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Since September felt like August, it's surprising to realize it's October.  Third quarter is over and we've started fourth quarter.  Just three months left in the year!  I'm always amazed at how fast the last half of the year goes. It's definitely time to take a look at what my strategic plan for the sewing room was for 2026 and see how I'm doing on the execution part.  

1. Guild BOM 2026

All the blocks are finished and all the sashing/border strips are cut, now it's just assembly time. 

2. Wild and ...

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 ...

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.  

It's been a quiet week on the weather front. That's been nice, no late night sessions watching the local weather to decide if we need to move ourselves to the tornado shelter.  My back is still a bit out of whack, I can walk and sit, but bending is completely out for now. Thankfully  I can still sew. 

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 ...

Back in January I posted my quilt making strategies for 2026.  My goal for 2026 is to move projects to finished quilts or as close as I can get to finished for as many projects as possible. I've learned over the years it's a good idea to review where you are at with your goals a few times during the year. It's easy to forget at the end of the year what you decided at the first of the year if you don't.  The end of first quarter seemed like a good time to see if ...

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 ...

March started with three quilts that needed to be finished tops before the end of the month. Those three have been my priority since January and have been on my to do list every week. I made good progress on at least one of those last week.  

There's a lot going on in my sewing room this week (and next week and the week after). All the quilt alongs have ended and I need to have finished quilt tops for the quilt parades.  So my priority will change for this week's list. Before I get to that, here's how last week's list went.  

February is such a short month.  January was 5 weeks, so a true 4 week month is a shock afterwards.  Now that the second month of 2026 is finished,  it's time to report on how I'm doing on my PHDs (projects half done) and link up with Ms P Designs' PHD in 2026.  My PHD report is unchanged from January.   

No finishes, but no new starts either. It was still a good month because there has definitely been progress on several projects.  

Kate's Choice is an almost finish. The second border is attached.  The top border is ...

Hard to believe we've already started on the third month of 2026. We'll be one quarter through the year by the end of the month.  Not to scare anyone, but wow, it's been going by fast.  February was a pretty good month, I didn't check all the items off my to do lists each week, but I got close.  The last week of the month was consistent with the previous 3.   

February will end and March will start between now and the next week's to do list.  This month is such a short one, I always feel behind at the end. Looking back over February's to do lists, it was actually a really good month.   

To Do List for 2/17/2026

1.  Kate's Choice: Cut borders, layer and pin for quilting - progress

2.  SAHRR: Start 5th prompt ✔

3. Scenic Waypoint: Finish corner units ✔

4. Magnificent Mystery: Continue block assembly ✔

5. Wild and Goosey: Continue sashing green blocks ✔

All the progress is starting to show up on the ...

Hard to believe that February is already more than half over.  I need to get busy on a few projects if I'm going to stay on track with my goals for the year.  My weekly to do list helps to keep me on track, most weeks anyway.  I didn't do too badly last week.  

To Do List for 2/10/2026

1. Kate's Choice: Assemble Quilt top and decide on borders ✔

2. SAHRR: Start the 4th prompt ✔

3. Scenic Waypoint: Finish hourglass/center units, start corner units ✔

4. Magnificent Mystery: Continue block assembly ✔

5. Wild and Goosey ...

I didn't make it to the computer yesterday, so my to do list didn't get posted. We've had a lot going on at our household.  My Guy was involuntarily retired last week as part of company cost cutting efforts. So my schedule is just a bit messed up as we've had to deal with getting a few things figured out and set up. Thankfully, I've still had time to get some sanity time in my sewing room and get a bit done on last week's to do list.