To Do List for the Week of 01/27/2026

It's definitely winter here.  Our low has been -1 F for the last couple of days.  We won't warm up much, barely above freezing most days.  Definitely good days to just stay home and stitch.  I mostly did that last week, so my to do list got a lot of attention.

To Do List for 01/20/26

1. 2026 Guild BOM: Finish April block ✔

2. Kate's Choice: Assemble fourth row ✔

3. SAHRR: Make block for first prompt ✔

4. Scenic Waypoint: Cut fabrics - progress

5. Magnificent Mystery: Work on Dec/Jan clues ✔

6. Wild and Goosey: Work on blue blocks ✔

I didn't check off all everything on my to do list, still it was a good week on the progress front. I made enough progress on the Guild BOM and the Magnificent Mystery that they don't show up on this week's list.  

To Do List for 01/27/2026

1. Kate's Choice: Assemble 5th row

I finished up the fourth row last week, but I'm going assemble rows 5 and 6, then sew those together and then sew the top and bottom together. I figure that will be easier to do on my home sewing machine. We'll see. 

2. SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Make block for second prompt

It's weird to be caught up, usually I'm still working on the first prompt. I still feel like I'm cheating a bit, but I do like how my SAHRR is coming along. 

3. Scenic Waypoint (Meadow Mist Designs): Continue cutting fabrics, start assembly of hourglass units. 

Half of the fat quarters are cut.  All the background pieces for the next week are cut.  My plan is to finish cutting the fat quarters, then I'll go back and catch up on the background cutting. Doing it this way means I can start on this week's step while I finish cutting the background. Hopefully that strategy will keep me on schedule with the assembly instructions.  

4. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Work on blue blocks 

I've made a few blue blocks, but have a lot more to make.  Soscrappy hasn't posted the color for February yet, so unless it's teal or purple, I'll keep working on the blue blocks for another month.  

That's my list for this week. Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.

2026 SHARR: Hourglass Blocks

The week 1 prompt for the 2026 SAHRR (Quilting Gail) was set as hourglass blocks by Songbird Designs.  I'm doing a single block for each prompt. After playing around in Electric Quilt for a bit, here's what I came up with. 

Just a simple block with 4 hourglasses. The fabric placement makes the design.  I had to work slowly to make sure I could get fabric into the right spots when I assembled the four squares.  

I'm not sure yet where the block is going to fit with my center, so for now it's just up on the design wall in the first postion. 

I'm ready for prompt #2. Linking up at Songbird Designs for the SAHRR prompt one and my usual Monday linky parties: Patchwork & Quilts and Sew and Tell Monday. 

To Do List for the Week of 01/20/2026

It's been bitterly cold this week. It's great sewing weather, but not so great for much of anything else.  It certainly kept me in the sewing room.  That made last week's to do list look a little short.  

To Do List for 1/13/2026

1. 2026 Guild BOM: Finish March, start April blocks ✔

2. Kate's Choice: Assemble third row ✔

3. Magnificent Mystery: Work on Nov/Dec/Jan clues ✔

4. Wild and Goosey: Finish green blocks, start on blue ✔

Definitely a productive week!  Can I do the same this week? Maybe, maybe not. Two quilt alongs really get going this week, so that's going to be challenging. Thankfully, after this week, one to do item should drop off for a couple of weeks.

To Do List for 1/20/2026

1. 2026 Guild BOM: Finish April block

Just a couple of seams to stitch and April will be a finished block. I've been working on the instructions for May.  The plan is to get the instructions for the next three blocks finished, then cut all three at the same time. That will probably happen sometime in February.  

2. Kate's Choice: Assemble fourth row

The third row is assembled, but hasn't been sewn to the the first two.  It's getting easier to assemble the rows, I've learned a few tricks to make the sewing go more smoothly.  Definitely have some thoughts on how to do this differently next time.  This project won't be done by the end of the month, but I'm making good progress and that's what counts for now.  

3. SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Make block for first prompt

The first prompt comes out on Wednesday.  I decided just to make a sampler with this year's prompts, rather than rounds. Sewing at a frantic pace can be fun, I just wasn't up for it this year.  Hopefully, I'll still be happy with the final quilt.  

4. Scenic Waypoint (Meadow Mist Designs): Cut fabrics

The throw sized quilt only needs 10 fat quarters and the fat quarter set I chose has 20.  These 10 made the cut. Now to start cutting.  

5. Magnificent Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Work on Dec/Jan clues 

The November clue was finished off last week and good progress has been made on the December and January clues.  I'm looking forward to seeing how all these components come together in the finished quilt.  

6. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Work on blue blocks

All the green blocks needed for this project are finished.  I still need to assemble these into 4 patches, but I'll wait till green comes up as the RSC color to do that.  I need lots of blue blocks yet, so I'll be working on these a lot this year.  

That's the list for this week. Definitely more ambitious than last week's list.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday. 

Getting Started on the 2026 SAHRR

I  wasn't going to play along with the 2026 SAHRR hosted by Quilting Gail.  

I had so many new starts last year and so few finishes, that my project list is longer than it's ever been.  So why add another project? Especially when I was already so far behind on the projects started in the last quarter of 2025. It's such a fun challenge and I've loved all the quilts that have come out of it.  What if I used fabric left over from previous projects? (This is why my list is so long, using up my stash is always enough justification to start something new). I found the fabric pretty quickly.   

This older Batik line from Timeless Treasures was purchased as part of a kit, but was used in a completely different project a couple of years ago. There's not a lot of yardage, but maybe I could make this work?  Was there a background fabric that would work? Yes, but there's not a lot. Some of my previous SAHRR's used a lot of background.  So limited fabric was a challenge. Could this still work?  

Looking back at the 2026 SAHRR Quilt Parade provided some inspiration and a way to deal with the limited fabric. Several of the designers made blocks, not rounds of borders for last year's SAHRR. Using Electric quilt, a design using 6 blocks arranged around a center block developed. Some fabric may need to be added for the final border, but I can work with that. Here's my center block:

 

Using left overs is challenging because you are limited in yardage, so you have to use what you have. Even though this wasn't my first choice of fabrics, it still turned out nicely.  This block is 36" X 36", so it will definitely be the focus of the quilt.  The pattern for this star came from Quilting Jetgirl's Diatom pattern, it's block 9.  The original block finished at 18", so I had to double the size of the pieces to enlarge the block. The only tricky part was the flying geese and that worked out once I played around with a few scraps to get the size of the "geese" right.   

I'm excited to get the first prompt and see what block develops from that. But before we get to that point, I'm going to check out all the other center blocks over at Quilting Gail's kick off post.   

To Do List for the Week of 01/06/2026

It always seems so quiet after the first of the year.  My Guy went back to work yesterday, so I was home alone for the first time in a little over 2 weeks. I got used to having someone home, so yesterday seemed especially quiet. I'll get used to it, but it just adds to that let down feeling that happens to me after the bustle and fun of the holiday are over.  

My sewing time was a bit sparse before the weekend, but I tried to make up for it on Sunday.  Here's how I fared with last week's to do list. 

To Do List for 12/30/2025

1. 2026 Guild BOM: Finish February block, start March - progress

2. SAHRR: Start center block ✔

3. Magnificent Mystery: Work on Oct/Nov/Dec clues ✔

4. Lupine and Laughter: Press fabrics, start clues ✔

5. Wild and Goosey: Continue green blocks, start blue - progress

Not a bed week, there was progress on everything on the list.  For this week's to do list, I'm trying to reestablish a strategy that worked for me a couple of years ago. It's basically set a few priorities so that my to do list each week is only 4 or 5 items.  I like lots of variety in my sewing, but that means nothing really ever gets done.  If I want to finish any quilts this year, I need to make those a priority.

To Do List for 01/06/2026

1. 2026 Guild BOM: Finish February, start March blocks

The February block just needs one seam to be sewn to be a finished block.  So I'm close there.  The pieces for the March block are cut and ready for me to start on those. I'm going to try to Finish February, March and April before the end of January, then try to do 2 blocks a month till they are all done. I'm trying hard to stay ahead of things this year so I'm not panic sewing the day of the guild meeting. 

2. Kate's Choice: Assemble second row

This is my to be quilted by walking foot project for the month. My plan is to switch over to my walking foot after my late night sewing session at the quilt shop and stick with that for a couple of days before switching back to my normal set up to stay on track with my piecing projects. 

3. Stay at Home Round Robin (SAHRR, Quilting Gail): Finish center block

All the pieces are cut and I've got the first set of flying geese pined, ready to be stitched.  I'm excited to see how this comes together. The kick off showing all the center blocks for the designers is a week from Wednesday. So I have time, but I do need to get sewing on this one.  

4. Magnificent Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Work on Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan clues. 

The stack of completed components is rising, just slowly. I should finish the October clue (the Irish Chain blocks) this week. The pieces needed for the January clue need to be cut. I'll do that this afternoon, this is the project I'm going to take to late night sew. 

5. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Work on green blocks

Yes, I know the RSC color is blue this month. But after I complete these 2 blocks, just 4 more green are needed to finish off that color. So while I'm on a roll with those, I want to finish them. Hopefully I'll have time before the end of the month to finish a few blue ones.  

So that's my list for the week.  I'm hoping to limit my distractions and get some good stitching done this month.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.  

Weekend Sewing

My Girl and Queenie left Saturday afternoon to start the almost 10 hour trek back to Houston.  So the house felt really empty.  Perfect time to go hide in my sewing room for a bit. My priority for the week is to finish the February block for the guild BOM and get started on the center block for the SAHRR (Quilting Gail).  I'm almost done with the BOM block, but I can't show that till after the guild meeting.  I didn't start the SAHRR center, but did get all the fabric cut for it. 

I had to change out one of the fabrics because I didn't have enough of my first choice.  That's the problem with working with left overs, you have to make some compromises.  But it will still look good.  

The January clue for the Magnificent Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs). The only clue I have finished is September, but I'm close to finishing off the October clue. 

Just a few more of the Irish Chain blocks to make.  The reveal for this project comes out in February. I'm hoping to most of the way there with the component pieces by then.  

Linking up with Patchwork & Quilts and Sew and Tell Monday. 

Best of Life in Pieces for 2025

I'm never ready for the end of a year. With holidays in November and December, there are so many other things to think of. It always comes as a shock the day after Christmas to realize that the end of the year is a little less than a week away.  My thought's naturally turn to what I didn't get to this year and thinking of what to do better next year.  In all of those thought sessions it's so easy to loose track of all the cool things that happened in 2025.  So it's always fun to take some time to put some thought into what fun things happened this year and share them over at Meadow Mist Design's Best of 2025 linky party.  

Here's my Best of 2025. 

Most Viewed Post: New Projects Coming 

Not sure why this post had so many views. I'm not convinced the views are all from "real" people if you get my drift. But I can't prove it one way or the other.  At any rate, the coolest thing in this post was My Girl's first completed quilt top. 

 

The embroidered squares are from Ingrid's Wildflowers from Missouri Star.  She did all the embroidery last January and February.  When she moved home this summer while job hunting, she finished the quilt top.  It was a big learning curve for her, but she did such a good job.  I'm hoping she decides to start a new quilt sometime in 2026. We are planning a couple of nothing but sewing weekends, maybe with a few friends in the coming year.  

Most Comments: The 2025 SAHRR: Round #1

This year was my third time playing along with Quilting Gail's SAHRR quilt along.  I designed my own block for this quilt, I wanted something modern as the quilt was intended as a thank you for My Girl's grad school roommate. 

  

Round #1 was either a King's Crown block or to make a block that start's with the letter of your first initial.  The Key border was my choice. It proved to be a really good starting point.  

Oldest UFO Progress:  Progress on Kate's Choice

Kate's Choice started out as Grandmother's Choice, part of Barbara Brackman's 2012 quilt along. I quickly discovered that sewing with templates is just not my thing.  So the project was put in time out till January of 2024.  The plan was to use the existing usable blocks and add whatever blocks needed to make a good sized sampler.  I picked the blocks.  Those were done by the end of 2024. The plan this year was to put it together as a quilt as you go project.

 

 All the blocks are quilted and the first row of blocks got assembled. Then I stalled. The QAG method where you quilt with the back on and then add the sashings is a lot harder than I expected.  I plan to get back to this in January and get this one finished.  

Most Fun Collaboration: Slaying the Big Scary Walking Foot Dragon

Before putting her embroidered quilt together, My Girl first practiced piecing by making some trivets she could use under her long cookie sheets. She made her first set during the guild retreat last January.  I eventually got up enough nerve to get out my walking foot so I could quilt those for her.

This is the second one I quilted, it's definitely much, much better than the first one.  Working on this project gave me the confidence to actually start quilting the Kate's Choice blocks.  My Girl made two more sets of trivets and I quilted those too. 

Mushroom trivets for one of her high school buddies. 

And two more kitties for her cousin (my niece).  I've learned a lot about quilting with a walking foot finishing these three projects.  My Girl has learned a lot about piecing and is starting to get a handle on the math part of cutting pieces.  The biggest learning is that she needed better rulers and a nicer rotary cutter. Both of those got addressed at Christmas.  

My Favorite Finish: First Finish for 2025

Obviously I was optimistic when I wrote that post. It turned out to be my only finish for 2025.  

I was so happy with how this quilt worked out. I ended up adding one additional border because it didn't feel finished once the prompts ended.  This was the last quilt to be quilted by Trudy before she retired.  That's a big reason why I didn't have more finishes this year. It's not easy to find someone new to quilt for you.  But I'm going to make a big effort on that front next year.  So even though it's my only finish, it's still one of my favorite quilts. 

That's my best of 2025.  It wasn't the most productive year for me. But looking back helped me remember all the time I got to share with My Girl as she took her first steps with a sewing machine.  The memories we made making those trivets are my favorite for the whole year. I'm hoping for more fun adventures in 2026. 

To Do List for the Week of 12/30/2025

Hard to believe this is the last To Do List for 2025 and the first for 2026.  I haven't really given a lot of thought to what my sewing room goals are for 2026.  Once upon a time (like a couple of years ago), I had a strategy for my To Do Lists.  When I was doing that, my impression is that I got a lot more done.  Maybe that's just wishful thinking. But I'll revisit that approach while I'm deciding on next year's goals.  Before moving on to this week's list, how many check mark's did I have on last week's list?  

To Do List for 12/23/2025

1.  2026 Guild BOM: Start February block ✔

2.  Butterfly embroidery: Take a few stitches - no progress

3.  2026 SAHRR: Decide on /start center block - progress

4.  Magnificent Mystery: Work on Oct/Nov/Dec clues ✔

5.  Lupine and Laughter: Press fabrics and start clues - no progress

6.  Wild and Goosey: Continue making green blocks ✔

Considering we had lots of family stuff last week, I didn't do too badly with the check marks and progress. Normally handwork dominates my stitching time during holidays, but I spent most of my "sewing" time deciding on an approach for the SAHRR in EQ8.  I got as far as getting my embroidery bag out, but it never made it out of the bag.  

This week's list will look pretty similar to last week's. 

To Do List for 12/30/25

1. 2026 Guild BOM: Finish February block, start March

The flying geese are for the border, but the HSTs are for the February block.  I have all the pieces cut for the flying geese, so I'll work those in while I'm sewing other things. It will be nice to get at least that much finished.  

2. Stay at Home Round Robin (Quilting Gail): Start center block

I've picked the center block and the fabrics. The fabric collection I'm using for this year's SAHRR is left overs from a kit I bought years ago. I'm not 100% happy with my choices, but I'm working with what's left with the right yardage for how I want to put the quilt together.  It will either look fine or like a hot mess.  We'll see.  

3.  Magnificent Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Work on Oct/Nov/Dec clues. 

I've been working on all three sets of clues and making progress. But there are a lot of blocks in each clue, so it's not going very quickly.  Clues come out on the first Thursday of the month, so the January clue will likely drop this week too.  

4. Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter): Press fabrics, start clues

I'm not sure that is going to happen this week, but I'll keep it on the list. I'd like to get started on this one, but I keep getting side tracked with other stuff.  

5.  Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue green blocks and blue blocks 

I'm close to finishing up the green blocks, but I'll switch back to blue since that's the RSC color for January at SoScrappy.  I'm hoping that this is the year I finish all the blocks. We'll see. I'm close on green, but still need lots of teal, blue and purple.  

That's my list for this week. I should have more stitching time this weekend as My Girl has to head back to Texas on Saturday. I'll need lots to distract me while she's in route.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.

Getting a Start on 2026 Deadline Stitching

We've reached that time of the year when the three of us are off work and have a hard time remembering what day it is. We have no place to be, so the days can just drift by without you even realizing it. We check in with each regularly just to ensure we'll all at least in sync in our belief of what day it is.  

My sewing room time has been ramping up since the holiday.  Friday and Saturday were figuring out where I was before the holiday and deciding what needed to get done next.  The Guild 2026 BOM is one project I can't let slip.  Yesterday afternoon I managed to cut the pieces for the next 3 blocks.  

I've started assembly of block 2, which is the January block.  My goal is to get a couple of blocks done each month the first quarter to help keep me on track if my schedule gets wacky.  

I wasn't going to do the 2026 SAHRR (Quilting Gail) next year, I just wasn't sure I was up for all the sewing needed to keep up with the borders each week.  But it's hard to pass up a really fun quilt along.  I have a plan, the center block has been picked, but not made. One of my justifications for playing along with mysteries and quilt alongs is that it uses up stash. I try hard to pull mostly from stash for these type of projects.  After some consideration, I found some left overs that should work for this project.  

These pretty batiks are an older Timeless Treasures line that I purchased as a kit.  I used these same fabrics to make a Meadow Mist Designs project, String Lights, from Cheryl Brickey's book, "Just Two Charm Packs" back in 2023.  I think they'll be fun to play with again. I still need graduation quilts for some of My Girl's grad school buddies, this one will likely become one of those.  

Neither of these projects have imminent deadlines, but getting starting on them now means I have some wiggle room if things don't go well first pass.  

Linking up with Patchwork & Quilts and Sew and Tell Monday. 

To Do List for the Week of 12/23/2025

I'm in the coasting portion of the Christmas holiday. The shopping is done, the presents wrapped, groceries bought (mostly). Now I can hang out with family and just chill out. There won't be any sewing room time between now and Christmas, but I'll have lots of time next weekend to decompress from the holiday with my machine.  Before getting to my probably bigger than realistic plans for next week, here is how this week went. 

To Do List for 12/16/2025

1.  My Girl Trivets: Quilt the kitty trivets ✔

2.  2026 Guild BOM: Start February block - no progress

3.  Magnificent Mystery: Work on Oct/Nov/Dec clues ✔

4.  Wild and Goosey: Continue making green blocks ✔

Not a bad week, three out of four items with check marks by them. With all the holiday prep in the works, the shorter list was definitely the way to go.  Since I'm hoping for some "nothing but sewing days" after the holiday, I'm going to go for a much longer to do list.

To Do List for 12/23/2025

1.  2026 Guild BOM: Start February block

The instructions are written, I just to make the block to ensure that they are correct. I have till the third week in January to get this done, but starting early is wise.  Plus, I'd really, really like to work ahead a bit so that I'm not in a bind if something happens and I can't get to my sewing room for a couple of weeks.  

2. Butterfly embroidery: Take a few stitches in the current butterfly

Not sure how much I'll get done on this, but any progress would be good.  

3. 2026 SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Decide on/start center block

I've played along with Stay at Home Round Robin the last 3 years. The resulting quilts are some of my family's favorites.  I wasn't going to play along this year.  I enjoy the challenge of designing a round that adds to the quilt, but it's a lot of sewing room time. After looking back at what other's did last year, I opened up Electric Quilt and played around a bit.  Out of that came a quilt that won't take endless sewing of small pieces to meet each round.  Now to figure out the fabrics and decide on the center block. 

4. Magnificent Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Work on Oct/Nov/Dec clues

Progress has been steady on all the clues for the last 3 months, but still aways to go to finish up these three.  At least all the component parts are made for the October clue, I just have to but them together.  

5. Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter): Press fabrics and start clues

I'm pretty far behind on this mystery, but there is a plan.  Last Friday's clue was a block. I'm going to start with the clue for the hour glass blocks used in the block and go from there.  I very often bail on some of Bonnie's sashing and borders. So I'll start with that block and go from there on what else I decide to make for my version.  That's usually what happens in the end anyway, so I may as well start off that way.  

6. Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Continue making green blocks

Just need 2 more sets of 4 like this and the green blocks will be done.  Can I finish those before the end of the year?  It will be close, so maybe, maybe not.  

That's my list for this week. It's ambitious, but it's the end of the year, so I'd like to see what else I can make progress on before starting on next year's goals.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday. 

Wishing everyone a very happy holiday season. Hope you are able to spend it with those you love.  

May 2025 PHD Report

May went fast!  It didn't help that at about the halfway mark my sewing mojo disappeared.  So not as much progress as I would have liked for the month. But there is still a bit to report for the May PHD report over at Ms. P Designs.  

Finally a finish shows up on the PHD report, along with a new unplanned project. The finish is a project started this year, so there is still no progress on the UFO column.  

The 2025 SAHRR, aka Stars in a Derecho Sky, (Quilting Gail) was my finish for May.  Trudy, who has quilted so many quilts for me, is getting out of the quilting for others business and this is the last quilt she'll ever quilt for me.  It's already been gifted to Grad Girl's roommate as we were in Texas last week. She loved it. 

I'll need to amp up my walking foot quilting if I want to see a few more finishes before the end of the year.  Even with my absent sewing mojo and a week of vacation, there was still a bit of progress on several other projects in May. 

During my week on the road, I relearned how to do counted cross stitch and worked on a throw that was started back in the early 80's.  It will join my medallion butterfly embroidery as a travel project. It's not really a quilt, so I'm not going to add it to my spreadsheet as a quilt.  It will just be one of those sewing room projects I'd like to see get done in the next few years.  

Half the Kate's Choice blocks have been quilted.  I'm hoping to finish the other half this month.  It would be nice to have another finish by the end of this month.  This is my second oldest UFO, so it would be nice to get it off the list.  

The lack of Wild and Goosey blocks (Bonnie Hunter) for May is a direct result of my sewing mojo problem.  I didn't even finish 2 green blocks.  The plan is to do better with getting the orange blocks all sashed this month. 

 

Work continued on the center for the Simply Sensational Summer Scrap Quilt (Kevin the Quilter).  The left and bottom single rows of squares have been added and the first row is sewn together. It's been fun to watch all those scrappy blocks finally come together.  

All the step 2 block components for Old Town (Bonnie Hunter) were finished in May. Clues 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are all completed.  Another afternoon was spent cutting the rest of the pieces needed for the remaining steps.  Hopefully a couple more clues can be finished off this month since all that's left is sewing pieces together. The goal is to have this project assembled before this year's mystery quilt is started.  

The color for the June Guild BOM was green.  Since I'm leading the program this year, I have to be a month ahead.  Half way through and I'm happy with how the blocks are coming together. It's been fun to see what the guild members have decided to do with their projects.  Now I need to get going on the July block so it's ready for this month's guild meeting.  

Glowing Hearts (MMM Quilts) was my unplanned new project in May.  It's been a fun project to make.  All the fabrics came from the stash, which was my requirement before allowing an unplanned project on my list.  Moving along some of my older stash is always a good reason to start a new project. Plus this one is small enough that I can quilt it myself.   

Maybe it wasn't such a bad month after all?  There was progress on a lot of projects, but some didn't see as much work on them as I would like.   

  

The only progress that shows up on my project tracking sheet is finishing the 2025 SAHRR and starting Glowing Hearts.  No other projects reached major milestones in May.  Hopefully I can do better in June.  

First Finish for 2025

Happy Memorial Day if you live in the US.  Hopefully you didn't have your plans drowned out by the rain.  That's about all we've seen this weekend is rain.  

My lack of sewing mojo is still a thing. But I did get myself motivated to make and stitch the binding for my version of the 2025 Stay at Home Round Robin (SAHRR) quilt.  

I'm really happy with how it turned out.  The quilt is 75.5" X 79.5".  So a good size for cuddling on the couch with.  The quilt needed a name before I could design a label. The quilt is going to Grad Girl's roommate, who happens to be from South Dakota. For some reason I Googled "green sky in South Dakota". And believe it or not, the search returned photographs of an emerald green sky in South Dakota.  That green sky was due to the sun interacting with the hail in what is called a "derecho" storm back in July of 2022. A derecho storm is basically one huge and intense thunderstorm. A huge and intense storm is a good approximation of what grad school feels like sometime, so it just had to become part of the quilt name. 

The big blank space includes a thank you message to the roommate for being such a good friend during the time they've lived together.  

Trudy did a wonderful job with the quilting. 

I asked for something organic, like vines.  It worked out well. Trudy is exiting the quilting for others business.  I did have a moment of sadness realizing there would be no more boxes with quilted quilts from her when this one arrived. But her exiting the business did motivate me to start learning to quilt my own projects.  

Since this was a gift, I purchased the backing fabric specially for this quilt. 

The green with the splashes of blue works really well with the front of the quilt.  I bound it with the bold blue.  

This was my third SAHRR quilt. I've enjoyed making all of them.  This is the one quilt along where all my projects have been finished and gifted to others.  Now I can start thinking what's the center for next year's version going to be.  Maybe I need to decide who gets the next one first?  

Linking up with my normal Monday linky parties: Design Wall Monday and Patchwork & Quilts. 

To Do List for the Week of 05/20/2025

My last two posts made it pretty clear that I've not been that interested in spending time in the sewing room this last week.  Progress on last week's to do list shows that.  

To Do List for 05/13/2025

1. Kate's Choice: Continue to quilt blocks - no progress

2. Glowing Hearts: Finish piecing the blocks - progress

3. 2025 Guild BOM: Cut fabrics for July blocks - no progress

4. Old Town: Work on blocks at late night sew ✔

Definitely not the best week for progress on the to do list. But there will be weeks like that. My goal for the last couple of years is just to make progress and I did that.  Just not as much as I would have liked.  Hopefully I can do better with this week's list.  

To Do List for 05/20/2025

1.  2025 SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Finish binding 

Trudy did a wonderful job with the quilting for this quilt.  The label is made and printed.  I got the binding sewn to the front last night and made a start with the hand stitching on the back.  This is a gift for Grad Girl's roommate. Fingers crossed I get my first finish for 2025 this week.  

2. Glowing Hearts (MMM Quilts): Finish piecing blocks, start assembly 

I added one more heart to the design wall. Just two more left to stitch and then assembly can start.  

3.  2025 Guild BOM: Cut the fabrics for the July blocks

I really need to get to going on July's blocks. The June guild meeting is tonight!  The next meeting will be here way before I'm ready for it.  

4.  Old Town: Work on blocks at Late Night Sew

I finished off the last of the 4 patches this week. I ended up cutting 1.5" squares for the last set of 6 rather than strip piecing. But they are done now. Steps 1 to 5 are completed, that leaves steps 4 to 9 left to finish up.  My goal is to have this project to the finished quilt top stage before this year's mystery kicks off.  

I'm keeping the list short again. If all that gets checked off is item #1, I'll be happy.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.