Monday, July 31, 2017

Monday Meandering 7 - 31 - 2017

What?  Who said we are more than half way done with 2017?  Yikes the time does seem to fly by.  I'm happy to say that July was a really productive month for me.  I met my OMG mid month so I went on to finish the entire Grid Lock quilt.  I am tickled with how it turned out.  My friend Beth and I auditioned a lot of colors for the two borders and we both liked the pale yellow with the turquoise.  I think it really lightens the whole look of the quilt.  I took it out this morning for a photo shoot on the deck.  

I used a Pellon 60/40 batt for this quilt.  I really like how it allows the quilting to show off.  Do you notice a small blue square on the white square on the left side of the quilt?  OOPS!  That's painter's tape that I use to mark the next row after I finish a row of quilting.  I never even noticed that while taking pictures.  Most of them I had already removed.  Sigh. The design is Ginger Flower by Apricot Moon. This is one of my go to designs along with Ginger Snap and Ginger Star.  It always quilts out nicely and it doesn't require fill-in at the top or bottom of the quilt because it is a straight line across the top and bottom.  I haven't bought Ginger Skeeter (yes mosquitos!), Ginger Ice (snowflakes) and Ginger Flight (butterflies.) Although I may add Ginger Ice at some point.   
I was ecstatic to find a backing that would go with the quilt front.  I bought this fabric from Connecting Threads years ago.  Those are little "asterisk" symbols on the back.  Hum, that backing goes really well with our patio furniture.  I didn't quite have enough fabric so I used another piece of fabric in the bottom section.   On one hand I hated to use it on the back of a quilt since it is so gorgeous.  But I realized I'd had it in my stash for 10+ years so I might as well use some of it!  The binding is Kona navy blue. (FYI -- I didn't write down the name of the blue so that is describing it rather than naming it.  I was looking online at JoAnns and was surprised to see about 3 colors that could be what I bought. BTW -- it's on sale now.) 
I use MS Word to make my labels and print it on our inkjet printer.  I've begun to give credit to the pattern designer on some of my labels.  Most of the time when I make a label I have lots of excess room left and I don't want to waste my label sheet.  So I've been making a few labels with just my name, location and the year.  I've got about 4 of them hanging around but haven't used them.  Must make a few more small items so I can put them to use! 

I was really working from my goal list this week.  Most of the items got check marks.  My goals often repeat, such as the quilt on the Civil War quilt.  I'm using the goals to get something specific accomplished.  Sometimes I can finish a project off with one or two listings but most of the time I'm going to repeat the goal until I'm done with it no matter how long it takes unless I get distracted!  Are you motivated by a weekly/monthly/yearly goal list?  
July 24, 2017
Make backing for Grid Lock
Quilt Grid Lock
Bind A Tisket, A Tasket
Work on Christmas TAW
Keep hand quilting Civil War Quilt
Do something on the floral wallhanging oops!
Make a fabric box

This week's list looks shorter because I finished several quilts. (Yippee!) I am still deciding about August's One Monthly Goal.  It may be the floral wall hanging... or I might pull out a UFO or ... Here's my list which will start August .
July 31, 2017
Work on Christmas TAW
Keep hand quilting Civil War Quilt
Get serious on finishing floral wallhanging
Quilt and bind the orange and navy table topper
Make a fabric box

That's it for me except to tell about the fabulous weather we are having here in the Mid Atlantic states.  It's been cool in the morning and evenings with reasonable humidity.  Temps are in the mid 80s which makes the days wonderful.  We've even had a few mornings where the windows are open and fresh air can replace the air conditioned air.  Don't get me wrong -- I love our ac but it is nice to have windows open and the bird song filling the house. 

I'm joining up with my regular linky parties: Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, and Moving It Forward.  I've taken a peak at Monday Making and honestly, you need to take a look at all the cute baby quilts with babies on them!  Too, too cute.  Grab some ice tea and settle at your computer to look over what folks are working on.  Great inspiration. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 



10 comments:

  1. Grid Lock looks fabulous, and the yellow and turquoise are perfect for the borders. You did a great job on your goal list last week.

    Temperatures have been cooler and somewhat pleasant here, too. I open the house up at night and shut it up during the day. I don't have AC, so it helps make summer's heat bearable.

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  2. Hi Bonnie,
    Well this is a nice newsy post! I love your quilt. The fabrics you chose are fabulous - and I really had to search out that painter's tape. Next time don't tell us and see if anyone asks - they probably won't. I'll have to check out the Ginger patterns. I like to see other people's go-to patterns . . . maybe they need to be mine, too. I love the background fabric and your quilting. Here's to a productive August! ~smile~ Roseanne

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  3. I love your quilt. It's so cheerful and traditional. I think I'll add this pattern to my "someday" list.

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  4. This weekend's weather (today, too) was PERFECT. "100% of available sunshine," as the weatherman says. I sat out on the patio to read. Congratulations on such a productive July. I computer-print labels by the sheet with my name and city. I cut them out leaving enough room to ink in the quilt details.

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  5. Congrats! on your newly completed quilt. SEW cheerful!!

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  6. Turquoise and yellow...yes! Perfect! I really like the backing fabric and understand your hesitation to use it for "just a backing." But it marinated in your stash for a long time and was yearning to be free and to have a chance to sit on your patio chair :)

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  7. The border colors make very nice frames. Congrats on the finish. The OMG has been a big help on getting me over the stuff I don't like to do. So setting goals has helped a lot this year in getting to more finishes.

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  8. Looking good! Yep, border fabrics are perfect. Elaine Adair

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  9. A wonderful finish! What a beautiful quilt.

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