November Wrap Up: PHD in 2023

Hard to believe it's December.  Just one month left to reach all those goals we crafted so carefully last December. One of my goals was to play along with Quilting Gail's PHD in 2023 and do better than I did in 2022.  I'm linking up to the November PHD Update with a report that looks better then last month's. 

  

I finished a second quilt in November, which puts my PHD performance on par with last year's in terms of overall finishes.  In addition to the finish, there was good progress on several other projects. 

I've been working on this emboridered panel since 2012. It's been my traveling project for most of that time.  I have to admit it travels a lot more then it gets worked on, but Grad Girl likes to sit, stitch and talk, so I did make some good progress on it over the holiday weekend. 

The panel is over half way done. Let's hope it doesn't take me another ten years to finish it!  

The backing for Scrappy Butterflies (self designed) is in progress. 

The next step is to prep both quilt top and backing for quilting.  The person who quilts for me has some significant family stuff this month, so we agreed that it was best to wait to send this quilt till after the holiday.  I may or may not try to get this prepped before the end of the month. It may wait till January.  

A few orange blocks were finished for Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter).

There ares still 2 partially completed orange blocks at the sewing machine. Once those are finisehd, Wild and Goosey is going back into the project box till January.  I'll pull it out again to use as my RSC project for 2024.  

Macaron Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs) was my one finish for the month, the second for the year. 

I always enjoy Cheryl's mystery quilts, though this one isn't exactly her final layout.  This quilt is going to be a graduation present next May, well unless I finish something that Grad Girl thinks is a better fit for her mentor between now and then.  

The plan was to finish getting the borders on Rhododendron, Bonnie Hunters 2021 mystery quilt, before this year's mystery took off. 

There was progress on the pieced border, but the quilt top is still a ways off of being finished. I'm not doing full borders of the flying geese. Fingers crossed my plan for the unpieced part of the border works out.  

Melodic Mystery, the 2022 Meadow Mist Designs quilt along, is back from being quilted. 

The quilt was delivered yesterday. So I've not done much more than unbox it and admire the quilting.  Trudy did a wonderful job on this one.  Now the plan is to get the label and binding made so this qult becomes my third finish of the year.  

Last year's Bonnie Hunter mystery, Chilhowie, is still in the works.  The last few blocks haven't gone as quickly as I thought they would.  

It's hard to see the progress since last month, but there was some.  

Clue 5 is still in the works for this year's Meadow Mist Designs' Mystery, the Malted Mystery.  I've till next Thursday to catch up. 

I'm happy with my colors this year. Looking forward to seeing how all these Bits and pieces go together.  

Bonnie Hunter's 2023 Mystery, Indigo Way, kicked off last Friday.  Since we weren't home for Thanksgiving, I didn't get started till Tuesday on clue 1.  Thankfully, I'm only making half the blocks. 

I'm going to need to step up the pace if I'm going to catch up.  My Guy is leaving on a business trip Sunday, so I should have lots of sewing time next week.  

If you stuck with me this long, thank you.  There are way too many projects in the works.  I definitely need to trim the active list down some.  That should happen this week.  

I had hoped to have more complete bars in my progress chart.  

  

Hopefully, by the end of the month there will be more colored in spaces.  

Happy stitching this month.  Enjoy the holiday season, whichever one you celebrate.  

Another Finish, Finally

The plan was to finish one quilt a month starting in September. Due to vacation, I got behind in October.  Even so, I'm still happy to have the Macaron Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs) quilt finished. 

My version is a little different than Cheryl's (Meadow Mist Designs), I wasn't a fan of the partial blocks, so those were left out.  I finished the binding Saturday afternoon. 

The plan was to use the red for the binding, but there wasn't enough left from the quilt top. But the black and white print works pretty well. 

My practice has been to name my version of a quilt. The first step in deciding on a name is usually a Google search for any flower names that match my color scheme.  Usually that returns something for me to work with, for this project, that took me down a bit of a rabbit hole.  At the bottom, was this term "aposematic".  Again per Google: 

Aposematic: (of coloration or markings) serving to warn or repel predators. (of an animal) having aposematic coloration or markings. 

The next search was for examples of aposematic color schemes. Red, black, yellow, or very bright colors (such as those yellow, blue, or orange poison frogs from the Amazon rain forest).  Combinations of red and black were another example given.  For whatever reason the word just stuck in my head. The quilt does have a pretty striking color scheme, though I certainly hope that doesn't warn someone away. Well, maybe if you are taking a nap under it you'd want to warn someone away.  At any rate here's the quilt label. 

This quilt is destined to be a graduation gift, probably for Grad Girl's research group mentor who will be graduating in the spring.  If not for her, then it may go to one of her other friends later.  

Linking up with my normal Monday linky parties,  Design Wall Monday and Patchwork & Quilts.  Also linking up with Meadow Mist Designs, Favorite Finish for November.  

To Do List for the Week of 11/07/2023

It's a long drive from Southern Texas to Northern Oklahoma.  I got home early evening on Monday.  It was a very nice girl's weekend. But now it's time to catch up on a few things.  I'm behind on blog reading and replying to comments, fingers crossed that catching up isn't that hard to do.  Getting back to the sewing room is on my list for today too.  I have a long to do list for this week. Before getting to that, I should review last week's much shorter list. 

To Do List for 10/31/2023

1. Macaron Mystery: Finish label, binding, stitch on - progress

2. Melodic Mystery: Send out for quilting ✔ 

3. Chilhowie: Continue as leader and enders ✔

Two out of three isn't bad considering there was just one day of sewing room time before leaving for Texas.  There was some hand stitching while I was visiting, but not a lot. We were busy girls.  

This week's list is much longer to make up for the very short list last week. 

To Do List for 11/07/2023

1.  Macaron Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Finish hand stitching binding to back

I was able to get the better part of one side stitched and turned one corner while in Texas.  It shouldn't be too difficult to finish it up this week. 

2. Malted Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Finish clue 4, start clue 5

3. Indigo Way (Bonnie Hunter): Decide on fabrics for mystery

4. Scrappy Butterflies (self-designed): Find backing fabric

5. Rhododendron Mystery (Bonnie Hunter): Finish sewing blocks and sashing together

6. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Make 2 orange blocks

7. Chilhowie (Bonnie Hunter): Continue as leader and ender project

It's a long list for this week and I doubt I get to all of them. If not, then there is always next week.  Linking up with The Quilt Schmilt: For the Love of Fabric for To Do Tuesday. 

October Wrap Up: PDH in 2023

Another month gone, just two months left in the year.  It's time to review how well I'm doing on moving a few UFOs to finished and link up with Quilting Gail for the October PHD update.  At this point,  my PHD report isn't very impressive.    

There are no changes in my PHD report, but I have made good progress on several projects in October, even with a week and half vacation thrown in there. 

The oldest UFO on my quilt plan, Scrappy Butterflies (self designed), is now a finished quilt top. 

The plan for November is to find backing fabric and hopefully have this one ready to send out for quilting before Thanksgiving.  We'll see if that happens.  

All the yellow blocks have been finished for Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter). 

November is typically quilt construction time during the Rainbow Scrap Challenge year.  With all the yellow blocks finished, I'm going to move onto orange and see how many of those I can make in November.  

Macaron Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs) is moving towards a finish. 

Trudy finished the quilting and sent the quilt back last week.  I finished the label and the binding earlier this week.  The binding was sewn to the front last night. The plan for this week is to finish hand stitching down the binding the quilt this week. So there should be an updated PHD report for November.  

Bonnie Hunter's 2021 mystery quilt, Rhododendron, came back on the active list in October. The last time there was any progress on this project was in January of this year.  

It's probably optimistic that this will be a finished quilt top by the end of the month as it will have one pieced border, so it will take longer to finish up.  But I'm happy to at least have the blocks out of the project box and mostly assembled.   

Melodic Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs) should be a finished quilt by the end of the year. It was sent out for quilting on Tuesday.  

Hopefully Trudy can work her magic and have it back to me before Thanksgiving. Then I can get it prepped and work on the binding during the holiday while we are visiting with family.   

Chilhowie, last year's Bonnie Hunter mystery, is still my leaders and enders projects.  

The subunits for block 8 were finished, but no assembly happened this month.  Block 8 should be done before the end of the month.  Then it will be on to block 9.  I had hoped Chihowie would be to the  finished quilt top stage before this year's Bonnie Hunter Mystery comes out, but obviously that's not happening. I'll keep working on this one for now and just see where it ends up. 

Malted Mystery is this year's Meadow Mist Designs quilt along.  

Clue 3 is finished.  All but the last 2 sets of flying geese blocks are finished on clue 4.  I'm probably going to be a bit behind when clue 5 comes out on Thursday.  Fingers crossed I can get caught up before clue 6 comes out in December.  

Looking at the accumulated progress across projects for the year, it doesn't look too bad.  

My goal for the year has been progress and as much as I might wish for more, it really has been a good year on that front.  Over the course of this year I seem to have found a project mix that works for me. Fingers crossed it keeps working as we move into the holiday season when most of us have lots of other distractions.  

To Do List for the Week of 10/31/2023

 

Happy Halloween!  Our plans for the evening are to hand out candy to the kids who come by.  We used to have a lot of littles in the neighborhood, but like our daughter, many of them have grown up and left for college.  Not sure how many we'll get. It's going to be cold, plus it's a school night.  

Now back to the regularly scheduled To Do List.  There was no linky party post over at The Quilt Schmilt: For the Love of Fabric last week.  I know that Carol's been really busy with non-quilting commitments, hopefully she'll soon get back to her normal routine (Update: she did get a To Do Tuesday post up). Writing up a to do list has become a big help and motivator for me, so I'm going to continue posting my list.  

I scored 100% on last week's to do list. 

To Do List for 10/24/2023

1. Melodic Mystery: Prep top for quilting ✔

2. Malted Mystery: Continue to work on clue 4 ✔

3. Rhododendron Mystery: Continue quilt top assembly ✔

4. Wild and Goosey: Finish last 2 yellow blocks ✔

5. Chilhowie: Continue as leaders and enders project ✔

Five of five is definitely a good week.  This week won't be as productive. I'm going to take a long weekend and visit Grad Girl.  My Guy has to work, so we'll just have a girls weekend.  But that means I won't have much time for stitching. I'll have some time before leaving, but that still won't be my normal full week of stitching.  So we'll pare down this week's list a bit. 

To Do List for 10/31/2024

1. Macaron Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Finish label and binding. Sew to front and hand stitch to back.  

I'm in the process of sewing the binding strips together. Hopefully, I can get that done and get them attached to the quilt so I can take it with me and finish stitching down the binding while I'm visiting Grad Girl.  

2. Melodic Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Send out for quilting.

I found a box in my attic stash that would work.  I just need to add the packing material, seal it up and address it.  That should happen today. 

3. Chilhowie (Bonnie Hunter): Continue as leader and enders.

All the component parts for block 8 have been constructed. Since I still have a bit of binding to stitch together, there will be just a bit of progress on block assembly before I leave.  

A very short list for this week. But finishing this list means one more finish and one well on it's way to finished.  So a short, but definitely sweet stitching week if I can check off the whole list.    

2023 Q3 Quilting Ambitions Check In and September PHD Progress

The end of September was hectic with vacation preparations, complicated by a three day migraine.  So blogging went out the window for several days.  Vacation preparations got done, but I didn't have the energy to get into the sewing room to get photos for my end of the month post.  Since I've not done anything stitching related for the last couple of weeks, all I have to post is progress on my quilting goals for the year and my PHD progress for September.  I'm linking up with Quilting Jetgirl's 2023 Q3 Check In.  

2023 Ambition #1: Finish some quilts, make progress on some quilts and start some quilts. 

There has been one finish and progress on all but one of the quilts on my 2023 plan since my 2nd quarter update.  A second quilt is out for quilting and three others are finished quilt tops.  I am hoping to finish another three quilts before the end of the year. Even if that doesn't happen, I've made good progress on the quilt plan.  That counts too.  

2023 Ambition #2: Acquire a new skill.

In my second quarter update I noted that my plan was to learn to quilt my own projects. I've not done anything on that front, but I'd forgotten that back in April I did take a class on editing quilt patterns.  I can't say I've mastered that skill, but I did learn something new.  I've played a little with creating a tool that can help me calculate the yardage from instructions, but it still needs a lot of work.  

2023 Ambition #3:  Stitch 15 minutes a day and post associated linky party. 

At the end of the quarter, there were 37 Stitching Stuff linky parties with an average participation of 11.7 bloggers.

 As of the end of September, I'd stitched for at least 15 minutes 86% of the days in 2023.  My goal was to exceed 75%, so I'm on track, at least for now. With last week's vacation and the upcoming holidays, finding stitching time will be harder.  

2023 Ambition #4: Sewing room clean up

• Press, cut and sort scraps: some progress
• Organize yardage: no progress

I've spent some time cleaning up my scraps, but I've not done much of anything with my yardage.  Though I have used up some older pieces of yardage as backings.  I've not had enough finishes for that to impact my yardage storage, but every little bit helps. 

I'm mostly happy with where I'm at with this year's ambitions. Just 2.5 months left in the year.  We are at the point what gets done, gets done and what doesn't will just have to be incorporated into next year's ambitions.  

As far as September progress, the PHD report finally shows a finish.

 

There was good progress on several projects in September. 

Scrappy Butterflies (self designed) was assembled, the first border has been added, attaching the second is in progress.  This should be a finished quilt top by the end of October. 

A few more teal blocks were added to Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter). 

Unity (Bonnie Hunter), aka Helianthus, became a finished quilt in September. 

 

The Macaron Mystery quilt (Meadow Mist Designs) went out for quilting last month.  

The stash yielded a reasonable backing fabric for Melodic Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs).  The plan is to get this project out for quilting before the end of October. 

 

Progress on Chilhowie (Bonnie Hunter) continues as my leaders and enders project. 

Malted Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs) first piecing instructions came out in September.  I didn't quite get that clue done before October's clue came out last week. 

The project tracking chart is showing some longer bars this month.

 

Hopefully a couple more bars move closer to the left of the chart by the end of this month. 

To Do List for the Week of 9/26/2023

It's hard to believe that October is just a few days away.  The end of the year always goes so quickly.  I've got lots of stuff on the calendar over the next few months, so my stitching time is definitely going to drop off.  I've done pretty well at taking advantage of all the stitching time this month.  That is definitely reflected in last week's to do list. 

To Do List for 9/19/2023

1.  Unity/Helianthus: Finish quilt, photograph ✔

2.  Macaron Mystery: Prep quilt top for quilting ✔

3.  Scrappy Butterflies: Finish adding borders - progress

4.  Malted Mystery: Continue to work on clue 3 ✔

5.  Wild & Goosey: Make 2 teal blocks - progress

6.  Chilhowie: Continue as leader and ender project ✔

Four check marks and progress on the rest of the list is a really good week.  My focus for the next few months is moving as many quilts as possible to the finish line.  I'm pretty sure I can finish at least two more before the end of the year even with the full calendar.  So that's the focus for this week's to do list.

To Do List for 9/26/2023

1.  Macaron Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Package and mail out for quilting

I finished cleaning off all the loose threads on Sunday.  I've found a box and the batting.  I just need to finish the packaging, write the label and take it to the post office.  That should be doable this week.

2.  Melodic Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Find backing fabric and decide on piecing plan

Melodic Mystery became a finished quilt top in August. It's actually not on the UFO list yet as it's not been over a year since I started it. But it will pass that milestone before I get this one out for quilting.  

3. Scrappy Butterflies (self designed):  Finish last border

  

The first border has been added.  The final border will be that darker blue from the alternate blocks.  It always takes longer to finish a border then I think it will.  Fingers crossed this is a finished quilt top before next week's to do list.  Since it will be my oldest finished quilt top, it will be next on the list after Melodic Mystery to get the backing, prep for quilting and send it out.  That's the plan for November anyway.  

4. Malted Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Continue to work on clue 3

I've finished one set of HSTs, the sister's block, the plus blocks and am now working on the T blocks.  There is one more set of blocks, plus another set of HSTs to finish before the end of the month.  I'm on track to finish this clue before the next one comes out.  

5.  Wild & Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Finish 4 teal blocks

I finished one block last week and got started on two more.  It's been slow progress on this project this year.  But that's OK, I'm just happy to move this one along a little. 

6. Chilhowie (Bonnie Hunter): Continue as leader and ender project. 

The center of block 7 is assembled. Now it just needs the borders added.  I should have a finished block by next week's to do list so it will be time to start on the components for block 8.  

That's my to do list for this week.  I'm going for slow and steady progress.  If not everything gets checked off, I'm good with that so long as there has been some progress.  Linking up with The Quilt Schmilt: For the Love of Fabric for this week's To Do Tuesday.  

To Do List for the Week of 9/19/2023

Hard to believe that more than half of September is in the books.  Looking at what's on my calendar, the end of the year will come really quickly.  Consequently my to do lists are getting longer.  Last week's list was up to six items, which makes it harder to check off the entire list.    

To Do List for 9/12/2023

1. Unity (Helianthus): Make label, binding, finish - progress

2. Macaron Mystery: Prep quilt top for quilting - no progress

3. Scrappy Butterflies: Finish top assembly ✔

4. Malted Mystery: Continue to work on clue 3 ✔

5. Wild and Goosey: Make 2 teal blocks - progress

6. Chilhowie: Continue as leader and ender ✔

Three check marks with progress on 2 others is really not a bad week at all. My goal is to just keep projects moving closer to finished.  With that in mind, this week's list is going to look pretty similar.  

To Do List for 9/19/2023

1. Unity/Helianthus (Bonnie Hunter): Finish quilt, photograph

 

Three corners of the quilt are stitched down. Just one more long side to that fourth corner.  I'm excited to finish Unity. It was one of those projects that I just struggled to get moving on. A lot of that was due to where I was mentally last year.  I'll be glad to mark this one off the to do list.  The plan is to get photographs over the weekend and give Unity it's own blog post on Monday.  

2. Macaron Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Prep top for quilting.

This was on last week's to do list, but I'd forgotten just how much effort goes into finishing off a quilt, so I choose to focus on Unity and Scrappy Butterflies to move those to finished quilt and finished top respectively.  Unity should be finished today, so I can concentrate on getting the next project out for quilting so there will be a finish for next month.  

3. Scrappy Butterflies (self designed): Finish adding border(s)

I'm still undecided on the border(s) for this quilt.  It's already larger than I wanted, but finishing out the Irish Chain pattern really makes the quilt.  My EQ file shows three borders, but that may become just one.  I'd really like to keep the size down on this one.  

4. Malted Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Continue to work on clue 3

One set of HSTs have been finished and the second set of HSTs is in progress.  The Sister block is almost finished.  Next up is the Plus blocks.  I'm on track to be ready for clue 4 when it comes out next month.  

5. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Make 2 teal blocks

I started one block last week, but didn't quite get it finished.  The goal is to make what I can each month to move this project along.  I've not decided yet if this project will become a focus for next year or if it will stay a make a few blocks a month project.  I have older rainbow scrap projects that are closer to finished then this one.  So those may be the focus for next year.  

6. Chilhowie (Bonnie Hunter): Continue as leader and ender project

Block 7 is still under construction, but it's coming along. Hopefully it's a finish by the end of the month.  That leaves just 2 more to finish. I doubt I have this quilt assembled before this year's mystery gets started, but having the blocks done means a quicker finish for next year.  

So another long to do list for this week.  Fingers crossed I can check off most of them before next week's post. Linking up with The Quilt Schmilt: For the Love of Fabric for this week's To Do Tuesday.  

To Do List for the week of 9/12/2023

Where did the last week go?  I worked in my stitching time each day, but it wasn't enough to check off all the items on my to do list. 

To Do List for 9/5/2023

1. Macaron Mystery: Prep back for quilting ✔

2. Scrappy Butterflies: Finish border blocks, finish assembly - progress

3. Wild and Goosey: Make 2 blocks - no progress

4. Malted Mystery: Start on clue 3 ✔

5. Chilhowie: Continue as leaders and enders ✔

Three out of 5, with progress on the 4th to do item isn't a bad week. I didn't get my typical nothing but stitching day on Sunday.  So that definitely played into how things worked out with last week's list.  

I'm signed up for a stained glass class tonight with some friends from work, so I probably won't get in much stitching time today, as it's gym and Walmart day as well.  I should be able to manage good sessions the rest of week. Well assuming I don't come down with the flu.  My niece was at my sister's birthday party on Sunday. She'd lost her voice, due to what she thought was allergies, but she tested positive for the flu yesterday.  She wasn't sneezing or coughing, so fingers crossed she didn't spread flu germs to the rest of us.  At any rate, here is the to do list for this week. 

To Do List for 9/12/2023

1. Unity (Bonnie Hunter): Print label, make binding, finish

The color palette used in Unity has always reminded me of sunflowers. So the Latin genus for sunflowers, Helianthus, seemed to be a good name for this quilt.  I need to decide which fabric I'm using for the binding, but that's probably going to be dictated by what fabrics are left over more than anything.  

2. Macaron Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Prep top for quilting

The back has been pressed and all the loose threads (which just seem to be everywhere in my sewing room) have been removed.  Fingers crossed I can get the top prepped so it can go out for quilting before the end of the month.  My goal is to finish at least one quilt a month for the rest of the year.  

3. Scrappy Butterflies (self designed): Finish top assembly

All the border blocks are finished. The top 4 rows and bottom 3 are all sewn together.  That just leaves rows 5 and 6 to finish up.  Unity and Macaron are my priorities this week, so if I get any work done on the borders that would be great, but I'll be happy to have all the rows assembled by the end of the week.  

4. Malted Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Continue to work on clue 3. 

Clue 3 has a lot of stitching, 2 sets of HSTs, plus 2 sets of blocks.  Hopefully I can get the two older projects off the list so I can concentrate on finishing the clue before the end of the month.  

5. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Make 2 teal blocks

I may be reaching with this to do item, but I'll leave it on the list.  Any progress on this project this year is going to help move it along next year.  

6.  Chilhowie (Bonnie Hunter): Continue as leader and ender project

Block 7 is coming together, slowly. 

That's a big list for this week and I doubt I get to all of it.  But any progress is good.  Linking up with The Quilt Schmilt: For the Love of Fabric for this week's To Do Tuesday.