Monday Meandering and OMG Success!

Here we are at the last weekend of February and I've actually finished my One Monthly Goals for the month with a half a week left.  My goals (yep, I gave myself two goals) and I finished both of them already.  First was finishing my entry in Country Piecemaker's Calendar Challenge.  Christmas Memories along with all of our Calendar Challenge quilts will be hung at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival this coming weekend. If you are going to Hampton Roads for the show see if you can find our Calendar Quilts.  I saw all of them when I turned mine in.  Here's mine just before I turned it in.

I chose to honor my great aunt Dora. Aunt Dora loved hand crafted items.  From as long as I can remember she would make family members beautifully Christmas ornaments, often from kits from Herrschners.  One year she must have raided her costume jewelry because all of our ornaments were strung beads with gold and silver trimmings.  Those ornaments have glowed on our trees ever since.  Aunt Dora continued making ornaments well into her 90s.  A wonderful crafty legacy for her family. 

Taking inspiration from a paper Christmas napkin, I paper pieced the tree sections.  They were hand appliqued to the backing.   I realized I could actually attached items to the scene using an invisible thread and my machine for the gifts and window. Decorating the tree was all done by hand.  

My second goal was to finish my Valentines Day table runner.  I used a feathered heart in each heart and then outline stitched each square.  I'm not sure why this picture makes the background look yellow -- it's definitely white.

Here is a close up of one heart.  I used Kona White to bind it.  I don't think I'm going to use Kona for binding again.  I had a hard time getting nice corners with it. I'll use something else next time a bind a quilt. 

I did really well on my weekly goals this past week. I actually worked on each project. 

February 18, 2019

Bind Valentines table runner√

Border first Granny blocks quilt√

Make more quarter square triangles√ 

Work on dog tumbler top√

Hand quilt on old Christmas quilt√

Here's what's up this week.  Not as much sewing but I've got several things planned. 

February 25, 2019

Quilt Granny Blocks Quilt

Bind red, white and blue 16 patch

Sew the quarter square triangles quilts together 

Go to QOV sew-in 

Attend genealogy gathering 

Attend Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show 

It's going to be a great week.  I'm hoping I can finish two quilts before the end of the month.  One needs the binding and other need quilting and binding. Time will tell if I succeed!

I'm linking up with my regular Monday linky parties and Elm Street Quilts for the February Finish link up. You can visit Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday and Moving It Forward Monday. (I'll link up the other parties as they become available -- if I remember!) 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie

Monday Meanderings 2 - 18 - 2019

EEK!  How many power outages are we going to have this year?  Our lights went out Sunday morning around 9 or 9:30.  No! Again?  This time a transformer went.  Very frustrating as I had planned to go to the studio to work on some current projects.  Three or four hours later it went back on but we had other things to do. And, my motivation was gone. Bummer.  Just a note, we live in an active senior community with underground wiring.  All these events we've had have been several miles away from us. Bummer.  

Here's what I have gotten done on one of my weekly goals. Since this photo was taken I've sashed the whole thing.  I am ready to put the borders on.  This will be going to a senior living facility that the Powhatan guild supports.  

The blocks are some of the over 50 blocks I received from the FCQ EQuilters. 

 I love the blocks but I got way too many for just me.  I've planned a 4 x 6 set for a lap quilt for me.  But I'll have enough left to make at least 3 of the smaller quilts.  A couple of years ago I bought the sashing/border fabric when Pat and I were in Lancaster, PA.  Below is a selection of blocks still waiting to be used.  I had them spread out to try to pick which ones I want to use for my quilt.  I didn't get that done but I will soon. 

I'm hoping to get this UFO done over the next few weeks. And won't that feel good to get a UFO done!  

I did pretty well on my goals this week.  I had planned to bind the Valentine table runner but just didn't get to it. (Blame the power outage. At least it is trimmed up and the binding is cut.) You can just make it out on the upper center of the granny square picture. It's hanging over the front rail on the long arm. 
Despite not playing in the studio Sunday, I was able to check off every thing on my goals list last week. Yea. 

February 11, 2019 

Quilt Valentines table runner√ 

Work on dog tumbler top√ 

Print labels for Va. Star√ 

Work on scrap quarter square triangles√ 

Work on my FCQEquilters blocks - granny blocks √

And here's this week's goals.  Pretty much a repeat of last week trying to move all of these projects forward. 

February 18, 2019

Bind Valentines table runner

Border first Granny blocks quilt 

Make more quarter square triangles 

Work on dog tumbler top 

Hand quilt on Christmas quilt UFO

Don't forget to check in to Sarah's Hands2Help if you are looking for some places to share your quilts with.  She's got a really good group of charities this year.  I'm looking at quilts I've got in my closet ready to quilt along with finished quilts.  I haven't decided which ones I'll send off to new homes but I will be participating in Hands2Help again this year. 

That's it for today.  I'm linking up with the regular parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday and Moving It Forward.  I had a great time last week browsing through some of the links.  Lots of great quilting going on out there.  Hope you can take a few minutes to surf. (I'll come back to link up any links not available as I write this.) 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie

Stashbusting Report Jan & RSC Progress

Somehow I actually used more fabric than I brought in during January.  Part of it was a pillowcase I made late in the month.  It's not looking as good for February.  Plus the Mid Atlantic Quilt show is at the end of the month and there will be lots of wonderful fabrics available at the various vendors.  

2019	Fabric In Month	Fabric In Year	Fabric Out Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
Jan	1.5	1.5	5.125	3.625	3.625

Next up is the upcoming Hands 2 Help 2019.  You can check out all the info about this year's Hands 2 Help by clicking on the button above or on my side bar. Sarah's got a great line up of charities across the country.  Do you have a quilt still looking for a home?  Then review Sarah's charities to see where your quilt will fit the best.  Or, how about planning and making a quilt for a specific charity.  

Sign ups with a chance for a prize starts 3/10 through 3/16.  You can click the link above or the one on the sidebar to take you to Sarah's H2H main page which includes the sign up form. 


I've finally taken some pictures of the various blocks I'm making for this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. First up Propeller Block (block instructions available here. Layout ideas are in the next post on that blog.) 

Next up is a block called Bright Blocks.  I used a 3.5" unfinished block. (9" finished block.) Although the original pattern I found used a 4.5" unfinished block. (12" finished block.) I'm making just one of each color.  I'll probably add another color so I can set this 3 x 4. Seems like a perfect baby quilt when done. 

 

And my last set of "blocks" comes from Stash Statement book by Kelly Young. You can check it out on Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation. Here's the quilt I plan on making on the left.  On the right some of my improv pieces.

I probably overdid the reds.  I'm still working on the yellows.  In the next few weeks I plan to buy a background fabric so I can actually make a row each month.  By the end of the year I'll have a finished quilt top.  I haven't decided if I'm going to make more than 1 row for each color.  Time will tell. 

I'm linking up with some parties today: Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop? and Scrap Happy Saturday.  (I'll link that up on Saturday.) 

That's it from me. I need to post this and then link to Whoop, Whoop before my battery dies.  14% left... can I do it?  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meandering 2 - 11 - 2019

Success!  My first goal for OMG is done.  I finished my challenge quilt and turned it in on Saturday.  I'm saving pictures of the finish until after the Mid Atlantic Quilt Show.  I'll get a picture of it hanging and then write a blog post about it.
I've picked my next project to work on also.  It's a UFO from 2017.  This was one of my FCQE Quilters block and I received a huge number of blocks!  I'll be making these into several lap quilts or smaller.  But I hope to get 1 top done this month. 

Next up, I want to share my new sewing desk that Pat made me.  When I got the new sewing machine I realized it wouldn't fit into my sewing desk that I have had for 30+ years.  So Pat planned and made me a new sewing desk including a wonderful lift for my machine.  Here are some pics in progress and the finished product.  

The beginning. 

Drawers added.

Finished desk.  Great lift device. 

Here's the desk in use with the new Viking. There's room to store the embroidery arm on the left.  On the right above the top drawer is a slide out tray so I can stack blocks in progress for easy access.  The lift is wonderful -- easy to use with three stops.  All the way down and the machine is out of sight.  Pat made a wood cover for anytime I might want to use the whole desk without a sewing machine.  The machine is at the dropped level with the new custom insert we ordered.  And the final height is at the desk level so the embroidery arm can be used.   I really wanted was to be able to sit right in front of the needle. Pat worked hard to make sure I could. The whole thing is wonderful.  I haven't filled much into the drawers yet but I will be adding "stuff" as I need things close by. 

Moving on here's how I did on my goals this past week. Not a bad week. 

February 4. 2019

Finish sewing challenge project√

Make some Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks√

Design labels for Virginia Star√ 

Work on dog tumbler top didn’t happen, sigh. 

Here's what I'm going to be working on this week

February 11, 2019 

Quilt Valentines table runner 

Work on dog tumbler top 

Print labels for Va. Star 

Work on scrap quarter square triangles 

Work on my FCQEquilters blocks - granny blocks

That's it for me this week.  I'm linking up with my regular Monday linky parties.  Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, and Moving It Forward.  I'm going to spend some time this week checking out some blogs to see what's new for quilters.  Hope you can find some time too.  I'll be adding the last two links tomorrow.   

Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Goal Setting

It's time for the February goal for the One Monthly Goal blog. Heck, it's past time. I'm barely getting it posted in time. 

I'm going to have two goals for this month.  

First one up is my Calendar quilt from Country Piecemakers guild in Powhatan, Va. 

All of the calendar challenge quilts will be hung at the Mid Atlantic Quilt show at the end of February.  My deadline is to have it done in 3 days so I can turn it over at the CP meeting on Saturday.  Looking at this picture I've decided the window is too small. And, some of the presents need to be changed.  The tree is hand appliquéd and the other elements are ready to be appliquéd.  Hopefully by the end of today I'll have the quilt batted and backed.  I plan to do a little stitch in the ditch around the elements.  And then it will be on to decorating it. 

My next goal for this month is to quilt and bind my heart table runner from last year. 

Maybe I'll have it done before Valentine's Day.  If not at least it would be done and ready for next year. 

I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts February Goal Setting post and Midweek Makers.  Spend some time looking at what people are working on these days. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Monday Meandering and Thread Report

I'm way behind on some of my year end reports.  Today I'm sharing my Thread Report. Hum, it doesn't look as good as last year. Oh well.

Year	Spools Used Up
2018	12
2017	30
2016	7
2015	27
2014	30
2013	17
2012	22

Not a great year for thread usage but not the worst. Some things to note.  Of the 7 bigger spools only two were long arm thread (the big white one in the center.) The broken one to the right was suppose to be for the long arm; but the cone fell apart. I used it for bobbin thread.  The rest of the top circle were larger spools.  The bottom row was the smaller spools of either cotton thread for piecing or possibly embroidery thread. Evidently I used up quite a few bobbins of Magna Glide too.  Odd that, because I don't use it all that much. 

Here's what I've been working on this week. 

This is the Calendar Challenge for Country Piecemakers guild.  For several years our challenge quilts have been hung at the Mid Atlantic Quilt Show.  I've haven't  participated in the annual challenge for years.  But this year the topic grabbed me and I came up with an idea immediately.  Of course I didn't make it immediately but I am closing in on it. (It's due in 6 days. EEK!) So at the point this picture was taken I had figured out some of the main features and had them made.  The size is 20" x 20".  I am trying some mixed techniques on this.  The tree sections were paper pieced. They will be appliquéd down.  The window was done improv style.  I've got presents in the making that were also being done improv style. Cut sew, cut again as needed.  Some measuring but not all that much.  

I wanted to do this tree as a remembrance of Great Aunt Dora.  She would buy ornament kits and make all the family members beautiful Christmas balls usually with sequins and pins.  But one year I think she went into her costume jewelry and made strands of beads. It amazed me how these colorful beads reflected the light. We still put them on our small tree each year.

 Eventually, I'll have some balls and strands of beads on my tree.  The red sequins will be replaced with gold ones because that was all I could find. I've got my work cut out for me this week. Everything will be appliquéd down.  I may just big stitch around the elements and finish with a regular binding.  I may be finishing the binding at the meeting Saturday morning! 

These wonky star blocks are going to Pam an FCQ Equilter member.  She asked us to also send some extra fabric with the stars.  I made 5, although one is covered up.  It turns out I don't have that much in the way of red, white and blue fabric anymore. I keep using it up. Sigh.  One of these days I'll pick some more up as I use them fairly regularly. 

Northern Virginia has flown out of the ice box of last week.  It should be hitting 68 one day this week.  What a difference from the mid 20's most of this past week.  

On Wednesday, one of the coldest and windiest days, our electricity went out. And, our internet and our gas heater. It started when there was enough light to find the candles both electric and flame.  And, our gas fireplace worked surprisingly well.  We don't really use it but it kept our living room toasty warm. I used a variety of 

candles to give us enough light to see by.  Our dinner that was suppose to be baked became more like a stir fry. We were able to light our gas stove using a lighter.  3 or so hours later, as we were going to bed, the lights came on. YEA!  

Fast forward 4 days and about the same time the electricity went out again.  GOOD GRIEF. It was only out an hour to an hour and a half. Another dinner was in peril but we'd decided on fajitas on the grill so all was pretty easy.  We heard later that the outage was due to vehicle accident.  Enough of this excitement! 

Here's how I did on my goals this week. 

January 28, 2019

Finish sewing challenge project to background√ worked on but not finished 

Finish altering the last log cabin blocks √

Bind the Turtle quilt √

Mail the FCQ Equilter blocks√  blocks done but not mailed 

Quilt and Bind the heart table runner  didn’t even start 

And what I need to do this week.  Everything but the challenge quilt is negotiable!  I really need to have this thing done. 

February 4. 2019

Finish sewing challenge project

Make some Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks

Design labels for Virginia Star 

Work on dog tumbler top 

I'm linking up with these Linky Parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday and Moving It Forward.  You know the drill some won't be up yet so I'll check back and add the links as needed. Surprise, surprise.  I actually checked back earlier than I normally do and all is linked up now.  Enjoy reading what's going on around the internet. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie