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