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 

July OMG Achieved

Grid Lock is now a top!  And, with any luck I should have it quilted and bound by the end of the month.  I'm planning on spending the next two days to get it finished.  My One Monthly Goal was to get it to top stage and I did that by last week. So I will be pushing myself to get it totally finished.  

I should have a finished A Tisket, A Tasket quilt by Monday.  I need to get the label done for it and attached.  Believe me when I say I will be really happy to get it finished. It will be hung in the guest bedroom when totally done. 

I've also been sneaking in some strip sewing for the Trip Around the World that was the Quilt Along with the 12 Days of Christmas that Sarah Craig sponsored.    I'm not whizzing through it but I now have two of the four strata sewn.  Once they are all done I'll start slicing them up and putting them together.  I'd just finished the second strata when I snapped this picture of the back. I've pressed the seams open as instructed. If you want to make one, you can go to Confessions of a Fabric Addict here to start your own version.  This is on my ironing station Pat made for me several years ago.  Tomorrow I'll sew this one into a tube.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to keep up but the directions are there and I plan to finish soon... ok, sometime in August if I'm lucky. 

I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts linky party for finished OMGs, Needle and Thread Thursday and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop. (I'll update with the link to Whoop Whoop when it is posted.)   Enjoy your favorite beverage and do a little Internet surfing.  Who knows, maybe you'll talk yourself into a new quilt too!  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meandering 7 - 24 - 2017

I was able to get two borders on Grid Lock which is exactly how many I had planned!  But boy, was it close on the bigger border. 

This is all I had left of the 20" of fabric I used for the 2nd border. I made the border the size that my fabric allowed. Do you ever do that? Size the border to available fabric?  I'm happy to report that the entire top has come from stash.  Now if I can just find enough material to get a backing from my stash I'll be thrilled.  

I turned A Tisket, A Tasket on the long arm and finished up the quilting.  Next up binding!  I'm pretty sure I've got fabric saved for the binding and I have the label already made.  (At least I think I do!) 

Once these two quilts are done I'm going to focus on the floral wallhanging and the new TAW. (TAW, better known as Trip Around the World.) 

I was surprised I did well on my goals.  I spent most of Sunday in my studio that allowed me to check off several items.  Here's the results. 

July 17, 2017

Sew borders on Grid Lock √

Finish quilting A Tisket, A Tasket quilt√

Keep working on the floral walhanging didn’t get to this

Hand quilt another block of the Civil WarQuilt√ making a little progress

Enjoy Natalie’s Birthday adventure √

And this week I'll be working on these projects.

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

Make a fabric box

Natalie's birthday adventure was great except poor Natalie wasn't feeling well.  For the most part she was a real trooper.  I sent her an invitation to meet me at the American Girl Store so she could pick out her own AG doll.  Mom didn't give her the invite until that morning when she also got some accessories for the doll.  We took her all around the store and introduced her to all the different dolls.  I thought she might like a doll that looked like her but in the end she chose Julie, a doll from the 1970s.  WAIT!  I lived those hippie days in California.  Well, no, I wasn't really a hippy but I remember all the events that were going on. Were you a hippie in the 70s?  Here she is waiting for our lunch reservation.  She was doing pretty well.  But as the day progressed she was starting to feel worse. 

I'd invited her other grandma to join us so Nana and Grammy (that's me) got her the doll and one outfit.  Lunch was at the American Girl Cafe.  There were little chairs for the doll to sit up at the table.  The goodies included a decorated pony tale holder, a tea cup for the doll, a tiara for both the BD girl and her doll and a new T shirt for the doll.  I'm sure I left something out. Oh yes a birthday cake with ice cream.  I'm sorry Natalie wasn't feeling well but she did really well considering how she felt. 

I'm linking with my normal parties: Monday Making, Main Crush Monday and Moving It Forward. I really enjoy spending a bit of time surfing the links you see so many inspiring quilts. Sometimes there are tutorials and/or directions to make all sorts of fun things.  I know there will be some 18" doll clothes in my future -- I've already bought the book with patterns in it.  Christmas is coming! 

That's it for me today.  Time to get on with the morning. (Or spend a little of that time checking out those links!) 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

OOOPS

I started a new quilt on Tuesday.  Do you read Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict?  She is running a 12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop.  In addition she is offering a quilt along to make a Trip Around the World quilt.  It only takes 10" of fabric -- well times 16 fabrics.  Several days in I decided I could probably come up with some fabric for this.

Next thing I know I have 18 fabrics out.  I eliminate two and I'm cranking out 2 1/2" strips on my Go Cutter before I really think about what I'm doing. (And if you believe that whopper I have a bridge I can sell you too!)  I used 5 Christmas fabrics and filled in with light, medium and dark fabrics to get to 16. I started sewing the first strip set.  It's going to be a little longer than I thought to catch up.  Plus I still want to get my weekly goals accomplished.  So this strip set may not see its other 3 mates for a bit.  I'll keep you posted.  Here's what it looks like minus the three lightest fabrics shown on the left above. (And the strip on the far right is showing the wrong side as it is pinned, ready to sew.) 

It's time to get to the studio or I won't get anything done today! I'm linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? on Friday if it becomes available.  It's on the same blog as the Christmas in July event. I'll be taking some time later today to do a little blog hopping to see what's going on. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie   

Monday Meanderings 7 - 17 - 17

It's a palindrome.  Check out the date 7 - 17 - 17 it's the same reading it both left to right and right to left.  Every "teen" number this month works out as a palindrome. See  7 - 12 - 17.  A little cool fact to start your week. 

I am sharing the beginning of my quilting on A Tisket, A Tasket.  I loaded it up this week and got all of the quilting going from top to bottom done.  Next I'll reload it so the long sides will run parallel to the rails on the long arm.  Then I will quilt two different borders. The feathers you can see below and a stitch in the ditch where the green fabric meets the darker pink. All that will be left is binding it.  This time I will machine sew my binding on only one side so that I can hand sew it down to the back.  When finished this quilt will be hung in the guest bedroom.  (This photo should enlarge when clicked on.) 

Faithful Circle Quilters' next quilt show is spring of 2018.  I've done several quilts in the last year or so that I'm planning on hanging in the show.   I'm happy to get this one done early.  Reminder to self:  put a hanging sleeve on the back. 

Pat and I got to spend a little time with Kevin and Theo on Saturday morning.  Theo was all smiles!  

I surprised myself by achieving most of my goals this week. 

July 10, 2017

Continue stitching Grid Lock together √ The center is done, next up borders

Keep hand quilting on Civil War Quilt √

Start quilting A Tisket, A Tasket quilt √

Make a fabric box didn’t happen!

Iron the applique flowers on to the wallhanging√ haven’t actually gotten to the flowers but I am working on this wallhanging

July 17, 2017

Sew borders on Grid Lock

Finish quilting A Tisket, A Tasket quilt

Keep working on the floral walhanging

Hand quilt another block of the Civil War Quilt

Enjoy Natalie’s Birthday adventure 

I'm linking up with Monday Making, Main Crush Monday and Moving It Forward. (Yep, I'm ahead of the game -- I'll link with the other blogs when they go live.Done √)  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Progress

My mojo is back. I may not be moving ahead at full speed but I have definitely enjoyed some time in the studio the last few days. 

First up is progress on Scrappy Gridlock. The diagonal rows are sewn.  I'm in the process of adding white setting triangles.  The yellow and turquoise are thoughts on a border.  Yellow would be about an inch while the turquoise -- maybe 3".  A lot depends on how much fabric I have.  Beth was over Tuesday morning and we dragged out all sorts of different colors to audition the borders.  We liked this combo the best.  But, I'm planning on having the inside sewn together by this coming Tuesday and we'll be auditioning fabric again.  This quilt is coming from the stash.  I'm really hoping to finish the top and get it quilted this month.  Time will tell. 

The Scrappy Gridlock pattern is available for sale on Marge Gordon's Delaware Quilts Patterns page. Marge uses her patterns to raise funds for the American Cancer Society.  For a long time she ran a Mysteries for Relay group and held retreats.  She is no longer doing those, but these patterns remain for sale on her site.  I changed up the pattern just a little by putting setting triangles in white instead of scrappy triangles. 

Next up is my flowers wall hanging. You remember it -- the one that I put away so carefully I couldn't find it for a few weeks!  I got the flower stems on and added the last border.  The funny green things pinned around the quilt are little wonky squares that get appliquéd down.  I'm trying to get the colors sorted so I can actually do some zigzagging or buttonhole or however I decide to do the finishing.  Above it is one of the blocks that goes to my FCQ Equilter this month.  Out of her fat quarter and my added fabrics I was able to get 3 12" fin. blocks.  I still have some left and I'm thinking about whether I could make one more block! My design wall is chalk full of projects.  I think I need to finish some so it isn't so crowded. 

That's it for now.  I'm linking up with MidWeek Makers, Needle and Thread Thursday, and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop. (Links will be added as available.) 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Monday Meandering 7 - 10 - 2017

Do you have weeks where you don't feel very motivated to sew?  Or do much of anything?  That's what this week has been for me.  I was busy most of two days so I couldn't go to the studio.  The rest of the time I was all ho hum... don't really feel like hitting the studio all that much.  I did make some progress but nothing spectacular.

I did load the backing for the A Tisket, A Tasket quilt.  But once I figured out how I was going to quilt it I realized I didn't have a wide enough piece.  I have an 18" long arm so I can only do long passes of the machine on the width.  My solution is super easy although a bit time consuming.  I quilt the top except for the lengthwise borders.  Then I remove the quilt from the machine and reload it turned a quarter turn and I can finish the long borders.  It works well unless I don't have a wide enough backing.  And, I don't -- I bought only one length of fabric.    Because I still want to quilt the borders separately I decided I needed to augment the width.  I won't actually need the width as part of the backing; I just need it to attach to the long arm.  My solution is adding two 6 1/2" pieces to the sides of the backing.  I used a bigger stitch to attach them to the backing so they will be easy to remove when I'm done. 

Hopefully, I'll reload the backing and then add the batting and the top and actually start to quilt A Tisket, A Tasket.  Time will tell! 

As you might expect, I didn't do so well on my goals this past week.  Yes, I did do some hand quilting -- maybe three 18" threads worth.  It looks like I did nearly everything on the list but honestly, I don't feel like I got much done. Sigh. 

July 3, 2017

Stitch Grid Lock quilt together √ only started

Keep hand quilting on Civil War Quilt √

Load and quilt A Tisket, A Tasket quilt didn’t happen

Make a couple of giant flying geese blocks√

July 10, 2017

Continue stitching Grid Lock together

Keep hand quilting on Civil War Quilt

Start quilting A Tisket, A Tasket quilt

Make a fabric box

Iron the applique flowers on to the wallhanging

I don't have much to share today -- I didn't do all that much this week.  But I'm sure lots of folks across the Internet got some wonderfully inspiring projects worked on.  I'm linking up with Monday Making, Main Crush Monday and Moving It Forward. 

Hopefully I'll be more enthused to be working in the studio this week. I am enthused because a hummingbird has actually been spotted on our deck recently.  Of course, I didn't see him but I'm hoping he keeps coming back.  Tomorrow I'll clean the feeder and put fresh nectar in so maybe he'll come to visit again. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie