Finish Five

My Guy had lots of vacation time, so he took off last week and we headed to Eureka Springs, AR.  We had much bigger plans for vacation this year, but then a family wedding and a potential refinery project hijacked the dates we had planned to go.  We've been to Eureka Springs several times. We did a lot of shopping, hiking, and eating out.  I took two quilts to bind and finished one of them. 

My version of Rhododendron, the Bonnie Hunter 2021 mystery quilt, is finished.  I've named my version Azaleas since I used purple rather than the suggested pink.  

I used the dark purple, along with a floral print for the backing.

Trudy did a fun floral design for the quilting. 

The binding is the same purple Batik used for the border.  I'm happy with my version. No immediate plans for this quilt, it will probably be given as a gift at some point.   

Five finishes so far for this year, four of which were UFOs.  My list still shows 20 UFOs that need to be finished.  I'm hoping for at least one more finish this year.  There are 5 quilt tops waiting for quilting, hopefully I'll get off to a good start with finishes next year.  

Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Patchwork & Quilts. 

September 2024 PHD Report

September was just a weird month for some reason.  I guess because, though it has cooled off some, it was still pretty warm. Didn't feel like autumn at all.  At any rate, the higher temps made the sewing room the place to be so I got a lot of stitching done this month. So there is plenty to report for the September PHD Report linky party over at P Designs USA. Here's my PHD report for the last month.  

The report shows a new start.  But that start was planned at the beginning of the year.  At least that one won't count against my PHD for this year, the clues won't end till next year.  There is a finish to balance out the new start.  Rhododendron Trails (Azaleas) was the 2021 Bonnie Hunter Mystery.  

I just barely finished the quilt before the end of the month and managed to get this photo of the quilt laid out on a bed. This is my sixth finish out of 12 Bonnie Hunter mystery starts.  So I still have lots of BH quilts on my UFO list to finish.  I'm sure some of those will make next year's PHD list. It does feel good to have one off the list.  

In addition to the one finish, there was lots of progress on other projects this month.  

There was good progress on the orange blocks needed for my version of Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter)

  

Seven sets of 4 blocks have been completed. Just need one more set of 4 to have what's needed for my version of the quilt.  

It's been slow progress on the Simply Sensational Summer Scrap quilt (Kevin the Quilter).

One set each of 10 yellow and blue blocks were finished in September. It is my leader and enders project, so progress is slow, but it's been steady. I finished a set of 10 of each last month.  Slow progress is better than no progress. 

Another Bonnie Hunter mystery finally reached the finished quilt top stage.  

Chilhowie is the 2022 Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt.  I'm pretty happy with how it came out, that final teal border really helps calm down all that orange.  It joins Indigo Way in the to be quilted closet.  This one probably won't be quilted till next year. I'm hoping by next year I'll have enough skills to quilt the smaller quilts like this.  

Trudy finished the quilting on Diatom (Quilting Jetgirl) and sent it back. 

I started hand stitching down the binding on the last day of the month. The PHD report should have one more finish added next month.  

The September block for the Guild BOM was finished.  

I've stayed caught up with this block of the month.  The instructions for the October block have already been published.  It's another 12" block, so it should go together quickly. The finishing instructions in November are going to require a lot more effort. 

The new start is the 2024 Meadow Mist Designs Mystery quilt along, Marble Mystery. 

The September clue was the 9-patches and the flying geese.  Those are done, plus I have all the fabrics cut ready to piece the rest of the clues.  The October clue comes out tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing what's next.  

September was a productive month.  One finish, one being bound, and one finished quilt top.  So definitely not a bad month. I'm hopeful to have another quilt ready to go out for quilting before the middle of the month so there will be finishes for both October and November.  We'll see if that happens.  It's doubtful I'll achieve a PHD this year. That's OK, I'm really happy with all the progress on so many projects this year.  I can try again next year.  

Computer Time and a Bit of Hand Stitching

Last week's maladies definitely hampered my progress on all things quilty. Some days, 15 minutes was really all I managed to accomplish.  But there was still progress.  Both design walls are completely empty at the moment. Chocolate Marshmallow goes up next. I did work out the final setting in EQ on one of the days I didn't make it to the sewing room. 

  

This may or may not be the final block layout. I need to get the blocks up on the design wall and play a bit before that's a done deal.  Chocolate Marshmallows was started in 2014. It was a BOM quilt along over at Sea Breeze Quilts.  I've not been able to find the block patterns, I need to check with Amanda to see if they are still available.  At any rate, the plan is to get moving on this project next.  

There's been good progress on getting the binding stitched down on Rhododendron (Bonnie Hunter).

I turned the third corner last night.  Another 40 to 50 inches of stitching left and this will be a finished quilt. That should be doable today.  I'd like to be able to count it as a finish on my PHD report for September.  

The planned finish for October is just waiting for me to start on the the hand stitching. 

Diatom (Quilting Jetgirl) is a wedding gift for one of Grad Girl's friends. I'm hoping to have it finished before I go visit her later in October.  

I have lots to keep me busy this week.  Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Patchwork & Quilts.  

To Do Tuesday on Thursday for the Week of 9/24/2024

Getting a to do list posted for this week hasn't been the easiest.  I was very sick Tuesday and then yesterday had an appointment to get the car in for service. By the time I got home, the ragweed had given me one of those "light hurts your eyes" headaches.  I still have the dregs of the headache, I'm hoping it clears up as the day goes on.  But it's backed off enough I can at least sit in front of the computer this morning.  

Last week's to do list was an easy one.  

To Do List for 09/17/24

1.  Rhododendron: Trim quilt, attach binding to front ✔

2.  Marble Mystery: Finish the September clue ✔

3.  Wild and Goosey: Continue making orange blocks ✔

4.  SSSS Mystery: Continue as leaders and enders project ✔

5.  Learn to quilt:  Read books, watch videos ✔

I didn't do as much on the learn to quilt front as I had hoped, but I did a bit.  I'll take some progress over none.  

The list for this week is pretty long, but hopefully I'll feel up to a bit of catch up on the sewing front today.  

To Do List for 09/24/2024

1.   Rhododendron (Bonnie Hunter): Finish binding

I didn't make as much progress on this as I wanted, but I'm just about to turn corner 2.  It should still be a finished quilt by the end of the month. 

2. Diatom (Quilting Jetgirl): Make label and binding, trim and start binding

Diatom is back from the quilter.  This quilt is for one of Grad Girl's chemistry buddies who got married earlier this year, it's a late wedding present.  Grad Girl came up with the name and I've gotten a good start on the label.  This one won't be finished in September, but should be completed before my next trip to Texas. 

3. Guild BOM: Finish the September block

I've let myself get behind on this one.  But it's a small block and I have the fabrics cut, it should go together pretty quickly.  

4.  Chocolate Marshmallows: Decide on a setting

This project was started in 2014 and the blocks all finished in 2015. It's been sitting waiting for me to come up with a setting that I like.  When I looked this morning, there are 22 versions of a final quilt in my EQ files.  Either I use one of those or come up with something completely new.  We'll see how that goes.  

5.  Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue making orange blocks

Just four more orange blocks to finish and I'll be done with that color for this project.  Not sure I can finish them all this month, but I'll definitely give that a go.  

6.  Simply Sensational Summer Scrap Mystery (Kevin the Quilter): Continue as leader and enders project. 

Another set of the yellow 4-patches have been finished. So it's back to blue 4-patches this week. 

That's my list this week. It's an ambitious one, so it's OK if I don't check off all the items for this week.  Linking up with The Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.  

A Bit of This and That

We had a family wedding to attend last weekend.  We hit the road Thursday afternoon, so there wasn't a lot of time in the sewing room last week.  I did get the binding made and attached to Rhododendron (Bonnie Hunter).  That was my only sewing time over the weekend. With all the activities, I didn't get very far, just one corner turned at this point. 

I should make better progress with this now that we are home. You can really see the quilting Trudy did in the dark purple part of the backing.  It's lovely.  

The wedding we attended was for My Guy's older sister.  She's been a widow for about seven years, so it was good to see that she's found someone so she's not alone anymore. The wedding was in Kansas City, KS.  Since My Guy has some vacation to burn, I asked to go up a day earlier than necessary so we could make a side trip. 

Hamilton, Mo was only about an hour from where we were staying.  So we made a day trip to the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  My Guy thought this was just a quilt shop, he was surprised to see a whole quilt town!  I wasn't really paying any attention to the company schedule, but we arrived during the Sweet 16 birthday celebration.  The town was pretty packed, but you could still shop.  You can see my haul above.  The Christmas and Batik fat quarter bundles are gifts, only the white on white fat quarters are mine.  Those will go into a scrap quilt I have on my to be made list.  My Guy did some of his own Christmas shopping for various family members.  Once he finished that, he begged off to the Tap Room so I could finish visiting all the shops. He'd had enough of all things quilty at that point.  

He texted me this photo about 15 minutes after he left me, with the message "You may have to drive".  He was almost done with the flight when I showed up.  He'd made friends with several other enabler husbands and was having a pretty good time on his own. Yes, I did drive back to where we were staying.  

It was a fun weekend with our extra excursion and seeing My Guy's twin sisters along with a few nephew's and nieces, plus one great nephew. It was fun to just hang out and catch up. Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Patchwork & Quilts.