Solving One Mystery to Start Another

The staycation has come to an end, it's back to work today.  It's been a nice few days off.  I didn't get as much time in the sewing room as I'd hoped, but I did get in one nothing but sewing day during our break.  Sad to say I'm already ready for another one.  

One of the goals last week was to finish off the binding on Mosaic Mystery.  The last of the binding was stitched down on Saturday evening and the last glamour shot was taken yesterday. 

 Mosaic Mystery Quilt (Farfalla)
designed by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs
Started August 26, 2019, Finished July 11, 2020 

 

I'm happy with the finish, though I really wish there had been enough of the butterfly fabric to make that final border just a bit wider.  The binding is the same dark purple as the last border.  

 The quilting is a meander, with what looks like a butterfly showing up here and there in the quilting. 

I've shown the label before. Farfalla is the Italian word for butterfly, as I learned from one of my light summer reads.  It seemed to fit this project.  

There's no plan for this project at the moment.  Usually the Scientist in Training's roommate asks me to donate quilt to their fundraiser for the regional service dog training organization she works with.  Since so much has been canceled due to the pandemic, not sure they'll have the fundraiser this year.  But I've got that covered if it does go ahead.  

Finishing up Mosaic Mystery was my July One Monthly Goal.  I'll link up with Elm Street Quilts at the end of the month when that linky party opens up. 

This finish is timely in that the next Meadow Mist Designs mystery starts this month. The fabric requirements were posted last week for the Morewood Mystery.  The SIT helped me poke around in the stash last night. Here's where we ended up just before dinner last night. 

The two blue florals have been in the stash for a while, as has the purple, green and blue print. Only the pink/purple fabric is recent.  But they were all in the stash.  I like the combination, but someone recently commented on the blog that my color schemes for many of my quilts looked the same.  Case in point here's the fabric pull for Frolic (which is still on the design wall). 

I do love how Frolic came out, so I don't have a problem with the colors.  But do I want to play with the same color palette for another project?   I have till August to finalize the fabric pull for the Morewood Mystery.  I'm going to play in the stash a bit more to see what else I can come up with. 

Linking up with Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, Main Crush Monday and the July One Monthly Goal wrap up linky party when it posts.   

To Do Tuesday for the Week of 7/7/2020

I've been enjoying a staycation with My Guy.  I did have to work a bit yesterday and will need to put in a couple of hours today, but that should be it for the week. Though I will need to check email here and there.  We were off visiting the Scientist in Training over the weekend, but I did get in a really good afternoon of stitching time yesterday. Good enough finish checking off all the items on last week's To Do List. 

Weekly To Do List for 06/30/2020

Frolic:  Trim, start on light blue border ✔

Unity:  Step 3, make more Sawtooth Stars ✔

Mosaic Mystery: Finish and press binding ✔

It helps that I kept the list pretty simple. Still it feels good to see a check mark at the end of each line. 

So what's the plan for my staycation week?  

Weekly To Do List for 07/06/2020

Mosaic Mystery: Finish binding quilt

I've started stitching the binding to the front of the quilt. That won't take much longer to finish. Hopefully I can finish all the hand stitching to the back before next Tuesday.  

Frolic:  Finish lt. blue border, stitch together HSTs

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

Frolic is all trimmed up, ready for the first light blue border. 

The border strips are all cut, now they just need to be assembled and cut to size.  Sewing the HSTs together is the current leaders and enders project. 

Unity:  Step 3, continue to make Sawtooth Stars

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

One pieced border for step 3 is done and attached.  I'm hoping to finish enough stars this week to finish off another pieced border strip. 

Storm at Sea:  Make a decision on the backing

My receipts show that I did indeed order a backing last year. I've not found it yet.  But looking on line at what I ordered, it may be too dark to use for quilt back.  It sure looks a lot darker than I remember ordering.  So I'll look for it this week.  But I may decide to piece a back out of something else or order a lighter extra wide fabric to use as the backing.  

That's my list for this week.  Linking up with Home Sewn by Us for To Do Tuesday.  

The July One Monthly Goal

We had a really nice weekend hanging out with the Scientist in Training.  We went on a few walks and stopped at our favorite gelato place for a cold treat. Not the most exciting weekend, but it was nice get out of town for a couple of days. 

On the quilting side of things, it's a new month so I've been contemplating what should be July's One Monthly Goal. 

Several projects are moving along towards completion.  The closest is the Mosaic Mystery Quilt.  

 Mosaic Mystery Quilt from Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs

I finished trimming off the excess batting last night. 

The label is made and framed.  

The binding is ready. 

Since it's the closest to being completed, July's goal is to get  Mosaic Mystery quilt bound.  This year's Meadow Mist Designs Morewood Mystery kicked off this month with the fabric requirements. So it would be good to get last year's quilt completed and off the list before I add this year's.   

So that's the plan for July.  Linking up with Elm Street Quilts, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, and Main Crush Monday. 

The Midyear Review for 2020 Quilting Ambitions

I finished the last of my midyear reviews with my direct reports at work yesterday.   The purpose of the midyear review is to make sure you are on track with your goals. If you are not on track, it helps to identify the obstacles or changes in priorities and adjust accordingly. Also it's a good opportunity to celebrate your successes. It's just natural for me to apply what we do at work to the quilty part of my life.  Back in December I set my 2020 Quilting Ambitions as part of Quilting Jetgirl's 2020 Planning Party.  Here's how things are going at the mid year mark.  

2020 Ambition #1:  Finish 12 Quilts in 2020

Only two finishes so far this year, as my PHD in 2020 report shows.

  

 Twinkle Stars, block Tutorial by Angela Feldbush of Soscrappy and 

Stripes from the 2019 Quiltygirl Winter Quilt Along

Twinkle Stars and The Winter Quilt Along are it so far.  But only one new start so far this year.  So I'm doing much better about not chasing squirrels, which is hopefully helping me do a better job of focusing on moving the existing projects to finishes.  

Though not finishes yet, there's been really good progress on three other projects so far this year.  

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

The 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery didn't finish up until about mid January.  So it's gone from having three blocks finished to finishing and assembling the quilt center.  I've started on the borders. 

Mosaic Mystery Quilt from Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs

The Mosaic Mystery Quilt along finished up in early January as well.  It's progressed from a set of blocks on the design wall to just needing the binding.  This should be finish number three in a matter of days. Almost perfect timing as this year's Meadow Mist Designs Morewood Mystery kicked off with the fabric requirements this week.  I don't count a quilt as started until I start cutting the fabrics, so I still have time to finish this one before I actually start this year's (which was on my 2020 quilt plan as a planned new start). 

Storm at Sea, Paper Piecing Class by Carrie Randell (Quilter's Hideaway),
Setting self designed

Storm at Sea just needed the last three borders at the end of last year. But I got side tracked with too many mystery quilt alongs and new projects, so Storm at Sea got put aside.  All the borders are on and it's a finished quilt top.  I'm still searching for the extra wide backing that I think was ordered. Several blog buddies have suggested checking my receipts or order records to see if I actually ordered it. That's the part of the plan next week, before I get too deep into clean up plans. (I'd so much rather stitch on my staycation).   

So in review, I'm really likely to get these three to the finished stage this year, for a total of 5 finishes.  There are two quilts that just need borders, backings and quilting to be finished this year.  I think those two are likely to make it to the finish line for a total of 7 finishes for 2020. That would tie my best year for finishes.  That may be as good as it gets this year. Which would be pretty awesome, even if it doesn't meet my goal.    

2020 Ambition #2: Host 15 Minutes to Stitch, Work in 15 minutes of stitching time 85% of days in 2020

With a full time job and a family, it's easy to let my stitching time fall victim to all the other things going on in my life.  But working in regular stretches of stitching time is crucial to maintaining some semblance of sanity in today's madness.  Hence the goal to work in just 15 minutes of stitching time most days.  Up till this year my goal was to work in that time every day, but I finally realized that was adding to the stresses I was trying to get away from. So for this year,  my goal is to stitch 85% of the time (or at least 6 days a week). Year to date, my success rate is 87.5%.  So I'm doing well on that front.

As far as hosting the weekly 15 Minutes to Stitch linky party, there have been 25 posted link ups for the 26 weeks of 2020 so far.  I missed hosting a link up the Sunday after our company decided to close all office locations and have everyone work from home due to Covid 19.  That first week of working from home was so stressful, I couldn't summon the words for a post.  Not that things have gotten any less stressful on that front, but at least we have more knowledge on prevention and treatment. Plus we've gone back to work in the office under very stringent face mask and social distancing requirements. Which is actually much easier to manage than working from home.     

Thanks to everyone who regularly links up for the 15 Minutes to Stitch with tales of stitching time or the lack there of.  Many of us have struggled with our sewing mojos this year, understandably so.  Thanks for sharing both the good and the tough in your posts.  I feel a lot less alone and so much more encouraged due to all of you. 

So that's the planned progress for 2020.  Since I work in a service organization, I always encourage my direct reports to leave a space for "unplanned contributions" in their performance agreements because you never know when a customer issue/problem will end up taking over your working life.  I think mask making definitely qualifies as an "unplanned ambition"  this year.  

There are masks for me, My Guy, the Scientist in Training, the SIT's  roommate, the SITs research group, friends, and coworkers in the mix above.  I didn't make any for the local medical community, but I hope that the ones I made and shared will help slow down the spread of the virus.  

In the supervisor training at work there was one lesson that said if an assignment doesn't match up well with the skill and motivation of the individual, it's likely they won't succeed. That's kinda where I'm at with stash management, so I've no ambition on managing that part of my sewing life. 

So overall, not a bad first half of the year.  I didn't expect to get 12 quilts finished this year, I'll be happy with what gets done. But it doesn't hurt to dream big, it pushes to do more than you think you can (at least that's the management theory anyway). Hope you've done well on your quilty ambitions for the year.  Good luck with your plans for the rest of 2020.  The end of the year will be here before you know it (I sincerly hope that 2021 is a much, much better year).  

Linking up with Quilting Gails PHD in 2020 July Status Update and Quilting Jetgirl's 2020 MidYear CheckIn.

To Do Tuesday for Week of 6/30/2020

It's amazing what difference a week can make.  Things have settled down at work with personnel questions having been answered, while the number of Covid 19 cases continues to increase in the state. Work has tightened up restrictions on face to face meetings and beefed up the facial covering policy.  Not an ideal environment, but at least I feel reasonably safe at work.  It's going any place else that is concerning. Mask wearing in our community isn't practiced much.  I think part of the problem is while cases are indeed rising, the total number impacted in our community is still less than 1% of the population, with many of the earlier cases associated with two local nursing homes.  So few people know someone who has had the virus, which promotes the train of thought it's a hoax or really not that bad.  

Even with, or maybe due to, all the stuff going on in the world my sewing mojo returned last week. Consequently a lot of progress was made on last week's To Do list.  

Weekly To Do List for 06/23/2020

Frolic: assemble center ✔

Unity: Step 3, make more sawtooth stars ✔

Storm at Sea: finish borders, find backing ✔

Mosaic Mystery: Make label ✔

I didn't find the backing for Storm at Sea, but I spent a good amount of time searching for it. Now I'm not sure if it actually got ordered, so I checked that item as complete. Compared to the previous two weeks, last week was definitely a good one.  

So what's the plan for this week?  With the 4th of July holiday coming this weekend and some time off, My Guy has requested we do some things together and get out of the house for a bit.  There's the thought of doing a wild flower photography expedition this weekend and spending time with the Scientist in Training, so I'm probably not going to get as much sewing time over the weekend as usual.  So I'm paring down the To Do list accordingly. 

Weekly To Do List for 06/30/2020

Frolic: Trim, start on light blue border

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

I've made some of the HSTs that were called for in the instructions for Frolic, but not enough to surround the whole quilt. So the ones that are finished will be worked into the final black border.  At least that's the plan for now. 

Mosaic Mystery: Finish and press binding

The binding just needs one seam sewn to be finished. I should be able to finish that and get the binding pressed then rolled onto an old wrapping paper tube ready to be sewn on once I get the quilt trimmed.  

Unity: Make more Sawtooth Stars for step 3

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

Just one more border star up on the design wall this week, but there are more in the works at the sewing machine.  Hopefully I'll have enough stars this week to actually have one of the four borders complete.  

That's my to do list for this week. We are taking a staycation next week.  We've got a few home improvement projects planned, but I'm hoping to work in a couple of nothing but stitching days.  Next week's to do list will definitely be more ambitious.  

Linking up with Home Sewn by Us for To Do Tuesday. 

To Do Tuesday for 6/23/2020

A check of the calendar shows that this week's to do list will take me to the end of June. The year's just about half over, so I definitely need to get moving if I'm going to make some of my 2020 goals. Checking off a few more things from my to do lists would definitely be a move in the right direction.  Unfortunately, last week's to do list is a bit anemic when it comes to check marks. 

Weekly To Do list (06/16/2020)

Frolic: Finish sashing, assemble - progress

Unity: Step 3, make some Sawtooth Stars  ✔

Storm at Sea:  Finish final blue border - progress

Mosaic Mystery: make binding and label - no progress

Just one check mark last week and for the first time in a while, an item on the list with no progress.  The last couple of weeks haven't been really good for stitching.  Hopefully I can turn that around for this week's to do list. 

Weekly To Do List (06/23/2020)

Storm at Sea: Finish the final blue border and find the extra wide backing fabric.  

 Storm at Sea - Setting self designed

I've got just one border strip to stitch on to finish the quilt top.  But I can't find that backing anywhere. So a good clean up of the sewing room is probably in order.  Finishing off this project and getting the backing ready is my One Monthly Goal for June. So time to get this one checked off the list.  

Frolic:  Finish assembly of quilt center

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

The bottom section is pinned ready for stitching. Lots of seams to match, so lots of pinning.  Once this seam is stitched all that's left is to sew the two halves together.  

Unity:  Make more Step 3 Sawtooth Stars

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

Just three more stars to make and one of the pieced sashings will be ready to stitch on. My approach with Unity is to just keep it progressing.  

Mosaic Mystery:  Print, rinse and dry the quilt label.

 

I probably need to update the completed by date to say July 2020. I doubt I manage to get the binding on this quilt by the end of this month.  

If I can make good progress on the first two items, it will have been a good week.  Linking up with To Do Tuesday over at Home Sewn By Us.   

Mid-Month PHD Progress

It's mid-month, so time to stop and reflect on the overall progress in the sewing room for the month.  I'm following along with Quilting Gail's PHD program for 2020.  

I'm not doing so well if you look at my stats for the year so far. 

Only two finishes, but thankfully only one new start.  So I've at least reduced the overall project total by one. Though it doesn't show up on the stat list, there has been some really good progress this year in addition to the two finishes. 

Mosaic Mystery is back from the talented Trudy, so it's ready for binding. 

Mosaic Mystery Quilt from Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs

I've got the label design all worked out. So there's a good chance the end of the month report will have one new finish on it. 

There's been good progress on Storm at Sea this month. 

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

It just needs the last dark blue border stitched on and it will be a finished flimsy.  So I'm hopeful of having another finish by the end of next month.  

Frolic has been up on the big design since November of last year.  

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

All the blocks are made and the quilt is mostly assembled.  Just a few more sashing strips to stitch together before tackling the final assembly.  It will still need borders, but I'm not doing the fully pieced borders Bonnie designed. So fingers crossed that this project is ready to go out for quilting by the end of next month.  

There has been progress on the one new project for 2020. 

2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

Unity Step 3 is in the works. But those tiny flying geese needed for the star blocks are going to take some time.  The good thing is I can decide not to do all the rounds and stop where ever. The current plan is to finish the twin sized version, but I may do a few substitutions here and there.  

If I can stay on track there will be 3 more finishes over the next 3 months.  So  a very good chance there will be at least 5 finishes this year. That's better than last year, so I'm pretty happy with how the quilty year has gone so far.  

To Do Tuesday for 6/16/2020

Last week wasn't a good one for stitching.  I'm trying to do better this week.  In spite of the sparse stitching time, there was some progress on last week's To Do List.

Weekly To Do List for 06/09/2020

Frolic: Finish last block, sashing pieces, assemble - progress

Unity: Step 3, finish one pieced border strip - progress

Storm at Sea:  Finish white border, start blue border ✔

Just one check mark for last week, but there was progress on the other two items.  So not a stellar week, but it wasn't a complete bust either.  What's the plan for this week?  

Weekly To Do List for 06/16/2020

Mosaic Mystery: Make binding and label. 

Mosaic Mystery is back from the quilter.  Getting the binding made and the label printed this week should set me up for a finish before the end of the month.  

Storm at Sea:  Finish final blue border

The last of the border strips are pieced together. Now I need to measure the quilt, trim the strips to fit and stitch them on. That will take so much longer than I think it should, but hopefully I can finish that this week.  Then I really do need to find the extra wide backing I purchased for this project. 

Frolic:  Finish sashing, assemble rows, stitch halves together

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

 I just need to sew the corner squares to the sashing strips, assemble the last couple of rows and then stitch the two halves together. It will still need to be trimmed up and the borders added, but it's getting close to being a finished flimsy. 

Unity: Continue making Sawtooth Stars for step 3

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

 

The key to finishing Unity this year is to just keep making blocks. I'm not going to worry about getting a certain number done this week.  

So that's the plan for this week. Good luck with your to do list for the week.  Linking up with Home Sewn By Us for To Do Tuesday. 

Half a PHD Maybe?

It's a new month, one the end of which will mark the half way point in 2020.  Let's not jump there just yet.  It's probably much less depressing to back up a bit and review how well my PHD program is going.  

If you look at my PHD tracking, it doesn't look so hot. 

Only two finishes so far. On the other hand, just one new start. So I'm not adding to the UFO list and there was some really good progress in May. 

Mosaic Mystery is being quilted by the very talented Trudy. 

Mosaic Mystery Quilt from Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs

There's a good chance that this quilt will be bound and finished by the end of the month.  That would put me on track to finish half a PHD by the end of the year.

Storm at Sea was pulled off the to be finished pile to fill the now empty slot in active project list. 

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

It just needs two more borders to be a finished flimsy.  The border strips have been cut for the next white border.  The plan is to get Storm at Sea to the finished flimsy stage by the end of June.  I've purchased a wide backing for this quilt, so I won't have to piece the back. But I do need to find that backing fabric. It's somewhere in the sewing room, I'm just not sure where.  

Frolic is still up on the big design wall. 

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

The last block is in the assembly stages. I'll need to piece a few more sashing strips to finish assembly.  I'm not going to use Bonnie's border design as I don't have even half the number of HSTs needed for that layout.  But I've worked out a partially pieced border that uses the HSTs that are finished. That should put this project on track to be a finished flimsy by the end of July.

That puts me on track to have half a PHD completed by the end of July.  Can I finish another 6 quilts by December?  Not likely.  There are two more quilts on the list that just need borders and backings.  So those are likely to get done this year. That would put me at 8 finishes for the year, which would be a record for me.  

You can check out all the other PHD hopefuls over at Quilting Gail's end of the month link up.  

May One Monthly Goal

The month of May went really fast.  Hard to believe we'll be in June by Monday.  As I was contemplating what June's One Monthly Goal should be, I realized I never posted the completion of May's One Monthly Goal.  

The goal for May was to get the Mosaic Mystery quilt prepped and sent out for quilting.  

Mosaic Mystery Quilt
from Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs

The top and backing were finished in April.  But both needed a final press and clean up before getting packed up for quilting.  

The problem with using a dark fabric with a light background is you have to take care of all the dark threads on the back.  Thankfully the dark purple didn't fray as much as the other fabrics did, but it still took an afternoon to clean up potential threads that might show through after it was quilted.  

I found a box big enough, but not too big and packed it up.  It got mailed out last Saturday and it arrived at it's destination on Thursday.  Hopefully it will be back here ready to bind before the end of June.  I've already got the label designed. 

But I've not test printed it yet, so this may not be the final label design.  I'm looking forward to getting another finish in the near future.  

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts for the May One Monthly Goal Finish.  Now to figure out what's the OMG for June.  

To Do List for 05/26/2020

We had a really quiet Memorial Day weekend.  The four days off were nice. We hung out a lot. My Guy and the Scientist in Training played in the kitchen while I got to hang out in the sewing room.  Consequently last week's to do list was mostly completed.  

Weekly To Do List for 05/19/2020

Mosaic Mystery: Mail top and back ✔

Frolic: Make 1 light blue block ✔

Unity: Finish step 2

Storm at Sea: Add 2" white 2.5" blue border ✔

Not a shabby sewing week.  When I pulled out the Storm at Sea top I found that the white border was already in place. The last photo of the top didn't show it, so I just moved on to the next border for last week's to do list.  

No four day weekend this week.  What do I think is doable for this week? 

Weekly To Do List for 05/26/2020

Frolic: Assemble next row and make last light blue block

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

I'll need to make more sashing strips in addition to the blue block. But those should go pretty fast.  

Storm at Sea: Add 3" white border

It was a pleasant surprise to find that the quilt top was one step farther along than I thought.  This quilt has a lot more borders than I would normally do, but I promised My Guy this quilt would definitely be long enough to cover the mattress. It was almost there after the addition of the border this week. 

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

Unity:  Finish step 2, start step 3

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

I just need to finish cutting and attaching the plain sashing strips to finish off step 2.  That's very doable.  I've already got the pieces cut for the flying geese in the next step.  So those should be easy to start slipping in while I'm working on other projects this week. 

Those are my sewing room to do's for this week.  Linking up with To Do Tuesday over at Home Sewn By Us.