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It's been a very weird autumn. October was cooler than September, but not by much.  My sewing room was my preferred location for most of the month. That means I have lots to blog about for the October PHD Report posted over at P Designs USA.  

We celebrated my mom's and My Guy's birthdays yesterday.  Mom's birthday was this last week and My Guy's was earlier this month.  My mom is big on celebrating birthday's and realized that she'd never done anything special for My Guy on his.  So this year she wanted to be sure we celebrated both.  We had a fun time, but it's the 4th weekend in a row that we've not been home. 

September was just a weird month for some reason.  I guess because, though it has cooled off some, it was still pretty warm. Didn't feel like autumn at all.  At any rate, the higher temps made the sewing room the place to be so I got a lot of stitching done this month. So there is plenty to report for the September PHD Report linky party over at P Designs USA. Here's my PHD report for the last month.  

It's October! I'm really not ready for that reality. We've got a lot going on this month, so I'm sure it will go faster than September.  Oh well, at least I got a lot done last week.  

To Do list for 09/24/2024

1.  Rhododendron: Finish binding ✔

2.  Diatom: Make label, binding, trim, sew on binding ✔

3.  Guild BOM: Make September block ✔

4.  Chocolate Marshmallows: Decide on setting ✔

5.  Wild and Goosey:  Continue making orange blocks ✔

6.  Sensational Scrap Quilt: Continue as leaders and enders ✔

Six for six last week.  I took the finishing of ...

Last week's maladies definitely hampered my progress on all things quilty. Some days, 15 minutes was really all I managed to accomplish.  But there was still progress.  Both design walls are completely empty at the moment. Chocolate Marshmallow goes up next. I did work out the final setting in EQ on one of the days I didn't make it to the sewing room. 

  

This may or may not be the final block layout. I need to get the blocks up on the design wall and play a bit before that's a done deal.  Chocolate Marshmallows was started ...

Getting a to do list posted for this week hasn't been the easiest.  I was very sick Tuesday and then yesterday had an appointment to get the car in for service. By the time I got home, the ragweed had given me one of those "light hurts your eyes" headaches.  I still have the dregs of the headache, I'm hoping it clears up as the day goes on.  But it's backed off enough I can at least sit in front of the computer this morning.  

Last week's to do list was an easy one.  

To Do ...

Just one week into September and it already feels like the month is just flying by.  The weeks do seem to be getting busier and I have more things on my other stuff to do list, my sewing room to do list has suffered a bit as a result. 

To Do List for 09/03/2024

1. Diatom: Prep top for quilting - progress

2. Chilhowie: Finish 1st pieced border, start on second border ✔

3.  Jewel Box Blocks: Finish blocks - progress

4.  Marble Mystery: Cut background fabric, start assembly - progress

5.  Wild and Goosey: Continue making orange blocks ✔

6.  Sensational Summer ...

With all the hot, hot days in August, the sewing room was the nicest place to hang out most days.  Consequently there was a lot of progress on the various projects.  Now that we've moved into September it's time to link up with P Designs USA for the August PHD Report.

Another finish added to the chart with no new starts. That's definitely a good month.  So I'm up to three finishes for 2024.  The latest finish was my 2024 Stay at Home Round Robin (Quilting Gail) project. 

Is it really September?  Seems like it was the beginning of May just yesterday.  Now summer's end is looming. It will be a quick march to the end of the year.  But I should slow down and just take it a day at a time.  

Summer is still in full force here, though we have a chance for cooler temperatures starting this weekend with increased chances for rain. Of course there will be rain, it's Labor Day. It always seems to rain here for that holiday weekend.  We have no special plans for the holiday, but My Guy is taking a couple of days off, so I'm sure we'll end up doing something fun. So I should probably take that into account for this week's To Do List.  Before jumping there, I should review how it went with last week's ...

It's been another hot week, so the sewing room was my favorite place to be. My shoulder issues did require me to minimize my time early in the week, but by the end of the week, I could sew for more than my 15 minutes each day. That made it much easier to tackle the to do list.   

To Do List for 08/13/2024

1.  2024 SAHRR: Finish binding ✔

2.  Indigo Way: Add last border ✔

3.  Diatom: Finish sashing, start borders ✔

4.  Guild BOM: Make August block - progress

5.  Wild and Goosey: Continue making orange blocks ✔

6.  Sensational ...

We'll pass mid-August this week.  It really does feel like time speeds up as we get closer to the end of the year. Didn't we just pass mid year? How can it already be almost two thirds overs?  I should calm down, there is still half of August left, so still time to make lots of progress on my quilting plan. 

Lots of lightening and thunder this morning.  So I decided to sleep in just a bit as I didn't want to turn on the computer in the middle of a thunderstorm.  The extra sleep was probably wise as I was fighting off a sinus infection all weekend. The afternoon naps are paying off as I'm finally starting to feel better, but it also meant that I didn't get all that much done in the sewing room.  

Diatom (Quilting Jetgirl) is up on the design wall. 

The rows are all sewn together.  The horizontal sashing strips have been ...

My Guy is off on a business trip, so I have the house to myself for a few days.  I lived alone for many years before we were married, but it feels so weird now.  A lot of stitching got done yesterday, but I have other chores to get done today.  But there will probably be some later night stitching again tonight.  

July wasn't nearly as busy as June, so there was a lot more time for playing in the sewing room.  Enough playing that there is finally an update to the PHD report. 

The finish for July was the 2023 Stay at Home Round Robin (Quilting Gail).  

I'm really happy with how this one turned out.  My Guy really likes it. That's a good thing because it ...

Summer is well and truly back. We've had heat advisories pretty much every day since late last week.  It is almost August. The first two weeks of that month are typically our hottest.  Which isn't fun to contemplate considering how hot early July was.  

Since there wasn't much to do but hide in my sewing room, there was lots of stitching time last week, which made pretty quick work of last week's to do list. 

To Do list for 7/23/2024

1.  Rhododendron: Prep back for quilting ✔

2.  Kate's Choice: Continue making blocks ✔

3 ...

This will be my 6th attempt to achieve a PHD in quilting projects.  I've yet to manage that.  I doubt it happens this year either, but I won't know unless I try.  There are new hostesses for the PHD in 2024, Sharon Anderson and Susan Hatcher of Ms. P Designs USA.  Here's my list of this year's UFOs for the PHD in 2024.  

My strategy this year is to work on a new quilt or a quilt that needs the blocks assembled plus a quilt top to be finished or a quilt top to be assembled ...

 On the one hand, I'm really ready for some cooler weather and August gets us closer to that. On the other hand, August is the 8th month, so we'll be three quarters through the year at the end of it. That I'm not ready for.  I've been participating in Quilting Gail's PHD in 2023 program again this year.  There has been some good progress on my UFOs, but as yet there still aren't any finishes for 2023, so my chart is unchanged from June.  

On the positive side of things, at least there have ...

It's after lunch, so I'm really, really late with my typical Monday morning post.  But it has been one of those Mondays where the day just started wrong and went downhill from there. Grad Girl had asked me to take care of some paperwork for her that's due today.  I realized while I was having my coffee and reviewing my to do lists that I had completely spaced it off. So rather than housework, I needed to head out before 9 to get that taken care of.  

While I was contemplating that change in plans, My Guy ...

There was no to do list for last week.  Grad Girl doesn't have a lot, but it's amazing how long it takes to pack and load, then unload and unpack even a small apartment.  It just didn't make sense to make a list for last week, especially since I didn't do so well on the list for the previous week. Even with another week to work on projects, I didn't check off all the items on the list.  

To Do List for 7/11/2023

1. Just Two Charm Pack Quilts blog hop: Finish assembling ...