Featured Slider

July PHD Report

I had a great July progress-wise.

Linking with Ms. P Designs PHD program

I finished three projects, for a total of nine so far in 2026. First is #22, the Athena bag. Scroll back two posts to see all the details. This project was a pain for me, but I persevered.

I also finished #23, the Linda J. Hahn Beach Bumz quilt. 

My final finish for the month was a dinosaur baby quilt, # 9 on my list. The free pattern is Charm Squares by Elizabeth Hartman. This was a quick sew and I will likely make more in the future. Despite my weird pictures, both of the quilts are square.

I also made progress on #24, the Kaleidobloom class. I made the first four blocks. The colors didn't photo well. They are Kona Celestial and Kona Maize.
The remaining templates needed for monthly lessons three through eight have been printed. I started to prep month three, but decided my green fabric needed to be rewashed because it looks blotchy and just not right somehow. Hopefully washing will take care of it and I won't need to replace it.
 
I've also been working on #3 in the 2026 starts list, the final selvedge rug. At this point, I have used up all my selvedge and am just shy of being able to bind off. I sorted through the selvedges that were gifted to me and I think I may have enough suitable pieces there to finish. And then I'm retiring from these things!

I have 5/16 of my secret project, #4 on the 2026 starts, completed. No photo until late December.

I'm feeling a little at loose ends as to what to work on next. I'm also facing down a major life change this month as we will become empty-nesters (Temporarily? Not sure yet). I've scheduled my work, but I'm also allowing some time off to just be present and take it easy. I'm hoping to complete my daughter's new whole-cloth bedspread this month. I need to iron 20 yards of fabric to start. 

Since I didn't feel like ironing and I had to rewash the green fabric, I worked a bit more on my Bonnie Hunter Unity over the weekend, making a lot of flying geese.
How old do you think this fabric is? My guess is early 2000s. Could be older. 


Here is all of my progress so far. The center block was clue 1 and all the flying geese are part of clue 2. There are still HST and square-in-a-squares to make for that one, plus assembling it all. And then there are like five more clues after that. 😅
    
I've completed more quilts for others as well. First up is Paula's, quilted with Triangle Meander.
Next is Deb's, quilted with Lacy Loops.
Then I took a day to bind all of Jeri's quilts.



Next is Charlene's, quilted with Windswept.
And Marilyn's, quilted with Winterfest.

Cynthia picked Daisy Bounce for this one.
Finally, a giant table runner to match Marilyn's quilt, also quilted with Winterfest.
Meanwhile, I've let the vegetable garden go a bit. I know there are beans and possibly a watermelon and some peppers ready. We did harvest five more tomatoes and let them finish ripening on the counter. Then I made homemade spaghetti sauce. 🤤
We are starting to see lots of butterflies, which I love. 
Zoomed in view right below.

There's also been a chunky hummingbird sitting on the feeder, warding off the others. Actually, looking at the pictures I've taken, it looks like sometimes it's a chunky male and sometimes a chunky female. There's also a deficient one that keeps trying to approach the feeders from underneath to feed.

Finally, Friday I was trying to take a picture of Penny peeking up out of her tote to send to my daughter. Penny's one eye was still bulging and gross looking, so I tried to capture only her good eye in the photo. When I returned home two hours later, the eye was almost completely back to normal and the thing in it was gone. This is excellent news, kind of a small miracle for us.  She's continued to improve and is eating like a pig and making lots of noise. She still has a few more antibiotic doses and another week of quarantine, but I think she'll be able to go back into the coop then. Her sister Poppy seems okay and Nugget is fine. They are both out in the coop still.
Unfortunately, all of the silkies are still struggling a bit. Peanut's eyes are back to being closed all the time, so it seems she has regressed. We aren't feeding Smoky with a syringe anymore. He and Henry both seem to be eating and drinking on their own now, but none of them are ready to go back into the coop.

Until next week--

August One Monthly Goal

 Join us in choosing a goal to work towards this month.

New to One Monthly Goal?  Welcome!  To join, share a photo of your project plus some words about what you want to accomplish in a blog post or Instagram post and add that photo to the link up.  Return at the end of the month and share your results.  (Results link up opens for the last 7 days of the month.)


My goal this month is to press 20 yards of fabric, sew them into a quilt top and quilt backing, and quilt and bind them into a new bedspread for my daughter. She's had her current one (a Pottery Barn kids pink quilt) for over 20 years! It's been in at least five houses throughout her childhood. Anyway, I thought it was time to replace that one since it's worn and stained. She wanted purple. I've moved it a bit more towards lavender since it's in my house and she is not. The walls are light blue and I'm not planning to repaint them.

This goal might be a bit aggressive. August will probably be emotionally tough for me since our son will be leaving for college. Maybe it will be good to have a challenging project to work on. I don't know. If I can get this done, it will remove two bolts of fabric (which are fluffy and big since I've already washed them) from my sewing closet. That would be great! I need more room in there.

Now it's your turn to link up. The link up will remain open through August 7.

The One Monthly Goal accomplishment link up will be available on August 25.  Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can find the OMG link up from your blog--just copy and paste this link into your post:  

Stories from the Sewing Room One Monthly Goal August Link Up

Take a few minutes to visit others, offer encouragement, and make new friends!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter