Something Old, Something New

We spent half the weekend in Tulsa. Saturday was a charity event for the Sutton Avian Research Center. That's the organization that runs the Bald Eagle survey teams in our area.  My Guy has been part of that team for at least 5 years.  We stayed in Tulsa for the night and spent Sunday morning hanging out at a coffee shop and then getting lunch before we headed home. Something different than our normal weekend.   

I did get some good sewing time in before we left and then after we got back.  The pieced borders for Good Fortune (Bonnie Hunter) were finished and attached just before dinner was ready last night.  

The plan is to add one more narrow black border to frame the quilt. I'll call it good at that point. Good Fortune should reach finished quilt top stage sometime this week.  

So if Good Fortune is the old, what's the new?  The August blocks for the Meadow Mist Designs 2026 Marigold Mystery also got finished just before dinner on Sunday. 

 

I'm pretty happy with how they came together. Now I have to wait for the next clue to come out to see what's next.  

With the Marigold blocks done and Good Fortune just about a finished quilt, it's time to pull out another UFO to push to finished (or at least to finished quilt top).  Linking up with Patchwork & Quilts and Sew & Tell Monday.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 34 of 2026

 

If the weather man has it right, this next week we'll see a cool down into the 90s for most of the week.  It's been so hot here this August many of the trees are dying. The leaves are brown and falling off like it is autumn. So I'll take the 10 degree drop in temps and a bit of rain that's in the forecast.  We definitely need both.  

Taking refuge in the sewing room seems to be my thing this summer. It's certainly paying off.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Aug = 22/22 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 230/234 days
• Success rate = 98.29%

It's easy to stay on track when it's too hot to do much of anything else.  

How are you doing with getting in your sewing time?  

To Do List for the Week of 8/18/2026

It's tempting to start another post off with the weather, it's been an exceptionally hot summer this year.  But I'll try to stop with that and move on to all the sewing that happened last week as a very happy consequence of not wanting to leave the house.  

To Do List for 8/11/2026

1. Glowing Hearts: Start quilting ✔

2. 2026 Guild BOM: Finish October block ✔

3. Good Fortune: Work on borders ✔

4. Marigold Mystery: Work on August blocks ✔

5. Wild and Goosey: Work on teal blocks ✔

It was a good week on the progress front. I've not reached any big milestones with the projects on the list, but I'm getting close on Good Fortune. For this week, one project drops off for a bit and another UFO comes back onto the list.  

To Do List for 8/18/2026

1. Glowing Hearts (Sandra Walker): Continue quilting

I'm quilting this quilt on my new Bernina, so I had to play around a bit to figure out all the settings and do a few practice runs on a mini quilt sandwich.  I'm hoping to make progress on all three blocks in that middle row this week. 

2. Squared Away (Soscrappy): Cut fabrics for backing

Squared Away was the 2018 Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler.  I finished all the blocks back in November of 2018.  It took me 6 years to pull the blocks out of the storage box and set them into a quilt.  The finished quilt top has been patiently waiting in the to be quilted closet since November of 2024.  This is another quilt for one of My Girl's college buddies.  Hopefully I can get this one sent out quickly so it comes back before Christmas.  

3. Good Fortune (Bonnie Hunter): Work on pieced border 

The blocks for the first border have been sewn into pairs.  Not sure all 4 pieced borders will get done this week.  A lot depends on how well they fit and if I have to redo any seams.  

4. Marigold Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Work on August blocks

Still working on the flying geese blocks for the first set of blocks.  Just 2 more colors to cut and assemble after this green set.  

5. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue working on teal blocks

 

 I cut all the paper patterns needed to finish up the teal blocks. When one color gets close to being finished, this is the best way for me to know when to stop without counting every time I finish a block.  Just 9 teal left to paper piece. 

A few older items on the list, but a few new ones too.  I'm hoping to make good progress today, after my dentist appointment this morning.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.   

Making Progress a Little at a Time

Staying in the sewing room has definitely been the way for me to beat the heat this summer.  Even though my sewing room is the warmest in the house, it's still cooler than going anyplace else. It's summers like this I really miss having a basement.  Our fist house here had one and it would have been an awesome sewing space had we not had to transfer to Texas all those years ago. At this point I'm hoping those long range forecasts that are predicting an early and cooler then normal fall are correct.  We could definitely use a cool down. 

Why does adding borders always seems to take longer than it should?  I made some progress with the borders for Good Fortune (Bonnie Hunter). 

 

The narrow black border was always planned. The neutrals border was added when I decided to use the split HST blocks as a pieced border.  

I needed one more inch so those blocks would fit. The neutrals border is also pieced. When I opened the project box there was a pile of 1.5" x 8.5" neutral strips. Rather than cut new strips from the left over yardage, it just seemed prudent to use up what had already been cut.  So that border took a bit longer to assemble. That strategy was definitely wise, the border used up most of those left over strips.  The last neutrals border is pieced, but I didn't get it pinned and sewn on last night.  That should happen today.  Fingers crossed Good Fortune is a finished quilt top by the end of the week.  

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

Stitching Stuff: Week 33 of 2026

 

Summer is still in full effect.  The weather man says we'll have 100 plus days till mid week and then it cools off to the low to mid 90s.  Not a lot cooler, but I'll take any type of cool down at this point.  Hopefully this week will be the last of the 100 plus temps.  

The one advantage of the high temps is that you don't want to leave the house to do anything. It makes picking the sewing room really easy, which is perfect for getting in your stitching time. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Aug = 15/15 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 223/227 days
• Success rate = 98.24%

Another good month on the stitching front.  Even with all the stitching time, I still feel like I'm not making good progress on my projects.  My UFO list isn't going down as fast as I'd like. It would help if I'd stop starting new projects, but that doesn't work either.  So I need to just accept that and keep plugging.  

When I visited My Girl back in June, she purchased a recliner.  She's been wanting one for a long time.  There's been one problem with it. 

Queenie has decided it's prime napping space.  My Girl has to get there first. Even then, if My Girl gets up for a snack or anything else, Queenie will grab it. I hear about the recliner wars just about nightly.  But I agree with My Girl, Queenie is just too cute to kick out of the chair.   

How is your stitching time going?  

 

1. Gretchen 2. Julie in GA 3. maggief 4. Karen

5. Bonnie in Va 6. Quilting Gail 7. Patricia in New Mexico 8. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting

9. Frédérique 10. Marsha's Spot

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