July PHD Report

July felt like a month of medical appointments.  Physical therapy twice a week and then several appointments to address the tooth pain that was keeping me up.  Even with all the disruptions, July was a pretty good month on the PHD front.  There is another finish to link up with Ms. P Designs for the July PHD report.  

This is my third finish for the year.  I had hoped to have more finishes by this point in the year.  Learning to quilt has been a slow process, but I'm getting better and a bit faster there.  Finding a long arm quilter took a bit of time, but now that I have that option, hopefully I'll make more time to get quilts ready to go out for quilting.  I would really like to make a dent in the projects hanging in the to be quilted closet.  

 

My July finish was the 2025 Guild BOM quilt, which as been renamed to "Ansley's Palette".  This quilt is a gift for one of My Girl's college buddies. This is my second quilt using the Inverted Star block and it was my first effort at being responsible for the guild's BOM program.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  

 

All the blocks are finished for Good Fortune (Bonnie Hunter) and quilt assembly has been started. This should be a finished quilt top by the end of August. 

Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter) has been progressing steadily all year.  All the blue blocks are now sashed and a few more teal blocks are finished.  The hope is all the blocks are done by the end of the year.  Hard to tell at this point if that's going to happen or not.  

Glowing Hearts (Sandra Walker) is the next project to be quilted with the walking foot on my sewing machine.  The backing, the batting and the top are now all prepped.  I've selected the threads to use, though I've not decided on the bobbin thread as yet.  I need to baste the layers together and decide how I'm going to quilt those hearts.  It would be nice to keep my a finish a month going into August. We'll see if that works out.  

There wasn't as much progress as I had hoped for the 2026 Guild BOM.  The block for August was finished and shown at the July meeting.  I did finish the November blocks, which are just 4 patches for one of the pieced borders. It was fast and easy to cut the strips for those. The plan was to finish the September and October blocks too.  But I didn't get that far. I did finally work out what pieces I need to cut from each fabric for those blocks. Hopefully I can get that done soon. The September block has to be ready before the next guild meeting, so it has to get done sooner rather than later.  

The final two borders were added to Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter) early in July. It's now a finished quilt top hanging in the to be quilted closet.  It's always nice to finish piecing last year's mystery before the next one comes out. 

July was a productive month. In addition to the finish, another project is prepped for quilting, another became a finished quilt top and a fourth project had all the blocks finished.  

My project progress sheet is starting to show more color, especially in the quilt blocks to finish category. I'm hoping to see more color in the quilts to finish block, probably not by the end of next month, but certainly in September.    

To Do List for the Week of 8/4/2026

We got a nice cool off for the weekend, but we are back to summer heat the rest of the week.  So the sewing room will continue to be my preferred afternoon hang out.  Last week was a good one on the sewing front,  finishing a quilt is always a nice accomplishment.  Even better, I didn't have to neglect the rest of my to do list to make that happen.  

To Do List for 7/28/2026

1.  2025 Guild BOM: Bind quilt ✔

2.  Glowing Hearts: Prep quilt and assemble quilt sandwich - progress

3.  2026 Guild BOM: Cut fabrics for remaining blocks ✔

4.  Good Fortune: Continue to assemble quilt ✔

5.  Wild and Goosey: Continue making teal blocks ✔

I didn't quit get the quilt sandwich made for Glowing Hearts, but I did well with all my other to do items. To be honest I spent a lot of my "quilting time" finishing up the binding for the 2025 Guild BOM. It was a very good use of that time.  This week will look pretty much the same but with the addition of an old UFO project to the list. 

To Do List for 08/04/2026

1.  Glowing Hearts (Sandra Walker): Finish sandwiching quilt, start quilting. 

I've picked all but the bobbin thread for the quilting part.  I need to review the sandwiching videos again before I start that process. It's been a couple of months and I haven't done it enough to have any muscle memory on that task.  

2.  2026 Guild BOM: Make September's block 

All the pieces are cut for the last two blocks.  I've already started assembly of the September block. Hopefully it will go quickly and I can get started on October's block before the end of the week.  

3. Good Fortune (Bonnie Hunter): Continue assembling quilt

Five of the seven rows are assembled, so more than half way to having that finished.  Next will come the borders, which always take longer than I think they should. 

4. Celtic Solstice (Bonnie Hunter): Work on chain blocks 

With Good Fortune moving closer to a finished quilt top, it's time to pull out the next UFO that needs the blocks finished.  Celtic Solstice is my last BH mystery that needs the blocks assembled. I pulled out the contents of the project box.  I still need to take a hard look at what pieces I need to cut.  We'll see how far I get on that this week. 

5.  Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue to work on teal blocks

Only 15 more of the 3.5" teal blocks are needed to finish out this color.  I doubt those all get made this month. It really depends on how much other sewing I get done.  

It's a pretty doable list as most of what is required is just progress.  I have no external appointments this week, so hopefully that means it will be a good week for progress. 

Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.  

Another Finish!

It was a good week on the stitching front. It's always fun to have a finish.  My goal was to finish the 2025 Guild BOM quilt before the end of July.  I put the last stitches in the binding at about 5:10 PM last Friday, the 31st.  Not up to the wire, but close.  

I'm really happy with how this quilt turned out.  This is the second time I've made an Inverted Star quilt.  Here's the original started in  2014, finished in 2019.

The newer version is more scrappy, a consistent white one white background was used for the original version. I made the second version as the guild BOM because it was an good way to ease into being responsible for that program.  Just two block patterns and quilt assembly instructions to write.  Each month was a different color. Having to write instructions for someone else really helps you to simplify the construction process. I added the narrow blue borders as a stop between the scrappy whites in the sawtooth stars and the speckled background fabric in the new version. It just didn't look right without them.   

The first version was for one of My Girl's writing class buddies from middle school. The new version is for one of her college buddies. Ansley's Palette is the name My Girl chose for this quilt.  

The friend enjoys painting water colors and My Girl thought the quilt looked enough like a painter's palette to select that as the name. She wrote a personal message for the label that's on the quilt. My Girl has always told her friends that have quilts from us to think of them as a big hug from her whenever they curl up in one.   

This is the first quilt in 16 years that I've sent out for quilting that wasn't quilted by Trudy.  She's a hard act to follow, but the new long armer did a wonderful job. 

I picked Stars and Loops for the quilting and that worked out beautifully.  The background for each star is different, but I used a "paint spatter" print for the background for setting the quilt together. Something different than my typical white on white. But it definitely works with the quilt name My Girl picked.  

The backing is a Connecting Threads sale fabric, Mum's Garden.

The copyright says 2018, so this has been sitting in the stash for a bit.  It was picked because I wanted something light to go on the back and this was what worked best of my stash options.

I used all of the blue fabric in the narrow borders, there was none left for the binding.  I tried a few other colors, but My Girl and I decided a scrappy binding would work best. 

It's hard to see all the colors, a bit of green shows there in the middle. I managed to incorporate all the colors but black, brown and yellow.

My Girl has one more quilt picked out for me to finish for another of her college buddies. That will be my next project to send out for quilting. I have a potential backing selected, just need to see if there is enough or if it needs to be supplemented.    

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

Stitching Stuff: Week 31 of 2026

 

It was a very calm week. Physical therapy is finished, but now starts the round of dental appointments to address a few years of not having a dentist.  But other than those appointments, not much has competed for stitching time.  So it was a good week on that front.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/July = 31/31 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 209/213 days
• Success rate = 98.12%

July is the first month in a bit that I've managed to stich every day.  I've missed 4 days total this year, not bad considering how much traveling happened and my not so fun year with the back, knee and tooth.  All the stitching time has made for a pretty productive year.  

How are you doing at getting to your stitching time with rest of all the stuff going in your life? 

1. Gretchen 2. Julie in GA 3. LeeAnna sewing every day

4. Karen 5. Andrée at Quilting & Learning 6. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting

7. Patricia in New Mexico 8. Bonnie in Va 9. Quilting Gail

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To Do List for the Week of 7/28/2026

We were home most of this week and with the triple digits outside staying in my sewing room seemed to be the best option.  I did get a lot done, it just doesn't feel that way.  

To Do List for 7/21/2026

1. 2025 Guild BOM: Make binding and label - progress

2. Glowing Hearts: Piece batting, prep backing ✔

3. 2026 Guild BOM: Cut fabrics for remaining blocks - progress

4. Good Fortune: Continue to assemble quilt ✔

5. Wild and Goosey: Continue making teal blocks ✔

Only three check marks, but there was progress on all 5 to dos from last week.  I'll take that.  The goal is progress, and that happened. It's pretty much the same list for this week.  

To Do List for 7/28/2026

1. 2025 Guild BOM: Bind quilt

The binding strips are all cut, they just need to be joined together.  The plan is to use my time at late night sew to get the binding sewn to the quilt.  I have a lot of hand stitching to do for this to get done this month.  

2. Glowing Hearts (Sandra Walker): Prep quilt top and assemble quilt sandwich. 

The quilt backing and the batting are laying on the My Girl's bed waiting for the top to be prepped.  I haven't completely figured out how I'm quilting this one.  Once the quilt sandwiching is done, I'll need to commit to something.  

3. 2026 Guild BOM: Cut fabrics for remaining blocks

I did get the fabrics cut for one of the blocks and actually got that one assembled.  That leaves the last two blocks.  I finally sat down and looked at what I needed for both, so I can optimize my strip cutting. I'm getting low on fabric and I don't want to run out.  

4. Good Fortune (Bonnie Hunter): Continue to assemble quilt. 

The third row is under construction, just 4 left to go. This project will take a back seat until I can finish up the 2025 Guild BOM.  There will be progress I'm sure, but it probably won't be a finished quilt top by the end of the week.  

5. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue making teal blocks

I need to cut some additional teal triangles because I'm running a bit low on that color.  I'm just a bit over halfway done with these blocks so I still need lots of scrappy triangles.  

If I can move each to do along a bit, it will have been a good week.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.

A Bit of This and That

We had a pretty quiet weekend. After all the running around last weekend, that was definitely on my agenda for the week.  We hit triple digits both days of the weekend, so hiding out in my sewing room was definitely my preferred retreat from the heat.  

In an effort to work down my UFO list, I finally found a local long arm quilter to try.  My Girl needs a few graduation quilts for school buddies, so I'm trying get those finished before everyone graduates this year or next.  Last year's guild BOM has been picked as one of those quilts to be gifted.  So I gave the new to me quilter a try. The quilting turned out beautifully.  Now it just needs to be bound. But before the binding it needs a label.  After a bit of back and forth with My Girl, this is what we came up with (minus the personal message). 

This friend enjoys painting as a hobby.  Since the quilt has all different colors in it, My Girl decided it was a good substitute palette.  So I went with it.  I'm hoping to have the quilt bound before the end of the month. Which means I need to do a lot of hand stitching this week.  

There was also good progress on assembling Good Fortune (Bonnie Hunter).

The the sashing has been pinned to that third row, I just need to stitch that long seam. So I'm close to another finished quilt top. My 5th finished top for the year.  Which will bring the total of tops hanging in the closet to be quilted to 15.  The long arm quilter did a good job with the 2025 Guild BOM at a reasonable price, so I'll definitely be using her again.  I already have the next quilt top and a potential backing selected for the next quilt to be sent out. Hopefully I can finish 4 more quilts this year between the new long armer and my at home quilting efforts.  That would take the UFO list lower than it's been in a long time.  

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

Stitching Stuff: Week 30 of 2026

 

We were all looking forward to a laid back weekend after being at a family wedding last weekend. It's fun to see family, but driving in Dallas traffic and navigating all the road construction was definitely not the fun part of the trip.  I came back from the weekend not feeling my best.  I didn't get much done in the sewing room till about midweek, but it got better from there.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/July = 25/25 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 202/206 days
• Success rate = 98.06%

With all the sewing this month, I'm back over 98%.  I'll definitely take that. It's been a bad couple of months on the health front, but hopefully I'm on the tail end of those issues and will have lots of time to stitch over the next few months. I'll definitely be in the sewing room this week, the temps are going to be triple digits for several days.  

Are you playing in the sewing room to avoid the summer heat? 

1. maggief 2. Melissa G 3. LeeAnna sewing every day 4. Karen

5. Bonnie in Va 6. Patricia in New Mexico 7. Andrée at Quilting & Learning 8. Carol @ Quilt Schmilt

9. Frédérique 10. Linda at Texas Quilt Gal 11. Marsha's Spot

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To Do List for the Week of 7/21/2026

We were in Dallas for the weekend, so I didn't get much sewing done. I worked a lot on the instructions for this year's Guild BOM, so that was my "stitching" activity for the weekend. That wasn't on last week's list, but it needs to get done.  There was some good progress on last week's to do list before we left.  

To Do List for 7/14/2026

1.  Glowing Hearts: Piece batting, start quilting - progress

2.  Guild BOM: Assemble August block ✔

3.  Good Fortune: Continue to work on blocks ✔

4.  Wild and Goosey: Continue working on teal blocks ✔

Three check marks and a progress is a good for a week with no weekend sewing room time.  I'm not sure how well this week is going to go.  The upstairs air conditioner quit cooling last night.  My sewing room is upstairs.  Temps are supposed to in the low 90s the next few days, but that's still a bit warm to be sewing in. I can sew at the local quilt shop or set up an alternate location downstairs. It depends on when we can get it repaired. With 100 plus temps the last week, it's not the easiest time to get someone out to look at an air conditioner.  Here's my list for this week, it probably won't all get done, but why not dream big. 

To Do List for 7/21/2026

1.  2025 Guild BOM: Make binding & label

  

I picked the quilt up from the shop yesterday. It needs to be trimmed, plus the label and the binding need to be made.  This quilt is a gift for one of My Girl's college buddies, so I sought her input for the binding.  Since this is a rainbow quilt, we decided on a rainbow binding. I tried to stick with dark to medium fabrics, hence the absence of yellow. I'm pretty sure the binding will get made, but since I won't have access to my big cutting table for an unknown amount of time, I'm not sure when this quilt will get squared up so I can sew on the binding.  

2. Glowing Hearts (Sandra Walker): Piece batting, prep backing

I have two large pieces of batting left over from the piece I used for Chilhowie.  If I sew those together, I'll have enough for Glowing Hearts.  I'll probably get the batting assembled. If I'm out of the sewing room till next week, prepping the quilt back won't happen.  

3. Guild BOM: Cut fabrics for the remaining blocks

August's block was shown at the guild meeting last night, so I can share that.  The plan is to start working on the remaining blocks.  If I can get all the block parts cut while I have each fabric out, it's much more efficient.  It would be nice to finish August with all the blocks finished so I could start quilt assembly.  November will be here before we know it!  

4. Good Fortune (Bonnie Hunter): Continue to assemble quilt top

The first row of blocks have been sashed, but they aren't back up on the design wall yet.  Fingers crossed this will be a finished quilt top by the end of the month.  

5. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue making teal blocks

I haven't counted how many more teal blocks I need. A little over half the blocks were made as of last week and only a couple more were finished during the week. So still need quite a few more before all the teal blocks are finished.  

It's an ambitious list. It would be even if I was sure of access to my sewing room. I'll be happy if even a little progress happens for each project. Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday when it's posted. 

Just Following the Strategy - Mostly

We had a busy, but fun weekend.  My Guy's niece got married in Dallas.  It was a beautiful wedding. And of course we got to see family, some we've not seen in more than 10 years.  My Girl was able to drive up from Houston. So we got to hang out with her and the cat for a couple of days.  

It was a good thing I got lots of sewing time during the week. There was enough time to finish all the blocks for Good Fortune (Bonnie Hunter).  

Good Fortune was the 2018 BH mystery quilt along.  The blue and green were from her color palette, but the red was switched for purple and the orange for black.  I'm pretty happy with how it came together.  The instructions just sewed the blocks together, I've decided to add some narrow sashing and corner stones to keep the chain moving across the quilt.  I'll start up on that today now that I can get back to the sewing room. 

Linking up with my normal Monday linky parties, Patchwork & Quilts plus Sew & Tell Monday.   

Stitching Stuff: Week 29 of 2026

 

Other than PT appointments, I think this last week has been the first one in a bit without a doctors appointment.  That won't last, I have a orthopedic appointment this next week and a dentist appointment the following. Thankfully both are in town, so no drive to Tulsa required.  I had a couple of really good afternoons of stitching time, so it wasn't hard to get my time in this week.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/July = 18/18 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 195/199
• Success rate = 97.99%

I'm almost back to 98% success with this week's effort. I'm hoping that July is a sewing every day month.  I've not had one of those since March.  

How did you do at working in some good sewing room time last week?  

1. Frédérique 2. Julie in GA 3. maggie

4. LeeAnna sewing every day 5. Andrée at Quilting & Learning 6. Karen

7. Jennifer in Indy 8. Bonnie in Va

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To Do List for the Week of 7/14/2026

It's been a laid back week.  Summer tends to produce a lot of those, it's too hot to do much outside, so why leave the house.  I didn't complete everything on my to do list, but there was progress on every item.  

To Do List for 7/7/2026

1.  Glowing Heart: Make backing, piece batting - progress

2.  Lupine and Laughter: Add last border ✔ 

3.  2026 Guild BOM: Cut pieces for last 4 blocks - progress

4.  Good Fortune: Continue making main blocks ✔

5.  Wild and Goosey: Finishing sashing blues, work on teals ✔

Three check marks and two with progress is a good week in my book.  Hopefully I can keep up the momentum this week.  

To Do List for 7/14/2026

1.  Glowing Hearts (Sandra Walker): Piece batting, start quilting 

The backing is pieced.  Glowing Hearts was made from a half yard bundle that I won as part of a blog quilt along or give away. There wasn't much left of the bundle, but there was enough with the addition of some of the background fabric to make the backing.  The green strips at the top and bottom were part of the bundle, but I didn't use that fabric in the hearts. Now to piece the batting and prep the top and back for quilting.  That always takes longer then I think it should.   

2. Guild BOM: Assemble August Block

The block needs to be ready for the July meeting, which is a week from today.  So I really need to get busy with the assembly.  If I can get parts of the remaining 3 blocks cut, that would be helpful.  But if I don't get that far, it won't be the end of the world.  

3. Good Fortune (Bonnie Hunter): Continue to work on blocks 

There are a lot of pieces to the main block in this project. Nothing new for a BH mystery quilt, but it does make for some slow going.  There has been progress, but I may be rethinking my approach.  

4.  Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): 

All the blue blocks are sashed and I've started working on the teal blocks again.  I have just a little over half of the teal and purple blocks needed for this project.  So I'll probably stick with teal until get all that color done and then go back to finish up purple.

A shorter list for this week.  What's left on my UFO list at this point all requires either quilting or block assembly.  Both of those stages tend to be the slowest of the process, so keeping the list short is probably wise.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.

A Finished Quilt Top

It was a nice weekend.  My Guy and I celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary on Saturday by going out for a fancy dinner followed by custard at our favorite spot for dessert. We are long past getting gifts for each other.  Neither of us need anything, we'd much rather go do something fun together.  

With us going out on Saturday, I didn't get much sewing time that day, but I'd already made up for that by sewing a lot earlier in the week.  The final border was added to Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter) on Tuesday.  

Another finished quilt top added to the growing collection in the closet.  But at least I finished the piecing well before this year's mystery comes out.  Very often I'm finishing up the last mystery while starting the new one. I'm happy with how it came out. The dark purple adds some spark to the pink and blue. Not sure yet where this one will go. It may well go to one of My Girl's grad school friends.  We'll see.   

Linking up with Patchwork & Quilts along with Sew & Tell Monday. 

Stitching Stuff: Week 28 of 2026

 

It was a fairly quiet week for a change.  I had an endodontist appointment on Monday to check if my tooth problem needed a root canal. Nope, I just have a really bad sinus infection. After round three of antibiotics, I'm hoping that issue is resolved. Other than my PT appointments, I was free to make progress in the sewing room.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/July = 11/11 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 188/192
• Success rate = 97.92%

I managed to sew every day this week. First time I've managed that since early June.  My goal for the year was to stitch at least 80% of the time. I'm on track to beat that for sure. 

How are things going in your sewing room?  

1. Gretchen 2. maggie fellow 3. Julie in GA

4. LeeAnna 5. Karen 6. Quilting Gail

7. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting 8. Bonnie in Va 9. Andrée at Quilting & Learning

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2026 Quilt Making Strategies: Third Quarter Plan

Hard to believe over half of 2026 is already past. The end of the year will come up quickly. So far I've stuck to the main strategy that was posted in January, but the priorities of some of the projects has changed.  That's not so bad.  The plan for second and third quarters was to focus on moving UFOs to finished, or at least closer to finished.  I'm going to stick with that strategy.

1. Guild BOM 2026

The 2026 Guild BOM has to be finished by the November guild meeting.  The first draft of the block instructions for the last 4 blocks are written.  The plan is to get all the blocks made this quarter and start quilt assembly.  I won't be able to complete assembly until October after the last block is shown, but doing all I can this quarter will help keep what needs to get assembled at the end to a minimum. 

2. Wild and Goosey. Continue to use two blocks as my leaders and enders. The goal is to have all the blocks done by the end of the year.  

3. UFOs to be moved to finished quilt tops.    

Lupine and Laughter just needs borders, so that should be a quick finish.  Good fortune still needs 7 of the star blocks constructed before assembly can start.  I do expect that project to make it to finished quilt top before the end of the quarter.  There may be some progress on Celtic Solstice by the end of the quarter.  I'm not sure the blue and yellow scrap quilt will see any progress at all.  It would be great if I get that far.  

4. Walking foot quilting.  

I've learned that it takes me a quarter to quilt one project.  So the goal for third quarter is to finish quilting Glowing Hearts. If I can make a start on Betty, that would be a really successful quarter. 

5. External Quilting

I've changed up the priority of my external quilts.  Squared Away is a gift for one of My Girl's college buddies, so it gets moved up to next in line.  My Girl has asked for 3 more quilts as graduation gifts for her grad school buddies. I suspect one of the girls will like Magnificent Mystery, so I'm going to bump that one up too.  

If I can end the quarter with 2 more finished quilts and 2 more projects moved to finished quilt tops, it will have been a really good quarter.  

Second Quarter Review 2026: Strategic Progress?

Back in January, I drafted a strategic plan (?) for 2026.  Strategic Plan is probably a gross overstatement of what I actually put together, but it was at least a potential road map for my quilting decisions.  Now that we are in 3rd quarter, I should probably take a look at where I'm at and decide on any adjustments.  

2nd Quarter Strategy

1. Guild BOM: Finish May through October blocks.  Finish Flying geese. 

The May, June and July blocks are all finished.  The flying geese for the alternate border are also all finished.  The instructions are written for the August and September blocks.  I needed to verify the cutting dimensions for some of the pieces for the October block and that got done last week.  So I didn't get everything done, but I'm also not too far off track.  If I put focus on this project in July, I should be back on track before we got too far into third quarter. 

2. Wild and Goosey: Continue as leaders and enders project

All the blue 3.5" blocks were finished last quarter and most of the blocks were sashed.  The hope is this project will be ready for assembly before the end of the year. 

3. Move UFOs to finished quilt tops. 

Three of the 5 UFOs became finished quilt tops: 2026 SAHRR, Magnificent Mystery and Old Town.  Lupine and Laughter only needs two more borders added to be a completed quilt top.  The remaining pieces needed to assemble the blocks for Good Fortune have been cut.  The chain blocks are all finished, but still working on the star blocks.  I didn't get it all done, but at least every project on the plan is farther along. 

4. Walking foot quilting

The plan was to finish off two quilts, but only Chilhowie was finished up. Glowing Hearts has been pulled out of the closet, the batting laid out to relax and I've been contemplating quilting motifs.  So even though it didn't get done, at least there was a bit of progress on it.  Based on how the walking foot quilting has been going, one quilt a quarter seems to be my speed, at least for now.  

5. External quilting

A backing was pieced for the 2025 Inverted Star BOM. Both the backing and the quilt top were prepped for quilting.  I delivered the project to the long armer the first week in July.  So at least that one will be a finished quilt in third quarter. I didn't even touch Chocolate Marshmallow.  It's probably going to go to the bottom of the list as My Girl has picked a few quilts that will be going to college and graduate school friends.  So those will higher priority the last half of the year.  

Second quarter wasn't a total success, but I have learned a lot. I'm doing well at moving projects to finished quilt tops. That will help a lot in clearing out my UFO list. But I'm not doing so hot on either the walking foot quilting or getting quilts ready for external quilting.  It seems one quilt top for each a quarter is about my speed on that part of the UFO process. I'll have to consider if that modifies my strategy for third quarter or not.  At any rate, there's been reasonable progress on all of my "strategies".  Not a bad first half of the year.   

To Do List for the Week of 7/7/2026

My last to do list was almost a month ago.  With all the travel to and from Texas along with plans with My Girl, it was hard to assess what I was going to be able to work on. I didn't do so hot on addressing my last to do list, so I just used that one for a couple of weeks.  Even with three weeks, I didn't get to every item. 

To Do List for 6/16/2026

1. 2025 Guild BOM: Finish prepping quilt for quilting ✔

2. Lupine and Laughter: Continue assembling quilt ✔

3. Good Fortune: Continue making main blocks - no progress

4. Celtic Solstice: Cut fabrics to finish blocks - no progress

5. 2026 Guild BOM: Finish block instructions, cut pieces - progress

6. Wild and Goosey: Continue sashing blue blocks ✔

Three check marks and one item with some progress isn't bad considering I was on vacation for 10 days.  My list didn't include working on my butterfly travel embroidery project.  There was lots of progress on that.  That last list was probably a bit ambitious, so I'm going to scale it down just a bit this week.  

To Do List for 7/7/2026

1. Glowing Heart (Sandra Walker): Make backing, piece batting

Glowing Hearts was the quilt along offered by Sandra of MMM Quilts in 2025. This is the next project to be quilted on my home machine.  I have some thoughts about what to do for the back, but I need to see what if what's left over is enough.  I have a piece of batting that is definitely long enough, but is just a bit shy of being wide enough. I can certainly reconfigure the piece to be the right size.  If that gets done this week, I'll count that as good progress. 

2.   Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter): Add last border

The strips are all cut and pinned for stitching.  This should go pretty quickly and be an easy to do to check off this week.  

3. 2026 Guild BOM: Cut pieces for last 4 blocks

The instructions are written for the last 4 blocks in the block of the month series.  I need to get August's block done pretty quickly, but I'm hoping to finish up the remaining blocks by the end of the month.  Then I can start on quilt assembly. It won't be long before I need to make some progress on the project for 2027.  

4. Good Fortune (Bonnie Hunter): Continue making main blocks

I've not touched this project in the last three weeks, so I'm hoping to get back to it this week and make some progress on finishing up the blocks.  

5. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Finish sashing blues, work on teals

Only 3 blue blocks left to sash and one purple 3.5" block from June left to finish before I can concentrate on making some progress on the teal blocks.  

That's a doable list for this week (famous last words right?).  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.