What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Yesterday was cold and rainy, just really yucky.  Walking to the car after work was really miserable. I'm hoping spring is going to get  bolder and warm things up a bit more before unleashing torrents of rain. But that's not happening this morning, more rain on the way, though it won't last all day.  

This week is normally spring break for us, but the Scientist in Training's college decided not to give the kids spring break this year  to avoid a spike in cases.  This wasn't a really popular decision, but an understandable one.  Last year the college told the kids to stay out for 2 weeks, then moved everything on line after that. Thursday will mark the year anniversary of when My Guy and I were told to start working from home.  It's been a very hard year for many. We've been blessed to keep our jobs through out ...

 Every year, I enjoy creating a version of Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt. This year, her quilt was called Grassy Creek.

Grassy Creek [AKA October Picnic]  (98" x 98")

I used Bonnie's colors of red, orange, gold, and grey; however, I substituted blue for her green. I call this October Picnic because this was my color inspiration photo and the palette I created.

The quilt went together well, thanks to Bonnie's excellent writing of instructions. You can see some of the steps I took by clicking on the "Grassy Creek" label on the right pane of this blog ...

It's really squishy outside after our rainy weekend.  The river running through town is up, but not out.  So we should be able to get to work no problem.  I'm glad we didn't get all that moisture as snow, but I know lots of places did.  Hope everyone will be able to dig out today.  

I didn't spend as much of my weekend in the sewing room as usual.  The Scientist in Training was home and so there were other things to do.  Though we did hang out together for a bit while I was working ...

This last week flashed by.  With the return of warmer temperatures it seems that now there is more to do, both at home and at work.  There was still good progress on the To Do List, but I was a tad over ambitious with plans for one project. 

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 ...

Yesterday was a stay at home and sew day.  The first thing on my list was getting my February One Monthly Goal completed. 

The plan for this month was to get my version of Grassy Creek, the 2020 Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt, assembled.  That got done pretty early on during my sewing day. 

Grassy Creek, the 2020 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

My deep red looks more brown than red in this photo.  I'm really happy with how my version came together. I had already decided not to add the borders from Bonnie's version. After playing in EQ a ...

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 ...

 I'm still working on the Quiltville mystery, Grassy Creek. A few more days, and I should have the top completed.

Grassy Creek (in progress)

I'm ready to build the borders, so it is nearly finished.

Happy Quilting! 

It snowed more yesterday and stayed really cold. Pretty much the same as the rest of the midwest. We've been lucky so far to avoid the rolling black outs that have affected large areas of Texas. Offices are closed again today, so it will be another virtual office day.  I suspect the rolling black outs have more to do with the office closure then the state of the roads. 

We spent our Valentines Day bundled up in sweaters with our thickest socks on watching it snow. It was a good day to just hang out in the sewing room.  Work is virtual today, so though I won't get any additional stitching time, at least I don't have to layer up and trudge through the cold. 

I didn't get as much stitching time this weekend as usual.  I spent most of Saturday in Tulsa with the Scientist in Training.  We were supposed to have a girls weekend with my mother, but the forecasted snow pretty much nixed ...

The freezing drizzle stopped over night, but it's still very, very slick. Offices are closed again today, probably because the parking lots are pretty much ice skating rinks.  Even though offices are closed, I'm still expected to work from home virtually, so I'm still limited to stitching this evening after work.  I'm OK with that and just thankful I don't have to get out in the cold today.  

The To Do List from last week included only three items. All three are in the block making stage, which for the Bonnie Hunter mystery projects can ...

The first text on my phone this morning is that offices are closed.  We've had light freezing rain since yesterday afternoon.  That just means I'm working from home today. But at least I can do that in jeans and won't have to brave the 20 F temperatures to walk across the parking lot. 

There was a fair amount of stitching time this weekend, though it doesn't look like there was a lot of progress on Grassy Creek. 

Grassy Greek, the 2020 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

It's been one of those weeks, absolutely nutty at work.  One of my coworkers described yesterday as "the most Mondayed Friday ever".  I was definitely ready for the weekend so I could catch my breath a bit. In contemplating what was on the agenda for the sewing room I realized that I hadn't yet decided on the One Monthly Goal for February. 

That oversight should definitely be remedied.  As usual there are several options to choose from.  Red, White and Blue Stars is quilted, but it's in transit and not actually here.  Considering it took almost three ...

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

Hard to believe that January is over and it's time to put together the first to do list for February.  The cold and windy weather has made the sewing room an attractive place to hang out the last couple of weeks. So the to do list for last week has a lot of check marks on it.  

Weekly To Do List for 1/26/2021

• Morewood Mystery: Finish making the A Blocks ✔
• Grassy Creek: Continue to make blocks and sashing ✔
• Unity: Make HSTS for Clue 6 as leader and ender ✔

Last week's list was short, but that meant ...

The weather continues to be cold, dreary and windy.  It's been really easy to just hang out in the sewing room when I'm not at work.  Consequently both design walls are currently covered with blocks.  

Morewood Mystery by Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs

Grassy Creek is up ...

Years ago I read a time management book that likened the results of procrastination to an obstacle that gets bigger around as the procrastination continues - so big that it takes more effort to go around it than it would be to just go over it.  That's how I've been with a non-quilting project this week that involved report-writing and statistics-compiling. I have to check to see that all ...