Monday Meanderings 8 - 4 - 2025

Yahoooooo! Our hot weather has broken.  Early this morning it was 60˚.  And it stayed nice with lower humidity all day.  Although most of my time was spent in my studio in the basement, I did get out a couple of times to walk Sunny. We didn't even have to worry about paws being burnt on the asphalt street.  I finally had a bit more motivation to finish up another of my retreat tops. Most goals were achieved last week. 

✅Put all my retreat supplies away — done. 

✅Put borders on Pretty Please — finished. 

✅Finish FCQ Equilters blocks — completed and ready to get it in the mail. 

Pick a quilt and backing — I picked them but didn’t do anything with it! 

✅Keep knitting on the current hat — finished except pompom. Another one is started. 

✅Work on cross stitch project bag  — more stitches are done. 

Here's Pretty Please which is now named Popsicle. (Pretty Please is the name of the pattern from Fabric Cafe.) Who knows when I'll find a fabric for the backing. 

I also finished the last few FCQ Equilter blocks this week.  I'll get them off in the mail sometime this week. There are other ways to lay them out but this one caught my eye. I quit at 6 blocks. 

I didn't take photos of the hat nor the cross stitch project bag.  Maybe next week. Now on to this week's goals list. 

8/5/25

Figure out next steps for my 1.5” squares sewn into 9 patches

Quilt a top

Prep triangle top to quilt on my domestic machine 

Continue working on the counted cross stitch project bag and the hat

Attend Country Piecemakers guild meeting Saturday 

Here are a few things I worked on off list. First is a triple rail quilt from Even More Quilts for Baby from Ursula Reikes.  When I opened this quilt kit at retreat I had no idea what I had done.  Evidently I hadn't cut all the rails I would need and the focus fabric was cut the wrong size and way too many than needed. Last week I auditioned three different fabrics for the centers. 

Biker Chicks 

Dalmations 

Mickey Mouse 

As much as I like the Biker Chicks I just couldn't see it as a baby quilt. Dalmations would have worked but Mickey won out because I had enough fabric to cut the 4 8.5" blocks and not a lot leftover. Bonus. 

Here's Mickey's Triple Rail quilt top. It's about 38" square if I remember correctly. The hospital we donate our baby quilts to like smaller quilts for the NICU. So this will work great. 

I also decided on my fabrics for the Magnificent Mystery Quilt being offered by Cheryl Brickey at Meadow Mist Designs. (This links directly to the info page for the Mystery Quilt.)  The cutting directions will be released on Thurs, 8/7.  I've got my fabric picked but I'm waiting for my background fabric that I ordered Sunday. 

All of the colored fabric came from my stash. Amazing.  Although I really like the background fabric at the top it's only a fat quarter so I'm not using it. Hopefully I'll like the fabric I ordered.  I bought a bolt of it as I needed some beige-y fabric for bordering one of my quilts from retreat and possibly could use it as backings fora couple of tops. I really like these fabrics and how well they go together. Fingers are crossed that the new background fabric will look terrific with them. 

Another week of 100% on 15 Minutes of Stitching.

W/ending 8/3/25. 215 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/July = 31/31
• 15 minute days/August = 3/3
• 15 minute days/2024 = 215/215 days
• Success rate = 100%

Please take a few minutes to visit these Linky parties. Lots of ideas will pop off the pages. 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday 

Monday Musings 

I'll leave you with one more photo.  Be careful of wandering seam rippers! This one rolled off my sewing machine table. I don't know if it rolled off through the open area at the side of the machine or whether it rolled off the front. But it landed point first.  I showed the presser foot to show that it was ridiculously close to my foot which was wearing a sandal at the time. 😳😳

And with that I'm done. My quilting buddy Sharon is coming up at the end of the week and we're looking forward to making progress on some of our projects and getting to visit in person for the first time since last October, I think. 

Happy Quilting All.  Bonnie 

August Mysteries and Quilt Alongs August 2025

 August 2025 Mysteries and Sew Alongs 

Here’s a new one to me. It’s called Aloha 5-0.  You need to sign up for it through any of the quilt stores who are offering it.  To sign up you need to purchase a $50 gift card from a participating quilt store. (Yep, you basically commit to buying $50 worth of fabric, patterns notions etc.) There is a private Facebook group for this mystery.  Do a Google search on Aloha 5-0 quilt to find stores that are participating.  It starts August 6, 2025 with emailed directions sent every week in August with the finishing instructions sent in September. Here’s the web address of one of the stores participating in Aloha 5-0. https://www.quilt-lady.com/mystery-five-0.htm  $$ (but you get it back when you buy from the store.)

Hello Fall is a Mystery Sew Along that will featuring a pieced design enhanced with wool appliqué and embroidery.  The designs will be available free for one week until the next block is released. It starts August 8. Here's a link to one of the stores that is participating. https://reetsragstostitches.com/blogs/news/hello-fall-new-farmhouse-friends-sew-along You can join their Farm House Friends Facebook group to find others who are participating.  

The Fat Quarter Shop is having a sew along featuring The Jolly Bar Book Vo. 5.  You must buy the book. It starts August 13th and runs until December.  The schedule and fabric requirements are a free download. https://www.fatquartershop.com/the-jolly-bar-book-vol-5-sampler-quilt-along-fabric-requirements-free-pdf-pattern?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=jolly-bar-5-qal-announcement $

Laundry Basket Quilts is sponsoring a weekly mystery quilt August 27 through October 22nd. Check this posting about it:  

https://www.laundrybasketquilts.com/blogs/lbq-blog/2025-mystery-quilt?se_activity_id=192687014164&syclid=d1ukvrdd220s73c771v0&utm_campaign=Let's+Get+Ready+for+Our+2025+Mystery+Quilt!_192687014164&utm_medium=email&utm_source=shopify_email

Enjoy this month's selection.  If you know of an upcoming mystery or sew along feel free to send me an email. I keep an ongoing list of upcoming events and post them generally a month before or the post after I find out about them.  Thanks for your help! 

Monday Meanderings 7 - 28 - 2025

It was a great week and a great retreat.  I really enjoy gathering with these ladies, catching up and sewing.  I'll see some of them at the Country Piecemakers meeting in August. I was really successful too. Here's my goal list.

7/21/25

 ✅Attend retreat — great fun and terrific to see these friends again. 

Piece these tops in the order given as time allows:

 ✅Soho — center done, will do borders at home.

Triple Rail baby quilt — what was I thinking?  This was not a doable project! The rails were all made but the novelty fabric wasn’t right. 

  Irish Christmas (mine in spring colors!) — HSTs were sewn and trimmed. Putting the quilt together will come later. 

 ✅Cornerpost — all done. 

 ✅Pretty Please — need to find a border.

 ✅Dinos and Friends (PCQ Charity Quilt for Kids) — easy-peasy. Finished, ready to find a backing and quilt

 ✅Write article on Mysteries and Sew Alongs  — done. 

 ✅Keep working on cross stitch project bag — one thread was stitched. (Doesn’t sound like much but it is making progress.

First up, Soho. Not a great picture but you get the idea. This is a Fabric Cafe 3 yard quilt.  The beige fabric corners on the blue block should be the border on this one.  I knew I would need to use a different fabric for the border as I didn't have enough. I'll check my stash to see if anything will go with this one.  It may take a while to finish. 

Triple Rail baby quilt -- oh my goodness.  I don't know what I was doing when I cut out this "kit."  The triple rail part of this one was made although I had to cut some more strips to succeed.  But the center novelty fabric? I have about 20 8 x 8" blocks. I needed 4 much smaller squares. I decided not to cut the 8 x 8" blocks as they would work really well for a quilt bigger than 36" square. I'll find another novelty fabric to go with the rails.  Stay tuned. 

Irish Christmas is a more involved quilt.  I got all, 48, of the half square triangles sewn and trimmed.  This project might wait for my October retreat or I might sew it before then.  It is a bit more complicated to try to make it in a retreat setting -- catching up with friends, talking and carrying on. So maybe this will be done at home in the near feature.

Cornerpost is from a magazine design I had saved.  I probably won't do another one but it was fairly easy to put together.  (I turned the center row upside down so I ended up with the three light blocks all at the bottom. Bummer. But, not worth turning it around.) 

Pretty Please is another 3 Yard Quilt. I made it earlier this year that you can see here. This is a very easy, quick quilt.  The borders, in purple, will be added soon.  I like the multicolored popsicles It's a fun quilt. 

Dinos and Friends was super easy and fast to sew together. It took much longer to find all the fabrics, iron them, and cut them out than to sew it. (I love having kits to sew at retreat.) I probably should have cut out two instead of just one. I may have to find some more fabric to make another one of these quilts. 

Here's a link to Jan Ochterbeck's blog and directions for this quilt and others. This will be given through my quilt guild to a youngster in our community. 

Luckily the drive back from the retreat house was easy -- no rain, no wind just some traffic. I've already taken one nap.  I'll probably go to bed early tonight -- I'm pooped! Here's what's on the list for this coming week. 

7/28/25

Put all my retreat supplies away

Put borders on Pretty Please

Finish FCQ Equilters blocks 

Pick a top and backing and quilt it

Keep knitting on the current hat

Work on cross stitch project bag 

I definitely got my 15 minutes of stitching done this week. 

W/ending 7/27/25. 208 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/July = 27/27
• 15 minute days/2024 = 208/208 days
• Success rate = 100%

Here are a few photos of some of the other projects people were working on. (BTW -- there were only 7 of us.) 

M's lunch box from a pattern from Annie's called Out to Lunch 2.0. She had a good time making it. She also made -- get this -- tennis shoes! 

Pretty cool. I'd love to make a pair but my feet like good arch support! 

B cut and sewed this top at retreat. (It was 6 days and 5 nights, although we all left by about 11 this morning.) This doesn't do the colors justice though.

D is a Studio 180 teacher and was working on these blocks. She was able to get quite a few of them done. 

I was surprised that I didn't have more photos.  I hope my friends will share photos when their blocks becoming tops.  A lot of fun sewing was going on.  

I'm worn out. So, let's get the link-up done and call it a night! 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings 

I'll be back to link the last two tomorrow.  I hope you can take some time to visit these Linky parties and check out different blogs around the world. 

Happy Quilting,  Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 7 -- 21 -- 2025

No news on the weather here.  It's been the same for most of the week.  Maybe a little more humid than last week. UGH.  This week it is suppose to get to 95˚ (that's 35 C.)  Heaven only knows what the "feels like" temp will be. On the other hand I'll be up in some local mountains.  Nothing that high but hopefully slightly cooler. But I'm going to be in quilting heaven -- it's retreat time! 

Last week's goals- 

7/14/25

✅Make more FCQ Equilter's blocks — A couple more finished, a couple need to be finished.

✅Put some fabric away/ clean up a bit a lot — Great progress made! 

✅Make more string blocks and trim — did not trim yet but more were made.

Load and quilt one of my quilts — nope, not done.

Cut more Happy Blocks — a few more cut and a few more fabrics found.

First up 4 of the FCQ Equilter's blocks. I've got two more partially made. They'll be waiting til next week to be finished. 

I spent a whole day cleaning up my cutting table.  I got 2/3rds of it done and looking great. Here is the before picture. 

This is what my secondary cutting space looked like when I started cleaning.  I didn't take a pic of my main cutting area. It wasn't this bad because I use it for cutting all the time. But look at the difference! 

The front area is mostly cleaned up. The area with the yellow mat is my main cutting area looking ready to be used. Of course, after I used it it didn't look that good. Sigh. But I did put any fabric on it away -- the rulers can stay there. 

If you could see the whole front and the right side better you would see that side still needs a lot of work. I've found that I tend to leave fabric out, bits that are usable if cut into squares and HSTs but I never seemed to get to it.  I'm hoping I can have another day cleaning out the fabric bits and pieces next week when I'm back from retreat.  There are a few other areas that need work too. 

Since I didn't think to take any pictures of my string blocks let's move on to my goals for this coming week.  The biggest thing is the retreat I'm going on with 6 of my quilting buddies. So, sewing my several quilt kits together is my main plan. 

7/21/26

Attend retreat

Piece these tops in the order given as time allows:

  Soho

  Triple Rail baby quilt

  Irish Christmas (my fabrics are spring colors!) 

  Counterpoint 

  Pretty Please 

  Dinos and Friends (PCQ Charity Quilt for Kids)

Write article on Mysteries and Sew Alongs 

Keep working on cross stitch project bag 

Yep, I've got a lot of projects but it's ok if I don't get to all of them.  Soho is leftover, untouched, from the October 2024 retreat. If I don't get all of the projects started they will stay for the October 2025 retreat. Many of these are 3 yard quilts so they should be fairly easy. 

I did start the counted cross stitch on my new project bag.  I didn't get much done but here it is. I won't mention how many stitches I took out either.  It'll go with me and maybe I'll be able to get some more stitching done.  

I also did the July Cali-Co block. My friend Sharon and I call on FaceTime and chat as we make the block each month. So here is block 7. Hum, I need to trim this block especially on the right side.         ↘️

Here are all seven blocks together. 

I'm enjoying making these blocks.  I have no idea what the final quilt will look like -- but I'm looking forward to making all the rest. 

I have been sewing or knitting or cross stitching every day this week.  Not bad! I'm still at 100%. 

W/ending 7/20/25. 201 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/July = 20/20
• 15 minute days/2024 = 201/201 days
• Success rate = 100%

I leave Tuesday for the retreat. We rent a house in western Virginia that is set up for quilting and scrapbooking retreats. Unfortunately we do have to bring our own food. We cook dinner in pairs but bring our own breakfast and lunch supplies.  I'm all set with my quilting plans and food plans.  I just need to pack and drive off on Tuesday.  I'll be back Sunday early in the afternoon.  

Please check out these Linky Parties.  Lots of great things to see from bloggers around the world. 

Oh Scrap

Stitching Stuff

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie