What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Even with stitching every evening, it's hard to make really significant progress on my projects if there's not much time in the sewing room over the weekend.  The yard work and associated recovery cut back the sewing room time this weekend, so there wasn't as much progress as there could have been. 

The weekend went way to fast. We did some much needed yard maintenance on Saturday.  Both of us paid for it on Sunday.  There is something to the fact we aren't as young as we used to be.  So between battle of the branches on Saturday and the Sunday morning retreat to the recliner with my heating pad, not much else got done. 

There has been progress on all the active projects, just not stuff that photographs well.  Mosaic Mystery needs one more border to be a finished flimsy. 

How is it already mid-April?  We've been working from home for pretty much a month now. We've got a routine, but I'm not a fan of working from home.  You'd think there would be some time savings with no commute, but I find it's harder to end the day on time.  

So my stitching time hasn't increased.  Add in making a few face masks for family and friends means that time for project sewing has actually been lower this month. But there has been some progress with the PHD program.  

Binding and label are ...

It was back to work yesterday morning after the three day holiday weekend.  But it was a good weekend on the stitching front, even if my to do list fell victim to the making of more face masks and the new quilt along I couldn't resist.  Here's last week's list.   

Weekly To Do List (04/7/2020)
Mosaic Mystery: Add fourth border - progress
Frolic: Finish 2 lt. blue blocks, stitch rows together ✔
Winter Quilt Along: Trim quilt, make binding ✔

Checked off two and made progress on the third, that feels good.  Especially considering the number of other ...

The working from home thing is starting to become a bit more normal.  Though I'm spending more time in video conferences than meetings during a typical week in the office.  It's a lot harder to end the day since I'm already home.  So I'm still struggling to do much more than my 15 minutes of stitching time each evening. By the time we finish up, go for an evening walk and eat dinner, there's just not much energy for stitching.  Though I can't really blame that for the lack of progress on last week ...

The first quarter of 2020 is over.  It's definitely not been the year I was expecting in terms of work and general life.  The stuff going on the sewing room has been progressing almost normally. So I'm going to concentrate on what progress there's been there.  

My 2020 Quilting Ambitions were pretty simple.  

It was a quiet weekend, though not all of it was spent in the sewing room. The Scientist in Training didn't plan on being home for more than a week and didn't bring home all her books or clothes for the warmer weather we are starting to have. So I rode along as she drove the two hours back to her apartment to get the things she needed to ride out however long campus is closed.  

After we got home, I headed to the sewing room and finally made some good progress on last week's To Do ...

It's been very, very different the last week. I've been working from home since last Wednesday.  The Scientist in Training has been home for spring break.  It's been good to have her hanging out with us, though all of our shopping and family outings were canceled.  I've been AWOL from the blog and the sewing room for the last week.  It's been hard to adjust to the new normal.  After spending all day working on the computer and coping with the news, we've chosen to spend the evenings and last weekend together as a ...

As of this morning, My Guy and I are working from home for the next couple of weeks.  It's been a bit of a madhouse at work the last few days just trying to work out details and get people set up to work from home.  I'm very lucky to work someplace where working from home is feasible, not everyone has that option. Fingers crossed that the social distancing and associated sacrifices will slow down the virus and give the US a chance to get caught up on testing and develop more targeted strategies to mitigate the spread ...

I'm not really ready to head back to work this morning, so maybe it's good I'm working from home a bit this morning.  We are trying out remote access options in case we have to use them in the coming weeks.  It's been nice to take refuge in the sewing room, turn on Netflix and just get away from all the other madness on TV this weekend.

I've done more hand work this week than playing on the sewing machine.  But I managed enough to finish the binding for Twinkle Stars. 

I'm not sure what happened to last week. I guess all those naps in the recliner after work didn't help with making progress on the to do list.  It wasn't a bad week, just not as productive as I would have liked.  

Weekly To Do List (03/03/2020)

1. Twinkle Stars - Make, attach, stitch binding to back - progress
2. Mosaic Mystery - Add first border ✔
3. Frolic - Make 5 dark blue blocks - progress 

Only one check mark, but there was progress on the other two to dos, so not a bad week.  

So what's the plan ...

It was a slow week in the sewing room.  I forget just how much the flu can drag down your energy levels. The older I get, the longer it seems to take to bounce back after being unwell.  

Thankfully there was the energy  on Saturday and Sunday to hang out in the sewing room.  The first priority is to get the binding made for Twinkle Stars.  

Twinkle Stars Tutorial by Angela Feldbush of Soscrappy

This year is supposed to be the year of finishes. To help with the motivation, I've joined up with Quilting Gail's PHD in 2020. 

It's March!  I was about to ask where did February go, but I know what happened there. A week long business trip and a week with the flu ate up the end of the month.  The business trip for this week was canceled based on the recommendation of my doctor. So I'm home this week. I have one other business trip and maybe some plans for spring break.  But I should be home more this month than the last two. 

I'd been diagnosed with the flu when I laid out last week's list, so I kept ...

It wasn't a wonderful week on the stitching front, I didn't get back into the sewing room till Saturday.  But there was a bit of progress on a few projects over the weekend.  

The sashing strips for Frolic are the current leader and enders project.  A few of those, along with a couple of the darker blue blocks have been added to the collection on the design wall.  

Frolic, 2019 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

It wasn't a completely relaxing weekend.  My Guy and I judged at the district science fair on Saturday morning. There were some really good projects, but boy it was a long morning.  I did get to come home and stitch all Saturday afternoon.  Unfortunately, I woke up Sunday with a scratchy throat which didn't get any better and by bedtime, I had a fever and runny nose too. It's no better this morning, so I'm staying home today. Hopefully a day of bed rest will help clear this out. 

In spite of the intrusion of my ...

I made it!! It is only the 24th of February and my quilt top is complete for the Mosaic Mystery Quilt Along. I have to tell you I had so much fun with this event – between selling so many great kits for it, meeting new quilters through Cheryl’s Facebook Group, completing this quilt top which I truly love, and seeing all of the different versions of the top. Cheryl’s QAL’s are extremely popular and there are now hundreds of Mosaic quilts in the world. The amazing thing is the speed with which some of these quilters can ...

It was a really good week on the "To Do List" front.  Last week's list shows three check marks.  

Weekly To Do List (02/11/2020)
1. Winter Quilt Along: Package and ship out for quilting ✔
2. Frolic:  Make six half blocks - progress
3. Wild and Goosey:  Make an orange block ✔
4. Mosaic Mystery:  Finish sewing blocks and rows together ✔

The quarter blocks for Frolic weren't on the to do list for this week, but it just seemed smart to roll those in with the half block construction as they use left over bits from the blocks.  So ...

It was a laid back and relaxed weekend, which was really nice.  I had planned to take Friday off, but a few things at work conspired against me and I didn't get to take the day off.  That happens occasionally.  I'll get to take a day off later this month.  Even without the day off, there was still a good bit of stitching time this weekend.  I decided to make Sunday a nothing but sewing day as consolation for having to postpone my day off.  

Mosaic Mystery was up on the big design wall.  All the blocks have ...

Monday's always seem to drag, so I'm glad that's it's Tuesday and one day closer to Friday.  Looking back over the last week, it was a good one on the stitching front, the To Do List from last week has a few check marks.

Weekly To Do List (02/04/2020)
1. Winter Quilt Along:  prep top and backing for quilting ✔
2.  Frolic: Make six half blocks - progress
3. Wild and Goosey:  Make an orange block ✔

So two out of three checked off, with progress made on the third one.  Definitely a good week in the ...