Monday Meanderings 10 - 28 - 2024

Did this week go by fast for you?  I think it zoomed by way too fast for me. I didn't do well on getting my goals done. But that's ok . . .  there's always another week! Here's what I did get done.

10/21/24

Finish Frolicking Frogs top started at retreat — need the borders still, may have to buy more of what I was planning on using. 

✅Wash new fabrics — three new fabs were washed.  One was even used on the 3 yard quilt below!

Put two borders on 3 yd quilt started at retreat — half of one border done. 

✅Bake some items for the annual craft show — finished, delivered and sold! 

Clean up some of the stuff on the cutting table — a few items cut but not very many 

I didn't even remember to take photographs of any goal items.  

And here is what I hope to get done this week. We'll see how much I actually get done. 

10/28/24

Quilt a baby quilt on Ruthie

Finish Quilting lonestar on domestic machine

Finish a Christmas ornament 

Put borders on 3 yard quilt

Finish Frolicking Frogs top started at retreat

Oh did you notice I'm quilting on my domestic machine? I finished a lone star top in 2022.  It sat for a while until I got a backing for it.  And it sat some more until I decided it was time to quilt it.  I didn't want to put it on Ruthie the long arm and do an overall pattern.  So yesterday I pinned it so I could start quilting it on the Bernina.  I consulted with my friend Sharon who does almost all her quilting on her Bernina.  She sent me several good ideas.  The only thing I knew was I was going to stitch in the ditch on all the sections of the lone star.  Here is what it looked like after pin basting. 

Today, I stitched all the sections of the lone star.  I figured out how to do each quarter at one time. Then I did some echo quilting in the triangle sections.  I started one of the squares.  But it was dinner time so nothing else got done.  The plan is to do two rows of stitching on the little red border.  I'm going to try to do freehand stars in the flag border.  I'll need to do a lot of practice to make sure I can make decent freehand stars.  Hopefully this will get done this week, maybe even before the end of October. 

Here are some goodies from the retreat. The pinkish fabric and 30 degree ruler I purchased at a local quilt store.  The rotating cutting mat I won in a drawing along with a new rotary handle (not pictured.) The gold stripe fabric was on a give away table.  I'm running low on yellows and oranges so I snagged this yellow.  I'm not sure when I'll use it but I'm sure I will.  I didn't photograph a wide back I purchased. It's navy blue and I hope to use it as backing for several smaller tops. 

I've continued to successfully spend at least 15 minutes of stitching every day this past week.  

W/ending 10/27  — 301 days in to 2024. 

• 15 minute days/Oct = 7/7
• 15 minute days/2024 = 291/301 days
• Success rate = 96.6%

Our community craft group decorated lids for Christmas cookie containers last week. A local gal is a Stamping Up demonstrator and did a wonderful job coming up with the lids. It's hard to tell but these are put on metal containers like you might get with a take out meal.  

Now I have to decide who will be getting cookies from me this year.  (The one on the left is mine.) 

I'm linking up with Life in Pieces' Stitching Stuff, Quilting is More Fun than Housework's Oh Scrap, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts' Design Wall Monday, and Songbird Designs' Monday Musing.  Hope you have some time to see what folks are working on these days. 

I hope every one has a great week.

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

                                                                          

                                         

Monday Meandering 10 - 21 - 2024

 It was a great retreat weekend!  The weather turned a little colder than normal.  The lows were in the 30s! Yikes. Highs ranged from the low 70s to the 50s.  That was ok -- another reason to stay in a quilt.  I didn't take any walks except to the cafeteria, around the sewing room, and walking to our bedroom a couple of times each day. Most days my step counter was over 10,000 stitches.  

I didn't have a huge goal list last week. Here's what it looked like. 

10/14/24 

✅Have a great time at retreat — I had a wonderful time.

✅Make at least 4 tops from kits — finished 5 tops and got 2 others started! WOW

Quilt one of my quilts after retreat — nope.  

I brought 8 projects to work on.  One wasn't even looked at.  Two need to be finished. See below for the specific projects I worked on.

Here's what I hope to do this week. 

10/21/24

Finish Frolicking Frogs top started at retreat

Wash new fabrics 

Put two borders on 3 yd quilt started at retreat

Bake some items for the annual community craft show

Clean up some of the stuff on the cutting table

Quilt one top 

Sharon and I set up our tables and got to work right away.  She had to leave Thursday morning as her son was getting married Saturday night.  This picture shows some of our finishes before she left.

Her items are on the left: 2 3 yard quilts and a baby quilt using 2" squares. (She had sewn most of the squares together before retreat started.) My items on the right included 2 framed 9 patch quilts, a 36" baby quilt, the unfinished 3 yard quilt and a doll quilt top.  (The framed 9 patches came from the FCQ Equilters group so all I did was sew the two tops together.) The doll quilt only needed two borders sewn on. 

One of the reasons I had such successes at retreat is I precut my projects. Last year I made a big cutting booboo at the beginning of my major project and it was downhill from there. Lesson learned. So I made sure I picked easier projects and all were ready to just sew away. 

Here are pictures of some of the projects: 

I have so many of these blocks from the EQuilters.  I sewed this 4 x 4 top and a 3 x 3 top. And, there are a lot more blocks to make into more tops. 

This is a 36 x 36" baby quilt using the leftover fabric from Boxes and Bows quilt. It was a free pattern shared on this blog: https://www.sameliasmum.com/2014/11/one-block-baby-quilt-tutorial.html#google_vignette. 

Here's a closeup of the center buggies. People either see the buggies or, surprisingly, see peacocks.  More than 1 saw peacocks.  Strange, huh? 

This is another 3 yard quilt.  I was expecting it would sew up really quickly.  Um, no.  It wasn't all that fast. 

The yellow was suppose to be the next border but I didn't have enough of it left. Bummer.  So on our shopping trip to Fork Mountain Quilting I was able to find a pinky/red to use as the next border.  It ends with a bigger border of the turquoise fabric.  I need to wash the pinky fabric before I can sew it into the quilt. 

My last finished top to share is a Jelly Bean top. It takes me quite a bit of time to cut out all the pieces for this block.  But it's a snap to sew up this log cabin style quilt. For this one I used a kid's print for the center block. You can find instructions for this very easy block designed by Pat Sloan. If you want to make one check out the directions here.  

I've worked hard this week to make sure I got my 15 minutes of stitching each day.  Friday after driving home (4 hour trip!) I whipped out my knitting and spent 20 minutes working on a little hat.  I was surprised I wanted to spend more time in my studio on Saturday. Sunday afternoon we were going to watch a granddaughter's soccer game.  I spent the morning stitching and then later afternoon we went up to watch the game.  So, yes I stitched on something every day this week. 

W/ending 10/20  — 294 days in to 2024. 

• 15 minute days/Oct = 7/7
• 15 minute days/2024 = 284/294 days
• Success rate = 96.6%

Not bad.  I've only missed 10 days this year.  I make a point to sit down and stitch on days I'm on the go a lot. Normal at home days I spend several hours sewing.  I've got a LOT of quilt tops that need quilting. So I'll be trying to get more tops quilted over the next few weeks. I have several quilts I want to stitch on my domestic machine.  I hope to pin one and get it quilted soon! 

The retreat was held at Smith Mountain Lake in south west Virginia.  I snapped this picture on my way out on Friday.  The little blue on the right of the tree is a bit of the lake. At the 4 H Center the lake view is even better.  I'm already looking forward to next year's retreat. It's a fun group of quilters. 

Please take some time to visit the following Linky parties. Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Design Wall Monday, and Monday Musings. Have fun seeing what people are working on this month. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 10 - 14 - 2024

It's retreat week!  I've packed up a bunch of pre-cut projects, sewing machine, and all my other supplies.  Except my little rotary cutting mat.  It's gone MIA.  I'll look for it a couple more times before I leave Monday morning. (Yes, I write my Monday post on Sunday night.) 

I have a lot of check marks on last week's goals list.  Let's see them! 

10/7/24

✅Bind the Animal Snowball blocks quilt — Done and being donated.

✅Quilt customer’s quilt — cute little quilt done.

✅Make kit with leftover baby buggy fabric — ready to take to retreat.

✅Finish acorn block — have 2 sets -- 1 acorn and one maple leaf in each set.

Layout Stashbusting blocks to sew at retreat — didn’t need any more projects so skipped this one. 

✅Pack up retreat supplies — done! 

I didn't take many pictures this week but here are the few I have. 

My customer made this sweet little star quilt for a baby.  She chose a stipple that happened to be built into my computer system.  The thread was a light blue So Fine.  

So now it is on to my new goals. 

10/14/24 

Have a great time at retreat

Make at least 4 tops from kits

Quilt one of my quilts after retreat

That goal list looks pathetic but if I get 4 of the kits done it will be great.  I think I have 6 available to work on.  

I did do a little off-list sewing.  It's suppose to be getting colder so I decided I would try to make a dog coat for Sunny.  The pattern was from MirtilliGirl on Etsy.  I purchased the Basic Dog Coat. The hardest part was taping the pattern together and that was actually easy.  She recommends you cut out the pattern with "junk" fabric that you won't mind not using.  I have yards of a decorator fabric that is more like a cotton chintz.  I used it to try two different sizes and the smaller of the two was perfect.  I haven't finished it because I need to get the right size Velcro.  Here's what it looks like so far. 

The right side is a lilac with white pin dots.  The lining is a flannel. The side flaps will velcro under her belly.  The top flaps go around her neck. 

It really didn't take long to make.  I'll hit JoAnns after I get back so she has warmer clothes to wear outside.  I see a few more coats in her future too. 

15 Minutes to Sew was a success this week.  I've spent at least 15 minutes sewing every day.  Some days it was nearly all day.  

W/ending 10/13  — 287 days in to 2024. 

• 15 minute days/Oct = 7/7
• 15 minute days/2024 = 277/287 days
• Success rate = 96.5%

I'm keeping this short today.  The sewing studio needs to be searched again for the cutting mat. And, there are more things to bring upstairs.  

Please take a look at these Linky parties.  (Note to self: remember to link up the other two on Monday morning.) Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Design Wall Monday, and Monday Musing. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 10 - 7 - 2024

Welcome to October -- we have put up most of our Halloween decorations including 4 or 5 quilts. Yep, I really have that many Halloween specific quilts. The smallest is about 8 x 10"; the largest is about 36 x 52".  One of these days I should take pictures of all our Halloween decorations -- inside and outside. Pat has made some fun wood designs for the outside. 

I did pretty well on my goals this week. Lots of check marks. Yea! Plus I got my Covid and Flu vaccines. Here's what I did on the quilting front.

9/30/24

✅Finish the border on Halloween top — finished but now thinking of quilting! 

√Make 2nd ornament — It is started, should finish w/o 10/7.

✅Quilt one of my tops — maybe the Halloween one — nope, picked the animals snowball quilt and it is done.

✅Layout more blue blocks and make top — 2 laid out, ready to sew at retreat. 

✅Finish hand sewing binding on baby quilt — done, ready to donate somewhere. 

✅A late addition — border the panel quilt — finished. I forgot to add this one to my goals so it was an add on. 

First up the finished Halloween top.  I didn't have enough of my first choice black fabric but I was very happy to find another black on black that I could use for the border and the binding. I plan to quilt this on my domestic machine because I don't want an over all design.  (My long arm was updated last year but I can no longer do ruler work.  For me, that isn't an issue.) 

And, I was quite happy to get the borders on the panel quilt.   Supposedly, I have another cabin panel in my stash.  So far, I haven't found it though. I'll take out my fabric stacks and really go through them carefully one of these days. 

Sharon shared some of her stash as I didn't have the right size leftover pieces for the cream fabric around the half star.  I auditioned several fabrics for the center star part.  Her multicolored piece really made the design stand out.  She was happy to have some of her stash used especially since I really only looked at leftover fabrics. (I miss cut one of the squares and I had to sew two pieces together to get the last square of the cream fabric. Sigh.) 

I laid out two sets of dark and light blue blocks I received from the FCQ Equilters.  I've got them pinned together along with a picture of each layout so that I can sew them together at retreat. Hum, I may move the dark blocks so the two darkest are on the same row. If I don't remember I don't think the baby would mind! 

Here are my goals for this week.  I probably have more than enough kits made up for retreat a week from now. But, it's always nice to have more than needed.   Hopefully it will be a light week in my studio. 

10/7/24

Bind the Animal Snowball blocks 

Quilt customer’s quilt

Make kit with leftover baby buggy fabric

Finish acorn block

Layout a set of Stashbusting blocks to sew at retreat

Pack up retreat supplies. 

I've been working on our lotto blocks for retreat over the last week or two.  I made quite a few of the leaf blocks but then I reread the directions -- I was suppose to use blue for the sky as the background fabric.  Oops! Here are the 3 that are finished. That acorn block is fiddly!  I've got a second one started but I don't think I'll make any more. Entries into the drawing require both blocks. 

I keep making progress on getting tops quilted.  I think I've done 4 since the last week of August. Unfortunately, I've probably finished 4 tops since that time too. Although I don't know how many plastic coat hangers I have, I do know I don't have anymore empty ones.  I need to up my quilting game. 

Linky parties I'm signing up for this week: Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Design Wall Monday, and Monday Musings.

Nearly forgot to post my Stitching Stuff results.  It was a good week for stitching. 

W/ending 10/06  — 280 days in to 2024. 

• 15 minute days/week = 1/1 days
• 15 minute days/Sept = 6/6
• 15 minute days/2024 = 270/280 days
• Success rate = 96.4%

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

 

Monday Meanderings 9 - 30 - 2024

It's been a week.... we've had more rain this week than we've had in months.  The humidity is awful. The good news is we had two nights at our son's house instead of the one that we thought we were having. It was fun to hang around the kids. Soccer practice was canceled which made our job easier.  Sunny met Chewey.  Here they were checking out what Pat had. Was there a treat involved? 

You can see that Sunny is doing a great job of growing her hair back. We'd never really heard her bark until we crated both dogs in order to get the kids one afternoon.  They both were barking their heads off and howling as we left.  By the time we were back they were calm.  I should have recorded them. 

I didn't get as many of my goals accomplished this week. But there were extenuating circumstances. More on that later. 

9/23/24

✅Keep stitching on the ornaments — one is done except for bow/ribbon around the penguin’s neck. 

✅Evaluate purple floral top does it need 2nd border — sticking w/ 1 border and a slightly darker binding. 

Finish the panel top with border — didn’t even look at it. 

✅Pull out Halloween top to see what to do to finish — plan figured out, ready to proceed. 

✅Quilt one or two of my quilts — finished quilting a baby quilt and sewed the binding on the front.

Here's the Halloween quilt.  I started it last year because I had a bunch of Halloween blocks.  I think some were from the FCQ Equilters. But some were from a small block swap when I was on Prodigy in the '90s.  It was time to put them all to use last year. But then I couldn't make up my mind so I let it sit until this year. I have that one piece of black on black fabric -- maybe 17" by WOF, shown behind the right side of the quilt.  I'm pretty sure I can add a 1.5" border (fin.) and still have enough to use the same black as the binding. And, the backing will be a Halloween print fabric I've had for a while. Sometimes the planets are aligned just right! In the end this will be around 40" square. (Ok, almost square.) We have a quilt hanger over the fire place in the great room and this will fit nicely on it. You can see my progress here, here, here, and here. 

Here are my plans for this week. 

9/30/24

Finish the border on Halloween top

Make 2nd ornament

Quilt one of my tops — maybe the Halloween one

Layout more blue blocks from FCQ Equilters and make top

Finish hand sewing binding on baby quilt

Who knows whether I'll succeed with all of those goals. But I will be trying. 

One thing I was able to do because we left the kid's house before breakfast on Thursday was attend a craft club meeting at our clubhouse.  I don't get to many of them but I was interested in the jewelry making this time and we got home 10 minutes before the start time! I gathered some scrapbooking paper and headed out.  Here's the Halloween set I made for me! The earrings are missing the wires but I got them on before I left. 

I think the ghosts are really cute.  But the olive?  Just doesn't make it.  It really isn't an olive but it looks like it to me.  That one has two different glitter papers. I don't know if I'll ever wear it.  These were really easy to do.  We used 1" and 1/2" circle punches. You glued the papers on to the silver (colored) backings.  There was some fitting them into the backing but not all that hard. Then we glued the glass bezel on top. The earrings had the wires added. Easy peasy.  I may have to look into this to do with a couple of granddaughters.  Below are all the pieces the group made. 

I think the gal who did the other ghosts (after seeing mine!) did a better job placing the punch than I did.  I have a lot of seasonal jewelry from when I worked at the elementary school.  I try to remember to wear them but often forget! Maybe this year I'll succeed with my ghost collection.

I've been considering getting a new sewing machine for a while.  I really didn't think I would ever get a new one as I figured my Bernina did everything I thought I needed.  The only drawback is it randomly breaks a thread after sewing.  I've had it in to several certified repairmen but it's never been solved.  Sharon loves her new machine and let me try it out. Hum... it was pretty nifty.  Bernina was having a trade in event so I figured this was the best time to swap out machines.  I've been setting it up and trying to figure out all of its high tech functions.  Today I used it to sew binding on after I quilted a little baby quilt. It worked really well.  I need to get more familiar with sliding the fabric in at the 1/4" mark and foot.  But that will come with use.  I think I'm going to love it.  But there is a learning curve.  Guide classes start in November. 

Here my stats on time spent sewing this week. Not bad.  

W/ending 9/29  — 273 days in to 2024. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Sept = 28/29
• 15 minute days/2024 = 263/273 days
• Success rate = 96.3%

Make sure you check out these links parties. Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Design Wall Monday, and Monday Musings.  I've been neglecting reading other people's blogs because of all that has been going on. Hopefully this week I'll see what everyone is up to.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie