What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

It's been a very weird autumn. October was cooler than September, but not by much.  My sewing room was my preferred location for most of the month. That means I have lots to blog about for the October PHD Report posted over at P Designs USA.  

It was so nice to be home all weekend. The sewing room got a bit of a clean up and I got my project boxes reorganized.  My to do list for the week was pretty short and simple. But some weeks you just need that.  

To Do List for 10/22/2024 

1. String Lights: Finish borders, cut and piece backing ✔

2. Chocolate Marshmallows: Start assembly ✔

3. Wild and Goosey: Continue making blocks ✔

4. Sensational Summer Scrap Quilt: Continue as leaders/enders ✔

So 4 out 4 this week. It's been awhile since I've been able to check off ...

The 2 year anniversary of my retirement was last Friday.  Has it really been that long?  I've enjoyed most of it, I've had some health challenges over that time that made me very glad I wasn't working.  But some days I do miss the fun technical stuff from the job, but most definitely don't miss the politics.  Looking back, last year really was about getting my back issues under control and just figuring out how to navigate not going to an outside job every day. This year has really been about navigating my sewing room.  I ...

It's a long drive from College Station to home. I didn't get in till after 9 PM list night. That's late at my age.  Traffic is never fun, but all the road work made it so much worse.  It was worth it, Grad Girl, one of her friends, my sister and I all had a fun girl's weekend. I'll post about that separately.  On the progress front, I ended up not doing much that was on the to do list.  

To Do List for 10/15/2024

1.  String Lights: Finish added borders - progress

2 ...

We've reached the mid point of October.  This month is certainly speeding along.  I'm not going to think about it for now and just appreciate how much progress there was on my to do list.

To Do List for 10/8/2024

1. String Lights: Make backing - changed direction 

2. Marble Mystery: Finish October clue ✔

3. Guild BOM: Finish October block ✔

4.  Chocolate Marshmallows: Start assembly - progress

5.  Squared Away: Decide on layout, pick setting fabrics - progress

6. Wild and Goosey: Finish orange blocks - progress

7. SS Summer Scrap Quilt: Continue as leaders and enders ✔

Only three check ...

We got home late Saturday afternoon from vacation. So I had Sunday and Monday to work on the non-hand stitching part of my to do list.  With that in mind, I didn't do too badly with on the list for last week. 

To Do list For 10/01/2024

1.  Diatom: Finish hand stitching binding ✔

2.  Guild BOM: Start October block ✔

3.  Marble Mystery: Start October clue ✔

4.  Chocolate Marshmallows: Decide layout, start assembly - progress

5.  Wild and Goosey: Finish orange blocks - progress

6.  Sensational Summery Scrap quilt: Continue as leaders/enders ✔

Considering we were on vacation last week ...

This will be my 6th attempt to achieve a PHD in quilting projects.  I've yet to manage that.  I doubt it happens this year either, but I won't know unless I try.  There are new hostesses for the PHD in 2024, Sharon Anderson and Susan Hatcher of Ms. P Designs USA.  Here's my list of this year's UFOs for the PHD in 2024.  

My strategy this year is to work on a new quilt or a quilt that needs the blocks assembled plus a quilt top to be finished or a quilt top to be assembled ...

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 ...

 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 ...