Happy New Year!  When we went to bed early this morning, we could see the ice forming on the trees.  But when we woke up this morning, this is what we saw. 

Welcome to Free Motion Mavericks, week 308. The stars on the Pinwheels & Stars Baby Quilt are done. In this post I'm going to wrap up the free motion quilting (FMQ) of the stars and plan the next part of the quilt.

FMQ star designs

At the end of July, I proposed seven possible FMQ designs for the six stars on the quilt. By November, here is what I ended up with. If you missed any of the posts, the links are in Related links below.

Making plans for the negative space

I designed the quilt so that the centre ...

I've been following along with Quilting Gail's 2020 PHD. 

Just two months left in 2020.  The end of the year always just flies by it seems.  As it's a new month it's time to take stock of the progress towards my 2020 PHD (projects half done)

The tracking sheet has been updated again this month, but this time in the right direction. 

Storm at Sea (Streams) Paper Piecing Class by Carrie Randell (Quilter's Hideaway)

Hi! I want to share this UFO finish before it goes to its new home!

FMQ a lovely moose panel

I started Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) the moose panel for my brother's cottage in July of last year. 

FMQ Moose panel ready for its new home

What a difference FMQ adds to the panel. Here is the image of the panel when it was barely quilted. I admit that the lighting isn't as good, but you can see that the fabric is very flat. Now that it's quilted, there is so much more texture.

Moose panel with ...

 I was definitely ready for Saturday to get here.  The plan is for a nothing but stitching day to celebrate the end of the work week and the beginning of October.  Just three months left in 2020. Though I will be glad to see the end of this year, there's not much time left to finish my 2020 PHD. 

The Morewood Mystery quilt September clue had me cutting into the fabric to make last months blocks.  I count a ...

 What a week!  I'll be glad to see the end of this one.  My Guy is finally feeling much better and thankfully his test came back negative. Thank you for all the moral support and crossed fingers. I'm really looking forward to the holiday weekend. A few days off work will be nice. After this week, a sewing only day is definitely in the cards.  I should decide on my September One Monthly Goal before then.  

Daisy Chain Mystery 2019 Little Bunny Quilts Mystery by Alison of Honey ...

After almost 20 years of cutting up perfectly good fabric into little pieces and sewing them back together into quilts, I still love doing it. At the end of last year though, my UFO list was eating at me.  I love every quilt on that list, there's not any I don't want to finish. But I am struggling to get quilts off the list.  So for 2020, I decided to give the one word challenge a try. The word you pick is supposed to remind you of what you want to achieve during the year so as you ...

Hard to believe that we've already passed the middle of July and it's just a couple more weeks till the brutal heat of August will be blasting us. Not that July's heat has been fun, the humidity has made it like breathing molasses when outside. It's definitely been a month for staying indoors and hanging out in the sewing room. That's been good for making progress on my 2020 PHD. 

Farfalla (Mosaic Mystery Quilt)  from Cheryl ...

I finished the last of my midyear reviews with my direct reports at work yesterday.   The purpose of the midyear review is to make sure you are on track with your goals. If you are not on track, it helps to identify the obstacles or changes in priorities and adjust accordingly. Also it's a good opportunity to celebrate your successes. It's just natural for me to apply what we do at work to the quilty part of my life.  Back in December I set my 2020 Quilting Ambitions as part of Quilting Jetgirl's 2020 Planning Party.  Here ...

It's mid-month, so time to stop and reflect on the overall progress in the sewing room for the month.  I'm following along with Quilting Gail's PHD program for 2020.  

Welcome to this beautiful sunny but not hot day.

It's a new month, one the end of which will mark the half way point in 2020.  Let's not jump there just yet.  It's probably much less depressing to back up a bit and review how well my PHD program is going.  

Mosaic ...

For some reason, last week just didn't go very well in the sewing room. Mainly because I didn't speed much time there.  What time spent with needle and thread was spent doing embroidery.  I did make some progress on that front.  

Unity, 2020 Bonnie Hunter Sew-In-Place Quilt Along

The week just seemed to drag.  I'm very glad it's Saturday morning so I can just hang out and drink my coffee. Not sure what else is on the agenda for today, I'm hoping some significant time in the sewing room is at the top of the list. Though I think My Guy may have some other thoughts on that. 

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 ...

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.  

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. 

I'm a bit late on the mid-month PHD (projects half done) update for February.

Welcome to my 350^th post! Wow! How cool is that?