Stitching Stuff: Week 25 of 2026

 It's been a busy week, just not in the sewing room. Still I did pretty well at working in my 15 minutes most days. 

• 15 minute days/week = 6/7 days
• 15 minute days/June = 19/20 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 168/171 days
• Success rate = 98.25%

I'm hanging out with My Girl this week.  I was supposed to visit back in March, but My Guy's change in employment nixed those plans. Then my series of unfortunate physical maladies kept getting in the way. My Girl got Friday off for Juneteenth, so this seemed like a good time to come visit since we'd have a three day weekend. I drove down on Thursday. That's the day I missed my stitching time as I was pretty tired after being on the road for 10 hours.  We've been out and about the last two days. 

After a full day of shopping on Friday, we decided coffee and breakfast pastries with a side of good books made for a reasonable girl dinner (we had a big lunch).  After two days of being out and about, the plan for today is to stay in and do our own thing.  I brought the sewing machine, so that's my plan for today. 

How did it go in your sewing room this week. 

 

To Do List for the Week of 6/16/2026

Last week was a good one for progress, it's just that most of that progress was just on two projects.  But I did a bit on everything that was on my list.  

To Do List for 6/8/2026

1. 2025 Guild BOM: Prep quilt top for quilting - progress

2. Chilhowie: Continue quilting ✔

3. Lupine and Laughter: Continue assembling quilt ✔

4. Good Fortune: Continue making blocks ✔

5. Wild and Goosey: Continue sashing blue blocks ✔

Most of the week was spent on Chilhowie and the 2025 Guild BOM projects. Chilhowie is a finished quilt, I just haven't had a chance to get final glamor shots for it. That will happen today. A finish always makes one feel like they've been pretty productive. Hopefully I can carry that momentum into this week's to do list.

To Do List for 6/16/2026

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

    

Giving the quilt top a good pressing and removing the loose strings always takes time, but it's worth doing.  I took this photo so I wouldn't forget to get one of the prep work.  Since this was taken, I've moved on to the last row of blocks.  It's been pressed and seen a pass of the lint roller, I still need to deal with some loose threads.  I'm hoping to get this finished up and delivered to the long arm quilter tomorrow. Fingers crossed this will be finished in July.  

2. Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter) Continue assembling quilt. 

Just two rows left to assemble and then it will be time for borders. What looks like black is actually a very deep purple.  I'm pretty happy with how this one is coming together.  I'm hoping this is a finished quilt top by the end of the month.  

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

I finished all the chain blocks and got started on finishing up the main block.  There's a lot of HSTs and stitch and flip corners for this block so it's been slow going, but it is going.

4. Celtic Solstice (Bonnie Hunter): Cut fabrics needed to finish blocks

I found the project box and looked at the finished blocks, but didn't really look very closely at what pieces had already been cut. I don't like to just stand and cut, so I'll work that in with my sewing time. 

5. 2026 Guild BOM: Finish block instructions and cut pieces for blocks

I have block instructions written for August and September.  I've started on the instructions for the October block.  I need to play with some fabric scraps to be sure I've got the pieces sized right for the October block before I finish those instructions.  The block for July gets shown at the guild meeting tonight, so I need to get going on August pretty quickly.  

6. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue sashing blue blocks

This has been a slow process as I've been using this as my leaders and enders project. But there has been progress, I just didn't get a picture this week.  

A longer list then I've had recently, but most of it is prep stuff so I can keep moving along with some of the older projects.  If I don't get to all of it, that's OK.  It helps me to see where I'm going next.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday. 

Stitching Stuff: Week 24 of 2026

 

Nothing else "broke" this week. The shoulder is back to normal. I started PT for my back and knee, so I've been a bit sore the past couple of days, but a good soreness.  The only bummer is the medication I'm on for my knee is making my stomach very unhappy. I've got 2 more months of it before we decide if it's going away or not. Getting older can be so not fun.  

But the being retired part of being old is going well.  I made good use of my retirement time to get back into the sewing room while everything is mostly feeling good. I more than met my 15 minute/day goal for the week.

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/June = 13/13 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 162/164 days
• Success rate = 98.78% 

So it's been a good week on the productivity front.  Hopefully that continues this week. 

Queenie, My Girl's kitty, has decided her person shouldn't be leaving the house for work.  

Queenie has starting sitting on My Girl's shirt during the getting ready to go morning routine.  I'm not sure how My Girl got past that "I mean business" face, but I do know she made it to work Friday. 

How are things going in your sewing room this week?  

  

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

5. Melissa G 6. Karen 7. Patricia in New Mexico 8. Bonnie in Va

9. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting 10. Andrée at Quilting & Learning 11. Carol @ Quilt Schmilt

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Week 155 Photo Challenge: Bees/Butterflies in Wildflowers

Our weekly photo challenge has become a more monthly thing as the cards in the latest pack are a lot more challenging. Our last post was back in early May. So here we are in early June with our latest efforts.  Thankfully this time the card we pulled was well matched to the season. 

At least My Guy and I had access to lots of wildflowers. My Girl not so much. So she sat out this challenge.  The spring rains brought lots of wildflowers, but at the same time with all the rain, catching bees or butterflies on said flowers was more of a challenge.  

Kate: Bees and Black Eyed Susans

The Black Eyed Susan were really thick this year. There were lots of honey bees buzzing about, but not as many bumble bees as we typically see.   

My Guy ranged a little farther from the house and found a huge plot of Queen's Ann Lace with a few critters buzzing about. 

The butterfly is a Gray Hairstreak.  My Guy passed along that those little appendages on the wing move almost constantly, so predators tend to attack the back of the butterfly first.  

The next challenge card sticks to the insect world, but the challenge is not photograph the insect but their home. 

Cobwebs are in season it seams. I certainly vacuum up a number of them this time of year.   Hopefully all of us can find something for this challenge.  

To Do List for the Week of 6/8/2026

My weekend wasn't as productive as normal, but I certainly made up for it during the week.  I finished the to do list and a bit more.  

To Do List for 6/2/2026

1.  2025 Guild BOM:  Prep back for quilting ✔

2.  Chilhowie: Continue quilting ✔

3.  Lupine and Laughter: Continue working on main blocks ✔

4.  Wild and Goosey: Continue sashing blue blocks ✔

A good week on the progress front.  I'm hoping for the same with this week's to do list. 

To Do List for 6/9/2026

1.  2025 Guild BOM: Prep quilt top for quilting

The backing is pressed and de-threaded.  The quilt top isn't going to go quickly.  I suspect it will take me most of next weekend to get it prepped.  

2. Chilhowie (Bonnie Hunter): Continue quilting

The cross hatching is done.  After a consultation with my late night sewing buddies, I'm going to move on to quilting the borders this week.  I'm hoping to have a completed quilt soon. 

3. Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter): Continue assembling quilt

Having two late night sewing sessions really helped move the main blocks along for this quilt.  I'm going to cut the border strips so those are ready to sew.  This should be a finished quilt top before the end of the month.  

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

Working on this project wasn't in last week's list.  But after making such good progress on Lupine, I needed some block construction to work in between assembling the rows for the other project.  After yesterday's photo of the black and purple blocks, I thought these were done. Nope, still need to make another 4 blocks.  But that's not too bad. There should be progress on main blocks this week too. 

5. Wild and Goosy (Bonnie Hunter): Continue sashing blue blocks  

 

These blocks are my current leaders and enders project. So it's been slow going.  There will be 16 sashed blocks once all of the flying geese units have been sashed, so not quite halfway there.

Fingers crossed this week is as good as last week on the progress front.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.  

Making Progress on the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Backlog

It was a pretty productive week, which resulted in a not so hot weekend.  One of our local quilt shops has a late night sew one night a week. This week the shop decided to host two late night sewing sessions. It's usually a pretty fun session with lots of stories, laughter and valuable quilt making feedback. The only problem is the sewing set up isn't the best from an ergonomic standpoint for me. One late night isn't an issue, but apparently that second 6 hour session wasn't such a good idea. I woke up early Friday with a shoulder that was absolutely on fire. Which meant limited sewing time for most of the weekend. 

Such is life these days. But moving on. With two late night sewing sessions, I finished all the blocks for Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter 2025 mystery), but completely forgot to take a picture of them while there were up on the shop's design wall.  

The first two rows are assembled and are pinned together for stitching  Assembling the third row is in progress. The Lupine blocks should be all sewn together this week.  Not sure all the borders will be done, but hopefully those will at least be started this week.  Lupine and Laughter should be a finished quilt top before the end of the month.

Since Lupine was progressing so well, I took a look at my UFO list to decide what set of blocks to finish up next. And decided next up was going to be Good Fortune, the 2018 Bonnie Hunter mystery. Last week I cut all the fabrics needed to finish up the blocks.  The alternate block is simpler, so I started with finishing up the 4 patches needed to make the remaining blocks. 

And made some progress on assembling a few of those alternate blocks. 

I need to check my block counts again, this may be all the alternate blocks I need.  If so, next comes finishing up the main blocks. 

Since my progress has been so good and I couldn't really sew this weekend, I was looking in my project boxes to decide what's next.  Of the 14 Bonnie Hunter mysteries I've started, 7 are completed quilts and 4 are quilt tops.  That leaves just 3 that need to be moved to quilt tops.  With Lupine and Good Fortune moving along, I decided to tackle the last unfinished mystery, Celtic Solstice (2013 mystery) next.  

I played around in Electric Quilt and decided how big to make the quilt top.  About the half blocks needed for the planned quilt top are  made.  Sometime in the next couple of weeks, I'll start cutting pieces needed to finish these blocks.  

The 2022 Bonnie Hunter Mystery, Chilhowie, is my current home machine quilting project.  It should be a completed quilt by the end of the month.  Slowly but surely, my BH mystery backlog is getting closer to finished quilts. 

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

Stitching Stuff: Week 23 of 2026

We've had rain and a couple of hot, humid days this week. Perfect stitching weather.  Hot and humid is even less fun than being out in the rain. Playing in the sewing room was definitely the preferred activity this week.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/May = 30/31 days
• 15 minute days/June = 6/6 days
• 15 minute days/2026 = 155/157 days
• Success rate = 98.73%

June is off to a good start on the stitching front.  I'm making good progress on my to do list and on my goals for the year.  It's a nice place to be just before we hit the halfway point in the year.  

How are you doing with your stitching goals?  

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

4. maggie f 5. Andrée at Quilting & Learning 6. Bonnie in Va

7. Quilting Gail 8. Dreamworthy Quilts 9. Marsha's Spot

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May 2026 PHD Report

May went fast. Hard to believe that at the end of this month we'll be half way through 2026.  Looking back, May was a pretty productive month, even though my PHD report didn't change.  

I'm still going to link up with Ms P Designs for the May PHD report to show that no finish isn't the same as no progress.  

The goal for 2nd and 3rd quarter this year is to tackle my UFO pile.  Good Fortune was the 2018 Bonnie Hunter mystery. The project box had a pile of both A and B blocks, with a few other odds and ends from the various steps.  The A and B blocks will go into one quilt, the blocks that were supposed to be the pieced borders will either get worked into the quilt back, or into a separate quilt top.  The total number of blocks has been decided and all the pieces to make those blocks have been cut.  Probably won't make any additional progress on this project till this year's BH mystery is a finished quilt top. 

Progress on Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter) has been slow since sashing the blue blocks has been my leaders and enders project for most of May. Slowly, but surely more 7" blocks are showing up on the design wall.  

Chilhowie, the 2022 Bonnie Hunter Mystery, was the next project on my "to be quilted" list.  Still need to add the second set of cross hatch lines to the left side of the quilt. I've figured out how to feed the quilt to the machine without dragging, so the stitching has been much more even on the more recent quilting lines.   

The 2024 Bonnie Hunter Mystery, Old Town, just needed the borders added. It's now a finished quilt top hanging in the closet with all the other to be quilted projects.  

Some quilts on the to be quilted list will be quilted professionally. the 2025 Guild BOM is one of those.  The backing was ready for stitching at the end of the month. So didn't quite get this step done in May. 

 

The Meadow Mist Designs 2025 Magnificent Mystery quilt also just needed a final border.  It's hanging right next to Old Town waiting to be quilted.  

The June block was added to the 2026 Guild BOM this month.  The July block is actually finished, but hasn't been shown to the guild yet.  The plan for June is to at least start on the August, September, October and November blocks and start on the instructions. 

Lupine and Laughter (2025 BH Mystery) was the project with the most progress this month.  All the alternate blocks are made.  The main block takes lots of stitching time, so it's been slow going, but there has at least been some progress with those.  

My progress chart isn't much different from April. Two projects have graduated to finished quilt tops, but that's about it for May.  Hopefully June will see at least one more finished quilt top and a finished quilt.  Cross your fingers for me.  

To Do List for the Week of 6/2/2026

I didn't get much done during the week, but once we got to the weekend, there was a lot of progress in the sewing room.  A fully checked off to do list was the result. 

To Do List for 5/26/2026

1. 2025 Guild BOM: Make backing ✔

2. Chilhowie: Continue quilting ✔

3. Lupine and Laughter: Continue working on main blocks ✔

4. Good Fortune: Pull project box, assess status ✔

5. Wild and Goosey: Continue sashing blue blocks ✔

It was definitely a more productive week than I expected it to be.  Hopefully, I can do as well this week.  

To Do List for 6/2/2026

1.  2025 Guild BOM: Prep back for quilting

The back needs to pressed and any loose threads removed. It would be a good idea to run the vacuum in the sewing room before I start that process.  

2. Chilhowie (Bonnie Hunter): Continue Quilting

Half the quilt has the second set of diagonal lines quilted.  Still half left to do.  Rather than adding another set of diagonal lines, I may just sew another set of lines from edge to edge.  We'll see how it looks once all the diagonal quilting is done.  I know what I'm quilting in the first narrow border. Still haven't figured out what goes in the last border.  

3. Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter): Continue working on main blocks

The main blocks are slow going, but I'm starting to pick up speed as I get more of the block components made.  

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

The sashing has been slow going as I'm sewing those blocks as my leaders and enders.  I may change my strategy there. 

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

Slow Going

Hard to believe it is June already. I'm hoping this month has much fewer health issues, May was rough on that front.  I've been reading more than I've been sewing the last couple of weeks, but I'm still making slow, but consistent progress on several projects.  My priority project has been Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter).  

I'm not a fan of sewing large quantities of HSTs at once, one of the reasons it's hard for me to keep up with Bonnie Hunter mysteries.  Plus, part of the block is paper pieced, which is a bit time consuming. So I've been making enough block components to make one block, while I'm sewing the parts together into blocks.  I spend a lot of time pinning, but it does move things along.  All the alternate blocks are done, but I've only managed to finish 2 of the main blocks. 

What looks black in the photo is actually a very deep purple.  There are 5 more main blocks under construction in that first photo.  It's slow going, but there has been more progress than shows on the design wall.  

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