Monday Meanderings 5 - 12 - 2025

This week was suppose to be an easy week -- a little quilting, a little reading, and taking it easy. I did do a bit of all three things but we also took in a play this week -- more about that at the end of my post. Let's look at my goals for this past week. Yep, it looks great! 

5/5/25

✅Work on 3 yard quilt project — top done!

✅Layout May’s UFO blocks — laid out ready to sew together. 

✅Keep making 9 patches — a few more were done.

✅Keep knitting on yellow hat — started the decreases. 

✅Quilt a top — a happy quilt is ready for binding. 

Here is photo proof of some of those goals! 

These are my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks from 2023.  I put them on my UFO list this year and their number came up in May.  Surprisingly enough I laid these out almost exactly as shown.  My friend Sharon suggested 1 switch which lightened the first row. She was right. Looking at it as I write this, I realize I need to move the dark red in the bottom row up one row and move the orange one down.  It should lighten up the bottom row nicely.  I've been trying to decide on a border but so far I'm not that enthused with what I have in my stash.  I'm going to let that go for the time being and at least get these blocks sewn together. 

Here's the top I got quilted today.  I bought an orange cotton for the backing.  And, I used orange thread. Wild, right? There's a little bit of the backing showing at the bottom right. 

Here's one of my favorite blocks in this quilt. Yep, when pigs fly.

For this week I've given myself an extra goal.  Hopefully I'll get them all done as well as finish at least one book this week. 

5/12/25

Quilt 3 yard project

Sew May’s UFO blocks together

Keep making 9 patches 

Finish knitting yellow hat 

Bind Happy Quilt 

Iron backings 

And, I've maintained my 100% stitching every day.  

W/ending 5/11/25. 131 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/May = 11/31
• 15 minute days/2024 = 131/131 days
• Success rate = 100%

Among the sewing and reading we went to our grand's play "Princess and the Pea." It was a shortened version (1 hour.) But was really fun. Our grand was the minstrel and did a great job singing and acting. Her middle school does a musical every year so I'm looking forward to seeing what our grand might do next year. 

The only drawback of the play was getting to our daughter's house. It generally takes an hour and a half to get from our home to hers. Three and half hours later we were there. UGH Another cool part of attending the play is we were able to see the results of major home improvements they recently had done. They have a new kitchen and dining room.  It looks wonderful. And adds a lot of space to their small house. 

I washed some more fabric this weekend. And boy, was I surprised. Look at these Color Catchers and Color Grabbers. The two navy blue ones and the top right were Color Grabbers. The other three were Color Catchers.  I will admit that the 3 Grabbers had been used before as well as the middle two Catchers. I've used a piece of the same fabric last year.  I don't remember any color sheets turning navy blue.  I originally said I like Catchers better. I think I'll like the Grabbers better from now on! 

The other fun thing that happened this weekend was Sunny had a grooming date. We figured it was time to lighten up her fur coat.  Here she is before her "spa" day...

And her after picture...

Wow! It's hard to believe she's the same dog.  The only thing I'll change for her next appointment is what is done to her tail.  Her tail was broken before we got her so with her tail shaved down shows where it was broken. It looks like _|. Yep it is a definite turn in her tail.  Recently her tail was very fluffy and curly.  You can see her fluffy tail on this pic. You'll need to scroll down to Sunny on the beach. Hopefully we'll have a fluffy tail showing up in the next month or so. We're so happy that she is doing so well. 

I'm linking with the normal parties: 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings -- 5 - 5 - 2025

It's been a busy week!  It was spring concert week for the Spotsylvanians.  Friday was tech rehearsal. Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon were the concerts.  We had good crowds for both events. And we sounded awesome. (We had a lot of positive comments after each of them.) Here's a couple of pictures -- I think they were from Friday night. 

Spotsylvanians before Saturday night concert. 

Bonnie and Pat in the warm up room Saturday night. 

Our concert was held in a local Lutheran church whose pastor also sings with us. We began the concert with "Now Is the Month of Maying", a madrigal written in 1595 by Thomas Morley.  The church has wonderful acoustics and we took advantage of it by singing in a semi-circle around the audience. It was very cool. (I'm the first singer on the right 👆🏼.) 

Over the weekend I got the pictures ready for this blog so when I got home from the last concert I could go right to writing it. Now on to my quilting part starting with last week's goals. 

4/28/25

✅Finish knitting hat — done, need to add a pompom.

✅Bind orange peel quilt — done! 

✅Begin 3 yard quilt project — good start, just need to add borders.

✅Make more 9 patches — several more finished. 

Ok, I admit I am not sure which hat I finished -- I think it was a navy blue and white one.  I also know I started a new yellow hat.  I snapped a photo to share. It's the second hat from a big skein of yellow. 

I also made more 9 patches.  I've made duplicate of some colors for me. If I have all the fabrics out or I'm plowing through my cut 2.5" squares I might as well make some of these for me. These are the ones for the FCQ Equilter. 

And now for this week...

5/5/25

Work on 3 yard quilt project

Layout May’s UFO blocks 

Keep making 9 patches

Keep knitting on yellow hat

Quilt a top 

One thing I finished this week is some little 9 patches made with 1.5" squares. They will be part of Hens and Her Chicks from Quilts from the Heart by Karin Renaud. 

I've used these little 1.5" squares as my leader enders for a while.  I've got 52 9 patches done which is what is called for. Now I need to cut out a bunch of background pieces and bigger bright colored squares. 

Recently I spent one evening cutting some scraps into usable size squares. Here's what I got done.  Sharon calls this doing the dishes -- I think Bonnie Hunter started calling it that years ago. From the red on upper left: 2.5" square, 2" sq, 1.5" sq and 3" sq. I have a ridiculous amount of scraps that could be cut up for easier use. 

I am happy to say I succeeded getting my 15 minutes of stitching done every day.  In fact, I spent 30 minutes this morning knitting before I went to the concert. 

15 Minutes of Stitching week ending 5/4/25. 124 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/Apr = 3/3
• 15 minute days/May = 4/31
• 15 minute days/2024 = 124/124 days
• Success rate = 100%

I'm linking up with the following parties:

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musing

I leave you with this picture of Sunny enjoying the sun in her newly fenced back yard.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 4 - 28 - 2025

A great week for my stitching and a quilting celebration.  First the Virginia Star Quilt Guild celebrated their 40th anniversary.  We are set up as a social club rather than an educational group.  So, we decided to have a formal tea to celebrate our 40th year. Here are a few pictures from our celebration. 

Guests were greeted with name tents. The flowers in the back were arranged by our member Mary. (I donated the use of my favorite vase which had been my mother's.) 

One of the table decorations before all the other items were added. 

Yummy scones were served.  Notice the cookie (!) that had a special design on it celebrating the guild's anniversary.

We also had a display of several quilts from our members. This one 👆🏼is a president's quilt from several years ago. The members made houses to be put into the quilt. 

Most of these pieces were from classes the guild sponsored.  The big quilt 👆🏼 hanging is Jamestown Landing made by Shirley K. from a class by Bonnie Hunter.  (I have a matching one in turquoise from the same class. You can see it here.) 

We had a Pat Sloan workshop.  This is Linda K's result of the class. 👆🏼 Below 👇🏼 is Karen E's version. They are both called Mama's Garden.  What fun to see two very different quilts from the same class.  

Now on to my normal Monday blog content!  It was a good week for stitching. Here's my goals list from last week. 

4/21/25

✅Make Cali-Co quilt along April Block — done.

✅Quilt Orange Peel on domestic machine — done, waiting to bind. 

Finish another hat — half made. 

✅✅Make 2 more Equilters 9 patches — finished the cut out ones from last week and 3 more done. 

I'm enjoying working on each block of this mystery quilt along from Coriander Quilts. This week I cut out all the white strips and a selection of squares for the corners. (That'll save time while making the rest of the blocks.)

It's such a good feeling to make lots of progress on an old top.  I started by quilting the big circles the peels made. One column done. Then I started on the next column. Except, um, I got lost following the circles and made a wrong turn. Ok, I can deal with that. By the end of the day I had echo stitched all the peels but not as big circles. 👇🏼 The stitching still enhances the big circles but also the inside of the circles.  

The next day I got the borders done. (Pictures to come.) Which brings me to this week's goals. Yep, I'm planning on doing the binding. 

4/28/25

Bind orange peel quilt 

Finish knitting hat

Begin 3 yard quilt project 

Make more 9 patches 

Attend dress rehearsal and sing two concerts with Spotsylvanians

My 3 yard quilt project has a deadline. It was originally Sunday the 4th. Luckily it can be postponed to the end of May instead.  The fabric comes in tomorrow so I can get started on it. It's a secret project that will be a gift. I'll tell more about later. 

My 15 minutes of stitching has been successful again this week. Yee haw! I doubt if I'll make it all year but it feels great to keep this up!

W/ending 4/27/25. 117 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/Apr = 27/27
• 15 minute days/2024 = 117/117 days
• Success rate = 100%

I'll be linking with my regular parties. Check out these parties to see what quilters are doing this week. 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musing 

It's going to be a long week with not as much stitching time as I would want. But I'm actually looking forward to having Monday evenings at home instead attending rehearsals. We'll be singing the National Anthem at the Fred Nats minor league baseball game later in the month.  And the neighborhood chorus is getting ready for concerts at the end of May. So I'll still be singing. 

That's it for me today.  If you are interested in mysteries and sew alongs I posted   May's info on April 26. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

May 2025 Mysteries and Sew Alongs

 May 2025 Mysteries and Sew Alongs 

I missed this one when it started in early April. Sandra at MMM (Musings of a Menopausal Melon) is a short Quilt Along. Check out this URL to see the beginning and the list of blog posts regarding the QAL. 

https://www.mmmquilts.com/p/glowing-hearts-quilt-along.html . This is a free quilt along although you can purchase her pattern for alternate designs. 

 

The Fat Quarter Shop is sponsoring a Designer Mystery Block-of-the-Month. See more info here: https://blog.fatquartershop.com/2025-designer-mystery-block-of-the-month/ It starts June of 2025 and runs until May of 2026. Pattern and material to make a 12” block will be mailed monthly. It’s $19.99/mo with an additional registration fee to sign up for the program. $$

Bear Creek Nickel Challenge Quilt starts 6/7/25 to 10/7/25 One time fee of $10. Patterns will be emailed to you once a week beginning beginning 6/7/25 last clue 10/7/25

https://bearcreekquiltingcompany.com/shop/product/the-nickel-challenge-quilt-pdf-email/ $

The International Quilters’ Guild is offering a Mystery Quilt that started in April. It started 4/21 and will last 5 weeks. This is being run on Facebook from what I can tell. There is a $15 charge for the mystery. (I’m not sure what the charge is for a continuing membership.) More info including size and fabric requirements are here: 

https://content.internationalquiltersguild.org/course/april-2025-mystery-quilt/  $

Monday Meanderings -- 4 - 21 - 25

It's been a week. Thanks for all the kind remarks at the passing of our nephew. We decided we would drive to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to be with the family during the memorial service.  We don't have a kennel to leave Sunny at so she went with us. We left upper 70 degree temps to hit snow swirling as we drove north in Michigan and feels like temps of 18 13 degrees one day. (Or it may have been several days but I only screen shot one day.) 

We drove over the Mackinac Bridge.  I was a bit nervous about traveling over the bridge with the wind blowing so hard.  But that's the only way we could get to the UP so across we went.  I was very happy to learn that the bridge wasn't closed because of the high winds. Slab vehicles had a 25 mph limit while cars could go 35mph.  It was a reasonable speed even though the wind was bad. I actually enjoyed seeing some of Lake Michigan. 

Mackinac Island is home to the famous Grand Hotel.  It's the big white building above. Many years ago we enjoyed visiting the island although we haven't been since. 

We arrived in town Tuesday afternoon.  It's a small town in which several nieces and nephews still live. Wednesday was the Celebration of Life. Our nephew lived in the town for 45 years or so. His friends, co-workers, and family filled the location of the event.  It was a lovely celebration of a wonderful life. Except he died way too young. 

Sunny wasn't happy having to be crated the whole day. (Might I say incarcerated?) We came back a couple of times to feed and walk her.  She was ready to play by the time we got back to the hotel at the end of the day and we were exhausted. 

Early Thursday morning we packed up and drove two days to get home. Needless to say Sunny wasn't happy being in the car all day for 2 days. We didn't expect horrendous traffic but we kept running into it. 

This was about 20 minutes from home. There are 6 lanes of traffic here with cars and trucks every where.  

We were happy to get home but were glad we were able to give some support to our family.  It's going to be a hard year for his mother, wife and two grown children. 

Needless to say I had a much smaller goals list this past week.  I succeeded to a small degree. 

4/14/25

✅Knit 2 hats — 1 hat almost done. 

✅✅Read 2 books — 2 Grace Burrows books finished. 

✅Quilt a top on Ruthie — top quilted. 

Make more Equilters 9 patches — 2 are cut and laid out but no sewing done.

Surprisingly I was able to keep up my 15 minutes of stitching every day. I was knitting every day. Including the day I forgot all about it until 10:30 pm and spent 20 minutes knitting in bed! I'll share the bright yellow hat when I get it finished. 

W/ending 4/20/25. 110 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/Apr = 20/20
• 15 minute days/2024 = 110/110 days
• Success rate = 100%

Late Sunday afternoon I was able to baste a small top that I want to quilt on my Bernina.  I had planned to pin baste but decided to use Sulky KK 2000 spray adhesive instead. I'm hoping to start the quilting this week. (Heck, I hope to start and finish the quilting this week.) 

Since KK 2000 is a temporary spray I may add some pins in case I can't get it finished this week.  Did I mention how old this is? I'm guessing it is 10+ years old. I considered hand quilting it but never wanted to start it. This year I added it to my monthly UFO challenge list and it came up this month. Hopefully I'll get it to binding stage this month. 

Here's my goal list for this week.

4/21/25

Make Cali-Co quilt along April Block

Quilt Orange Peel on domestic machine

Finish another hat

Make 2 more Equilters 9 patches

I'm linking up with the following parties: 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday 

Monday Musing

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie