What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Just one more day in January.  January is such a chill month, probably because the weather is so bad, no one does anything.  It always seems that the months go faster the deeper into the year we get. So though the weather this month has not been fun, there is a part of me that is sad that January is almost over.  

The weather has done a good job of keeping me in my sewing room.  Which means I did pretty well with checking off items on last week's to do list. 

To Do List for 1/23/2024 ...

I did this to myself last year too.  Being retired it was so easy to say, "I have lots of time for new projects."  Ha! Maybe that would be true if I'd just stick with one new project after the madness of the Bonnie Mystery that wrapped up New Year's Day.  But no, I really wanted to play along with 2 quilt alongs that started in January.  It took me all weekend, but I'm caught up on both!  

I'm ready for winter to be over, or at least for this brutally cold stuff to move out.  We've got one more day before we'll see any temps above freezing.  My Guy is working from home today, his offices are closed.  

The cold has been really conductive to spending time in the sewing room where the iron helps heat up the space.  Consequently, there are a lot of check marks on last week's  to do list. 

To Do List for 1/9/2024

1. 2024 SAHRR: Make center block - progress

2. Betty: Continue cutting fabrics ✔

3 ...

It's cold! I know we have it easy compared to those north of us, but once you get past a certain point it's all just cold.  It's -1 F at the moment.  We are supposed to get up into the teens today. That's a heat wave compared to our high of 5 F yesterday. 

The one good thing about the cold and snow is that it's a very good reason to spend most of Sunday in the sewing room.  I spent most of the morning cutting scraps and yardage for the Just Two Charm Pack ...

This year has been one of transition.  I retired late in 2022, so 2023 was the first year since I was 16 without a work schedule.  At least a work schedule outside the house. So it's been a year of adjustments and discovery as to what one does when there is not a demanding job requiring daily attention.  Spending time in the sewing room has gone up, but not as much as I thought it would. There are still days I have to remind myself to get my 15 minutes of stitching time in. I've certainly posted more ...

I'm a bit late posting this week's to do list.  We went to my family's for the holiday.  All of us came home yesterday with headaches, sore throats, and runny noses.  My Guy and Grad Girl have fevers, I don't. Up till then, the holiday had been a good one.  Fingers crossed this is a short lived virus and we'll all be back to feeling good soon.

Since I felt the best, my first back home assignment was grocery store duty. That was followed by a  run to Walgreens as afterwards we discovered that both ...

 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 ...

If you've followed, or even just checked in occasionally with my blog over the years, there is a good chance you've seen one of Cheryl Brickey's (Meadow Mist Designs) mystery quilt along projects in progress. It's one of the projects I look forward to each year.  So when Cheryl asked if anyone was willing to make a quilt from her new book Just 2 Charm Pack Quilts, I really wanted to participate. 

The first decision was choosing which quilt to make.  There are some really fun quilts in this book.  I'm not the quickest at ...

With the holiday and family plans, I didn't get much done on my To Do List from 6/27, so I skipped writing a post last week.  Even with the extra week, I didn't get everything checked off.  

To Do List for 6/27/2023

1. Just Two Charm Pack Quilts blog hop: Finish assembling rows, start assembling quilt top ✔

2. Diatom: Finish block 9, cut block 10 - progress

3. Wild & Goosey: Make 2 blue or green blocks ✔

4. Chilhowie: Leaders and enders project ✔

So there is progress even though not everything got checked off.  

I'm heading ...

We are already half way through the first week in July.  So it's definitely time to check out how my PHD report is faring and link up with Quilting Gail for the June version of the PHD Report. I managed to stitch a bit every day last month, so several projects have progressed, but sadly there were no finishes.  

Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter) didn't advance much this month, but I finished a few blocks.  

Another Tuesday, so it's time to think about the quilty to do list and link up with The Quilt Schmilt: For the Love of Fabric for To Do Tuesday.  I did slightly better on last week's to do list. 

This week didn't go so well in terms of the to do list.  I couldn't sit for very long, even in my magic sewing chair. There was progress, but there aren't a lot of check marks. 

To Do List For 6/13/2023

1. Just Two Charm Pack Quilts blog hop: Start assembling rows of blocks ✔

2. SAHRR: Finish spacer and final borders - progress

3. Diatom: Assemble block 8,cut block 9 - progress

4. Wild & Goosey: Make a blue or green block - no progress

5. Chilhowie: Leaders and enders project ✔

Two check marks and progress on all ...

It was a good week in the sewing room. Of course when it's about the only place you can sit comfortably, you do tend to spend more time there.  My to do list for last week was pretty long so not everything got checked off. 

To Do List for 6/6/23

1. Just Two Charm Pack blog hop: Start subunit assembly ✔

2. SAHRR: Attach spacer border, choose final border fabric - progress

3. Diatom: Assemble block 7, cut block 8 ✔

4. Wild and Goosey: 1 blue or green block ✔

5. Chilhowie: Leaders and enders project ✔

I'm grateful that ...

It's been a long couple of days. My back is slowly improving.  The only place I can sit comfortably for more than a few minutes is my sewing room chair.  So I went with that to spend most of Sunday and yesterday in my sewing room.  I can sit at the computer desk for about 30 minutes at a time, so I'm slowly replying to emails and catching up on everyone's blog. But all the sewing room time paid off in a fully checked off to do list.  

To Do List for 5/30/2023

1. SAHRR ...

In 2020, 2021, and 2022 my focus was on finishing up UFOs.  I limited my new projects to just 2 or at most 3 each year.  Last year work was really overwhelming, so much so that I lost interest in pretty much everything other than reading and binging on Netflix.  Since I retired at the end of last year, I decided to open up my new project list to more than just 2.  I also joined a guild, which has also added to my new project list. Honestly, I didn't expect that.  At any rate, I can safely say ...

Since I was traveling last week, it was hard to put together a to do list, so I didn't make one.  The one from two weeks ago was pretty simple. 

To Do List for 5/16/2023

1. Prep projects for Texas Trip ✔

2. Enjoy hanging out with Grad Girl ✔

I made really good progress on the pinwheel blocks while I was in Texas and a little progress on Diatom.  But I definitely prepped more than I was able to work on.  But I'd rather be over prepared than to run out of stitching stuff to do.  Hanging ...