Monday Meandereings 2 - 28 - 2022

What a busy week this has been. Jenny spent most of a day with us. She had planned to quilt her top on Ruthie but work got in the way. I quilted, she worked remotely.  She came bearing gifts: reds from her stash and 4 fat quarters too. They should look great in my Spider Web quilt.  

Pat and I got out more than usual by going to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt show. From the show here are pictures of two quilts by Claudia Pearce who is also a member of Faithful Circle Quilters in Maryland. 

I didn't take many pictures.  But I really wanted to get pics of these as I know Claudia.  I meant to send them off to her right away but I haven't done it yet.  

I did pretty well on my goals along with a little off goal progress. Here's last week's list.

2/21/2022

✅Attend Mid Atlantic Quilt Show 

✅Make more Red Spider blocks - several more done.

✅Quilt Jenny’s quilt - you can see it here. 

Cut pieces for “cupcake” blocks — not this week. 

✅Layout Looking Glass Quilt and begin sewing together - see below.

✅Work on SAHRR - I have been thinking but not doing for the last few weeks.  I have a plan on how I want to continue but haven't gotten to work on it yet. 

Here's Looking Glass, design by Busy Hands Quilts. All the rectangles are ocean related - sea weed, clams, whales and starfish. I hope to hang this at the beach house sometime this spring. 

And here's a small section of my off list project. I was able to load this top and quilt it.  I generally don't pick dense designs but this was perfect for the grape fabrics.  It took over 30 minutes per row!  Yikes. There is a reason I like less dense quilting designs. Hopefully I will be able to share the whole quilt on Friday.

I did buy a lot of fabric at the show. All of it was for backing. Here are the first two pieces. One of the vendors had small bolts of fabric for sale. It was all or nothing.  I found these two fabrics with 4 yards on each at $6.79 a yard (or something close to it.) The green has already been put on the back of the grape quilt.  It should be bound by tomorrow. (I'll show more fabrics in the near future.)

Let's look at this week's goals.  

2/28/2022

Make more red Spider blocks, Ombre blocks 

Bind Grape quilt 

Cut pieces for “cupcake” blocks 

Finish sewing Looking Glass quilt together, make backing fabric 

Work on SAHRR

Start of March’s UFO Challenge Quilt - Easy Breezy blocks to top

Make backing for the little dog quilt, load and quilt 

Phew!  That's a lot more than I normally list.  We'll see how much I get done.  I'm hoping to get several tops quilted this month.  I need to use some of that new backing fabric! 

It's time to get this posted and head for bed. (Yes, I write and post this the night before but still show it as Monday on my header.) You know the drill -- here's the parties I link up with.  Hope you can go check them out. 

Oh Scrap

Monday Making

Design Wall Monday

To Do Tuesday

Time to do some reading.  I'll link up the rest after they go live. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

**ARGH** So Monday morning I notice I miss typed the headline Monday Meanderings.  I'm not going to fix it because I'm sure it would mess up the links.  

Not My Finish However . . .

Friday snuck up on me and I haven't taken any pictures yet.  Except this one of my daughter's quilt. Jenny chose red thread and Curley design.  The backing is black with little white stars.  You really can't see the quilting on the front or the back. Bummer 

She was going to quilt it. She came down, but guess who quilted it?  Her job interfered so she worked and I quilted.  Not a bad day for me as I really like this quilt and Ruthie performed like the champ she is. 

Does it remind you of this: 

She works at Univ. of Maryland and she's giving it to a colleague so she figured the Maryland colors were a good choice.  (Flag photo from https://sos.maryland.gov/pages/services/mdflag.aspx)

I was done quilting it by about 4:30 and she finished up her work a little after that. She decided to stay for dinner and drive home later.  Luckily none of the trucker protests that were suppose to happen in the DC area  were any where to be found.

Jen surprised me by bringing 4 red fat quarters!  And, some pieces from her stash that will also go to my red and white Spider Web quilt.  I'm looking forward to adding some more blocks to it. But no time so far this week! I am hoping to finish at least one more quilt this month. 

On Thursday we went to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival.  It is at Hampton Roads Convention Center thru Sunday Feb. 27.  Pat agreed to drive my friend Beth and I. It's about a 2 hours drive so we left in time to get there when it was opening. The price has gone up $2 per head to $17.00.  The first thing we noticed was there weren't as many people taking money from the attendees. It wasn't a horrible wait but there were lines. I imagine if we hadn't gotten there right as the doors were opening we might have been able to walk right up to pay. 

We had decided to wear our masks but were very happy to see that the show was requiring masks also.  Most of the attendees were wearing their masks but some were not.  I didn't pay close attention but I think most of the vendors were masked also. 

There were wonderful quilts, displays, and vendors as usual. But what wasn't usual is there were fewer quilts and fewer vendors. It looked like between an eighth and a quarter of the floor space was blocked off with curtains.  It appeared to us that some of the quilts were spaced out more than normal. 

The vendors who were there were very appreciative that we were there. There were less attendees but folks seemed happy to see quilts and be able to spend some money. As we started roaming up and down the rows a lot of the vendors were swamped.  It appeared to me that some of the vendors didn't have as many workers as they might have at one time so there were long lines of people trying to check out. 

I bought a roll of Pellon batting that I was thrilled to get.  It was great having Pat with us as he carried it out to the car right away. I found the exhibit of quilts from Country Piecemakers.  I was so impressed with their challenge quilts. I had chosen not to participate this year but maybe I will next year.  I also found two quilts from a friend in Faithful Circle Quilters in Maryland.  Fun to see my friend's work in person. 

I'll share my mammoth selection of fabric next week.  I came with a list of tops I had and I spent my shopping time looking for backing fabric -- either wide back or regular fabric.  Let's just say my bag was full and Pat was carrying some things too. Although I was in a buying frenzy I only bought fabric, batting and one cone of long arm thread. (Evidently Superior Threads is raising prices soon.)   

By 12:30 we were getting hungry and tired.  Although I might have spent more time with the vendors and the quilts we had no problem calling it quits at that time. We chose a rural route to go home and skipped the freeways. We found a great seafood restaurant on the way home and everyone really enjoyed our late lunch and had enough leftovers for dinner too.  

What I can't report on is food at the center.  The folks I usually go with generally have the hot buffet that is served.  It's a bit more expensive but you can sit for an hour and regain your strength to hit the vendors and quilts again.  We never even looked if it was offered or at the other food available. 

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the whole trip. I was happy I didn't have to drive and Pat was happy to get out of the house.  He didn't even mind carrying my batting roll and fabric. We found out later that we would've hit a lot of rain if we were on the freeway.  We had some light mist and rain but nothing that bad going the slower way home.  

I just checked the online info about the classes.  It seemed to me there were quite a few teachers who were presenting classes but most appeared younger and not as well known by me. This might be me not knowing and keeping up with trends or it might be that some of the most experienced teachers are of the age and inclination to not travel during the pandemic. 

Mancuso Show Management has four more shows this year. Three are on the east coast (South Carolina, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania) and one in California.  If there are no more Covid surprises I think more and more people will be attending the shows as the year continues.

OOPs -- sorry, I got a little involved in my discussion.  So, I'll end here by listing the link parties I join.  You should take a look at all the wonderful bloggers sharing their quilting journey. 

Needle and Thread Thursday 

Finished or Not Friday

Beauties Pageant 

I'm looking forward to a little surfing time over the next few days.

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 2 - 21 - 2022

We've been going out and about more than usual the last few days.  We drove down to Richmond to do a bit of shopping and have a nice lunch out.  We stayed masked except when we were actually eating.  I enjoyed the time away from home especially since we haven't been going out all that often.  

It didn't cause any problems with what I wanted to get done this past week. Yep, I handled all the goals I wanted to.  

2/14/2022

✅ More sewing on Looking Glass quilt — ready to be laid out & sewn together.

✅ Do first clue of Stop Tossing --  All done 

✅ Make more √Red Spider Webs, RSC blocks, and √16 patches  -- Hum, I want to get one more RSC block done...

✅ Bind Baby Bricks -- done and turned into guild. See the finish here. 

✅ Work on SAHRR -- I added the rest of the border from the star round. I'm behind on the rounds but at least I have an idea for appliqué but I haven't decided yet.

✅ Cut up some smaller scraps -- I churned out some triangles & 2" squares from some small pieces of fabric hanging around. 

Here's what I'm going to be doing this week. I won't have as much sewing time because of some activities. 

2/21/2022

Attend Mid Atlantic Quilt Show 

Make more Red Spider blocks

Quilt Jenny’s quilt

Cut pieces for more “cupcake” blocks 

Layout Looking Glass Quilt and begin sewing together 

Work on SAHRR 

Here's what my design wall looks like this week.  I'm lucky to have a big wall to put up lots of different projects. (Well, until I put a whole design up!) 

Here's a close up of a couple of projects I'm working on. 

This churn dash was cut out with my 9" Accuquilt Cube. It is 13.5". I read about using my smaller cube to make a bigger block. I have enough of the center cupcake fabric to make at least 9 blocks. I haven't looked to see if I have enough of the go with fabrics.  There are a lot of colors in the cupcakes so I can use different combos if I need to.  

It's hard to tell but I added the rest of the white for the star border. Hum, it looks like the color changes on that white border. I'm sure it's the same fabric. I wonder if I turned some to the wrong side or is it the lighting?  I'm skipping the signature block round.  I have an idea for some appliqué.  I think I'll add something in the bottom left corner.  It may take me a while before I make a final decision. I'm looking forward to seeing what is called for this week. I'd like to get the top done by the end of the month but that my not happen.  

Join me checking out quilter's blogs by looking at these linky parties:

Oh Scrap

Monday Making 

Design Wall Monday

To Do Tuesday

I'm off to do a bit of surfing--you never know when something will inspire you. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Yea! A Finish!

I am so happy to finish off the baby bricks quilt I've been working on with a couple of friends.  We've made a quilt top for a veteran last fall.  (I haven't quilted it yet but it will be done in the next few weeks.) This baby bricks quilt was our winter charity quilt.  Who knows what we'll choose for spring.  I'm thrilled to move some fabric out of my stash.  You can see some photos of the quilt in process here.

I grabbed the quilt when Pat and I went to the post office. It was time to try a different location for photos. We found a track behind a community center not far from the post office.  It was a fairly windy day so Pat found some straps in the back of the car that worked fairly well. (Note to self, bring clips next time we venture off to take quilt pictures.) 

Here's the back of the quilt and a longer view of the location. I was tickled I had some leftover fabric from the front that I could use for the back.  At center bottom is the label Virginia Star Quilters use to identify their charity quilts. Hum, do you think I should move it to a corner next time I put a label on?  I didn't think about the label until the binding was already on.  

Here's a good look at the quilting.  I used Ginger Snap by Apricot Moon.  Thread was a cream So Fine.  The contrasting binding was machine sewn to the back and then machine sewn down from the front.  I find that method works well.  I like that the front stitching is actually on the edge of the front binding.  The back binding may not be as accurate -- sometimes the stitches show right on the binding and sometimes it wanders off to the backing.  I use whatever color matches the binding the best.  

I finished the quilt Wednesday morning and passed it on to the guild Wednesday evening so that it can be given to a preemie in the local hospital's NICU.  Do you make quilts for your local NICU?  I really enjoy making smaller quilts so I'm always happy to find appropriate fabric in my stash to make a baby quilt. 

It's getting late here -- time to pop off to bed and read a bit. Before I go, I'm linking up with the following parties.  I hope you will spend some time cruising the World Wide Web using these links. 

Needle and Thread Thursday

Finished or Not Friday 

Beauties Pageant

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 2 - 14 - 2022

Did you watch the Super Bowl last night?  I don't care about the game so much as the advertising.  But honestly, so far, I'm not impressed.  Evidently,  I'm not in the age group that most of the ads are targeting.  Oh well.  I didn't see one fun ad about buying fabric. 

It's been another productive week for me.  Here's the list from last week. 

2/7/2022

Work on Stop Tossing, Mystery for Military -No clue this week

✅Make blocks: √RSC, √Sherri’s mystery, FCQ Equilter, √Red Spider Webs

✅Make 16 patch blocks 

✅Quilt one of my quilts -  Quilted the baby quilt from below. 

✅Sew baby quilt together

✅Start on Looking Glass quilt — a beginning has been made

Here is a look at my Red Spider Web blocks I've made in February. You can see the web design coming out.  I don't know how many more of these blocks I'll make.  I'm hoping to make a lap size quilt so I definitely need to keep making blocks. I may need to buy some more red fabrics to have enough. 

I'm hoping the top Whirl block will work even though it really isn't aqua or even  turquoise.  It looks more teal/green to me.  I've been making a few Spider Web blocks in the RSC colors too.  I'll make at least two more of each of these blocks, maybe more. 

It turns out that the next Stop Tossing mystery clue comes out Wed, 2/16.  So I'll get back to work on this one later this week. 

Here's what I hope to get done this week. 

2/14/2022

More sewing on Looking Glass quilt

Do first clue of Stop Tossing  

Make more Red Spider Webs, RSC blocks, and 16 patches 

Bind Baby Bricks 

Work on SAHRR 

Cut up some smaller scraps

Amid my sewing I've been trying to do some straightening and cleaning in the studio. Unfortunately not much is being tossed but I have been putting fabric back on the shelves after having saved them to start or finish various quilts. This one thing I found made me laugh.  

I used to love playing Snood.  I guess when I last updated my computer (in 2013!) I probably couldn't use the program any more.  Hum, I wonder if I should try loading it on this computer?  Probably not, I have enough games I play now! 

Here are the linky parties I linking up with.  I hope you'll spend a bit of time checking out blogs across the net by going to these blogs first. 

Oh Scrap

Monday Making

Design Wall Monday

To Do Tuesday 

That's it for me today.  A book is calling my name... 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie

Monday Meanderings 2 - 7 - 2022

Did this week go by fast for you?  It sure did for me -- and I can't even say why or what made it go by so fast.  I did pretty well on my goals list this week.  I also bought some new fabric (oops!) Although I did convince myself not to go wild and only bought the fabric I needed for a specific project. I am doing Stop Tossing Mystery quilt designed by Alycia of Alycia Quilts blog. She is doing it for Mysteries for Military a group on Groups.IOS. So far we've only got the fabric requirements and a bit of the cutting instructions. You can join the group if you would like to sew along. Alycia says it's going to be easy. 

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

1/31/2022

✅Work on SAHRR - I'm waiting for the next round's instruction before I sew last week's border on as I've been trying to compact the borders so it doesn't become too large. 

✅Make more ombré blocks -- I need to lay out the blocks I have and see if I need to make more or not.

Sew baby quilt together — started but not finished

✅Sew Blazing Star table runner together, quilt and bind - all done

✅Sew backing together for group patriotic quilt - and done

I also spent some time ironing, folding, tagging, and putting away new fabric (some purchased quite a while ago.) I also made quite a few of the spider web blocks in red and white.  I'm enamored of them and may have to purchase more reds to keep making them. 

Here's what I hope to work on this week . . . 

2/7/2022

Work on Stop Tossing, Mystery for Military

Make blocks: RSC, Sherri’s mystery, FCQ Equilter, Red Spider Webs

Make 16 patch blocks

Quilt one of my quilts

Sew baby quilt together

Start on Looking Glass quilt 

I always like to include pictures in my posts.  But, this time I really had to think about what I could possibly share with you.  So here are the fabrics I'm using for the Stop Tossing mystery quilt. It's going to be bright! (And I hope these work well!)

I have a lot purples and when the fabric requirements called for a lot of one color with a one separate contrast color I knew my purples would be up to it. Also needed  a background that contrasted with the main color and another contrast color.  The white in this picture was replaced by my new fabric.  I didn't have enough of any fabric to use as a background thus my fabric shopping.  And here's my new background fabric. 

I don't think this is correct on color but you can see the little designs in the fabric.  It's a much lighter cream.  I'm just waiting for the next set of instructions. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with the instructions.

Please take some time this week to do some blog hopping starting from these linky parties.  It's always fun to see what folks are doing these days. 

Oh Scrap

Monday Making

Design Wall Monday

To Do Tuesday

I hope you enjoy sewing time this week.  I've got enough to keep me busy for awhile.  

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Finished or Not Friday

No finishes of mine to share.  But here's a top in progress -- a baby quilt I'm working on with some friends.  The fabrics are old but I'm sure some little one will enjoy snuggling with it. 

We try to do one quilt a quarter to donate through our guild.  I was happy to donate all the fabrics this time.  

I'm sewing it as a leader-ender and hope to finish the top by the end of the week.  The best part is I have some leftovers of the fabric to use for the backing so it will be finished this month. 

Before Christmas I had the honor of quilting this wonderful quilt. My customer was  giving it as wedding gift. I love how sophisticated it looks. It is a classic Storm at Sea combined with Snails Trail. 

Here's a close up of the quilting pattern, Apricot Moon. I used So Fine thread #504, a very light gray. 

On to January's stash report. Luckily it was only a little addition. 

2022	Fabric In Month	Fabric In Year	Fabric Out  Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
Jan	9.5	9.5	8.25	8.25	-1.25

I was sure I would have a big gain of fabric this month having bought 9 yards on Jan.2.  But I surprised myself finishing 2 small quilts and the table runner. It won't take long before I'm actually using more fabric than I'm bringing in. (Or at least I hope it will be fast.) 

Spend some time surfing the web this weekend... you can use these links as your jumping off point. 

Needle and Thread Thursday

Finished or Not Friday

Beauties Pageant

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie