Monday Meanderings 9 - 16 - 2024

Wow!  We've forgotten how much work a dog can be.  Especially a needy dog like Sunny.  She needs to be fed 4 times a day. Every 3 days she needs a bath. We're still trying to figure out her cues for potty breaks. And, someone is walking her a couple of times a day.  Add in the trip to the vet and a trip north to watch Teddy's soccer game and introduce Sunny to the kids and grands -- she's keeping us busy. 

Soph and Sunny hanging out during the game. Sunny's working hard at growing her  hair and fur. Yep, Westies have two coats -- the bottom coat is fur and the top coat is stiffer hair. 

Here's what I tried to get accomplished this past week. And, yes, I did check a few things off but I didn't do all I thought I could get done. Sigh.

9/9/24

✅Finish one more of Joan’s blocks and mail them — finished; but not mailed.

✅Quilt customer top — done and returned.

Finish Sea Side Village — all threads tied, ready to put a facing on it. 

✅Make happy blocks and plan layout — picked all fabs for the blocks and began the layout. 

✅Cut another quilt kit— finished.  

✅Keep stitching on the ornaments — worked on one at Monday stitching.

Here's a bit of the customer's quilt I long armed this week. She chose Ginger Heart and a light blue thread.  I think I took this picture with just the first row done. She was quite happy with it. 

And here are the Happy Blocks I've been working on. I decided to make a bigger quilt and make it neutral so it can be given to a boy or a girl. 

I've been picking fabrics for additional blocks to set it 5 x 6 or 48" x 60" approximately. The blocks finish at 8". I'll get the new blocks all cut out before I leave for North Carolina Tuesday.  After making a lot of these quilts I'm finally learning that some colors look really dark and don't enhance the quilts.  I'm trying to pick lighter fabrics but not ones that look too light. (The elephant one seems too light while the top left island one seems too dark. I don't think I'm changing any of those already made!) For these I used a 4.5" center square and 2.5" strips to make 2 strips 4.5" and 2 strips 8.5". It is a really easy pattern. I'm ready to find a new super easy pattern one of these days! 

On Tuesday I'm off for a several days of quilting at Sharon's house. Here's what I hope to get done. And, yes, I'm pretty sure I have at least one or two more projects to bring but these are the ones I want to finish while I'm gone.  It's better to have too many projects than not enough. 

9/16/24

Keep stitching on the ornaments

Drive to Sharon’s for a quilting get together

Put double border on purple/floral top

Put facing on Sea Side Village 

Cut out and make happy blocks, lay out, and sew the top 

Finish the panel top

Remember that trip to watch the soccer game mentioned above?  We left the house at 9 and didn't get home until after 2. But we were exhausted (as was Sunny.) I don't think I did anything in the studio or any hand stitching that day.  So, I have another day where no sewing took place. I did finish a book or two this week. Here are my numbers. Considering my success rate is in the mid 90s percent-wise, I'm pretty happy with the results.  

W/ending 9/15  — 259 days in to 2024. 

• 15 minute days/week = 6/7 days
• 15 minute days/Sept = 14/15
• 15 minute days/2024 = 249/259 days
• Success rate = 96.1%

Have you been keeping up with Material Girlfriends' website? They have been offering a free 3 yard quilt pattern every month. This month's is called Bravo. I'm enamored with it and may have to find fabric to make it this month.  I've been making a point of buying more 1 yard fabric pieces so I can use some of these cool patterns.  If you like the idea of 3 yard quilts check out their offerings.  

I mentioned finishing a book this week. I actually finished 5 with a couple being audio books that I listen to while stitching.  Being an avid reader I pay attention when folks recommend a book or I think I might like a book from the blurb that shows up in the catalog once my library gets it.  This week I read Miss Morgan's Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles who also wrote The Paris Library. It was excellent.  

Here's what Amazon says about it: 1918: As the Great War rages, Jessie Carson takes a leave of absence from the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France (CARDS). Founded by millionaire Anne Morgan, this group of international women help rebuild destroyed French communities just miles from the front. Upon arrival, Jessie strives to establish something that the French have never seen—children’s libraries. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains the first French female librarians.  Then she disappears."

The story moves between what is happening in WWI France and 1987 New York  where a NYPL librarian and budding writer first reads about the organization and decides to find out more about Jessie. Her story is how she uncovers more information about the CARDS and writes a book about them. 

It was a riveting book based on many of the real women who were involved with CARDS.  My only problem with it is I've read too many world war historical novels recently.  I was really ready for something light and fluffy. I've promised myself I won't read anything but light and fluffy for the next few books. We'll see how that goes! 

I'll be linking with these parties: Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Design Wall Monday, and Monday Musings. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

 

Monday Meanderings 9 - 9 - 2024

It's been a week.  You'll see by my goals I didn't get much done.  Either that or I went off goal a bit.  I thought I had a lot of quilting time this week but both Saturday and Sunday had only limited stitching going on.  Let's look at what I wanted to get done! 

9/2/24

✅Keep working on grands’ ornaments — a little more done.

✅Finish seaside top  — worked on but not finished yet.

Border old purple top — didn’t start.

Make blocks, if needed & lay out happy quilt — took out the blocks but nothing more! 

Quilt another top if I have time — Nope, didn’t happen but got the backing ironed.

I did get the first row of 2.5" squares around the panel but notice I didn't put it on my goals list. What was I thinking?  It took longer than I thought to sew on the strips of squares.  

I did get the last stitches into the Seaside top. I have a lot of threads to tie off on it.   But my motivation has been low tying off the thread.  I'll spend some time this evening finishing those threads.  And then I need to figure out how to face it rather than bind it. 

Here's what I think I'll work on this week. Time will tell if I succeed!

9/9/24

Finish one more of Joan’s blocks and mail them

Quilt customer top

Finish Sea Side Village 

Make happy blocks and plan layout

Cut another quilt kit 

Keep stitching on the ornaments

I'm hoping I can get all that done. Time will tell. 

I skipped my stitching group Monday while I made a dish to take to our street-wide  Labor Day party.  I did spend some time reading and finished a book or two.

By the time Saturday came by I hadn't done as much as I thought I would. We spent most of Saturday at a session on leadership and looking to the future of the Spotsylvanians Community Chorus. It was interesting but no sewing was involved! 

And Sunday wasn't any better sewing-wise. (After I finish this I'll need to stitch for 15 minutes still!) But it's been a terrific day.  We have been looking to adopt a rescue West Highland Terrier.  And, we were approved to get one this past week.  Miss Sunny came into our lives this morning.  She's needs a lot of tender loving care until she looks like a Westy.  She has a problem with her skin which made her lose her hair. It's a pretty common thing with Westies and is definitely treatable. 

Here's what she looks like now. 

Here's what she looked like before the issues. 

We've got some challenges ahead.  For the next week she needs to be bathed every day with special shampoo and then we need to massage in a mousse. You can't tell from her current picture but a bit of her fur is making a comeback on her back and the top of her head. She's also very underweight. But she is a real cuddle bug.  I'll keep sharing photos of her so you can see how she is progressing.  She's two years old.  She's not had a lot of experience with grass so that is a bit of a challenge to get her on the grass for her business. We took her for a walk to the end of the street and back and she's totally wiped out next to me on the couch. I'll put her to bed when I'm finished with this and my stitching time. 

Here's my stitching info for this week. I made the assumption I will get 15 minutes done.  

W/ending 9/8 — 252 days in to 2024. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Sept = 9/9
• 15 minute days/2024 = 243/252 days
• Success rate = 96.4% 

I'll be linking with: Life in Pieces, Oh Scrap, Design Wall Monday, and Monday Musings.  Hope you can do a bit of surfing this week. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings

Happy September.  We had a roaring thunderstorm Friday night. From what we could find out we got 3+" of rain which we definitely needed.  The lightening was almost nonstop.  The thunder for a while was breaking over the house or so it seemed.  I think the power went out three times.  I haven't talked to anyone to see if they had any damage.  In previous bad storms neighbors have lost several electronics from the lightening strikes.  I always unplug my sewing machines -- at least two of them stay unplugged unless I'm using them. My last one is my Bernina that I use every day, or just about. I unplug it when I know a storm may be coming. 

With all that wild weather you would think I wouldn't get much done on my goals. But I have been dedicated and made progress on everything. Here's how I did. 

8/26/24

✅Quilt pink & turquoise Picket Fence top — I quilted and bound my Benny Quilt. 

✅Finish sewing snowballs together — sewn together, measured and stashed in my top closet. 

✅Get sides of panel cut and sewn on — first border is on. 

✅Keep working on grands’ ornaments — head done on the first animal, body started.  

✅Cut out another quilt kit — done! 

I didn't take as many photos as I usually do so not many pictures to show my progress.  But I did take a picture of my finished Benny quilt.  You can find the directions to make one at Michelle's Romantic Tangle blog.  See her directions here.

This is an old post (2013) but I really liked the idea of using up some of my 2.5" squares. I made mine one row bigger than Michelle shows. 

I used a light aqua solid in the centers. I used So Fine thread #518. It's called barely green. (I thought it was a light aqua.) It worked well. 

The quilting design is called Busy Bees by My Creative Stitching. Here's a close up.  There is a flower on the left with the bee on the right. 

Busy Bees by My Creative Stitches

I made a little bit of progress on the panel.  I'll be adding to it over the next few weeks.  I'm not motivated to finish it in a hurry. 

Next up I plan to put one or two rows of 2.5" squares around it. We'll see how far I get on this one over this week. 

On to what I'll be doing this week. 

9/2/24

Keep working on grands’ ornaments 

Finish seaside top 

Fill out panel sides with 2.5” squares

Border old purple top

Make blocks, if needed & lay out happy quilt blocks

Quilt another top if I have time

I did have another great week of stitching every day. 

W/ending 9/1 — 245 days in to 2024. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Aug = 31/31 days
• 15 minute days/Sept = 1/1
• 15 minute days/2024 = 236/245 days
• Success rate = 96.3% 

I did make another foray to JoAnns to buy more fabrics. I got backings for two more tops.  I tend to only shop for backings when JoAnns has the Keepsake fabric on sale at $4.99. I also was able to buy some Kona fabric at $2.99/yard. Yep, you read that right.  I bought the end of two different turquoise Kona cottons - Ice Frappe and Aruba. One had nearly 3 yards on it and the other had 1.5 yards.  I'm not sure what I'll be using them for but I wasn't turning that price down.   As you might guess I watch the ads carefully. I've got several tops with backing ready to quilt. 

I'm linking up with these parties: Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Design Wall Monday and Monday Musings. 

That's it for me this week.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie