Last Push for My 2020 PhD

I've been following along with Quilting Gail's 2020 PHD. 

The goal is to finish 12 UFOs, plus finish any quilts you start during the year (other then quilt alongs that won't finish before the end of the year). I'm not going to finish 12 quilts this year and I'm probably not going to finish the one quilt I started that doesn't carry over to next year.  Here's my report card so far this year. 

There's one more finish on the list and one more new start.  But Grassy Creek, Bonnie Hunter's 2020 mystery, won't finish till next year so I don't have to worry about getting that one done by the end of the month. Same with the Morewood Mystery, it won't finish till next spring. 

The one new finish is the 2019 Christmas Mystery quilt. 

That brings my total finishes to five.  

Frolic is next up on the to be finished list. 

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

The quilt is trimmed, label made and assembling the binding strips is in progress.  So getting in a sixth finish is really likely.  

Daisy Chain was mailed out to be quilted the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and didn't get delivered to Trudy till yesterday. 

Daisy Chain Mystery, 2019 Little Bunny Quilts Mystery
by Alison of Honey, Bunny & Doll Designs

I'm not sure if this one will make it back in time for me to finish it this year.  The label is mostly done, I just need to know if it's a this month or next year finish before I can finalize the label.  I haven't decided on the binding yet. If I can decide on that, I could make the binding and then be ready to go when it does come back.  

Red, White and Blue Stars become a finished quilt top last month. 

Red, White and Blue Stars, Self Designed

I still need to piece the backing.  This one may get sent out for quilting before the end of the year, but it's too late to get it finished for this year.  

I've made good progress on Unity. 

2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

The first flying geese border is almost assembled.  But there's one more flying geese border to make and then one more full round of blocks, plus one more top and bottom border.  I'm not going to get all of those done before the end of the month.  But at least I've kept this one moving. 

Only three new projects started this year compared to the seven new starts for last year is an improvement. I finished four quilts last year and have already finished five for this year.  So my UFO numbers will go down for the year rather than up as they did last year as I've finished more than I started. I need a few more years of that to whittle down my UFO list to something more manageable.  I'll be playing along with the 2021 PHD in hopes of that. 

A Finish and a Start

It's been two weeks since my last design wall post.  Last week was just nuts, I worked on Sunday and had to go in to work early on Monday. There just wasn't the mental bandwidth to do much posting last week. Thankfully I'm off all this week. I'm hoping to get in some good stitching time and catch up on emails and blog reading.  

Before the work madness got geared up, the label and binding for 2019 Christmas Mystery Quilt was finished.  

2019 Christmas Mystery, designed by Carrie Randall (Quilter's Hideaway)
Started: October 13, 2019, Finished: November 8, 2020

This quilt was started last October. It was the third annual Christmas quilt along offered by the local quilt shop. I didn't do the first one, but did the 2018 version and then last year did this one. The theme for this year's mystery didn't thrill me, so that made it easy to keep with my plan to just start three quilts this year.   

Trudy used gold thread and did a swirly holly thing as the motif. 

This Christmas light block shows off the quilting.  

I'm not sure where this one is going. I kept last year's version to use this year.  This one may go live with my sister. She usually decorates her kitchen with gingerbread men, so this quilt would fit right in.  

That's the finish, now for the start.  Well it's not actually a start, yet. Bonnie Hunter posted the fabric requirements for this year's mystery, Grassy Creek, at the end of last month. I don't usually get serious about fabric selection till the week before the mystery starts. That was last week, so I opened the fabric closet and started playing.  

I'm a cool color person and most of my quilts reflect that preference. Bonnie's color choices this year are decidedly warm.  I don't have a lot of stash in those colors, but I was able to pull together collection that matches her color palette fairly well. 

If I go this route, I'd change out the lighter yellow green for the darker green I used in this second color palette. 

The gray and whites are the same between the two color palettes. All of those fabrics are left overs from previous projects. The red and orange in the first palette are left overs. The dark and light purples in the second color palette are left overs from previous projects.  The first color palette is better balanced across the tonal ranges, the second is less so as the pink and light purple read about the same color density in black and white.  

I have till Friday to figure out the color palette.  So it may be one of these two or I may tweak on it all week and come up with something completely different.  

Linking up with Monday Making and Design Wall Monday. Happy stitching this week.   

Stitching Stuff: Week 45 of 2020

It's been a week with a lot of uncertainty on both the public and private fronts in our house.  So it was a stressful week on a couple of fronts. The family stuff got sorted out yesterday to a good ending. So at least that stress is gone. So it wasn't the best week for stitching.  When it gets really stressful, a good book is a better distraction and spending even just 15 minutes in the sewing room just doesn't appeal.  How did you fare this week in finding both the time and motivation to stitch?  

When I'm not sleeping well, rotary cutters take on a new danger and the seam ripper sees a lot more action. So there are some days when trying to force those 15 minutes can take projects in the reverse direction. This week had a couple of those days. 

• 15 minute days/week = 5/7 days
• 15 minute days/Nov = 5/7 days
• 15 minute days/2020 = 279/312
• Success rate = 89.42% 

I'm still exceeding my 2020 goal to get in 15 minutes of stitching at least 85% of the time.  Fingers crossed that this week is much calmer on all fronts.  You can link up at the bottom of the post and share how your stitchy week went. 

There's been some slow stitching going on this weekend. 

I've stitched past two corners on the binding for the 2019 Christmas Mystery quilt.  I don't know if I'll get this done today or not. If not I'll come close.  Linking up with Slow Stitching Sunday over at Kathy's Quilts. 

Photography has taken a bit of a back seat this year.  But on our way to pick up take out for dinner the other night, we had to stop and photograph the fall color in downtown.  

I only had my phone with me, but you use what you've got if you don't want to miss a shot. I like all the shadows the lamp light provides, it really makes the leaves just glow. 

That was my week. So how did your stitchy week go?

1. Julie in GA 2. Meloney 3. CathieJ

4. karen 5. Shasta @ High Road 6. DawnyK

7. Amanda 8. Quilting Gail 9. Deana

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

November One Monthly Goal

It's the 7th, the last day to link up at Elm Street Quilts with my One Monthly Goal for November.  

Which project do I pick?  The Christmas Mystery quilt only needs the binding stitched to the back. 

It's a small quilt, so it will definitely get finished this month.  That would be an easy goal. Daisy Chain needs the back pieced, dethreading and a good pressing so it can go out for quilting.

 Daisy Chain Mystery, 2019 Little Bunny Quilts Mystery
by Alison of Honey, Bunny & Doll Designs

I don't mind making the backing, but I always stall out at the prepping step.  So rather than pick the easy finish which I feel is almost cheating, I could use the extra push to get Daisy Chain sent out for quilting this month.  So that's my OMG for this month.  

PHD in 2020 Progress

Just two months left in 2020.  The end of the year always just flies by it seems.  As it's a new month it's time to take stock of the progress towards my 2020 PHD (projects half done)

The tracking sheet has been updated again this month, but this time in the right direction. 

There's another check mark in the finished column. Storm at Sea is finished and has been much appreciated as the new quilt on our bed. 

Storm at Sea (Streams)
Paper Piecing Class by Carrie Randell (Quilter's Hideaway)

Storm at Sea is finish number 4 for the year.  If you just look at the tracking sheet, the plan to finish stuff doesn't look like it's been working that well. Though I'm not where I'd like to be, the year should get better before it ends.  

The 2019 Christmas quilt is currently in the binding stage. 

I just need to finish sewing the binding to the front and then I can get started on the hand stitching to the back.  This will be finish number 5 for the year. 

Frolic was cleaned up, pressed and shipped out for quilting last month. 

I don't know if it will be back before Thanksgiving our not.  But this should be finish number 6 for the year. 

Daisy Chain needs a backing made. 

I did a quick stash dive and came up with this stripe. This has been in the stash for a while. I know it was purchased in Tulsa several years ago, but it doesn't really fit my current quilting style, but it has the same color tones that are in Daisy Chain so it should make a nice back. So now the back just needs to be stitched up, cleaned up and pressed to be ready for shipping out for quilting. Daisy Chain would be finish number 7 if I make it that far. 

The Red, White and Blue Stars blocks are all sashed and the center of the quilt is all sewn together. 

Red, White and Blue Stars, Setting self designed

The borders should go on this month. This one will likely come down to the wire. It might or might not be a finish in 2020.  If I could pull that off, then it would be finish number 8.  

So though I'm not going to earn my quilty PHD this year, I'm still really happy with all the progress that's been made. You can check out everyone else working towards a PHD this year at this months 2020 PHD Link Up over at Quilting Gail's.  

To Do Tuesday for the Week of 11/03/2020

We are heading out earlier than normal today to get to our polling location when it opens. Even in our small community turn out was high for early voting, so we expect long waits even when the polls first open. 

So I'll need to speed write this week's to do list.  Before I write the new list, I should look at how it went with the previous To Do List. 

Weekly To Do List for 10/27/2020

• Frolic: Prep quilt for quilting and mail ✔

• Christmas Mystery: Trim quilt, make label and binding ✔

• Red, White & Blue Stars: Continue sashing blocks ✔

• Morewood Mystery: Work on blocks for October's clue ✔

• Unity: Continue with clue 4 HSTS and blocks ✔

Last week I didn't have a single check mark, so this week was definitely much more productive.  Having a day of vacation and a stitching only day is probably the difference between the two lists. So what's the plan for this week? 

Weekly To Do List for 11/03/2020

2019 Christmas Mystery: Bind and finish quilt

The binding is made and ready to go on. I ended up with another two "tone" binding. I really wanted to use the green star fabric that was used for the sashing for the binding as well. But I didn't have enough. So I bit the bullet and made another two fabric binding. It's a handy "how to" to have in the trick bag. This quilt is relatively small, so it shouldn't be too hard to get it finished before it's time to make a new list next week. 

Daisy Chain: Decide on backing fabric(s)

Daisy Chain Mystery, 2019 Little Bunny Quilts Mystery
by Alison of Honey, Bunny & Doll Designs

Now that Frolic has been sent out for quilting, it's time to get another quilt ready to go out when it comes back.  I finished this quilt top back in September. But it needs a backing, then both will have to be pressed and de-threaded.  That will probably take most of the month.  This project will probably be the last finish for 2020.  

Red, White and Blue Stars: Add first border

This 2002 Mary Engelbreit print was selected as the border fabric for this project long ago.  It's definitely time to use this up and get it out of the stash.  

Unity: Finish Step 4, Start Step 5

The last border for step 4 is almost finished. I've two more friendship stars to assemble before the border can be assembled.  I had hoped to get this project finished before Bonnie's annual mystery came out. That's probably not going to happen.  I briefly contemplated not doing Bonnie's mystery this year, but decided it has the potential to use up some really old stash. I'll make what progress I can on Unity before the new project kicks off after Thanksgiving.  

That's the plan for this week. I have a day of vacation this week, so fingers crossed I can make good progress on this week's list. You can see more Tuesday To Do over at Home Sewn By Us.

Pieces of Progress

Can you believe it's November?  It didn't really hit me till I had to create a new file folder this morning for yesterday's sewing room photos.  Just a little over three weeks to Thanksgiving! I'm not thinking about it. As much as I'd like to get 2020 over with, I'm still hoping to get a few more projects off the UFO list before we get to 2021. There was good progress on that goal this weekend. 

Red, White and Blue Stars, Setting self designed

The Red, White and Blue Star blocks are all sewn together.  I'm happy with how this quilt is coming together.  The finishing plan calls for three borders. If I can stay focused, this project should be a finished quilt top by the end of the month. It's doubtful that it will get finished this year, but it would be a fun first finish for 2021.  

However, finish number 5 is very likely to happen this month. 

The 2019 Christmas Mystery Quilt (Christmas Time) is all trimmed, the label is made and pinned to the back. It's ready for binding. I should get the binding sewn to the front this week. It's a small quilt, but I may not get the hand stitching done this week. We'll see how much stitching time I actually get. 

Linking up with Monday Making and the Monday Design Wall for the weekly show and tell.  

To Do Tuesday for the Week of 10/27/2020

Just a few days left in October. November will definitely be underway when we make out next week's list. But I should focus on the here and now to come up with this week's list. Before doing that, I should take a quick detour to look at the progress on last week's to do list. 

Weekly To Do List for 10/20/2020

• Frolic: Prep for quilting and mail - progress
• Red, White & Blue Stars: finish sashing the blocks
• Morewood Mystery: Continue to make October's blocks
• Unity: Make more HSTS and blocks for clue 4

It wasn't a stellar week on the stitching front.  The only progress last week was on getting Frolic ready to send out for quilting.  The trip to my mother's took up a couple of days and work took a bite out of a couple of evenings.  Some weeks are just going to be that way.  Hopefully this next week will be much more productive.  

Weekly To Do List for 10/27/2020

Frolic: Prep for quilting and mail

All that's left to de-thread and press is the bottom and side borders.  So just one more evening should be enough to finish this off.  I'm off work two days this week, so it shouldn't be hard to find time to finish packing the quilt up and get it to the post office.  

Christmas Mystery: Trim quilt, make label and binding

This quilt came back from Trudy last week. The quilting looks great. So it's ready for trimming up and binding.  I've been working on the label off and on since the quilt was sent out for quilting.  I may have a few more tweaks, but the label is close to done. The stash will need to be raided for a suitable binding. This to do should be pretty easy to mark off. 

Red, White and Blue Stars: Continue sashing blocks

There was no progress on the stars last week. Hopefully I can get the rows all assembled this week.  

Morewood Mystery: Work on the October blocks

Another project with no progress last week. The next clue comes out Thursday, so I'm likely going to fall behind on this mystery.  

Unity: Continue with clue 4 HSTs and blocks

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

Another project where there was no progress last week.  Just a few more friendship stars are needed to finish off the last border in clue 4.  The border's not going to get done, but all I'm looking for on this to do is progress.  

That's my list for this week. Hopefully I'll make better progress on it than I did on last week's list.  Linking up with Home Sewn by Us for To Do Tuesday.  

Stitching Along

 I was definitely ready for Saturday to get here.  The plan is for a nothing but stitching day to celebrate the end of the work week and the beginning of October.  Just three months left in 2020. Though I will be glad to see the end of this year, there's not much time left to finish my 2020 PHD. 

There is an update to my tracking spreadsheet, but it's not a new check mark in the finished column.  

The Morewood Mystery quilt September clue had me cutting into the fabric to make last months blocks.  I count a quilt started once I cut the fabric, so it had to go onto the tracking sheet as a new start in 2020.

 

This mystery quilt is a planned start, it was part of my 2020 quilt plan.  This quilt along won't end till sometime in 2021, so not finishing this quilt doesn't count against my PHD progress this year

So one addition, but no check offs.  But there's been good progress in the last month, so there's hope for some finishes before the end of the year. 

Storm at Sea is back from being quilted.  Trudy as usual, did a wonderful job with it.  Now I need to make the binding and label, then get them attached to finish off quilt number 4 for the year.  This is my October One Monthly Goal. 

The Christmas Mystery quilt has been sent out for quilting.

It should be back ready for binding before the end of the month.  So it's possible there will be two new check marks in the finished column by November. 

A backing was pieced for Frolic.

The backing and quilt top need to be prepped for quilting. That should happen this month.  So fingers crossed that puts another check mark on the PHD tracking spreadsheet before the end of the year.  

Borders were finally selected and stitched on to the Daisy Chain Mystery Quilt. 

Daisy Chain Mystery
2019 Little Bunny Quilts Mystery
by Alison of Honey, Bunny & Doll Design

Next step is to search the stash for something to back it with. Not sure that will happen this month, but it's on the list.  

Progress on Unity has been slow. 

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

 

I'm still stitching HSTs and making Friendship Star blocks for step 4. 

September saw enough progress to add a new UFO to the "in progress" list.  

Red, White, and Blue stars is my oldest UFO.  The blocks have been made for a while, but I could never decide how to set them.  After a few new stash additions and photo mock ups, I finally ended up sticking with my original fabric choice.  Hopefully this project will be a finished quilt top by the end of the month.   

So no new check marks this month. But it's looking promising that there will be a few added between now and the end of the year.  Linking up with the Quilting Gail for the 2020 PHD Challenge.  

To Do Tuesday for 09/22/2020

 The weeks continue to just fly by.  It will be October in just over a week.  Definitely time to get moving on any stitching goals that are still hanging out there. I've never been much of a list maker, other than the grocery list.  But there's a good deal of research that shows making a good list can really help with productivity. The weekly list seems to be helping me on that front. All of last week's to do's are all checked off.    

Weekly To Do List for 09/15/2020

• Red, White & Blue Stars: Find red/white sashing fabric/wash ✔
• Morewood Mystery:  Continue to sew Clue 3 blocks ✔
• Unity: Continue to make HSTs and blocks for Step 4 ✔
• 2019 Christmas Mystery: Prep top for quilting ✔

I'm learning to be more realistic about what goes on the to do list. More than anything, that's the reason all the items on the lists for the last three weeks have been full of check marks.  Let's see if I can make it four weeks with a completed To Do List. 

Weekly To Do List for 09/22/2020

2019 Christmas Mystery Quilt: Package and ship out for quilting

The hardest step is done, finding a box that fits.  Actually all that's left is to write the deposit check, seal up the box, write and attach the address label.  The next hardest step is finding time to stop by the post office to get it shipped.  My meeting schedule has to be open enough to let me leave the site for lunch. This week isn't too bad on that front, so it shouldn't be too hard. Plus I'm taking Friday off this week, so I should have time then if not before. 

Morewood Mystery: Finish clue 3 HSTs

All that is left of step 3 is to finish stitching, cutting and trimming these 6 and mark then stitch 4 more of the violet/white square pairs.  That should be fairly easy to accomplish this week.  Clue 4 comes out next Thursday. It would be nice to have this one done before then. 

Red, White & Blue Stars: Decide on the sashing fabric

Last week's to do was to find the sashing fabric purchased for this project.  That's done, but then I decided maybe it wasn't the right print.  A quick trip to the LQS yielded three other options for a total of four.  That was slimmed down to three, but I'm not thrilled by any of them. So there was really no other option than to order one more.  That should be here Thursday.  Fingers crossed that the last one fits the vision, I'd really like to get this quilt off the UFO list this year.  

Unity:  Continue to stitch HSTs and blocks for step 4 

The goal here is to just keep this project moving.  I'd really like to have a finished quilt top by the end of the year. To do that, I'd have to stop before I reach the last clue. The goal at this point is to get to clue 7 and assess if I think it's done at that point.  

That's my list for this week.  You can find more weekly To Do's over at Home Sewn by Us on the To Do Tuesday linky party.