2026 Quilt Making Strategies: Third Quarter Plan

Hard to believe over half of 2026 is already past. The end of the year will come up quickly. So far I've stuck to the main strategy that was posted in January, but the priorities of some of the projects has changed.  That's not so bad.  The plan for second and third quarters was to focus on moving UFOs to finished, or at least closer to finished.  I'm going to stick with that strategy.

1. Guild BOM 2026

The 2026 Guild BOM has to be finished by the November guild meeting.  The first draft of the block instructions for the last 4 blocks are written.  The plan is to get all the blocks made this quarter and start quilt assembly.  I won't be able to complete assembly until October after the last block is shown, but doing all I can this quarter will help keep what needs to get assembled at the end to a minimum. 

2. Wild and Goosey. Continue to use two blocks as my leaders and enders. The goal is to have all the blocks done by the end of the year.  

3. UFOs to be moved to finished quilt tops.    

Lupine and Laughter just needs borders, so that should be a quick finish.  Good fortune still needs 7 of the star blocks constructed before assembly can start.  I do expect that project to make it to finished quilt top before the end of the quarter.  There may be some progress on Celtic Solstice by the end of the quarter.  I'm not sure the blue and yellow scrap quilt will see any progress at all.  It would be great if I get that far.  

4. Walking foot quilting.  

I've learned that it takes me a quarter to quilt one project.  So the goal for third quarter is to finish quilting Glowing Hearts. If I can make a start on Betty, that would be a really successful quarter. 

5. External Quilting

I've changed up the priority of my external quilts.  Squared Away is a gift for one of My Girl's college buddies, so it gets moved up to next in line.  My Girl has asked for 3 more quilts as graduation gifts for her grad school buddies. I suspect one of the girls will like Magnificent Mystery, so I'm going to bump that one up too.  

If I can end the quarter with 2 more finished quilts and 2 more projects moved to finished quilt tops, it will have been a really good quarter.  

PHD Report for 2025

Now that 2025 is over, it's time to review the progress on my PHD plan and link up with Ms. P Designs for the PHD Wrap Up report.   Looking back, my 2025 PHD report is probably my worst in the seven years I've participated.  

Lots more starts than finishes this year.  At least I finished one of those new starts this year.  One finish is better than none.  That gives me lots of incentive to get more finished in 2026.  But finishes aren't the whole story, there was a lot of progress on other projects this year. (This is a picture heavy post. I didn't realize just how many projects I had worked on in 2025).  

The Rose Throw is a counted cross stitch project started sometime in the mid to late eighties. I came across this project during a sewing room clean up and reorg.  I'd forgotten how long it takes to make progress on counted cross stitch.  I made a bit of progress this year, but not much.  This one will probably sit in time out all year while I focus my hand stitching efforts on the butterfly embroidery project.  

The blocks for Kate's Choice were finished last year.  All the blocks were quilted this year and I started assembling the quilt as a quilt as you go. The first row is finished.  I'm not a fan of this assembly method, so the project got put in time out. It will get finished in 2026.  That's my first goal for the year.  

 

Normally there's more progress on this project during November and December, but the last time I worked on the Butterfly panel was Thanksgiving.  The embroidery in the third corner is all done and I've started stitching on the 7th butterfly.  This is my travel project.  It will probably see some progress this year, but won't be finished. 

 

On Ringo Lake was the 2017 Bonnie Hunter Mystery.  After 8 years it's finally a finished quilt top.  I've been trying to finish up all my BH mystery quilts. Out of 14, 7 are uncompleted.  Which isn't awful, but still not stellar.  This is one I'm hoping to finish quilting this year.  

It's been slow going on Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter).  This project started in 2019.  I've been making the blocks as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I'm almost done with the green blocks, but still need lots of blue, purple and teal.  But the quilt is over halfway now. I'd like to finish it this year, we'll see how it's looking by 4th quarter.   

The Simply Sensational Summer Scrap Quilt (Kevin the Quilter) is also a project from 2019.  It came out of time out when I was looking for something to use up a few scraps as my bins were getting full.  It was my leaders and enders project for the first half of the year.  I needed the design wall for something else, so this project got put away.  Not sure when I'll get this one out again.  Hopefully I won't wait another 5 years!   

I joined the local quilting guild in 2023, about midyear if I remember correctly.  A bit late to start the BOM that year, but I did start the 2024 one.  For once, I stayed on track and actually finished the quilt top in time to show at the January meeting.  It's still waiting to be quilted.  I haven't decided to quilt it myself or send it out.  We'll see how some of my smaller and simpler projects work out.  

The Marble Mystery was the 2024 Meadow Mist Designs Mystery.  It's been a finished quilt top for most of the year. This is another project I hope to quilt with the walking foot sometime this year.  

The 2024 Bonnie Hunter mystery was Old Town.  One of my 7 unfinished BH mystery projects. All the blocks are done, I just to need to figure out the borders.  Hopefully that happens sooner rather than later.  

Leading the guild BOM for 2025 was a learning experience.  I've seen several finished quilt tops and it's been such fun to see how everyone has made them their own.  My version still needs to be quilted. One thing about being the lead, you have to keep up!  

The 2025 SAHRR (Quilting Gail) was my only finish for 2025.  This quilt was gifted to My Girl's grad school roommate as a thank you for being such a good one.  The roommate's favorite color is green, so that was picked as the predominant color. I've finished all of the SAHRR quilts that I've started. Fingers crossed that stays true for this year!  

MMM Quilts offers a quilt along in the spring.  I've admired from afar, but decided if I could pull all my fabrics from the stash I'd participate in her Glowing Hearts quilt along.  The background fabric had been in my stash forever without finding a home till this project.  Another quilt top I'm hoping to quilt myself this year.  

I got a late start on the 2025 Meadow Mist Designs Magnificent Mystery.  The September clue is the only one completed, but I do have a good start on the next three. The January clue came out yesterday, so I need to get a start on that. Assembly happens next month.  It would be nice if I had all the component parts done by then.  

Apparently, I'm a glutton for punishment as I agreed to lead the guild's 2026 BOM.  I am finding that the sampler blocks I picked for this year are much easier to cut and assemble. Fingers crossed I can keep up better this year.  

And lastly, Lupine and Laughter was started during the local quilt shops late night sew on New Year's Eve.  I wondered if we'd get the reveal this week. I just checked this week's clue is more pieces. I'm going to make the blocks that use the hourglass pieces and hold off on any of the other clues till I see the reveal. Then I'll figure out what's next. I'm behind, but that seems to be par for the course with a BH mystery.  

One finish and progress on 14 other projects.  That's a lot for one year.  So maybe not as lame a year as I was thinking?  

July 2025 PHD Report

July was a busy month. I was away from home for over a week helping Grad Girl move.  So there's not a lot of progress to report for the July PHD report over at Ms. P Designs.  

There are no updates to my PHD log.  No finishes, but no new starts either.  I can at least celebrate that!  There has been progress on some other projects this month.  

There's been a bit of progress on the Rose Throw counted cross stitch project.  I just didn't feel like doing much handwork this month.  Does it look like a rose? Not so much yet.   

One more row of blocks for Kate's Choice were quilted this month.  I've made more progress in the days since the end of July. My plan is to focus on this project till it's completed.  

All the red blocks for Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter) are all sashed. That finishes up the last of the warm colored scarp blocks. There are still lots of cool color blocks to make before I can start sashing any of those colors.  

Progress on the Simply Sensational Summer Scrap Quilt (Kevin the Quilter) has been pretty minimal this month, but there has been a bit. 

All the components for Old Town (Bonnie Hunter) have been made. So block assembly has started.  Each block requires 25 pieces, so they take a bit to construct, which is why I've only 2 were completed at the end of July.  This will be my late night sew project for August.  

I was a bit slow on finishing off all the August sawtooth star blocks for the 2025 Guild BOM , but they are all done.  I've made this pattern before, but since it's all scrappy, it doesn't look exactly like my previous version.  

There's been progress, but no movement on project tracking graphic.  

It looks the same as it did in June.  Some months are just going to be that way. I'm hoping to see some projects hit milestones this month.  That's assuming we're not moving Grad Girl to a new location for a job. If I loose another 10 days to apartment hunting and a move, it will be worth it.   

To Do List for 7/29/2025

I'm a day late posting this week's to do list. We are still working with uncertain scheduling since Grad Girl and Queenie moved home.  Grad Girl left yesterday morning for Houston. She has two job interviews this week.  Which means I'm on kitty babysitting duty, that includes at least 30 minutes to an hour of outside time in the morning.  She's used to having access to a third floor balcony to observe life from.  We have a fenced backyard, but Queenie is far from an outside cat and we're not sure she'd stay in the yard if she didn't have company.  So it's put a bit of a wrinkle in my morning routine of coffee and computer time.   

It's hard to say no to that face.  So she gets her outside time and I didn't make it to the computer yesterday.  Which isn't too much of a loss.  I did OK on my to do list for last week, but it wasn't one of my best weeks. 

To Do List for 07/22/2025

1. Guild BOM: Finish August blocks, start September ✔

2. Kate's Choice: Continue Quilting blocks ✔

3. Embroidery or Cross Stitch: Work on either one day - no progress

4. Old Town: Continue assembly at late night sew ✔

5. Wild and Goosey:  Make purple blocks, sash red blocks ✔

6. Summer Scrap Quilt: Continue as leaders and enders - no progress

Four out of six isn't a bad week, especially since I finally made some progress on the quilting for Kate's Choice.  This week's list looks pretty much the same. 

To Do List for 07/29/2025

1. Guild BOM: Cut pieces for September block

All the brown sawtooth stars for August are finally done. I have started cutting the pieces for the September blocks.  That guild meeting will be here before I know it. 

2. Kate's Choice: Continue Quilting blocks

Row 5 is now quilted.  Just one more row and then I have to figure out assembly.  

3. Old Town (Bonnie Hunter): Continue block assembly at late night sew.  

 

 

I've gotten a couple of blocks assembled. They take longer than you think to put together. It would help if I could keep the pressing instructions straight. I've had to repress seams more than once!  

4.  Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter):  Work on purple blocks, start teal blocks. 

The last set of red blocks is sashed into a 7.5" unfinished block.  Blue, green, purple and teal blocks still need to be finished.  But at least I'm starting to see how these are going together. I'm excited to see how all the cool colors come together.  

5. Simply Sensational Summer Scrap Quilt (Kevin the Quilter): Continue as leaders and enders. 

This one is hard to take to late night sew at the moment, so I've not made a lot of progress with it over the last week because I worked mainly on quilting Kate's Choice.  

That's my list for this week.  We'll see how much stitching time I manage to get in. A lot depends on what Grad Girl's schedule looks like this next week.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.

To Do List for 07/22/2025

It's been two weeks since my last to do list post.  Between being way to busy packing and moving Grad Girl, plus the lack of Internet, putting a list together last week just didn't happen. So here's the progress on my last to do list. 

To Do List for 07/08/2025

1. Guild BOM: Finish August blocks - progress

2. Old Town: Continue assembly at late night sew ✔

3.  Wild and Goosey: Make purple, sash red blocks ✔

4.  Embroidery or Cross Stitch: Work on one night ✔

5.  Summer Scrap Quilt: Continue as leaders and enders ✔

There was a good bit of progress before I left for Texas and I'll take that. I'm hoping to make a good bit of progress this week.  It's too hot to do much else but hang out in the sewing room.  

To Do List for 07/22/2025

1. Guild BOM: Finish August blocks, start September

All but two of the sawtooth stars for the border were finished before I left for Texas.  It shouldn't take long to finish those off and then get started on the September blocks.  The fabrics for the next month's blocks have been pulled, so cutting those pieces should be doable this week.  

2.  Kate's Choice: Continue quilting blocks

July is almost over and there's only been one finish so far this year.  This is the project closest to being finished, so I should really put some effort into getting it all the way there. 

3.  Embroidery or Cross Stitch: Work on either one day

I did get one evening of cross stitching when we were in Texas; before our days got longer and we used the evenings to move packed stuff into the storage unit. It was too hot to do that during the day.  

4.  Old Town (Bonnie Hunter): Continue assembly at late night sew

All the components parts are finished, now block assembly can start.  I'm looking forward to seeing this quilt top come together.

5.  Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Make purple blocks, sash red blocks

Just one red block left to sash.  I still need lots more purple blocks. I won't get all of those made this month. This is my RSC project for the year, but I probably won't be following along with the colors from here on out. Blue, green, purple and teal are the only colors left to finish, so I'll be concentrating on those the next few months. 

6. Simply Sensational Summer Scrap Quilt (Kevin the Quilter): Continue as leaders and enders

I'm still working on the yellow borders for the center of the quilt.  Hopefully I'll be doing enough stitching this week to get those done and I can move on to the rest of the assembly process.  

Grad Girl is back home till she finds a job, but she's pretty busy this week. She's got a couple of jobs to apply for and the finial edits on her thesis to finish. We are taking her car in for service sometime this week. She's going to take a mini trip to go see some of her college buddies this weekend, so we'll be cat sitting.  But other than that, I'm hoping for a mostly only stitching week. Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday. 

To Do List for the Week of 07/08/2025

It was a busy weekend and though I got my stitching time in most days, I was still busy enough that it was hard to get to everything on last week's to do list.  

To Do List for 07/01/2025

1.  Guild BOM: Finish August blocks, start Sept - progress

2.  Kate's Choice: Continue quilting blocks - no progress

3.  Embroidery or cross stitch: Stitch one night ✔

4.  Wild and Goosey: Finish green, start purple, sash red ✔

5.  Old Town: Continue assembly at late night sew ✔

6.  Summer Scrap Quilt: Continue as leaders and enders ✔

Grad Girl is here this week and we have a few things planned, so I won't have as much sewing room time as I usually do. That will necessitate a pared back to do list for the week. 

To Do List for 07/08/2025

1.  Guild BOM: Finish August blocks

All the pieces are cut, they just need to be assembled. The guild meeting is next week so I need to get the August blocks finished up pretty quickly.  

2.  Old Town (Bonnie Hunter): Continue assembly at late night sew

I still have a few flying geese to finish up before I can start assembling the blocks. If that doesn't happen this week. It will definitely happen next week.  

3.  Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Make purple, sash red blocks

I've gotten a good start on the purple blocks and just have a few red blocks left to sash.  Still a long way to go on this project, but getting to the point I can sash some of the blocks has been motivating.  Probably another year left to finish this project. Unless I decided to make it a priority.  

4.  Embroidery or Cross Stitch: Fit in at least one evening of stitching time. 

I forget just how slow going the counted cross stitch is, but I'm making a bit of progress here and there.  

5.  Simply Sensational Summer Scrap Quilt (Kevin the Quilter): Continue as leaders and enders. 

Two of the yellow borders have been added to the center. The top border is in progress.  

That's my list for this week.  With Grad Girl home, I'm just looking for progress on my current projects.  I'll be able to get serious again later this summer.  Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.  

June 2025 PHD Report

Hard to believe we are half way through 2025.  Now that it's July it's time to take another look at my progress with the June PHD report over at Ms. P Designs. 

  

I've not done so well on the finishing up front, but I have been making steady progress on several other projects.  

While cleaning up the sewing room, I found a very old counted cross stitch throw started back in college.  It's been added to my traveling handwork projects.  Not a lot of progress on this, but at least there's been some. I'd forgotten just how much time it takes to do counted cross stitch.   

Another oldie saw some progress in July.  A few more blocks for  Grandmother's/Kate's Choice project were quilted this month.  Just 2 rows left to quilt.  

Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter) also saw a lot of progress this month.  All the orange blocks were sashed as it was the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for June.  Once those were finished, the remaining red blocks were finished and sashing of those started. 

In May, quilt assembly started for the Simply Sensational Summer Scrap Quilt (Kevin the Quilter).  This month the center was assembled and the first border of the yellow 4-patches was added. 

Clues 6 and 7 for Old Town (Bonnie Hunter) were completed in June.  A good start was made on clue 8.  I'm really hoping to be assembling the quilt blocks by the end of July. 

 

The color for the July Guild BOM block was red. I've already started looking for my sashing options.  August blocks are already under construction as we've got some stuff going on this month, so being ahead will be important.  

Glowing Hearts (MMM quilts) became a finished quilt top.  It's in line for quilting, which I should really focus on this last half of the year.  This was an unplanned project, but it used up some older stash and was a lot of fun to make.  

There has definitely been progress, but other than Glowing hearts none of the other projects have hit a major milestone, so my tracking graphic doesn't look much different than last month's. 

Only Glowing Hearts shows any progress on the bar graph.  Some months are going to be like that.  We'll see what gets done in July, it's going to be a busy month.  

To Do List for the Week of 07/01/2025

The year is half over.  I'm always amazed at how quickly we get to this point.  We were in Crown Center in Kansas City last week for a conference. The Hallmark store there was setting up for this year's ornament display.  Christmas will be here before most of us are ready I'm sure.  

Let's not dwell on time passing, not much we can do on that front. I didn't have time to write up a post last week. Which works out as I didn't have time to stitch much last week.  So I had two weeks to work on my previous to do list. 

To Do List for 06/17/2025

1.  2025 Guild BOM: Finish July blocks, start August ✔

2.  Kate's Choice: Continue quilting blocks ✔

3.  Embroidery or Cross Stitch: Stitch one night this week ✔

4.  Wild and Goosey: Finish red blocks, start sashing red blocks ✔

5.  Old Town: Continue assembly during late night sew ✔

6.  Summer Scrap Quilt:  Continue as leaders and enders ✔

I'll definitely take six check marks even if it did take 2 weeks.  The list for this week will look pretty similar.  

To Do List for 07/01/2025

1.  2025 Guild BOM: Finish August blocks, start Sept.

The color for July was red.  The blocks got done just in time for the guild meeting last month. I have all but one of the smaller sawtooth stars cut out for August. I've got one last set of 4 HSTs to make and then I can start assembly on the Inverted star for next month.  I've been auditing sashing and border fabrics for this quilt.  I'll need to have mine assembled for the December meeting, hence the need to work ahead a bit.  

2. Kate's Choice: Continue quilting blocks

I'm hoping to get in one solid afternoon of quilting and finish row 5 this week. 

3.  Embroidery or Cross Stitch: Stitch on a project at least one night this week. 

We have a family get together planned for this weekend to celebrate Grad Girl finishing up her master's degree.  So I'm sure there will be time to sit and stitch for a bit. 

4.  Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Finish green, start purple, sash red

All the red blocks are made and sashing them is in progress. I went back to green to work on those blocks a bit. Purple is the color for this month, so I'll pull out all those triangles and make a few of those. 

5. Old Town (Bonnie Hunter): Continue assembly at late night sew

Clue 8 is more flying geese.  I need to some more of the neutral triangles, I didn't count correctly apparently and am short by quite a bit.  

6.  Simply Sensational Summer Scrap Quilt (Kevin the Quilter):  Continue as leaders and enders. 

The first yellow border for the center of the quilt is assembled and stitched on. Border #2 is still in progress. 

So pretty much the same list I've had for a few weeks.  With the family get together for the holiday weekend and having to help Grad Girl move later this month, I'm just hoping to keep these projects moving till we get to August then things will slow down a bit on the travel front.  

Linking up with the Quilt Schmilt for To Do Tuesday.