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 

Monday Meandering 11 - 19 - 2018

Last week?  I goofed off most of it getting a LOT of reading done. On Mondays I go to stitching group up at the community's clubhouse.  That's where I've been getting most of Theo's sweater worked on.  Weird day though because I actually knit a hole in my finger that drew a scant amount of blood.  Say what???  I've been using the same needles for the entire sweater and this time it caused a small wound. Go figure.  Needless to say I quit knitting on it and haven't picked up the sweater since as I was waiting for the thing to heal.  Here's where I am on it.  A few more inches until I can do the ribbing and then on to the arms.  I can see the end coming.  Must knit more!  

I received my wide backing fabric for Jamestown Landing. Whoop! Whoop! (Hum, it's brighter than this pic.)  Yes there is a tiny spot below the red line.  I think it was from some of the black fluff I found along the edge.  I'm guessing it is from the machine that printed the fabric? It's the only spot I've seen so no worries. I doubt I'll get this finished in November but I definitely want to in December.  It will be a boost to my fabric usage for the year. 

Here's my pathetic results from my goals last week.  I didn't list make two batches of cookies and some muffins for a bake sale but I did those too. 

November 12, 2018

Knit on Theo’s Sweater√

Sash rail fence quilt√ started sewing rails together into blocks

Make backing for red and blue 16 patch OOPS 

Border the pirate quilt√

Clean up the cutting table — it’s a mess  -  didn’t happen! Sigh

November 19, 2018

Knit on Theo’s Sweater

Finish sewing rail fence quilt together and start sashing

Make some ornaments ?maybe?

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!) 
Clean house and cook dinner for Thanksgiving

We'll see if I have any success with the goals this week.  I'm hoping to at least make progress on the rail fence quilt as I want to turn it in to the quilt guild in December to give to a senior center. 

Here's my last photos from our vacation in Canada.  These were taken in Bar Harbor, Maine mostly in the rain.  Our excursion was a short sail on a clipper ship.  Sounded great in the middle of summer.  Reality was colder and wetter than anticipated.  

This was taken from our cruise ship.  Notice the rain on the windows and the grey skies.  

We were getting so wet! Pat had a new rain coat and I was wearing an old, worn out, thin rain coat with about 4 layers underneath. Again, I was pretty well soaked at the end of the event.  We enjoyed the views and saw some dolphins (or a cousin of dolphins as I don't remember what they actually were.) Afterwards we had lunch in Bar Harbor with a nice view of the river front. 

I took this picture to show the cruise ship we were on -- the Veendam of  Holland American Line.  We traveled 1635 miles and the ship used 170,000 gallons of fuel. (yikes!) I'll have at least one more post from Boston from when we were waiting for our plane.  

My comments are not showing up in my email account any more.  Has anyone found a way to have them show up there again?  HELP! 

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday and Moving It Forward. Yes, I've linked everything since I'm writing this Monday morning.  Take some time to see what folks are doing in their studios this week!  I'm looking forward to some surfing! 

Happy Quilting, Bonnie 

Monday Meandering 11 - 12 - 2018

Busy week with not a lot to show for it!  One customer quilt came off Ruthie the long arm and a small charity quilt was put on and quilted.  It still needs binding which I plan to do during this month. 

My friend Sharon came up from N.C. for the weekend.  We always have a great time. She was teaching a new mystery table runner for Country Piecemakers.  It was fun to do.  The gals did a great job making some really cute table runners.   I finished putting the border on mine today.  Once it gets quilted and bound I'll share it with you. 

I decided it was time to see how a rail fence project I was working on was doing.  I've been making rail fence blocks but hadn't put them on the design wall for quite a while.  So up they went.  This project was started by a quilter who died last year.  I was given her stash which had a mixture of newer fabrics and much older calicos.  I've used some of the fabric for charity quilts,(remember this airplane quilt?) little projects and the like.  Also in her stash was a rail fence project.  She had quite a few blocks made, some sewn in rows and a lot of extra fabric cut to the right size. I recognized a lot of calicos from the 80's and early 90's. (Heck I HAVE some of those fabrics or bits of them still!)  I cut some of my own newer fabrics, remade some of hers so the new and old would fit together.  

Now it was time to see what I could do with all of the blocks.  Sharon and I agreed the blocks needed to be broken up a bit.  So I will take 4 smaller blocks to make a larger block and sash them.  Help!  I had hoped to use a darker blue batik already cut into 1 1/2" strips but I don't have enough of them.  Here's what it looks like now. 

The blue is the batik.  There's some black on the upper right side.  A red print on the left side and a cherry red solid chunk of fabric rolled up and a green rolled up.  Sharon and I like the reds best.  See the close up and let me know what you think. Once done this will go a local senior group. 

I'm wavering between the red print and the solid cherry color.  It looks surprisingly bright in the pictures which makes me thing the print might be better.  I need to figure out how much fabric I need and see if I have enough of either of these fabrics.  Notice the block in the top picture that looks black?  It's actually dark purples.  I'll be replacing it with something that shows the block style better.  I may also drag out a navy blue solid too.  I sure wish I had enough of the blue batik.  Sigh.  I'll start sewing this together when I figure out what fabric is going to become the sashing. 

I've done pretty well on my goals this week even if there isn't a lot to see.  Theo's sweater is coming along really well.  Hopefully I'll get the body done this week and start on the sleeves.  

November 5, 2018

Knit on Theo’s sweater√

Finish customer’s quilt√

Attend Country Piecemakers’ Mystery Table Runner event√

Load and quilt charity quilt√

Decide on another top to quilt and start it OOPS! 

And for this week... 

November 12, 2018

Knit on Theo’s Sweater

Sash rail fence quilt

Make backing for red and blue 16 patch

Border the pirate quilt

Clean up the cutting table — it’s a mess

Here are some more pictures from our trip to Canada.  We took a bus tour from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Peggy's Cove to see an historic lighthouse and the Atlantic Ocean. The day was blustery and rainy.  Needless to say it was wet!  My water repellent rain coat wasn't doing much repelling so I was pretty much soaked once we finished seeing the outdoor sights. 

I stayed close to the light house.  The rocks were wet from the rain and ocean spray and I wasn't willing to scramble over more rocks to reach the ocean.  Heck, I would have gotten even wetter.  But Pat checked it out.  You can't miss him -- he's got the bright yellow raincoat on. 

The ocean was splashing up on the rocks. 

BEWARE! 

The view to the right of the lighthouse shows the shoreline and some of the village. This is a fishing village but I didn't get a picture of the ships. 

After we had seen the sights and gotten drenched we went into the cafe and had a yummy hot chocolate.  Then we went off to see a store that had pewter jewelry.  The rain was really coming down by then and we headed back to our bus to try to get dry! 

There are some more pictures from our Canada trip to share.  Our last port was Bar Harbor, Maine and then Boston.  I don't have a lot to share from there but I have a few more interesting places to show.  

I'm linking up with my regular linky parties: Oh Scrap!, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday and Moving It Forward.  I will try to link up to Main Crush Monday and Moving It Forward Monday but it is a really busy day so I might not get to it until Tuesday. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Let us remember our veterans for the their willingness to serve and protect our country.  Both of my grandfathers served in World War I; my brother served in the Viet Nam war.  My dad was a career naval officer and served from World War II until he retired in 1972. They served for the common good of the United States of America.   

Goals, New Toys and Stashbusting (or not)

Oops!  On Monday I forgot to put in my weekly goals.  I did pretty well on last weeks goals...

October 29, 2018

Load and quilt charity quilt√

Bind the monkey quilt√

Knit on Theo’s sweater…. it’ll be on here until it’s finished√ 

Order backing for Jamestown Landing√

Buy fabric to border the heron piece Nope, didn’t happen

And this week I'm working on: 

November 5, 2018

Knit on Theo’s sweater

Finish customer’s quilt

Attend Country Piecemakers’ Mystery Table Runner event

Load and quilt charity quilt

Decide on another top to quilt and start it 

Here's my stashbusting (or not) report for October.  Yea, I didn't actually bust any stash... sigh.  The good news is I've still used more fabric than I've bought this year.  But with only 2 months left I'm hoping to be able to finish a few more quilts; maybe I'll get Jamestown Landing quilted and bound before the end of the year.  

2018	Fabric In Month	Fabric In Year	Fabric Out Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
Oct.	4.250	58.875	2.750	76.500	17.625

Um, I got an ad in my email in box last week:  

I've been thinking about getting a new machine, especially one with bigger embroidery hoops.  

I ended up getting a Viking Ruby 50.  I've been playing with it a bit but I need to take the classes and play with it more to really get comfortable with it. I'm not used to a computerized machine... what? There isn't a manual lift for the presser foot?  That's like the new cars that have keyless entry and driving.  Ick. It'll take me a while to get used to that feature.  

Beth and I finished her king size quilt on Tuesday.  She's tickled with it.  I like the look of it too. 

It's going to look terrific on her bed.  The stripes will go from the headboard to the footboard.  We loaded it sideways so the design would parallel the strips.  It was a real challenge to quilt this because of the small backing. 

She bought a wide back that was suppose to be 118" wide. She washed it to remove excess dye and to preshrink it.  Except it really shrank a lot.  It was barely 112" wide when we loaded it.  The quilt was 111".  We were really careful as each row was quilted.  Sometimes we had to hold the backing so that Ruthie could finish the row.  But it is done and we're both happy! 

I've already quilted another small charity quilt for my Powhatan guild.  I have one more panel to do.  I probably won't get it done before I go to the meeting Saturday.  

I'm sharing a few more pictures from our Canada trip... we stopped for a day at Sydney, Nova Scotia.  It was the only port that we didn't have a tour scheduled. Instead we walked through the little dockside shops.  Saw the famous "fiddle" although I didn't hear why it was there.  Then we walked into town to have lunch.  It was very good. We didn't do any other shopping and I didn't take many pictures because it was a cloudy, dark day. 

I'll share more Canadian pictures during my next post.  

I'm linking up with Free Motion by the River,  Midweek Makers, and Needle and Thread Thursdays. (I'll try to check back tomorrow to link NTT. Oops, forgot all about it until Sat. morning and it was closed.)  I had a great time checking out quite a few blog posts on Monday.  I hope to spend some time seeing what folks are working on this evening and tomorrow. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings and November OMG

Here we are almost at the end of the year -- from now on it is a mad race to the end of 2018. Have you shopped for the December holidays? Not me.  Or maybe you're planning on making some things.  I've been working on a small sweater.  You can see the beginning here.  Notice it is for a cardigan, well, it was a cardigan.  I was having problems with it so eventually I ripped out everything and started it over as a pullover.  Here's where I'm at now.

It's knit from the neck down so it may not actually look like a sweater yet.  But as I was getting the last few rows before the separation for the sleeves done I realized the pattern isn't accurate.  The number of stitches needed after following the increase instructions is not correct.  It's off by 8 stitches.  Ugh.  I guess I'll need to add those 8 stitches so that the rest of the instructions come out correctly  It's a really old pattern that has sizes from 9 month to 50.  I've used it before and it does come out nicely.  Hopefully I can knit fast enough to get it done by Christmas. Thank goodness it is only a size 3! 

Here's what else I've been working on this past week: 

This is my friend Beth's king size quilt.  We've been getting together weekly sewing and chatting for a year or so.  She's finished the piecing and we've started quilting it. 

Now it's time to set my November One Monthly Goal.  I've decided I'm going to try to get my heron wall hanging to the top stage.  If I get it quilted and bound that will be a great bonus.  The background is together and the heron is fused down.  The only part that is stitched down is the weeds and puddles. Below is a close up of them.  I'm using Sulky's Invisible thread. 

Notice that thread handing down... I'm tying off each start and stop -- not my favorite thing to do but I've learned if you don't tie the threads off they do come loose.  Ugh.  So I will be stitching around all the pieces of the heron. Then I plan to find a batik to border it.  So, should I use a pieced border or just one fabric as the border.  I do know that I have to audition the fabric to make sure it will work with the picture.  If you have some ideas please share them with me. 

Now back to our day on Prince Edward Island.  Here's what we saw as we left for the day.  Yep two lobster claws but where was the lobster? 

I realized we'd walk by the lobster at the beginning of the day but I hadn't even noticed it.  The top of our ship is in the background.  I suspect by now the claws have been joined with the rest of the body. 

I also snapped this picture for Nancy at Wyoming Breezes.  I guess these tiny libraries are international.  She's shared quite a few Tiny Libraries as have I. 

We enjoyed our day on PEI but it was time to move on to Sydney, Halifax.  I'll share those pics on my next post. 

I'll be linking up with my regular linky parties Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Moving It Forward and Elm Creek Quilts for the OMG for November. Again, I'll link up the blogs that aren't available now. (hopefully!) Well what do you know I remembered fairly early on Monday morning to link the last two. Whoop! Whoop! 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie