Life In Pieces: 15 Minutes to Stitch

Showing posts with label 15 Minutes to Stitch. Show all posts

Sunday, July 26, 2026

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

Sunday, July 19, 2026

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

Sunday, July 12, 2026

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

Sunday, July 5, 2026

Stitching Stuff: Week 27 of 2026

Did you spend last evening watching fireworks? We didn't go this year, it's just way to hot to be outside for long, even after dark. Summer really hit this week, the sewing room has been the place to be.

15 minute days/week = 6/7 days
15 minute days/June = 28/30 days
15 minute days/ July = 4/4 days
15 minute days/2026 = 181/185 days
Success rate = 97.83%

It's a long drive from south Texas to northern Oklahoma, I was pretty tired when I got in last Monday. Stitching just didn't happen. That's OK, I at least got my time in the rest of the week. Fingers crossed I'm back to 7 days of stitching time this week.

My Girl and I had lots of adventures last week. We went furniture shopping one day as I could be at the apartment when the furniture was delivered. The big furniture box didn't go to waste.

My Girl has been wanting a design wall. A bit of white flannel from Michaels and some white Gorilla tape and she had a simple, but functional design wall to sit on her craft table. It's about 40" x 64". Those are my Wild and Goosey blocks up on it. My Girl is pretty happy with it. I'm hoping she gets some good use out of it this summer.

Have you been hiding from summer in your sewing room this week?

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

5. Frédérique
6. LeeAnna
7. Bonnie in Va
8. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting

9. Patricia in New Mexico
10. Quilting Gail
11. Andrée at Quilting & Learning

Sunday, June 28, 2026

Stitching Stuff: Week 26 of 2026

I've spent the week in Texas hanging out with My Girl and her kitty cat. I brought the sewing machine, but with the schedule we've kept, it has been just easier to work on my embroidery project rather than drag out all the sewing machine stuff. But one way or the other, I did get my sewing time in.

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/June = 26/27 days
15 minute days/2026 = 175/178 days
Success rate = 98.31%

I made good progress on my embroidery project and a bit on Lupine and Laughter. I got to spend a lot of time with my daughter, which was the point of the trip. I hope to get a bit of sewing time in before I have to load up the car this evening. I'll head home tomorrow.

Have you had a good week in the sewing room?

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

6. Karen
7. Melissa G
8. Bonnie in Va
9. Quilting Gail
10. Andrée at Quilting & Learning

11. Carol @ Quilt Schmilt
12. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting
13. Marsha's Spot

Sunday, June 21, 2026

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.

1. Frédérique
2. Quilting Gail
3. Gretchen
4. Julie in GA

5. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting
6. Melissa G
7. Karen
8. Bonnie in Va

9. LeeAnna
10. Andrée at Quilting & Learning
11. Marsha's Spot

Sunday, June 14, 2026

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

Sunday, June 7, 2026

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

Sunday, May 31, 2026

Stitching Stuff: Week 22 of 2026

Summer showed up yesterday. It was sunny, hot and humid. Hard to believe I was commenting on our cooler weather last week. So I wasn't far off on my prediction that summer would be here pretty quickly.

The back is better, the knees are better, but I had to schedule an emergency dentist appointment last Tuesday. They put me on antibiotics because they were pretty sure the tooth in question was infected. I'm waiting on a referral for additional imaging, there may be a root canal in my future as well depending on how that comes out. I'm really hoping this falling apart stuff only comes in threes, I'm ready to be mostly healthy again. Thankfully the dental issues didn't stop me from getting into the sewing room.

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/May = 29/30 days
15 minute days/2026 = 148/150 days
Success rate = 98.67%

I made it to the sewing room most days, but have to admit not a lot got done on Tuesday and Wednesday till after the antibiotic kicked in. Still it wasn't a bad week.

How did your week in the sewing room work out?

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

6. Karen
7. Linda at Texas Quilt Gal
8. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting
9. Jennifer in Indy
10. Bonnie in Va

11. Deana
12. Viridian
13. Andrée at Quilting & Learning
14. Marsha's Spot

Sunday, May 24, 2026

Stitching Stuff: Week 21 of 2026

It's been a wet and chilly week. We needed the rain and I'm not going to complain about a bit of cool weather. We'll hit summer pretty quickly, so I enjoyed it while it was here. I had to see the orthopedist this week, my knees took a beating while my back was out of commission and my right leg has been very, very unhappy. We'll be working on that in addition to my back issues in PT in a couple of weeks. All that to say, I didn't have the best week in the sewing room. The stairs were outright painful early in the week.

15 minute days/week = 6/7 days
15 minute days/May = 22/23 days
15 minute days/2026 = 141/143 days
Success rate = 98.60%

It was never my plan to end the year with a 100% success rate. If I can keep it over 90%, I'll be really happy. I'm still on track there.

How did your stitching time work out this week?

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

6. Frédérique
7. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting
8. Melissa G
9. Quilting Gail
10. Andrée at Quilting & Learning

11. Bonnie in Va
12. Linda at Texas Quilt Gal
13. Kathy S.
14. Marsha's Spot

Sunday, May 17, 2026

Stitching Stuff: Week 20 of 2026

It's been a pretty calm week on both the weather and the home front. My back is mostly healed, bending doesn't hurt like it did. The doctor didn't see anything that needed immediate follow up in my X-rays. Though he did recommend PT. We'll see what happens there, he wasn't sure insurance would approve it at this point.

It was a good week on the stitching front.

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/May = 16/16 days
15 minute days/2026 = 135/136 days
Success rate = 99.26%

Another good week in the sewing room. I even spent a day decluttering my fabric piles and going through my project boxes. I also retired the pincushion I've been using since 2022/2023.

The center of the pincushion was starting to wear just a little thin. It's hard to see how thin the center is from the photo, but you can definitely see the discoloration. I had a spare in one of my "extras" drawer.

This pincushion was part of a set that my sister gave me for Christmas several years ago. The fabric is a heavier decorating fabric rather than cotton. Hopefully it will last longer than three and a half years.

Have you had the bandwidth for a bit of stitching this week?

1. Kathy S.
2. Frédérique
3. maggie f

4. Julie in GA
5. Andrée at Quilting & Learning
6. Quilting Gail

7. Bonnie in Va
8. Marsha's Spot

Sunday, May 10, 2026

Stitching Stuff: Week 19 of 2026

Happy Mother's Day. My kiddo didn't know what to get me, so I told her she could take me out to lunch during my next visit. We had planned to spend the holiday with my mother, but she's not feeling great, so we are targeting Memorial weekend to get the family together. My plans are to spend the day in the sewing room, one of my favorite gifts of all time.

It's been an up and down week. My back is slowly getting better. Bending is still a problem, but it's gotten less painful. We decided that maybe our 14 year old mattress was one of my problems, so we replaced that. That didn't go quite as planned. However, adding a pillow between my knees (I'm a side sleeper) has made a world of difference.

Thankfully the back problems haven't kept me from the sewing room. My stats look pretty good considering how miserable I was last weekend.

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/May = 9/9 days
15 minute days/2026 = 128/129 days
Success rate = 99.22%

I've already made good progress on my to do list for the week. Just need to finish the borders on Old Town. That's the plan for this weekend.

How are you stitching plans working out?

1. Gretchen
2. Kathy S.
3. Julie in GA
4. maggie f

5. LeeAnna
6. Quilting Gail
7. Karen
8. Bonnie in Va

9. Frédérique
10. Linda at Texas Quilt Gal
11. Andrée at Quilting & Learning
12. Marsha's Spot

Sunday, May 3, 2026

Stitching Stuff: Week 18 of 2026

This hasn't been the easiest week. My back was complaining a bit last week. Finally on Wednesday it reached a breaking point and I made a trip to urgent care. They couldn't do much for me other do some x-rays, give me a muscle relaxant and tell me I needed to see a doctor. Like most rural communities we have a shortage of primary care doctors. I finally found one that was on our insurance, but I can't get an appointment for a couple of weeks. The back is getting better, but the x-rays were concerning, so I still need to see a doctor.

Thankfully the back injury hasn't kept me from the sewing room. I'm just a bit slower going up the stairs. So it was another good week on that front.

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/Apr = 29/30 days
15 minute days/2026 = 121/122 days
Success rate = 99.18%

Not a bad week. One of my main activities this week was prepping Chilhowie for quilting. That meant standing and stretching a bit across my work table. My back felt much better after each prepping session. Who knew that some sewing works as well as physical therapy?

How was your stitching week?

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

5. Kathy S.
6. Karen
7. Frédérique
8. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting

9. Jennifer in Indy
10. Bonnie in Va
11. Quilting Gail
12. Marsha's Spot

Sunday, April 26, 2026

Stitching Stuff: Week 17 of 2026

Spring storm season continues. We were lucky Thursday night, all we got from the storms that spawned the tornadoes out west was heavy rain and a lot of lightening. We had some rain and a bit of thunder from the storms last night. All the tornado warnings were south of us. I will be glad when storm season dies down a bit.

The stormy weather hasn't affected my stitching time.

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/Apr = 24/25 days
15 minute days/2026 = 114/115 days
Success rate = 99.13%

I've only missed one stitching day this year. Not bad for being almost a third through the year. Time does seem to be flying. I'm not ready for it to be May already.

How are you doing at getting in your stitching time?

1. Frédérique
2. Gretchen
3. maggie f
4. Kathy S.

5. Melissa G
6. Karen
7. Andrée at Quilting & Learning
8. Patricia in New Mexico

9. Quilting Gail
10. Linda at Texas Quilt Gal
11. Bonnie in Va
12. Deb in Canada

Sunday, April 19, 2026

Stitching Stuff: Week 16 of 2026

It was a busy week. Taxes took up a good part of Monday. By Wednesday, I was mostly caught up on laundry. Still a bit behind on my monthly chores, but a few of those were knocked out. We had nasty storms on Wednesday and Friday. The storms meant I had to shut down my stitching a bit early so I could unplug my machine. These storms had a lot of lighting. I got caught in nickel/quarter sized hail on my way home from a doctor's appointment Wednesday afternoon. We spent a good 20 minutes in the storm shelter Friday night due to tornado warnings. Thankfully, it looks like our next round of storms isn't till next weekend.

Even with all the disruptions, it was a good week on the stitching front.

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/Apr = 17/18 days
15 minute days/2026 = 107/108 days
Success rate = 99.07%

Fingers crossed it's mostly a calm week. It would be nice to have a week with no drama. Well, that's not happening this week. I have to finish the May block for the Guild BOM. It's in progress. Hopefully I won't be madly stitching on it at 4 PM the day of the meeting!

Here's what the hail looked like on Wednesday (photo curtesy of My Guy).

I drove about 5 miles in that hail. It sounds so much worse when you are in the car. I kept repeating, "don't get any bigger, don't get any bigger" (they had forecast golf ball sized). Then it was, "please stop, please stop". I sat in the car for probably 5 minutes waiting for it to end before I made the mad dash into the house in the pouring rain.

Hope your week has been much more boring than mine was, but with lots of time to play with needle and thread.

1. Gretchen
2. maggie f
3. Kathy S.
4. Julie in GA
5. LeeAnna

6. Frédérique
7. Karen
8. Andrée at Quilting & Learning
9. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting
10. Linda at Texas Quilt Gal

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

Sunday, April 12, 2026

Stitching Stuff: Week 15 of 2026

We were on the road for most of the last 2 weeks. We visited My Girl for Easter. We drove down the Wednesday before to attend a behind the scenes view of the Terracotta Warrior display at the Houston Museum of Natural History. We saw this exhibit when we visited My Girl at Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful guide for the behind the scenes viewing, learned so much more than when we went through it on our own. Since Our Girl had to work, after Easter we drove up to Chappell Hill for a few days and did some wildflower photography. Unfortunately, we missed the peak for the blue bonnets, but we still found lots of other pretties to photograph. I'll share the best of the pretties sometime soon.

There was room for my sewing machine in the car for this trip. But with all that we had scheduled, I didn't have a chance (or room) in the places we stayed to get it out. Most of my "stitching" time was spent writing up the instructions for the next four Guild BOM blocks. I needed to get that done as the May block needs to be ready to go in a little over a week. I was able to squeeze out at least 15 minutes of writing time every morning before heading out for our day.

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/Apr = 10/11 days
15 minute days 2026 = 100/101 days
Success rate = 99.01%

I was able to get back to my sewing room yesterday. That felt so good. I have lots of laundry and other stuff to catch up on, but I'm hoping to get in lots of stitching time around those chores this week.

How did you do at making progress on your WIPs/UFOs?

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

6. Gretchen
7. Karen
8. Patricia in New Mexico
9. Andrée at Quilting & Learning
10. Quilting Gail

11. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting
12. Melissa G
13. Bonnie in Va
14. Marsha's Spot

Sunday, April 5, 2026

Stitching Stuff: Week 14 of 2026

Happy Easter!

It's been one of those weeks. I'm still dealing with memory problems on the computer. I may have found a work around that prevents the memory from completely filling up. It's not a fix, but it does prevent the computer from crashing. Fingers crossed it continues to keep the computer mostly operational. I'm hoping to get caught up with email and blog reading over the next week.

On the stitching front, it wasn't a bad week, but I certainly didn't get the sewing time I'd hoped to.

15 minute days/week = 6/7 days
15 minute days/Mar = 31/31 days
15 minute days/Apr = 3/4 days
15 minute days/2026 = 93/94 days
Success rate = 98.94%

April Fools Day messed me up. We were out and about all day and most of the evening too. By the time we got home, I was just too tired to contemplate doing anything on the stitching front. At least I managed to keep my 100% sewing time metric through first quarter. My goal is to stitch at least 75% of the days in 2026, so I'm still on track with that.

Hope you've been able to spend some time with family this weekend and still keep your hands busy with a bit of needle and thread.

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

5. Karen
6. Patricia in New Mexico
7. Andrée at Quilting & Learning
8. Quilting Gail

9. Bonnie Stapleton
10. Jennifer in Indy
11. Shelina at Quilt and Color

Sunday, March 29, 2026

Stitching Stuff: Week 13 of 2026

My computer is having memory problems again. The last update apparently did something to how things are running. So I've had some issues getting and staying on line. If I disappear for a bit you'll know why.

Having computer problems does lead one to spend a lot more time in the sewing room. So it was another pretty good week on that front.

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/Mar = 28/28 days
15 minute days/2026 = 87/97 days
Sucess rate = 100%

Most of focus in the sewing room has been on my SAHRR and Magnificent Mystery projects. Both are moving along, but not as fast as I'd like. I'm hoping for a pretty productive day in the sewing room today.

Are you spending lots of time with needle and thread?

1. Linda at Texas Quilt Gal
2. maggie f
3. Melissa G
4. Gretchen
5. Frédérique

6. Andrée at Quilting & Learning
7. Julie in GA
8. Karen
9. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting
10. Quilting Gail

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

Sunday, March 22, 2026

Stitching Stuff: Week 12 of 2026

My apologies for not getting this post up earlier today. I've been dealing with some back issues this weekend. Sitting in front of the computer wasn't comfortable at all yesterday. I slept in this morning because I was feeling a lot better. So the post is a lot later than I planned. Stitching time still happened, but not nearly as much as usual.

15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
15 minute days/Mar = 21/21 days
15 minute days/2026 = 80/80 days
Success rate = 100%

I'm hoping the back issue is managed for now and that I can get in a good day of stitching. Getting older is definitely not for sisses.

How was your week with needle and thread?

1. Melissa G
2. Frédérique
3. Melissa G - correct link

4. Gretchen
5. Karen
6. Quilting Gail

7. Andrée at Quilting & Learning
8. Carol Andrews

Sunday, March 15, 2026

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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