Tuesday, July 28, 2026
To Do List for the Week of 7/28/2026
Monday, July 27, 2026
A Bit of This and That
Wednesday, July 22, 2026
To Do List for the Week of 7/21/2026
Wednesday, July 8, 2026
Second Quarter Review 2026: Strategic Progress?
Back in January, I drafted a strategic plan (?) for 2026. Strategic Plan is probably a gross overstatement of what I actually put together, but it was at least a potential road map for my quilting decisions. Now that we are in 3rd quarter, I should probably take a look at where I'm at and decide on any adjustments.
2nd Quarter Strategy
1. Guild BOM: Finish May through October blocks. Finish Flying geese.
The May, June and July blocks are all finished. The flying geese for the alternate border are also all finished. The instructions are written for the August and September blocks. I needed to verify the cutting dimensions for some of the pieces for the October block and that got done last week. So I didn't get everything done, but I'm also not too far off track. If I put focus on this project in July, I should be back on track before we got too far into third quarter.
2. Wild and Goosey: Continue as leaders and enders project
All the blue 3.5" blocks were finished last quarter and most of the blocks were sashed. The hope is this project will be ready for assembly before the end of the year.
3. Move UFOs to finished quilt tops.
Three of the 5 UFOs became finished quilt tops: 2026 SAHRR, Magnificent Mystery and Old Town. Lupine and Laughter only needs two more borders added to be a completed quilt top. The remaining pieces needed to assemble the blocks for Good Fortune have been cut. The chain blocks are all finished, but still working on the star blocks. I didn't get it all done, but at least every project on the plan is farther along.
4. Walking foot quilting
The plan was to finish off two quilts, but only Chilhowie was finished up. Glowing Hearts has been pulled out of the closet, the batting laid out to relax and I've been contemplating quilting motifs. So even though it didn't get done, at least there was a bit of progress on it. Based on how the walking foot quilting has been going, one quilt a quarter seems to be my speed, at least for now.
5. External quilting
A backing was pieced for the 2025 Inverted Star BOM. Both the backing and the quilt top were prepped for quilting. I delivered the project to the long armer the first week in July. So at least that one will be a finished quilt in third quarter. I didn't even touch Chocolate Marshmallow. It's probably going to go to the bottom of the list as My Girl has picked a few quilts that will be going to college and graduate school friends. So those will higher priority the last half of the year.
Second quarter wasn't a total success, but I have learned a lot. I'm doing well at moving projects to finished quilt tops. That will help a lot in clearing out my UFO list. But I'm not doing so hot on either the walking foot quilting or getting quilts ready for external quilting. It seems one quilt top for each a quarter is about my speed on that part of the UFO process. I'll have to consider if that modifies my strategy for third quarter or not. At any rate, there's been reasonable progress on all of my "strategies". Not a bad first half of the year.
Thursday, July 2, 2026
June PHD Report
Hard to believe we are half way through 2026. By this point you realize your goals were just a touch too ambitious and what seemed doable back in January is probably not going to get done. At least that's how it seems to work for me. Thankfully it is the start of a new month, so another chance to make good progress on my projects. Linking up with Ms. P Designs to review on my progress with my June PHD Report.
June's report includes another finish. It's my second for the year. Which isn't much, but two finishes is double what I had last year. Not what I had hoped to achieve by this point in the year, but I'm not going to be too hard on myself.
Chilhowie, the 2022 Bonnie Hunter Mystery, was finished in June. This is my first attempt at quilting a whole quilt (my March finish was a quilt as you go project). I learned a lot while quilting this project. It's far from perfect, but it doesn't look too bad. The quilt is 61" x 62", a bit bigger then I remembered. This project was donated to the local charity that supports women fleeing domestic violence. I'm hoping this colorful quilt ends up with one of the kids, I think they'd like the bold colors.
Even though there was only one finish this month, there has been good progress on some of my other UFOs.
The embroidered butterfly panel is my travel project. It came along with me on my visit to My Girl the last week of June. I also took my sewing machine. But the days we had plans, it was easier to work in a few minutes of embroidery time then pull out all the sewing stuff. I sew on her dining room table, so it has to get put away when we eat. I made good progress on the 7th butterfly.
I needed a new block assembly project for June. The UFO with the most blocks already completed was Good Fortune, the 2018 Bonnie Hunter Mystery. The chain blocks were a pretty quick finish, the main pinwheel blocks are taking a bit longer.
June was spent adding sashings to the blue Wild and Goosey blocks (Bonnie Hunter). I made good progress with those, but didn't quite get finished. It's much easier to put the blocks up on the design wall now that most of them are sashed. I'm excited to get this project to the assembly stage. Purple and teal still need a number of blocks, but there has been progress on both.
The 2025 Guild BOM is prepped for quilting and will be dropped off for long arm quilting this week. Fingers crossed that means a finish in July.
The July block of the month for the guild was shown at the June meeting. I've been working on the blocks for the rest of the year. Instructions have been written, but that's about it. I need to get going as I'll need to have the August block ready in just a couple of weeks.
The blocks for Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter's 2025 mystery) were finished last month and assembled into a top. The first border is on. The strips for the last two borders are cute. Those should go on in July.
Looking back, there was visible progress last month on my project tracking chart.
There was a finish, another quilt that reached the ready to be quilted stage, and another quilt to adding borders stage. There has been steady progress in the first half of the year. Hopefully I can keep up the momentum into July.
Tuesday, June 16, 2026
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.
Tuesday, June 9, 2026
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.
Wednesday, June 3, 2026
May 2026 PHD Report
Tuesday, June 2, 2026
To Do List for the Week of 6/2/2026
Wednesday, May 27, 2026
To Do List for the Week of 5/26/2026
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
To Do List for the Week of 5/19/2026
Tuesday, May 12, 2026
To Do List for the Week of 5/12/2026
My back has been slowly getting better. Bending is still problematic, but otherwise I'm mostly pain free. My therapy has included cycling, walking and sewing. Movement is the best thing for the back and with all the walking between rooms I did working on Chilowie, I moved a lot! It's a blessing that the sewing room was one of the places I could go and not hurt. That was really good for last week's to do list.
To Do List for 5/5/2026
1. Old Town: Work on borders ✔
2. Chilhowie: Sandwich quilt and start marking ✔
3. Lupine and Laughter: Work on A blocks ✔
4. Wild and Goosey: Finish blue blocks, start sashing ✔
It was a good week, 4 for 4 on the to do list. Fingers crossed I can do as well with this week's list.
To Do List for 5/12/2026
1. 2025 Guild BOM: Make backing
My Girl has asked me to finish this quilt for one of her college buddies. This one is a bit big for me to quilt on my sewing machine. Plus, having some professionally quilted will help me make a dent in the number of to be quilted projects. I found a reasonable backing fabric in the stash. So I need to get some measurements and get started on sewing the back up. It also needs a different name. My Girl is usually pretty good at coming up with good names for the quilts that go to her friends.
2. Chilhowie (Bonnie Hunter): Continue quilting
I'm using painters tape to mark my lines. The first two lines were not perfect. I may or may not go back to fix them. I'll see how noticeable the wobbles are once all the quilting is done. At least I got started. It's slow going at the moment. I'm hoping it gets faster with more practice.
3. Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter): Work on A blocks
I was reading the pattern last night to get started on what I thought was block B. My block IDs are switched from Bonnie's. That's OK, as long as I know which is which. I've started on the "framing blocks" for the first block. That purple may be way to dark for the rest of the quilt, but it's what I've cut, so we'll see how it develops as the blocks come together.
4. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue sashing blue blocks
Only 1 block sashed so far, 63 left. This makes a great leader and ender project.
Another short list. But it is in line with my strategy was for the year. I wanted to keep the list to 4 to 5 to dos during second and third quarter. The focus will be on getting quilts to finished over the next few months.
Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.

















































