Mr, October

Happy Halloween 

My plan for Mr. October was to make him the center of a Halloween quilt using some blocks I have had around for several years.  Sometime in September or earlier I had traced all the bones and other elements on to fusible. I cut them out. And I finally decided on a background.  

He went with me to retreat where I sewed everything down on the orange.  I scrounged fabric for his hat band and for the "land" he is on.  I borrowed a stripe piece of fabric from Boni who had just bound a quilt with it.  OMG -- it worked perfectly even though it wasn't actually just Halloween colors. Then I tried laying out a bunch of Halloween blocks. Um, no, that looked horrible. On to new ideas.  

Fast forward a few weeks and I finally put him all together, quilted, and bound him. He'll be hanging upstairs for the rest of this week when I'll put up my November stuff. If you love him and want your own Mr. October here's the link for the pattern. Check out the other freebies Carol has on her site. (Sorry to say, she is no longer blogging.) 

I'm posting my goals on to Tuesday.  Instead, I want to share a little bit of Halloween fun in downtown Fredericksburg, Virginia.  Remember we were down there looking for the otter statues?  We were amazed at all the Halloween decorations some of the downtown businesses put up.  Have fun checking them out. 

That's Theo (now wanting to be called Teddy) going to check out the spiders.  We think the web might glow in the dark.  Hum, I wonder when I can figure out if it does or not? 

There were also scarecrows and potted flowers along with other decorations.  It really is an interesting town. It was chartered as a city in 1728 but it was also "found" by Capt. John Smith in 1608 while charting the Chesapeake Bay.  Many of the downtown buildings are quite old, the oldest being from 1737.  George Washington's boyhood home is close by. Mary Washington University is also here.  Ok, enough of the info on the city. (Yes, it is actually it's own city and not part of any county.) This area of Virginia has a lot of history to offer up. 

I'm ready to call it a post.  Maybe next week I'll get back to my normal posting for Monday, done the night before. I hope you take some time to visit some of the blogs listed on these Linky parties. 

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

To Do Tuesday   

Here's hoping you have a fun Halloween.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

To Do Tuesday!

 Yep, I ended up with no Monday Meanderings post and skipped right on to To Do Tuesday.  I will share part of Monday distractions at the end of this post. 

First up -- my very weak goals achievements from last week. I will note that it doesn't really bother me that I didn't accomplish all my goals.  I'm still getting tired from the Covid bout and my motivation levels have been lower than usual. That said I will tout my forward progress on several projects.

10/17/22

Bind Flowers and 9 Patch quilt — started not finished

Quilt and bind another quilt — more than half quilted 

✅Finish sewing Tumbling Triangles together 

Border Oct UFO Challenge Quilt — nothing done 

Make ✅Sept & October BOM from A Quilting Life -- one still to do 

✅Work on Halloween quilt — laid the first border out and a possible second border. But no sewing. 

It was a bigger list than I usually have and as I said, I did make forward progress. So what am going to do this week? 

10/24/22

Finish quilting and bind quilt

Finish binding Flowers and 9 Patch quilt

Make October BOM from A Quilting Life

Work on Halloween quilt

Border Oct UFO Challenge Quilt

Sew borders on Traffic Jam 

Oh my!  It's as long as last week's list! Although several goals are well on their way to completion.  

I messed up the binding on Flowers and 9 Patch by sewing the binding to the front of the quilt.  Normally I'd sew the second time by machine except I don't like machine sewing from the back. So I'm hand stitching that.  I was multi tasking the binding while Ruthie quilted the next quilt. All was going fine when unbeknownst to me the top thread jumped out of one of the guides. A half later I realized it. The back tension was a flat line.  So I ripped it out.  Not that hard actually because I could pull out that back thread pretty easily.  That was in the evening on Sunday. Poof -- the week was gone. 

Here's what I seemed to spend way more time on than anything else. (Nope, it wasn't on the list.) 

This is Traffic Jam, a free pattern from Pat Sloan. You can find it here. I'm switching it up a bit by using 4 blocks.  If you cut 2.5" squares and have a slew of them, this is a great pattern to use them.  The block is 12.5" square, unfinished.  Pat's quilt comes out 56" x 56".  Mine will be about 40". It's been easy to sew the 2.5" squares as leader-enders.  And, yep, this has been part of my distraction over the last few weeks.  I'm down to getting the border done. I've chosen only two rows of squares for the border rather than three shown in the pattern.  I'm making an effort to use lighter and brighter squares and I'm throwing in some cute animals and the like. (Hum, it was a dark day outside when I took this picture so you can't see the bright parrot, dogs, and lions in the 2.5" squares. Rats!) I decided I might as well put this on my list for this week because I know I'm going to work on it.

I made this walker bag and turned it into the guild outreach committee last week. The floral fabric has a definite late 80s vibe to me.  It's a decorator fabric so it is a bit heavier than quilting cotton. Unfortunately, I have about 15 yards more of the fabric I was given from an estate of a quilter. (Or at least I "think" that is where I got it.) My issue is I don't have many fabrics I can use with it.  I have one more cut out.  And I'll be scouring my stash to see if I have any other fabrics I can pair with it. Or maybe I'll check JoAnns for clearance fabrics that might go with it. I hope I can find some more velcro and grosgrain ribbon in my stash.  I liked this pattern and if you want to make some walker bags check out the pattern here. Evidently, I am the only person at guild to turn in a walker bag this year. So, I guess I'll be making some more as the need is great. 

And on to my big distraction.  We met our son and grandkids yesterday (Monday) in downtown Fredericksburg.  We thought they would enjoy tracking down all of the otter statues in the city.  The seven statues took us all over downtown. As we found one the kids marked them off on a map.  After a good hour at the playground having found the last statue, we returned to the Visitor's Center where they were given a very nice goody bag with buttons, postcards to color, and other assorted goodies.  

Two pups and two kids.  It was a beautiful day out and we all had a great time.  (Did I mention I went to work out for the first time in many weeks in the morning? And, I had Spotsylvanian rehearsal in the evening? And, I got over 10,000 steps in yesterday?  No wondered I'm so worn out today! 😁!) 

I'm linking up to the following parties.

 

To Do Tuesday

Design Wall Monday 

Midweek Makers 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Last Month's Finish!

I try like crazy to use more fabric than I bring in every month.  Wait!  I forgot to post my stash busting stats for last month.  So, I'll start with that first. I bought a whole lot of fabric from Connecting Threads -- mostly wide backs on sale.  So, yep a large amount of fabric came in during September. 

2022	Fabric In Month	Fabric In Year	Fabric Out  Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
Sept	19.25	91	14.5	103.75	12.75

But quite a bit of fabric went out too. As Nann, who blogs at With Strings Attached  suggested I save my scraps up over a few months and then weigh them and covert that to yardage -- which happened in September to the tune of 5 yards worth of scraps. I also made 12 composition book covers that came to approximately 2 1/4 yards of fabric.  And, last but not least, the quilt shown below, Voyager. 

It was a beautiful day Friday so we planned an outing after our neighborhood chorus's rehearsal. It was my first time singing in at least 3 weeks.  We both decided to mask up so we wouldn't get Covid (again) nor possibly spread Covid (me.) I'm better but I do tire more easily.  

After singing we went for a quick bite to eat and then went to a new park near downtown Fredericksburg.  It was a great day to be out by the Rappahannock River.  The new park has a great playground for kids and it looked like it had stairs leading down to the river and a small dock. I pulled out Voyager and started taking pictures.  I always take way more than I need so I can eliminate ones that I don't like.  

For some reason there is temporary fencing between the play area and the river.  It might be to keep kids from wandering down and falling into the river.  It seemed a pretty steep hill.  

The title, Voyager, is the name of the Villa Rosa Design I used.  (You know those designs -- the ones that are a colored postcard?)  I only have a few but I really like the ones I have but haven't made others. Hum, something else to think about when next I want to start a quilt. I used some batik strips along with some other fabrics in turquoise in this one.  

It's hard to see the quilting on this one.  The pattern is called Curly.  I chose to quilt it with the length of the quilt loaded parallel to the bars on the long arm.  I used a light turquoise So Fine thread from Superior Threads. 

Part of the reason we chose to go to this particular park is because Fredericksburg has a promotion called Otter-ly Amazing Fredericksburg. It was designed to bring attention to downtown Fredericksburg and highlight the Rappahannock River as a healthy ecosystem.  You can read more about it in the Free Lance Star.

Selling a game about Fredericksburg, its history, and its downtown raised enough money to create otter statues that were placed throughout the downtown area.  Needless to say we needed to visit at least one of the bronze statues.  Parking is tight in downtown so we thought the new park would be easier to get in and out of. 

Here's an otter and her pups.  

The statue isn't very large. I am assuming they are life-size.  Notice the fish in front. A pair of local artists made the statues. I imagine we'll take the time to walk the downtown area at some point and see the rest of the statues. 

I'm linking up with the following Linky parties: 

*Can I Get a Whoop Whoop*

Finished or Not Friday

Beauties Pageant 

*I am delighted to see Sarah who blogs at Confessions of a Fabric Addict  has returned to blogging.  Waving at you Sarah -- sorry it took me a month or so to see you've come back.  We've missed you!*

That's it for me today.  I haven't made much progress on my goals list this week so I think I'll try to get one or two more done now. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

  

Design Wall Monday 10 - 17 - 2022

Good news first. I am feeling so much better than last week at this time.  I've stayed in my studio most days leaving Pat the upstairs.  He does not want to get Covid again.  Nor do I for that matter!  I've had several good days playing in the studio all day and will continue for several more days until I have 2 negative tests.  I'm hoping to get one tomorrow -- but I may not yet.   

On to my goals for last week.  Several days I spent more time laying around and reading and less (or no) time sewing.  You'll notice I didn't get everything done on my list but I did get other things done. (I'll admit, I spent more time off list than on list.) So here's the list and what I did get done. 

10/10/22

✅Quilt and bind a quilt (not the binding though.)

✅Continue making triangles for tumbling triangles -- all sewn and into rows.

Remove papers from string blocks -- oops nothing done. 

✅Work on grands’ Christmas ornaments -- This weeks I sewed some beads on a dolphin.

Paint wooden pumpkins -- two have the first primer coat on one side... 

Here's the top I quilted but didn't bind yet. Hopefully the binding will get done this week.  

What I did that wasn't on the list was work on a scrap quilt with 2.5" squares. I still need to make the border before it will be done.  I'm using the 2.5" blocks as my leader ender.  Hopefully I'll get it put together by next week and will be able to share it. (Hum, it's not on the list though... so a little more off list work!) 

And here's what I hope to work on this week...

10/17/22

Bind Flowers and 9 Patch quilt

Quilt and bind another quilt 

Finish sewing Tumbling Triangles together 

Border Oct UFO Challenge Quilt

Make Sept & October BOM from A Quilting Life

Work on Halloween quilt

Who knows if I'll get all of these done but I'm going to give it a try. Here is a picture of Tumbling Triangles.  I did finish all the blocks and sewed them into rows.  Hopefully I'll get all the rows sewn together.  Who knows maybe I'll sew the borders on too. This is a Studio 180 design that uses their V Block ruler. 

I may try to get two of the wooden pumpkins primed -- front, back and edges.  If I get any done I'll share pictures.  Pat cut them out of the wood with a scroll saw. My job is to paint them.  

So that's it for me today except for suggesting you check out these Linky parties and see what folks are doing all across the nation.

Oh Scrap

Monday Making

Design Wall Monday 

To Do Tuesday 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 10 - 10 - 2022

 Retreat is over.   Boo Hoo!  But we had a great time.  It was good to see old friends and meet new friends.  

A group of us decided to visit Fork Mnt Quilting in Rocky Mount, Va on Wednesday afternoon.  Great store.  Friendly owners who went out of their way to help several of our group who wanted kits that they were out of.  While we continued shopping they made up the kits.  If you are near the south east part of Virginia it's worth a trip. Surprisingly, I bought one fat quarter on sale. (I know ridiculous. I should have made a list before I came as when we got back I remembered several things I should have gotten!) 

And if you are close to the store take some time to zip over to Homestead Dairy for the very best ice cream I've ever had.  

I chose cookie dough ice cream.  This double scoop was a small cone.  It was so fresh and tasty.  If I hadn't ordered first I might have realized that I could have chosen two flavors.  Oh well, next year I'll do that. 

Here are some of us just enjoying the beautiful weather chatting about quilting (or ice cream.) 

I wandered off to get a few more pictures. 

Merci was checking out the cool gourds.  The one she's holding was star shaped. 

Here's the name so you can get some wonderful ice cream if you're in the area. 

Now that I've got a little bit about the retreat shared, it's time to look at my goals. 

10/3/22

Get ✅Happy Blocks & 👎🏻string blocks to top stage

✅Make baby quilt top

✅Make all 79 triangles for Tumbling Triangles — More than half done

✅Get whatever projects left moved forward — several did get moved forward 

✅✅✅Enjoy retreat! — Boy did I ever! 

This is the Happy Quilt I laid out last week and was able to sew together at retreat. 

Here's what's may be happening this week.

10/10/22

Quilt and bind a quilt

Continue making triangles for tumbling triangles

Remove papers from string blocks

Work on grands’ Christmas ornaments

Paint wooden pumpkins  

We'll see whether I get many of these goals accomplished this week. 

Here are my normal Linky parties for you to surf.  I'll be doing that this week too. (Hopefully I'll remember to come back and link up the rest of the blogs.) 

Oh Scrap

Monday Making 

Design Wall Monday

To Do Tuesday 

That's it except for one small issue after retreat.  That nasty virus Covid has hit some of the retreaters.  So far 5 out of 24 of us have gotten it. Well make that 6 out of 24. Yep, I tested positive Monday morning. As of this morning I was negative but considering my roommate got it I'm pretty sure I will too. Plus I'm feeling like I have a cold. Bummer.  It's fine as long as I can continue to sew and read this week.  I'll keep you posted. I have moved myself to the spare bedroom and am staying in my studio mostly.  In other words, Pat and I have reversed roles.  He was at a Barbershop competition over the weekend and several of their members have also come down with Covid. Bummer. But he stayed masked all the time.  None of us at the retreat did though. Sigh. 

Happy quilting all! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 10 - 3 -2022

 YIPEE!  

I'm so excited.  I'm going to a quilting retreat with my friends from Country Piecemakers today (or Monday depending on when you read this.)  It should be a wonderful week. So before I go let's see how I did do on my goals last week. I'm very pleased with it. 

9/26/22

✅Trim and bind turquoise quilt

✅Finish last 3 composition book covers

Make Sept BOM from A Quilting Life -- again not done. Oops! 

✅Get projects ready for next week’s retreat

✅Go to Virginia State fair; man VaStar booth

Oh that poor Sept BOM from A Quilting Life -- it's been on my to do list for weeks.  I just picked fabrics for it. I'm taking them with me on retreat and hope to get it made and maybe even the one that will come out on Thursday.  I'll let you know next week whether I've succeeded.  

But everything else was done and I'm happy at all the check marks. Here's what I am planning to do this week. (A week with no cleaning, no cooking and all the sewing I want to do!) 

10/3

Get Happy Blocks & string blocks to top stage

Make baby quilt top

Make all 79 triangles for Tumbling Triangles

Get other projects brought  moved forward 

Enjoy retreat! 

On to photographs.  First up is Ellie's Flowers on display in the Virginia Star Quilt Guild's booth at the Virginia State Fair.  I was able to get the card in the same picture.  Remember this was a challenge to use a card to inspire a quilt. She sent me a nifty 3 d floral arrangement card.

At the last guild meeting we made fast, easy pumpkins. Here's mine on my orange table runner. It was a lot of fun to make this pumpkin.  

And now, I'd like to share a big win for me. I cleared off the front of my cutting table.  Take a minute to look at it last March.  I don't think I ever got it cleaned off then. But look at it now. Some of the fabrics that were piled up here are going to be available for my fellow retreaters to adopt. A bit of the fabric has been safely stashed in the basket so I can deal with it when I get back.  

I don't think I've seen that mat for years.  It doesn't look like I ever cut on it. My goal is to keep that cleared off (more or less) for the whole month of October. (And maybe longer.)  One thing I'm trying to do is let go of the smallest scraps.  I generally cut 2" and 2.5" squares.  I definitely use the 2.5" ones.  I've got a plan for 2" squares too.  But what do you do with 1.5" squares?  I'm not sure I'll ever use that size!  Scraps are a never ending battle. 

So it's time to get this post published and for me to get to bed.  I've got a lot to do tomorrow.  Here's the list of my Linky parties.  I hope to spend some time this week surfing to see what quilters are doing. 

Oh Scrap

Monday Making 

Design Wall Monday 

To Do Tuesday 

That's it for now.  I'm packing tomorrow morning and heading off to retreat.  It's a new location this year that takes a bit longer to get to.  No problem -- we can't check in until 3 pm.  Should work well.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie