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July felt like a month of medical appointments.  Physical therapy twice a week and then several appointments to address the tooth pain that was keeping me up.  Even with all the disruptions, July was a pretty good month on the PHD front.  There is another finish to link up with Ms. P Designs for the July PHD report.  

This is my third finish for the year.  I had hoped to have more finishes by this point in the year.  Learning to quilt has been a slow process, but I'm getting better and a bit faster there.  Finding a long ...

It was a good week on the stitching front. It's always fun to have a finish.  My goal was to finish the 2025 Guild BOM quilt before the end of July.  I put the last stitches in the binding at about 5:10 PM last Friday, the 31st.  Not up to the wire, but close.  

I'm really happy with how this quilt turned out.  This is the second time I've made an Inverted Star quilt.  Here's the original started in  2014, finished in 2019.

The newer version is more scrappy, a consistent white one white background ...

We were home most of this week and with the triple digits outside staying in my sewing room seemed to be the best option.  I did get a lot done, it just doesn't feel that way.  

We had a pretty quiet weekend. After all the running around last weekend, that was definitely on my agenda for the week.  We hit triple digits both days of the weekend, so hiding out in my sewing room was definitely my preferred retreat from the heat.  

We were in Dallas for the weekend, so I didn't get much sewing done. I worked a lot on the instructions for this year's Guild BOM, so that was my "stitching" activity for the weekend. That wasn't on last week's list, but it needs to get done.  There was some good progress on last week's to do list before we left.  

Back in January, I drafted a strategic plan (?) for 2026.  Strategic Plan is probably a gross overstatement of what I actually put together, but it was at least a potential road map for my quilting decisions.  Now that we are in 3rd quarter, I should probably take a look at where I'm at and decide on any adjustments.  

2nd Quarter Strategy

1. Guild BOM: Finish May through October blocks.  Finish Flying geese. 

The May, June and July blocks are all finished.  The flying geese for the alternate border are also all finished.  The instructions are written for the August ...

Hard to believe we are half way through 2026. By this point you realize your goals were just a touch too ambitious and what seemed doable back in January is probably not going to get done. At least that's how it seems to work for me. Thankfully it is the start of a new month, so another chance to make good progress on my projects.  Linking up with Ms. P Designs to review on my progress with my June PHD Report.  

June's report includes another finish.  It's my second for the year. Which isn't much, but ...

Last week was a good one for progress, it's just that most of that progress was just on two projects.  But I did a bit on everything that was on my list.  

To Do List for 6/8/2026

1. 2025 Guild BOM: Prep quilt top for quilting - progress

2. Chilhowie: Continue quilting ✔

3. Lupine and Laughter: Continue assembling quilt ✔

4. Good Fortune: Continue making blocks ✔

5. Wild and Goosey: Continue sashing blue blocks ✔

Most of the week was spent on Chilhowie and the 2025 Guild BOM projects. Chilhowie is a finished quilt, I just haven't had a ...

My weekend wasn't as productive as normal, but I certainly made up for it during the week.  I finished the to do list and a bit more.  

To Do List for 6/2/2026

1.  2025 Guild BOM:  Prep back for quilting ✔

2.  Chilhowie: Continue quilting ✔

3.  Lupine and Laughter: Continue working on main blocks ✔

4.  Wild and Goosey: Continue sashing blue blocks ✔

A good week on the progress front.  I'm hoping for the same with this week's to do list. 

To Do List for 6/9/2026

1.  2025 Guild BOM: Prep quilt top for quilting ...

May went fast. Hard to believe that at the end of this month we'll be half way through 2026.  Looking back, May was a pretty productive month, even though my PHD report didn't change.  

I'm still going to link up with Ms P Designs for the May PHD report to show that no finish isn't the same as no progress.  

I didn't get much done during the week, but once we got to the weekend, there was a lot of progress in the sewing room.  A fully checked off to do list was the result. 

My reading time encroached into my sewing time this last week.  I'm sure part of the reason is that the stairs up to the sewing room haven't been fun to navigate with my knee giving me fits. So it takes a bit more motivation to head that direction.  Thankfully, I was in the sewing room enough to make good progress on last week's to do list. 

The to do list post is a bit late this week. I had an early morning appointment yesterday, followed by our gym workout, then a trip to Wally World as we call it.  It was time for lunch by the time we got home. When I did get back to the computer in the afternoon, I needed to make sure the guild block of the month instructions were ready to go as yesterday was meeting day.  I just didn't get around to writing a blog post.  

My back has been slowly getting better. Bending is still problematic, but otherwise I'm mostly pain free.  My therapy has included cycling, walking and sewing.  Movement is the best thing for the back and with all the walking between rooms I did working on Chilowie, I moved a lot!  It's a blessing that the sewing room was one of the places I could go and not hurt. That was really good for last week's to do list. 

To Do List for 5/5/2026

1.  Old Town: Work on borders ✔

2.  Chilhowie: Sandwich quilt and start marking ...

After reviewing my first quarter progress, my second quarter overall strategy won't need to change. But I will need to adjust the project list for the quarter since there is a lot that didn't get finished in first quarter.  

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.  

How can it be December already? We've reached that point where you've either done a great job on your PHD plan or not.  There's not much opportunity to fix it at this point.  So I'm going to confess my lack of progress and link up with Ms. P Designs for the November PHD report.  

No new finishes, but one new start.  The 2026 Guild BOM won't end until next year and doesn't officially start until January. But as I'm the one leading it this year, I have to be ready to go one ...

How are your holiday preparations going?  We need to make one last grocery store run, but our menu is set and we've divided up the cooking chores. This week my focus is on the holiday, last week my focus was on getting the 2025 Guild BOM ready to show at the meeting last Tuesday. 

Thanksgiving is next week.  I'm not ready to be that far into the year!  But it comes regardless. Just like the November guild meeting is tomorrow.  My weekend sewing was focused on getting the 2025 Guild BOM to finished quilt top stage. 

What I suspect has been a cold hasn't quite cleared up yet.  Thankfully the sinus pressure and headache have backed off.  I'm still a bit sniffly, but at least I can mostly breathe.  I didn't much done on Saturday since I felt so crappy, but I didn't do too badly with last week's list.