Photo Play: July 2025

There aren't a lot of photos for July, but there are a few that stood out.  Most of those come from my I-phone as it's the one camera that's with me pretty much anywhere I go.  You can decide if "the best camera is the one you have with you" is true.  

The first photo was my second choice for the "Reflections" family photo challenge.  It's the only photo this month taken with my Canon 70D DSLR. I used a Sigma 105mm macro lens.  

It was close between this one and the one I used for the challenge. I have noticed that I take a lot more photos when I'm working on getting photos for the challenge. 

The remaining photos were taken with my I-Phone 12, all of them were taken either in the house or in our back yard.  I spent a lot of time in July out on our back porch with Queenie while she was eating grass and chasing bugs.  

Queenie Cat

Wheel Bug, one species of Assassin beetles

Bee on a Basket Flower

My top two for this month are the rose reflection and the picture of Queenie.  Black cats are hard to photograph, it's hard to get a lot of definition, all that black tends to just blend together.  Maybe not one of my better months, but it is nice to know I can still take interesting pictures when I'm just hanging out with the cat.  

To Do List for the Week of 10/7/2025

It wasn't the worst week on the stitching front, but I did lose the better part of one day to a allergies/cold and another day to hanging out with My Guy. He is taking a few days off work this week so we'll be out doing fun stuff during the days.  Which means the sewing room won't see quite as much of me this week.  Before getting to what that means for this week's to do list, I should fess up what happened with last week's to do list.  

To Do List for 9/30/2025

1. 2025 Guild BOM: Finish Nov and December blocks - progress

2. Old Town: Continue piecing blocks ✔

3. Wild and Goosey: Continue piecing green blocks ✔

4. 2026 Guild BOM: Press and cut fabrics for first block - no progress

Not a bad week.  I just didn't get to the the 2026 guild BOM project. Getting the 2025 BOM moved along is the priority for now. This week's list is pretty much the same as last weeks.  

To Do List for 10/7/2025

1. 2025 Guild BOM: Finish December blocks, press sashing fabric

The Inverted Star block is almost finished. But there are 6 sawtooth stars that are still works in progress. The previous version that I made using these blocks used a white on white for the sashing and background. This time I wanted something more colorful.  Hopefully it will look as good as the first version.  

2. Old Town (Bonnie Hunter): Continue piecing blocks and sashing pieces

My phone still isn't capturing the teal color correctly, it's really much brighter than it shows in this photo.  I'm excited to see how the sashing changes the pattern of the blocks.  Still a long way to go before this is a finished quilt top, but I'm getting there. It's still up in the air if it will be a finished quilt top by the time this year's mystery comes up.  

3. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue making green blocks

I need 48 of the 3.5" pieced blocks of the green. I'm more than half way there now. I'll probably stick with green until I finish those off.  That will just leave the teal, blue and purple blocks left to make. What's left of those colors is almost half the planned quilt. So a ways to go on this project yet. But working on two blocks as I sew other projects has paid off in a lot of progress this year.  Slow and steady will get me there eventually.  

I'm going to stop this week's to do list with just three items. My Guy and I are going to make the most of his days off and have some adventures. Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday. 

Playing Catch Up

The problem with working on the 2025 Guild BOM blocks is that I can't show them till the guild sees them.  Most of what I've been working on in the sewing room is getting those blocks finished so quilt assembly can be started. There's been good progress on that front, but it doesn't leave me much to post about on Monday.  I do keep 2 Wild and Goosey blocks going while I'm stitching other things.  I've also added back working on bits and pieces of Old Town. 

Twenty of the 25 blocks are finished.  Excuse the color on this photo, I used my I-Phone which normally works pretty well, but it really messed up the teal in the blocks.  It's much brighter than what shows here.  

The pieces for the sashing strips have been cut and I've started stitching those. 

The color of the teal fabric is much closer to reality in this photo. I've made good progress on these, but I still have the better part of 3/4 of them yet to make.  But I'll take whatever progress I can get.  The goal is to get this to finished quilt top before this year's mystery gets started.  That may or may not happen, hopefully I'll at least get close. 

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

Stitching Stuff: Week 40 of 2025

 

It was a good week on the stitching front.  Though I only got in my 15 minutes on Thursday. Not sure if it's another cold or just allergies. I felt crappy pretty much all day.  Thankfully, I felt much better on Friday and got lots done in the sewing room. My stitching time report looks good.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Sept = 21/30 days
• 15 minute days/2025 = 237/277 days
• Success rate = 85.56%

Definitely not the 100% I had last year, but maybe I needed a year of focusing on something else. To sew 85% of the time is still significant.  I'm hoping my stats improve before the end of the year. 

No stash organization this week, other than to bemoan my lack of effort on that front.  Hopefully the motivation to work on that part of my sewing room will come back at some point before the end of the year.

The house seems so quite with Grad Girl and Queenie back in Texas. Since I was missing them both this week, one night I asked for new Queenie picture and GG sent this one. 

I can't decide if she just woke up or is just contemplating life. At any rate, she looks pretty cute.  

Did you spend any time with needle and thread this week? 

1. maggie f 2. Julie in GA 3. Frédérique 4. Melissa G 5. DonnaleeQ

6. Jennifer in Indy 7. Karen 8. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting 9. Bonnie in Va 10. Andrée at Quilting & Learning

11. Deb in Canada 12. Quilting Gail 13. Carol @ Quilt Schmilt

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2025 Quilting Ambitions: 3rd Quarter Check In

It's been hard to wrap my mind around the fact that it's October already.  Wasn't it just June?  The time went fast, probably because I was busy helping Grad Girl with the transition from student to working woman.  She defended her thesis, graduated, moved home, found a job, finished her first quilt top and then moved back Texas. Most of that has happened since June.  I didn't spend as much time in the sewing room over those months.  Consequently, there was this sinking feeling when Yvonne of Quilting JetGirl posted the Q3 CheckIn. 

I don't think there has been much progress on my 2025 quilting ambitions during the last quarter, but maybe doing that assessment will set me up to do better in this last quarter of the year.   

Ambition 1: Make Quilts. My goal here was to make progress on the projects that were on my quilt plan. 

My graph hasn't changed from the end of 2nd quarter. There's been progress on several projects, just not enough to hit the major milestones on my quilting plan. I'm really falling behind on finishing quilts. That's something I should definitely focus on the next few months.   

Ambition 2: Learn to quilt.  I can't say I've mastered walking foot quilting, but I've done enough to realize it's not as hard as I thought it would be.  

The quilting on all the Kate's Choice blocks was finished this quarter. I've started assembling the rows. There's a learning curve on that.  Have I met this goal. Not completely, but it has been one of my goals for several years, so it feels good to at least have made a start on accomplishing it.  

Ambition 3: Fabric Organization.  Not much progress on this ambition during third quarter.  With Grad Girl moving home, I did have to move all of the fabrics out of her closet and that gave me a chance to at least sort them into color groups before they went into the big bins that now take up a lot of space in my sewing room.  I need to order some shelving to better organize that closet so I can move the fabrics back. Maybe that will get done sometime before the end of they year?   

With three quarters of the year gone, I've made progress on all of my ambitions for 2025.  That may be as good as it gets for this year.  And I'm OK with that.  

September 2025 PHD Report

It's been a busy summer. August and September were especially busy.  August was so busy I didn't have time to put together a PHD report.  Thankfully things have slowed down enough for me to put together a September PHD report and link up with Ms. P Designs.  

No changes to the PHD report.  It's not all bad, at least there aren't any new starts. That will change in October. I will be starting two new projects. Those were planned for at the beginning of the year, so no surprise there. 

Even though the PHD report shows no changes, there was some decent progress on some of my works in progress. 

There's been some good progress on Kate's Choice the last couple of months.  

Back in July, all but one row of blocks was quilted. Since then I completed quilting all the blocks and moved on to assembling the first row back in August.  There wasn't any progress on this in September. I had to switch my priority to the 2025 Guild BOM blocks.  I hope to get back to this project before the end of the year.    

There was some good progress on my long running travel embroidery project.  

I hadn't worked on this project since last December.  It's over half finished now, with just one corner of blocks left to stitch.  I won't finish it this year.  Maybe next year?  

Progress on Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter) has been sporadic the last couple of months.  

 

 

I haven't put all the blocks up on the wall since December of last year.  A lot more is done than I expected. The upper half, minus one 3.5" blue block, is completed. A finish for next year? Maybe. I've still got lots of the cool colored blocks to make.   

The Old Town (Bonnie Hunter) blocks see a lot of progress during my late night/open sew time at the quilt shop. 

I was hoping to have this to the finished quilt top stage before the next mystery came out. Just 7 blocks left to make. I've started cutting the pieces for the pieced sashing strips.  I'm still doubtful it will be a finished quilt top, but it will be close.   

After my panic in September when I realized the guild meeting was the next day and I hadn't started the block for October.  I decided it would be wise to finish off all the 2025 Guild BOM blocks.  

The blocks for January through September are up on the design wall, minus some of the sawtooth stars as they wouldn't fit. This is not my final layout, I'll decide that once all the blocks are done. I have November's block finished and have started piecing December's.  I'm hoping to start assembly on this quilt in October. I also need to make a start on the blocks for 2026.  I'm definitely going to work ahead for next year's BOM.  

It's not really a quilt project, but I've been making donation blocks for the guild. 

So far I've turned in 20 blocks, but I only have pictures of one set. The donation blocks are the Bonnie Hunter leaders and enders project she suggested in July.  It's been a nice way to use up some scrap yardage that's just been sitting in the stash.  

Just as there's been no changes in my PHD tracker, the same holds for my project tracking graphic. 

I'm really hoping to move some projects closer to finished before the end of year. Getting backings made would be a good place to start.  Kate's Choice is the closest to being completed. Once I get to a comfortable place with the Guild BOM projects, I'll focus on getting that done. Maybe it will happen this year?  

To Do List for the Week of 9/30/2025

Is it really the last day in September?  That just doesn't seem possible.  It was a fast moving summer. If this year stays true to the past, the last three months will go equally fast. There's nothing I can do on that front, so best to look at how I did with last week's to do list.  

To Do List for 9/23/2025

1. 2025 BOM: Finish November and start December - progress

2. Magnificent Mystery: Start September clue - no progress

3. Old Town: Continue piecing blocks at late night sew ✔

4. Wild and Goose: Continue making green blocks ✔

5. Guild Donation blocks: Make as many as possible  ✔

Not a bad week, only one item with no progress. The 2025 Guild BOM is really my first priority and I'm spending a lot of time working on it. Those guild meetings are going to creep up on me if I don't pay attention.  

To Do List for 9/30/2025

1. 2025 BOM: Finish November and December blocks

The November Inverted Star block is finished, along with two of the sawtooth stars, so three of those left to stitch.  All the background pieces are cut for the December sawtooth stars. Most of the pieces for the Inverted Star are cut. I've started making the HSTs for December. So it should be doable to finish those up this week.  

2. Old Town (Bonnie Hunter); Continue piecing blocks at late night sew. 

My pile of finished blocks, blocks under construction and remaining parts.  I haven't cut the pieces for the pieced sashing.  I'm hoping to get to that today. My goal is to get this to a finished quilt top before this year's mystery comes out.  

3. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue working on green blocks

The current layout calls for 12 sets of 4 blocks. I'm just a little over half way there.  

4. 2026 Guild BOM: Press and cut fabrics for Jan block 

December will be here before I know it. The complete layout along with coloring diagram, yardage requirements and the first block have to be ready for the December guild meeting.  So I best get busy on that. I have the instructions written for January and February, but the plan is to work ahead as this year I will need to write a new set of instructions for each block of the month.  So I should also get busy on March instructions. 

That's my list for this week.  I'm hoping to make good progress on each item this week. Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 39 of 2025

It's been a pretty good week. The only wrinkle was a broken connector on the Outback that caused some scary lights to show up on the dashboard. Reading the manual, the potential issues were pretty scary and making a trip to Tulsa to the dealership didn't seem wise. Thankfully our normal in town mechanic recommended another shop that could handle electrical issues.  They got the parts and we are back in business. We aren't used to sharing one car, but the advantage is I ended up spending a lot of time at open sew at the quilt shop because why go home after lunch, only to turn around in 4 hours to pick him up from work.  That definitely helped on the stitching time front this week. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Sept = 18/27 days
• 15 minute days/2025 = 230/270 days
• Success rate = 85.19%

It's the first time in a while that I've managed to stitch every day of a week. Hopefully this is a trend that I can keep going till the end of the year. 

I've not done much on the fabric organization or scrap fronts. I have been pulling scraps from my bins and bags of scraps for the 2025 Guild BOM.  The fabrics are pulled for the December block, not to just get them cut and the block made

Grad Girl is settling into her new routine in Houston.  So is Queenie. 

She likes to nap in the afternoon sun coming through the patio doors.  My Guy and I think she looks like a mini Chewbacca in this photo with red tint to her fur and her face from that angle.  At any rate, this cutie is doing fine, though she's not a fan of her person's leaving to go to work each day and she's back to waiting for shared nap time on the couch during the weekend. 

How did your stitchy week go?  

  

1. Julie in GA 2. Frédérique 3. DonnaleeQ 4. Karen

5. Quilting Gail 6. Deb in Canada 7. Jennifer in Indy 8. Bonnie in Va

9. Andrée at Quilting & Learning 10. Marsha's Spot

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Week 146 Photo Challenge: The Beauty of Winter

It's been two months and a day since my last photo challenge post.  There's a lot of reasons for that.  Most of them are related to moving Grad Girl out of Texas in July and then back to Texas in September.  The biggest reason is that the challenge wasn't an easy one to photograph in the middle of summer. 

Our point of view for the photos we each ended up should be viewed through the lens of looking for winter in summer.  If you can judge our efforts in that light, you might not think the photos are so odd.  

I was the last to get my photo. My brain was blank, it wasn't until a week or so ago that my gray matter created any type of image. 

Kate: Staying Warm in Style

There's not much better on a cold winter morning or evening, then to be covered up with a quilt, drinking something hot, making plans for your next quilt. 

My Guy sent me three photos. One we decided not to use was the blower cleaning off the sidewalk after he finished mowing on one of our 90+ days.  If you keep that in mind, you can see why his photo works. 

My Guy: Real Snow

 

When you've just finished mowing the lawn in the middle of summer, winter and snow sound really, really nice.   

During July, Grad Girl was job hunting and interviewing.  August was finding an apartment and getting ready to move again.  Needless to say, she wasn't all that focused on photography. She did get to spend some time at the quilt shop sewing her first quilt.  

Grad Girl: Waiting for Christmas

Heading back to Texas to start a job, these Christmas fabrics reminded her that she'd have some time off to celebrate with the family in just a few months. 

Not the most memorable photos.  None of us are very happy with our efforts, but at least we made a good effort for what was a very difficult subject for summer.  

So what's up next? 

We can all work with this one.  Hopefully that means the week 147 post will happen next Saturday!  

Photo Play 2025: June Summary

I've been taking photographs, but just haven't had time to review them.  My last Photo Play post was written in June. We moved Grad Girl out of College Station in July, then she found a job in August and we started the process of moving her back to Texas. Now it's almost the end of September and I'm just now having time to really get back to my photography.  It's quite possible I won't have much to post for July and August. There is still time for me to get the camera out before September ends.  

My June photos are all from walks, either here in Oklahoma or in Texas.  The following photos were taken either with a Canon 70D DLSR or and I-Phone 12.  The photos shot in Texas with the DLSR were captured with a Tamron 18-400 mm telephoto. The Oklahoma DLSR photos are from a Sigma 105 mm macro lens.  

We found a very cool park in College Station with wonderful nature trails and wildflowers.  

Dandelion Seed Head

Dragon fly

Dewdrops and a Grasshopper

Wild Mushrooms

Dayflowers

Rock Rose

The rest of the photos were taken in Oklahoma during a walk around our neighborhood. 

Mushroom (Yes it was a very wet spring here)

Clover

Indian Blanket

Indian Blanket

It's hard to pick a favorite, but the back lit Rock Rose is probably it from this set of photos. I'm fond of the dragon fly photo too, those are hard to capture.  The last photo of the Indian Blanket is up there too, I like the pop of yellow and orange against that sea of green. 

I'm betting there aren't many photos from July and August.  Hopefully I'll have time to review those files sometime before the end of the month.  I'll need to get busy to salvage my photography efforts for September. My Guy and Grad Girl have photos for our last challenge card. Me? I've had plans, but need to actually set up the shots and take them!  

To Do List for the Week of 9/23/2025

Last week's to do list started off with big plans, but they weren't to be as is often the case, real life had other plans.  My mother is doing much better.  She switched doctors last month and the new one found and treated at least one of the causes of her back pain her previous doctor completely ignored.  She's just not healing as fast as she'd hoped and needed some help getting a few things off her to do list.  I still managed to make a lot of progress my list.  

To Do List for 9/16/2025

1.  2025 BOM: Finish September and October blocks  ✔

2.  Magnificent Mystery: Start September clue - progress

3.  Old Town: Continue piecing blocks ✔

4.  Kate's Choice: Continue assembling rows - no progress

5.  Wild and Goosey: Finish teal and start green/blue blocks ✔

Not a bad week considering I was on the road for 2 days. This week will be more of the same.  

To Do List for 9/23/2025

1.  2025 BOM: Finish November and start December blocks

 

I've also found the sashing and border fabric for this project. It's been washed, but hasn't been pressed yet.  Once I get the last 2 blocks done I'll start assembling the quilt. I can't add in those blocks till they are shown at the guild meeting, but getting as much done as possible before December will be really helpful.  

2.  Magnificent Mystery quilt (Meadow Mist Designs): Start September clue  

I purchased the background fabric for this project last month. I washed it last weekend and discovered that I'm short a yard.  So I'll have hit the quilt shop for another yard so I have enough to finish the quilt.  

3. Old Town (Bonnie Hunter): Continue piecing blocks at late night sew.

 

Twelve of the 25 blocks are finished.  Parts of other blocks are at the sewing machine waiting for assembly.  I'd like to get this to finished quilt top before this year's mystery starts up.  That may not happen.  We'll see.  

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

I need 12 sets of 4 blocks for the planned layout.  The green blocks are in the corners. The plan is to have the darkest greens in the corners, with the 2 light green blocks alongside.  I've cut some additional scraps. Fingers crossed I've got enough of the darker green to get those finished at least.  I just need 8 of those.  

5.  Guild Donation blocks (Bonnie Hunter):  Make as many as possible before the deadline. 

The guild picked Bonnie's 2025 leaders and enders block to build donation quilts with this year. I made 8 yesterday at our Guild work day, but forgot to take a picture of them. As of yesterday, we had enough for 1 quilt and about a third of another. I'm not sure when the deadline is for these, maybe next Guild meeting?  At any rate it's a good block for using up scraps, so I've been working through some of my scrap bins for the fabrics.  

That's my list for this week.  You check out all the other to do lists over at the Quilt Schmilt on the To Do Tuesday linky party. 

Setting Priorities

My Saturday sewing time started off with a review of what was on my plate for the rest of this year.  Particularly my responsibilities with the guild BOM.  Last Monday started with an email saying the meeting was on Tuesday and I hadn't started the BOM block for October yet.  That was first on my to do list when I got to the sewing room on Monday.  I finished the black Inverted Star block and a couple of the saw tooth star blocks just in time for the meeting. I finished the rest yesterday. 

I also finished off the red-violet sawtooth stars for September's BOM. 

These may look purple in the photo, but in actual light they are more red, than true purple.  

Looking at the calendar, My Guy and I have a week of vacation planned in the next month. I'm making a visit to Grad Girl in October. Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming up. Plus, I'm going to need to spend more time in Oklahoma City with my mother for the next few months. All of which will impact my sewing time, which means I need to get the 2025 BOM blocks finished off, so I can get away from this just in time stuff for the meetings. Plus I need to have a completely assembled quilt top with the 2025 blocks at the December meeting.  I'm also responsible for the 2026 Guild BOM.  Next year's project is a sampler, so that's a new block each month. I've got the instructions for the January and February blocks written, but neither of them have been started. So my sewing room card is pretty packed till the end of year. And that doesn't include the Meadow Mist Designs or Bonnie Hunter mysteries that I want to do as well.  

I'm hoping to get in some good sewing time the rest of this month.  Linking up with Patchwork & Quilts and Sew and Tell Monday.

Stitching Stuff: Week 38 of 2025

It's been another one of those weeks where things haven't gone exactly to plan.  I spent some much needed R&R time in my sewing room on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then I woke up Thursday morning with a text from my Mom saying she needed my help.  She really hates to ask me for help, so when she does, I know it's most likely something significant.  Thankfully, things lined out on Friday, so I was able to come home that night.  I still did pretty well on the stitching front even with the unexpected road trip.  

• 15 minute days/week = 5/7 days
• 15 minute days/Sept = 11/20 days
• 15 minute days/2025 = 223/263 days
• Success rate = 84.79%

So not the full week of stitching time I was hoping for, but better than I've been doing. I am hoping for a good week on the stitching front this week. I have chores to do, but I may make an exception and cull out a couple of days for nothing but stitching.  We'll see how that goes.  

What did you do with your stitching time this week?  

1. Frédérique 2. Gretchen 3. maggie f

4. DonnaleeQ 5. Karen 6. Quilting Gail

7. Bonnie in Va 8. Deb in Canada

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To Do List for the Week of 9/16/2025

Looking back at my blog, my last to do list was posted over a month ago. Life's been busy with getting Grad Girl set up in her new situation.  I'm going to need a new blog nick name for her since she's not a graduate student any more.  I'm sure we'll come up with something suitable that she can tolerate.  

Getting back to that last to do list. 

To Do List for 8/5/2025

1.  Guild BOM: Finish cutting pieces, start assembly ✔ 

2.  Kate's Choice: Start assembling rows ✔

3.  Old Town: Continue block assembly at late night sew ✔

4.  Wild and Goosey: Finish purple, start teal ✔

At least there are check marks by all the items on that last list.  I've been sewing here and there, but nothing very consistent for the last few weeks. Hopefully that will change this week.  Here's my list for this week. 

To Do List for 9/16/2025

1. Guild BOM:  Finish September and October blocks

The last sawtooth star block from September is almost finished. I started cutting out the pieces for the October block. The guild meeting is at 6:30 PM tonight. So you can guess what I'll be spending my time on today.  

2.  Magnificent Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Start September clue.

I still need to wash the background fabric. Hopefully I can get to that today.  

3. Old Town (Bonnie Hunter): Continue piecing blocks at late night sew. 

A pile of blocks in progress are pinned and sitting by the machine waiting for me to stitch.  

4. Kate's Choice: Continue Assembling rows

I have the next row all pinned, but I'll need to switch to the walking foot to continue row assembly. That probably won't happen till the weekend.  

5.  Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter):  Finish teal blocks, start green/blue blocks

I won't get as much done this month on these blocks as the month is already half over, but I should make some progress.  

That's my list for this week. I'm looking forward to some concentrated sewing time the next few days. I'll be stress sewing today trying to get the block ready for the meeting tonight.  Wish me luck!  Linking up with The Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.