Monday Meanderings 1 - 27 - 2025

Did you know we are 6.85% through with 2025? That doesn't sound like a lot of time but we are almost done with January. February is creeping up on us.  I'm hoping to get a quilt bound before the month is over. 

I had a terrific week finishing my goals this week.  Look at all those check marks!

1/20/25

✅Bind grape quilt — Done!

✅Finish 3.5 rail blocks to top — Main section done, need to buy more border fabric. 

✅Make a couple of potato chip blocks — Done!

✅Quilt another top — Done! 

✅Keep cutting up scraps and putting fabric away — Some done but more to do. 

✅Start new mystery quilt with Sharon, choose and prep fabric for it — Fabric picked and first block finished. 

Here's the top I got quilted this past week.  I was happy to move it from top to quilt. I only need to bind by Friday to have a second finish this month. 

I used So Fine white (401) on this quilt.  And, yes, sadly the greens don't really match.  They are both bright and happy colors though. The design is Quick and Easy Edge to Edge Swirls by My Creative Stitches. The backing fabric will be used for the binding too. 

You know sometimes you win the bobbin challenge and sometimes you lose. I really loss when finishing this quilt. This is the computer read out. Yep, I ran out of bobbin with only 2% left to finish.  The good news is I had another bobbin with a small amount on it that I could quickly load up and finish the top. And, no, I didn't finish the bobbin. But I did finish my first spool of thread (actually a big cone) for 2025.

Sharon and I try to do a mystery quilt or quilt along together every year. We FaceTime and talk while we follow the directions for the month. We decided to do Cali-Co by Coriander Quilts. (It's not too late to start this year-long block of the month.) Read through all the info to find Block 1, Fabric Requirements, Calendar, and the You Tube information.  

I decided I was going to use my stash. I had a nice hunk of turquoise fabric with dabs of pink, yellow, and green. I also had a very bright green, pink, yellow and blue fabric.  I started pulling small bits of fabrics that went with the bright green, pink, yellow and blue.  Then it became apparent to me that the bright fabric was way too bright and there wasn't enough to use as the border. So it served the purpose of finding fabric to use but got sent back to the shelf.  Here's my original fabric pull:

When I started cutting up fabric for block 1 I decided I probably had enough precut half square triangles to make the blocks I needed. Ditto for the 2.5" blocks I needed. And ditto again for most of the white. I did grab a 1.75 yard piece of white on white that I'll continue to use for the borders and some of the HSTs.  Here's my block 1 all finished. 

I am tickled with the finished block.  I chose colors that wouldn't be so dark as to look black. (Um, except that one bottom left square.) My only issue is my seams must have been slightly bigger than 1/4". The block turned out to be 12.25 rather that 12.5".  Hopefully it won't make a difference and the rest of the blocks will come out the right size. 

Since, I didn't take photos of my other projects let's move on to this week's goals. 

1/27/25

Make more potato chip blocks

Bind black, green, and white quilt

Make a placemat from orphan block

Make backing for flannel quilt 

Spend 15 minutes/day cleaning up studio

Start a knit headband 

I wrote another list of things I wanted to do on Friday because I pretty much finished with my list. Several of the items went on my goal list for this week. One of the off list items I did was alter the bottom of a fairly old sweatshirt. I chose my Zermat sweatshirt to remove the bottom ribbing and put on a woven cotton binding. 

This looks weird because it is a dark grey shirt with a lighter grey binding. (And the photo was taken early evening in only artificial light.) See below for a close up of the binding. I did make bias binding so it does have a little stretch. 

Many years ago I made a sweatshirt with a machine appliquéd pig flying and words that said When Pigs Fly or something like that. (You can see it here.) I wear it a lot and the bound bottom edge is so much easier to take on and off and more comfortable to wear. Thus my new attack on my old sweatshirt. I'll let you know how it works.  If I like it I have another one I want to do. It's been so cold this winter that I like having either a sweater or sweatshirt on -- but I hate dragging things over my head for some reason. 

I've maintained my 100% of stitching this week. Here are the details. 

W/ending 1/26/25. 26 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/Jan = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 26/26 days
• Success rate = 100%

I'm linking up with my regular parties. Come take a look. I'll try to link up the other two when they are available. 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday 

Monday Musings

That's it for me now.  I'm hoping to get some reading done before I head to sleep. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 1 - 20 - 2024

I'm looking forward to the first "spring" rehearsal of the Spotsylvanians on Monday. Once again I am going to be the lead for the soprano section. No, that doesn't mean I'm the best singer or know all that much about singing... it's an administrative and a social job. Or that is how I see it.  We'll be going to rehearsals early for the next couple of weeks to meet and greet the new singers as well as those who are continuing.  If you live in the greater Fredericksburg community please consider joining us singing or coming to our spring concert. I'll share details once I learn them. 

I have been fairly negligent at getting my goals completed recently.  It looks like I'm being successful but I really haven't had all that many completely finished goals recently. So, let's see how I did this week. 

1/13/25

✔️Finish 3.5 rail blocks to top stage — close to finished. 

✅Load and quilt a top — finished.

✅Cut out and begin sewing new top — top is finished which is all I planned to do.

✅Find something else that strikes my fancy—organized rectangles for more potato chip blocks. One was made. 

So, actually I finished 3 projects of my goals. One is partially finished.  Wow. I guess I'm doing better than I thought. 

Here's the top I quilted this week (actually Sunday, just under the wire, so to speak.) 

This is another 3 yard quilt from Fabric Cafe. It's called Stepping Stones. It was really easy to make. I bought the green fabric specifically to go with the grapes which I already owned.  And, luckily the purple fabric was left over backing fabric. I have enough of the green fabric for the binding. The quilting design is called Ariana.

I've put binding this quilt on my goals list for this week. 

Here's what I'll be finishing and/or starting this week. 

1/20/25

Bind grape quilt

Finish 3.5 rail blocks to top

Make a couple of potato chip blocks

Quilt another top 

Keep cutting up scraps and putting fabric away

Start new mystery quilt with Sharon, choose & prep fabric for it

Here's a quilt I finished last year.  I've been playing with string quilts a bit as they are a great way to use up a lot of leftovers.  I used a navy blue fabric in the center of the blocks to create the linear look. If you look carefully at an actual block you'll see half of the block I used dark/medium strings and half I used very light strings. 

I used a basic stipple pattern for the quilting. I use stipple a lot as it is pretty fast and creates nice curves on the quilt. Apparently I used either a white/beige thread or possibly a light grey.  

I gave this to my local quilt guild last week.  I'm not sure where it will end up but it will go to someone in my community who will be happy to have it. 

For several years Sharon and I have made a mystery quilt while we visited over FaceTime. Last year I wasn't interested in any of the mysteries so we just sewed what we felt like when we got together.  This year we are going to do Cali & Co. Mystery BOM presented by Coriander Quilts. We both are planning to use scraps along with whatever background fabrics is required. I will be using a white on white I already have. I won't worry about border fabric until later in the year. 

I have done a great job on my 15 Minutes to Stitch this week. 

W/ending 1/19/25. 19 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/Jan = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 19/19 days
• Success rate = 100%

I'm hoping to keep this up for several months.  

These are the Linky Parties I'll be joining. I hope you take a few minutes to visit some of the bloggers who are partying too. 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musing 

Hopefully I'll remember to link up the other two parties tomorrow! 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Potato Chip Block --

 I bet you can't make just one. 

I was bemoaning the fact that I didn't have a Accuquilt Die that cuts a 2.5" x 4.5" rectangle so I could more easily cut the blocks for a potato chip block.  I do have a 2.5" strip cutter so I can cut the strips from leftover pieces or used fat quarters. 

My friend Nancy offered her rectangle die from her 8.5" Cube and bingo my brain fired a synapse. Why couldn't I use my rectangle in my 9.5" Cube.  So I got to work cutting bits and bobs of fabric that could be put to a perfect use. Lots of lights and some medium and darks. (I need to cut way more to make a quilt. 

Then the sewing. I didn't actually sew it the way I've usually seen them made.  But I realize it didn't make much of a difference.  Here's my new block. 

I know you are wondering what I did "wrong."  My center 2 rectangles should be up and down.  But wait! I checked the other 4 blocks I've made and a couple of them aren't the way I "thought" they should go. If I were willing to unpick some seams I would have the first 2 rectangles turned so the seam is up and down. Then the rest would have been the same. Hum, I'm back from a slight trip down the rabbit hole to see if I could find a definitive Potato Chip block. Um, no, not in the 5 minutes I spent looking.  So this block is fine! 

So, here's the info if you have any of the regular Cubes. Number 8 die can be used for making Potato Chip blocks.  Yep, any size Cube, Number 8 die. My 9.5" die gave me a block that measures about 13.75".  I also have a 3.5" x 6.5" rectangle that I will be trying also.  But I'm pretty sure it will work too -- just a bigger finished block will result. 

When picking colors I "try" not to pick one that will be overwhelming dark. Yes, like the upper right top piece. It is actually a dark green with a lighter design. I will be more careful in the future because I like a lighter, airier look to these blocks. 

Evidently, I now have 2 potato chip quilts going. One for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge and this one for the 9.5" Cube.  Oh boy. Maybe I can make a dent in some of my scraps and fat quarters.  

I'm linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss and Finished or Not Friday.

Now it is on to finishing a rail fence top.  Or quilting a red, white and blue quilt. Or maybe cutting some more chips, er rectangles from scraps and half used fat quarters. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 1 - 13 - 2025

Surprisingly we still have snow on the ground. It's been pretty cold over the last week.  The greater DC area often has weather ups and downs during the winter.  In fact we've hardly had snow for the last 3 years. I was surprised that temps stayed so cold for nearly a week.  I suspect most of the snow will be gone by next weekend because each day is going to be warmer than freezing.  There is a chance of more snow next Sunday. Hopefully nothing will come of it! 

I was pretty distracted this week so I didn't pay as much attention to my sewing as I usually do. (I also had several books that came in and I wanted to read...) Here's how I did on my goals.

1/5/25

✅Layout the 3.5” rail blocks — most of the rail rows are sewn together 

Load and quilt a top - didn’t happen 

✅Continue cleaning cutting table — minor progress made 

✅Make 2 E quilter blocks for me — done 

Start a new top — looked but nothing concrete happened

For the last several years I've been making rail blocks using 1.5" by 3.5" strips. Evidently, I passed the number I needed years ago. I had put these blocks on my UFO challenge list this year and the number was pulled for January.  I wasn't really excited about it but I did have a folder with some ideas of how to lay them out.  My first layout just didn't look good to me. I went back to the folder and decided to emulate Nann's version.  Here's Nann's post showing her version.  Hum, looking this over I notice that all the color in each of her blocks was the same color. If red, the outside rails appear the same color while the inside rail is a different red.  I didn't focus on the center rail and often used all sorts of different fabrics.  Here's what mine looks like now. 

So all the rows have 12 blocks except the blue that has 13.  I'll be removing a block from each of the blue rows and sewing the purples together this week. I hope to get the background fabric cut and sewn to finish it to a top. 

Here's a strip of fabric I might be using for a small border.  It's a leftover from a backing fabric. I hope I have enough fabric left to put at least a 2.5" border around the top. 

And, I made two additional blocks that I call the FCQ Equilter blocks (for lack of knowing the real name.) Hum, the center pink is the original block I made.  The top and bottom are the new ones.  The bottom one seems a little too dark.  I'm looking forward to receiving more blocks from the Equilters. 

And now my goals for this week . . . 

1/13/25

Finish 3.5 rail blocks to top stage 

Load and quilt a top

Cut out and begin sewing new top

Find something else to work on that strikes my fancy

I was at a loss as to what to put on my new goals list.  I'm not sure what I'll choose to add to my goals. I'll probably continue cleaning up the cutting table. Part of that cleaning up is cutting scraps into various sizes with my Accuquilt dies.  Eventually I'll need to figure out what I should do with these various sizes! 

15 Minutes of Stitching 

W/ending 1/12/25. 12 days of January

• 15 minute days/Jan = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 12/2 days
• Success rate = 100%

I like that 100% success rate.  We'll see how long that lasts. 

I'm linking up with the following parties: 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday 

Monday Musing

Hopefully this week I'll remember to link up the other two blogs on Monday rather than later in the week! Have fun doing some surfing this week! 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

A Couple More Finishes!

Today I have two more finishes to share. 

First up is a project with blocks made by the FCQ Equilters -- years ago! Yes, I still have several different block sets that should be made into quilt/s. This project used 16 patches made with 2" (unfinished) squares in red, white and blue.  I added 6" x 3" flying geese to make stars.

I used FanFare quilting design by My Creative Stitches.  It looks like I used red So Fine thread. From what I can tell I finished this quilt in March of '24.  I will probably give this to the local guild to donate to a veteran. 

Are you a fan of Cheryl and Meadow Mist blog? I decided to do her mystery quilt in 2022 for the first time. My friend Sharon and I got together with FaceTime once a month to sew the mystery together. I finally quilted it in July of 24.  I think part of the reason I postponed quilting this one is I was undecided on the quilting design. 

I decided to "store" it on the guest bedroom -- there's another quilt under this one. 

Here's a closeup of the quilting pattern. It is Sunshine, by Melonie Caldwell and sold at Urban Elementz.  Can't tell which thread I used but it was definitely a white or cream. 

It's always fun when I can use fabric from my stash. For this quilt I already had this green with bright colored polka dots and possibly the dark green. I did buy the purply-pink and possibly the background fabric. 

I'm linking up with these Linky Parties: 

Wednesday Wait Loss 

Beauties Pageant 

Put Your Foot Down

Finished or Not Friday

Off the Wall Friday

They have lots of wonderful blogs listed for you (and me) to visit.  I've been reading a lot this week and playing computer games rather than spending a lot of time in my studio.  So, it seems like visiting some of these blog posts will be very entertaining this weekend. I hope you do some blog hopping too. 

Every year I drop my finished spools in a basket to see how many I use during the year.  Here's the photo from this year's spool usage. 

I've been keeping track of my spool usage since 2012.  My highest spool usage was 30 and it happened in 2014 and 2017. (My guess is I was embroidering a lot and used a lot of spools of embroidery thread!) I'm happy with the 20 spools for this year. My lowest number was 7 in 2016. I don't know what happened that year. Maybe I started buying cones for my domestic machine along with the long arm. 

That's it for me tonight. We've got more snow coming in over night but hopefully it won't be more than 2" or so.  The temperatures have been staying near or below  freezing since the snowstorm on Monday.  Hopefully we'll see some temps above freezing so the snow will begin to melt.  I'll be spending the weekend in the studio in hopes of making all my goals this week.

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie

Monday Meanderings 1 -6 - 2025

 Welcome 2025 -- Let's Get Quilting! 

I've had a quiet week since the new year came in until tonight. Now snow is on the way.  Lots of snow is coming in the next 24 hours -- 10 to 12".  This is coming to an area that hasn't seen all that much snow over the last few years.  We've charged all of our devices, checked the food supplies, and made sure there is a lot of tp and tissues. We're ready. So now back to my normal blog writing.  

First up my goals for the past week.  I did pretty well but I didn't take many pictures. Sigh. 

12/30/24

✅Finish binding pinwheel quilt — finished.

✅Put borders on fall quilt — done.

✅Enjoy the Rose Bowl Parade - done although I wasn't as happy with the tv coverage. 

✅Work on UFO Challenge project -- plan figured out and ready to try with blocks. 

✅Spend 15 minutes a day cleaning up especially the front of my cutting table -- succeeded 5 out of 7 days, I can see a good portion of the front section. 

The only quilting picture I have to share is the finished fall applique top.  It's ready to be quilted. I plan to do it on my domestic machine as I don't want to use an all over design plus it will be easier to go around  the 3-D sunflower on the domestic.

Here's what I hope to do this week. 

1/6/25

Layout the 3.5” rail blocks

Load and quilt a top

Continue cleaning cutting table

Make 2 E quilter blocks for me

Start a new top

What I did do this week is figure out my fabric use statistics.  I had to figure Oct, Nov, and Dec ins and out.  So here are the results from the last 3 months of the year.  

2025	Yards in Month	Yards In Year	Yards Out Month	Yards Out Year	Total Yards In or Out Year
October	8.25	93.75	3.00	129.50	35.65
November	24.50	118.25	17.25	146.65	28.40
December	0.50	118.75	21.00	167.65	48.90

This was an amazing year!  I have been purchasing a lot of backing fabrics. And using them nearly as fast as I bought them.  I think I have 3 more to use. I have lots of finished quilts piled around my sewing space. I'm looking forward to going to the next guild meeting to unload some of my finishes and getting them into the hands of folks who can use them. 

Here's my end of 2024 15 Minutes to Stitch and the start for 2025. Yes, I'll continue to stitch for 15 minutes each day this year. I have determined stitching to mean I'm in the studio working -- it might be cutting out fabric, sewing it, planning and designing quilts, and any handwork I do including sewing, embroidery, or knitting.  This result looks fabulous! Here's hoping for a lot of 100% weeks in my future.

W/ending 1/5/25 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Dec =2/2 days 
• 15 minute days/Jan = 5/5 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 5/5 days
• Success rate = 100%

Please visit these Linky Parties.  It's fun to see what people are working on across the Internet!  OOPS! I totally forgot to link up with my bottom two parties.

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday 

Monday Musing

I end this post with a new picture of Sunny. She got the orange ball for Christmas -- it's a perfect size for her.  She's getting better but she still has minor itching which means she still has a few spots of bare skin. A lot is growing in. We've added wiping her face and feet with water-downed apple cider vinegar after she has been walking on grass in the neighborhood.  It seems to help. But she still has a regime of pills to take and baths. We're looking forward to the day we can bathe her less than 3 times a week.  

Just added! We had a lot of snow for our area on Monday. Biggest storm in over 3 years.  More coming Friday night to Sat morning. High temps staying below freezing.  It's going to be a while before we are snow free again. Usually we have a big melting between storms but not this year apparently!  The worst part is the snow is Sunny-chest-deep. We put her in fresh snow and she goes up to her chest -- I think it is holding her up.  We've finally figured out where and how to get her to do her business outside. She definitely does not like it. The orange ball also met its demise -- she chewed a hole in it.  Sigh. Back to the bigger balls. And back to sewing. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie