What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

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 ...

We got a nice cool off for the weekend, but we are back to summer heat the rest of the week.  So the sewing room will continue to be my preferred afternoon hang out.  Last week was a good one on the sewing front,  finishing a quilt is always a nice accomplishment.  Even better, I didn't have to neglect the rest of my to do list to make that happen.  

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.  

We had a busy, but fun weekend.  My Guy's niece got married in Dallas.  It was a beautiful wedding. And of course we got to see family, some we've not seen in more than 10 years.  My Girl was able to drive up from Houston. So we got to hang out with her and the cat for a couple of days.  

It was a good thing I got lots of sewing time during the week. There was enough time to finish all the blocks for Good Fortune (Bonnie Hunter).  

Good Fortune was the 2018 BH mystery quilt along ...

It's been a laid back week.  Summer tends to produce a lot of those, it's too hot to do much outside, so why leave the house.  I didn't complete everything on my to do list, but there was progress on every item.  

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 ...

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 ...

My last to do list was almost a month ago.  With all the travel to and from Texas along with plans with My Girl, it was hard to assess what I was going to be able to work on. I didn't do so hot on addressing my last to do list, so I just used that one for a couple of weeks.  Even with three weeks, I didn't get to every item. 

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 ...

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 ...

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.  

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. 

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 year will be my seventh attempt to earn a PHD. Ms. P Designs USA is again hosting the 2025 PHD challenge.  The rules are simple, 1) finish twelve UFOs and 2)Finish all new starts (unless they are mysteries/BOMs that run into 2026).  I've never finished more than seven quilts in one year. I'm hoping that all the progress last year will help me finish 12 this year. Even if I don't get that far, if I can reduce the total number of UFOs this year I'll be happy.  

Last year's efforts reduced ...

Like so many other quilters, I am looking forward to Bonnie Hunter's Mystery quilt this year. I decided to look back at the ones I have done in the past. The dates refer to the year of the beginning of the mystery.

Allietare (2015)

Blogger has made some changes to the blog drafting tool and I'm trying to give it a go before it becomes the standard. It appears the intent was to make the tool easier to use for those writing their posts on mobile devices. I draft my posts using my desktop computer. I can type faster, pull content faster, and generally get from idea to blog post faster on my desktop than I can with my mobile device. I've been blogging either with a desktop of laptop for almost seven years. Change is hard. I just wish the new ...