Stitching Stuff: Week 29 of 2026

 

Other than PT appointments, I think this last week has been the first one in a bit without a doctors appointment.  That won't last, I have a orthopedic appointment this next week and a dentist appointment the following. Thankfully both are in town, so no drive to Tulsa required.  I had a couple of really good afternoons of stitching time, so it wasn't hard to get my time in this week.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/July = 18/18 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 195/199
• Success rate = 97.99%

I'm almost back to 98% success with this week's effort. I'm hoping that July is a sewing every day month.  I've not had one of those since March.  

How did you do at working in some good sewing room time last week?  

To Do List for the Week of 7/14/2026

It's been a laid back week.  Summer tends to produce a lot of those, it's too hot to do much outside, so why leave the house.  I didn't complete everything on my to do list, but there was progress on every item.  

To Do List for 7/7/2026

1.  Glowing Heart: Make backing, piece batting - progress

2.  Lupine and Laughter: Add last border ✔ 

3.  2026 Guild BOM: Cut pieces for last 4 blocks - progress

4.  Good Fortune: Continue making main blocks ✔

5.  Wild and Goosey: Finishing sashing blues, work on teals ✔

Three check marks and two with progress is a good week in my book.  Hopefully I can keep up the momentum this week.  

To Do List for 7/14/2026

1.  Glowing Hearts (Sandra Walker): Piece batting, start quilting 

The backing is pieced.  Glowing Hearts was made from a half yard bundle that I won as part of a blog quilt along or give away. There wasn't much left of the bundle, but there was enough with the addition of some of the background fabric to make the backing.  The green strips at the top and bottom were part of the bundle, but I didn't use that fabric in the hearts. Now to piece the batting and prep the top and back for quilting.  That always takes longer then I think it should.   

2. Guild BOM: Assemble August Block

The block needs to be ready for the July meeting, which is a week from today.  So I really need to get busy with the assembly.  If I can get parts of the remaining 3 blocks cut, that would be helpful.  But if I don't get that far, it won't be the end of the world.  

3. Good Fortune (Bonnie Hunter): Continue to work on blocks 

There are a lot of pieces to the main block in this project. Nothing new for a BH mystery quilt, but it does make for some slow going.  There has been progress, but I may be rethinking my approach.  

4.  Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): 

All the blue blocks are sashed and I've started working on the teal blocks again.  I have just a little over half of the teal and purple blocks needed for this project.  So I'll probably stick with teal until get all that color done and then go back to finish up purple.

A shorter list for this week.  What's left on my UFO list at this point all requires either quilting or block assembly.  Both of those stages tend to be the slowest of the process, so keeping the list short is probably wise.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.

A Finished Quilt Top

It was a nice weekend.  My Guy and I celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary on Saturday by going out for a fancy dinner followed by custard at our favorite spot for dessert. We are long past getting gifts for each other.  Neither of us need anything, we'd much rather go do something fun together.  

With us going out on Saturday, I didn't get much sewing time that day, but I'd already made up for that by sewing a lot earlier in the week.  The final border was added to Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter) on Tuesday.  

Another finished quilt top added to the growing collection in the closet.  But at least I finished the piecing well before this year's mystery comes out.  Very often I'm finishing up the last mystery while starting the new one. I'm happy with how it came out. The dark purple adds some spark to the pink and blue. Not sure yet where this one will go. It may well go to one of My Girl's grad school friends.  We'll see.   

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

Stitching Stuff: Week 28 of 2026

 

It was a fairly quiet week for a change.  I had an endodontist appointment on Monday to check if my tooth problem needed a root canal. Nope, I just have a really bad sinus infection. After round three of antibiotics, I'm hoping that issue is resolved. Other than my PT appointments, I was free to make progress in the sewing room.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/July = 11/11 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 188/192
• Success rate = 97.92%

I managed to sew every day this week. First time I've managed that since early June.  My goal for the year was to stitch at least 80% of the time. I'm on track to beat that for sure. 

How are things going in your sewing room?  

1. Gretchen 2. maggie fellow 3. Julie in GA

4. LeeAnna 5. Karen 6. Quilting Gail

7. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting 8. Bonnie in Va 9. Andrée at Quilting & Learning

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2026 Quilt Making Strategies: Third Quarter Plan

Hard to believe over half of 2026 is already past. The end of the year will come up quickly. So far I've stuck to the main strategy that was posted in January, but the priorities of some of the projects has changed.  That's not so bad.  The plan for second and third quarters was to focus on moving UFOs to finished, or at least closer to finished.  I'm going to stick with that strategy.

1. Guild BOM 2026

The 2026 Guild BOM has to be finished by the November guild meeting.  The first draft of the block instructions for the last 4 blocks are written.  The plan is to get all the blocks made this quarter and start quilt assembly.  I won't be able to complete assembly until October after the last block is shown, but doing all I can this quarter will help keep what needs to get assembled at the end to a minimum. 

2. Wild and Goosey. Continue to use two blocks as my leaders and enders. The goal is to have all the blocks done by the end of the year.  

3. UFOs to be moved to finished quilt tops.    

Lupine and Laughter just needs borders, so that should be a quick finish.  Good fortune still needs 7 of the star blocks constructed before assembly can start.  I do expect that project to make it to finished quilt top before the end of the quarter.  There may be some progress on Celtic Solstice by the end of the quarter.  I'm not sure the blue and yellow scrap quilt will see any progress at all.  It would be great if I get that far.  

4. Walking foot quilting.  

I've learned that it takes me a quarter to quilt one project.  So the goal for third quarter is to finish quilting Glowing Hearts. If I can make a start on Betty, that would be a really successful quarter. 

5. External Quilting

I've changed up the priority of my external quilts.  Squared Away is a gift for one of My Girl's college buddies, so it gets moved up to next in line.  My Girl has asked for 3 more quilts as graduation gifts for her grad school buddies. I suspect one of the girls will like Magnificent Mystery, so I'm going to bump that one up too.  

If I can end the quarter with 2 more finished quilts and 2 more projects moved to finished quilt tops, it will have been a really good quarter.