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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

The weather this weekend was beautiful. Sunny with temperatures in the mid 60s.  It was just too pretty to stay inside and sew all weekend, so there were a couple of long walks on the schedule this weekend.  Still there was plenty of stitching time.  

The first week of March is just about over, so it's definitely time to decide on a One Monthly Goal.  

Not Red, White and Blue Stars.  

Grassy Creek needs borders. Borders ...

The plan for 2021 was to focus on finishing quilts.  Playing along with Quilting Gail's PHD in 2021 is supposed to help me keep on track and focus on those finishes. 

If you look at my chart for this year, I've done really well on the not starting anything new.  But the other side is still looking pretty anemic, no finishes at the end of February.  

No finish, but there has been visible progress on my four focus projects highlighted in blue. 

My office calendar shows a new month as of yesterday.  Hard to believe that a quarter of 2021 will be over at the end of this month.  Didn't we just change out our calendars to a new one?  

Friday was a day off work, so I got an extra afternoon of stitching time last week. That was really helpful in tackling the to do list.  

Weekly To Do List for 02/23/2021

• RW&B Stars: Make binding, label, trim quilt, sew binding on ✔
• Grassy Creek: Start adding borders ✔
• Morewood Mystery: Continue making block B ✔
• Unity: Make HSTs for ...

This week went really quickly.  All of last week's meetings got moved to this week, so I didn't do much else this week. If I wasn't in a meeting, I was getting ready for a meeting. That also meant we were late getting home a few nights this week.  I just barely managed my 15 minutes of stitching time a couple of evenings.

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Feb = 27/27 days
• 15 minute days/2021 = 56/58 days
• Success rate = 96.55%

Hard to believe it's been a week and it's time for a new to do list.  With all the disruption to normal life my sense of time is a bit warped. After four days of working from home, it was getting hard to remember what day of the week it was.  I can't say there was more stitching time last week, but there was enough to check off most of my to do list. 

Weekly To Do List for 02/16/2021

• Grassy Creek: Assemble rows and pieced borders - progress
• Morewood Mystery: Continue to assemble Block B ...

The goal this year, like last year, is to work down the UFO list a bit.  Also like last year, I'm playing along with Quilting's Gail PHD in 2021 as one of my motivators.  

But there has been really good progress on the four projects highlighted in blue in my tracking chart. 

Red, White and Blue Stars

It was cold and cloudy all weekend, perfect sewing room weather.  I took advantage of that and spent all of Saturday afternoon in the sewing room. Saturday morning I braved the biting cold (the wind made being outside absolutely miserable) and finished my January One Monthly Goal.   

Now that the RWB Stars is ...

It's been cold and windy in my part of the world.  Great stay in your sewing room weather. I'd prefer to do that, but I still have to work to support my fabric habit. Even with a few longer work days last week, the to do list didn't get neglected.  

It was a quiet weekend.  The Scientist in Training was back for part of the weekend, but she heads back to school today.  She spent most of Sunday afternoon hanging out with me in the sewing room. She embroidered while I puttered around doing this and that. It will be awhile before we have the opportunity to do that again as classes start tomorrow.  

Not a huge amount of thread, RWB Stars is a lap sized quilt, so it's not that big.  

The ...

What a difference a week can make. Back to work last week was really, really tiring. Consequently, spending time in the sewing room was more than I could do a couple of nights last week. The To Do List didn't suffer too badly thankfully. 

Weekly To Do List for 01/05/2021

• RWB Stars: Prep back and front for quilting - Progress
• Grassy Creek:  Start Clue 7, continue to work on other clues ✔
• Morewood Mystery: Start on the January clue ✔
• Unity: Continue to work on clues 6 and 7 ✔

It was a cold weekend, perfect for hiding out in the sewing room.  I finally took some time to spritz up the my space a bit by vacuuming, dusting and just generally picking up a bit. It's always nice to stitch in an uncluttered space.  

The biggest to do for the weekend was to get the Red, White and Blue Stars quilt back cleaned up, pressed and packaged in preparation for sending the project out for quilting.

That's finished.  I don't always mark the top of the back, but will if I think it would help Trudy ...

The last week was really good on the stitching front.  There was lots of time to hang out in the sewing room and get things done. There was really good progress on last week's To Do List. 

Weekly To Do List For 12/29/2020

• Daisy Chain: Finish binding  ✔
• Grassy Creek: Start clue 5 and 6, work on older clues ✔
• Unity: Continue to work on clues 6 and 7 ✔
• Red, White and Blue Stars: Make Backing ✔

It's a really good week that includes a quilt finish and finishing a backing for another.  A great end to 2020 and ...

The old year ended and the new year started with some significant sewing room time.  I've mainly been playing catch up with the Bonnie Hunter mystery, Grassy Creek.  That will be high up on the to do list, but it's probably more than I can finish for my January One Monthly Goal. 

Red, White and Blue Stars: Setting self ...

It's the last day of 2020.  The pandemic has made life challenging in so many areas, but the year has been good in that I've been home to sew more. That helped take a small bite out of the UFO list.  Playing along with Quilting Gail's PHD in 2020 challenge was also a good motivator.  Gail is again hosting a PHD in 2021 Challenge, as my UFO list still has 22 projects on it, I'm definitely playing along again.    

Last week was one of holiday preparations and celebrations. We had a very nice and relaxed Christmas. There wasn't much time for sewing, but I reduced last week's to do list to account for that. 

Weekly To Do List (12/22/2020)

• Daisy Chain: Make binding, trim quilt ✔
• Grassy Creek: Start clues 4 and 5 - progress
• Unity: Finish clue 5, start clues 6 and 7 ✔

I've been following along with Quilting Gail's 2020 PHD.