January 2026 PHD Report

I'm playing along with Ms. P Designs' PHD in 2026 again this year.  It's my sixth year and I've yet to earn my PHD.  Maybe I can make it work this year?  We'll see. 

Only one month into the program and I've started 2 new projects already.  One was planned, the other unplanned.  I'm hoping to finish both quilts this year. Fingers crossed on that plan.  No finishes yet, but there has been good progress on moving several projects closer to that point.  

My big goal for January was to restart the quilt as you go for Kate's Choice.  I've made good progress this year. Half the quilt is sewn together and two rows of the other half are sewn. That leaves the last row to sew together before assembling the second half of the quilt.  Not a finish yet, but good progress this month.  

Work on Wild and Goosy (Bonnie Hunter) continues this year. All the green blocks needed for the final layout are finished. They still need to be sashed.  Since green is the color for February, I'll get back to those this month. I did finish a few blue blocks during the month. I need 16 sets of 4 blocks for the planned setting. I'm just over half way there with the blue.  

  

Magnificent Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs) kicked off back in August of last year. I finally caught up with all the clues this month.  I'm ready for the reveal later this week.  

The 2026 Piecemakers Guild BOM kicked off back in December.  I've actually completed all the blocks up to April, but I can only show what's been revealed to the guild. The guild got the February block at the last meeting.  Those participating showed their Carpenter Star blocks during the meeting, there are some stunning color combinations in the works. It will be fun to see this one come together.  

There's been some progress on Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter).  I got off to a really late start with last year's mystery. I've committed to making the first block.  I finished off all the hourglass units and have started assembling those blocks.  Once I finish those I'll decide what happens next.  

It wasn't in my 2026 quilt plans to play along with the 2026 SAHRR (Quilting Gail), but it's such a fun challenge it was hard to resist.  I'm going a bit off script in making a sampler quilt rather than a medallion quilt. Two of six blocks were finished by the end of January. 

The unplanned start is Scenic Waypoint, started as part of Meadow Mist Designs 2026 Stash Busting Quilt Along.  I did a lot of cutting, but it's been a bit slow getting the hourglass blocks assembled. At the end of January I was done with one color, almost done with a second. 

At least one project hit a major milestone this month. 

Magnificent Mystery went from block construction to ready for quilt assembly.  By the end of February, the plan is for Kate's Choice to be a finished quilt. Then I can start on the next quilt to be quilted.  I'm hoping that one goes faster.  

To Do List for the Week of 02/03/2026

Winter hasn't completely relented, but we at least got a bit of a warm up yesterday.  I'll take highs in the 50's after a week of highs just above freezing.  The cold weather has been really good at driving me into my sewing room. One certainly doesn't want to be out and about much in those temps.  More sewing time was definitely a good thing for making progress on last week's to do list. 

To Do List for 01/27/2026

1. Kate's Choice: Assemble 5th row ✔

2. SAHRR: Make block for second prompt ✔

3. Scenic Waypoint: Continue cutting fabrics, start hourglass blocks ✔

4. Wild and Goosey: Work on blue blocks ✔

It was certainly a short list, but it still feels good to check off all four items. This week's to do list is just a little longer. 

1. Kate's Choice: Assemble 6th row

This is the last row that needs assembly.  I'm considering if I can add borders. I think that's doable.  Determining if I can make that work as a quilt as you will be on next week's to do list.  

2. SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Make block for third prompt

The third prompt comes out on Wednesday. I'm sure my EQ program will get a work out once it's released, though the block probably won't get made till the weekend.  

3. Scenic Waypoint (Meadow Mist Designs): Finish hourglass blocks, start on centers

There are 10 sets of hourglass blocks to make, these purple ones are part of the third set. Still 7 sets to go. I need to start sewing faster!  

4. Magnificent Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Start quilt assembly

The reveal for this mystery quilt comes out this Thursday. I'm looking forward to seeing how all the components come together.  I won't finish assembly this week, but hope to have a finished quilt top by the end of the month.  

5.  Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Sash green blocks, work on blue

I put all the green blocks up on the design wall to distribute the scrappiness and decide which blocks went in each 4 patch.  The green centers were cut from what was in the 1.5" scrap bin. So these are ready to be sashed with black.  Once all the blocks are sashed, I'll go back to working on the blue blocks.  

If I can make progress on each project it will have been a good week.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday. 

2026 SAHRR: Playing with Doubles

This week's SAHRR prompt comes from Kathleen McMusing, "Make it a Double". My first approach was to go to Electric Quilt and type in "double" on the search line in the block library.  The Double X block looked interesting. 

I don't have a lot of lights in the left over fabrics I'm using for this quilt. I went with what seemed reasonable. 

My fabric choices didn't result in very distinct HST corners, but I'm OK with them being a bit muddy.  It's still a fun block and looks pretty good with what is already up on the design wall.  

My plan is to wait till I finish all the prompts before deciding where each block goes.  I wonder what the third prompt will be? 

Linking up with Kathleen McMusing, Patchwork & Quilts, and Sew and Tell Monday.   

Stitching Stuff: Week 5 of 2026

It's definitely been on the cold side this week. Which means those to the north of us are really in the deep freeze.  Thankfully we'll get a bit of a warm up early next week.  Still, my wool coat is definitely going to spend some time out of the closet this weekend.  

The cold weather this month has been very conductive to lots of sewing room time. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Jan = 31/31 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 31/31 days
• Success rate = 100%

The first month of the year ends with 100% success rate.  I'm not planning to maintain that 100%, but it's always fun to see how long it lasts.  

Have you been using your sewing room to escape the recent deep freeze?  

Photo Play: 2025 Summary, 2026 Ambitions

My blog is mostly about the quilty stuff that goes on in my sewing room. If you are here for that, I won't be offended if you skip this post. 

Since I've retired, my goal has been to do more photography and learn to do it better. I've been retired a little over 3 years at this point and I'm not sure there has been much improvement in the more or the better aspirations.  Looking at how I did on my 2025 goals says a lot. 

1. Take more pictures.  Nope that didn't happen.  I only had 79 photos I felt that were worthy of posting, versus 112 from last year.  

2. Take more walks, go more places:  The more walks didn't happen, nor did I go more places. But I do think I used my cell phone more this year to take photos while we were out and about.  

3. Continue to learn my camera functions: Major fail, no effort at all on this point.

4. Keep studying photography via books/videos: Another major fail, I didn't read any books on photography in 2025. 

Before writing up this year's ambitions, I reviewed the last 3 year's photos, with My Guy's help and picked one that stood out for each year. Maybe not the best technical photo of the year, but that the one that elicited a response from both of us.  

2023

Canon 70D w/Tamron 18-400 mm lens

2024

Canon 70D w/Tamron 18-400 mm lens

2025

Canon 70D w/Tamron 18-400 mm lens

None of these three are my typical subjects. The Tamron lens is probably my most versatile, so it's the one in use most of the time.  What else did my review show?  My shots from 2024 included a lot of, "what if I tried this". There was almost none of that last year. Photos of flowers and butterflies were more than 90% of my photos Those are my favorite subjects. They aren't bad subjects, but maybe not the most interesting. 

So what's the plan for 2026?  

1. Take a photo every week. Hopefully that will encourage me to look harder for interesting subjects. 

2. Study both photography techniques and my camera operation.  One photography book a month, a chapter on my reference books on the cameras.  

I'm going to leave it at just two for this year.  Hopefully both will get me taking more and better photos.