Monday Meandering 12 - 28 - 2020

We survived our outdoor family Christmas gathering today.  It was held at our son's house.  The freeway was wonderful on the way up.  It only took us 50 minutes to get there. (I always assume an hour or more.) We all arrived around 10:30 in the morning in the hopes that the freeway wouldn't be jammed with travelers on the way home.  Good thought but didn't hold true for the home trip.  We took surface streets. It took us less than 2 hours to get home including picking up a lunch/dinner order on the way home.   

The kids and dogs were having a good time running around.  The kids all seemed to be in fewer clothes than the adults were wearing.  The newest dog, Walter, was really wild trying to keep people throwing the ball for him.  Cassie, one of the old ladies of the group, was happy to chase after a few balls until Walter started chasing her ball too.  Kona was pretty peppy for a dog with a tumor on her hip bone.  At 14 we hope she has a few more months of a decent quality of life. It was good to see her again since she's gone back to live at our daughter's house.  

Did I forget to mention the high was to be 43 but it was in the low 30s when we arrived?  The six adults conversed about what we'd done to stay warm: wool socks, flannel lined pants, hats, and gloves. I don't think it reached the 40s before we left. But it felt warmer in the sun.  After an hour of playing and chatting we all headed to the front deck to begin the present opening. 

It's hard to tell but all the grands are in this picture.  Theo is mostly behind his mom (in the red and purple hat) on the left.  The other adults were hanging out on the other side of the deck. 

The last Christmas present I finished is this fleece hoodie Ellie is wearing above and below. Here's a close up of the snowman design I machine embroidered on it. I bought the hoodie on line from Target but didn't notice there was a seam line coming down from shoulder to bottom ribbing making it difficult to place the little snowman. I wasn't thrilled with the results.  But I was tickled that Ellie immediately put it on.  She might have been getting cold by then. (The color is more accurate on the pic of Ellie wearing it.) Her dress was a wonder of sequins.  If she was in the sun and you were in the wrong place you were getting a glittering reflection right in your eyes!   (Random thought:  why didn't I add wrapping presents and doing the embroidery on my goals list?) 

I have to say I was tickled with the presents I got. I love that my kids ask me what I want for Christmas.  Heaven knows I don't NEED more fabric but I really like what I got. 

On the left are fat quarters personally curated by Jenny.  I love them!  There is a wide variety of colors, prints and all fit the concept of looking like solids from a distance.  I have a plan formulating in my mind.  But it will take a while for it to come to fruition.  The fat quarters on the right are a group I noticed at the Fat Quarter shop and passed on to Kevin when he asked for more suggestions. I have a great idea for these too.  Sneak back to the last post where I showed two blocks I made from new Accuquilt dies.  See that Ohio Star in red, white, and blue? I'm going to make some more blocks from these fabrics.  I am tickled pink with everything I got for Christmas this year.  

And now let's see whether I succeeded with my goals for the week.

12/21/2020

T Shirt Quilt - add the coping strips to last column, get vertical sashing strips on - ✔️

Make blocks for FCQ Equilter -✔️ in progress

Try to finish hand quilting done on very old Christmas quilt -✔️Progress made but not done. There's more to be done then I thought. 

Make more blocks for 2019 BOM quilt - um, nope

Quilt and bind one of my quilts - nothing done Not quite true. I tried to find a backing for any of the quilts needing to be quilted. But nothing was jumping off the shelf ready to go without piecing it. 

And for this week: 

12/28/2020

Continue hand quilting on Christmas Quil

Start working on borders of T shirt quilt 

Sew the red and black blocks together 

Quilt one of my quilts 

I was happy with all the progress I did make but forgot about all the time to prep the presents and today's outing. I fell asleep for several hours once we got home after 2 pm.  I don't think I woke up until 4:30 or so.  Slept. Like. A. Log! So no studio time today.

I'm linking up with my favorite Monday parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, and To Do Tuesday. I'll be back to link up the last two one as it  is available.  Join the fun by checking out these links. 

I'm wishing everyone a week of fun times in their studio or in whatever they plan to do.  And, may be 2021 will lift the burden of Covid from our shoulders.  Stay safe and enjoy what we have. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Merry Christmas a Day Late!

Our Christmas was quiet with just the two of us.  We had passed on some of the presents for our son's family and he gave us most of ours.  I have to say I was tickled with my presents as was Pat with his.  We both spent time in our happy places during the day.  I was down in my studio and he was in his workshop.  I'm pretty sure he was finding room for his new tools and I was using my new Accuquilt dies. 

I got two new dies this year.  (Shush -- don't tell anyone I still haven't used one I got last year for Christmas.) The left one is Blazing Star by Eleanor Burns.  EEEK!  It is a complicated die because you have to have some fabric right side up and some right side down. And, the directions are ok but not great.  However, there is a booklet you can buy and a free video. The right side is an Ohio Star.  Both are 12" Blocks on Board -- every piece you need is on the die.  I am happy to have some specific dies for 12" blocks.  (Does this picture look odd to you?  I keep taking shots right over what I want to show and then I don't really like how they look.  Sigh.)

My time in my studio was spent finding fabric for, cutting and making the blocks.  I made the Ohio Star first.  Very easy to follow the given directions, cut, and make the block.  I think it took longer to figure out fabrics than it did to cut it out.  I'm thinking I'll make a bunch with different patriotic fabrics.  Maybe make a quilt for TAPS, assuming they have the camp this year. 

The Blazing Star was not super easy to make.  I was trying to follow the directions which had to be downloaded from the web site. (Usually the directions are included with the packaging.) So I started following the directions trying to be careful with the right side up and right side down.  Needless to say several pieces of fabric were sacrificed to mistakes.  I finally decided to watch the video.  It helped quite a bit but kept referencing the booklet that I didn't have and there was no digital download from what I could tell. (I didn't look really carefully.) Finally, I succeeded cutting out the pieces although I don't think the colors are where I originally wanted them.  The best part is the sewing was pretty easy.  Most of the points won't be cut off when I use it. 

Hindsight I would have tried to have more contrast on the front star.  But it will make a fine table runner with two more blocks. 

Just for fun I thought I would share this lesson in lighting.  Have you heard experts talk about the appearance of different colored lighting.  Take a look at our poor Christmas tree.  Yes, it is artificial and the lights were on it when purchased. However, at some point this season all of the lights in the second section from the top quit. Pat spent an hour or so trying to find the problem to no avail.  So he came up with an alternative.  He put the only other strand of lights he could find on the tree.  Yep, colored lights.  What shows up a lot are the blue lights.  And they make the tree look a totally different color than the white lights.  It's hard to see in this picture but the tree looks a lush green with the blue lights and a washed out sage green with the white lights.  We don't put up this tree very often; recently we've been using a smaller tree on a table.  This year it seemed the right thing to do.  Maybe I should look for some white lights on sale to replace the colored lights? 

Tomorrow we're having a mini, outdoor celebration with our kids and grands.  We'll swap whatever presents came in on time, chat a bit and then head home.  We hope  I-95 won't be bumper to bumper with people coming home from their visits.  In the best of times we can get to our son's house in about an hour, or a daughter's in over an hour.  We've traveled for double the time or more at the worst of times.  We're looking forward to seeing everyone but the traffic... eh not too happy about that. 

I'm off for some more sewing and then present wrapping.  In the meantime I'll be linking up with these Linky Parties: Ha!  None of my normal linky parties are up and running, either already closed or didn't hold a linky party. I did find Finished or Not Friday held at Anja Quilts.  Hope you'll spend a few minutes over there today.

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meandering 12 - 21 - 2020

Not much is getting done on the piecing and quilting side but I am making some progress on Christmas preparations.  Here's what I hoped to get done last week. . . 

12/14/2020

Finish Christmas ornaments✔️

Wrap presents✔️ Most that have arrived and those I needed to pass on Sunday were done.

Finish adding coping strips ✔️ - 2 columns are sewn together - 1 to go 

Make scarf to go with doll hat✔️I had to find the right clothes for my Kit doll to do a glamor shot to show off the scarf & hat I made as a Christmas present for one of my grands. In hindsight I would have made the scarf a bit wider and less long. 

Write & Mail Christmas cards✔️

And now, goals for the last full week of 2020 . . . 

12/21/2020

T Shirt Quilt - add the coping strips to the last column, get vertical sashing strips on

Make blocks for FCQ Equilter

Try to finish hand quilting on very old Christmas quilt

Make more blocks for 2019 BOM quilt 

Quilt and bind one of my quilts

Are you having delays receiving mail and packages from all the major delivery services? We are. As most people have this year, we ordered most presents online. Some presents were ordered early, others not so early.  We've got a list and are checking it twice multiple times to make sure everything we ordered comes in.  So far way too many items haven't arrived. 

But enough arrived to allow us a quick meet up with our son to pass along some of the presents for his family.  The ten of us are tentatively planning an outdoor get together after Christmas to swap and open Christmas presents.  Hopefully, later in the week but it will all depend on the weather.  It would be pretty uncomfortable to sit outside at 40 degrees and rain. 

I finished these socks a few weeks ago but didn't get a picture of them until recently.  These were in the group of presents passed off to Kevin.  (I'm not admitting who is getting them...) But I really love the color.  

I'm ready to get my day going.  I have some last minute local shopping to do. And, then on to the items on the goals list.  I'd really like to get the T shirt quilt together (sans borders) so I can put some other blocks up that I'd like to get to top stage soon. 

Linking up to my regular parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, and To Do Tuesday.  I'll really try to remember to link up on Tuesday -- I noticed I failed to last week.  Sigh! Yea!  I remembered to link up to To Do Tuesday! 

Wishing all who celebrate a Happy Christmas Holiday.  

Happy Quilting! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 12 - 14 2020

It was a good week for getting things done for me. You'll see by looking at my goals list. I didn't finish everything but I made superb progress. 

First up -- last weeks goals. 

12/7/2020

Sew label on farm quilt✔️ See my post here. 

Sew coping strips on all t shirts 2/3 done 

Get grand kids ornaments done 2 out of 4 done

          Here are some samples...

First try.  Oops the stabilizer didn't tear out like it should have. 

Here are two finished (but I forgot the hangers...)And several more ready to be made. 

And the back needed a date. 

(and back to the rest of the goals....) 

Order some more presents✔️

Knit on a doll hat✔️

And this week it's more about finishing Christmas things. And, if I decide to go wild, I will play with one of the quilts currently waiting to be finished. I really need to finish a quilt or two this month!  

12/14/2020

Finish Christmas ornaments

Wrap presents

Finish adding coping strips on t shirt quilt (I'm really hoping to have the top done except for the borders.) 

Make scarf to go with doll hat

Write & mail Christmas cards

I'm hoping I will have some play time too.  

And now, a Public Service Announcement! 

While putting the date on the back of my Gingerbread Men I used a Frixon pen to draw a line on the back of the felt.  On the first one it was a very small line. It came off completely when ironed. I kept marking the line on each of the felts I used. Unfortunately, the bright cinnamon felt must have been a different fiber content. You can see the lines on the picture below. The red Frixon left a light line. (Note to self, use a different pen and don't make the line too long!)  I usually only use Frixon pens where any residual line wouldn't make a difference but obviously I totally forgot! 

And, now it's time for me to finish this up! But first, here are the linky parties.  Give them a look and see what's going on around the internet. Oh Scrap!, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, and on Tuesday -- To Do Tuesday. (I'll link up all the others after they post.) 

By the way, do you realize it is only 14 days til Christmas.  WHAAATTTTT? 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Yea! A Finish!

I'm so happy to be finished with a quilt -- any quilt -- as I didn't really finish anything in November. Here's the Farm Quilt finished and labeled.  It was made for a soon to be great, great nephew. 

I was asked for a farm quilt but not necessarily chickens.  I think the family raises cattle not cows. (We don't get to northern Michigan all that often!)  Do you know how hard it is to find cattle?  Right, it was impossible. But when Pat and I went shopping I was looking through yardage but he found a perfect fat quarter bundle with 5 pieces.  There was the barn (with cows, sheep and chickens), windmills, tractors on a cool black and white plaid, a barn red print that looks like the wood planks, and a cool print of various stars. (Notice, none of the stars were used in the making of this quilt! I think they represented Barn Quilts.) I used some of my stash for the sashing, cornerstones, borders and backing. Because I had so little of each fabric the quilt only measures 39" square. It was easy and pretty fast although it took me forever to label it! 

It went in the mail today. The P.O. we often go to is in the mall across from where I had ordered new glasses about 10 days ago. I thought I would check to see if they had come in even though they weren't suppose t be in for 2 weeks. WOW!  They were there so I saved another trip. There may not be that much difference in the prescription but I had the glasses for over 4 years and things were getting scratched and fuzzy. Hum a little -- "I can see clearly now..."

Quilting up close. 

Quilting Pattern: "Fern Gully" (yep, used it again. I really like it.) 

Thread: So Fine (no clue what color I chose -- some beige I think...) 

It was fun to go out to lunch today, even if we just ate fast food in the car. I spent most of the afternoon trying to clean up an older computer and then put free embroidery software for my Bernina.  Yea! That go done and I'm ready to start embroidering the grands' ornaments. (I needed to print something to help with the design I chose.)  I hope to share at least one ornament on Monday. 

Now I'm ready to link up with Mid Week Makers, Needle and Thread Thursday, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?, Finished of Not Friday, and Beauties Pageant #109. Wow!  What a lot of gorgeous projects you can see when you visit some of these linky parties. 

Enjoy your weekend -- I plan to finish my weekly goals over the next two days. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

 

Monday Meanderings 12 - 7 - 2020

I'm making great progress on the T shirt quilt, ordering some Christmas presents, and Zooming with a group of quilters who were "going" to go on a retreat this weekend.  Our retreat scheduled in May was rescheduled for the first weekend in December.  But it was canceled a month or two ago. So some of us met off and on for Zoom sessions during the weekend.  It's always great to go to Zoom meetings with my guild in Maryland -- I don't get up there more than once a year or so even without Covid.  We enjoyed sewing and chatting via Zoom.  Not as good as in person but better than nothing. 

Here's my goals from last week.  Yep, I put too many goals on my list.  (Or maybe I was distracted!)  Here's what I listed and what I got done. 

11/30/2020

Quilt 1 of my quilts - Nope, didn't happen.

Finish final cutting on t shirt quilt✔️

Here it is:  all the shirts have been backed and trimmed to their final size.  I received the medium grey Kona for the sashing.  You can see my first "coping" strip attached to the shirt in the 3rd column, 3rd shirt down.  I decided I'd split the coping strips between both sides of the shirt except if the resulting strip would be less than 1".  I did the math wrong on this first one so I took off one strip.  I'm going to change the strip to the other side so that the bottom 3 shirts will line up on the right side. I need to do some more math (correctly, I hope!) and then start cutting and sewing these strips on.  I have a logo on a hat to put on a piece of a t shirt.  It will go in the 1st column because that column is way shorter than the other two. I'll be busy for a while on this quilt. 

Begin Grands’ 2020 Ornaments I looked at 1 pattern. Does that count? 

Pick backing and quilt farm quilt✔️ And, I got the binding done too, I need to label it and mail it. 

Get back to work on purple basket✔️ I sewed a few more strips on the piece but it was minimal. 

It was not the best week but I feel good about what I did get done.  Now here's what the plan is for this week.

12/7/2020

Sew label on farm quilt

Sew coping strips on all t shirts, put the hat logo on a t shirt

Get grand kids ornaments done

Order some more presents

Knit on a doll hat

I did finish the second sock that I was knitting.  Don't tell anyone  -- it's a Christmas present.  When we Zoomed in the evening I was  knitting instead of working on quilts.  I tend to make more errors at night so knitting was a lot easier to do.

On to my "Stashbusting" statistics.  Except almost no stashbusting happened in my house in November. 

2020	Fabric In Month	Fabric In Year	Fabric Out Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
Nov	17.375	89.50	.375	86.875	-2.65

Yep, I did bring in 17.375 yards of fabric.  I purchased a grouping of novelty fabrics from a gal on SewItsForSale.groups.IO that was over 16 yards.  (The cute Dalmatian fabric I showed in the Nesting block last week was included in it. So I am already trying to make a dent in what I got.) Plus some fabric for the farm quilt was purchased. *I don't count fabric used until I have finished the quilt. So the farm quilt will count this month. Hopefully, I'll figure out another one to quilt and bind this month. 

Instead of working much on my own projects during November I quilted 3 quilts for Virginia Star Quilters.  The quilts will be given to Hope House later this month.  It shouldn't take me two or three days per quilt but that's about what it did.  You can see the quilts on my previous three posts. 

Have you been blog surfing lately?  You might want to visit these linky parties to get you started: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, and To Do Tuesday. (Hopefully this week I'll remember to link up with To Do Tuesday!) 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie