Monday Meanderings 4 - 28 - 2025

A great week for my stitching and a quilting celebration.  First the Virginia Star Quilt Guild celebrated their 40th anniversary.  We are set up as a social club rather than an educational group.  So, we decided to have a formal tea to celebrate our 40th year. Here are a few pictures from our celebration. 

Guests were greeted with name tents. The flowers in the back were arranged by our member Mary. (I donated the use of my favorite vase which had been my mother's.) 

One of the table decorations before all the other items were added. 

Yummy scones were served.  Notice the cookie (!) that had a special design on it celebrating the guild's anniversary.

We also had a display of several quilts from our members. This one 👆🏼is a president's quilt from several years ago. The members made houses to be put into the quilt. 

Most of these pieces were from classes the guild sponsored.  The big quilt 👆🏼 hanging is Jamestown Landing made by Shirley K. from a class by Bonnie Hunter.  (I have a matching one in turquoise from the same class. You can see it here.) 

We had a Pat Sloan workshop.  This is Linda K's result of the class. 👆🏼 Below 👇🏼 is Karen E's version. They are both called Mama's Garden.  What fun to see two very different quilts from the same class.  

Now on to my normal Monday blog content!  It was a good week for stitching. Here's my goals list from last week. 

4/21/25

✅Make Cali-Co quilt along April Block — done.

✅Quilt Orange Peel on domestic machine — done, waiting to bind. 

Finish another hat — half made. 

✅✅Make 2 more Equilters 9 patches — finished the cut out ones from last week and 3 more done. 

I'm enjoying working on each block of this mystery quilt along from Coriander Quilts. This week I cut out all the white strips and a selection of squares for the corners. (That'll save time while making the rest of the blocks.)

It's such a good feeling to make lots of progress on an old top.  I started by quilting the big circles the peels made. One column done. Then I started on the next column. Except, um, I got lost following the circles and made a wrong turn. Ok, I can deal with that. By the end of the day I had echo stitched all the peels but not as big circles. 👇🏼 The stitching still enhances the big circles but also the inside of the circles.  

The next day I got the borders done. (Pictures to come.) Which brings me to this week's goals. Yep, I'm planning on doing the binding. 

4/28/25

Bind orange peel quilt 

Finish knitting hat

Begin 3 yard quilt project 

Make more 9 patches 

Attend dress rehearsal and sing two concerts with Spotsylvanians

My 3 yard quilt project has a deadline. It was originally Sunday the 4th. Luckily it can be postponed to the end of May instead.  The fabric comes in tomorrow so I can get started on it. It's a secret project that will be a gift. I'll tell more about later. 

My 15 minutes of stitching has been successful again this week. Yee haw! I doubt if I'll make it all year but it feels great to keep this up!

W/ending 4/27/25. 117 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/Apr = 27/27
• 15 minute days/2024 = 117/117 days
• Success rate = 100%

I'll be linking with my regular parties. Check out these parties to see what quilters are doing this week. 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musing 

It's going to be a long week with not as much stitching time as I would want. But I'm actually looking forward to having Monday evenings at home instead attending rehearsals. We'll be singing the National Anthem at the Fred Nats minor league baseball game later in the month.  And the neighborhood chorus is getting ready for concerts at the end of May. So I'll still be singing. 

That's it for me today.  If you are interested in mysteries and sew alongs I posted   May's info on April 26. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

May 2025 Mysteries and Sew Alongs

 May 2025 Mysteries and Sew Alongs 

I missed this one when it started in early April. Sandra at MMM (Musings of a Menopausal Melon) is a short Quilt Along. Check out this URL to see the beginning and the list of blog posts regarding the QAL. 

https://www.mmmquilts.com/p/glowing-hearts-quilt-along.html . This is a free quilt along although you can purchase her pattern for alternate designs. 

 

The Fat Quarter Shop is sponsoring a Designer Mystery Block-of-the-Month. See more info here: https://blog.fatquartershop.com/2025-designer-mystery-block-of-the-month/ It starts June of 2025 and runs until May of 2026. Pattern and material to make a 12” block will be mailed monthly. It’s $19.99/mo with an additional registration fee to sign up for the program. $$

Bear Creek Nickel Challenge Quilt starts 6/7/25 to 10/7/25 One time fee of $10. Patterns will be emailed to you once a week beginning beginning 6/7/25 last clue 10/7/25

https://bearcreekquiltingcompany.com/shop/product/the-nickel-challenge-quilt-pdf-email/ $

The International Quilters’ Guild is offering a Mystery Quilt that started in April. It started 4/21 and will last 5 weeks. This is being run on Facebook from what I can tell. There is a $15 charge for the mystery. (I’m not sure what the charge is for a continuing membership.) More info including size and fabric requirements are here: 

https://content.internationalquiltersguild.org/course/april-2025-mystery-quilt/  $

Monday Meanderings -- 4 - 21 - 25

It's been a week. Thanks for all the kind remarks at the passing of our nephew. We decided we would drive to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to be with the family during the memorial service.  We don't have a kennel to leave Sunny at so she went with us. We left upper 70 degree temps to hit snow swirling as we drove north in Michigan and feels like temps of 18 13 degrees one day. (Or it may have been several days but I only screen shot one day.) 

We drove over the Mackinac Bridge.  I was a bit nervous about traveling over the bridge with the wind blowing so hard.  But that's the only way we could get to the UP so across we went.  I was very happy to learn that the bridge wasn't closed because of the high winds. Slab vehicles had a 25 mph limit while cars could go 35mph.  It was a reasonable speed even though the wind was bad. I actually enjoyed seeing some of Lake Michigan. 

Mackinac Island is home to the famous Grand Hotel.  It's the big white building above. Many years ago we enjoyed visiting the island although we haven't been since. 

We arrived in town Tuesday afternoon.  It's a small town in which several nieces and nephews still live. Wednesday was the Celebration of Life. Our nephew lived in the town for 45 years or so. His friends, co-workers, and family filled the location of the event.  It was a lovely celebration of a wonderful life. Except he died way too young. 

Sunny wasn't happy having to be crated the whole day. (Might I say incarcerated?) We came back a couple of times to feed and walk her.  She was ready to play by the time we got back to the hotel at the end of the day and we were exhausted. 

Early Thursday morning we packed up and drove two days to get home. Needless to say Sunny wasn't happy being in the car all day for 2 days. We didn't expect horrendous traffic but we kept running into it. 

This was about 20 minutes from home. There are 6 lanes of traffic here with cars and trucks every where.  

We were happy to get home but were glad we were able to give some support to our family.  It's going to be a hard year for his mother, wife and two grown children. 

Needless to say I had a much smaller goals list this past week.  I succeeded to a small degree. 

4/14/25

✅Knit 2 hats — 1 hat almost done. 

✅✅Read 2 books — 2 Grace Burrows books finished. 

✅Quilt a top on Ruthie — top quilted. 

Make more Equilters 9 patches — 2 are cut and laid out but no sewing done.

Surprisingly I was able to keep up my 15 minutes of stitching every day. I was knitting every day. Including the day I forgot all about it until 10:30 pm and spent 20 minutes knitting in bed! I'll share the bright yellow hat when I get it finished. 

W/ending 4/20/25. 110 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/Apr = 20/20
• 15 minute days/2024 = 110/110 days
• Success rate = 100%

Late Sunday afternoon I was able to baste a small top that I want to quilt on my Bernina.  I had planned to pin baste but decided to use Sulky KK 2000 spray adhesive instead. I'm hoping to start the quilting this week. (Heck, I hope to start and finish the quilting this week.) 

Since KK 2000 is a temporary spray I may add some pins in case I can't get it finished this week.  Did I mention how old this is? I'm guessing it is 10+ years old. I considered hand quilting it but never wanted to start it. This year I added it to my monthly UFO challenge list and it came up this month. Hopefully I'll get it to binding stage this month. 

Here's my goal list for this week.

4/21/25

Make Cali-Co quilt along April Block

Quilt Orange Peel on domestic machine

Finish another hat

Make 2 more Equilters 9 patches

I'm linking up with the following parties: 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday 

Monday Musing

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Monday Meandering 4 - 14 - 2025

It's been a week.  It started out well enough but Friday fell apart for us. Pat's nephew died unexpectantly. We will be supporting family and helping where we can.  I don't imagine I'll get much sewing done but I might keep knitting away.  

I did a good job on my goal list this week. The one item I missed I won't have time to work on until the end of the month anyway. 

4/7/25

✅Finish quilting and bind quilt — Quilting done & binding is made but not applied.

Baste top for quilting on domestic machine (Apr UFO) — nothing done on this one.

✅Finish knitting on hat — hat finished except for a pom pom.

✅Make April Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks in red — done! 

✅Start on FCQ Equilter blocks for Apr/May — one block of many done.

 

It's my friend Sharon's turn as the Equilter this time.  She chose a simple 9 patch with white in the center.  It is so easy I suspect I'll be making her dozens of them.  I also decided I should make some for me as a leader ender.  If I have to cut the fabrics I might as well cut for two blocks.  She said we can make any color blocks as long as they read the same color. My ducks are pushing the red color.  Hopefully some of the 2.5" squares I have already cut will work for these blocks. 

And now my wimpy list for this week's goals. 

4/14/25

Knit 2 hats

Read 2 books

Quilt a top on Ruthie 

Make more Equilters 9 patches

Hopefully I'll be able to get most of these done this week. Time will tell. 

I have another perfect week of 15 minutes to stitch.  I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep up with this but I am trying to stitch every day. 

W/ending 4/13/25. 103 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/Apr = 13/13
• 15 minute days/2024 = 103/103 days
• Success rate = 100%

I received another order of fabrics from Marshall Dry Goods.  I have been trying to quilt the large number of tops I have in my closet.  Although I have 1 more of purple backing to use I'm ready to use some other colors.  So instead of buying a bolt I bought three different fabrics. I was buying the less expensive fabrics ($3.99 and $4.99 a yard.) They are all nice weights. And, I did go a little wild with the colors but they will go well with the tops. 

I've already got the orange fabric ready to use on a quilt; I just need the time. I over ordered so I have an extra yard of orange to use as I want. I'm looking forward to have some leftover pieces from all three of these fabrics. 

I'm linking up with the following parties: 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musing 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 4 - 7 - 2025

This week seems to have flown by.  I wasn't as focused on my stitching as usual.  But I did continue my stitching streak. Let's start with my goals...

3/31/25

Start on April UFO — pulled it out but haven’t started. 

✅Cut out a new quilt — finished.

✅Quilt a top — half done.

✅Order more backing fabrics — done should arrive this week.

✅Start another knit hat — half done.

Here's photo evidence of several of my goals!

Nine Patch from Even More Quilts for Baby by Ursula Reines. I'm adding 2 rows to make it rectangular. I have the doggy squares and the two colors for the 9 patches cut out. Inner and outer border will be cut when the inside is done. (Hum, I may have taken this photo before I actually cut the fabrics.) 

This quilt was started on Jan 1, 2023 as Merry Mayhem's New Year's Day Mystery.  I picked a bunch of different floral fat quarters for the bricks. I don't remember exactly when I finished it but I remember I didn't like it all that well. It has sat long enough and is a great quilt to use some of the bolt of purple fabric. I've decided I rather like it now. I thought about using a quick, easy edge to edge pattern to finish it but these cute butterflies grabbed my attention. I'm very happy with how it looks. This is "Diana" edge to edge by My Creative Stitches.  There is a good possibility I'll keep this one. 

The group that I donate hats to has a large amount of supplies you can use to make items for them. My friend was going by the location and I asked her to get me some yarn for more hats.  She found this terrific ombre, self striping yarn. It's been so much fun to see how it stripes.  I'm guessing I'll have some left over so I see at least one more hat with white stripes and this pink ombre.  I forgot that I normally knit these hats flat and then sew up the back seam.  OOPS -- I knit it in the round. Luckily I have some double pointed needles to finish this off. (Did you know your Apple Watch will give you "steps" credit for knitting? Yep, it does.)

Now for this coming week's goals. Hopefully I'll make it through all of them and more... 

4/7/25

Finish quilting and bind quilt 

Baste top for quilting on domestic machine (Apr UFO) 

Finish knitting on hat

Make April Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks in red 

Start on FCQ Equilter blocks for Apr/May

I am still at 100% on 15 Minutes to Stitch. (I actually set a timer for 15 minutes and knitted to make sure I got my 15 minutes done a couple of times!) 

W/ending 4/6/25. 96 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/Mar = 1/1
• 15 minute days/Apr = 6/6
• 15 minute days/2024 = 96/96 days
• Success rate = 100%

And something new for 2025.  I decided to keep my fabric statistics monthly but report on them quarterly.  You might guess that I didn't actually figure out my fabric usage each month... I did pretty well writing down what I bought or acquired each month, but I had to go back to other written records to see which quilts I finished each month and then figure out how much fabric I used.  Was I surprised at the results! 

2025	Fabric In Month	Fabric In Year	Fabric Out  Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
Jan	3.750	3.75	9.875	9.875	6.125
Feb	15.000	18.75	6.50	16.375	-2.375
Mar	0.750	19.50	28.50	44.875	25.376

I'm a thrilled I finished enough quilts to absorb that 15 yard bolt of fabric. I have one more top to quilt with the purple fabric. I'll only have 4 yard-piece left. I might see if I can find some fabrics to go with it and use it to make a top. (Don't hold your breath on that happening any time soon!) 

Between warm weather and a bit of rain the cherry tree I showed last week has lost most of its blooms and is looking green from the new leaves. I enjoy seeing all the different colors of green leaves turn in the spring. I'm not much of a gardener but I have plans to plant some cosmos seeds a friend gave me.  Maybe I can get it done this week.  

I'm linking up with these parties: 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings   

On a personal note: I have been horrified with this administration's decision to destroy our government. There is a big difference between chaotically and arbitrarily closing down departments and offices and looking at each department/office and what is done there and whether they have enough people to continue to provide citizens information and support. Having lived in Maryland and now living in Virginia I know fellow citizens may have lost their jobs or are afraid they will be next to go. I personally have 3 family members who work for the federal government. Needless to say I worry on a regular basis for them. Luckily they all appear to be in required jobs, for now.  

There have been a large number of lawsuits filed against this administration. Apparently the administration no longer believes in the rule of law.  I don't want to see my nation turn its back on our allies, our neighbors, our institutions that make America such a wonderful and unique country.  If you feel the same it is time for us to reach out to our Senators and Representatives and let them know it is time to stand up for our country. It's time to speak out against what has been done and what is yet to come. I don't want to live with a king, a dictator -- I want to live in a democracy.

Happy Quilting -- yet I'm not as happy quilting as I used to be. I'm worried. Bonnie