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The last couple of weeks have been busy.  I didn't post a To Do List last week because there had been no progress on much of anything.  We were home this weekend, so I was able to get in some decent stitching time and finished off the list from the week before.  

This year certainly hasn't gone to plan on the work or quilting fronts.  The calendar says it's October, just three months in the year to make good on those goals we set back in December.  I'm disappointed in the lack of progress this year, last year was so good for finishing projects. But life sometimes throws us curves, so I'm trying hard to remember that progress counts too.  So I'm going to celebrate the progress made with Quilting Gail's 2021 PHD quilt along.  

There are two updates to my 2021 PHD report. 

There's ...

Last week was a mostly handstitching week. In anticipating of not having much machine time, I cut my to do list back a bit.  I made progress on everything, but didn't get far enough to be able to check off all the items.  

Weekly To Do List For 9/28/2021

• Cabins and Fans: Finish 2nd border, start third ✔
• Macaron Mystery: Make HSTs for step 3 ✔
• Unity: Finish Step 7 

It's the first day of October.  Just 30 days to Halloween, 55 days to Thanksgiving, 85 days to Christmas and 92 days to finish all your 2021 goals!  I'm probably not going to reach my goal on quilt finishes for 2021, but maybe with the help of this month's One Monthly Goal, I'll be one step closer to doing better next year. 

Cabins and Fans just needs a few more border strips added to be a finished flimsy. 

Cabins and Fans:  Self designed

The days are long, but the weeks seem to pass by in a blink.  It's just that time of year.  I had an extra day off this week, which helped me tackle last week's To Do List.  

It's been a fast month.  Work is still insanely busy, but I think there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Keep your fingers crossed for me on that front.  I'm not working as late as much as I was, that's meant more time for stitching stuff at home.  That shows in the progress on last week's to do list. 

The Scientist in Training was home this weekend, she was very content to just hang out with Mom on Saturday. So I got in a fair amount of stitching time, but as we were talking and laughing, I didn't think to take a lot of in progress photos.  

Mask pattern from Laundry Basket Quilts

We had a nice visit with the family this weekend.  Thankfully everyone is healthy.  We celebrated 3 birthdays, so it was a fun weekend.  Between work and the family time, there wasn't a lot of stitching time last week, but there are still a few check marks on last week's list.

To Do List For Week of 8/31/2021

• Cabins and Fans: Sew halve together, start borders - progress
• Scrappy Butterflies: Continue making Irish Chain blocks ✔
• Unity: Make HSTs for step 6 ✔

August has become September, just 4 months left in 2021.  One of my goals for this year was to finish 8 quilts. I've been playing along with Quilting Gail's PHD in 2021 as one way of staying motivated to meet that goal.  

No new finishes, but no new starts either.  So that's a bright spot. There was progress on all of the active projects so that's another plus. 

Morewood ...

Work deadlines had me heading into the office early and staying late yesterday.  After being on the work computer pretty much all day, writing a blog post just wasn't in the cards yesterday.  So I'm a day late on getting my To Do List together for this week. Before getting to that, here's how last week went. 

To Do List for Week of 8/24/2021

• Cabins and Fans: Finish row 7, work on row 8 ✔
• Scrappy Butterflies: Finish framing butterfly blocks ✔
• Face mask: Make a few masks ✔
• Unity: Make HSTs for step 6 ✔

Four checks for ...

It's been a fast, but productive week.  Last week's To Do List was pretty short and simple, but it still feels good to check off each line.  

Cabins and Fans, self designed

Hard to believe August is half over already.  There has been more sewing time this month than last.  Last week's to do list has lots of check marks. 

Weekly To Do List for 8/10/2021

• Morewood Mystery: Package and sent out for quilting ✔
• Cabins and Fans: Work on row 7 ✔
• Unity: Make HSTs for Clue 6 as leader and ender ✔
• Scrappy Butterflies: Start framing Butterfly blocks ✔

The biggest achievement was getting Morewood sent out for quilting.  That should be finish number 3 next month.  I need to get busy if I'm going to have quilt number 4 ...

It's been about three weeks since my last To Do Tuesday post.  To Do Lists were written, but nothing was checked off, so nothing really to post about. Finally this last week there was some action on the stitching front.

To Do List for 8/3/2021

• Morewood Mystery: Finish prepping quilt top ✔
• Cabins and Fans: Work on row 7 ✔
• Unity: Make HSTs for clue 6 as leader and ender ✔
• Scrappy Butterflies: Finalize quilt setting ✔

The biggest achievement was getting the Morewood quilt top pressed and de-threaded.  Now that's done, I can get back to piecing. Even better ...

July went really fast and with the first week of August almost in the bag, it's obvious that the last half of the year is going to move at the speed of light. July had a few nasty surprises.  Shoulder issues sidelined me for the last 2 weeks of the month.  That means limited computer and sewing time till the inflammation goes down.  So I've been pretty absent from the blogging world.  Add in the two weekends I spent with the Scientist in Training one for fun and one to get her moved, my sewing time was pretty ...

The middle of July has come and gone.  It always feels like the last half of the year goes faster than the first half.  Thankfully work has calmed down, but my weekends are going to be pretty full the rest of the month. There won't be much stitching time, so the To Do List will be a bit lighter this week.  First though, here's the progress on last week's To Do List.

To Do List for 7/13/2021

• Morewood Mystery: Press and prep quilt top for pressing
• Cabins and Fans: Finish row 6 and start row ...

A short work week and a relaxing weekend spent mostly at home made it pretty easy to check off all of the items on last week's To Do List. 

To Do List for 7/6/2021

• Morewood Mystery: Finish assembling backing ✔
• Cabins and Fans: Continue assembly of row 5 ✔
• Unity Make HSTs for clue 6 as leader and ender ✔
• Macaron Mystery: Shop stash for more fabric palettes ✔

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 ...

This last week went pretty quickly.  Having time off for the holiday has been nice. I took today off as well, the plan is for a nothing but stitching day to get a jump on this week's To Do List.  Time off last week helped make short work of last week's to do list. 

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. 

Work has gone from insanely busy to the normal crazy busy, so I've been able to get in a bit more stitching time this week. There was time to work on the To Do List for the week.