Merry Christmas!

 

To Do List for the Week of 12/24/2024

It's been a busy week, lots of holiday preparations, not much stitching stuff the last few days. I did work in a few stitching sessions in the sewing room before the holiday schedule completely took over.  

To Do List for 12/17/2024

1. Old Town: Work on clues 1, 2, 3, 4 and start 5 - progress

2. Wild and Goosey: Work on red blocks ✔

3. Summer Scrap Quilt:  Continue as leaders and enders ✔

4. Embroidered Medallion: Take a few stitches ✔ 

Last week's list was pretty loose, mostly just continue to make progress on my active projects.  I pretty much did that. The plan for this week won't really kick in until Friday, once all of the holiday visiting is over.  As much as I enjoy the hustle and bustle of family time, I will most definitely be ready for some alone time in my sewing room by the weekend.  

To Do List for 12/24/2024

1.  Old Town (Bonnie Hunter): Work on clues 1, 2, 3, 4 and start 5, 6, and 7.  

I've made good progress on the first 4 clues, but didn't get the chance to start clue 5.  Bonnie dropped clue 6 yesterday. I'll have some serious catching up to do when I get back into the sewing room.  

2. Butterfly Medallion: Finish the orange butterfly

 

Just a bit left to do and it will be finished. I had planned to finish it last night, but My Guy needed something from the store. Which then turned into a stop at Braum's for ice cream on our way back to the house.  Grad Girl can't get Braum's ice cream in College Station, so she indulges when she's home. I should be able to finish the butterfly today and move the hoop to the next section once the last of the present wrapping is done.   

3. 2025 Guild BOM: Finish writing documentation for January

The wonderful guild member who has led the block of the block program for the last ten plus years, wanted a year off. I somehow agreed to take it on for this year.  We are making a rainbow scrappy quilt using the Inverted Star block by Jessica Boschen. If you've followed my blog for long you may remember that I've made a quilt from this block before (here). I choose this pattern because I only need to write one pattern for the blocks and just announce a new color each month.  That I can do.  Writing a pattern for a new block every month is pretty daunting.  We'll see how it goes this year. 

4. 2024 Guild BOM: Finish the sashing and start assembly.

I've started the sashing, but have gotten derailed trying to keep up with Old Town.  I'm hoping to have a fully assembled quilt by the end of the year, which is only 7 days from now.

5.  Marble Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Finish the December clue. 

I've made a start, but still have a lot of stitching and cutting to do. But that should go pretty quickly once I'm back in the my sewing room.  

6. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue making red blocks

I haven't gotten very far with the red blocks this month. Hopefully I can finish up a few more before I pick up with whatever Soscrappy decides is the RSC color for January. 

7. Simply Sensational Summer Scrap Quilt (Kevin the Quilter): Continue as leaders and enders.   

So it's a long list for the last week of the year. I'm taking a week off my household chores, mostly.  I'm hoping to spend a lot of time stitching along with hanging out with Grad Girl and My Guy. Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.  

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season with friends and family.      

Stitching Stuff: Week 51 of 2024

 

This post is a bit late today, holiday prep has been the first priority and with all that was going on yesterday, I didn't even remember to get a post ready.  I did get my 15 minutes in yesterday just before bed, but just barely.

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Dec = 21/21 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 356/356 days
• Success rate = 100%

It's been a busy few days, with some early mornings and late nights. I was tempted to just let yesterday's stitching time slide, but Grad Girl was not having that. She pointed out there are just 10 more days in the year, I can stick it out that long.  It's nice to have supportive family, except when you just really want to go to bed! But of course once I drug out all the stitching stuff, I enjoyed it and stayed up way too late talking to Grad Girl. 

The great fabric closet reorganization has been on hold for the last month or so. At least I've done well at keeping the sewing room mostly cleaned up. So I don't have any sewing room photos to share. But I do have one curtesy of Grad Girl of Queenie's reaction to stopping at Buc-ee's Friday night. 

I can relate to her expression.  Buc-ee's are definitely another level in terms of places to stop for gas, bio-breaks and snacks.  

Hoping all your holiday prep is going well and wishing safe travels to you and your family as everyone travels to their holiday destination.  If you've managed to fit in any stitching time, link up and share below.  

1. Julie in GA 2. Gretchen 3. DonnleeQ

4. Quilting Gail 5. Bonnie in Va 6. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting

7. Amanda 8. Frédérique 9. Andrée at Quilting & Learning

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To Do List for the Week of 12/17/2024

Where did the last week go?  My last To Do List post was last Wednesday, so maybe that's why I'm feeling like the week just evaporated?  It has been a busy week and it certainly seems like I've not gotten much done. 

To Do List 12/10/2024

1.  String Lights: Finish binding ✔

2.  Guild BOM: Make January Block for 2025 BOM ✔

3.  Old Town: Work on clues 1, 2, start 3 and 4 ✔

4.  Wild and Goosey: Make red blocks ✔

5.  Summer Scrap Quilt: Continue as leaders and enders ✔

The two things I needed to get done, got done, String Lights and the first block of the month for the guild. I made a bit of progress on everything else. Definitely not as much as I would have liked on Old Town, but I at least got one set of HSTs made for clue 4. 

There are no "have to finish" things on this week's list. The holiday activities will start to fill in the days towards the end of the week, so I'm just hoping for progress on a few fronts this next week.  

To Do List for 12/17/2024

1.  Old Town (Bonnie Hunter): Work on clues 1, 2, 3, 4 and start 5

I'm almost finished with clue 1, but haven't gotten very far with the other clues.  The next 2 weeks will be busy with holiday stuff. What gets done, gets done.  I'll just play catch up in January, which seems to be my modus operandi for these mysteries.  

2.  Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Make more red blocks

Since I just work on a couple at a time and those easily fit into my sewing rhythm, I'll keep those in rotation this week. 

3.  Simply Sensational Summer Scrap Quilt (Kevin the Quilter): Continue as leaders and enders. 

I'm working on 2-patches for the next set of 10 blue 4-patches.  So I should get a few of those done while working on Old Town. 

4.  Embroidered Medallion: Take a few stitches

This is my travel/family visiting project.  I'm sure it will see some action as we get closer to the holiday.  I'm hoping I can finish the orange butterfly.

I still have gifts to wrap and a bit of shopping left to do before the holiday. Grad Girl's room needs a quick going over before she shows up. So still lots to do before the holiday.  Some days I may just get my 15 minutes of stitching time in and that's OK.  I'll have some time after the holiday to play catch up in the sewing room.  

Good luck with all your stitching and holiday plans.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday. 

The Finial Finish for the Year

I missed posting last Monday.  There really wasn't much to post and with Mom here, it was hard to get both the photos and the computer time to put something together.  So at least you know, I usually put my posts together in real time.  

One thing I did find time to do during Mom's visit, was finish the binding for String Lights (Meadow Mist Designs). 

I started this quilt in May of last year. It was part of the blog hop to support Cheryl's book "Just Two Charm Pack Quilts'. I've participated in Cheryl's annual mysteries for the last nine years and really like her designs.  The fabric is from a kit I purchased in 2013. I've always loved these Timeless Treasures Tonga batik fabrics, but never knew what to do with them. I think they really shine in this quilt. 

The original quilt doesn't use any borders, but Grad Girl thought the quilt needed some.  The quilt is in Texas now.  Grad Girl is gifting it to the Post Doctorial fellow in the group.  He's leaving at the end of December and taking a new position in Germany.  He's been a great resource and provided a lot of moral support for Grad Girl these last 3 years. 

Trudy quilted wavy lines down the "strings".

 

That worked well, especially since that makes it look like the chains are in solution.  That statement may have you scratching your head, but bear with me.  Of course since this is going to a chemist, the name of the quilt has to match the discipline. Right? The group makes and studies polymers, so after a review of the terminology associated with the field, we agreed on: 

Step Growth polymerization produces dimers (2 molecules), trimers (3 molecules), tetramers (4 molecules) and so on.  These smaller molecular chains combine to from the longer polymer chains, thus the term "step growth". The different "chain" lengths of the strings running across the quilt are suggestive of that polymer process, so that's the name we went with. (What can I say, we are nerds to the core it seems).

Step Growth is finish #6 for 2024.  That's double what I've been finishing the three years. So it's definitely been a good year, even if I didn't match my record of seven finishes in a year.  Maybe that will happen next year?

Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Patchwork & Quilts.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 50 of 2024

 

When I typed the title for the post, I had to check the calendar.  Yes there are only 2 weeks and 2 days left in 2024!  December always seems to pass at the speed of light.  It was a challenging week on the finding time to stitch front with my mom being here for a few days. But I managed to eek out my 15 minutes somewhere during the day. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Dec = 14/14 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 349/349 days
• Success rate = 100%

I've learned how to sneak in those 15 minutes each day even when I'm busy.  Can I keep it up for 2 more weeks?  Not sure, but I'm certainly going to try. 

No sewing room organization this week. Mom can't do stairs, so I didn't want to be where she couldn't hang out.  So I stayed downstairs and worked on the binding for String Lights while she was here.  

I've reached the time of year where the holiday prep is almost overwhelming.  This picture of Grad Girl's kitty reminded me that one should take some time to just chill and enjoy the season. 

How are you doing with your holiday prep, stitching and chilling? 

1. maggie f 2. Julie in GA 3. Karen

4. DonnaleeQ 5. Frédérique 6. Quilting Gail

7. Bonnie in Va 8. Amanda 9. Andrée at Quilting & Learning

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Week 131 Photo Challenge: Shoe(s)

It's been a while since our last photo challenge post.  At first we struggled with the photos for this one. 

 

We drew this card the Friday before Thanksgiving. With all the prep for the trip to Texas and Thanksgiving dinner, none of us really took the time to focus on getting a photo.  Since then we've had deaths in the family, business trips, end of the semester.  It's just been a busy time.  

I had a hard time getting creative with this particular challenge. When I reviewed my photos, I decided this one was the most interesting. 

Kate: Closet Jumble

I don't have the best shoe storage system in my closet, they are mostly just jumbled up pairs.  So I won't win any awards for organization. But when I look at what's in various layers, it does tell a story. My loafers that were worn pretty much daily are buried, but my gym shoes are on top.  Speaks a lot to how my life has changed the last couple of years.  The texture and stark whiteness of the athletic shoes made this photo the most interesting of the bunch I took. 

My Guy is the odd one out this week. He went in a completely different direction. 

My Guy: Hot Shoe 4

His portfolio for this week also included brake shoes, but I agreed that the camera hot shoe was the best pick for this week.  This is My Guy's first SLR, an Olympus OM-1.  It's a film camera that he used a lot for his astronomy classes in college. He bought it used, but it was his primary camera for years. He didn't switch to digital until a couple of years after I did.  Now, it would be hard to find a place to process the film.  

Grad Girl's subject is more typical, but she was definitely more creative with the setting. 

Grad Girl: My Just Chilling Boots

Grad Girl likes to wear boots when the weather gets cooler.  In Texas, that didn't happen till the week of Thanksgiving. One of the many reasons she's not a fan of fall in Texas. We were hanging out in a coffee shop in Brenham when she took this photo. That's pretty much standard operating procedure on any trip, find a coffee shop, take the books and chill for a bit. 

I had the honor of drawing this week's challenge card.

My Guy asked "What does that mean?" I'm not sure, I guess it's whatever we decide it means. That's how we seem to roll each week with these photo challenges.  

To Do List for the Week of 12/10/2024

It's been one of those weeks where life hasn't gone as expected.  My uncle passed after a short illness, he was 87. My mother really wanted to go to the funeral originally scheduled for the 9th, but she has health issues that make an 8 hour road trip difficult. I agreed to take her, but we'd break the trip up over a couple of days. We made the trip from her house to mine on Saturday.  Then the aunt who was married to the uncle, was found unresponsive by their son. She passed the next day, so their son decided to cancel the original funeral and hold one for both his parents. So it's not been the best week for the family. My cousin, at least from a distance, seems to be holding up as well as one can expect.  

Mom decided she's not up for the full trip (That was the reason for the staged trip, to see if she could travel at all before we tired to drive the final six hours). She's still recovering from a bad bout of pneumonia she was hospitalized for last month and tires pretty easily.  She rested here for a couple of days and I took her home yesterday. On the up side, I had a nice visit with my mother and gave my brother, who lives with her, a break.   

All that to say, I've not been operating on anything like my normal schedule.  Sewing room time was pretty much at a minimum for several days. Definitely not as far a long as I would like on my to do list for last week.  

To Do list for 12/2/2024

1.  Old Town Mystery:  Continue clues 1 and 2, start 3 - progress

2.  String Lights: Make binding, finalize name and label ✔   

3.  Guild BOM: Make finial sashing blocks, start assembly - progress

4.  Wild and Goosey: Continue making red blocks ✔

5.  Summer Scrap Quilt: Continue as leaders and enders ✔

At least I made progress on every item, most of that happened before the weekend. We all have weeks like that. With the holiday approaching, there are a lot of things on the not sewing to do list. That means a bit less sewing time this week.  So this week's to do list will focus on progress.  My plan is to sew when I can, so I'm keeping this week's to do list pretty simple.  

To Do List for 12/10/2024

1.  String Lights (Meadow Mist Designs):  Finish binding. 

I finished the label and got the binding made and attached. I'm in the process of hand stitching the binding to the back. I've turned two corners and have the label stitched down. I'm hoping to finish it today. I have to get this on the way to Grad Girl soon so she can gift if before the post doc leaves.  

2. Guild BOM: Make Jan block for 2025 BOM

The very talented lady that has designed the yearly BOMs for the last 12 years, wanted a year off. So I agreed to take it on.  The January block needs to be ready to show at our December meeting  which is next Tuesday. Thankfully I don't have to have the instructions written until the first of next month, but I have to get the block done this week. 

3.  Old Town (Bonnie Hunter): Work on clues 1, 2, start 3 and 4

I've made good progress on clue 1 and got a good start on clue 2. I didn't even touch clue 3 as yet. Which seems to be my typical BH mystery pattern, start strong then go off course due to life events.  Oh well, the point is to enjoy the mystery and I have been. 

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

I can sew on a couple as I work on other projects. Some progress is better than none. 

5. Simply Sensational Summer Scrap Quilt (Kevin the Quilter): Continue as leaders and enders.

The 4-patches needed for this quilt are such a good leaders and enders.  I have a pile of both blue and yellow 2.5" strips, so if I need to increase my pile of patches, it doesn't take very long.  

That's my list for this next week. We'll see how far I get with it.  I'm also way behind on my blog reading. Mom is an early riser so my computer time pretty much went out the window while she was here.  I'm hoping to catch up over the next few days.  

Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday. 

Stitching Stuff: Week 49 of 2024

It's just been a weird week. Not sure why, maybe because of all the holiday prep. I just feel off sequence for some reason.  The one thing I have done is get in my stitching time. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Dec = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 342/342 days
• Success rate = 100%

Though I'm getting in my sewing time, I've fallen behind on the Bonnie Hunter mystery.  Which is par for the course.  I need to finish String Lights this week so it can be sent to Texas for gifting.  So this next week is going to be a busy one too.  

How are you doing at keeping up with your stitching time while also dealing with holiday prep?  

