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

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

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

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

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.  

Where Am I and What Was I doing?

Physically, I'm finally back home after a week and half of moving and hanging out with Grad Girl.  I'm glad to be back home.  Though I'll miss Grad Girl and Queenie, but I'll see them again in late October. We weren't able to load the cars with all off Grad Girl's stuff that got moved home.  So I'll make another long weekend trip sometime next month to take her the stuff that didn't fit in the cars.

The only stitching that happened was on my long term embroidery project.    

The set of leaves in the corner and the words in the corners are what got stitched.  I'm more than half way done. Not sure how much more I'll finish this year.  It was nice to sit and stitch while watching Netflix and waiting for Grad Girl to get home from work.  This is the first time I've touched embroidery this year. I always forget how much I enjoy it.  

I checked my email once I got home. The Guild meeting is tomorrow night.  Which means I need to get the BOM block for October finished between now and then. I'm pretty sure that's not what I was working on before I left, but that's definitely what I'm working on when I get back to my sewing room!  

Linking up with Patchwork & Quilts for the first time in a few weeks.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 37 of 2025

It finally slowed down midweek.  Grad Girl is moved in and has started her new job.  My Guy left on Tuesday as he had to be back at work. I stayed in Texas the rest of the week to finish the unpacking and take care of a few errands while Grad Girl was at work.  I'm flying home today. On the one hand I'm sorry to be leaving Grad Girl, it's been fun to hang out post all the moving stress, but I am ready to be home and spend some significant time in my sewing room. 

There's been time to do some hand stitching while Grad Girl's been at work. 

• 15 minute days/week = 5/7 days
• 15 minute days/Aug = 6/12 days
• 15 minute days/2025 = 218/225 days
• Success rate = 85.49%

I've done quite a bit of embroidery since Wednesday.  It's been nice to just sit and stitch in the afternoons while I wait for her to come home from work.  I'm hoping to spend a good bit of time in my sewing room this week. I've definitely missed it.  

How has your stitching week gone?  

 

1. Gretchen 2. Andrée 3. Julie in GA 4. maggie f

5. Melissa G 6. DonnaleeQ 7. Karen 8. Quilting Gail

9. Bonnie in Va 10. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting 11. Frédérique 12. Deb in Canada

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

Stitching Stuff: Week 36 of 2025

With all the stuff going on this week, I completely spaced that this was Sunday.  Consequently the post is going up really, really late this week.  This was moving week for Grad Girl. We didn't find out for sure she had an apartment till Tuesday this week. In fact she was already on her way to Texas to start her new job by the time they told her she for sure had an apartment. My Guy and I drove to Texas to move the stuff out of storage and drive it to Houston.  Thankfully, I was able to find movers on short notice that could unload the truck. There's no way we could have managed the three flights of stairs to her apartment carrying the couch.  To top it all off My Guy came down with some respiratory thing the day we left. Of course after 9 hours in the car with him sneezing and coughing, I came down with it yesterday.  So it's been a crazy busy, stressful and in many ways miserable week.  My stitching numbers pretty much tell the same story. 

• 15 minute days/week = 2/7 days
• 15 minute days/Aug = 20/31 days
• 15 minute days/2025 = 213/249 days
• Success rate = 85.54%

So August has been my worst month so far this year. Now that we've got all the moving stuff done, I'm hoping to settle into some more regular stitching time for the rest of the year.  I'm hoping to catch up with email and blog reading this week.  A slower pace of life will be really welcome.  

How did you do this week with fitting in some stitching time? 

  

1. Donnaleeq 2. Bonnie in Va 3. Deb in Canada

4. Frédérique 5. Julie in GA 6. Gretchen

7. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting 8. Marsha's Spot

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

New Projects Coming

Though I've not spent a lot of time in the sewing room the last couple of weeks, there has been some planning going on here and there.  The Meadow Mist Designs Magnificent Mystery kicked off back in July with the fabric requirements. I don't usually start cutting the fabrics till the first set of block instructions come out, which happen Thursday this week. I've been pulling fabrics and putting them back, but I think this weekend I reached my final selection. 

I've wanted to make a brown and teal quilt for awhile. This project seemed like a good opportunity to try out that color combination.  Many of these fabrics have been in my stash for years. 

The other new project that's still in the planning stages is the Guild BOM for 2026.  I agreed to take that on again for next year.  I have the quilt designed in EQ. Next year's BOM will be a sampler quilt.  Since that will mean a new block each month, I wanted to get going on that this year and make the blocks while I was writing the instructions. My plan is to start with the first couple of blocks  this month.  Here's my fabric pull for that project.

 

All this fabric needs to be washed and pressed.  I'm hoping to get to that in the next couple of weeks.  

Most of my projects are still at the stage they were at the last time I blogged, so not much to share there.  But Grad Girl finished her first quilt top while she's been living at home. 

She did all the embroidery by hand last winter.  The embroidery and quilt pattern is Ingrid's Wildflowers from Missouri Star. I helped her change the quilt pattern to include corner stones.  This is only her second ever sewing machine project (her first one was a pincushion).  She did such a great job with it. Her plan is to finish it as a wall hanging for her bedroom.  She wants to try a three yard quilt next.  Probably won't start on that till I go visit her in October (at least that's the plan now).  

That's it for me this week. We will be moving Grad Girl this week, so I'll probably be scarce in blogland for a bit.  Linking up with Monday Design Wall and Patchwork & Quilts.