September PHD in 2024

Hi Quilting Friends,

Another busy month has flown by! We’ve gone on several day trips and enjoyed relaxing with friends and exploring a bit. Here are a few highlights from September-

Have you ever gotten “stuck” with your quilitng projects? I have been “stuck” on a few of my projects that need to be quilted in order to finish them, due to a couple of “roadblocks”.

My initial roadblock was the lack of a dedicated work space and appropriate equipment for free-motion quilting. I remedied this obstacle by clearing out and re-purposing an under-utilized area in my home for studio space, purchasing a sewing table, and upgrading my sewing machine in late 2022.

My next roadblock was my own busy schedule, leaving little time or energy for quilting. I retired from full-time teaching in May, and I love having time for doing “all of the things” without feeling overwhelmed. Before retirement I wasn’t willing to take on long-term quilting projects, preferring to work on things that I could finish fairly quickly. I don’t quilt every day now, but I could if I really wanted to do so.

The final roadblock was my lack of confidence in my FMQ skills. I invested some time to learn and practice my skills in order to overcome this obstacle during the past couple of months. I watched many YouTube tutorials, I practiced drawing quilting designs with pencil and paper, and I practiced stitching them on small, less important, projects until I felt ready to tackle those “stuck” projects.

Here’s the point: If you are “stuck” and feeling frustrated that you aren’t making progress as you had hoped on your project list, then the first step is to find your “why”. What roadblocks are standing in your way? Deal with those roadblocks to the best of your abilities, and you’ll be on the road to progress again.

Here’s my September update-

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Project #2- Star Party Sampler Quilt Black & White Delight Quilt

I’m opting for a project switch-a-roo, swapping out “Star Party” for “Black and White Delight”, a quilt that I stitched in 2020. Now that I’m more confident with my machine quilting skills, I am ready to tackle it. So far I have finished pinning and basting the quilt layers, and I’ve quilted 8 of the 15 blocks. At this rate, it feels likely that I’ll be able to finish up by the end of 2024.

I confess that I’m much more excited about quilting the applique border than I am about quilting the rest of the pieced blocks. I couldn’t resist, so I’ve started quilting one side border. Here’s my start-

If you are interested in making your own version of “Black & White Delight”, the pattern is available HERE. We offer the complete quilt pattern, as well as patterns for each of the individual blocks.

My “One Monthly Goal” for October is to finish quilting the last seven (identical) blocks. Ready, Set, SEW! (Reminder to self- Don’t forget to link up with the goal-setting post, which I failed to do in September.)

Stories from the Sewing Room October goal link up

“Star Party” will be back again, maybe in 2025. I wanted to try quilting it with Susan’s longarm, Rosie, but Susan is still employed full-time and she has her own projects that she wants to work on for now so I may change my mind and quilt it myself. (Yes, I’m feeling fairly confident with my FMQ skills.)

Project #3- Lone Star Quilt

All of the star points are completely quilted! Here’s a picture of the center-

My next step is to choose a quilting template to use in the squares that surround the central star. I thought that I had a feathered wreath template that would be perfect, but it is 12″ square and the blocks are only 10″ square. Drat! This project is on hold until I acquire or create a template for the quilting.

Project#7- “Gnome for Thanksgiving” Challenge

I’ve made my plan for this project; just need to execute it. No photos today, since it is “secret sewing” and it exists only on paper at the moment.

Project #13 – Holidays at Home Kit

My semi-private “One Monthly Goal” for September was to continue quilting “Holidays at Home”. Ta-done! Read more HERE, and see the close-up photos of the quilting.

I had SUCH fun with the quilting. The hardest part (as always) was deciding how to quilt it, and then summoning my courage to just give it a go. My worst case scenario was that the quilting would look hideous and I would need to un-stitch it, but that didn’t happen.

The quilting is by no means perfect, but I learned a LOT and I’m happy with the finished project. I’m all set for Christmas, and looking forward to a “long winter’s nap” beneath this beauty.

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New Projects

I purchased this accent chair at a garage sale quite a few years back, and it has “lived” in our master bedroom since then. It is a comfortable seat for reading or hand-stitching, but I’ve always hated the upholstery. Burnt orange velveteen has never been my style!

I purchased some neutral tweed upholstery fabric and notions, and then deconstructed the cushions to make a pattern. A few hours of stitching time, and here’s my “new” chair. Mr. Fix-It says that the new fabric is “boring”, but I like it!

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for September was “dark neutrals”. Read about the Rolling Stone block and the zip bag HERE, and read about the September place mats HERE.

I shared my tea towel projects (made in July) for the “Bee Kind” blog hop last week; read about them (and grab our free instruction sheet) HERE.

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PHD Progress

This is my updated task list for September, with shaded cells to represent completed tasks-

And here’s my updated progress tracker, with only one finish needed to complete my PHD. Almost there!

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Link Party time! Share your progress, and visit the other participants to cheer their progress too!

https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=c0efdbe6b4add43dd7ef

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See you again at the end of October!

Happy quilting,

Sharon

Link to Monday Musings

Link to “Oh Scrap!”