Monday Meandering and OMG Finish 12 - 31 - 2019

The last post of 2018! 

And the best thing about this post is I've succeeded on my One Monthly Goal for December finish quilting Jamestown Landing.  Yeehaw! Here are the pics as I quilted my Jamestown Landing. I had finished the first two rows when I took this picture.  I used Melody, one of my favorite quilting designs. And, I have now named my turquoise version of Jamestown Landing "Sea Glass."  Thanks to Nancy at Wyoming Breezes for suggesting the quilt looked like sea glass.  

All the quilting is done and it's coming off the frame. 

Friday I made the binding and Saturday I stitched it on by machine. And, amazingly enough I also made and attached the label before I stitched the binding.   Sometimes the whole binding is sewn by machine but this time I'm hand stitching the second side.  About half is done and the last part will be done by the end of News Years Eve! I'm sure I will be successful.  I was tickled to find this cute binding fabric in my stash.  

Here's how I did with my goals, this last week of 2018. 

December 24, 2018

Finish Theo’s ornament √

Quilt my Jamestown Landing √

Watch a few grands if needed √

Work on black and white log cabin (UFO) √

Make binding for Jamestown Landing √

Now, what will I work on in 2019.  Well, here's what I'm planning on working on the first week! 

December 31, 2018

Finish sewing the binding on Sea Glass 

Continue making log cabin blocks

Start cutting out kits for the in house retreat

…. don’t know what else I’ll do but surely other stuff will get done

Sew the airplane friendship star blocks into at least one quilt top

I'm linking up with my normal Monday linky parties: Oh Scrap and Monday Making. I'll check to see if Main Crush Monday and Moving It Forward are posted too.  I'm adding What I Made Monday over at Pretty Piney. And, lest I forget, Elm Street Quilts December Finish blog!  

Happy New Year!  Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 12 - 24 - 2018

Wow!  It's almost over.  The month, the year, and Christmas.  We are planning a low key Christmas for just the two of us but will be enjoying lots of family at Kevin and Aimee's house tomorrow afternoon.  Should be fun. 

This week flew by, just as I suspected it would.  We started out with Ellie spending the night and then going to get a bear from Build-A-Bear.  It amazes me how easy it is to put together a bear there.  I especially think they did stuffing and tying off the opening really well. Ellie enjoyed getting a bear with lots of lights and sparkles. 

There was a wonderful Christmas display at the mall and I was able to snap a great pic of her with a reindeer.  She still likes to pose for the camera. 

On Saturday Aimee, Mimi and Grammy (me) took Ellie on an excellent adventure.  Her Christmas present from the grandmas was an American Girl doll.  So we braved the big mall in northern Virginia to go to the American Girl store.  Ellie was pretty surprised and the two grandmas got teary eyed.  But she eventually picked out a doll that is called something like looks like me.  Except Ellie wanted a blond doll with no freckles.  So that is what she got.  We had lunch with our dolls and people. Heck, I brought my Kit doll that I won (with lots of clothes and quilts) from a quilt guild in Maryland quite a few years ago.  Just like the last time lunch was ridiculously slow.  I had salmon and it was great -- much better than the pizza I had last time I went. 

Surprisingly parking and driving to and from wasn't as bad as I expected. (and I wasn't driving so of course it wasn't bad for me!)  Until Pat and I decided to go home. (The guys stayed at Kevin's house.)  The 40 minute drive was listed as over 3 hours if we took I 95.  Instead we took back country roads and got home about 2 hours later but it was a pleasant trip and we were always moving.  Luckily we got home just as it started to get dark. 

I didn't get much studio time this past week.  But I did drag out log cabin blocks -- a UFO.  I'd like to make twin size quilts for two beds.  But it will take a million blocks -- or so it seems to me.  Most of my time was taken up with getting presents finished and wrapped.  My best accomplishment was getting my Jamestown Landing quilt loaded on Ruthie. I didn't get any quilting done until today.  I'm using Melody designed by Sarah Ann Myers.  I really hope to have all the quilting done this week.  And, if luck is on my side, I'll get the binding started.  Cross my fingers -- maybe I'll get the binding on the quilt and have a great finish for the end of the year! 

Here's what got done last week: 

December 17, 2018

Finish up the Angel ornaments (again! Sigh.)√ 

Work on Counted Cross Stitch ornament √

Wrap Christmas presents√

Load Jamestown Landing√ and start quilting no quilting done by Sunday pm

Buy the last of the Christmas Presents√ 

Enjoy Ellie’s sleepover√

And here's what I hope to do this week: 

December 24, 2018

Finish Theo’s ornament 

Quilt my Jamestown Landing 

Watch a few grands if needed

Work on black and white log cabin (UFO)

Make binding for Jamestown Landing 

I'm calling it quits now.  I have a few stray gifts to wrap and a little more to be done to Theo's cross stitched ornament.  

I'm linking up with Monday Making and Oh Scrap. Several of my go-to Monday linky parties aren't partying this week.  When you have a quiet moment surf the internet to get yourself revved up again for lots of quilty excitement in 2019. 

Happy Quilting! Bonnie 

Monday Meandering

What a week!  We've just finished our two Spotsylvanians concerts.  Nice crowds who were very appreciative of our efforts.  Needless to say that took a chunk of my time this week. But so much fun to do.  I'm hoping I can participate during the spring season that starts late in January. 

What I succeeded on finishing also was 4 embroidered Christmas shirts for the grands.  At Thanksgiving I asked the three girls what design they wanted on their shirts.  (And I kept notes so I wouldn't forget!)  Theo's mom suggested his and he was delighted with it.  Here are all four shirts finished and ready to give to the kids.  All designs are by JuJu Designs.  

They all liked them but Theo was the only one I could actually get a picture of him in it. 

As the Christmas holiday grows closer less sewing will be getting done.  I did actually load part of the backing for my Jamestown Landing quilt.  I'm hoping to finish getting the backing on and then get the rest of the quilt loaded this week.  If I am really lucky I might get a few rows stitched out but I'm not holding my breath. 

We have Ellie spending the night tonight so we can go celebrate her birthday tomorrow.  It was late October but we couldn't attend her celebration.  We'll be visiting Build-A-Bear. Hey, I got a few gift cards when we did our other grands' bds there. So I figured this would be a great use for them.

So here's how the goals went this week.  Not bad considering all I had scheduled.  

December 10, 2018

Work on counted cross stitched ornament √ 

Embroider grand’s Christmas shirts√

Finish Angel ornaments oops did a bit more but…must finish this! 

Attend 2 rehearsals and 2 performances for the Spotsylvanians √

Eye Appointment√ and Hair Cut! (oops hair cut is this coming week) 

Have the family over for pizza√

Bind a charity quilt Half done…

And this coming week I'm going to .... 

December 17, 2018

Finish up the Angel ornaments (again! Sigh.) 

Work on Counted Cross Stitch ornament 

Wrap Christmas presents

Load Jamestown Landing and start quilting 

Buy the last of the Christmas Presents 

Enjoy Ellie’s sleepover shopping trip

Hair Cut

I am having more issues trying to get your comments emailed to my account.  I thought I had reset it so it would work, but no.  I'll look at it again this week and see if I can straighten it out.  I will get an answer to your comments but it's taking me longer than usual. 

Visit the linky parties listed to see what folks have been doing this past week. 

Oh Scrap!, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, and Moving It Forward. I just noticed Main Crush Monday didn't post last week.  And, I didn't remember to check it either.... We'll see whether I remember this week.  It might be a busy, busy week! 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie  

Monday Meanderings 12 - 10 - 2018

My goals list was shot to pieces as in I hardly did anything!  I did take pictures of all the quilts I've finished over the last few weeks though.  Several All were donated.  Up first is the rail fence quilt.  This started as another quilter's project.  After she died I was given her stash and projects.  I've used quite a few of her pieces for backings.  This rail fence had been started but not finished.  I decided it would be good to finish it and donate it to one of the charities Virginia Star Quilters support as she had been a member.  

These photos were taken near the end of the day and lighting was wonderful.  More dumb luck than skill but happy to have such decent photos.  The edge to edge design is Saffron Blossom by Apricot Moon.  Thread was So Fine but I don't remember which color.  Evidently it blended well with the various fabrics.   Oh well.  In this blog I asked for suggestions about the sashing.  I thought I liked the dark blue the best but I didn't have enough of it.  I had enough of this cranberry and I really like how it brightened up the piece.  

Next I finished this panel for CP.  The guild was given a lot of fabric from a man who was dealing with his wife's stash.  I'm not sure how or why he learned about Country Piecemakers but he did and donated a bunch of very usable fabric to us.  I volunteered to quilt several panels -- this is the only one I actually took a picture of. 

I like how the pattern really shows on this quilt and it almost looks like puffy clouds.  It's called Melody and was designed by Sarah Ann Myers.  I've liked the quilting results on every project I've put this design on.  I may actually use in on my Jamestown Landing quilt when I finally quilt it.  This went to the NICU at St. Francis Hospital in the Richmond area. 

Finally here is 9 Patch Garden.  The pattern is from one of the Quiltmakers magazines.  I was given quite a bit of fabric from a friend who is no longer quilting.  She was tickled to see this picture of her fabric and very pleased that it was going to a nursing home Country Piecemakers support.   I've got about a half yard of the flowerpot fabric left.  And, it was used on the back too.  Great use of the fabric and I was able to use a bit of my fabric too.  Must think about how the last piece of it can be used.

Most of these quilts won't give me large fabric usage but at least I am getting some of my fabrics used.  (9 patches, borders and bindings on 9 Patch Flower Garden and bindings on the other two and the sashing of the rail fence.)

Today we were hit with a winter storm.  Yikes.  It started snowing around 10 am and kept up until after dark.  In the end we probably only got 5" or so but that is a lot for our part of Virginia at this time of the year.  Here's a picture of the deer sculpture that is outside of our development.  During the warmer weather there is a fountain too.  Hum, the deer is about midway down on the left side.  She's kicking up her heels.  Unfortunately there is no where to park to actually get pictures of it so this was taken in a moving car.  The trees were covered in snow.  Hopefully tomorrow it will all melt and we can go back to getting things done! 

I'm almost embarrassed to share my goals this week.  I really didn't get all that much done. 

December 3, 2018

Load Jamestown Landing eek… didn’t do it 

Finish the Angel ornaments double eek … didn’t do it 

Sing Sparetime Singer’s Concert√

Attend Country Piecemaker’s meeting√

Pick a UFO and work on it oops — didn’t do it

Quilt a charity quilt and bind it√ finally I did something quilty! 

Work on a counted cross stitched ornament√ started yea! 

And here's what's happening this week:

December 10, 2018

Work on counted cross stitched ornament 

Embroider grand’s Christmas shirts 

Finish Angel ornaments

Attend 2 rehearsals and 2 performances for the Spotsylvanians 

Eye Appointment and Hair Cut! 

Have the family over for pizza 

Bind a charity quilt

There's a good chance I won't get all that much sewing done this week -- just too many other things happening. But I really want to finish the shirts for the grands so I can give them their shirt when they visit Sunday. (I'm hoping everyone will come to our afternoon concert and then come for pizza at the house.) 

Linky parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday and Moving it Forward.  Check them out.  Lots of holidays are floating around the internet! (I'll try to get the other two linked up on Monday in the morning.)  Enjoy your week! 

Happy Quilting All.  Bonnie 

December OMG

For December One Monthly Goal I will (hopefully) 

Load and Quilt my Jamestown Landing Quilt! 

Here is the backing and the quilt top sitting on Ruthie. I probably won't load her until after the 17th.  We've got concerts coming up and things to do.  But, I might surprise myself and do it this coming week and get on with the quilting.  Time will tell.  

I haven't figured out what I'll use for the binding.  I'll probably need to buy some fabric for it but I'm going to wait until I've finished quilting it.  Who knows, maybe I have a big enough piece in my stash to make the binding. 

I'm taking several quilts and these pillowcases down to Country Piecemakers for our donation groups.  I'll post pictures soon -- yes, I've actually taken pictures of everything I'm donating tomorrow!  Here are 2 pillowcases I finished in November because I really hadn't used much fabric. I bought both of these fabrics on Black Friday, 2017 at JoAnn's Fabric Store.  I got a really good deal and was happy to be able to find the cuff and accent pieces in my stash.

Today I'm sneaking into the Elm Creak Quilt's OMG December Link Up party at the last minute (hours?) and Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. That's it for me today.  I'm going to do a little blog hopping to see what folks are working on or hoping to work on. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meandering 12 - 3 - 2018

Success!  I finished two (2!) knitting projects this week. I'm pretty sure that leaves me just one knitting UFO.  But I digress!  First the socks: 

One thing's larger than the other...can you see which one? UGH! 

Not the best finish.  But for now they are done.  I just might redo the heel and foot of the right sock.  But not now.  Other things need to be worked on now!  It seems to me that the picture makes these a lot brighter than they are in real life.  The blue is darker, nearer to navy blue. 

On to my next finish -- Theo's sweater. YEA, done long before Christmas! Whoop! Whoop! 

Ok, truth be told, I'm not "quite" done with it yet.  I'll bury the threads and stitch the collar down at stitching group today.  Then it will be ready to wrap.  I've got another project in mind to start but I don't need to work on it until later next year. 

Not a whole lot of sewing was done this week but I did make it through most of my goals. 

November 26, 2018

Finish socks√

Clean another 1/8th of the cutting table. Hey, the first eighth is cleaned! Oops, so much for cleaning up 1/8th of the cutting table! 

Finish Theo’s sweater √

Work on the ornaments√

Quilt & bind the rail fence quilt√ still need to take a picture to show it off.

Bind the Bears in Balloons quilt√

And this week I want to ...

December 3, 2018

Load Jamestown Landing

Finish the Angel ornaments

Sing Sparetime Singer’s Concert

Attend Country Piecemaker’s meeting 

Pick a UFO and work on it

Quilt a charity quilt and bind it

Work on a counted cross stitched ornament 

It seems like a lot considering I know I'm tied up several hours for concerts and the CP meeting.  But I'm going to try to get all of these items done. 

I'm linking up with my regular Monday Morning linky parties.  Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, and Moving It Forward. Take a few minutes to visit some websites... and remember folks like it if you comment. I try to comment on most of the sites I visit every week.  Hope you can fit in a few minutes of visiting too. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

November OMG Done √

Yea!  Another goal accomplished.  On November 4th I set this goal: 

"I'm going to try to get my heron wall hanging to the top stage."

It wasn't a really big goal but I really would like to get this bird done!  The kit sat for years and now it's time to finish it and hang it in the great room.  

Top is finished!  I really like it except for one weird thing.  The left side is a bit crooked. Hum,   

I must have sewn the background fabric a little wonky.  That's easy to fix, I think.  I'll mark the beginning and the end of the "wonkiness" and sew a little smaller seam.  I'll be right back.  🎵🎶🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎵🎶

🎶🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎵🎶🎵

🎵🎶🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎵🎶
🎶🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎵🎶🎵
🎵🎶🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎵🎶
🎶🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎵🎶🎵
   🎵🎶🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎵🎶
🎶🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎵🎶🎵

🎵🎶🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎵🎶🎶🎵🎵🎶
🎶🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎵🎶
🎵🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎵🎶🎵🎵🎶🎵🎵music to wait by.... 

It took me longer than I thought to fix it.  How does it look now? Less of an indent in the middle of the left side?  There is still some indent there but it doesn't seem as bad as the first one.  There may be some more messing with this before the quilting.  Or I may just say "It is what it is!"  What do you think?  More fussing or is it done, ready for quilting?

One thing you can't see in the pic is all of the thread hanging around the legs.  I thought I had tied and buried all of it but oops!  There it hung.  You know the BIG problem with invisible thread??? You CAN'T see it. I had a heck of a time threading my needle to bury the threads. I'll be dealing with that again this evening while I try to finish moving threads to the back, tying and burying them.  Something to keep me busy while I watch some Hallmark movies. If I can see them!  

I've got a couple of pillowcases I want to make before the end of the month.  My finishes this month haven't used much of my own fabric -- mainly binding for small quilts.  So I figure two pillowcases will help me use up some actual yardage.  Especially since I specifically bought them for charity pillowcases for Christmas.  

I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts OMG November Finishes, Needle and Thread Thursday, MidWeek Makers, and Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop.  Take a look to see what folks are up to. (We'll see if I remember Whoop, Whoop! tomorrow.) Success!  I remembered Friday evening.  Happy weekend all! 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 11 - 26 - 2018

We had a great Thanksgiving -- I sure hope you did too!  On the other hand we cooked all morning but we were done eating in an hour or so.  Fun to get all the family together.  Our grands enjoy their cousins and it was fun to be around them.  

I was able to get back to knitting on Theo's sweater.  In fact I finished the body and I'm working on the first sleeve. It's going really fast.  I should finish this sleeve tomorrow and get the second one done by the end of the week.  Then it's on to something old:  a Christmas sweater that I started about ten years ago.  I'll drag it out and photograph it soon. 

I finished the rail fence top.  I used the brighter cranberry solid as sashing because I had enough of it for both the sashing and the binding. (and it lightens up the whole thing.)  It's ready to put on Ruthie, the long arm.  I realized the last time I used her I didn't plug in the laptop that runs her.  So I got the backing loaded but I couldn't actually start quilting until the computer was fully charged.  I probably won't get to it until Tuesday afternoon. It should be completely quilted and bound by the end of the week. See what it looked like before the sashing here. 

I forgot to show you the last blocks for the FCQ EQuilters. These blocks are going to Northern Virginia -- after I fix one of them!  Did you notice the one that isn't like the others?  It sure looks different when the half triangles are turned wrong! 

And here is one so you can see what it looks like up close. You can get directions for this Missouri Star's You Tube Channel -- look for making a twinkling stars quilt with Jenny. I found it but when I tried to link it with what I found it kept starting in the middle of the tutorial.  It's a really easy block to do. 

I should be starting on the new block soon. It goes to my friend Sharon -- I'll be taking to her in January when I go visit.  I have a month or so to get them done. 

Most of my goals were completed this week.  Yea!  Here's how I did: 

November 19, 2018

Knit on Theo’s Sweater√

Finish sewing rail fence quilt together and start sashing√

Make some ornaments ?maybe? √started 

Clean up 1/8th of the cutting table (Nothing much is happening when I say clean the whole table, maybe only cleaning 1/8th will get me going!) √ I dusted all around the cutting mat which is cleared off and I cut some scraps into squares and triangles… progress but I need to cut up a lot of scraps to make more of a dent! 

Cook dinner for Thanksgiving√ 

And this week I'll be working on these items: 

November 26, 2018

Finish socks

Clean another 1/8th of the cutting table. Hey, the first eighth is cleaned! 

Finish Theo’s sweater 

Work on the ornaments

Quilt & bind the rail fence quilt

Bind the Bears in Balloons quilt

I realized this week that I'm almost finished with my pair of socks.  I put them aside when I started on Theo's sweater.  I imagine it will take me less than 30 minutes to finish the last sock.  So I hope to get that done this week. 

I'm linking up with my regular parties:  Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, and Moving It Forward. Let's hope I remember to link up the last two blogs!  I'm going to enjoy seeing what folks are working on this week.  

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie