a few of those were knocked out. We had nasty storms on Wednesday and Friday.  The storms meant I had to shut down my stitching a bit early so I could unplug my machine.  These storms had a lot of lighting. I got caught in nickel/quarter sized hail on my way home from a doctor's appointment Wednesday afternoon. We spent a good 20 minutes in the storm shelter Friday night due to tornado warnings.  Thankfully, it looks like our next round of storms isn't till next weekend.  

Even with all the disruptions, it was a good week on the stitching front. 

  • 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
  • 15 minute days/Apr = 17/18 days
  • 15 minute days/2026 = 107/108 days
  • Success rate = 99.07%


Fingers crossed it's mostly a calm week. It would be nice to have a week with no drama. Well, that's not happening this week. I have to finish the May block for the Guild BOM.  It's in progress. Hopefully I won't be madly stitching on it at 4 PM the day of the meeting!

Here's what the hail looked like on Wednesday (photo curtesy of My Guy).




I drove about 5 miles in that hail.  It sounds so much worse when you are in the car.  I kept repeating, "don't get any bigger, don't get any bigger" (they had forecast golf ball sized).  Then it was, "please stop, please stop".  I sat in the car for probably 5 minutes waiting for it to end before I made the mad dash into the house in the pouring rain.  

Hope your week has been much more boring than mine was, but with lots of time to play with needle and thread.  


Saturday, April 18, 2026

Week 153 Photo Challenge: Skate Park

It's been almost a month since the last post on our photo challenge. This new deck of cards we started late last year has some challenging subjects, such as this one:




My Guy and I were going to go photograph at our local skate park.  He got there first and took this photo. 




All that remains of the skate park is the sign and a slab.  The skate park was opened in 2020 and was really nice.  I've searched our local news sources, but don't find any info on why it was removed.  

We decided to end the challenge with just My Guy's photo.  One of the problems with trying to photograph a skate park, is having a camera around kids when you don't have a kid there. That can be  unsettling to a lot of people and none of us wanted to have a run in with an upset parent or the local police.  

I'm not sure the next challenge card is any easier.  



It will be interesting to see what we all come up with. I have a couple of ideas.  Fingers crossed they aren't the same ones My Guy has.  

Thursday, April 16, 2026

2026 Quilt Making Strategies: Second Quarter Plan

After reviewing my first quarter progress, my second quarter overall strategy won't need to change. But I will need to adjust the project list for the quarter since there is a lot that didn't get finished in first quarter.  

1. Guild BOM: The focus for April is to get the blocks for May, June and July finished. I should probably also finish off the flying geese needed for the borders. Before the end of the quarter, blocks for August, September and October need to have the instructions written and the blocks made. November will be an easy block, so I'll try to get that one done as well. Then I won't have to do anything on this project till 4th quarter.    



2. Wild and Goosey: Continue to use two blocks as my leaders project for the quarter.  

3. UFOs to move to finished quilt tops: The plan is to focus first on the projects that didn't make it to finished quilt tops in first quarter. Since two of those don't need that much work, I'm hoping to work in at least two UFOs from the January plan.  



2026 SAHRR, Magnificent Mystery, Old Town, Lupine and Laughter, Good Fortune

4. Walking foot quilting: I hoping now that I have a designated time to quilt that two quilts will get quilted this quarter. The plan is to tackle the 2 smallest ones on my list.   



Chilhowie and Glowing Hearts

5. External quilting: Since I didn't get one done in first quarter, I'm hoping to get two done in second quarter.  


2025 Guild BOM and Chocolate Marshmallows

If everything gets done, there will be 5 more finished quilt tops and 4 more finished quilts.  That's probably way too ambitious a plan considering that I've already lost half of April.  If there is half as much progress, I'll be happy.