Monday Meanderings -- 4 - 20 - 2026

Busy week!  My local quilt guild meeting was Wednesday.  There was an interesting presentation about miniature doll houses.  It's amazing how small some of them are.  Scattered through the week were 3 rehearsals -- one being 5 hours or so long. Hubby has been working the early voting site once or twice a week for 6 weeks or so.  Tuesday is his last day during this particular election cycle.  We're both happy that things will be calming down soon!  Who knows, we just might want to go out to dinner this week! 

Here's what I planned to do this past week. 

4/13/26

✅Make more Dash blocks — 3 more done. 

✅Sew 16 patches together — all sewn together.

✅Start stitching Snowman 2 — backing made, several pieces ironed on ready for stitching. 

✔️Work on large flying geese blocks — measured. Must figure out what to do about one smaller block. 

✅Attend all partial day chorus rehearsal — great rehearsal. Less than 2 weeks to concert. 

Not a lot of photographs for you this week. As shown above I did get quite a bit of my goals done -- just not many photographs to share. Sigh! 

These blocks were each made with two fat quarters. If you notice on the picture above there are two of each blocks made (at the same time!) They are 14".  Here is a link to the directions: St. Louis 16 Patch. Someday I'm going to figure out how to make smaller blocks using the same methodology.  (Don't hold your breath that I'll do it soon!.) This top has been moved to the to-be-quilted closet. 

Here's what I'll be working on this week.  

4/29/26

Make 4 more Dash blocks 

Decide whether to trim flying geese blocks or just make one more and do it

Start new project with 10” squares

Make some more “flutter” blocks

Quilt one of my tops

I've continued my 15 Minutes to Stitch this week although some days I didn't spend too many minutes more than the minimum. 

Week ending 4/20/26:  109 days of 2026.

  109 stitching days out of 109 days. 100%

Hopefully next week I'll have more progress to share and photographs too. In the mean time enjoy these blogs. 

Stitching Time 

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

Do you live near Fredericksburg, Va? If so, you are officially invited to "I Hear America Singing" the spring concert presented by Spotsylvanian Chorus.  Here's all the details.

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 4 - 13 - 2026

It's been a busy week with one great breakthrough/finish. I was really tickled with one of my projects this week. Here's what's been happening. 

4/6/26

✅Quilt one of my quilts— I quilted one for my quilt guild rather than for me. 

Make more Dash blocks — several more are cut out but not sewn together. 

Sew 16 patches together — nothing sewn together but the layout is finalized. 

✅Finish 1st snowman block — done!  

✔️Prep 2nd snowman block — snowman and background ready to sew together, appliqués are traced on adhesive waiting to be ironed on to the wool, and still need to choose floss. 

Attend all day chorus rehearsal** oops next week!

This past week wasn't like my normal weeks where I've marked off a bunch of goals. But that's ok as I did get a few books read and I scrubbed several sinks and a dirty stove top! 

Here's what I did get done this week. 

This is not a quilt I made. It is a charity quilt for the Virginia Star Quilters. I am one of  the volunteer quilters.  Since I really didn't want to figure out a backing for one of my quilts I decided to quilt this one.  I chose Quick and Easy Swirls with a light blue thread. I'm happy to have this done so I can return it at our meeting next week. (Happily, I don't have to do the binding!) 

I am thrilled to be able to show you finished snowman block 1.  The block is 10.5" wide by 15.5" tall, unfinished.  I have 4 more snowmen blocks and a "title" block to do.  Luckily, the next block doesn't have as much embroidery on it. I am waiting to finish all the blocks to add the various snowflakes.   

Here's a close up of his face. 

Here's what I plan to work on this week.

4/13/26

Make more Dash blocks

Sew 16 patches together

Start stitching Snowman 2

Work on large flying geese blocks 

Attend partial day chorus rehearsal

Despite not making great progress on my goals this week I did keep up with my 15 minutes of stitching. 

Week ending 4/12/26:  102 days of 2026.

  102 stitching days out of 102 days. 100%

Sharon's here now and we're quilting. Ok, she's watching the long arm and keeping it happy until she calls on me to assist. I'm goofing off more than actually doing anything constructive, except cutting out the background for the next snowman. She (we?) have finished quilting the first of two quilts. 

The quilting design is called Sally by the Sea by My Creative Stitches.  It echoes some of the same designs in the lighter blue fabric. Luckily, I had a blue thread that looks terrific with it. 

Here are my regular Linky parties.  Please take a look at them to see what quilters are doing across the world. 

Stitching Time 

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

That's it for me tonight. Yes, I write these blog posts quilting  on Sunday evenings and post them when done.  Here's hoping we all have a very, quilty week!

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie

Monday Meanderings 4 - 6 - 2026

It was a quilty week with lots of projects moving forward. And, I had my nose in several books and my ears working too. Translation: 3 books read and 1 audio book finished this week. I'm ready to jump straight into my goals because I had a productive week. 

3/30/26

✅Sew March UFO blocks together - done!

✅Quilt Charm Challenge top — done!

✅Bind two of my quilts — both finished!!

✅Continue working on 1st snowman block — a lot of progress made. I was going to take a picture but forgot. Maybe next week. 

✅Look at April UFO challenge project — pulled out the blocks but no decisions made. 

All those green check marks make me smile. Here are some pictures of those projects. 

First up is the March UFO blocks. These are really old (maybe the early 1990s.) The blocks were paper pieced by people around the US, Canada and a few European nations. We all entered them in a drawing which I won. I don't remember if there were several winners or not.  I wasn't sure how they went together which definitely had me putting them aside for many years. Once I decided I'd finished it this year I chose to make a small star and the large white section.  

The green (and a white) will be a paper pieced border that I'll be doing sometime this year.  I saved three months for this project.  The first one was tearing out the papers and sewing the blocks together. Then making the border with the final time sewing the borders on. You'll be seeing this again as the other months are drawn. I can also guarantee that this will go to the guild's community outreach as a donation. Definitely not my style/colors. 

I quilted the little Charm Challenge quilt I did at the guild sew day in March.  It was fun and pretty easy. I used a "charm" pack that the community outreach team made. I wish I'd taken a picture of the top before it was cut apart and put back together. But no, I didn't think to do it.  All the edges are bias so you really need to treat it carefully.

I used a new quilting design called New Zealand Koru from My Creative Stitches.  The design is simple, but interesting. Here's a close up. 

 I used orange thread which stands out nicely on some of the colors and blends in with other fabrics.  The backing is muslin so the orange shows up nicely on the back. 

The April UFO challenge project is a set of giant flying geese blocks.  They are 16.5" x 8.5" made with batik fabrics.  This was an opportunity block for one of the retreats I go to.  I know I won a bunch of them as did a few others.  If I leave it this way it will measure 32" x 48".  I might have a batik I could use as a border or make a pieced border of batiks.  

Or, I could cut these into half square triangles to make pinwheels.  I had some other  of these large HSTs that I made into pinwheels.  You can see the finished quilt here. What do you think? If I use the big flying geese as is, does anyone have suggestions for an easy pieced border? 

Here's my plan for this week. 

4/6/26

Quilt one of my quilts

Make more Dash blocks 

Sew 16 patches together

Finish 1st snowman block 

Prep 2nd snowman block

Attend all day chorus rehearsal

Plus, my friend Sharon is coming for a fast visit on her way home from visiting her daughter.  So, it's a full week. 

I had another week of stitching every day. Many days were way more than 15 minutes! 

Week ending 4/5/26:  95 days of 2026.

  95 stitching days out of 95 days. 100%

For your laugh today I give you Sunny.  She was trying to get to something on the other side of the fence. She wasn't digging at all. Surprising because she is a terrier. I've seen her trying to get her nose under the fence when a lizard was involved. 

👈🏼 👈🏼

Yea, she doesn't look so bad here.  But check out 

the next picture.  

                              👇🏼👇🏼

She came in clean except her muzzle.  Strange little dog.  But she is a laugh a minute some days. 

Please take some time to check out the following linky parties.  You can see what quilters around the world are working on. (Or should I say playing with!?) 

Stitching Time 

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

I need to figure out my fabric usage for the first quarter.  I thought I had done one of the months but I can't find the info... maybe it is in my journal I keep of fabric in and out. I don't think I've used more fabric than I've brought in. Anyway, it's not going to be tonight!  Maybe next week or so.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 3 - 30 - 2026

I'm looking forward to more downtime and less working to finish things! Sounds weird, but I've been focused on getting tops quilted this week.  But, I also had a fun time watching the oldest Grand play softball for Einstein HS's varsity team.  The biggest issue with that is the traffic is so horrendous in the DC area that we spent half the day getting there and back.  But what a great game. The girls played really well. Sophie played short stop and made some incredible plays.  They won 18 to nothing.   

Here's what I got done on my goals this week. 

3/23/26

Sew March UFO blocks together — didn’t happen but most blocks had paper removed. 

✅Bind Springtime Irish Chain top — finished. 

✅Continue working on 1st snowman block — a couple of hours of stitching done. 

Quilt Charm Challenge top — not done.

✅✅Quilt and bind one of my quilts — 2 tops quilted but binding will happening soon. 

Here are pictures of the two quilts I quilted this week.  I still need to bind them though.  First is a pinwheel top: 

The quilting design is Constance by My Creative Stitches. It works really well on this quilt. The top was finished Friday. 

Then, Sunday I decided to quilt one more smaller quilt. Except, it wasn't really too small -- it was about the same as the quilt above. They are both lap quilts. 

I have made many Happy Quilts like this one.  I enjoy finding the centers and matching them with the frames. Very easy but enjoyable and easy to make. You can get directions for making Happy Blocks at Mary Johnson's web site, Mary Quilts. She has three different versions of Happy Blocks. Check them out.  

I used another design by My Creative Stitches called Very Groovy.  Both of these designs were quick to do.  I generally prefer quick designs as I'm usually quilting under time constraints. Granted, I'm putting the constraints on myself but it does help get finished quilts.  Both of these will be given away via the local quilt guild. (Unless I decided to keep them for a while!)

And, here's what I'll be working on this week. Many of these are continuations of last week's goals. 

3/39/26

Sew March UFO blocks together

Quilt Charm Challenge top

Bind two of my quilts

Continue working on 1st snowman block

Look at April UFO challenge project

Continue making my Equilters blocks

I'm up for March and April with the FCQ Equilters.  Currently there are 6 of us who used to be members of Faithful Circle Quilters in Maryland. Actually, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if most of us have maintained our memberships. Here are some of the blocks two of the Equilters and I have made.  

Yep, they really look weird, don't they?  But take a minute and go look at a finished quilt on Grace and Peace Quilting.  I need to add some different whites like the link. It'll be fun to see how this develops especially when I get additional blocks made or sent. 

This week should be a bit quieter than last week.  I'm hoping to get a book or two read and all the goals listed.  Plus, it's suppose to be rainy off and on all week but the temps may be in the summer range. Weird weather continues. 

I succeeded in stitching at least 15 minutes every day this week.  The day of the baseball game I made a point of bringing a small needlepoint project and spent about 20 minutes stitching away in the car. 

15 Minutes of Stitching 

Week ending 3/22/26;  88 days of 2026.

88 stitching days out of 88 days. 100%

Time to look at some Linky parties at which I list my blog.

Stitching Time 

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

We missed our local No Kings day but we did a lot of horn honking as we passed under overpasses where folks were cheering for No Kings as well as one of the streets near the high school.  It's good to see people protesting for our country. Even better was most of them were peaceful.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie