Week 152 Photo Challenge: Flowers in Bloom

The photo challenge card for week 152 was perfect for this time of year.  Maybe not easy, but definitely doable.  

All three of us were able to get photos this week without having to fudge on the parameters.  

Kate: Redbud Blooms

The cold temps early in the week pretty much killed the blooms on the Bradford Pear trees, but the Redbuds were still blooming.  Maybe the freeze didn't affect them as much as many of the trees didn't have full blooms. You can see from my photo there are still lots of buds that haven't bloomed yet. 

My Guy took his photo before the late weekend freeze.  

My Guy: Pathfinder Plum

   

He caught these plum blooms at just the right time in the day.  It's hard not to love that soft lighting.  The hard freeze pretty much killed the plum flowers too, so he timed his photo just right.  

Being a working girl has made it harder for My Girl to get photos most weeks.  She did make it work this week. 

My Girl: This is Why I Can't Have Real Flowers

If you could see the very edges of this Lego bouquet, you'd see tiny little bite marks. Queenie, her cat, enjoys flowers. Mostly to eat, not to look at. My Girl learned pretty early on, no fresh flowers in the apartment.  So she makes do with the Lego variety.  

We all enjoyed this week's challenge card as it was one of the easy ones. Next week's photo card is going to be a challenge.  

We actually have a skate park here in town. I'm sure there is one somewhere close to My Girl.  The problem is taking photos of people, particularly children, that don't know you. It makes people very uncomfortable.  So not sure where we'll each go with this. This challenge make take a few weeks.    

To Do List for the Week of 3/17/2026

March started with three quilts that needed to be finished tops before the end of the month. Those three have been my priority since January and have been on my to do list every week. I made good progress on at least one of those last week.  

To Do List for 3/10/2026

1. Scenic Waypoint: Finish block and quilt assembly ✔

2. Kate's Choice: Finish binding ✔

3. SAHRR: Work on final border blocks and quilt assembly- progress

4. Magnificent Mystery: Work on block assembly ✔

5. Wild and Goosey: Continue working on blue blocks ✔

A finished quilt and a finished quilt top.  That's probably the best week I've had all year!  This week's too do list will be a lot shorter.  Hopefully that means I make good progress on the two remaining projects with deadlines. 

To Do List for 3/17/2026

1. SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Work on borders.  

All the blocks from this year's prompts have been sewn into a center panel.  The plan is to add some additional borders to get the size up a bit.  The quilt parade is a week from tomorrow, so I need to get moving on that.  

2.  Magnificent Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Work on block assembly

The quilt parade for this mystery is 2 weeks from tomorrow. This project won't be my priority this week, but I kept one block in the works at the machine while I was getting Scenic Waypoint put together. The plan is to do the same this week while assembling the SAHRR. It's slow going that way, but at least it keeps the project moving. 

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

I had to stop and cut black triangles last night so I could keep making the blue blocks as my leaders project.  I also need to cut some more lighter and medium blue scraps. What's left in my triangle bag is mostly darks at this point.  

Finishing up two projects really shortens the list. Hopefully next week's list will be even shorter.  I need to get back to the guild BOM blocks.  If I get another three BOM blocks done and the instructions written, I'm good till July!  

Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.

Stash Busting Progress

Winter came back yesterday.  Spring will show up for midweek and then we'll be in summer by the weekend.  My Guy and I joke that spring only lasts about 2 weeks here. This year, it's been a day here and there, with winter in between. I'm not looking forward to 90+ days, hopefully we'll get more spring after that. 

Oh well, the nasty weather (cold, hot, and stormy) have kept me in the sewing room.  Even so, I've slipped pretty badly on the time line for the quilts that have deadlines.  Scenic Waypoint was supposed become a finished quilt top by midnight Wednesday.  That didn't happen.  The last two borders got added yesterday. 

I'm pretty happy with how it came together.  Scenic Waypoint was the project I picked to sew along with the Meadow Mist Designs Stash Busting Quilt Along. The bright polka dot fabrics are from a Connecting Threads Quilter's Candy fat quarter bundle purchased between 2011 and 2012.  The black background is another Connecting Threads basic. It's probably not quite that old, but it's been the stash a while. Definitely time to move these oldies, but goodies out of the stash and into a quilt top.  

The other deadline sewing that got done was finishing up a donation block for the guild's veteran's quilt program.  

The pattern for the block was handed out at the February guild meeting, so I don't know the name. It's an 18" block. It won't take many to make a quilt or two. The striped fabric worked out really well, it adds a lot of motion to the block.  All the pieces for this block came from my scrap strip bins. Being able to pull pre cut strips made the cutting part go really fast.  I have strips pulled for a second block. We'll see if it gets made before this month's guild meeting. Not a lot of stash out with this one, but I at least used my scrap bins!    

Linking up with the Meadow Mist Designs Stash Busing Quilt Along Parade. Also linking up with the normal Monday linky parties: Patchwork & Quilts and Sew & Tell Monday.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 11 of 2026

It was one of those winter/spring weeks.  Winter a day, then spring a day, then repeat. My sinuses aren't happy with the wild shifts.  The forecast says we'll have another week of that in our future.  It's definitely made hanging out in the sewing room more attractive. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Mar = 14/14 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 73/73 days
• Success rate = 100%

So not surprising it was a good week on the time front, not so great on getting things done.  It's not from lack of trying, but I bit off more than I could reasonably do this week.  I still have the better part of two days to make some head way on my to do list.  

How are you doing with your stitching stuff this week?  

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

5. Karen 6. Andrée at Quilting & Learning 7. Quilting Gail 8. Shelina at Quilt and Color

9. Bonnie Stapleton 10. Frédérique 11. Marsha's Spot

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Week 151 Photo Challenge: Water Splashes

It's been over 2 months since my last photo challenge post.  The new deck of photo prompts we are using are a lot more challenging then the previous two decks.  On the one hand, it's fun to have the challenge. On the other, some of them require specific conditions and very special set ups to capture.  That just takes more time and effort. Even My Guy struggled to get good shots for the last challenge card. 

I really tried the experimental approach and just didn't get anything photo worthy at all.  So as we often do in these challenges, I went with a different interpretation.  

Kate: Splash Initiator

Capturing the splash was very elusive, but after our big snow storm back in January, I did capture a drop just starting to separate from one of the ice cycles on the tree outside the office window. A splash starts with a water drop, so I just photographed a different part of the sequence.   

My Guy's photo is from about the same time period.  

My Guy: Snow Melt Splashes

This was taken in one of the local creeks just after the snow fall back in January.  Definitely a nice splash, but not one created from an experiment.

I kept hoping to get a better shot. I did try to capture some splashes during our last big rain storm, but those didn't really work out either. Grad Girl just didn't have the time to play with splashes. Since she's not working in a lab these days, but is still working a full time job with a commute in Houston traffic, subjects and time for photography have been a bit narrow for her.  So she really struggled with the last two challenges.  When I sent her the next challenge card, she was happy to see something she could do.  

  

With the spring flowers just starting to bloom, we should all be able to get photos sooner, rather than later.  

To Do List for the Week of 3/10/2026

There's a lot going on in my sewing room this week (and next week and the week after). All the quilt alongs have ended and I need to have finished quilt tops for the quilt parades.  So my priority will change for this week's list. Before I get to that, here's how last week's list went.  

To Do List for 3/3/2026

1. Kate's Choice: Finish borders ✔

2. Scenic Waypoint: Finish block and start quilt assembly - progress

3. Magnificent Mystery: Finish block, start quilt assembly - progress

4. SAHRR: Work on final border, quilt assembly - no progress

5. Wild and Goosey: Work on blue blocks ✔

6. Guild Challenge block: Make at least one block ✔

I had hoped to make lots of progress yesterday, but the massive sinus headache made that impossible. There was time spent in the sewing room, just not the hours I had hoped for.  But at this point, progress is progress.  Here's this week's list.

  

To Do List for 3/10/2026

1. Scenic Waypoint (Meadow Mist Designs):  Finish block and quilt assembly. 

The blocks for the first 4 rows are all sewn together. That leaves row 5 blocks to assemble and then start the sashing the blocks to sew into a top.  Probably not going to be a finished quilt top in time to post for the quilt parade for the 2026 Stash Busting Quilt Along.  

2. Kate's Choice: Finish binding

One side done, one corner rounded.  Just 3 more left.  

3.  SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Work on final border blocks and quilt assembly. 

The first row of blocks is sewn together.  That's as far as I've gotten.  It will my first priority once Scenic Waypoint is a finished quilt top.  

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

Half the blocks are assembled.  So still a ways to go on this project. But the deadline for the linky party is still three weeks away.  I might just get this one done in time.  

5. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue working on blue blocks

Four blocks have been finished since the beginning of the month. I'm hoping to make good progress on these. It would be nice to be able to assemble the quilt before the end of the year.  For now, I just keep two blocks going as my leaders while I'm working on other projects. 

That's my list for this week.  It's pretty much the same list I've had since the beginning of the year.  But a couple of projects should fall off in the next week or two at the most.  Will I add something new? Probably not, the plan is to move all the current quilt along projects to finished quilt tops (except for Wild and Goosey), then see what UFOs I tackle next.  

Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.  

Closing in on Finishes

Most of the quilt alongs/mystery quilts I sew along with start in 1st or 4th quarter.  That only becomes an issue when it's time to produce a finished quilt top for the quilt parade at the end of the quilt along.  That happens for 3 projects over the next 3 weeks. The deadline for the Meadow Mist Designs 2026 Stash Busting Quilt Along is this Wednesday.    

The last 2 blocks in row 4 of Scenic Waypoint are lined up by the sewing machine ready for stitching. 

Still need to finish the 4 blocks for row 5.  The quilt is assembled with sashing and corner stones. So there is a long way to go to have a finished quilt top by Wednesday. Will I get there? We'll see. 

One reason I'm not farther along on Scenic Waypoint is that I spent 3 days last week working on finishing up the borders on Kate's Choice.  Once those were all on, it just made sense to get the binding made and attached.  I'm hand stitching on the back and made it past one corner. 

   

Finishing up the binding will have to wait a few days. Fingers crossed I can have a finished quilt by the end of the week. But any progress on Kate's Choice will have to wait till after Wednesday.    

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

Stitching Stuff: Week 10 of 2026

 

We've had glimpses of spring this week.  The higher temps have also come with higher chances of severe weather.  It just that time of year here.  But we really need the rain. We had extreme fire danger last month due to the dry conditions.  Fortunately, the recent storms haven't impacted my stitching time over the last week.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Mar = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 66/66 days
• Success rate = 100%

I've had a few afternoons when allergies just about got the better of me, but otherwise it hasn't been too hard to get in my stitching time each day.  We have some family stuff coming up later this month and in April, so it may be challenging to keep the 100%.  We'll see how it goes.  

How did you do with your stitching goals this week.  

1. Gretchen 2. Julie in GA 3. maggie fellow 4. Karen

5. Frédérique 6. Bonnie Stapleton 7. Shelina at Quilt and Color 8. Quilting Gail

9. Carol @ Quilt Schmilt 10. Marsha's Spot

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February 2026 PHD Report

February is such a short month.  January was 5 weeks, so a true 4 week month is a shock afterwards.  Now that the second month of 2026 is finished,  it's time to report on how I'm doing on my PHDs (projects half done) and link up with Ms P Designs' PHD in 2026.  My PHD report is unchanged from January.   

No finishes, but no new starts either. It was still a good month because there has definitely been progress on several projects.  

Kate's Choice is an almost finish. The second border is attached.  The top border is quilted, but I had to stop and figure out how to deal with the sashing for the top and bottom borders. That's figured out. Hopefully both borders get finished and added this week. Then all that's left is binding.  It would be nice to have a finish for March.  

Since the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for February was green, I took the month to sash all the green Wild and Goosey blocks (Bonnie Hunter).  Now that those are done, they go back into the project box with the yellow, orange and red sashed blocks. I may make some changes later, some have triangles that stand out a bit much. But I'll wait till I get all the blocks done and see how it looks when these are up on the wall with all the other blocks.  

The quilt assembly instructions came out for the Magnificent Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs) in February. I'm not quite half way done with constructing the blocks.  So not completely caught up, but not way behind either.  

The January, February and March blocks for the Guild BOM have been released. April will be shown at the guild meeting this month. I've started on the instructions for May, I should get back to the instruction writing and block construction this month. It would be nice to have May, June and July ready to go before April gets here.  

The SAHRR (Quilting Gail), is over for this year. I chose a large center block with much smaller sampler blocks as my approach to the challenge this year.  I've changed up the blocks in the sampler rows to better balance the color density in the blocks. There are still  some borders to add, but it's coming together pretty well  

 

When Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs kicked off her 2026 Stash Busting Quilt along in January, I couldn't resist starting Scenic Waypoint.  I'm about a week behind schedule. But for me, that's not too bad. The blocks are turning out nicely and it feels good to use up some older stash fabrics. 

There was an error in my project mapping graphic last month, I over stated how far along I was on Magnificent Mystery.  So that bar is shorter, but to compensate Kate's Choice became an assembled top, so that bar got a bit longer.  

I should finish up the three quilt tops that have been my priority since January this month.  So hopefully a few lines in the graph will be longer. I'm hoping that happens earlier in the month, so I can start working on that big block of quilts that need to be quilted before the end of the month.  We'll see how far I get on those.  

To Do List for the Week of 3/3/2026

Hard to believe we've already started on the third month of 2026. We'll be one quarter through the year by the end of the month.  Not to scare anyone, but wow, it's been going by fast.  February was a pretty good month, I didn't check all the items off my to do lists each week, but I got close.  The last week of the month was consistent with the previous 3.   

To Do List for 2/24/2026

1.  Kate's Choice: Work on borders ✔

2.  SAHRR: Start 6th prompt ✔

3.  Scenic Waypoint: Assemble blocks - progress

4.  Magnificent Mystery: Continue block assembly ✔

5.  Wild and Goosey: Continue sashing green blocks ✔

I didn't check off all of my to do list, but at least there was progress on every project.  My to do list hasn't changed much since the first of the year. It's going to be pretty much the same this week.  

To Do List for 3/3/2026

1. Kate's Choice: Finish borders

The fabric strips are cut for the sashing and the borders. The top border is quilted, but hasn't been cut to size yet (I started with the border pieces being a bit longer to account for any loss the quilting causes).  I'm hoping to finish quilting the bottom border and get both attached this week. I'm excited to get at least one quilt off my UFO list. 

2. Scenic Waypoint (Meadow Mist Designs): Finish block assembly, start quilt assembly

All the blocks for rows 1 and 2 are finished. A couple of blocks for row 3 are done. The deadline for the quilt parade for this quilt along is March 12th. I have a lot of stitching to do before then. Can I get this to finished quilt top by then?  

3.  Magnificent Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Finish block assembly, start quilt assembly

The deadline for the quilt parade for this mystery quilt along is March 11th. Not sure I can move both this one and the one for Scenic Waypoint to finished quilt tops by the due dates.  The more likely scenario is that I don't make either.    

4.  SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Work on final border, quilt assembly

With all the effort going into Scenic Waypoint and Magnificent Mystery it's good that I have a few weeks before the final quilt parade for the SAHRR.  What gets done, gets done this week on this project.  

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

The RSC color is red, but as I've finished all the red blocks for this project, I'm going to pick back up on the blue ones.  

6.  Guild Challenge Block: Make at least one block

The guild challenge block for this year is one for Heartland Quilt Network.  This group creates patriotic quilts for veterans. Several guild members sew with this group weekly.  I've pulled some scrap strips from my bins. We'll see how far I get with it this week.  

That's the list for this week. If I can make a lot of progress on it, several projects should hit significant milestones.  It probably won't happen this week, but surely by the end of the month my list will look a bit different. Fingers crossed on that front.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.   

2026 SAHRR: Quilter's Choice

The sixth and last prompt for the 2026 SAHRR comes from AnjaQuilts, "quilters choice".  Well that leaves it pretty wide open doesn't it?  I've had some of my block books out searching for blocks for next year's guild BOM (Yes I start early. It takes me a while to decide on a final design and pull the fabrics).  I wanted something that worked with the previous blocks and carried similar elements to the Snail's Trail block from week 3.  

 

Dutchman's Puzzle seemed to be the best option. (Texas Quilt Gal decided the same for her prompt 6. Great minds think alike).  I really wanted a block that used the very lightest fabric with the darkest.  I think it worked out pretty well.  

  I added to the design wall with all the other blocks.  

I'm pretty happy with how the sampler looks, but I'm going to need to change some blocks around to balance out the blocks with the light fabric with the two without it.  So I'll have to play a bit before sewing the rows together.  Thank you  to Gail and all her partners for another very fun SAHRR.  There are still some borders to add, the design for those is still work in progress.  I have a couple of weeks before the final link up to get that done.  

Linking up with AnjaQuilts, Sew and Tell Monday, as well as Patchwork & Quilts.   

Stitching Stuff: Week 9 of 2026

 

We hit the low 80s on Friday and Saturday, but it's supposed to cool off today with a chance of showers. We need the showers, but that's not looking too lightly right now.  Unfortunately the higher temps have meant more pollen so my allergies have been keeping me up at night.  Afternoon naps have been my theme all week, but that didn't keep me from the sewing room.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Feb = 28/28 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 59/59 days
• Success rate = 100%

Two months into 2026 and I've sewn every day so far.  It won't last, but it's nice to make the most of the first two months of a new year. Progress has been good, even though I've not finished anything yet.  

I don't post my fabric stats any more.  I love fabrics and discovered that managing my stash is just not something that works for me.  But I was doing so well this year at using more than I bought. Till yesterday. 

   

I went to the local shop for open sew yesterday.  Only to discover the lovely owner had decided she was overrun with batiks, so some needed to go. At $6 a yard, it was hard to say no.  There may be another quilt for My Guy here. We'll see. 

So how has your stitching week worked out?  

 

1. Frédérique 2. Gretchen 3. Melissa G 4. Julie in GA

5. maggie fellow 6. Karen 7. Andrée at Quilting & Learning 8. Bonnie Stapleton

9. Quilting Gail 10. Shelina at Quilt and Color 11. Marsha's Spot 12. Jennifer in Indy

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