Last Year's Mystery

My holiday vacation started last Friday and I've been enjoying the time off. There's been a fair amount of stitching going on over the long weekend. I'm still not caught up with Grassy Creek and likely won't be before Christmas.  A few pieces are cut out to start clue 3, but clue 4 isn't even printed out yet.  But I did finish the last stitch in the binding for last year's Bonnie Hunter mystery.  

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt
Started December 1, 2019; Finished December 20, 2020

Frolic is all finished and is currently draped over the back of the couch (I'd show pictures, but the living room is currently looking very lived in since the Scientist in Training is home from college). I pretty much stuck with Bonnie's colors, but substituted black for the light neutrals. The border is a bit different too. HSTs aren't my favorite thing to make, so the border was constructed to use what there was once the blocks were all finished. 

I'm  not sure how to describe the quilting motive that Trudy used, but it works with the quilt. She nailed it as usual.   

The backing is a blue and white stripe from the stash. I used the darker bright blue as the binding. 

Frolic is the eighth Bonnie Hunter annual mystery that I've started, and only the fourth finished.  I'm happy with how it turned out. My Guy likes it. Frolic was supposed to be his recliner quilt, but it's a bit big for that, so it became the couch quilt.  

Finishing Frolic was my OMG for December. So I'll be linking up with Elm Street Quilts for the last linky party of 2020.  I'm linking up with the usual Monday show and tells for today: Monday Making and Monday Design Wall.     

To Do Tuesday for the Week of 12/15/2020

December is half over.  Already?  That doesn't seem possible.  So rather than dwell on that,  I'm going to concentrate on the last and the next To Do Lists. 

Weekly To Do List for 12/08/2020

• Frolic: Start hand stitching the binding ✔
• Morewood Mystery:  Work on the December clue ✔
• Grassy Creek: Start Clue 2 ✔
• Unity: Make flying geese ✔

Last week's list was all about just keeping projects moving. Since I knew I wouldn't have as much time to stitch as usual, the list was kept pretty easy.  That made it easy to check off all four items.  I'm going to be a bit more ambitious for this next week. 

Weekly To Do List for 12/15/2020

Frolic:  Finish stitching down the binding.

The first corner has been turned and the label has been stitched down. So just three more corners to stitch this week.  

Morewood Mystery: Continue to work on the December clue.

I'm not very far along with the December blocks, but the stack has at least been started.  I may not finish them this week, that's OK.  The goal is to just keep the project moving.  

Grassy Creek:  Start Clue 3 and 4

I'm way behind on the Bonnie Hunter mystery.  I've cut the yellow triangles for clue 2, but still need to cut the white and green triangles before I can start making the hour glass blocks.  Clue 3 came out last Friday, but I've not done anything on it yet. Hopefully I can get a bit caught up before Clue 4 comes out this Friday. 

Unity: Finish step 5.

Just need to finish making four more flying geese, finish stitching them together and then stitch the border to the bottom of the quit top.  That should be doable by the weekend.  

So that's the plan for this week. Even if I don't get that far by next week, any progress will be good. Linking up with To Do Tuesday at Home Sewn by Us. 

To Do Tuesday for the Week of December 8, 2020

Life has been a bit hectic since Thanksgiving, with work bordering on being completely insane. Consequently sewing and computer time has been at a premium the last week. I missed last week's To Do Tuesday because I just didn't have time to post, thankfully things calmed down by the weekend and I did get in some really good stitching time, else my to do list would have looked really pitiful.

Weekly To Do List for 11/24/2020

• Red, White and Blue Stars: Continue with borders ✔
• Unity: Add next border, make flying geeese ✔
• Grassy Creek: Start on Clue 1 ✔
• Morewood Mystery: Work on November clue ✔
• Daisy Chain: De-thread, press, pack and ship ✔

So the week of Thanksgiving was really, really good.  In spite of work insanity, there are a few check marks for last week.

Weekly To Do List for 12/01/2020

• Unity: Add one flying geese border, make flying geese ✔
• Grassy Creek: Continue to work on Clue 1, start Clue 2 progress
• Morewood Mystery: Work on December Clue ✔
• Frolic: Make binding stitch to front, start hand stitching ✔

Three out of four is pretty good for a week that was pretty much rubbish till the weekend.  There will not be as much time for stitching this week. I have some plans with the Scientist in Training this weekend.  That means this week's list needs to be pretty reasonable.  

Weekly To Do List for 12/08/2020

Frolic:  Hand stitch the binding.

I've not gotten very far on the hand stitching yet and probably won't finish that till next week.  But Frolic should definitely be finished before the end of the month. 

Grassy Creek: Work on Clues 1 and 2

I've made a start on clue 1, actually have a few more of the HSTs finished than in this photo. I haven't started on clue 2 yet. Hopefully I'll be able to get a few blocks made on Sunday. 

 

Morewood Mystery: Work on the December Clue.

This is my fabric for the December clue. Of all my choices this is the one I'm not sure is going to work.  Fingers crossed that the pieces are big enough you get all the colors in each patch.  

Unity: Make flying Geese

I've got a good start on the flying geese border for the bottom.  I doubt it gets finished this week, but any progress is good.  

In addition to plans with the SIT, I've got Christmas wrapping to do, so that will cut into my stitching time as well. The plan for this week is to just keep all the projects moving.  Linking up with To Do Tuesday over at Home Sewn by Us.  Good luck with your to do list this week.  

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. 

December One Monthly Goal

It's been one of those weeks and I didn't realize till this morning that I hadn't set a One Monthly Goal for December as yet. 

Since the 2020 Bonnie Hunter mystery kicked off over a week ago, it's definitely time to get last year's mystery finished up.  

All the extra batting has been trimmed away. The label has been printed and rinsed, but it still needs to dry.  The binding strips have been cut, but they aren't all sewn together yet.  The plan is to have a bound, labeled and finished quilt by the end of December. 

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts for the December One Monthly Goal. 

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.  

To Do Tuesday for the Week of 10/20/2020

There are only 10 weeks left in 2020.  Just 10 more to do lists left for the year, just 10 weeks to make progress on this year's goals. The weeks always seem to go faster this time of year. So it's definitely time to decide on the priorities for the rest of the year.  Before looking ahead to this next week, how did week 11 eleven go? 

Weekly To Do List for 10/13/2020

• Red, White and Blue Stars: Continue sashing blocks ✔
• Morewood Mystery: Work on October blocks ✔
• Unity: Make HSTs and blocks for Step 4 ✔
• Strom at Sea: hand stitch binding down ✔
• Frolic: prep for quilting, progress

Not a bad week, four and of five to do's with check marks and progress on the last item.  Four to do's seems to be my sweet spot. That fifth one is just hard to finish in a typical week. 

So what's the focus for this week?  

Weekly To Do List for 10/20/2020

Frolic: Prep for quilting and mail

 Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

About three quarters of the quilt has been well pressed and de-threaded.  The backing is already pressed, cleaned up and packaged for shipping.  It shouldn't take much longer to get Frolic prepped. It should be easy to get this done and to the post office before the end of the week. 

Red, White and Blue Stars: Finish sashing the blocks

 Red, White and Blue Stars, self designed setting

Just three more sashing strips to make for the center of the top.  It won't take a lot of time to finish assembly. Then it will be time for borders, but that's for next week's to do list. 

Morewood Mystery: Continue to make blocks for October

Progress has been really slow on these blocks. My focus has been on getting the Red, White and Blue quilt sashed.  There's only two more weeks left in the month, so I need to bump up the effort on these blocks or I'll be behind when November's clue comes out.  

Unity:  Make more HSTs and blocks for Clue 4

Progress on Unity has been slow as well.  I just need one more border strip to finish off step 4.  Not sure that will happen this week.  The goal is to just keep the project moving.  

That's the list for this week. I'm back down to just four items. Hopefully I can check them off before next week.  Linking up with Home Sewn by Us  for the Weekly To Do List.

Creeping up on Finishes

Not much happened in the sewing room on  Saturday.  We met up with the Scientist in Training in Tulsa to switch out cars. The front end damage from that accident in August was finally fixed. She was thrilled to get her car back. She's been driving My Guy's 21 year old Jeep.  To be honest My Guy's feeling was mutual, he was just as glad to get his car back as the SIT was. It turned cold and rainy on Sunday.  Perfect sewing room weather and I made the most of it.  

I had hoped to finish getting the binding on Storm at Sea, but that didn't happen. So no finish to show off today. There's another 50 something inches left to stitch. I'm off work this afternoon, so fingers crossed I'll have time to finish it today.  

There is some visible progress on the Red, White and Blue Stars quilt.

 Red, White and Blue Stars, setting self designed

Just one more row of sashing strips to make and I can concentrate on getting this stitched together. 

The post office must be having equipment issues. It took a week for my payment for quilting the Christmas Mystery to reach Trudy because at some point the envelope was completely mangled. That quilted project should be on it's way back today. The plan was to have Frolic ready to ship out once the Christmas quilt was on the way back.  I didn't get that far. 

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

The backing is de-threaded, pressed and packaged for shipping.  I did get started on de-threading and pressing the Frolic top, but didn't get very far. I've managed to clean up about a third of the quilt top.  It should be ready to ship out by the end of the week. 

Finish was my word for 2020.  So far I've finished three quilts. That total should be four by the end of the week. With one more quilted and another ready for quilting, my finished numbers are slowly creeping up.  I want to keep an emphasis on finishing next year. I'm determined to get the number of WIPs and UFOs cut down significantly.  So what's another word for "finish"?  I've got a couple of months to figure that out.   

Linking up with Monday Making and the Monday Design Wall.  

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 the Week of 09/08/2020

 Hope everyone in the US had a good holiday weekend.  I took Friday off, so it's that much harder to head back to work this morning. We took it slow this weekend. The Scientist in Training has a pretty hard semester this fall, so she slept a lot and then had homework.  This is her only break till Thanksgiving. The school moved Fall Break to the week of Thanksgiving, so she has that whole week off. That seems so far off but it will be here before you know it. 

Having a four day weekend helped with getting through last week's To Do List.

• Daisy Chain: Add tan and black borders ✔
• Morewood Mystery: Start Sept. Clue ✔
• Frolic: Decide on backing ✔
• Unity: Continue working on Clue 4 ✔

Four out of four is a pretty good week. I'll have to work the rest of the week, so I probably need to be selective about what goes on this week's list. 

Frolic: Piece the backing

This yardage has been in the stash for awhile. It's the right color to go with the quilt top.  Now to figure out what direction the stripes will go, up and down or side to side.  

Morewood Mystery: Continue making clue 2 HSTs

Not sure if this quilt will have pinwheels or not, but both colors would make nice ones.  

Unity:  Make HSTs and blocks for Step 4

I need to cut some more background triangles before I can make many more of the friendship star blocks.  Thankfully, these block are going much faster then step 3 blocks went.   

2019 Christmas Mystery: Press and prep back for quilting

The plan is to have this project ready to go out for quilting before Storm at Sea comes back from being quilted.  That should be doable if I get going on the prep.  

Those are my plans for this week.  Linking up with Home Sewn by Us for To Do Tuesday.  Hope you have a great stitchy week.  

Momentum

 What a week!  I'll be glad to see the end of this one.  My Guy is finally feeling much better and thankfully his test came back negative. Thank you for all the moral support and crossed fingers. I'm really looking forward to the holiday weekend. A few days off work will be nice. After this week, a sewing only day is definitely in the cards.  I should decide on my September One Monthly Goal before then.  

Next up on the 2020 Quilt plan is Daisy Chain.  

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

It just needs two borders added, a tan and then a black, to be a finished quilt top.  I've gotten the first two border strips cut, at least one should be stitched on tonight.  This seems like a simple OMG, but borders always take longer than I think they should. 

I've also been working hard on getting my PHD this year. 

My spreadsheet hasn't changed since July. 

But I've been building momentum on those quilt finishes. Storm at Sea is out for quilting. 

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

The 2019 Christmas Mystery Quilt has a back pieced and ready to go, it just needs to be prepped for quilting.  

2019 Christmas Mystery
designed by Carrie Randall (Quilter's Hideaway)

Finally, Frolic is finished. It just needs a back. 

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

If I can keep up the momentum, these four should become finishes this year. That won't earn me my PHD, but it's a tie for the most quilts I've finished in a year. I'll take that.  

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts for the September One Monthly Goal and with Quilting Gail for the 2020 PHD.  I hope you'll stop by tomorrow for my 10 year blogiversary.