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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 ...

I'm currently in Texas, hanging out with My Girl and Queenie.  I spent most of last week getting ready to travel and not as much time in the sewing room. But I did reach one big milestone. The quilting of Chilhowie was completed and I made getting it bound a priority so I had a second finish to add to my tally before we cross into the later half of the year. 

Chilhowie was the 2022 Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt.  I opted to make just 9 blocks, the quilt still turned out to be a good sized lap quilt ...

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 ...

It was a pretty productive week, which resulted in a not so hot weekend.  One of our local quilt shops has a late night sew one night a week. This week the shop decided to host two late night sewing sessions. It's usually a pretty fun session with lots of stories, laughter and valuable quilt making feedback. The only problem is the sewing set up isn't the best from an ergonomic standpoint for me. One late night isn't an issue, but apparently that second 6 hour session wasn't such a good idea. I woke up early ...

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 ...

If you've followed me for any length of time you probably know I have a week spot for Cheryl Brickey's Meadow Mist Designs mystery quilts and Bonnie Hunter's annual mystery quilt alongs. I've been sewing with Bonnie's mysteries since 2013. That year was her Celtic Solstice mystery. It's still in pieces with a few blocks made. It's on my 2026 project list. Not sure I'm going to get that far. 

Hard to believe it is already May. I completely missed that yesterday was "May the 4th Be With You" day.  Today is Cinco de Mayo, so happy holiday if you are of Mexican heritage. Mother's Day is this weekend (I have no idea what to get my mother).  

I'm not sure what happened to April. Well, that's not entirely true. We were on vacation for almost half the month, so there is only half of month of stitching progress to report for the April PHD Report over at Ms P Designs. There was definitely progress the latter half of the month, but definitely not as much as previous months.  My April PHD report looks exactly the same as March's report. 

Storm season has been brutal in Oklahoma this year.  I have family in Enid (they are fine).  There were tornadoes just west of us Sunday night. We were up late waiting to see if the tornado warning was going to cross the county line. No point going to bed if you have to make a run for the storm shelter just as you get to sleep. More rain/storms are in the forecast for today. Hopefully those will be mainly just rain, not strong storms.  

The storms put a hitch in my stitching time last week.  I still got a lot done, but didn't complete all of my to dos from last week. 

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.  

This is my first to do list for April.  My last to do list was back at the end of March, just before we left for vacation.  With vacation prep, I just didn't have time to get to much that was on the list before we left, but I did make some progress after we got home.  

To Do List for 3/24/26

1. SAHRR: Finish quilt top - progress

2. Magnificent Mystery: Finish blocks, start quilt assembly - progress

3. Chilhowie: Piece backing, start quilt prep- no progress

4. Wild and Goosey: Continue working on blue blocks ✔

One check ...

Hard to believe there is just a little over a week left in March.  It's been a good month for me on the productivity front. Even with my allergies and my back issues, I've been doing pretty well at getting my to do lists mostly checked off.  

To Do List for 3/17/2026

1. SAHRR: Work on borders ✔

2. Magnificent Mystery: Work on block assembly ✔

3. Wild and Goosey: Continue working on blue blocks ✔

Three for three is a good week.  I didn't get as far with the SAHRR as I would have liked. Hopefully it ...

About mid-morning yesterday I realized it was June 1st.  Along with that came the realization that we'll be half way through the year at the end of the month. I'm hoping that fact jump starts my sewing mojo, because I'm not doing so hot on my goals for 2025. 

I don't have much to show for this week.  My goal was to reacquaint myself with counted cross stitching.  I made a mistake pretty quick on my relearning process and had to unpick a lot of stitches.  But eventually a bit of progress was made.    

I'm ...

I'm a bit late getting to my to do list for this week. All the rain has brought on lots of pollen and mold, two big allergens for me.  Lots of annoying allergy symptoms are sapping my enthusiasm for much of anything this week. I was tempted to not even draft a to do list, but if this keeps up, I'm going to need the motivation.  At least last week's list has all check marks

It doesn't seem all that long ago that we kicked off 2025, but now it's May. June follows, which means that mid-year isn't that far off.  Do you ever wonder what happened in the sewing room and why you don't have more done?  I could be sewing more, so my plan for May is to maximize my sewing time while still doing the other things that need to get done around the house.

My primary goal for the last couple of years is to make progress on my UFOs. I'm doing well on getting quilts ...