1. Frédérique 2. maggie f 3. Karen

4. DonnaleeQ 5. Quilting Gail 6. Bonnie in Va

7. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting 8. Andrée at Quilting & Learning

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November 2024 PHD Report

November was a quiet month, well except for Thanksgiving week. I got a lot done so there's a bit to report for the November PHD report at P Designs USA.  Though you won't see a lot of progress reflected on my PHD spreadsheet.  

No finishes in November, but one new start. But the Bonnie Hunter mystery has been on the list since the beginning.  Besides the clues won't end till the new year, so it's not one that has to be finished this year.  I'm hoping to have one more finish this month, so hopefully I'll end the year with 6 finishes.  That's not too shabby.  

Progress has been my goal all year and November was a good month for that.  Two sets of quilt blocks became finished quilt tops. 

 

Chocolate Marshmallows (Seabreeze Quilts) is the first.  I pulled the blocks out back in September, figured out a setting and got it assembled.  It's on the list to be quilted in 2025. 

Squared Away (So Scrappy) is the second set of blocks to finished quilt top that happened in November.  A much simpler setting, it didn't take very long at all to finish the quilt top. This project is also on the list to be quilted in 2025.  

All the yellow and orange blocks are finished for Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter). There has been good progress on the red blocks, but I don't think I'll complete the red ones before the end of the year.  That's OK, there has been good progress on this project. I'm still not sure if this will be a priority project next year or if I just continue to make the blocks a bit at a time.  

One set of 10 blue 4 patches and one set of yellow 4 patches were added to the Simply Sensational Summer Scrap Quilt (Kevin the Quilter) this month. That seems to be typical for most months. I'm about half way there in terms of block numbers.  Looks like this will be a really good leaders and enders project for next year too.

 As of the end of November, I was all caught up on the Guild BOM.  The sashing and assembly instructions came out on Sunday.  Hopefully I'll have another finished quilt top by the end of the month.  

All the cluse for the Marble Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs) were complete before we left for Thanksgiving.  The December clue comes out tomorrow.  Hopefully it's an easy clue for a busy month.  

I managed to get about a third of clue one done on the Old Town Mystery (Bonnie Hunter) before we left for Thanksgiving.  Cutting for clue 2 didn't start till we got home, so I'm a bit behind on this mystery.  It's rare that I keep up. The plan is to have clue 1 done before clue comes out this Friday.  We'll see how that goes. 

By the end of November, every project on my 2024 quilt plan has seen some progress this year. 

It's definitely been a very good year on progress. I have five finishes, which is more than double what I've been averaging the last few years. Even if things don't advance as much this month due to the holiday, it's still been a really good year.  I'm in good shape to start off next year with six quilts that just need backing and prep before they can be sent out for quilting.  I'm hoping for one more finish and one last project making it to finished quilt top this month.   

To Do List for the Week of 12/03/2024

We were in Texas for most of the week, so I didn't have a lot of time to sew.  Consequently, last week's to do list was pretty simple.

  

To Do List 11/26/2024

1.  Old Town Mystery:  Finish clue 1 and start clue 2- progress

2.  Embroidered Medallion: Take a few stitches ✔

3.  Wild and Goosey: Continue making red blocks ✔

4.  Summer Scrap Quilt: Continue as leaders and enders ✔

With all our holiday travel I only had one day in the sewing room, so I'll take three check marks and progress on the 4th.  

I should have more time for hanging out in the sewing room, but not a lot more. I do have Christmas stuff that needs to get done too.  So we'll keep the list pretty simple for this week too.  My goal this month is to just make a bit of progress here and there on what I've already got going.  

To Do List for 12/03/2024

1. Old Town Mystery (Bonnie Hunter): Continue to work on clues 1 and 2, start 3

It was late when I got to my sewing room yesterday.  I finished off a few more flying geese for clue 1 and started cutting the fabrics for clue 2.  I'm hoping to be more caught up by the time clue 3 comes out this Friday.  

2. String Lights (Meadow Mist Designs): Make binding, finalize name and label.

The quilting is all done, I'm just waiting on it to come back from being quilted.  I've played with the name and label a bit.  The 6 sided shapes strung in a chain look like benzene rings, which is similar to the molecules Grad Girl's research group uses to make various polymers, hence the rename for the quilt.  I've not run any of this by Grad Girl as yet. Once I do that, things will probably go in a completely different direction. 

3. Guild BOM: Make final sashing blocks and start quilt assembly

The sashing is HSTs, so those are pretty simple to make.  I'll work on this in between all the BH mystery clues.     

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

I checked last night, I need 14 more red blocks to finish out that color. At my current sewing rate, I won't finish those this month. But I'll be that much closer when I pick up the color again next year.

5.  Simply Sensational Summer Scarp Quilt (Kevin the Quilter): Continue as leaders and enders. 

There are a pile of yellow 2-patches that are ready to be sewn into 4-patches.  This has been such a great project to work on as a leaders and enders.  There are still a lot more to make, but I should probably take the time to see exactly how close I am on total blocks.  

I have to remind myself the goal is just to make progress during this busy holiday season. Thank goodness for on line shopping!  I'm hoping to make some headway there today.  Before I get to that, I'm linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday. 

Nothing on the Design Wall

Our Thanksgiving holiday ended yesterday morning about 9:30 AM when we hit the road to drive home.  It wasn't too bad till we had to exit 35W to 35 just north of Dallas. It was stop and go traffic a significant part the drive from Dallas to OKC.  What normally takes us about 8 hours to navigate took 11.  Other than the drive back, we had a wonderful holiday with Grad Girl.  We did small business Friday and shopped in Brenham for stocking stuffers.  Than on Saturday we went to The Texas Renaissance Festival.  

Something different for us.  Some of the attendee costumes were fantastic, though it did get hard to navigate around those with very large fairy wings in parts of the crowd.  It was a lot of fun, but boy did we walk. The grounds were huge!  

I did keep up my stitching time, over the holiday. I'd get going on my handwork just before bed and get in a few stitches, just enough to get in my 15 minutes. 

 

I filled in quite a bit of the lower wing. It doesn't look like much, but there were a lot of thread changes. 

The only other thing I worked on while we were in Texas was finishing up the design and starting to write up the documentation/instructions for the 2025 Guild BOM.  The member who has done the BOM for the last 12 years wanted a break this year. She's done some wonderful designs over the years.  But 12 years is a long time to have a block ready each month.  I'm trying something different from what she's done. Not sure it will go over well so we'll see how that goes.  

Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Slow Stitching Sunday

Stitching Stuff: Week 48 of 2024

 

How was your Thanksgiving?  We had a wonderful time with Grad Girl and her roommate.  Our Thanksgiving dinner is always a little different, My Guy can't eat ham and Grad Girl is not a fan of turkey. So an alternate choice of protein is required.  This year My Guy made brisket quesadillas in homemade flour tortillas, with either brie or cheddar cheese and barbeque sauce or peach salsa.  They were wonderful.  The rest of dinner was pretty conventional. We were all pretty stuffed even without the turkey.  

Even with all the holiday cooking and cleaning up (that was mostly my gig during the holiday), I still managed to get in my stitching time this week.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Nov = 30/30 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 335/335 days
• Success rate = 100%  

I'm still finding it hard to believe that I've done something stitching related everyday for the first 11 months of the year.  Just one month left.  Can I keep it up for the whole year?  I most definitely have to make the effort to finish at 100%.  

With all the family stuff this week, there wasn't any fabric pressing or reorganizing. Hopefully I'll get some of that done this next week. 

Did you get much done on the stitching front this week?  

    

1. Frédérique 2. maggie f 3. Julie in GA

4. Karen 5. Jennifer in Indy 6. DonnaleeQ

7. Quilting Gail 8. Bonnie in Va 9. Carol @ Quilt Schmilt

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