Monday Meanderings 8 -- 18 -- 2025

This past week was quiet for me -- especially after all the fun and action while my friend was visiting. I took afternoon naps... not necessarily on purpose. I would be reading after lunch on the sun porch and all of a sudden I would wake up an hour later with my Kindle in my lap and feeling way too warm.  I figured I must have needed the extra sleep.  I did finish some books and  I've halfway finished another ebook.  Although I did pretty well on my goals I didn't spend as much time being productive in the studio. 

8/11/25

✅Keep working on project bag — one sheep done. 

✅Read a book or two — finished 2 audio books and 1 ebook.

✅Wash and iron new fabric and put it away — only a few pieces to finish.

✅Quilt one of my tops — a RWB sampler quilt is loaded. 

✅Make blocks for various projects — 3 blocks made, more still needed to be done.

This red, white and blue sampler top was from Sherri McConnell's block of the month in 2022.  Earlier this year I put the blocks together with sashing and borders.  I have to say I really like this top.  I've decided to keep it rather than give it to my local quilt guild to give away.  We have a quilt hanger in our entry way which can take this size quilt so that is the plan for it.  I probably won't get back to quilting it until Tuesday.

Here's my Rainbow Scrap Challenge block in aquamarine.  Unlike my normal method, this month I decided to focus on turquoise fabrics that lean more to the green side.  I haven't made the opposite color way with more light blocks yet.  Hopefully I will get it done this week. 

I also realized this week that I missed some of the monthly colors for RSC this year. I need to make blocks for orange and purple. I'll be trying to get caught up on those colors over the next several weeks. 

Here's the last Happy Block I made using the popsicle fabric I used at the retreat. 

I've got another Happy Block quilt almost ready to sew together.  Here's the current layout. 

The blocks need to be moved around a bit still. Because these blocks have all sorts of colored frames I like to look at the grayscale version.  Hum, just what I thought. There are three blocks that read dark in column three.  I think I've substituted some thing else for the 4 row, 2nd column block also very dark. I'll be playing around with these using this photo as my guide.  Hopefully I'll be able to finish the top and find a backing for it soon.  

Here's my plan for the upcoming week. 

8/18/25

Keep working on project bag

Quilt RWB Sampler 

Make some more blocks: RSC, nine patches with the white center,  

Sew current Happy Blocks into a top

Put borders on a 3 yard top and possibly quilt it.

Finish binding two quilts. 

I've maintained my 15 minutes of stitching this week.  I knit hats for an organization that needs around 300 in the fall so I always have a hat on my needles and can knit a couple of rows to make up my stitching time each evening if I haven't already done some quilty "stuff." 

W/ending 8/17/25. 222 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/August = 17/17
• 15 minute days/2024 = 222/222 days
• Success rate = 100%

I keep finding mistakes in my postings.  I'm pretty sure next year I'll change up this report to make the math more accurate or easy.  Did I ever mention that I went to 11 different schools from kindergarten through high school? Once my folks took me out of public school to put me into private school. Sometimes I went to a different school in the same school district. And, a couple of times we moved mid school year or at the beginning of a school year.  What I finally figured out rather late in life is I did not have a good grounding in arithmetic.  I'm lousy at math in general. I say all of the above to explain why I keep finding mistakes in my stitching reports! I do know that 222 days is as of Sunday, 8/17. So this report looks accurate. 

That pile of new fabric I shared last week has been ironed and put away with the exception of the top fabric. This week I washed 5 or 6 yards from a bolt of fabric I purchased from Marshall Dry Goods. It's a mottled beige and I plan to use it as the borders and backing of one of the 3 yard quilts I started at retreat. If I get the borders done I'll share pictures then. 

As usual I am linking up with four Linky parties.  Please take a some time to visit and check out some of the blogs that are listed on the parties. I keep getting way too many ideas but I like to see what everyone is working on! 

Stitching Stuff 

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

And before I call it a night I want to mention the administration's assault on Washington, DC.  DC is not a state although they would like to be. Because they are a federal district the administration can send troops into the city to patrol. From local news reports these troops have been working in the areas that are more visible -- near where federal buildings and parks are located.  One of the things that has been said is that DC is a crime ridden area.  That there are awful people in the city.  Just to put the record straight DC's crime rate is down. "Total violent crime for 2024 in the District of Columbia is down 35% from 2023 and is the lowest it has been in over 30 years, according to data collected by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and announced by United States Attorney Matthew M. Graves." You can read more about it here. 

One of the scary things about federal troops "policing" the District is they have no training in that area.  I keep waiting for some one to be killed or seriously hurt because of the wrong people "policing" the area.  

I, for one, do not think DC is in an emergency and it does not need federal assistance.  I am hoping that the troops are only there for the 30 days allowed for  this "emergency".  America is NOT a police state.  

That's it for me.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 8 - 11 - 2025

What a wonderful week Sharon and I have had.  She's gotten a lot done which you can see below.  I did some "negative" stitching on my counted cross stitch before I was able to make forward progress. Check below for the picture.  And the weather has been great though we've spent a good deal of our visit in the studio keeping Ruthie busy.  First let's look at my goals for the week.

8/5/25

✅Figure out next steps for my 1.5” squares sewn into 9 patches — read directions, found background fabric. It's ready to cut out.

✅Quilt a top —  top quilted but needs binding.

✅Prep triangle top to quilt on my domestic machine — pinned and started quilting. 

✅Continue working on the counted cross stitch project bag — progress made but there’s been a lot of pulling stitches out and then recounting and stitching. 

✅Attend Country Piecemakers guild meeting Saturday — Great fun to see so many friends. And a bonus — lots of free fabric from a quilter who has given up quilting.

 

Here's a picture of the triangle quilt.  I pin basted it and made a mistake. Probably a big mistake. I usually tape the backing fabric down and then pull it taut and tape some more. OOPS. I forgot the taping step. And, I was ready to get to quilting so I didn't fix it. I may regret that. The positive is this is a wall hanging and the back won't be showing. 

And here's a closeup of it. I'm stitching with my walking foot in the white triangles although I am quilting by rows.

Eventually all of the white triangles will be stitched on all sides. It's pretty easy to do -- I started by going up and down the rows. I may have to fill in some spaces but hopefully it will continue to be easy. 

Ugh.  No I don't really like this decorator fabric for the backing. And, no it doesn't look great but it is a wall hanging so it won't show. Or at least that is my plan.  It's more puckery than I want but ... I was lazy. 

As I mentioned the cross stitch project bag is a challenge.  I removed a lot of stitches on the left side. I finally figured out the error and have been able to continue to make progress.  Hopefully the lamb on the left will be finished by next week...maybe more. 

Now on to this week. I'm going to take it easy this week.  I want to read a bit, knit and do a little sewing. Plus all that new to me fabric needs to be put away. Hum, I might be busier than I want to be! 

8/11/25

Keep working on project bag 

Read a book or two

Wash and iron new fabric and put it away

Quilt one of my tops

Make blocks for various projects

I have already washed most of the dark fabrics that I got. Including some greens I bought at Quilters Corner in the Richmond area.  I am hoping to make a paper pieced Christmas tree sometime this year and bought a medium and dark green.  Once again, I was surprised by the amount of color Color Grabbers™, well, grab. The bigger sheets are Color Catchers™.  I'm going to be buying more Color Grabbers in the future. 

The funny thing is there was only a yard or two that were brown.  I've already started the ironing and folding but it will take a while to go through all 25 yards plus the extra 2.25 yards from the store.  Here are the dark fabrics ready to iron. 

Here are the quilts Sharon was able to quilt on Ruthie.  In quilting order:

This is Baby Goose pattern from Villa Rosa.  Sharon won a kit.  It's now ready to bind. 

Next is a Fabric Cafe 3 yard quilt.  Sorry we're not sure which book it comes from or if it is a stand alone pattern.  The pink fabric has ballerinas on it and the black fabric has ballet inspired words. Really cute quilt. 

 

And finally, this amazing quilt.  Sharon decided to do the Bernina - Sugaridoo quilt along last year.  (The pattern, Between the Lines, and information is still available at Sugaridoo https://sugaridoo.com/qal/.) She chose one of my new quilting designs, Hidden Diamonds by My Creative Stitches.

And here is a close up of the quilting design, Hidden Diamonds. 

I have to say she did a beautiful job on the color choices, piecing, and picking the design. It was an easy design to use and went fairly fast.  

This was another successful week on the stitching front. I will admit I nearly skipped my stitching Saturday.  But I decided to set the timer for 15 minutes and work on the project bag.  Needless to say I spent more than 15 minutes! 

W/ending 8/9/25. 222 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/August = 9/9
• 15 minute days/2024 = 215/215 days
• Success rate = 100%

It's been a busy day quilting Between the Lines, washing fabric, and trying to straighten the studio.  It looks like a bomb went off in it with all the new fabric needing to be put away.  Hopefully I'll be able to get to sew sometime this week. 

Here's my favorite Linky parties. Please go visit them.

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie

Monday Meanderings 8 - 4 - 2025

Yahoooooo! Our hot weather has broken.  Early this morning it was 60˚.  And it stayed nice with lower humidity all day.  Although most of my time was spent in my studio in the basement, I did get out a couple of times to walk Sunny. We didn't even have to worry about paws being burnt on the asphalt street.  I finally had a bit more motivation to finish up another of my retreat tops. Most goals were achieved last week. 

✅Put all my retreat supplies away — done. 

✅Put borders on Pretty Please — finished. 

✅Finish FCQ Equilters blocks — completed and ready to get it in the mail. 

Pick a quilt and backing — I picked them but didn’t do anything with it! 

✅Keep knitting on the current hat — finished except pompom. Another one is started. 

✅Work on cross stitch project bag  — more stitches are done. 

Here's Pretty Please which is now named Popsicle. (Pretty Please is the name of the pattern from Fabric Cafe.) Who knows when I'll find a fabric for the backing. 

I also finished the last few FCQ Equilter blocks this week.  I'll get them off in the mail sometime this week. There are other ways to lay them out but this one caught my eye. I quit at 6 blocks. 

I didn't take photos of the hat nor the cross stitch project bag.  Maybe next week. Now on to this week's goals list. 

8/5/25

Figure out next steps for my 1.5” squares sewn into 9 patches

Quilt a top

Prep triangle top to quilt on my domestic machine 

Continue working on the counted cross stitch project bag and the hat

Attend Country Piecemakers guild meeting Saturday 

Here are a few things I worked on off list. First is a triple rail quilt from Even More Quilts for Baby from Ursula Reikes.  When I opened this quilt kit at retreat I had no idea what I had done.  Evidently I hadn't cut all the rails I would need and the focus fabric was cut the wrong size and way too many than needed. Last week I auditioned three different fabrics for the centers. 

Biker Chicks 

Dalmations 

Mickey Mouse 

As much as I like the Biker Chicks I just couldn't see it as a baby quilt. Dalmations would have worked but Mickey won out because I had enough fabric to cut the 4 8.5" blocks and not a lot leftover. Bonus. 

Here's Mickey's Triple Rail quilt top. It's about 38" square if I remember correctly. The hospital we donate our baby quilts to like smaller quilts for the NICU. So this will work great. 

I also decided on my fabrics for the Magnificent Mystery Quilt being offered by Cheryl Brickey at Meadow Mist Designs. (This links directly to the info page for the Mystery Quilt.)  The cutting directions will be released on Thurs, 8/7.  I've got my fabric picked but I'm waiting for my background fabric that I ordered Sunday. 

All of the colored fabric came from my stash. Amazing.  Although I really like the background fabric at the top it's only a fat quarter so I'm not using it. Hopefully I'll like the fabric I ordered.  I bought a bolt of it as I needed some beige-y fabric for bordering one of my quilts from retreat and possibly could use it as backings fora couple of tops. I really like these fabrics and how well they go together. Fingers are crossed that the new background fabric will look terrific with them. 

Another week of 100% on 15 Minutes of Stitching.

W/ending 8/3/25. 215 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/July = 31/31
• 15 minute days/August = 3/3
• 15 minute days/2024 = 215/215 days
• Success rate = 100%

Please take a few minutes to visit these Linky parties. Lots of ideas will pop off the pages. 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday 

Monday Musings 

I'll leave you with one more photo.  Be careful of wandering seam rippers! This one rolled off my sewing machine table. I don't know if it rolled off through the open area at the side of the machine or whether it rolled off the front. But it landed point first.  I showed the presser foot to show that it was ridiculously close to my foot which was wearing a sandal at the time. 😳😳

And with that I'm done. My quilting buddy Sharon is coming up at the end of the week and we're looking forward to making progress on some of our projects and getting to visit in person for the first time since last October, I think. 

Happy Quilting All.  Bonnie 

August Mysteries and Quilt Alongs August 2025

 August 2025 Mysteries and Sew Alongs 

Here’s a new one to me. It’s called Aloha 5-0.  You need to sign up for it through any of the quilt stores who are offering it.  To sign up you need to purchase a $50 gift card from a participating quilt store. (Yep, you basically commit to buying $50 worth of fabric, patterns notions etc.) There is a private Facebook group for this mystery.  Do a Google search on Aloha 5-0 quilt to find stores that are participating.  It starts August 6, 2025 with emailed directions sent every week in August with the finishing instructions sent in September. Here’s the web address of one of the stores participating in Aloha 5-0. https://www.quilt-lady.com/mystery-five-0.htm  $$ (but you get it back when you buy from the store.)

Hello Fall is a Mystery Sew Along that will featuring a pieced design enhanced with wool appliqué and embroidery.  The designs will be available free for one week until the next block is released. It starts August 8. Here's a link to one of the stores that is participating. https://reetsragstostitches.com/blogs/news/hello-fall-new-farmhouse-friends-sew-along You can join their Farm House Friends Facebook group to find others who are participating.  

The Fat Quarter Shop is having a sew along featuring The Jolly Bar Book Vo. 5.  You must buy the book. It starts August 13th and runs until December.  The schedule and fabric requirements are a free download. https://www.fatquartershop.com/the-jolly-bar-book-vol-5-sampler-quilt-along-fabric-requirements-free-pdf-pattern?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=jolly-bar-5-qal-announcement $

Laundry Basket Quilts is sponsoring a weekly mystery quilt August 27 through October 22nd. Check this posting about it:  

https://www.laundrybasketquilts.com/blogs/lbq-blog/2025-mystery-quilt?se_activity_id=192687014164&syclid=d1ukvrdd220s73c771v0&utm_campaign=Let's+Get+Ready+for+Our+2025+Mystery+Quilt!_192687014164&utm_medium=email&utm_source=shopify_email

Enjoy this month's selection.  If you know of an upcoming mystery or sew along feel free to send me an email. I keep an ongoing list of upcoming events and post them generally a month before or the post after I find out about them.  Thanks for your help!