June PHD 2025 Update

Hi Quilting Friends,

June has been a bit soggy with lots of thunderstorms, but we’ve managed to find some fun in between the rainy times.

Mr Fix It and I enjoyed an orchestra performance early in the month (with Gaby and a friend), along with a road trip to Shiner, Texas, for Father’s Day (Gaby’s family met us there).

We had game nights and meals with friends, and continued our twice-a-day walks with the dogs. I even found my way to the YMCA and the neighborhood pool a few times to use the elliptical machine or swim laps and enjoy the sunshine. Good times! Here are pictures of the highlights.

I have (mostly) avoided starting new projects this year, even though the temptation lurks all around me.  I have goals in place, and I am determined to prioritize them.  However, I gave in to the allure of starting something new this month.  I’m having fun playing with my scraps (another goal for 2025).  You’ll see my progress later in this post. It’s a welcome change from my PHD list, although I’ve also made good progress on it this month.

The point here is that, even though we have committed to working on PHD in 2025, quilting should always be fun.  If you’re feeling bogged down with those UFO projects, take a break to work on something else; choose something that beckons you into the sewing studio and holds your focus, and then keep playing with it until you’ve finished. It is important to allow your quilting muse to come out and play!

Here’s my update for June.

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Project #2 – Lone Star Quilt

This project has been on the “back burner” so far this year, but I feel ready to pick it up where I left off and get going again.  Five of the eight squares around the central star have been quilted, like this one-

My “One Monthly Goal” for July is to hand quilt another square on Lone Star.  (There’s a chance that I might quilt more, but I like to keep my options open.) Ready?  Set.  Sew!

Stories from the Sewing Room One Monthly Goal July Link Up

Project #4 – Autumn Splendor Throw Quilt

The quilt top is ready for quilting!  I spent some time playing with the layout, and then I stitched the blocks together and added the borders.  I won’t share a picture of the entire quilt today, since it is “secret sewing” until we’re ready to release the pattern, but here’s a sneaky peek. (The colors in the photo aren’t “true”; they’re much more vibrant than what you’re seeing here. It was rainy and dark that day so I took the photo indoors.)

I’ve started thinking about a quilting plan; I just need some time (and batting), and then I’m ready to continue.

Project #5 – Christmas Place Mats

My “One Monthly Goal” for June was to quilt the set of four Christmas place mats. Ta-done! Read more about it HERE.

I’ve finished up the binding too! I used to avoid hand-work, but now I pick it up while I watch TV with Mr. Fix-It in the evening. (I tend to fall asleep whenever I sit still, unless my hands are busy, LOL.) The pattern for the place mat set is available HERE.

Project #8 – Scrappy Pinwheel Star Quilt

The RSC 2025 color for June was ORANGE, so I sorted through my scrap bin and stitched two Pinwheel Star blocks for the month –

Project #10 – Scrappy Christmas Tree Table Runner

I’ve finished quilting the scrappy Christmas Tree table runner, and I’m pleased with how nicely it turned out.

The red trees are quilted with loopy meanders, and the green trees are quilted with straight-line “V” shapes. I added FMQ wishbone quilting to the borders, and then I used a pretty red and gold stripe (from my stash) for the binding.

The pattern for the table runner is available HERE,

Project #13 – Neutral Rectangular Bag #2

Last month I shared how I used the “Thangles” foundation papers to create HST squares for this “playing with toys” project.

I finished up with the quilting and construction of “neutral rectangular bag #2” this month.

The panels are quilted with feathers in the HST rows, and straight horizontal lines above and below the triangle panels. Here’s the finished bag-

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New Projects

I am still over-run with scraps, so I have started working on another “Scrappy Trips” quilt similar to this one from 2020-

I used 2″ strips from my scrap baskets, along with a few strips that I cut from some stash fabrics when the variety of scrap strips ran low. (I estimate that I’ve used about 4 yards of scrap fabrics, so far, for this project. I’ve significantly reduced my 2″ strip supply, using up nearly all of the strips that are at least 13″ long. I still have loads of smaller lengths, but it’s a start.)  The quilt in the photo above has 36 blocks, set barn-raising style, and a fun pieced border. I like the size, so I’ve made 36 blocks for the “new” quilt.

The fabrics for each block are randomly selected, unlike the one shown above where I used a specific color sequence for the blocks. I spent a lot of time with the design wall (and the design floor), arranging and rearranging until it felt right. Here’s a photo of the center of my quilt.  As you can see, I’m using a different layout this time around.

I have a piece of solid navy cotton in my stash which should work well for narrow borders and binding. I may add a scrappy pieced border, and I’m mulling over several ideas for that at the moment. Honestly, I may just end up with the same pieced border style that I used for the 2020 quilt because I like how it looks. I’ll continue with this project during July. Stay tuned for updates.

Ongoing Projects

I made an adorable ORANGE Coffee Mug for the June RSC.

And here’s my ORANGE Rolling Stone block –

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PHD Progress Update

Here’s my updated PHD list, with completed tasks shaded in-

Here’s my PHD tracker, updated for June-

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Linky Party

Your turn! Add your link, and then visit the others to comment and encourage.

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We’d appreciate a link back to this post. Here’s one to copy and paste into your post-

PHD in 2025 June Update

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Thanks for visiting! I always look forward to reading your comments and seeing your PHD progress updates. We hope that you’ll have a fabulous month of working toward your PHD in 2025.

Happy quilting,

Sharon

Linking with “Monday Musings”

Linking with “Oh Scrap!”