2022 PHD Final Report

 Let's take a trip down Memory Lane ...

Speaking for myself, I didn't do too bad working on my 2022 PHD (Projects Half Done). I finished three UFOs on my list. Top right (Maple Leaf - February), bottom right (Spring has Sprung - April), and the middle picture (Autumn Jubilee 2021 - September). The other quilts were started and completed during 2022. Delilah - June (top left) I made and finished for my daughter. Twistie - August (top middle was donated to Hands 2 Help Comfort Quilt Challenge 2022. Pennants  - July (bottom left) is a baby quilt that has yet to be given away or donated. Remembering Betsy  - July (middle right) is mine to hang during the summer. Frosty McChill - October (bottom middle) was made for the Red & White Challenge at Primitive Gatherings Quilt Shop. When it is returned, it'll be for me and I'll post about it. 

I'm looking forward to trying once  again to earn my PHD in 2023. Maybe you'd like to join in too?

Here's a look at my PHD worksheet for 2023. Let's get this party started and see how much I can get done this year!

Happy New Year!

PHD Report

Did you know I am trying to finish my PHD? I'm sure you know I'm smart but I'm definitely not that smart! Haha! I am looking to finish my Projects Half Done ... PHD! I must confess that I did not get any closer to finishing anything on my PHD list. However, I did have a finish this month of a project that I started earlier.

I started Twistie in June and finished in August. That is a very quick turn-around for me! Presenting Twistie here.

So I am able to close the quilt out on my 2022 Starts even if I didn't gain any ground on my PHD. That's quite alright with me. There are still four more months to 2022 and plenty to keep me busy. In the meantime, you can read all about Twistie HERE. I was more than happy to donate Twistie to Mercyful Quilts, a charitable organization providing grace to those in the final stages of life and comfort to those that will be left behind. Many thanks to Preeti, Patty, and Bernie for keeping us organized and on track for getting our quilts done.

That's my August PHD report. I'll catch you next month ... hopefully with a little more progress! Thank you, Gail, for doing your darnedest to keep me focused on my Projects Half Done.

I Like Thursday #86

I Like Thursday has arrived once again without fail and I'm starting it off with my finished Twistie quilt. You can read all about it HERE but let's just say I love it. The pattern was fun although I must admit 80 blocks almost did me in! Haha! I draped it across a lounge chair with another one of my likes:  the Limelight hydrangea. It is so full of heavy blooms that the branches droop -- some all the way to the ground! The blooms start off with a green tint, turning whitish, then fade to a pink. It probably towers 12 feet high!

Last Saturday when Gracie and I took our morning walk, I noticed A LOT of bikes! There were a lot of different colored arrows stuck along the trail too. Then I spied this sign and realized the reason behind all the activity. I liked the reason for the crowded trail.

Forty mile route with the green arrows marking the way? I'll pass, thank you, but you all go ahead and enjoy the ride! Haha! It was a nice day though for a bike ride.

Fred & I had already seen "Top Gun: Maverick" and enjoyed it very much. This past Tuesday we took Mom to see it. Her hairdresser told her how good it was too so she was wanting to see it for herself. She was WOWed by it! Hahaha!

I bought the tickets through my movie membership so we didn't even have to wait in line. We also got our "Members Only" free popcorn. Mom really liked that! We plan on going to see "Where the Crawdads Sing" next. Mom & I read the book and loved it. We're planning on taking Mom's neighbor too because she also enjoyed the book. You can't hardly beat $5 tickets and free popcorn now, can you?

Speaking of books, I'm currently reading "The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle" by Stuart Turton. This is one strange book. I'll finish it because my daughter recommended it to me. I'm still undecided about whether I like it or not. Guess I must like it though because I keep wanting to read more! You can read about it HERE on Goodreads.

As for our prompt this week from our fearless leader: relate a place where you take an annual summer vacation or attend a summer event. This was a hard one for me because we don't have "usual" anythings planned for summer. Every Spring & Fall we make the trek to the East Coast to visit family but nothing in the summer. I guess I'd have to go back in time to visiting the Lake of the Ozarks as a kid. Dad came home with a boat one year. He named it SuJoLi for his three children: Sue (me), John (brother), and Linda (sister). We went most every summer after and we all learned to water ski and drive the boat. It wasn't anything extravagant with only a little 35 or 40 horsepower motor. We had rules we had to follow too. We weren't allowed to go over 20mph if we were pulling a skier! I'm not sure the boat could go much faster than 25 or 30mph anyway. Haha! And I have to admit that the water is hard if you fall, even at only 18mph! 

The lake was beautiful early in the mornings. The water was so calm it was like skiing across glass. We'd see fish, deer, turtles, and plenty of other wildlife. It sure brings back wonderful memories, for sure.

I hope you enjoyed this trip down Memory Lane and found something to amuse yourself. Stay tuned next week for more likes and another "summer prompt" from LeeAnna. You can always find more fun stuff with the other I Likers HERE.

Twistie!

It seems like a long time ago that we had dark blue for our Rainbow Scrap Challenge. It was then that Preeti from Sew Preeti Quilts blogged about Mercyful Quilts and the need for quilts again this year. I participated last year in the drive and, since I had all my dark blue fabrics strewn about, I thought I'd choose them for this year's project. I also had quite a bit of a gray paisley fabric laying aside from the leftover backing from another quilt. Voile! A quilt idea was hatched.

My start-up post from June 25 was HERE. It was followed up on July 2nd HERE and then again on July 16th HERE. So you can see I've been plodding along slowly but surely. Like the Little Engine That Could, I just kept working on it and working on it and now I can say I finished it! Meet Twistie!

Twistie finished at approximately 64" x 80", the blocks being 8" each and set eight rows by ten columns. Isn't it spectacular against that blue sky today??

And blowin' in the wind?

Sit and rest a spell while you check out all the different shades of mostly dark blue fabrics. So calming.

Thought you might like to see what the back looked like too. I had bought this Kate Spain fabric eons ago ... B.C. (before Covid)! It was on clearance and I loved it. After I got it home, I just wasn't sure how I could use it. Well, now I know!

Here's a close up look at the quilting that I did on it. First I ditch-quilted and then I did the double-loop design in each of the blue sections using King Tut thread. The color was Mariana, a variegated navy blue. I used the same thread for the gray paisley sections only the color was Pumice, a variegated gray. I love King Tut thread for quilting.

A sneak peek at the back again. Look at that texture. This quilt is soft and snuggly. I hope it provides the comfort I'm intending.

This quilt will be shipped out in the mail this week, landing at Bernie's. You can read all about the Mercyful Quilts cause at her blog Needle and Foot HERE. I'm happy to provide some peace and grace to those nearing the end of life and to their loved ones.

I'm linking up with Bernie and others that have also contributed. These are some amazing quilts and will be so appreciated.

FNwF & RSC Purple/Orange

Starting off, I'd like to say that I love purple & orange together. Throw in a little green and that's a winner-winner-chicken-dinner! Looking back at my Star in a Star quilt on the bed! I just love it.

But I digress. Last night was the first Friday of the month so that meant Friday Night with Friends night! I started the day off ditch-stitching Twistie. It was VERY early morning, like 4:30am early. I was hoping I was stitching with my Australian friends in their afternoon/evening! I managed to get quite a bit done, almost half!

Later in the afternoon I downloaded the next block for Uptown. I had to laugh since I thought it was a peculiar looking block. Then I read that Gay (our leader) said it wasn't her favorite block either. I planned on starting it in the evening but plans change, don't they? After dinner I settled in to watch the Cardinals play the Yankees. It was so good to see Matt Carpenter, who used to be a Cardinal and was one of my favorites. Cardinals won in their truly exciting come-back style. First inning looked like this in my lap.

By the end of the 8th, it was looking like a good stopping point and my eyelids were drooping. It was a good FNwF!

Thursday I did get in a little Rainbow Scrap sewing. I realized I hadn't done the purple strings for the zig zag border on the String-X quilt and August meant it was time to dig out some orange. I looked back on String-X and discovered that there's a purple block in the corner, meaning I had not one but two sides to cover. Thankfully the orange block is not in the corner. Here's a visual.

So I pulled out my purple strings, got some old phone book pages cut up, and set to work.

What a creative mess! In the bottom right, my Kai purple scissors are holding open one of the purple string HST blocks for the zig zag border. The paper has yet to be torn off. There is a pile of thirteen more under the half purple-half background block also. That halvsie block is for the corner turn. Off on the left are several more background string blocks waiting for the matching orange string blocks to become HSTs. You can see that I've already gathered a nice pile of orange strings just waiting in the wings. It's all glorious in my book although it looks like a disaster.

And that has been what I've been working on this week! I hope you see lots of orange wherever you wander this week!

Thank you to Cheryll for pulling FNwF together this month and to Angela for gathering us together this week for RSC.