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.