What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Just one quarter left in 2026 to complete what ever plans one had for getting quilty things done this year.  When the year starts in January, it's so easy to think you've got the whole year ahead, so much time to get projects moved along and finished.  By October, it's where did the year go and why don't I have more done?  The last two months of the year have big holidays in them, so it's hard to make up time for what you didn't get done earlier in the year.  Considering all that ...

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 nice weekend.  My Guy and I celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary on Saturday by going out for a fancy dinner followed by custard at our favorite spot for dessert. We are long past getting gifts for each other.  Neither of us need anything, we'd much rather go do something fun together.  

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. 

Last week, especially last weekend, didn't go exactly to plan. It was a good thing I set yesterday's Stitching Stuff post to automatically upload before we went to dinner on Saturday.  We beat the storm home by less than an hour.  Radar clocked the straight line wind speed at 80+ mph just north of where we live. The force of those straight line winds across the windows on the north side of the house was pretty scary. We lost a few shingles from the roof, but it was already scheduled for a new roof this year, we'll ...

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.  

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. 

Hard to believe it is June already. I'm hoping this month has much fewer health issues, May was rough on that front.  I've been reading more than I've been sewing the last couple of weeks, but I'm still making slow, but consistent progress on several projects.  My priority project has been Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter).  

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. 

Saturday was rainy, but the rest of the holiday weekend has been gorgeous. My Guy and I went for a walk last night after dinner.  My back seems to have recovered, but my right knee is still giving me fits, so it wasn't a long walk.  

The sewing room hasn't been as attractive the last couple of weekends.  I've been reading more than I typically do.  That's OK, sometimes you need to mix it up a bit. There was enough sewing time to finish up the "A" blocks. 

What looks black is actually a very, very ...

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 sewing room mojo was a bit sparse this last weekend.   I ended up reading most of Sunday afternoon. But I did finally make it up to the sewing room for a couple of hours before dinner. 

Other than the 2025 Guild BOM, the Bonnie Hunter Lupine and Laughter Mystery  is the only quilt started last year or for that matter this year, that's not a finished quilt top.  I've been working on what Bonnie calls the alternate blocks.  

Six blocks finished over the last couple of weeks. What looks like black is actually a very dark purple ...

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 playing along with Ms. P Designs' PHD in 2026 again this year.  It's my sixth year and I've yet to earn my PHD.  Maybe I can make it work this year?  We'll see. 

Only one month into the program and I've started 2 new projects already.  One was planned, the other unplanned.  I'm hoping to finish both quilts this year. Fingers crossed on that plan.  No finishes yet, but there has been good progress on moving several projects closer to that point.  

My big goal for January was to restart the quilt as ...