What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I finished the last of my midyear reviews with my direct reports at work yesterday.   The purpose of the midyear review is to make sure you are on track with your goals. If you are not on track, it helps to identify the obstacles or changes in priorities and adjust accordingly. Also it's a good opportunity to celebrate your successes. It's just natural for me to apply what we do at work to the quilty part of my life.  Back in December I set my 2020 Quilting Ambitions as part of Quilting Jetgirl's 2020 Planning Party.  Here ...

The week just seemed to drag.  I'm very glad it's Saturday morning so I can just hang out and drink my coffee. Not sure what else is on the agenda for today, I'm hoping some significant time in the sewing room is at the top of the list. Though I think My Guy may have some other thoughts on that. 

Hard to believe there are just three more days in April.  It's been a pretty productive month. The weekly to do lists have helped keep me on track. I've not checked everything off each week, but progress has been pretty steady.  Last week's progress was typical of the previous weeks. 

Weekly To Do List for 04/21/2020
Mosaic Mystery: Find fabric for and make backing ✔
Frolic: Make 4-patches and sashing strips ✔
Winter Quilt Along: Finish binding ✔
Unity: Finish steps 1 and 2 - progress

So three out of four checked off is a really good week ...

It was a good week in the sewing room.  I've not had more stitching time during this period of social distancing as work has been just as busy as always.  But the changes I made to work on only three projects at a time and to limit the weekly to do list to just four items each week is starting to pay off.  Playing along with the 2020 PHD program and the One Monthly Goal have helped with the focus too.  In fact this month I actually met my OMG a few days early for a change. 

Even with stitching every evening, it's hard to make really significant progress on my projects if there's not much time in the sewing room over the weekend.  The yard work and associated recovery cut back the sewing room time this weekend, so there wasn't as much progress as there could have been. 

Yesterday it was much warmer and sunny.  We took to opportunity to deal with a tree with branches that had overgrown onto the roof  That involved ladders, loppers, saws and very large trash bags.  Plus a dose of Aleve before bed last night.  Even so, I'm moving just a bit slowly this morning.  Stitching time was a bit limited this weekend but I did manage to work in my 15 minutes on Saturday even with the battle of the branches. How did you do at finding at least 15 minutes to stitch each day? 

It was back to work yesterday morning after the three day holiday weekend.  But it was a good weekend on the stitching front, even if my to do list fell victim to the making of more face masks and the new quilt along I couldn't resist.  Here's last week's list.   

Weekly To Do List (04/7/2020)
Mosaic Mystery: Add fourth border - progress
Frolic: Finish 2 lt. blue blocks, stitch rows together ✔
Winter Quilt Along: Trim quilt, make binding ✔

Checked off two and made progress on the third, that feels good.  Especially considering the number of other ...

This year is supposed to be the year of finishes. To help with the motivation, I've joined up with Quilting Gail's PHD in 2020. 

A day of sunshine, a day of rain made up the weekend. It was nice to have the sunshine on Saturday while we were hanging out with the Scientist in Training.  Since there were no plans for Sunday, a rainy day was just perfect for hanging out in the sewing room.  

I came home from Tulsa with a nasty headache on Saturday, so I didn't get much done in the sewing room.  That left Sunday to make some progress on the to do list and get the Winter Quilt Along backing and top prepped for quilting. 

My focus for 2020 is to 

I'm in New Orleans on a work assignment, but I should be headed home tomorrow.  Being on the road took a couple of days out of my normal sewing week, but I did manage to get in some good effort last weekend, so there was progress and a few check marks on last week's list. 

Weekly To Do List (01/21/2020)
Twinkle Stars:  Clean up the back of the quilt top, press - progress
Frolic: Make 9 blocks - progress
Wild and Goosey Blocks: Make green blocks for RSC ✔

I have Friday off this week, which I'm hoping ...

It's been a quick moving month. It's already mid-month and time to check in over at Quilting Gail's with progress on earning my PHD (projects half done) in quilt finishes for 2020.  

Usually the first month of the year seems to pass by slowly. That's not been the case this year, the month is speeding by, tomorrow is mid month already.  But even with the quickly passing days, the to do list fared pretty well.  

Weekly To Do List (01/07/2020)
1.  Twinkly Stars - Find and piece backing ✔
2. Frolic - Finish Clue 3, progress on Clue 4,5, 6 and 7, Start Clue 8  - progress
3. Mosaic Mystery - Start assembling rows as leaders and enders ✔

Last week ended with check marks on two of the three items, and good progress ...

I'm grateful that we went back to work last Thursday. We had a short work week, then a weekend to gear up for the first Monday after the New Year.  So I'm not dreading today too much as I got a bit dug out last week at work plus got in some good relaxing and productive stitching time over the weekend. 

My word for 2020 is "Finish", as in clear off the UFO/WIP list a bit.  My strategy is to focus on mostly those projects that are almost to the end point.  That certainly paid off this ...

Happy New Year's Eve!  My plan is to hang out with My Guy and do a bit of stitching while we wait for the new year. The Scientist in Training will be having a few friends over for the evening.  Should be pretty low key, but fun. 

Christmas week was a bit weird. My To Do list didn't get put together till Thursday, but I did put together a list. 

Weekly To Do List 12/24/2019
1. Twinkle Stars - Add borders   progress
2. Frolic - Finish clue 1, continue clues 3 and 4, start clue 5 ✔
3.  Mosaic ...

Just three more days that I have to get up, get dressed and drive to work for 2020.  I was going to say just three more days of work for the year, but that's not quite true. I'm going to have to work a bit while I'm off. But if I spend an hour a day on the work computer most days of vacation, the reward is I should be able to check off a few big things on my work "to do" list and I'll start the new work year on better footing.  That's ...

Once I finish the reports that are due tomorrow, things at work should slow down a bit. Fingers crossed that's the case anyway.  I made headway today, but took a break after six hours of report writing to do some mental health stitching. All work and no play makes for a stressed out and not happy quilter.  

Frolic Bonnie Hunter 2019 Mystery Quilt

I was so glad to make it to Friday, only to discover that I'd missed the deadline on some important reports. So the first 6 hours of my day off were spent not in the sewing room, but on my work computer finishing up what was supposed have been turned in Thursday.  We get up at 4:30 AM (yes even on our day off) so I was done by 10:30, but it made for a lousy start to the day.  That's the kind of week it's been. I'm hoping that it will be calmer ...

One work day done, three work days left in this week. And all three are jam packed, including a working dinner on Wednesday evening.  Hopefully life will slow down a bit next week.  No work days last week, but with family in town and prep for the holiday, sewing room time was minimal. Even so there are two check marks and progress on the last two items on last week's list.  

Weekly To Do List for 11/26/2019
1. Medallion Butterfly Panel - Stitch Butterfly names in upper left corner of panel✔
2. Frolic - Get started on clue 1 ...

After having a fun week off to spend with family, I'm not ready to head back to work this morning.  But once I get through this week, things should calm down for the rest of the year (fingers crossed that's actually true).  Though I expect this week to be pretty rough with a number of long days.  

There wasn't a lot of sewing room time even though I was off work. There was lots of prep work that went along with all the family time.  But I did get in some time with the embroidery project.