To Do List for the Week of 2/17/2026

Hard to believe that February is already more than half over.  I need to get busy on a few projects if I'm going to stay on track with my goals for the year.  My weekly to do list helps to keep me on track, most weeks anyway.  I didn't do too badly last week.  

To Do List for 2/10/2026

1. Kate's Choice: Assemble Quilt top and decide on borders ✔

2. SAHRR: Start the 4th prompt ✔

3. Scenic Waypoint: Finish hourglass/center units, start corner units ✔

4. Magnificent Mystery: Continue block assembly ✔

5. Wild and Goosey: Continue sashing green blocks ✔

Five for five. I'll gladly take that. Hopefully I can carry that momentum into this week's to do list. 

To Do List for 2/17/2026

1. Kate's Choice: Cut borders, layer and pin for quilting

All the blocks are quilted and assembled into a quilt top.  It looks unfinished, so I'm going to try to add a border. It should go together just like the blocks did. The plan for this week is to cut the front and back borders and the sashing strips. Then sandwich the border strips and quilt them. I'm hoping the process is more interesting than it is frustrating.  We'll see.  

2. SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Start 5th prompt

I survived curves and that wasn't at all assured.  Looking forward to seeing what comes next.  

3. Scenic Waypoint (Meadow Mist Designs): Finish corner units

The hourglass and center block units are all finished, finally! So all I have to work on this week is making all the corner units. I've gotten started, but don't actually have any units completed yet.  I'll have lots of sewing to do this week to keep up.

4. Magnificent Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Continue block assembly

I've only finished 4 blocks, but you can start to see the secondary patterns.  What looks black is actually a very deep brown.  So far so good, it's been fun to see this project come together. 

5. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue sashing green blocks

 

I've made some progress on getting the green Wild and Goosey blocks sashed.  Just a bit over one quarter of the blocks are finished. I'll need to get busy if I want to finish all the sashing of the green blocks this month.  

I'm hoping for another good week of solid progress. Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday. 

2026 SAHRR: Curves

I struggled with this week's SAHRR prompt. Wendy at Pieceful Thoughts set "curves" as our focus for this week. Even though I've sewn curved seams back when making clothes was my main sewing room activity, it's been ages. Searching through the blocks in Electric Quilt, I finally settled on a Dresden Plate block.  

I've made a Dresden Plate block before in one or two other quilt alongs. But I've never made one without a pattern.  After searching through my specialty rulers, I found two wedge rulers. Instructions for the 18 degree one were in my miscellaneous quilting stuff notebook, so that became my path forward. 

  

I'm reasonably happy with how it worked out. The instructions were pretty clear about how long to cut the blades, but they seem a little short, wish I'd cut them a bit longer.  Live and learn, I'll know better next time I make a Dresden Plate. Adding the corners helped fill in all the empty space. It's far from perfect, but my projects never are, so it stays. It works well with the other blocks. 

I'm pretty happy with how this year's SAHRR is coming together. It still feels a bit weird to just be making one block for each prompt, but it has made this year's effort much less stressful. Just two more prompts and we'll be done with the challenge for this year. Looking forward to this week's prompt.  

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

Stitching Stuff: Week 7 of 2026

 

We've had a much quieter and less stressful week.  Thank you for all the moral support.  Uncertainty is never fun. I can't say our ducks are all in a row, but we at least know where they all are. My Guy has made some decisions about his path forward, it may just take him a bit to get there.  

It wasn't too hard to stay on track with my planned stitching time this week. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Feb = 14/14 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 45/45 days
• Success rate = 100% 

Another good week on the stitching time front.  Almost half way the second month of the year and I'm still at 100%. My goal is to keep my stitching time over 75%.  I'm on track there.  

How are you doing at keeping up with your crafty projects this month?  

1. Gretchen 2. Kathy S. 3. maggie fellow 4. Julie in GA 5. Melissa G

6. Frédérique 7. Karen 8. DonnaleeQ 9. Linda at Texas Quilt Gal 10. Andrée at Quilting & Learning

11. Bonnie Stapleton 12. Shelina at Quilt and Color 13. Quilting Gail 14. Deb in Canada 15. Marsha's Spot

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To Do List for the Week of 2/10/2026

I didn't make it to the computer yesterday, so my to do list didn't get posted. We've had a lot going on at our household.  My Guy was involuntarily retired last week as part of company cost cutting efforts. So my schedule is just a bit messed up as we've had to deal with getting a few things figured out and set up. Thankfully, I've still had time to get some sanity time in my sewing room and get a bit done on last week's to do list.   

To Do List for 02/03/2026

1. Kate's Choice: Assemble 6th row ✔

2. SAHRR: Make block for third prompt ✔

3. Scenic Waypoint: Finish hourglass blocks, start centers-progress

4. Magnificent Mystery: Start block assembly ✔

5. Wild and Goosey: Sash green blocks, work on blue ✔

It was actually a pretty good week on the progress front. The goal is to maintain that this week. 

To Do List for 02/10/2026

1.  Kate's Choice: Assemble quilt top and decide on borders

The last row is assembled.  Now to stitch that to the other bottom two rows and sew the two halves together.  I'll definitely get that far this week.  Next step is to decide if I want to try quilting borders and add those to the center. 

2.  SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Start the 4th prompt

The sampler has been a fun way to keep up with the SAHRR.  I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next.  

3. Scenic Waypoint (Meadow Mist Designs): Finish hourglass, center units and start corner units

I've made good progress on all the components part, but haven't finished a given step yet.  I'm getting close to finishing up the hour glass blocks.  This week's instructions for the Stash Busting Quilt along are to make all the corner blocks.  

4.  Magnificent Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Continue block assembly.  

One of the A blocks is assembled.  I'm happy with my fabric choices. I got started on a B block, but didn't get it finished.  I'm not setting a firm number of blocks to finish, I'll just keep plugging along on block construction and hope that assembly happens in early March.

5. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Sash green blocks

The green blocks have been my leaders and enders this week.  It's been slow going making them that way, but some progress is better than none.  

I'm making steady progress on multiple projects, so it's been a good year so far.  Hopefully that will continue.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday. 

2026 SAHRR: Animal Kingdom

Week 3's SAHRR prompt comes from Emily of The Darling Dogwood. I did a bit of Google searching, some Pinterest searching, before finally turning to Electric Quilt for this week's response to the Animal Kingdom prompt.  

The Bear Paw block was considered, but for an 8" block, Snail's Trail would be easier to make. 

I paper pieced the block as that just seemed the easiest option.  The lightest fabric may be too light, but as I'm using left overs, there's not a lot of options there.   It fits in really well with the blocks from the first two prompts.  

The light part doesn't look so stark when you add it as part of the quilt. If it still bugs me when all the blocks are done, I'll just remake that one.  Half way through the prompts now.  I'm ready for prompt 4. 

Linking up with The Darling Dogwood, Patchwork & Quilts, as well as, Sew and Tell Monday.   

Stitching Stuff: Week 6 of 2026

 

It's been quite a week at my house. My Guy was out in the boonies  monitoring the bald eagle nests in the area.  When he went to leave, the Jeep wouldn't start.  I was in the shower when he first called, so I didn't see any of it for about 10 minutes. My Guy was less then thrilled with my lack of response. He really was in the middle of no where, with a phone that was losing charge.  I could locate him on Life 360, but figuring out how to get to that back country road took numerous stops a couple of phone calls.  To top it off, the oil light came on in my car during my search and by the time I found him my car was making this horrible noise.  The next day we took both cars to the shop.  They couldn't find anything wrong with the Jeep, maybe left a door open?  The Subaru just needed a bit of oil and they found a thermal cover on the exhaust was busted. That's what was making so much noise.  Needless to say, I lost a bit of sewing time, but I managed my 15 minutes both days.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Feb = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 38/38 days
• Success rate = 100%

I've maintained the 100% success rate into February.  Can I keep it up for the whole month?  We'll see.  

How did your week go?  Hopefully smoother than mine did!

1. Gretchen 2. maggie f 3. Julie in GA 4. Melissa G 5. Karen

6. Frédérique 7. DonnaleeQ 8. Shelina 9. Linda at Texas Quilt Gal 10. Bonnie Stapleton

11. Quilting Gail 12. Carol @ Quilt Schmilt 13. Deb in Canada 14. Marsha's Spot

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January 2026 PHD Report

I'm playing along with Ms. P Designs' PHD in 2026 again this year.  It's my sixth year and I've yet to earn my PHD.  Maybe I can make it work this year?  We'll see. 

Only one month into the program and I've started 2 new projects already.  One was planned, the other unplanned.  I'm hoping to finish both quilts this year. Fingers crossed on that plan.  No finishes yet, but there has been good progress on moving several projects closer to that point.  

My big goal for January was to restart the quilt as you go for Kate's Choice.  I've made good progress this year. Half the quilt is sewn together and two rows of the other half are sewn. That leaves the last row to sew together before assembling the second half of the quilt.  Not a finish yet, but good progress this month.  

Work on Wild and Goosy (Bonnie Hunter) continues this year. All the green blocks needed for the final layout are finished. They still need to be sashed.  Since green is the color for February, I'll get back to those this month. I did finish a few blue blocks during the month. I need 16 sets of 4 blocks for the planned setting. I'm just over half way there with the blue.  

  

Magnificent Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs) kicked off back in August of last year. I finally caught up with all the clues this month.  I'm ready for the reveal later this week.  

The 2026 Piecemakers Guild BOM kicked off back in December.  I've actually completed all the blocks up to April, but I can only show what's been revealed to the guild. The guild got the February block at the last meeting.  Those participating showed their Carpenter Star blocks during the meeting, there are some stunning color combinations in the works. It will be fun to see this one come together.  

There's been some progress on Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter).  I got off to a really late start with last year's mystery. I've committed to making the first block.  I finished off all the hourglass units and have started assembling those blocks.  Once I finish those I'll decide what happens next.  

It wasn't in my 2026 quilt plans to play along with the 2026 SAHRR (Quilting Gail), but it's such a fun challenge it was hard to resist.  I'm going a bit off script in making a sampler quilt rather than a medallion quilt. Two of six blocks were finished by the end of January. 

The unplanned start is Scenic Waypoint, started as part of Meadow Mist Designs 2026 Stash Busting Quilt Along.  I did a lot of cutting, but it's been a bit slow getting the hourglass blocks assembled. At the end of January I was done with one color, almost done with a second. 

At least one project hit a major milestone this month. 

Magnificent Mystery went from block construction to ready for quilt assembly.  By the end of February, the plan is for Kate's Choice to be a finished quilt. Then I can start on the next quilt to be quilted.  I'm hoping that one goes faster.  

To Do List for the Week of 02/03/2026

Winter hasn't completely relented, but we at least got a bit of a warm up yesterday.  I'll take highs in the 50's after a week of highs just above freezing.  The cold weather has been really good at driving me into my sewing room. One certainly doesn't want to be out and about much in those temps.  More sewing time was definitely a good thing for making progress on last week's to do list. 

To Do List for 01/27/2026

1. Kate's Choice: Assemble 5th row ✔

2. SAHRR: Make block for second prompt ✔

3. Scenic Waypoint: Continue cutting fabrics, start hourglass blocks ✔

4. Wild and Goosey: Work on blue blocks ✔

It was certainly a short list, but it still feels good to check off all four items. This week's to do list is just a little longer. 

1. Kate's Choice: Assemble 6th row

This is the last row that needs assembly.  I'm considering if I can add borders. I think that's doable.  Determining if I can make that work as a quilt as you will be on next week's to do list.  

2. SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Make block for third prompt

The third prompt comes out on Wednesday. I'm sure my EQ program will get a work out once it's released, though the block probably won't get made till the weekend.  

3. Scenic Waypoint (Meadow Mist Designs): Finish hourglass blocks, start on centers

There are 10 sets of hourglass blocks to make, these purple ones are part of the third set. Still 7 sets to go. I need to start sewing faster!  

4. Magnificent Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Start quilt assembly

The reveal for this mystery quilt comes out this Thursday. I'm looking forward to seeing how all the components come together.  I won't finish assembly this week, but hope to have a finished quilt top by the end of the month.  

5.  Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Sash green blocks, work on blue

I put all the green blocks up on the design wall to distribute the scrappiness and decide which blocks went in each 4 patch.  The green centers were cut from what was in the 1.5" scrap bin. So these are ready to be sashed with black.  Once all the blocks are sashed, I'll go back to working on the blue blocks.  

If I can make progress on each project it will have been a good week.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday. 

2026 SAHRR: Playing with Doubles

This week's SAHRR prompt comes from Kathleen McMusing, "Make it a Double". My first approach was to go to Electric Quilt and type in "double" on the search line in the block library.  The Double X block looked interesting. 

I don't have a lot of lights in the left over fabrics I'm using for this quilt. I went with what seemed reasonable. 

My fabric choices didn't result in very distinct HST corners, but I'm OK with them being a bit muddy.  It's still a fun block and looks pretty good with what is already up on the design wall.  

My plan is to wait till I finish all the prompts before deciding where each block goes.  I wonder what the third prompt will be? 

Linking up with Kathleen McMusing, Patchwork & Quilts, and Sew and Tell Monday.   

Stitching Stuff: Week 5 of 2026

It's definitely been on the cold side this week. Which means those to the north of us are really in the deep freeze.  Thankfully we'll get a bit of a warm up early next week.  Still, my wool coat is definitely going to spend some time out of the closet this weekend.  

The cold weather this month has been very conductive to lots of sewing room time. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Jan = 31/31 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 31/31 days
• Success rate = 100%

The first month of the year ends with 100% success rate.  I'm not planning to maintain that 100%, but it's always fun to see how long it lasts.  

Have you been using your sewing room to escape the recent deep freeze?  

1. Frédérique 2. Gretchen 3. maggie fellow 4. DonnaleeQ 5. LeeAnna at notafraidofcolor 6. Karen

7. Shelina at Quilt and Color 8. Jennifer in Indy 9. Quilting Gail 10. Bonnie Stapleton 11. Deb in Canada 12. Carol Andrews

13. Melissa G 14. Andrée at Quilting & Learning 15. Marsha's Spot 16. Deb in Canada

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Photo Play: 2025 Summary, 2026 Ambitions

My blog is mostly about the quilty stuff that goes on in my sewing room. If you are here for that, I won't be offended if you skip this post. 

Since I've retired, my goal has been to do more photography and learn to do it better. I've been retired a little over 3 years at this point and I'm not sure there has been much improvement in the more or the better aspirations.  Looking at how I did on my 2025 goals says a lot. 

1. Take more pictures.  Nope that didn't happen.  I only had 79 photos I felt that were worthy of posting, versus 112 from last year.  

2. Take more walks, go more places:  The more walks didn't happen, nor did I go more places. But I do think I used my cell phone more this year to take photos while we were out and about.  

3. Continue to learn my camera functions: Major fail, no effort at all on this point.

4. Keep studying photography via books/videos: Another major fail, I didn't read any books on photography in 2025. 

Before writing up this year's ambitions, I reviewed the last 3 year's photos, with My Guy's help and picked one that stood out for each year. Maybe not the best technical photo of the year, but that the one that elicited a response from both of us.  

2023

Canon 70D w/Tamron 18-400 mm lens

2024

Canon 70D w/Tamron 18-400 mm lens

2025

Canon 70D w/Tamron 18-400 mm lens

None of these three are my typical subjects. The Tamron lens is probably my most versatile, so it's the one in use most of the time.  What else did my review show?  My shots from 2024 included a lot of, "what if I tried this". There was almost none of that last year. Photos of flowers and butterflies were more than 90% of my photos Those are my favorite subjects. They aren't bad subjects, but maybe not the most interesting. 

So what's the plan for 2026?  

1. Take a photo every week. Hopefully that will encourage me to look harder for interesting subjects. 

2. Study both photography techniques and my camera operation.  One photography book a month, a chapter on my reference books on the cameras.  

I'm going to leave it at just two for this year.  Hopefully both will get me taking more and better photos. 

To Do List for the Week of 01/27/2026

It's definitely winter here.  Our low has been -1 F for the last couple of days.  We won't warm up much, barely above freezing most days.  Definitely good days to just stay home and stitch.  I mostly did that last week, so my to do list got a lot of attention.

To Do List for 01/20/26

1. 2026 Guild BOM: Finish April block ✔

2. Kate's Choice: Assemble fourth row ✔

3. SAHRR: Make block for first prompt ✔

4. Scenic Waypoint: Cut fabrics - progress

5. Magnificent Mystery: Work on Dec/Jan clues ✔

6. Wild and Goosey: Work on blue blocks ✔

I didn't check off all everything on my to do list, still it was a good week on the progress front. I made enough progress on the Guild BOM and the Magnificent Mystery that they don't show up on this week's list.  

To Do List for 01/27/2026

1. Kate's Choice: Assemble 5th row

I finished up the fourth row last week, but I'm going assemble rows 5 and 6, then sew those together and then sew the top and bottom together. I figure that will be easier to do on my home sewing machine. We'll see. 

2. SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Make block for second prompt

It's weird to be caught up, usually I'm still working on the first prompt. I still feel like I'm cheating a bit, but I do like how my SAHRR is coming along. 

3. Scenic Waypoint (Meadow Mist Designs): Continue cutting fabrics, start assembly of hourglass units. 

Half of the fat quarters are cut.  All the background pieces for the next week are cut.  My plan is to finish cutting the fat quarters, then I'll go back and catch up on the background cutting. Doing it this way means I can start on this week's step while I finish cutting the background. Hopefully that strategy will keep me on schedule with the assembly instructions.  

4. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Work on blue blocks 

I've made a few blue blocks, but have a lot more to make.  Soscrappy hasn't posted the color for February yet, so unless it's teal or purple, I'll keep working on the blue blocks for another month.  

That's my list for this week. Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.

2026 SHARR: Hourglass Blocks

The week 1 prompt for the 2026 SAHRR (Quilting Gail) was set as hourglass blocks by Songbird Designs.  I'm doing a single block for each prompt. After playing around in Electric Quilt for a bit, here's what I came up with. 

Just a simple block with 4 hourglasses. The fabric placement makes the design.  I had to work slowly to make sure I could get fabric into the right spots when I assembled the four squares.  

I'm not sure yet where the block is going to fit with my center, so for now it's just up on the design wall in the first postion. 

I'm ready for prompt #2. Linking up at Songbird Designs for the SAHRR prompt one and my usual Monday linky parties: Patchwork & Quilts and Sew and Tell Monday. 

Stitching Stuff: Week 4 of 2026

It's been cold, but that polar vortex struck yesterday, now it's really, really cold.  Snow started falling Friday night around 10 PM. The first round of snow left about 3" to 4" of snow depending on where you are in the county. The second round kicked off Saturday afternoon and is supposed to run till midmorning. So we may see another 6" to 8" before it tapers off this afternoon.   It wasn't exactly warm going into this storm, so it wasn't too hard to find time to hang out in the sewing room this week.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Jan = 24/24 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 24/24 days
• Success rate = 100%

Keeping a success rate of 100% in January isn't usually too hard. But February is just around the corner, and that's a busier month for me. We'll see how long I can keep the streak going.   

How are you doing at fitting in some stitching time?  

 

1. Gretchen 2. Karen 3. Melissa G 4. Linda at Texas Quilt Gal

5. Julie in GA 6. DonnaleeQ 7. Andrée at Quilting & Learning 8. Quilting Gail

9. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting 10. Bonnie Stapleton 11. Shelina 12. Marsha's Spot

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Photo Play: November and December 2025

November was busy and December was too. I had a hard time getting into the holiday season last year, so just didn't get my camera out like I normally do.  Since there weren't very many photos, it seemed best to just combine the two months.

Compared to all the I Phone shots from October, all the November photos were shot with the Canon 70D with the Tamron 80-400 mm telephoto lens.  All the photos come from an early November walk along the local walking trail. We don't see peak fall colors here till early to mid November. The trees change just as the autumn winds pick up. Our fall colors don't last long. 

The days were still pretty warm in early November. A few butterflies, like this Common Buckeye were still out and about. 

The only interesting photo from December was the one I took with the I Phone 12 of our small Christmas Tree.

I didn't use a special filter (at least I don't think I did, the I Phone sometimes does it's own thing).  I like the colored streaks from some of the lights.  

That's the last of my best of photos from 2025.  I'll take a look back and see how what made the cut fits with the photography goals for 2025.  I know I didn't do as much as I had hoped, but there some nice shots from last year.  That's enough.  

To Do List for the Week of 01/20/2026

It's been bitterly cold this week. It's great sewing weather, but not so great for much of anything else.  It certainly kept me in the sewing room.  That made last week's to do list look a little short.  

To Do List for 1/13/2026

1. 2026 Guild BOM: Finish March, start April blocks ✔

2. Kate's Choice: Assemble third row ✔

3. Magnificent Mystery: Work on Nov/Dec/Jan clues ✔

4. Wild and Goosey: Finish green blocks, start on blue ✔

Definitely a productive week!  Can I do the same this week? Maybe, maybe not. Two quilt alongs really get going this week, so that's going to be challenging. Thankfully, after this week, one to do item should drop off for a couple of weeks.

To Do List for 1/20/2026

1. 2026 Guild BOM: Finish April block

Just a couple of seams to stitch and April will be a finished block. I've been working on the instructions for May.  The plan is to get the instructions for the next three blocks finished, then cut all three at the same time. That will probably happen sometime in February.  

2. Kate's Choice: Assemble fourth row

The third row is assembled, but hasn't been sewn to the the first two.  It's getting easier to assemble the rows, I've learned a few tricks to make the sewing go more smoothly.  Definitely have some thoughts on how to do this differently next time.  This project won't be done by the end of the month, but I'm making good progress and that's what counts for now.  

3. SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Make block for first prompt

The first prompt comes out on Wednesday.  I decided just to make a sampler with this year's prompts, rather than rounds. Sewing at a frantic pace can be fun, I just wasn't up for it this year.  Hopefully, I'll still be happy with the final quilt.  

4. Scenic Waypoint (Meadow Mist Designs): Cut fabrics

The throw sized quilt only needs 10 fat quarters and the fat quarter set I chose has 20.  These 10 made the cut. Now to start cutting.  

5. Magnificent Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Work on Dec/Jan clues 

The November clue was finished off last week and good progress has been made on the December and January clues.  I'm looking forward to seeing how all these components come together in the finished quilt.  

6. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Work on blue blocks

All the green blocks needed for this project are finished.  I still need to assemble these into 4 patches, but I'll wait till green comes up as the RSC color to do that.  I need lots of blue blocks yet, so I'll be working on these a lot this year.  

That's the list for this week. Definitely more ambitious than last week's list.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.