To Do Tuesday (07/28/20)

It's been challenging getting back into some type of schedule since our stay at home days.  I'm slowly getting back on track with my stitching time in the evenings and making progress on getting into some type of fitness program. The weekly To Do List linky party over at Home Sewn By Us is helping me stay focused on my stitchy goals. Maybe a Weekly Fitness To Do would help on the fitness front or a 15 Minutes to Sweat weekly linky?  Hmm, maybe not. For now, I'll just stick with reviewing last week's stitchy To Do List.  

Weekly To Do List for 07/20/2020

Frolic: Finish flying geese for border ✔

Unity: Step 3, make more Sawtooth Stars ✔

Christmas Mystery: Add borders - progress

Storm At Sea: Press, Trim, Prep for quilting - no progress

 

Not a bad week, but not a perfect week.  Prepping backings and quilts for quilting is my least favorite quilting activity so I ignored the SAS backing all week. I really need to make that my number one priority for next weekend or that project will never get done.  

Weekly To Do List for 07/28/2020

Storm at Sea:  Prep backing for quilting

Frolic:  Finish assembling flying geese for borders

All the HSTs have been sewn into flying geese. I've started sewing the red violet flying geese together into strips.

2019 Christmas Mystery Quilt: Add borders

  

The quilt was measured, strips cut, but I didn't get them sewn together.  It won't take long to move this project to finished flimsy.  

Unity: Step 3, make more Sawtooth Stars

Those sawtooth stars take lots of flying geese.  I'm more than halfway finished with this step.  I doubt I finish Step 3 this week, but maybe next week.  I'm really ready to move into a new step.  

I realized on Sunday that my cone of thread is getting a bit bare.  

I don't keep up with my thread changes, but it certainly seems like this one went faster than the last one. I ordered another cone the last time thread was on sale, so I've got a replacement. But having one empty means there's been a lot of stitching going on this year.  

Linking up with Tuesday To Do over at Home Sewn by Us.  

Pieces of Progress

It was a pretty typical weekend. Other than the grocery store and trips out to pick up take out for dinner, we didn't go any where.  You'd think I'd get more sewing done, but it's been harder for me to get myself moving towards the sewing room some afternoons.  We do more hanging out after lunch these days.

I did get in some sewing time, but there's not really much to show, most everything is just pieces at that moment.  Unity is the only project up on the design walls.

 Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

Border strip 3 is half finished.  I'm hoping step 4 goes faster than step 3 or I'll never finish this project!  

Masks were also on the agenda for this weekend.  

Mask pattern from Laundry Basket Quilts 

Two for me, one for My Guy, one for the SIT and one for a friend at work.  My Guy likes the t-shirt ear loops and asked that I make him a few more to replace some of the early masks with elastic that aren't very comfortable.  The SIT will have to wear one anytime she's on campus this fall, so she was asking for a few more for those weeks she doesn't get to laundry. 

That's my progress for the week.  Hope your week was more productive.  Linking up with Monday Making and Design Wall Monday.   

Stitching Stuff: Week 30 of 2020

One more week left in July.  The month certainly seemed to fly by in spite of the restrictions on life the virus has caused.  Our work weeks don't look much different than pre-virus, though we eat lunch in my office rather than the cafeteria. We've gotten used to the daily temperature checks at the door, wearing face masks, and virtual meetings.  Our weekends are spent mainly at home. We rarely go any place other than the grocery store. Church is on line. Rather than eating out Saturday night, we order take out. The Scientist in Training has been home more this summer, it's lonely at school with all the social distancing in place.  

You would think it would be easier to get in more stitching time with the decrease in external activities.  But I still struggle some evenings with having the energy to go play with needle and thread. How about you?  Is it easier or harder to find the combination of energy/desire/time to fit in at least 15 minutes of stitching time most days?  

This week was a good one for me, the energy/desire/time equation worked in my favor.  

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days

15 minute days/July = 24/25 days

15 minute days/2020 = 183/207 days

Success rate = 88.41%

Getting back on a schedule helped this week. Work has been steady, so no late nights. Plus I finally figured out a substitute for my twice a week gym work outs that meshes with my sewing schedule. Still need to tweak that a bit, but something on that front is definitely better than nothing.  My slacks have definitely noticed a change with being at home more.  

How was your stitchy week?  Did you meet your quilty goals for the week?  

1. Meloney 2. Julie in GA 3. karen

4. Chrisknits 5. Mary-Kay 6. Shasta @ High Road

7. DawnyK 8. Angie in SoCal 9. Amanda

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To Do Tuesday for the Week of 7/21/2020

It's been warm, but thankfully the humidity isn't as bad as it was.  Still you really don't want to be outside much unless it's early or the sun has gone down.  You'd think getting in more stitching time would be easier, but the heat just seems to sap the energy right out of me.  Of course it would help if we'd get home a bit earlier. We both were playing catch up at work this last week after our staycation the week before.  In spite of the lack of energy and time, there was good progress on last week's To Do list. 

Weekly To Do List For 07/14/2020

Frolic: Finish first black border, stitch HSTs ✔

Unity: Step 3, make more Sawtooth Stars ✔

Storm at Sea: Wash backing, prep for quilting - progress

Christmas Mystery:  Pick borders ✔

Check marks on three out of the four isn't bad. I did get the backing for SAS washed, I just didn't get it pressed and trimmed.  It will go back on the to do list for this week.  

Weekly To Do List for 07/21/2020

Storm at Sea: Press, trim and de-thread backing

Frolic: Finish flying geese for border

Only 2 more of the red voilet HSTs to stitch together, but there are still a few more blue HSTs to finish making as well as a good pile of flying geese to stitch up.  

Christmas Mystery Quilt - Add borders

2019 Christmas Mystery 
designed by Carrie Randall (Quilter's Hideaway)

I really tried to work with what was in the stash, but didn't love any of the combinations.  A quick trip to the local quilt shop netted me the poinsettia fabric, which has multiple reds and greens which work well with the sashing and the blocks.  I'll use up some stash in the backing.  

Unity: Step 3, make more Sawtooth Stars

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

There are finally enough stars to stitch together the bottom border.  That should get done this week.  Just 20 more are needed to finish off the side borders. At some point I'll bump this project up to the top of my to do list and really focus on getting it finished. For now, it makes a nice leader and ender project while I'm finishing off the borders on projects that are farther along.  

That's my plan for the next week. You can see more to do's over at Home Sewn by Us To Do Tuesday.  

More Frolicking

It was a busier weekend than I expected, so not as much sewing time as I had anticipated.  We had a 50th birthday party to attend on Sunday.  It was a very small gathering with everyone wearing masks when we weren't eating.  I made the birthday girl a couple of masks (her son appropriated the Oklahoma State U mask I made her, so I made her a new one).  I didn't get them finished till right before we had to leave so no photos.  

The only other blog worthy stitching was finishing the first black border for Frolic. 

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

The flying geese to the right to it are part of the next border.  Those pieces are actually made from two HSTs. There's a stack of blue HSTs that need to be sewn together as well. I didn't finish that step of the mystery, so won't be duplicating Bonnie's border.  

This is the plan for the rest of the borders. This week will likely be spent in getting all those HSTs sewn together.  

That's the project on my large design wall this week. You can check out other quilty show and tells over at Monday Making, Monday Design Wall and Main Crush Monday.  

Week 29 of 2020: Stitching Stuff

The week after vacation is usually pretty hectic and this week was definitely that.  At any rate the work week went by pretty fast.  Getting back onto a schedule with my sewing room time was a bit of a struggle. A couple of late work nights didn't help the plans for 15 minutes of stitching each evening. 

Thus week 29 turned out not to be a perfect week on the stitching front. 

15 minute days/week = 6/7 days

15 minute days/July = 17/18 days

15 minute days/2020 = 176/200 days

Success rate = 88%

So no not perfect, but really not a bad week.  The decision to back off on the expectation of fitting in stitching time every day was the right one for this year.  

How was your stitchy week?  Were you able to work in 15 minutes of stitching time every day?  

1. maggie f 2. Julie in GA 3. karen 4. Chrisknits

5. Meloney 6. Mary-Kay 7. Amanda 8. Quilting Gail

9. DawnyK 10. Deana

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Mid July PHD Progress

Hard to believe that we've already passed the middle of July and it's just a couple more weeks till the brutal heat of August will be blasting us. Not that July's heat has been fun, the humidity has made it like breathing molasses when outside. It's definitely been a month for staying indoors and hanging out in the sewing room. That's been good for making progress on my 2020 PHD. 

Finally there's been a change in the PHD report.

Mosaic Mystery (Farfalla) became my third finish for 2020.  

Farfalla (Mosaic Mystery Quilt)  from Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs

So I'm a quarter of the way through my 2020 PHD program.  Not an amazing amount of progress considering we are half way through the year.  But any progress is good, so I'm encouraged.  

The other part of the earning your quilty PHD is to finish any new starts.  There's only been one of those this year. 

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

Progress on Unity has been slow, but it's been steady.  I'm still working on step 3, but am almost halfway through it.

I'm not a one project at a time quilter, I like working on several. But this year I am trying to limit active projects to just three or four at the sewing machine in hopes of moving more quilts to the finish line. One of the other active projects is Storm at Sea.  The quilt top is finished and the missing backing was solved by purchasing a new one. 

  

The plan this weekend is to get this washed, pressed, trimmed up and packaged to send out for quilting. I'll tackle the clean up and pressing of the quilt top next weekend.  That's going to be a chore because it's such a big quilt and of course it's got a white background, so loose thread clean up is going to be important.  

I've also been working on finishing off Frolic, the 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery.  

The last set of borders are under construction. I'm hoping to have a finished quilt top by the end of the month. 

Since there was a finish this month, I've dusted off another UFO to start moving it towards the finish line.  Since the 2019 Christmas Mystery quilt just needs borders, it was an easy one to pull off the pile. But figuring out what to use for the borders has been a challenge. I really want to use what's in my Christmas stash, but I wasn't finding anything that worked for me. This was the best I could come up with. 

2019 Christmas Mystery 
designed by Carrie Randall (Quilter's Hideaway)

I don't actually have these fabrics, I pulled fabrics out of EQ palette that matched in tone what I had or thought worked better.  What kept tripping me up was that second border.  What if I take that out? 

I like that much better.  Eliminating the second border is definitely the right direction.  Now to play with what's in the stash to see what works best.    

Linking up with Quilting Gail's Mid July PHD Report.  

To Do Tuesday for the Week of 07/14/2020

Last week seemed to speed by, our staycation went by in a blur.  The first day back at work was long and hectic.  I was ready to spend some time playing with fabric last night and deciding on what should go on this week's to do list. More on that in a few lines, fist I'd like to celebrate the progress on last week's to do list. 

To Do List for the week of 07/07/2020

Mosaic Mystery:  Finish quilt ✔

Frolic:  Finish lt. blue border, stitch HSTs ✔

Unity: Step 3, make more Sawtooth Stars ✔

Storm at Sea: Make a decision on the backing ✔

With a whole week to play in the sewing room, it was easy to get all four items checked off the list.  Since I'm back to my normal schedule, it may be a bit harder to complete this week's list. 

To Do List for the week of  07/14/2020

Storm at Sea:  Backing - Wash, trim to size, prep for quilting

 This is not the backing originally ordered for the quilt.  The first option was a much darker purple, which probably wouldn't work with all the white in the quilt.  But the real reason for a new backing fabric is that I didn't order enough of the original.  This color blends in well with the colors in the top.  

Frolic: Finish the first black border, stitch HSTs

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

The light blue border is finished.  Next is a skinny black border.  That will be followed by a wider black border with the HSTs and a finally another skinny black border.  Fingers crossed that Frolic will be a finished flimsy by the end of the month.  

Unity:  Keep working on step 3, the Sawtooth Stars

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

Just two more stars needed to finish off another pieced border strip.  This quilt has been slow going, but at least there's been visible progress each week.  

2019 Christmas Mystery Quilt: Pick border fabrics

2019 Christmas Mystery 
designed by Carrie Randall (Quilter's Hideaway)

Now that Mosaic Mystery is completed and off the active project list, that leaves a spot for a new UFO on the "currently in progress" list.  This Christmas Mystery quilt was started last October. The sashing is done, but it still needs the last two borders.  Unfortunately There weren't any notes with the quilt top, so I don't remember what the plan was for the borders.  I definitely want to use what's in the stash, so I'll do some playing in EQ and see what works.   

That's my to do list for this week. Linking up with Home Sewn by Us for To Do Tuesday.  

Solving One Mystery to Start Another

The staycation has come to an end, it's back to work today.  It's been a nice few days off.  I didn't get as much time in the sewing room as I'd hoped, but I did get in one nothing but sewing day during our break.  Sad to say I'm already ready for another one.  

One of the goals last week was to finish off the binding on Mosaic Mystery.  The last of the binding was stitched down on Saturday evening and the last glamour shot was taken yesterday. 

 Mosaic Mystery Quilt (Farfalla)
designed by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs
Started August 26, 2019, Finished July 11, 2020 

 

I'm happy with the finish, though I really wish there had been enough of the butterfly fabric to make that final border just a bit wider.  The binding is the same dark purple as the last border.  

 The quilting is a meander, with what looks like a butterfly showing up here and there in the quilting. 

I've shown the label before. Farfalla is the Italian word for butterfly, as I learned from one of my light summer reads.  It seemed to fit this project.  

There's no plan for this project at the moment.  Usually the Scientist in Training's roommate asks me to donate quilt to their fundraiser for the regional service dog training organization she works with.  Since so much has been canceled due to the pandemic, not sure they'll have the fundraiser this year.  But I've got that covered if it does go ahead.  

Finishing up Mosaic Mystery was my July One Monthly Goal.  I'll link up with Elm Street Quilts at the end of the month when that linky party opens up. 

This finish is timely in that the next Meadow Mist Designs mystery starts this month. The fabric requirements were posted last week for the Morewood Mystery.  The SIT helped me poke around in the stash last night. Here's where we ended up just before dinner last night. 

The two blue florals have been in the stash for a while, as has the purple, green and blue print. Only the pink/purple fabric is recent.  But they were all in the stash.  I like the combination, but someone recently commented on the blog that my color schemes for many of my quilts looked the same.  Case in point here's the fabric pull for Frolic (which is still on the design wall). 

I do love how Frolic came out, so I don't have a problem with the colors.  But do I want to play with the same color palette for another project?   I have till August to finalize the fabric pull for the Morewood Mystery.  I'm going to play in the stash a bit more to see what else I can come up with. 

Linking up with Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, Main Crush Monday and the July One Monthly Goal wrap up linky party when it posts.   

Week 28 of 2020: Stitching Stuff

Today is the last day of our summer staycation.  It's been a good week. I didn't get in as much stitching time as I had hoped. We did get a few things done around the house, hiked a bit and hung out with the Scientist in Training.  We celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary yesterday with a special take out dinner.  The evening plans for an evening hike got rained out. Oh well, we still had a nice evening hanging out and hearing from family. 

It was relatively easy to work in 15 minutes of stitching time each day with our relaxed staycation schedule. 

It was a good week, I just didn't get in the hours of stitching time I was hoping for, but I did manage more than the minimum of 15 minutes every day this week. 

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days

15 minute days/July = 11/11 days

15 minute days/2020 = 170/193 days

Success rate = 88%

I should get in a solid afternoon of stitching.  Then it's back to work on Monday.  You can link up with how your stitchy week went below. 

We really did have a staycation other than the trip to see the SIT. We ventured out only one other morning to a park we didn't know existed for a morning of hiking. It ended up being a nice walk, though it was definitely warm by the time we got done. 

Thankfully most of the hike was in the shade.  The bees were definitely out in force. 

There was just this one yellow wildflower on the trail, but it was popular.  

And this is a button bush, though it looks a lot like those pictures you see on articles about corona virus.  

That was pretty much the extent of our wandering this week.  We were the only ones on the trails. A family showed up for a walk just as we were leaving, so social distancing wasn't an issue. 

How's your stitchy mojo holding up with the heat, humidity and  the other crazy stuff going on this summer.  

1. Chrisknits 2. Julie in GA 3. karen 4. katie z.

5. Meloney 6. Shasta @ High Road 7. Sherrie 8. DawnyK

9. Angie in SoCal 10. Amanda 11. Quilting Gail 12. Deana

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To Do Tuesday for the Week of 7/7/2020

I've been enjoying a staycation with My Guy.  I did have to work a bit yesterday and will need to put in a couple of hours today, but that should be it for the week. Though I will need to check email here and there.  We were off visiting the Scientist in Training over the weekend, but I did get in a really good afternoon of stitching time yesterday. Good enough finish checking off all the items on last week's To Do List. 

Weekly To Do List for 06/30/2020

Frolic:  Trim, start on light blue border ✔

Unity:  Step 3, make more Sawtooth Stars ✔

Mosaic Mystery: Finish and press binding ✔

It helps that I kept the list pretty simple. Still it feels good to see a check mark at the end of each line. 

So what's the plan for my staycation week?  

Weekly To Do List for 07/06/2020

Mosaic Mystery: Finish binding quilt

I've started stitching the binding to the front of the quilt. That won't take much longer to finish. Hopefully I can finish all the hand stitching to the back before next Tuesday.  

Frolic:  Finish lt. blue border, stitch together HSTs

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

Frolic is all trimmed up, ready for the first light blue border. 

The border strips are all cut, now they just need to be assembled and cut to size.  Sewing the HSTs together is the current leaders and enders project. 

Unity:  Step 3, continue to make Sawtooth Stars

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

One pieced border for step 3 is done and attached.  I'm hoping to finish enough stars this week to finish off another pieced border strip. 

Storm at Sea:  Make a decision on the backing

My receipts show that I did indeed order a backing last year. I've not found it yet.  But looking on line at what I ordered, it may be too dark to use for quilt back.  It sure looks a lot darker than I remember ordering.  So I'll look for it this week.  But I may decide to piece a back out of something else or order a lighter extra wide fabric to use as the backing.  

That's my list for this week.  Linking up with Home Sewn by Us for To Do Tuesday.  

The July One Monthly Goal

We had a really nice weekend hanging out with the Scientist in Training.  We went on a few walks and stopped at our favorite gelato place for a cold treat. Not the most exciting weekend, but it was nice get out of town for a couple of days. 

On the quilting side of things, it's a new month so I've been contemplating what should be July's One Monthly Goal. 

Several projects are moving along towards completion.  The closest is the Mosaic Mystery Quilt.  

 Mosaic Mystery Quilt from Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs

I finished trimming off the excess batting last night. 

The label is made and framed.  

The binding is ready. 

Since it's the closest to being completed, July's goal is to get  Mosaic Mystery quilt bound.  This year's Meadow Mist Designs Morewood Mystery kicked off this month with the fabric requirements. So it would be good to get last year's quilt completed and off the list before I add this year's.   

So that's the plan for July.  Linking up with Elm Street Quilts, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, and Main Crush Monday. 

Week 27 of 2020: Stitching Stuff

Hope everyone in the USA had a wonderful 4th of July.  Ours was very low key, but it was enjoyable.  We are hanging out at the Scientist in Training's place this weekend. We'll head home in a bit, so I should get in a good afternoon of stitching.  How did your stitchy week go?  How often did you get to play with needle and thread the last week? 

My mojo seems to be hanging around, it was a good week in the sewing room. 

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days

15 minute days/June  = 23/30 days

15 minute days/July = 4/4/ days

15 minute days/2020 = 163/186

Success rate = 87.63%

We are off work the rest of this week.  No plans, other than to do some things around the house, maybe get out for a hike or two.  So I'm hoping to work in a good amount of stitching time this week. You can link up and share how well your week went at the end of the post.  

June is over and July has gotten started so it's time for a report on the stash.  

Fabric used in June  = 4.15 yards

Fabric used year to date = 29.35 yards

More fabric in than out for 2020

I gave in during the Blueprint closure and ordered several 6 yard cuts of fabric.  The put me at the more in that out point, but it's not so bad that I can't recover and end the year with more out than in.  Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the regular stash report.  

The basket flowers are blooming.  

The name comes from the "basket" at the base of the flower.

Fully opened they have lacy look to them.  These are one of my favorite wild flowers. 

That's it for this week. Stay cool and stitch on!  (Oh and link up below to share how your stitchy week went.)

1. Chrisknits 2. karen 3. maggie f 4. Julie in GA

5. Andree at Quilting & Learning 6. Sherrie 7. Jennifer in Indy 8. di

9. DawnyK 10. Quilting Gail 11. Amanda 12. Deana

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Happy July 4th!

The Midyear Review for 2020 Quilting Ambitions

I finished the last of my midyear reviews with my direct reports at work yesterday.   The purpose of the midyear review is to make sure you are on track with your goals. If you are not on track, it helps to identify the obstacles or changes in priorities and adjust accordingly. Also it's a good opportunity to celebrate your successes. It's just natural for me to apply what we do at work to the quilty part of my life.  Back in December I set my 2020 Quilting Ambitions as part of Quilting Jetgirl's 2020 Planning Party.  Here's how things are going at the mid year mark.  

2020 Ambition #1:  Finish 12 Quilts in 2020

Only two finishes so far this year, as my PHD in 2020 report shows.

  

 Twinkle Stars, block Tutorial by Angela Feldbush of Soscrappy and 

Stripes from the 2019 Quiltygirl Winter Quilt Along

Twinkle Stars and The Winter Quilt Along are it so far.  But only one new start so far this year.  So I'm doing much better about not chasing squirrels, which is hopefully helping me do a better job of focusing on moving the existing projects to finishes.  

Though not finishes yet, there's been really good progress on three other projects so far this year.  

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

The 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery didn't finish up until about mid January.  So it's gone from having three blocks finished to finishing and assembling the quilt center.  I've started on the borders. 

Mosaic Mystery Quilt from Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs

The Mosaic Mystery Quilt along finished up in early January as well.  It's progressed from a set of blocks on the design wall to just needing the binding.  This should be finish number three in a matter of days. Almost perfect timing as this year's Meadow Mist Designs Morewood Mystery kicked off with the fabric requirements this week.  I don't count a quilt as started until I start cutting the fabrics, so I still have time to finish this one before I actually start this year's (which was on my 2020 quilt plan as a planned new start). 

Storm at Sea, Paper Piecing Class by Carrie Randell (Quilter's Hideaway),
Setting self designed

Storm at Sea just needed the last three borders at the end of last year. But I got side tracked with too many mystery quilt alongs and new projects, so Storm at Sea got put aside.  All the borders are on and it's a finished quilt top.  I'm still searching for the extra wide backing that I think was ordered. Several blog buddies have suggested checking my receipts or order records to see if I actually ordered it. That's the part of the plan next week, before I get too deep into clean up plans. (I'd so much rather stitch on my staycation).   

So in review, I'm really likely to get these three to the finished stage this year, for a total of 5 finishes.  There are two quilts that just need borders, backings and quilting to be finished this year.  I think those two are likely to make it to the finish line for a total of 7 finishes for 2020. That would tie my best year for finishes.  That may be as good as it gets this year. Which would be pretty awesome, even if it doesn't meet my goal.    

2020 Ambition #2: Host 15 Minutes to Stitch, Work in 15 minutes of stitching time 85% of days in 2020

With a full time job and a family, it's easy to let my stitching time fall victim to all the other things going on in my life.  But working in regular stretches of stitching time is crucial to maintaining some semblance of sanity in today's madness.  Hence the goal to work in just 15 minutes of stitching time most days.  Up till this year my goal was to work in that time every day, but I finally realized that was adding to the stresses I was trying to get away from. So for this year,  my goal is to stitch 85% of the time (or at least 6 days a week). Year to date, my success rate is 87.5%.  So I'm doing well on that front.

As far as hosting the weekly 15 Minutes to Stitch linky party, there have been 25 posted link ups for the 26 weeks of 2020 so far.  I missed hosting a link up the Sunday after our company decided to close all office locations and have everyone work from home due to Covid 19.  That first week of working from home was so stressful, I couldn't summon the words for a post.  Not that things have gotten any less stressful on that front, but at least we have more knowledge on prevention and treatment. Plus we've gone back to work in the office under very stringent face mask and social distancing requirements. Which is actually much easier to manage than working from home.     

Thanks to everyone who regularly links up for the 15 Minutes to Stitch with tales of stitching time or the lack there of.  Many of us have struggled with our sewing mojos this year, understandably so.  Thanks for sharing both the good and the tough in your posts.  I feel a lot less alone and so much more encouraged due to all of you. 

So that's the planned progress for 2020.  Since I work in a service organization, I always encourage my direct reports to leave a space for "unplanned contributions" in their performance agreements because you never know when a customer issue/problem will end up taking over your working life.  I think mask making definitely qualifies as an "unplanned ambition"  this year.  

There are masks for me, My Guy, the Scientist in Training, the SIT's  roommate, the SITs research group, friends, and coworkers in the mix above.  I didn't make any for the local medical community, but I hope that the ones I made and shared will help slow down the spread of the virus.  

In the supervisor training at work there was one lesson that said if an assignment doesn't match up well with the skill and motivation of the individual, it's likely they won't succeed. That's kinda where I'm at with stash management, so I've no ambition on managing that part of my sewing life. 

So overall, not a bad first half of the year.  I didn't expect to get 12 quilts finished this year, I'll be happy with what gets done. But it doesn't hurt to dream big, it pushes to do more than you think you can (at least that's the management theory anyway). Hope you've done well on your quilty ambitions for the year.  Good luck with your plans for the rest of 2020.  The end of the year will be here before you know it (I sincerly hope that 2021 is a much, much better year).  

Linking up with Quilting Gails PHD in 2020 July Status Update and Quilting Jetgirl's 2020 MidYear CheckIn.