Stitching Stuff: Week 19 of 2026

Happy Mother's Day.  My kiddo didn't know what to get me, so I told her she could take me out to lunch during my next visit.  We had planned to spend the holiday with my mother, but she's not feeling great, so we are targeting Memorial weekend to get the family together.  My plans are to spend the day in the sewing room, one of my favorite gifts of all time.

It's been an up and down week.  My back is slowly getting better. Bending is still a problem, but it's gotten less painful.  We decided that maybe our 14 year old mattress was one of my problems, so we replaced that. That didn't go quite as planned. However, adding a pillow between my knees (I'm a side sleeper) has made a world of difference.  

Thankfully the back problems haven't kept me from the sewing room.  My stats look pretty good considering how miserable I was last weekend.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/May = 9/9 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 128/129 days
• Success rate = 99.22%

I've already made good progress on my to do list for the week. Just need to finish the borders on Old Town. That's the plan for this weekend.  

How are you stitching plans working out?  

 

Week 154 Photo Challenge: Crowds

The new photo challenge cards have been a bit more involved then the previous two packs.  It's been taking all of us a bit longer to come up with photos. My Guy and I spend most of our time in a small town, which can limit our photo opportunities. My Girl lives in the big city, but she now has a full time job, with a commute. So she doesn't have as much time as when she was a college student. Consequently, we seemed to have shifted to a monthly schedule on our photographs. We're just going to roll with that.  

That last photo challenge was:

Living in a small town, crowds are a relative thing.  The only crowds around here are things like the high school sports, graduation, and the art festival.  We don't have a kid in school anymore, so we aren't tied into those activities anymore.  The art festival isn't till June. So I went with the only place we routinely see more than 10 people.  

Kate: The Church Crowd

 
We usually attend the vigil Mass on Saturday night, that church crowd is mostly the more senior members of the parish. Our church is a bit plain for a Catholic Church, but that's because the founders of this parish were more focused on works then on the building.  When we started here more than 30 years ago, it had the reputation for being the rebel parish in the diocese. They've since combined our parish with the more conversative parish downtown, not so much because the parish is troublesome, more so because of the dwindling numbers of priests.  

My Guy went a completely different route, literally. He spends most of his time out on long walks or long bike rides these days, so he sees a completely different type of crowd.  

My Guy: The Wind Sweeping Down the Plains Crowd

He's more likely to find cows or horses out on the back roads he rides on. I'm not sure where exactly he took this photo, but it really shows just how flat it is here and how much sky you can see.  Our spring weather this year has been stormy, which does make for some dramatic skies. Those clouds do wonderful things to the light this time of year.  

My Girl took advantage of her big city location to find her photo. 

My Girl: This Picture Cost Me $100

She was able to find last minute, discounted tickets for a Raye concert last weekend.  The advantage of living in Houston is there are lots of concerts. If not in Houston, Dallas is only 4 hours away. Still concert tickets have gotten expensive. She is selective about which ones she attends.  

Of the three, it's a toss up between My Guy's and My Girl's photos for my favorite. Both are very different, but both are interesting photos.  

My Guy and I probably have an advantage with the new photo challenge. 

The summer wildflowers are just getting going here.  So we should have a good opportunity to get some new photos. Since My Girl lives in town, it may be harder for her to get a shot.  

To Do List for the Week of 5/5/2026

Hard to believe it is already May. I completely missed that yesterday was "May the 4th Be With You" day.  Today is Cinco de Mayo, so happy holiday if you are of Mexican heritage. Mother's Day is this weekend (I have no idea what to get my mother).  

The end of April, beginning of May were pretty productive as my to do list shows for last week shows. 

To Do List for 4/28/2026

1. Guild BOM: Finish July block ✔

2. Magnificent Mystery: Finish borders ✔

3. Chilhowie: Prep top and back for quilting ✔

4. Lupine and Laughter: Work on A blocks

5. Wild and Goosey: Continue making blue blocks ✔

Definitely a lot of progress on the to do list last week. Now that Magnificent Mystery is a finished top and the Guild BOM is caught up for a few months, I can add something back to the list and it will still be shorter then last week's list. 

To Do List for 5/5/2026

1. Old Town (Bonnie Hunter): Work on borders

I finished assembling the quilt top back in December of last year. It got put away to concentrate on all the new projects that started in December and January.  All it needs is the borders.  I spent some time in Electric Quilt yesterday and finally decided on fabrics and layout.  I'm excited to get this one to finished quilt top.  

2. Chilhowie (Bonnie Hunter): Sandwich quilt and start marking

The top, batting and backing are all prepped.  With my back, I can't crawl around on the ground, so I'm going to have to take the sandwich to the quilt shop and assemble it there.  There is a big table in the back that should make that a lot easier.  If all I do is get the sandwich made this week, I'm good with that.  

3.  Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter): Work on A blocks

 

In the project bag were 5 finished block A's and this partially assembled one. My plan was to make 3/4 of the blocks, I think.  I need to pull out my notes and confirm that. The plan is to work on this one till it's finished quilt top.  

4. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Finish blue blocks, start sashing

 

Just one blue block left to finish. Then I'll need to lay out all the blocks in groups of four and decide which block goes where.  Sashing goes fast so I'm hoping to have these all made into 7.5" blocks by the end of the month.  

This week, my to do list is all Bonnie Hunter quilts, three mysteries (2024, 2022, and 2025) plus one Rainbow Scrap Challenge project (2019).  I've started 14 mysteries, finished 7 of those, and 3 are quilt tops.  So 4 are still in the block making stage (well 3, Old Town just needs borders). 

That's my to do list for this week. Linking up with The Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.    

Sticking with the Strategy

It's been a quiet week on the weather front. That's been nice, no late night sessions watching the local weather to decide if we need to move ourselves to the tornado shelter.  My back is still a bit out of whack, I can walk and sit, but bending is completely out for now. Thankfully  I can still sew. 

I've been mostly sticking with my strategy for the year, but I'm not where I'd hoped to be at the end of first quarter.  So it was catch up time in April.  

The Magnificent Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs) is finally a finished quilt top.  The final two border strips were added yesterday.  The pattern didn't call for a border, but I usually like to see a frame around the quilt, it looks uncomplete to me when there is not one.  I'm thrilled with how this one worked out.  It's hard to get the colors right for a mystery quilt, I have no regrets about what fabrics I picked and where they went.  It may be my most favorite Meadow Mist Mystery ever. 

It's been slow going, but there has been lots of progress so far this year.  Linking up with Patchwork & Quilts and Sew & Tell Monday.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 18 of 2026

 

This hasn't been the easiest week.  My back was complaining a bit last week. Finally on Wednesday it reached a breaking point and I made a trip to urgent care. They couldn't do much for me other do some x-rays, give me a muscle relaxant and tell me I needed to see a doctor. Like most rural communities we have a shortage of primary care doctors. I finally found one that was on our insurance, but I can't get an appointment for a couple of weeks. The back is getting better, but the x-rays were concerning, so I still need to see a doctor.  

Thankfully the back injury hasn't kept me from the sewing room.  I'm just a bit slower going up the stairs.  So it was another good week on that front. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Apr = 29/30 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 121/122 days
• Success rate = 99.18%

Not a bad week. One of my main activities this week was prepping Chilhowie for quilting. That meant standing and stretching a bit across my work table. My back felt much better after each prepping session. Who knew that some sewing works as well as physical therapy?  

How was your stitching week? 

1. Gretchen 2. Julie in GA 3. maggie f 4. Melissa G

5. Kathy S. 6. Karen 7. Frédérique 8. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting

9. Jennifer in Indy 10. Bonnie in Va 11. Quilting Gail 12. Marsha's Spot

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