PHD in 2024

This will be my 6th attempt to achieve a PHD in quilting projects.  I've yet to manage that.  I doubt it happens this year either, but I won't know unless I try.  There are new hostesses for the PHD in 2024, Sharon Anderson and Susan Hatcher of Ms. P Designs USA.  Here's my list of this year's UFOs for the PHD in 2024.  

My strategy this year is to work on a new quilt or a quilt that needs the blocks assembled plus a quilt top to be finished or a quilt top to be assembled.  I've left new quilts off my list in the past and when I don't include something new, it gets harder to finish the older projects.  So I'm going to start a few projects too.  Unfortunately the first two overlap during the first few months of the year.  We'll see how well I keep up with both.  For reference, here's a pictorial view of the projects for 2024. 

To be finished (quilts that need backings, prepping for quilting): L to R: Scrappy Butterflies, 2023 SAHRR (Quilting Gail), String Lights (Just Two Charm Pack Quilts)

Quilts to be assembled (blocks are finished, needs sashing and/or borders): Rhododendron (Bonnie Hunter), Chocolate Marshmallow (Seabreeze Quilts), Squared Away (So Scrappy), Diatom (Quilting Jetgirl)

Quilt blocks to be assembled (projects were block construction is still ongoing): Malted Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs), Indigo Way (Bonnie Hunter), Chilhowie (Bonnie Hunter), Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter), Grandmother's Choice (Barbara Brackman)

I really doubt I finish all 12 of these projects this year. My goal is to make progress on each one.  

If I can move each bar farther down the chart, then I've had a good year.  The most I've ever finished in one year is 7 and I've done that twice.  It would be fun to beat that metric, but if there is good progress across the board, I'll be happy.

Good luck with your PHD list this year.    

December (and 2023) Wrap Up: PHD in 2023

We are already a couple of days into 2024, so it's definitely time to review my progress on my PHD projects this year and link one more time with Quilting Gail's PHD in 2023.  It definitely wasn't one of my more successful years in terms of finishes and my report shows that. 

  

I was able to add one more finish before the year ended.  That brings my total for the year to 3.  Not stellar, but it's one more than I finished last year.  I'll take an incremental increase. I finished three of the small projects I started, but none of my new quilt starts in 2023.  Malted Mystery and Indigo Way don't count as clues are continuing into 2024.   

However if you look at my year in terms of progress, I did pretty well on that front. 

There'd been no progress on this embroidered panel since 2021.  It only saw progress in November and December. But now it's more than half way finished. It's not on my official UFO list this year, but it is my travel project. I'm going to try to do more on it when I'm on the road this year. 

My oldest unfinished Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt, Scrappy Butterflies, saw a lot of progress this year. 

Another project that hadn't seen any progress since 2021.  All the alternate blocks were finished in 2023, set together with borders added.  The last step was to finish the backing.  That's done, so the plan for January will be to get this project prepped so it can go out for quilting.  Fingers crossed this is my first finish for 2024. 

I also struggle to finish the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilts.  But the 2021 version, Rhododendron, is getting close to being a finished top. 

It's took most of the year to finish the last block, cut the setting triangles and assemble the top.  Only two more borders are needed and then this project will be a finished quilt top.  With all the new stuff in the works, I may not get back to this project till March or April.  

The last finish of 2023 was Melodic Mystery.  

All the clues for the 2022 Meadow Mist Designs Mystery hadn't come out for this mystery as of the end of last year, so it was still in bits and pieces last January.  The quilt top was finished in August, but it took me a couple of months to get it sent out for quilting.  I'm happy with how it turned out.  The pink and green color palette is a new one for me.  This quilt will be donated to one of the family support charities in our area.

There was good progress this year on the 2022 Bonnie Hunter mystery, Chilhowie.  We didn't have all the clues by the end of of 2022, so it's not surprising that it wasn't finished by the end last year. 

Chilhowie has been my leaders and enders project for most of 2023.  The component parts are under construction, I'm still short one block before assembly of the quilt top can happen.  I'll just keep plugging and hopefully this one will be completed before the 2024 BH mystery starts up.

Malted Mystery is the 2023 Meadow Mist Designs Mystery.  It started in July with fabric selection. 

I'm still working on the December clue. The January clue comes out tomorrow. So I'm just slightly behind on this one.  

The 2023 Bonnie Hunter Mystery, Indigo Way, kicked off at the end of November.  This one is a lot harder to keep up with.  

Bonnie had released clues 1 to 6 by the end of December. My version of clues 1 and 2 are finished.  Clues 3, 4 and 5 have pieces sewn, but I was still cutting out the pieces for clue 6 on New Year's Eve.  Bonnie released clue 7 on New Year's Day.  I can't tell if I'm in any better shape this year versus previous years. We'll see where I'm at on this on at the end of next year. It would be nice to have this one as a finished quilt top before the next mystery comes out.

I didn't set up a progress bar chart till May of this year. 

 

There was much more color in the December version.

Definity no PHD this year, but I'll take all the progress. I learned a lot in 2023 about how to manage my projects. How to make progress on the ones that are closer to finished, while still working on newer projects.  I'm hoping that will translate into more finishes this year.  

Thanks to Gail for sponsoring the PHD challenge for so many years.  I've played along for the last 5 years and it's been a lot of fun and a great source of motivation. Now that Gail has her UFOs under control, she's passed the torch off to Ms. P Designs USA.  As my UFOs are definitely not under control, I'll be playing along again in 2024.  

To Do List for the Week of 01/02/2024

It's going to take me a while to get the 2024 part of my dates right.  That's always the trickiest thing about the new year. I need to pay bills today, so I should get lots of practice on that.  

At any rate, I'm starting my first to do list of the new year with a completed last to do list from 2023. 

To Do List for 12/26/2023

1. Indigo Way: Continue clues 2, 3, 4, start 5 and 6 ✔

2. Malted Mystery: Finish clue 5, start clue 6 ✔

3. Melodic Mystery: Finish hand stitching binding ✔

4. Betty: Select fabrics ✔

5. Chilhowie: Continue as leaders and enders ✔

So definitely not a bad week on the stitching front, though being sick did cut into my sewing time early in the week. I didn't get as far along on Indigo as I'd hoped.

It would be so easy to jump back into lots of projects, but I'm going to try to keep up with the newer mysteries and stitch alongs for the next couple of months.  That means keeping the list reasonably short.  We'll see how that works.

To Do List for 01/02/2024

1.  Indigo Way (Bonnie Hunter mystery): Continue working on clues 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and start clue 8. 

Clues 1 and 2 are finished.  I got started piecing the clue 5 units, but am still cutting out parts for clue 6. I didn't get into the sewing room till late yesterday so other than printing out clue 7, there's been no progress on getting the first blocks made.  I hope to remedy that today. 

2. Malted Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs): Finish clue 6, start clue 7

November's clue is finally finished and I made a good start on the December clue.  Hopefully I can finish this clue off a lot faster than I did the last one.  The January clue will come out on Thursday.  I'm not too far behind so fingers crossed I can get caught up on this mystery.  

3. Betty (Meadow Mist Designs): Start cutting fabrics

The quilt along for Cheryl's most recent book, Just Two Charm Pack Quilts, starts today.  I really shouldn't be starting another quilt, but my bin containing my cool colored 2.5" strips is stuffed full from all the scrap cutting and organizing I've been doing.  So I'm creating my own charm packs from scraps, I'm just bypassing the step that cuts the charms into 2.5" squares.  Seems reasonable to me.  

4. Scrappy Butterflies (self designed): Prep backing for quilting.

This should be fairly easy, the backing just needs a good pressing and a pass with a lint roller.  

5. Chilhowie (Bonnie Hunter):  Continue as leaders and enders project. 

That's the list for this week. Indigo will be the hardest project to keep up with. Hopefully I can make some good progress on it before what's likely to be the final clue comes out on Friday.  Linking up with The Quilt Schmilt: For the Love of Fabric for To Do Tuesday.  Hopefully we'll all get off to a good start with our first to do lists of the new year.

Starting 2024 with the Last Finish in 2023

Happy 2024!  We didn't make it to midnight last night. Usually we stay up and have some bubbly or a glass of wine to celebrate the new year.  But after being down with Covid for most of the week, both of us decided early to bed was probably better for our recovery efforts.  Grad Girl was off with friends for the holiday.  Queenie, her cat, was in bed before we were!  

I didn't get as much done in the sewing room this week as planned, Covid did take it's toll early in the week. But the one thing I did feel like doing was hand stitching. Some time Friday evening, I put the last stitches into the binding for Melodic Mystery, the 2022 Meadow Mist Designs mystery. 

I didn't get photos till yesterday afternoon. It was cloudy, so the colors don't look as bold as they do in person.  Trudy quilted it with a loopy leafy/floral pattern that I really like.  

The backing has been in the stash forever.  

The binding is the same dark burgundy from the front and it's a close match to the colors in the backing.  I named my version Peony Garden.  The pinks on the front are a close match to that flower and the green sashing made me think of garden pathways.  I'm planning to donate this quilt to one of our local charities later this month.  

Melodic Mystery was my third finish for 2023.  I really thought I'd have more finishes my first year of retirement, but new projects were my focus early last year.  Even so, 3 finishes is more than I finished in 2022 so it's all good.  I'll post later on how I did overall on all my 2023 goals. There weren't a lot of finishes, but there was good progress on several fronts.  Linking up today with Design Wall Monday.  

Happy New Year!