Monday Meanderings 12 - 30 - 2019

Now I can share pictures of some of the secret projects I was working on over the last two months or so.  First up the t shirt quilt for Brian.  

He gave me a stack of shirts from his days in youth recreation programs. The sizes were all different -- from about a size 5 to adult.  Most were from his hometown's parks and rec program.  I let them age for a couple of years.  OK I was procrastinating.  Part of the time I was looking for fabric that would work with the shirts. I finally found this black with multicolored dots on it. 

You can see a little of the quilting in this one.  Brian's sport is soccer and most of these shirts were for soccer teams when he was a kid.  I found a great soccer ball quilting design and used it. Lynne's Soccer Ball is available at Intelligent Quilting. (PS it's on sale now!) 

I also found a great soccer print for the backing of the quilt. You should be able to click on it and it will enlarge which might show the quilting design better.  (Fabric came from JoAnns.) 

I was tickled with Brian as he had no idea I actually had been working on it.  He was surprised that so many of his numbers were "10".  He spent quite a bit of time checking it out.  His mom was there too and she really liked it too. 

Luckily this isn't the last quilt of 2019.  Here's one that just needs it's binding put on. This space quilt will be the last finish of 2019. I'll share more of it after I get that done and have time for a photo shoot. 

Space Quilt - 2019. Omni thread, Fern Gully quilting design.

Every year I make ornaments for the grands.  This year I decided I would see what was available in embroidered designs.  I also was given some metallic threads that a friend couldn't get to run nicely on her machine so I decided to try them with this star design.  This is Nordic Christmas Ornament - Star from Embroidery Library. Here's the front. 

And now the back. I really like that I could embroider their names and dates on the back.  On the other hand I made quite a few errors getting to four finished ornaments.  Maybe I'll do embroidered ornaments for next year -- in July! 

I'm saving a few of the items for my next post.  I made more of my presents this year than I normally do.  Hopefully I got pictures of all of them too. But I was so happy to mess around in my studio working on quilts a couple of days after Christmas. 

I'm linking up here: Oh Scrap, Monday Makings, and Design Wall Monday. I'm looking forward to a leisurely scroll through the end of the year web sites. 

Happy New Year and Happy Quilting  Bonnie 

Merry Christmas!

Last year I wrote this blog and "thought" I'd scheduled it for posting.  Yep, it didn't show up.  Here's last year's ornaments.  (I did not paint the faces...they were purchased that way!) 

Three angel ornaments for my three granddaughters... 

Silver and blue: 

Purple and gold: 

And rose and gold: 

Here's wishing those who celebrate Christmas a very merry day.  And, if you have other holidays you celebrate may your special days be filled with joy and happiness. 

Happy Quilting!  Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 12 - 23 - 2019

It's the last post before Christmas. Most of the gifts I planned to make are done or a few stitches from being done.  I wish I could share some of them now but, I'm holding off for later.  

But I did actually sew one quilt block.  It was easy; it should look familiar; it was the last one I needed for a quilt I'll work on later.  (I plan to quilt one or possibly two tops after the holiday but probably not this one.) This block is replacing one that looked too pale compared to the others. 

A mid all the projects I was working on for my grands I did do a favor for a friend.  She wanted names of her great grands (I think they were G grands!) put on fleece blankets she was making.  I was a bit hesitant as I've never done anything on the thickness of her fleece.  It was really soft and wonderful.  I put a tear away stabilizer on the magnetic hoop and then popped the magnets on the fabric and the stablilizer and let the embroidery machine do its thing.  Easy peasy.  She'll be serging the edges to finish them. 

                   

 


How are you doing on getting your holiday projects done? Next up is wrapping presents. Pat's been really helpful and has wrapped many of them.  I still need a quick trip to the store -- I'm hoping I can find what I need to finish a little project. But now, it's time to get back to work! 

I'm linking to Oh Scrap, Monday Making, and Design Wall Monday. I'm planning to do a little surfing between activities before and after Christmas.  It's a great way to relax.  And, who knows maybe I'll find a fabulous idea to try! 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Christmas Diversions

My latest singing gig with the Spotsylvanians....

The hubs and I all decked out as Victorian carolers. 

He was being a serious Victorian while I was being frivolous. 

Here I am in all my glory.

You might remember I was "thinking" of making a new skirt to wear for this gig.  Except, this bright red one was available.  Why make a new skirt when I could use this one?  I have black fabric that wouldn't have been as Christmasy. So instead of making a new skirt I hemmed this one and tried to make a petticoat. 

The petticoat was a waste of time.  Do you see any "puff" at the hem of this skirt?  No, I don't either.  I bought a yard of netting that was suppose to be 108" wide.  That would probably have given me enough netting to get a little puff.  But, no, the fabric turned out to be about 72".  So no puff for a morning of work.  (Worst, is I attached it as two pieces to a slip that I'm going to need back as a normal slip in the next two weeks or so. Everything was done with big stitches.)  

I had to hem the skirt -- ugh about 1/2" in the front and 3" in the back.  It took me all afternoon.  Good Grief! Plus, I was trying not to press too much of a line in at the hem.  It all must be undone when we give back the skirts to the theater group that loaned them to us. 

So instead of finishing, or even starting several projects as "outlined" on Monday I basically hemmed a skirt.  Sigh.  

Tomorrow I'll advance my projects.  And sing again in the evening.  Hopefully, I'll get several things finished tomorrow. 

I'm linking up with Midweek Makers and hopefully Whoop, Whoop Friday, tomorrow.  Let's see if I remember when I'm knee deep in projects! 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 12 - 16 - 2019

Concert week is over -- it was a fantastic week too! 

7 days, 3 rehearsals and 3 performances. 

Our neighborhood chorus had an open dress rehearsal and a performance -- both went well and were well attended. We followed it up with a party the next morning.  The white elephant swap was great fun. Music was turned in and we are on hiatus until late January.  

The Spotsylvanians concerts were Saturday and Sunday. They were fabulous.  We were rocking a Jazzy Christmas. Every song was a jazzy version of an old favorite.  The audience loved it.  Close to the end we sang "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch" with a special appearance by the Grinch himself.  Photo ops were available afterward.  Here's Sophie with Mr. Grinch. 

He was roaming part of the auditorium while we were singing and he jumped on the seat in front of Natalie and Ellie.  Yikes!  Theo was watching him after the song with some trepidation. 

The concert ended with "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" with both Santa and Mrs. Claus walking through the audience.  The song was definitely jazzy and really high energy.  Great fun for all of us. 

Here's all of the grands in front of the backdrop the Spotsylvanians provided for picture taking  I had no idea the two girls were in matching dresses.  They do like to dress alike.  As does Sophie and Theo.  The best news is everyone enjoyed the concert and we had a great time afterwards with the whole family having pizza at our house.  It's become a tradition that everyone seems to like. 

We now have a lot more free time than we've had for the last couple of weeks.  I was able to squeeze a little studio time.  I've done another "thing" on my embroidery machine.  I've got one little thing to stitch on to the "thing" that is so close to being done.   I'll do the stitching today at our hand stitching/knitting/crocheting group.  Then it is on to three more "things."  Sorry. I'm not sure whether the family reads this blog or not. But I am taking pictures to share later. Hum, my goals for the next 9 days! 

Despite not having a whole lot of time at home I did get all the blocks for a Happy Block quilt done.  You've been seeing them progress over the past month or so.  I may redo a block because I'm not thrilled with the distribution of the outside colors. The yellow, green, orange blocks together in the top row doesn't work for me.  And, I'm evaluating the inner 5" blocks to see if the mix of fun and realistic works. More specifically -- are there too many really juvenile prints that upper grade students, 5th through say, beginning high school, would dislike.  I'm hoping to give this one to the Taps program in the spring. 

I'm linking with my normal parties:  Oh Scrap, Monday Making, and Design Wall Monday.  Hope you'll hop over to see what's going on. 

Sewing is calling my name although it will be mostly hand work this afternoon. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meandering 12 - 9 - 2019

Lots of sewing this past week and quite a bit of singing or listening to music.  This week is concert week.  Here's a preview of my music schedule: 

Monday:  Rehearsal for Spotsylvanians
Tuesday:  no formal practice but I'll be listening to several recordings of songs we're singing
Wednesday: dress rehearsal for Heritage Singers
Thursday: concert for Heritage Singers
Friday: dress rehearsal for Spotsylvanians
Saturday: concert for Spotsylvanians
Sunday: concert for Spotsylvanians

Luckily, I still have sewing time cause I'm going to need it to finish my projects.

I didn't take any photos this week.  Heck, everything I am working on is for Christmas presents. So, there won't be many product pictures for a while. 

This week I am sharing photos from previous Christmas quilts I've made. First up is Christmas Favorites by Arts to Heart. I finished this in 2016 (or so.) But I won't tell you how many years it took me to complete! It hangs in our entry way every December. 

My next quilt is a Trip Around the World made during the summer of 2017 with Sarah of Confessions of a Fabric Addict's 12 Days of Christmas in July. I really lucked out finding all of the fabric in my stash.  And, believe me, it felt great using all of those stash fabrics.  (Hum, maybe it's time to make another TAW.) I gave this to Aimee and Ellie for Christmas that year.  (Click on the link above if you want to make one for yourself.) 

That's it for me today.  My goals are staying the same -- finish all those secret projects.  I don't think I'll be making the skirt I had planned to do as we've been able to find some other Victorian clothing to use.  The skirt will be made sometime but not under the Christmas pressure time. 

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap, Monday Making, and Design Wall Monday.  Check them out to see what folks are up to. I don't know about you, but I always find at least one quilt or project that tells me to make one like it when I surf the web.  I'm holding off starting anything new though. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meandering 12 - 2 - 2019

Busy days this past week and it looks like that busy-ness will continue this week. 

Things that have been on my ironing station this week: 

Doll wedding dress needs some big seams and the back closure.  

And something that was on the embroidery machine Sunday. 

Second Mendhi shirt half embroidered -- it's finished now but I'll get a decent picture when the sun is out. 

Grammy and Theo selfie.

Tuesday I spent in Northern Virginia with Theo.  Luckily he was really good.  No whining, no crying and no fussing at all, including going down for a nap.  Amazing. I, on the other hand, was crying over the traffic on the way home!  Ok, not really but I would have liked to! Evidently the I 95 corridor is the most congested in the nation.  And, boy howdy, it sure was Tuesday evening.  It took an hour to get to Kevin's house and 2 1/2 hours to get home.  (Ok, it might have been 2 1/4 hours as I stopped to buy dinner.)  

Overall I've been able to check off ✔ a few items on my secret list.  Some are partially done.  I expect to be checking off a few more this week.  Of course, I do have an addendum to the list.  But those items won't be worked on until the original list is finished or almost finished.  If you guess that I'll be in my studio every free moment this week you are absolutely right. 

Here are the linky parties I will try to link up with!  Busy times means I don't always think about getting back to link up.  Sigh.  Oh Scrap, Monday Making, and Design Wall Monday should be hosting quilty Linky Parties this week.  Check the links (once they are up of course) and see what new ideas you an find!

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie   

Monday Meanderings 11 - 25 - 2019

Busy week.  Nothing new with that.  I know I'm not reading as much as I usually do.  But I've got a book due in 5 days and I haven't even started it!  Must get to it. Tuesday I spent part of the day working on Quilts of Valor with the Virginia Star Guild.  We are trying to get a bunch of quilts done and ready for giving to start 2020. I'm turning cut off triangles into 4.5" (unfinished) pinwheels.  I use them as leaders and enders, the Bonnie Hunter way. But I won't make much progress on them until after Christmas.

 I'm contemplating this pattern: 

I've got the Spotsylvanians concert coming up in  3 weeks.  I could use a new skirt that is a little  fuller.  In 4 weeks a subgroup is singing dressed as Victorian carolers.  Thus the cape makes some sense too.  (Sans the fur collar and muff.)  I've got a nice black wool hanging around that I could use for the cape.  I'd need to buy a black fabric that would be cooler for the skirt.  Decisions, decisions.  I haven't had much luck making clothing for me in years.... but how hard could a skirt be as long as it fits at the waist and has room for the hips? Yea, I know if could be a disaster. 

I made progress on three of my seven highly secret projects.  Unfortunately, none are finished because it dawned on me that I was going to help out with my grandkids on Tuesday.  And if I were smart I would get the embroidered shirts done to take up.  Well, yes, they are mostly done. 

Both of these designs are from Designs by JuJu.  The Mehndi Reindeer is from Mehndi Christmas.  It sewed up pretty fast although I did have some issue with various threads.  (I thought I put in a new needle but maybe I need to replace it before the next two.)  The truck is from Vintage Trucks Holidays also from Designs by Juju. I'm sorry to report this one gave me fits.  My thread shredded on several occasions and there were too many instances where the embroidery overlapped other parts of the embroidery and the machine had a hard time.  My last thought is I don't like how messy the back looks on these.  I think for the next group I'll turn off the automatic top thread cutter and do it manually.  It will make the back look much better.  I need to put a backing on the designs -- makes the kids itch without one. 

Here's what still needs to be done, oh rats, most are secret projects.  Hopefully, I'll get the three that are almost done finished up.  Each might take three or four hours at the most.  Then I can proceed to the next secret items.  And, also make two more Christmas shirts and decide on the skirt and cape. (Well not all this week, really.)

There is hope for most of the secret projects.  We'll be home by ourselves for T-Day which is fine as it gives us more time to do our projects. (Pat's got a secret one going too...) 

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap, Monday Making, and Design Wall Monday.  Last week I linked to these different sites but only linked back to mine on one.  Not the smartest move.   I did enjoy checking some blogs out and came away with a few too many good ideas.  Sigh. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie  

Monday Meanderings 11 - 18 - 2019

Not much piecing and no quilting was accomplished this week.  Here's what I did get done.  Doll clothes for Ellie for her birthday. 

I was really happy with the end result and most fabric came from my stash except for the netting for the petticoat and the Velcro® for the back closure.  By Thursday afternoon I was pretty well finished with the dress except for needing to buy the Velcro®. I thought, hum, I have a doll sweater in pieces just waiting to be put together.  I'll finish that too.  Except, wait, Ruby, the doll, would need a pair of pants to wear with the sweater.  So on to making a pair a "jeans." 

The sweater got sewn together and the snaps were done on the back.  It's a good thing I have all sorts of odd ball stuff from my previous days of sewing clothes because I had the perfect size of snaps to sew on the back.  

Ellie loved all the clothes and immediately put the pants and sweater on Ruby.  Except evidently she doesn't like the patch pockets on the jeans because she put them on backwards.  Sigh.  

As I said, no piecing but a very productive week.  Between Monday's morning long Veterans Day program in our community and pretty much a full day rehearsal for the Spotsylvanians on Saturday, I've had a really busy week!  

My goals for this week is to make more progress on various Christmas presents which will remain unnamed.  Just know that I have a list of several things to be done and some planned time to work on them.  (Hopefully, I've planned enough time!) I'm also going to sneak in one more top to be quilted this week along with working on QOV at the guild on Wednesday. 

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap!, Monday Making, and Design Wall Monday.  When you have a spare moment, take a look. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Veterans Day 11 - 11 - 2019

Let us always remember the sacrifices our military members and their families - active, reserve and retired - made (and make)  to keep our country free.  I add the families because my dad was in the Navy for 30 years and my mom, brother, and I moved a lot thus making new friends and seeing new parts of the United States.  But, I think of my brother who went to 4 high schools.  While at that time I was just in elementary school and two different middle schools.  I moved my senior year of high school and to this day don't really think of the school as "my" high school.  Dad went to the University of Southern California in the Navy ROTC just before World War II broke out.  He didn't finish college but went active duty instead.  He retired as a Captain having commanded a fleet of destroyers, an oiler, several different destroyers and serving on admirals' staffs.  He saw duty in World War II, Korean war, and Viet Nam war.  "We" also saw a lot of duty at the Pentagon.  He led an interesting life, to say the least. Both of my grandfathers served in World War I and my brother served during the Viet Nam war but was stationed stateside.  That's quite a legacy of service to my way of thinking.    

On to quilting. I wish I could say I've made all those churn dash blocks into a quilt top but, no didn't work on those at all.  In fact, I put them away knowing I wasn't going to get to them at all for a while.  So instead, I'll show you what I did get done. 

I cut this out to take to retreat in October.  Diamond Chain is one of Missouri Star's patterns.  You can see Jenny demonstrate how to make the block here.  I had all the dies needed to cut this out with my Accuquilt Go. Bonus!  I've been taking this project when I go to my community's quilt group.  

We were at the beach house this weekend attending some property owner meetings so I grabbed these, my Featherweight, and set up a sewing nook overlooking the back yard.  I finished all of the units (at least I think I did) and got these blocks made.  I'll be at community sewing again on Thursday so hopefully I'll finish all the blocks then.  I thought they were going to look duller when I made my sample block but I guess I threw in a lot of fun colors so that livens it up a lot.  

With Christmas sneaking up on me I'll probably have to spend more time finishing (heck, starting and finishing) presents.  I've got a list to remind me what to do.  I've actually made some progress on two projects.  There is hope! 

I've noticed a lot of the Monday linky parties I've been linking with have stop posting. So today I'll be linking up with Oh Scrap, Monday Making, and What I Made Monday. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Going Crazy Making Blocks

Remember my Halloween post? I mentioned it is my turn for my FCQ Equilters group.  I get to ask for a specific block and give my color choices to the gals and they make blocks and send them off to me.  

I asked for Happy Blocks.  They are very easy using a novelty fabric and a reads as solid go with fabric. I admit I've been going crazy making my own Happy Blocks.  First, I started going through my stash of novelty fabrics and then I pulled go with fabrics.  Here's one of my pulls. 

The only one I've actually made is the bugs in the center front. I haven't been sewing all that much over the last few days but I still have gone crazy making these blocks between everything else I've been working on in the studio. 

Eight blocks so far:

I took this picture late in the day so no natural light was in the room.  These are all brighter in person.  But I'm more than half way to having enough blocks to make a baby quilt.  I'll be ironing and cutting some of those match ups. Honestly, it takes more time to pick the fabric pairs than it takes to cut and sew them!  Mary Quilts gives directions for three different sizes of blocks.  I've asked for "Happy Blocks for Maine" size.  I'll probably trim my blocks to 9.5" even though they should finish at 10". Don't forget to check out other blocks/quilts Mary shares. She even lets you know which blocks are Go Cutter friendly. 

I'm looking forward to receiving more of these fun blocks over the next two months.  However, I've got a few things to work on for Christmas so I better not continue to go too wild making these blocks! I'll be sharing more pictures as I receive my blocks from my friends. 

I am linking with: Midweek Makers, Needle and Thread Thursday, and Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop. (Whoop, Whoop should be available on Friday.)  And, I'll be spending some time surfing to see what's been happening with quilters around the world. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 11 - 4 - 2019

October was spent in a determined effort to finish off a few quilts.  I actually quilted 3 smaller quilts, one was a donation quilt made by someone else.  But here are the other two.  No, not big quilts at all but DONE quilts! 

First up is what I'm calling Stripes.  Many of the blocks came from an opportunity block drawing I won several years ago. I made a block like the top left one but in pinks and purples.  When I got the bocks I had the center row of blocks and the bottom center and right blocks.  That pink and purple thing did not look good with them.  So I made the brown and stripe star.  Then made the other two on the top row and the bottom left one to make enough blocks for a small lap quilt.  

Quilt design is Ariana using So Fine  437, teal.  40.5" x 43". 

When one of our Powhatan guild members died her daughter (also a guild member) was trying to give away some of her fabrics and works in progress.  I took the 5 blocks with the darker prints in them.  I added the Ohio Stars. I think there was one more block but I took it apart to have the dark centers on the top and bottom border.  I don't often work in pink so this was a lot of fun to play with pink! 

Quilt design is a basic stipple.  Thread is So Fine 518 which is a pale green.  The backing was an aqua piece I bought last year and was tickled to find a good use for it. 

Both of these will be donated. The top one will go up to Faithful Circle Quilters for where ever they choose to send it.  The bottom one will go down to Powhatan to give to a senior citizens home.  (Just think of it as one senior sharing with another senior!) 

Here's where I'm linking up with today: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, and What I Made Monday. I'm off to spend some time surfing the quilting world on the World Wide Web. Hope you can too. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Happy Halloween!

Here's this year's Halloween shirts for my grands.

Up first Ellie's and Theo's. (Both turtlenecks are the same shirt...don't know what happened to the color.) 

And Sophie's and Natalie's. 

All designs are from Designs by JuJu.  I had to go to my photos and look up all of the previous Halloween shirts to make sure I didn't repeat any designs. Hopefully the kids will enjoy wearing them. On to Christmas shirts -- or maybe I'll do winter shirts.  

Monday I showed some blocks I got from my FCQ Equilter group. You can see the churn dashes on the design wall here. Starting Friday, 11/1 it's my turn to request blocks.  I thought I had a block I wanted to ask for but when I really looked at it I decided it was more work than I wanted to do myself. I decided to go to one of my "old faithful" blocks. And, it's really easy.  This is from MaryQuilts.com. You can check out her instructions for Happy Blocks from Charms. Part of the reason I like this block is it is so FAST!  4 seams.  It usually takes me longer to actually pick the fabrics then it does to sew the block.  One of the cool things about the block is you can rotate the block so none of the seams overlap.  With fun center fabric these make great quilts for babies or kids.  

I'm linking up with Midweek Makers, To-Do Tuesday, and Needle and Thread Thursday.  It's been a long time since I've done a midweek post but I'm looking forward to seeing what folks are working on.  Hope you get a chance to check out some blogs. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 10 - 28 - 2019

October is about to wind down and I've got to get serious if I plan on making any Christmas presents this year.  And, I do have some plans to make gifts.  I have been trying to get a few quilts done this month.  I've quilted 3 tops and none of them have finished binding.  Tomorrow I will be binding like crazy -- I want some finishes this month.  

One thing I did finish was the block for Irma part of the FCQ Equilters.  She asked for the block "Antique Lace" from Missouri Star Quilt Shop. You can see the video here.  It is a huge block (16") and took me a day to complete.  Luckily we only had to make one since there are 9 of us in the group now.  

My turn starts on Nov. 1st through the end of December.  And, I've already picked out my block and my colors.  I'll share it with you once I make a sample.

I was poking around under my cutting table and "found" a ziplock full of churn dash blocks in R,W, & B.  I had completely forgotten about these -- I suspect they were from my last turn with FCQ Equilters.  And look at what a treasure I have. (Note: these were what I could fit on my design wall)  I'm planning on making a QOV with them.  

I'm thinking they need to be sashed so they don't run together so much. I'm not fond of sashing but sometimes blocks just need a little space of their own. Here's a little bit of sashing I laid out to see if I like it.  I do know I'll be using black sashing because I really want to use what I have on hand. I plan to have a 1" finished sash. What do you think?  

I've finally decided to give up on cleaning my cutting table.  I've got one rotary mat always clear and one that is piled up with stuff.  I keep putting the stuff away and more stuff seems to appear.  So I'm done listing and failing to get that clear.  (Hey, maybe reverse psychology will work and I'll get it cleaned up anyway! HA!!) 

My big plan (or goal) is to finish binding three quilts.  One is almost done.  The other two are in various stages but I will be doing machine binding on both sides of them.  Hopefully by Thursday they will be done and I'll be working on something else. Tune in next week to see if I succeed. 

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap, Monday Making, and Moving It Forward.  Spend some time to see what's going on across the Internet. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 10 - 21 - 2019

I made progress on the cutting table clean up.  YES!  But then a day or two later I pulled all sorts of threads and stabilizers out and it is, once again, a total mess.  One of the things I did do was start cutting triangles and squares from the bits and pieces hanging around the Go cutter.  I have a plan in my head for some stars using a 16 patch in the middle.  Maybe I'll get more scraps cut out and put away this week.   

It's nearly Halloween and I knew I needed to get going on the shirts for the grands.  Two days later I have all four shirts done and ready to pop them in the mail.  I'll show pics of those on Halloween.  (Hey, I know I often forget but I've put a reminder on my calendar....we'll see if that works.) 

My big accomplishment was getting the stripes top quilted.  Here's what it looks like before binding.  I won most of these blocks using stripe fabric at an opportunity block drawing from Faithful Circle Quilters in Maryland.  I am happy to move them out.  The quilt will be donated somewhere soon, I just haven't made up my mind where. 

I'l share it again when I get the binding done.  Quilt pattern is Ariana from My Creative Stitches.  The thread is So Fine in a dark teal.  

Next up is a great hint passed on at retreat. So the little orange thing is a magnet purchased from an office supply store.  And, OMG, a clever person realized you can pick up a rotary blade with it. There some things you need to watch out for as the magnet is strong enough to pick up several blades. But it really is helpful to pick blades up and put on the handle or back in a case. Thank you clever person.  

I'm still working on my cutting table clean up and getting some tops quilted -- I'm hoping to get one more finished before the end of the month.  I have put away all of my stuff from retreat.  And I do feel progress is being made on all sorts of fronts. 

I'm linking up with my favorite Monday parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, and Moving It Forward Monday.  Hope you can take some time to check them out. I plan to right after I get this posted. And, now, that's a wrap.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 10 - 14 - 2019

How can it be half way through October? (For purists almost half way through October.)  I'm pretty sure I won't be ready for Christmas considering how fast time is going by these days.  Unfortunately I like to spend time reading -- probably two hours a day minimum.  I may have to cut back to get all the things percolating in my head done. 

I spent time down in the studio this week but didn't get much done. Or at least much that shows. I didn't even get all my retreat stuff unpacked.  Sigh.  Here's another quilt I finished at retreat. These were a set of blocks that I'd made earlier in the year but put aside knowing I didn't need them as a quilt for a while.  They were a really easy project for retreat.  No deciding which block went where.  Just sewing blocks into rows, rows to rows and boom a top is done.  I don't think I'm adding borders to this one. 

My main decision making this quilt was to use some of my Accuquilt Go dies.  I like buying the dies but I don't always put them to use.  I have a 9" Qube which gives me a set of 8 dies. I've added a couple of companion dies that work with the 9" cube.  My latest one is a 4.5" bow tie die.  Here's my sample blocks.  They seem really small to me... I was going to make a sample with 4 bowties but I can't find where I put the turquoise fabric.  (Darn it, I have been cleaning up the sewing table....can't find the fab.) I've got a used die coming that has zoo animals on it.  Must try some of my appliqué animals -- Sea Life, a mommy and baby elephant, and now the Zoo Animals -- a monkey, giraffe and a lion.  

And speaking of cleaning up the sewing table -- I've actually made a little, tiny dent in the excess scraps and stuff on the table.  I spent maybe 10 minutes last night just cutting triangles or squares from the smallest useable scraps.  Ok, honestly, it didn't make a dent but at least it was a start.  I guess I need to spend more than 10 minutes. I did get some other scraps/pieces put away earlier in the week.  But I have a long way to go still.  Sigh.

I'm hoping to get at least one or two of my quilts quilted this week.  I've got the backings but need to prep them, replace a part on the long arm, and then I'll be good to get going on quilting.  We'll see if I succeed on at least one finished quilt this week. 

I'm linking up with these parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, and Moving It Forward.  I hope to spend more time on these linky parties than I have recently. I get so many good ideas!  I hope you do too.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meandering 10 - 7 - 2019

Retreat is over. Yawn -- yep I missed a bit of sleep what with all the sewing and socializing going on. But fun was had by all.  And I made 2 quilt tops.  I'm sharing only one today.


Sharon and I sit across from each other usually.  Here's our space partway through the retreat.  Hum, a little messy but not as bad as it got by Friday night.  Just noticed Sharon sews barefoot.  

Lots of gifties were shared at this retreat.  This year we skipped giving away things.  The little green bag had candy and a cute salt cellar pin cushion.  I'll try to remember to take a pic of it to share sometime.  I particularly like this one because it has a wool ball in it to hold the pins.  I have several salt cellars from my mom and possibly her mom that I can turn into a pin cushion. I really like the little wool ball idea as it makes it SO easy to make.

Here's the first top I made.  The block is called Mendota and comes from a group that Louise who blogs at Quilt Odyssey is involved with. That link takes you to a blog about several Mendota quilts she has completed. I had all the blocks cut out so all I needed to do was make the blocks (4 seams - easy-peezy) And then sew the blocks together.  

Last year I bought a kit from Craftsy that featured space flight and planets.  I didn't read the info carefully because I ended up with some yardage and 4 sets of charm packs.  I didn't like the quilt pattern from the kit but thought I was getting a lot of fabric. Hum, didn't pay much attention for sure. It's fun to sew with new fabric.  I used less than half of one charm pack for Mendota.  Yikes.  I guess I have a lot of space exploration quilts in my future!   Here are some upclose pics of the blocks. 

Surprise, surprise!  The gal behind me had a couple of layer cakes of the same fabric she was using to make a quilt.  She too bought a Craftsy kit on a super sale.  

I'll share some more pictures from retreat over the next week or two.  I didn't take all that many for some reason.  Too busy sewing and chatting I guess.  

I haven't thought much about goals for the next few weeks.  But here's a few to get me started: 

Finish cleaning off the cutting table.  (it's never-ending.) 

Put all my supplies and "stuff" away from retreat.

Quilt a top or two (especially if I have the backing already.) 

I did not do any shopping while at retreat.  I really wanted to shop at some of the quilt stores but decided I really didn't need anything.  So I'm expecting one of these days I'll succumb to a special from Missouri Star or Fat Quarter shop or someplace.  2 months and 7 days with no fabric purchases?  Amazing. 

I'm linking with my regular Monday linky parties:

Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Moving It Forward, and What I Made Monday. 

That's it for the me today. I'm ready to get going with my day. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie