What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 This is the 7th year that I've played along with Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs Best of series. It's fun to look back at some of the high points posted on the blog this last year.

1. Most Views (400): Stitching Time: Week 2 of 2021

I'm not sure why this one had so many views, though it's one of my favorite posts from this last year.  The Scientist in Training took a few stitches on my traveling cross stitch project while we were visiting family last Christmas. From that she decided to give embroidery a ...

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)

Back in December 2020, Quilting Jet Girl hosted the 2021 Planning Party to give everyone a chance to think about goals for the new year.  Well, 2021 is more than half over and it's time to check in on the progress (or lack thereof) on My 2021 Quilty Ambitions as part of the 2021 MidYear Checkin. 

2021 Quilty Ambition #1: Finish 8 Quilts in 2021

I'm not doing so hot on this one.  As of July 1st there are only two finishes in 2021. 

My May and June were pretty crappy months at work, so I didn't ...

Hard to believe it's already July 2021.  The last two months have passed really fast for me. My work-life balance was pretty much non-existent during that time.  Thankfully, things have improved and I have hopes of making more progress this month.  So hopefully next month's PHD report will look a lot better than this one.  

 I squeezed in one more finish at the end of June. 

 Just a couple more days till the calendar turns over to July and we'll officially be starting the second half of 2021.  My plans for 2021 haven't gone so hot. I started out strong and then April happened.  Work has been insanely busy since, so May and June haven't been great on the stitching front.  Work has bumped down from insanely to just the normal crazy busy, so I've gotten more stitching done the last week.  Enough stitching that June's One Monthly Goal is finished. 

We actually hit steamy yesterday.  It's been a very cool spring here compared to the high temps elsewhere in the country the last couple of weeks, but the cool stuff may be over for a while.  Work continues to be busy, but things look to be calming down.  I got in more stitching time this week, but I still didn't finish everything on my list.  

The two day weekend went really quickly.  The Scientist in Training was home, but had a wedding to attend and a sleep over with the high school buddies, so we didn't see much of her.  Between errands and a nasty sinus headache, I didn't get in  as much sewing time as I would have liked.  I turned the first corner on stitching down the binding on Grassy Creek. 

It's so hard to believe it's June already and that the year is just about half over.  There has been some good progress on my UFOs, but just one finish so far. I'm hoping that all the work will pay off in lots of finishes the second half of the year.  I've been playing along with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal for several years, it's the one goal I have met each month this year. 

The plan for this year was to finish a lot of quilts. Participating in Quilting Gails 2021 PHD (projects half done) is supposed to help me with that goal.  

The biggest success so far this year is that I've not started anything new.  I do have some planned starts later in the year, but so far I've avoided the squirrels.  The only change to the list was the addition of another project to this year's UFO list.  I ...

We had a relaxing holiday weekend.  We didn't go anyplace, we just hung out around the house. Consequently I was able to spend some quality time in my sewing room for the first time in weeks.  May wasn't the best month for stitching. My last To Do Tuesday post was almost a month ago.  My stitching time was just so limited that I haven't bothered to make up a list since. So we'll start from where I left off and just move on from there. 

Weekly (Monthly?) To Do List for 05/04/2021

• Grassy Creek ...

I finished the pomegranate mug rug for my friend who will become Bat Mitvah on May 31. ("Jewish tradition teaches that the pomegranate is a symbol of righteousness because it is said to have 613 seeds, which corresponds with the 613 mitzvot, or commandments, of the Torah. For this reason and others, it is customary to eat pomegranates on Rosh Hashanah. Moreover, the pomegranate represents fruitfulness, knowledge, learning and wisdom." Source:  Chabad.org) 

It arrived on Saturday, just in time.

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Happy Memorial Day to everyone in the United States.  Since we just got back from vacation, we are staying close to home this holiday weekend.  The mountain of laundry from vacation is just about conquered and I finally made my way back to the sewing room for more than just a few minutes on Saturday and Sunday.  The first priority was to complete my One Monthly Goal for May. 

April was a busy month and May looks to be following suite.  It's been a lot harder to find the time to hang out in the sewing room.  I knew that was going to be the case so last week's to do list was pretty tame. The goal is to just to keep everything moving.  

Weekly To Do List for 4/27/2021

• Morewood Mystery: Continue working on borders ✔
• Cabins and Fans: Continue assembling blocks ✔
• Unity: Continue making HSTs for clue 6 ✔

Life continues to be hectic. I realized this morning that I hadn't decided on a One Monthly Goal for May.  

Grassy Creek, the 2020 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

The end of April means we are one third of the way through 2021.  That's a bit sobering as there's only been one finish  coming out of my sewing room so far this year.  I've been focusing on just a few projects at a time in hopes of moving more to the finished column, but it's been slow going. I've been playing along with Quilting Gail's 2021 PHD  program to help with the motivation. 

This last week was much more sedate and productive than the previous week.  My Guy and I had mild reactions to our second dose of the COVID vaccine.  Though I was a lot more fuzzy brained and tired on Friday then I realized at the time.  Taxes are done and My Guy is almost done checking over them. There was even some significant stitching time during the week resulting in a completely checked off To Do List.  

Weekly To Do List for 04/06/21

• Grassy Creek: Press and clean up quilt top ✔
• Morewood Mystery: Continue to assemble quilt top ...

It was a quiet, but busy weekend. Taxes are finished, with some time left to play in the sewing room.  Getting Grassy Creek cleaned up and pressed was the first priority. 

Morewood Mystery by Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs

Three months down, nine to go in 2021.  One of my goals is to finish 8 quilts this year, one more than I've ever managed.  I'm hoping Quilting Gail's PHD in 2021 will keep me motivated enough to reach that goal.  

So one finish in the bag, seven more to go!  

No other finishes for ...

March is just about over.  In just a couple of days we'll be into April and a quarter of 2021 will be in the past.  I'm not a quarter of the way through my sewing ambitions list, but I'm close.  Writing a weekly to do list has been really helpful in keeping me on task. I didn't stay completely on task last week, but that's because the non-stitching plans for the weekend changed.  

It was a quiet weekend, but not nearly long enough.  I'm not ready to head back to work today.  Thankfully, the meeting schedule doesn't look too nuts this week. Maybe I can get caught up a bit.  

Grassy Creek, the 2020 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt