Mid-July PHD Progress

Hi Quilting Friends,

One of my personal goals for 2020 is to participate in the online quilting community, and so I’ve chosen to work on my PHD in 2020 with Gail at QuiltingGail!

Here’s what I’ve been working on since my last update!

Project #4: Plum & Gold King-sized Quilt

All done! I LOVE this quilt! The range of colors in the batik fabrics are beautiful, but I haven’t put it on the bed yet because July in Houston really isn’t the time of year for a warm quilt. Our outside temperatures have been pushing 100 ^oF, with no end in sight for the heat. I’m excited to begin using it when the weather cools (in November, I hope!). Here’s a photo of the finished quilt:

Project #7: Make a wall hanging from one of these patterns

I’m still in a holding pattern for this project because I need to visit a quilt shop and purchase fabric for the sky. My husband had hip replacement surgery at the end of June, and I’ve been busy caring for him (and everything else around the house) so I haven’t gotten to the quilt shop yet. He’s recuperating nicely, and should be back to “normal” soon, whatever that is.

Project #10: Corona Star Quilt (formerly known as Scrappy Goose Trails)

The quilt is pin-basted and I’ve done a bit of in-the-ditch stitching to anchor things in place. I’ll get going on the rest of the quilting next week.

New Projects:

Our “Christmas Cheer” quilt is finished (and the pattern is available for purchase from Ms P’s Pattern Shop). Isn’t it fun!

The outer border has been added to my “Stash-Bustin’ Scrappy Sampler” quilt top. I opted for a simple low-contrast border treatment to avoid drawing attention away from the colorful pieced blocks. Love it!! Here’s a sneaky peek, with stray threads and all:

My five “12 Days of Christmas” samples are ready for our blog event in December. I like to have this finished early, since I don’t know how much time I’ll have for quilting after school begins in August. (Nope. Still don’t know exactly how we’ll be “doing school” when the time comes. I’m waiting patiently for the decision.) I’ll just tease you with this finish; I’m saving the pictures until December. (My bad.)

I’ve started making another scrappy Christmas quilt, since my Christmas scrap box was over-flowing (well, really, past over-flowing). I have never figured out why it seems that the more scraps I use, the more scraps I have. Do you think that they reproduce at night when we’re all asleep? I’d bet that I have enough scraps in this bin for at least two three four nice throw-sized quilts! Perhaps a couple of my older throws will be retired and I can use the new ones instead, if I’m finished by Christmas.

At any rate, here’s the scrap bin (before I began sewing) and the block that I’ve decided to make for the first throw, “Road to Oklahoma”. I made 36 blocks, and then ran out of light scraps so I guess I’ll add some borders and call this the first scrappy Christmas quilt top. I’ll have a picture next time, maybe. . .

Here’s my updated spreadsheet, which looks just about like the previous spreadsheet. With any luck, I will be able to color in a few more cells by the end of this month.

Happy quilting,

Sharon