A Finished Mystery

There hasn't been much sewing room time the last couple of weeks.  No point in posting if there isn't anything to post about, so there were no posts last week.  October has proved to be a busy month, with late nights at work and we were on the road the first two weekends of the month.  We were mostly home this weekend, so I had time to sew a bit and to finally get some photos of my last finish. 

Morewood Mystery (Wrapped Sweets)
Meadow Mist Designs 2020 Mystery Quilt Along
Started 9/4/2020, Finished 9/26/2021

  

The Scientist in Training noted how the square in a square combined with the light blue/teal HSTs looked like a wrapped candy.  So Wrapped Sweets seemed like a good name for this quilt. This project is my fifth Meadow Mist Designs mystery quilt. I really enjoy Cheryl's mystery quilts. She gives great information on how the fabrics interact with each other, so it makes it much easier to pick fabrics that work well with each other. I'm really happy with how this project came out. 

Trudy quilted Wrapped Sweets with a leafy motif. It gives the quilt a really nice texture.  

   

The backing is pieced from the darker teal and the multicolored print used in the blocks.  

The binding is the lighter teal/blue also used in the blocks. 

This quilt is staying here for now.  It will find a home eventually.  

Wrapped Sweets was finish number 3 for 2021. It's one of 3 quilts started in 2020.  The UFO count is down to 19, which is where it was when 2020 ended.  I'm still hoping to work down the UFO list before the end of the year, but at least that number isn't going up.  I'll take that.  

Linking up with Monday Making and Design Wall Monday.  

PHD in 2021: September Progress

This year certainly hasn't gone to plan on the work or quilting fronts.  The calendar says it's October, just three months in the year to make good on those goals we set back in December.  I'm disappointed in the lack of progress this year, last year was so good for finishing projects. But life sometimes throws us curves, so I'm trying hard to remember that progress counts too.  So I'm going to celebrate the progress made with Quilting Gail's 2021 PHD quilt along.  

There are two updates to my 2021 PHD report. 

There's one new finish and one new start.  The new finish means I've finished 2 of the 3 quilts started in 2020.  The new start is Meadow Mist Designs Macaron Mystery. The last clue won't come out till March of 2022, so it that mystery will not be finished this year.  The goal was 8 finishes this year. That's probably not happening, but I'm hoping to get at least 2 more quilts to the finished line by the end of the year.  That's just doable.  

September was a better month on working in stitching time than August was, which was better than July. 

Morewood (Meadow Mist Designs 2020 Mystery quilt) is a finished quilt.  

I haven't had a chance to get a shot of the whole quilt yet, that will probably happen this weekend.  

Cabins and Fans (self designed) just needs the borders added to be a finished quilt top. 

There's been progress since the end of September, just 2 border strips need to be cut and sewn on then this project will be a finished quilt top.  It's my October OMG to get the top finished and to make the backing.  

Unity (Bonnie Hunter 2020 Quilt Along) is still moving slowly, but step 7 is almost complete.

Just one more block is needed to finish the last border in step 7.  I've already started making the flying geese needed for the next step as my leaders and enders.  I don't think Unity is going to be finished this year, but it will be close.  

Scrappy Butterflies (self designed) has a few more alternate blocks finished. 

In an effort to make more progress on other projects, there wasn't as much effort put into the alternate blocks, but there was some progress last month. It should come back into the rotation once the borders are on Cabins and Fans.  I'm hoping this is a finished quilt top by the end of the year.  

Macaron Mystery has just gotten started and I'm already behind. 

 I have less than half of the HST blocks made for step 3 and step 4 comes out tomorrow.  Hopefully I'll have time to play catch up later this month. This is my first new project since November of last year, so I'm going to enjoy playing with something completely new and not worry too much at this point about being caught up or not.

A finish, a start, and progress on other fronts. September wasn't so bad.  I have hope there will be good progress in October.  

Slow Stitching to a Finish

We took a day off on Friday and enjoyed a three day weekend. My Guy was still pretty sore from his bicycle accident the weekend before, so the plan was to just take it easy and hang out at home.  He was feeling much better by the end of the weekend, though he still has some really colorful bruises. 

My goal was to get laundry done and then spend a lot time in the sewing room working on some finishes.  The easiest was to finish reworking some face masks.  

These were some of the first masks I made. The elastic had worn out, so I reconstructed them with a new fabric backing and T-shirt ear loops.  The face mask making is done, at least for a bit. I may make some new Halloween ones, I have some fun novelty fabrics that would make cool masks.  

Most of my sewing room time was spent binge watching British Bake Off while sewing down the binding for the Morewood Mystery.

It was late in the evening before the last stitch was made. 

So this is the only picture I have of the finished quilt, showing that all 4 corners are stitched down.  This was my September One Monthly Goal.  It feels good to meet it with a few days to spare.  

Also linking up with Monday Making and Design Wall Monday. 

To Do Tuesday for Week of 9/21/2021

It's been a fast month.  Work is still insanely busy, but I think there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Keep your fingers crossed for me on that front.  I'm not working as late as much as I was, that's meant more time for stitching stuff at home.  That shows in the progress on last week's to do list. 

Weekly To Do List for 9/14/2021

• Morewood Mystery: Trim quilt, make label and binding ✔
• Cabin and Fans: Finish first border ✔
• Unity: Make HSTs for step 6 ✔
• Scrappy Butterflies: Make Irish Chain blocks ✔
• Macaron Mystery: Make HSTs for step 3 ✔

Those five check marks feel really good. 

I've struggled with what to put on this week's list. Working on multiple projects has always been my preference, but working on more than 4 can really dilute my efforts.  I really don't want to take anything off the list, instead I'm going to put more emphasis on the order of the list. Higher in the list get's the most attention.  There may not be a check mark by every item at the end of the week, but I'm OK with that if there is really good progress on the first two projects.  

Weekly To Do List for 9/21/2021

Morewood Mystery: Sew binding to front, hand stitch to back

   

The label and binding are both made and ready to stitch to the quilt top. If I make this my number one priority, there should be a finished quilt by next week. 

Cabins and Fans: Work on second and third borders

The strips for the second border have been cut and are partially assembled.  If I focus on this project, there might just be a finished quilt top when it's time to make up next week's list. 

Unity: Make HSTs for step 6

Only four more HSTs and step 6 will be finished.  And just two more blocks left to finish the final border for step 7.  This will continue to be my leaders and enders project this week.  

Macaron Mystery: Make HSTs for step 3

The pattern calls for 54 of these. Step 3 also includes half hourglass units.  I've been stitching one square at the end of the chain piecing.  I'll keep doing that so I don't fall too far behind on this mystery. 

Scrappy Butterflies: Make Irish Chain Blocks

Scrappy Butterflies
Block is available in EQ 8 Block Library

I only made two blocks last week, so I've not been focusing on it much.  So this project may sit for a couple of weeks till I get Cabins and Fans sent out for quilting. I'll finish the blocks that are partially assembled and call it good on this project for the week.  

That's my to do list this week.  Linking up with Texas Quilt Gal for To Do Tuesday.   

Working On a Finish

It's always exciting to get a quilt back from the quilter.  One more project almost finished and off the to do list.  But there's still a few steps to complete between pulling it out of the shipping box and taking that last stitch in the binding.  

One goal for this weekend was to finish those pre-binding steps so I could focus on finishing up the Morewood Mystery quilt this next week.  I remembered to do finish step1 just before I went to bed on Saturday.  I printed out the label, soaked it, and let it dry overnight. Sunday I added the borders. 

I still need to turn under and press the top and left side borders, but that won't take long.  Other than that, the label is ready to sew on with the binding. The Scientist in Training suggested the name. She thought the square in a square blocks with the HSTs, next to them looked like wrapped candies.  

Trimming off the excess batting and backing is not one of my favorite things to do. It's not hard, it's just awkward to fold and refold the quilt so it fits on the cutting table for trimming. 

Morewood Mystery by Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs

After that it's ready for the binding.

Which at the end of Sunday was still being stitched together over at the sewing machine.

I just need to sew the two halves of the binding strips together to finish that step.  I'm hoping to get that far tonight.  After that the binding still needs to be folded in half and pressed before stitching it to the front of the quilt.  That's the goal for this week. I'm hoping to get that done and make a start on hand stitching the binding to the back. That's my favorite part of the finishing process.  

Linking up with Monday Making and Design Wall Monday. 

September One Monthly Goal: Finish the Morewood Mystery

We're 6 days into September, so it was time to put some thought into what the One Monthly Goal is for September and link up with Elm Street Quilts. 

An email came from Trudy on Friday saying that the quilted Morewood Mystery was in the mail and on it's way back to Oklahoma.  Finishing off that mystery project is the most logical candidate for this month's OMG.  

I've finished and vetted the new quilt name and label with the Scientist in Training. 

The SIT has always thought the square in a square block with the teal HSTs looks like wrapped candies.  

Morewood Mystery by Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs

I can see that.  This quilt is destined for the bed of the SITs long term friend and new roommate.  It will be part of her Christmas gift this year.  

I'll need to print the label, trim the quilt, make the binding then sew it to the front and back. That should be doable this month. I'm looking forward to making this project finish number three for 2021.  

PHD in 2021: Better than July

August has become September, just 4 months left in 2021.  One of my goals for this year was to finish 8 quilts. I've been playing along with Quilting Gail's PHD in 2021 as one way of staying motivated to meet that goal.  

I'm not doing so hot on that goal or on my PHD. There was no change in the my  report between last month and this month. 

No new finishes, but no new starts either.  So that's a bright spot. There was progress on all of the active projects so that's another plus. 

Morewood finally got sent out for quilting. 

Trudy has finished the quilting and it will soon be on it's way back. The plan is to finish the binding before the end of the month. Fingers crossed next month's PHD report has one more finish on it.  

Cabins and Fans is almost assembled. 

The two halves got pinned together last night with the hope I've got some time tonight to sit down at the sewing machine and stitch that seam.  Then it will be on to the borders. I'm hoping to get the borders on by the end of the month.  That will be a challenge.  

With the Morewood Mystery off the active list in August, it was time to add a new UFO to the in progress list. 

Scrappy Butterflies was my Rainbow Scrap Challenge project in 2013.  So it's definitely time to get this project finished up.  The butterfly blocks are all framed and the Irish Chain blocks are started. Still a long way to go on this project, but at least it's moving again.  

Unity continues to be my leader and enders project. 

I'm more than half way done with the last border in step 7.  Hopefully I'll have moved on to step 8 by the end of the month.  

August was a better month than July. I'm hoping September is better than August. I have some vacation that needs to be used, so I'm hoping for some additional nothing but stitching days in the next few months.  

Linking up with Quilting Gail for the August PHD Report.

August One Monthly Goal

It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that August is almost over.  Just four months left in the year.  That's even harder to wrap my mind around. But it happens every year, you'd think I'd be used to it at this point.  As the month is just about over, it's time to talk about my August One Monthly Goal and link up with the end of the month linky party over at Elm Street Quilts.  

 

The plan this month was to get the Morewood Mystery Quilt prepped for quilting. 

The last step in the process was to press and clean up any loose threads on the back. With a white background, that's an important step to reduce threads that might show through after quilting.  

The loose threads weren't too bad on this project.

  

Then the final lint roll of the top, fold and bag. Now it's ready to box up. 

The batting, backing and quilt top were all boxed up and mailed out almost two weeks ago. In fact, Trudy's finished with the quilting and Morewood should soon be on it's way back next week.  Fingers crossed there will be another finish next month.  

So I checked all the boxes this month after bungling the same OMG for last month.  Linking up with the August One Monthly Goal Finish over at Elm Street Quilts.   

To Do Tuesday for Week of 8/10/2021

It's been about three weeks since my last To Do Tuesday post.  To Do Lists were written, but nothing was checked off, so nothing really to post about. Finally this last week there was some action on the stitching front.

To Do List for 8/3/2021

• Morewood Mystery: Finish prepping quilt top ✔
• Cabins and Fans: Work on row 7 ✔
• Unity: Make HSTs for clue 6 as leader and ender ✔
• Scrappy Butterflies: Finalize quilt setting ✔

The biggest achievement was getting the Morewood quilt top pressed and de-threaded.  Now that's done, I can get back to piecing. Even better I can add another UFO to this week's To Do List. 

To Do List for 8/10/2021

Morewood Mystery:  Box up and send out for quilting. 

I found a shipping box last night.  Now I just have to tape it up and find time to get it to the post office to mail it off.  

Cabins and Fans: Continue assembly of row 7

The last orange block is just about assembled.  There hasn't been any progress the last few weeks on these fan blocks.  I'm hoping to get a few blocks assembled this week.  

Scrappy Butterflies:  Start framing the butterfly blocks

The butterfly blocks finish at 9". A 1" frame needs to be added so they fit with the 10" Irish Chain blocks.  That should go pretty fast. 

Unity: Make HSTs for Step 6

Just 6 more blocks needed to finish off the last border for Step 7.  I'm hoping to get in a lot of stitching time this week to get that far.  I'm ready to move on to Step 8.  

Any progress at all will be welcome, as that will be an improvement over the last few weeks.  Linking up with ChrisKnits for To Do Tuesday.  

August One Monthly Goal

It's the end of the first week of August. Definitely time to pick a One Monthly Goal and link up over at Elm Street Quilts.

I've noted in earlier posts that the last half of July was pretty bad on the stitching front. For the first time in at least 18 months I didn't finish my OMG for the month.  So the plan for August is to pick up where I left off and finish prepping the Morewood Mystery for quilting, then package and ship it out for quilting.   

I'm about a third of the way finished with the pressing and clean up.  If I focus on this over the weekend, then I should be able to finish this up and go back to more fun stuff.  So an easily accomplished goal, but one that I've stalled on for the last couple of weeks.  

PHD in 2021: July's Missteps

July went really fast and with the first week of August almost in the bag, it's obvious that the last half of the year is going to move at the speed of light. July had a few nasty surprises.  Shoulder issues sidelined me for the last 2 weeks of the month.  That means limited computer and sewing time till the inflammation goes down.  So I've been pretty absent from the blogging world.  Add in the two weekends I spent with the Scientist in Training one for fun and one to get her moved, my sewing time was pretty limited the last half of the month.  So a pretty negative month in terms of progress on my 2021 PHD. 

 

There are no new finishes, but at least there are no new starts. 

 

The PHD report is pretty much unchanged from last month's.  That doesn't mean there hasn't been some progress on a few projects.

Morewood just needs to be pressed and de-threaded before it's sent out for quilting. 

 

Progress has stalled on that front.  Hopefully I'll have lots of time in the sewing room this weekend to finish up that chore. 

Just two more rows of blocks to stitch together for Cabins and Fans.

 

Once Morewood is prepped, I'll get back to stitching on this project. 

Unity is moving slowly, but it's progressing. 

Just one border left on Step 7.  I'm so ready to move on to a new block!  

With Morewood rolling off the active project list, it was time to find another UFO to add to the rotation.  My 2013 Rainbow Scrap Project, Scrappy Butterflies, will be back on the active list till it's finished.  

Figuring out how to set these blocks together is what's kept it on the UFO list for so long.  I really like the Irish Chain setting, but I don't like how the butterflies on the edges aren't completely framed.  It looks incomplete to my eye. So this may not be the final setting, but it's close.  

Fingers crossed that August is more productive and less stressful than July was.  Linking up with Quilting Gail for the July PHD update.