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This year will be my seventh attempt to earn a PHD. Ms. P Designs USA is again hosting the 2025 PHD challenge.  The rules are simple, 1) finish twelve UFOs and 2)Finish all new starts (unless they are mysteries/BOMs that run into 2026).  I've never finished more than seven quilts in one year. I'm hoping that all the progress last year will help me finish 12 this year. Even if I don't get that far, if I can reduce the total number of UFOs this year I'll be happy.  

Last year's efforts reduced ...

It's always an adjustment to move from the previous year to the new year.  Mostly it's a mind reset, but it did take me the better part of the morning to reset my quilting tracking spreadsheet for the new year.  That first meant making sure all of the quilty stuff that went on in 2024 was captured. With that all done, it made pulling all the information for my end of the year PHD report easier. 

The year ended with six finishes, six projects moved to finished quilt tops, progress on the rest of the UFOs on the ...

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. 

It's been a so-so year for finishes but a pretty good year for progress on many projects. Just three finishes so far this year, but double that number of projects have moved from a collections of pieces or blocks to finished quilt tops. The latest one to get the final borders added is the 2023 Bonnie Hunter Mystery, Indigo Way.

My borders don't look like Bonnie's, but I rarely keep to her plan at that point.  It's a pretty busy quilt, but the dark blue border calms it all down, so the finished top works for ...

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 ...

I'm a bit late getting a post up today.  It took a while to shake off the mental cob webs this morning for some reason. Now that my coffee cup is mostly empty, brain function seems to be restored. It was a good week for progress. I went to the guild late night sew this week and made good progress on getting Indigo Way (Bonnie Hunter) assembled.  

The quilt was trimmed up over the weekend and I've started on the borders.  As is typical, my borders won't be the same as Bonnie's.  I've kept the ...

We've settled back into our normal schedule for the most part.  The weather has been much nicer as it's cooler, but the mold count is way up. So I've been fighting sinus headaches and congestion for most of the week.  It slows me down a little, I tend to nap more (one of the joys of retirement, I don't have to fight the allergies and work).  Even with a few naps, last week's to do list still got finished.  

It cooled off for the weekend, but it was mostly cloudy and a bit rainy over both days.  It was nice weather to hang out in the sewing room.  Who am I kidding, I'd say any weather is a good time to be in the sewing room, except maybe during severe thunderstorms.  

Last Sunday's post noted just how out of it I felt during most of last week. Saturday allowed for a reset and I managed to get back up to speed on a number of things, including last week's to do list. 

To Do List for 07/09/2024

1.  2023 SAHRR: Finish binding  ✔ 

2.  Kates' Choice: Continue making blocks ✔

3.  Guild BOM: Finish June block, start July block ✔

4.  Wild and Goosey: Finish blue blocks, start teal blocks ✔

5.  Indigo Way: Finish setting triangles, start assembly ✔

I'm 5 for 5 for last week, a definite improvement over ...

It's been a whirl wind couple of days.  We went to Texas to visit Grad Girl for the 4th of July weekend.  We had planned to stay till Monday to avoid the homeward bound traffic from 4th of July.  Those plans changed when they issued tropical storm warnings for Brazos county due to Beryl. We had a serious rethink and left late Sunday afternoon to drive to Dallas.  It's pretty flat in that part of the state and it doesn't take much for parts of the roads to flash flood, so it just seemed wise to avoid ...

Hard to believe that we've already passed the half way mark on the year.  June was busy with lots of non sewing stuff, so though I managed to keep up with my stitching time, there's no progress in my PHD Report. 

No new starts, so that's a positive.  But no new finishes. Even so there was good progress towards making that happen in July.  

My second oldest UFO was moved along and underwent a name change as well.  What started as the Grandmother's Choice quilt along with Barbara Brackman is now Kate's Choice as I ...

We had heavy rains with strong winds over the weekend, followed by high humidity which has made it just miserable to be outside.  I had to run errands a couple of days last week and came home needing naps afterwards. I'm pretty sure one day I got dehydrated and just felt crappy for most of the day.  All that to say, I didn't make as much progress on my to do list as I had hoped. 

To Do List 06/25/2024

1. 2024 SAHRR: Prep for quilting ✔

2. Kate's Choice: Continue making blocks ✔

3.  Guild BOM ...

I didn't post a to do list for last week since I was at the conference for the week and then knew I'd be at Grad Girl's cat sitting over the weekend. There was some progress on the to do list from the 11th before the long drive to Texas. 

Last week my motivation for getting to the sewing room was a bit low. I managed at least 15 minutes each day up till the weekend. The solid afternoons of nothing but stitching made the difference in getting my to do list checked off for last week.

To Do List for 06/04/2024

1. 2024 SAHRR: Prep back for quilting ✔ 

2. Kate's Choice: Continue making blocks ✔

3. Guild BOM: Cut fabrics, start assembly of June block ✔

4. Wild and Goosey: Make blue blocks ✔

5. Indigo Way: Continue as leader and ender project ✔

I've been keeping the list ...

May went fast. Didn't I just write the April PHD report?  At any rate it's time to link up with P Designs USA for the May PHD report. There's been no change in my PHD report. 

Last week had a lot more out of the house stuff going on then is typical.  Which was nice, being retired it seems so much easier to get into a bit of rut. Being out and about more didn't impact my stitching time too much so I was able to complete last week's to do list.