Something Old and Something Older

Last week it was something old and something new.  This week the old was finished and I restarted an even older UFO.  Is there some point where an old UFO becomes like a new project?  If there is, I haven't found it yet.  

Good Fortune (Bonnie Hunter), the old project, is now a finished quilt top. I'm glad the pieced border got added, it does make a nice frame for the rest of the quilt.  Plus it used up all those already cut up fabric pieces and finished blocks.  

This joins the "to be quilted" pile.  There are 14 of those hanging in the closet. I'm not sure when this one will get quilted. There are 5 quilts that need to be quilted first as those are graduation gifts for next year.  My Girl did find out intended graduation dates.  May of next year is the earliest, but December of next year is the more likely date for all of them. So I have time.   

There are still a few left overs from Good Fortune.

The green/neutral HSTs will probably become windmill blocks. Not sure what I'm going to do with the neutral strips.  I'll have to play around with those at some point in the future. Maybe a baby quilt for donation via the guild?  We'll see.  

The something older is the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt I started back in 2013, Celtic Solstice. The last time I worked on it was in February of 2014.  It's aged for 12 years, it's definitely time to pull out all the pieces and move this along to finished quilt top.  

The 4-patch chain blocks were the easiest to tackle first.  I only needed to make 8 more for the layout I've decided on. The last 4-patch chain is almost finished.  The main blocks are going to be much more involved. Lots of piecing required for the component parts.  It will probably take me all month and then some to get those blocks all finished.  

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

Stitching Stuff: Week 35 of 2026

 

Its still hot and dry here.  At least there were no triple digit temps this week. It's amazing how much cooler 10 degrees lower feels even when the temps are still in the mid to high 90s.  I suppose it's a conditioning thing.  Even with the slightly lower temps, my sewing room is still my preferred hang out spot.  Which means it's not been hard to work in all my stitching time. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Aug = 29/29 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 237/241 days
• Success rate = 98.34%

So far August has been a good month on the stitching front.  Hard to believe it's almost September. Hopefully that month brings some cooler temps and a reason to be tempted to get out of the house and not sew for a day or two.  

With all the time in the house due to the heat, we started another decluttering project. I need to get back to cleaning out the attic, but that would be life threating in this heat. So we started in on the cabinets in the laundry room. They haven't been cleaned out since we moved in 20 years ago. The two upper cabinents have been emptied, sorted and now we have one completely empty cabinet. I started on the "junk" drawers later in the week.  

We apparently have quite the collection of lanyards and extension cords.  I found 7 cords in the drawer, two of them were still in their packaging. Thankfully, My Girl is in need of a couple of extension cords.  So those will find a new home. Haven't decided what to do with the lanyard collection just yet.  

Have you spent all your in door time stitching or have a few not fun chores snuck in there too?  

   

To Do List for the Week of 8/25/26

This is the last to do list for August.  Next Tuesday we'll be starting September.  I'm hoping that means at least a cool down for us.  But it does feel like the end of the year goes faster than the first of the year does. It will be the holidays before I'm ready that's for sure. 

The one thing about this August, it's been so hot that the only place you want to be is home. So I've been spending a lot of time in my sewing room. That shows up in my progress on last week's to do list.  

To Do List for 8/18/2026

1.  Glowing Hearts: Continue quilting ✔

2.  Squared Away: Cut fabrics for backing - no progress

3.  Good Fortune: Work on pieced border ✔

4.  Marigold Mystery: Work on August blocks ✔

5.  Wild and Goosey: Work on teal blocks ✔

It was a good week on the progress front. So good that Good Fortune and Marigold Mystery will drop off the to do list for this week.  Marigold Mystery will be back in a couple of weeks when the next clue comes out.  Good Fortune probably won't be back on the list till next year when it's turn to be quilted comes around.  So this week's list is a bit shorter than it has been. 

To Do List for 8/25/2026

1. Glowing Hearts (Sandra Walker): Continue quilting

One block is quilted and the second is half finished.  It does go faster with the blocks on the ends of the row. It's just easier to maneuver the quilt. Hopefully my speed will pick up as I go. Otherwise this one is going to take a couple of months to quilt.  

2. Squared Away (Soscrappy): Decide on backing

My plan was to use stash fabrics for the backing.  This quilt is intended as a gift for one of My Girl's college buddies.  She wasn't really thrilled with the options I could pull together from the stash.  The quilt shop has a 5th Saturday sale this weekend, so I'm going to check out the wide fabric selection and see if there is anything that will work for it and the other quilts that are going to be gifts.  

3. Celtic Solstice (Bonnie Hunter): Work on incomplete blocks

Celtic Solstice was the first Bonnie Hunter mystery I sewed along with.  That was back in 2013.  Now it's my last BH quilt that hasn't been finished to at least quilt top stage.  I pulled out all the block components that were made and counted how many more I needed to make to finish my version.  The plan is to cut the fabrics needed and get started making those subunits.  

4. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue making teal blocks

First thing is to cut a few more teal triangles.  I still have a decent pile, but there is very little variety in what's left.  I'll search my scrap bins to see what's there that can be added.  There's not that many blocks left to make, so I won't need to cut much.  

That's my list for the week. It's shorter than it has been.  Hopefully that means I make more progress on each project.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.  

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?  

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

5. Melissa G 6. Karen 7. Andrée at Quilting & Learning 8. Bonnie in Va

9. Quilting Gail 10. Marsha's Spot 11. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting

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