Monday Meanderings 6 - 26 - 2023

I'm back! We flew back from Sweden on Friday. Unfortunately it was not a direct flight so we had a stop in Reykjavik, Iceland. I think I woke up at 6 am on Friday, an hour earlier than I needed to. We arrived back in Dulles International around 7:30 pm or so but it was well past 8:30 by the time we cleared Customs and gathered our bags.  FYI -- that was 2:30 AM in Sweden.  We stayed overnight at a local hotel rather than try driving when we were so tired! 

It was a wonderful trip with lots of wonderful things to see. After my goals info I'll share some pictures of the beginning of the trip. 

Here's what I did the week we left for our trip. 

6/5/23

✅Put binding on numbers quilt

Clean front end of cutting table — some progress was made

✅Work on Thirty Something project

✅Organize hand work for trip

✅Attend a wedding 

✅Fly to Europe! 

Yep, I still got most of my goals done. On the other hand, half had to do with our travels.  Now fast forward nearly 2 weeks for my goals for this week. It's a sparse list but we are both still jet lagged. I did get to spend the whole day Sunday putzing around in the studio. 

6/26/23

Cut out 1 quilt for upcoming retreat

Make some blocks for FCQ EQuilter

Make some more 30 something blocks 

Today I made some headway on making blocks for Irma who is the recipient of blocks for June and July from FCQ Equilters. She wants any block(s) we want to make as long as they are either 6, 9 or 12 inches.  And we are to use summer colors. EEK!  What's your idea of summer colors?  Let me know in the comments. Here are two I finished today.  I'm trying to use Accuquilt to make the blocks. I have another one already cut out. I'm going to try to repeat some of the fabrics I've already used to help tie the blocks together. 

The rest of this post will be the beginning of my travelog. My goddaughter, my friend Sharon's daughter, got married the day before we were leaving. It was a lovely destination wedding on the Eastern Shore in Maryland.  We had an excellent time and enjoyed seeing her so happy. The next day we had lots of time before we were leaving so we made visits to both of our kids/grandkids. After we forced Kevin and Aimee to feed us it was off to the airport. (Really, they didn't mind at all...) 

First class airfare came with our cruise so we decided to hit the free United lounge to wait. (Hum, not the most flattering picture but we were enjoying the quiet, the comfortable chairs and a snack before departure.)

The jet had sleeping seats. It was nice but also weird. I was in my own little area and couldn't see Pat much at all. Nor could we really carry on a conversation. We both got some sleep but clearly not a normal night's rest. 

We landed in London and were bussed to our hotel in downtown. (The traffic made me feel right at home. Sigh.)  I heard, but didn't see, that Buckingham Palace was fairly close.  We valiantly stayed awake and had a good meal at a local pub. We gave up on staying awake, went sound asleep at 6:30pm, and slept through the night. 

After another bus ride we boarded our ship at South Hampton. Of course, our cabin wasn't ready as the previous cruise passengers had left just a little earlier in the day. We enjoyed checking out the public spaces and having lunch outdoors. The weather was glorious.  

The second day on board was cruising the North Sea.  I'm happy to report it was smooth sailing. Actually the whole trip the seas were really calm. Saw this wind farm.  (No clue where it was except the North Sea.) 

The next day we visited Kristiansand on the southern tip of Norway.  Who would miss the opportunity to get a picture with a moose? (Pat wasn't interested, but I was!) Norway's national animal is the moose.  The stuffed moose was on a base with wheels.  He was gone by the time we came back. That's our ship in the background.

Our excursion was a visit to Kristiansand Open Air Museum.

The museum was a series of old buildings from the 16th to 19th centuries. We spent the most time in the oldest buildings. The building below was for storage. The next picture shows the designs on the lintel.  All the buildings we went into were of similar construction.  But I failed to take pictures of them. (Bummer!) 

The next picture shows more "modern" structures. (I borrowed this from Trip Advisor's gallery where Management posted it. I'm assuming that means the Open Air Museum management.) 

We were able to go inside the 3rd building from the left.  It was bigger and had a hearth in the center of the house. Multiple generations lived in the house. Once children were old enough they slept in the barn, if I remember correctly. These household items were on display in the house. 

So can you guess what the first and last items are?  Well, surprisingly enough they are irons. It was used with the wooden rod next to the first one.  Evidently a young man would make his intended an "iron" when they got engaged. Obviously the first one had a lot of loving carving done on it while the second one was, um, plain. It's hard to believe that rubbing a wooden paddle over cloth on a wooden rolling pin look alike would actually remove wrinkles. (Hum, maybe Pat could make me one and I could try it out. NOT!) 

I realized as I was gathering additional information to share about this visit that it was actually closed this summer as they are doing work on one of the buildings. I suspect we didn't get the full experience especially since we were on a 3 or 4 hour tour with other things to see. 

Next stop was to a local dock/beach.  We had a short walk through a neighborhood street to get there. I couldn't resist snapping the picture of this doorway.  

I thought it was particularly charming. We saw several beautiful gardens and some bird houses too.  

Our next stop was Copenhagen. I'll get those photos organized and posted in the next few days. I have to mention that I didn't go wild taking photos. I may borrow some from Pat if he took other photos. So the posts won't be exceedingly long. 

As usual, I'm linking up with several Linky parties today.

Oh Scrap!

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

To Do Tuesday 

Take some time to see what quilters are doing all over the world. I'll come back over the next two days to link up the other parties. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie

Greetings from the Baltic Sea

 So far we have had a wonderful cruise including a memorable 50th anniversary. 

I’m sharing the Queen's Tapestry at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen.   If you can, enlarge it to see the wonderful details. This one covers both world wars.  At the top and bottom there are portraits with the right sides showing important people of Denmark while the left side shows world figures.  If I remember correctly the Beetles are included as well as Hitler are shown in the main section while Bob Dylan, Mahatma Gandhi, and John F Kennedy along with many others are shown in the portraits.  

I’m linking with the following parties. Have fun surfing the Internet for wonderful quilty inspiration.  

Finished or Not Friday

From Bolt to Beauty

This will probably be my one and only post on our trip.  It is taking forever to load pictures.  Although I’m thinking about all things quilting I’m not doing much stitching on the needlepoint pieces I brought with me.  After sightseeing, naps seem our most pressing activity.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge in Progress

I've finally got 5 months worth of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks up on my design wall.  And, ooooh! I really like them.  My quilting friends have been listening to me complain as they are not as easy as I thought they would be. But, darn! They really look good to me.  

Here's how I've been making these 9" finished blocks.  First I make a small set of strips (1" to 2") -- usually 4 or 5 if the strips are really narrow. And repeat that 3 more times.   

Once I get all four strata made I use my 9" Accuquilt Go Cube Companion Set's Drunkard Path dies to cut the outside in white and the inside with the strip set pieces.  (OH no!  I just realized that the 4.5" dies to make the Drunkard Path blocks are no longer in  the 9" Cube Companion sets but they are available in other sizes.) 

When sewing these together I tend to pin like crazy.  There is a nice notch in the center of the arc which I match up and pin. And then I add a few more pins on each side. I generally sew with the white fabric on top and gently stitch the quarter circle, removing pins as I go along. 

Once all four sections are done I iron the seams.  I have been ironing seams of the two opposing sections toward the white and the other two sections to the color.  That lets the seams snug up nicely.

Last step is to sew the four sections together just like a four patch. 

 It does take a bit of time to make each block but the end result is worth it. But, I swear, next year I'm picking easier blocks to make -- maybe. 

That's it for me.  I'm linking up with several Linky parties. Please take a look at what folks are up to by visiting some of these sites.

  Needle and Thread Thursday

Finished or Not Friday

Beauties Pageant

Scrap Happy Saturday 

I'm hoping to upload a few posts while I'm on vacation.  I'll try to include a couple of project pictures with a few of our vacation pictures. If my internet access isn't great then it may be a while before you hear anything else from me! 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 6 - 5 - 2023

It's an exciting week for us.  We leave for Europe at the end of the week.  We'll be cruising around the Baltic Sea and visiting quite a few countries in the area.  I am betting this week will zoom by and we'll be starting our latest travel adventure in no time.  In the meantime, I've got finished goals to share and new goals to list. 

Here's what I wanted to get done this past week. 

5/29/23

Hem a couple of pairs of pants — Found out I didn’t need to hem one, the other needs to be washed first and I keep putting that off! 

✅Make 2 Flower Song Blocks -- 2 done, 3 to go.

✅Finish 3 orange RSC blocks -- All three done, on to June's blocks. 

✅Put border on grapes quilt -- Done and extra fabric put away. Quilt is in the to-be-quilted closet.

I was very happy with what I got done. I spent a bit of time this afternoon working on the 30 Something blocks to get a head start on them. 

Here's a photo of the two Flower Song Blocks. I'm probably going to try to fix some of the seams in the yellow one to make it look a bit better. 

Here's my goals list for this week. 

6/5/23

Put binding on numbers quilt

Clean front end of cutting table 

Work on Thirty Something project

Organize handwork for trip

Attend a wedding 

Fly to Europe! 

I'm actually going to try to get some sewing done this week before the packing for the wedding and the trip start. The wedding is a destination wedding to Maryland's Eastern Shore.  My goddaughter, daughter of my bestie Sharon, is getting married. The next night we fly out for London.  It seems odd to be catching a cruise from South Hampton but that's where it goes from.  Hopefully our bodies will acclimate to the time difference quickly.

The APQ UFO number for June is 1. That means I will be working on a really old project called Thirty Something. (I have no clue what it is actually called!) The book it is from is called Thirty Something and the ruler is also called Thirty Something as it is using a 30 something angle.  Here's the pattern I'm using. 

And, here's all I had done. I've gotten enough units made today for another 4 or 5 of the star blocks.  I was thinking I would make it 42 x 60" so it can be donated to a senior through the guild. The star blocks are 6" finished so the set will be 7 x 10. It works as a leader ender so I might work on it during the July retreat. (Of course being gone for about 2 weeks in June does cut into my sewing time.) It is a good pattern for using scraps.  Luckily I had saved a big hunk of the background fabric so I probably won't run out of it.  

I'm hoping to make some sort of dent in my scraps.  But, honestly, I doubt if I'll be able to see any difference. I definitely need to move some of these blocks around as there is way too much pink in this small section. 

That's it for me tonight.  It would be good to get to bed a bit earlier than my normal time. Please visit the following Linky parties to see what quilters across the world are working on. 

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday 

Monday Musings

To Do Tuesday

I'll be checking back on Monday and Tuesday to link up to the other parties. I hope you have a quilty week and move lots of projects forward!

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

June Mysteries and Quilt Alongs

Here's my listing of new Mysteries and Quilt Alongs for June. But first a big thank you to Sharon Kwilter who passed on the info about Laundry Basket Quilts spring Mystery and the Grid Girls mystery. Sharon blogs at Dragon's Heart Quilting and Crafts. 

If you know of upcoming mysteries or quilt alongs please feel free to pass the information on to me. I do tend to hold listings to closer to when they start. For instance I know there's a stitch along starting in October but I won't be listing it until closer to the start date.   

First up is a Quilt Along beginning 6/1 with All People Quilt. https://www.allpeoplequilt.com/quiltalong/water-colors-summer-quilt-along-2023. You will need to purchase the June 2023 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine.  The web site gives some alternative places to buy the pattern if you can't find it locally. $

Dresden Plate is a free block of the week program that began on May 15, 2023.  You must sign up to receive the weekly emails for the link to the patterns. This is sponsored by Piecing the Past Quilts.  https://www.piecingthepastquilts.com/dresden-picnic-signup

The Fat Quarter Shop is sponsoring Haunted Halloween with a Mystery Quilt and Stitch along. Every Tuesday in June they will release a new block. The  quilt will end up 31.5” x 32.5”.  To join in, all you have to do is gather your supplies  and visit each Tuesday in June to download the free mystery patterns. More information is here https://blog.fatquartershop.com/haunted-halloween-quilt-and-stitch-along-annoucement/

Laundry Basket Quilts will begin Spring Mystery Quilt as a weekly event from May 31 to July 13. Find out more about this mystery at https://www.laundrybasketquilts.com/post/spring-mystery-quilt-2023. Both piecing and appliqué are included.  The quilt will finish at 53.5”  x 53.5”.  Fabric requirements  have been released with optional fabric bundles. 

For those of you who use Creative Grids rulers you might want to check out the private Grid Girls Facebook group.  The Grid Girls will be starting a mystery quilt. You should sign into Facebook and search for Grid Girls. You will have to join it to find out about the mystery.   (Disclaimer: I’ve been informed about this but I’m not a member.)

Here's my Melodic Mystery quilt from Meadow Mist Designs that finished earlier this year. Last month I mentioned the newest mystery by Cheryl, Malted Mystery. Check last month's Mysteries and Quilt Alongs for details.  

Have you got some hints about doing mystery quilts and quilt alongs?  Please feel free to share them in the comments section.  I will round them up and share during one of my monthly Mysteries and Quilt Alongs post.  

I'm linking this up with the following Linky Parties.  Take some time to enjoy seeing what other quilters are up to this week. 

Midweek Makers

Wednesday Wait Loss 

Needle and Thread Thursday

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie