Monday Meanderings 1 - 19 - 2026

Snow has been on and off the weather reports all this week.  For several days I decided it wasn't going to happen at all. But, surprise, surprise! We had snow this afternoon. It was pretty light but did accumulate on the grass and the rooftops but not on the sidewalks or roads.  It wasn't enough to really measure and I'm guessing it is going to last overnight but will melt tomorrow if the sun comes out.  It won't stop us from what we normally do.  

My goal list has a lot of non-finished items. But, I can explain.  I've owned my Bernina 16 months with a lot of stitching done on it. When I called my dealer they said it would be about one week for servicing. Friday we dropped it off for service, or as I call it, a spa day.  So that means several of the items on my Goals list didn't get done. I set up my Elna Carina I purchased in 1984 or so.  Here's the list and what was done. 

1/12/26

👎🏻Make sewing machine block and ✅2 spool blocks— no machine block but the spool blocks were done. 

✅Work on snowman block — a little handwork was done. 

👎🏻Bind at home round robin — nothing done. None of my other machines have a walking foot. 

✅Work on cross stitch zippered bag — making good progress. 

✅Make some miscellaneous blocks — several different blocks were made.

✅Quilt one of my quilts — panel quilt done. 

I quilted this panel quilt on Ruthie, the long arm.  I often buy wide backs from Connecting Threads, especially if they are on sale.  You can see the extra red fabric and the batting rolled up in the pic below.  I should have enough backing and batting to use on a smaller quilt. 

I used Diagonal Plaid with a gold colored OMNI thread.  (Sorry, not sure which color it was.) The pattern is October Sky by Villa Rosa Designs. I did make some alterations to accommodate the panel.  I have second panel so I'll be making this one again, eventually.

Here's one of the miscellaneous blocks I made this week.  It is Scrap Dash from Terry Atkinson's book California Cruisin'.  I have 5 of them that were left over from one of my FCQ Equilters turn. You can see them here.  I'll be making more of them over the next several weeks.  I hope to make a big lap quilt once I get enough blocks made. The cool think about this block is it is made a little larger and you trim it to the correct size.  

Here are the goals for this week. 

1/19/26

Work on cross stitch zippered bag

Make binding for panel quilt & stay at home round robin

Work on snowman block

Cut out a quilt

Attend Quilt Guild meeting 

I'll probably try to sew more blocks but my old Elna isn't as robust as she used to be. I bought a quarter inch foot for her when I got her working again. But it is not a great one -- you can't really see what you are doing.  I did use it to make the January clue for Magnificent Mystery. Luckily, we made these larger and then trimmed them down.  

15 Minutes to Stitch

Week ending 1/11/26 18 days of 2026

18 of 18 days 100%

I sure hope I can pick up my sewing machine this week.  I'm looking forward to getting it back soon! 

Links to lots of quilter's blogs are available on these Linky parties. (I hope I remember to link to the last two parties tomorrow. I just realized I didn't last week! Oops.) 

Stitching Time

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings 

Happy Quilting All. Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 1 - 12 - 2026

I've had a wonderful week of stitching.  I am amazed about how much I've gotten done.   

Let's start with goals from last week.  OOOHHH look at all the green check marks! 

1/5/2026

✅Finish Dec. clue from Magnificent Mystery — finally done! 

✅Work on Snowman block — Made some progress on stitching and  prepping next pieces to stitch.

✅Make plan for spool blocks from 2017 (UFO Challenge) — Figured out a plan and began on it. 

✅ Quilt more on at home round robin — quilting complete! 

✅Knit on hat — good progress made. 

✅Work on cross stitch zippered bag — the end is in sight. But probably another week or two. 

It took forever to make 120 half square triangles and then 60 of the flower blocks that made up the clue for Magnificent Mystery. This is the December clue finally done! I'm ready to do the January block now. 

I've got a very doable plan for the Spools blocks.  Here's a "mock" up using one of the 12" blocks I made recently. I need to make 2 more spool blocks. I found a great sewing machine block to put in the middle. I'll decide about the filler I'll need around the 12" block once it is made.  

No pictures of the other goals but I'll be sharing some of them soon. (Ie, when I finish them!) 

Now on to this week's goals. 

1/12/26

Make sewing machine block and 2 spool blocks

Work on snowman block

Bind at home round robin

Work on cross stitch zippered bag

Make some miscellaneous blocks

Quilt one of my quilts

I didn't post my 15 minutes of stitching last week.  So, here's my stitching report since the beginning of the month. 

Week ending 1/11/26 11 days of 2026

11 of 11 days 100%

And, it is time to share my fabric usage for 2025.  I was worried I'd acquired more fabric than I'd used.  Needless to say, I was pleased with these numbers. And, I haven't bought any fabric this year! 

Year	Fabric In Year	Fabric Out Year	Total Out Year
2025	111.75	130.225	18.475

I've kept track of the spools (or cones) of threads I use each year since 2012. My lowest number was 7 and the highest was 30.  This year I used 12, split evenly between cones and spools. 

Other events this past week ... Sunny was groomed.  To see her "hairy" look, check here. You couldn't even see her eyes by the time she was groomed. 

I like her look with the cute bandana.  She doesn't mind it except when her leash is on.  So, she goes without it. I recently was given a bunch free fabric. I was surprised there were quite a few dog bandanas in the collection.  I'll be cutting them up too.  Luckily some of them were for much bigger dogs than Sunny so I'll get a few more cuts out of them. But I may have to keep this red one for her to wear on dress up days! 

Now, about that puzzle. (you can see what I'm talking about by reviewing it in last week's post.)  I have to admit I tried to make progress on it. I got the bottom edge totally put together with at least one additional row. The side edges were about 3/4s up. But I couldn't get anything on the top together.  I finally decided today that I really wasn't enjoying the puzzle. So I took it apart, boxed it up, and tomorrow I'll take it to the clubhouse so someone else can do it! I don't want to see it again! 

In its place is a 1,000 piece puzzle that I've made a lot of progress on.  And the pieces definitely snap together well. I admit I spent a couple of hours on it today. Amazing how motivating it is to work on it and see progress!

And here's the pic of the puzzle I'm working on. I've never made a puzzle that had a separate picture rather than just the box cover.  Have you? I know those lovely sun flowers are going to be a mess to figure out. And, all those dogs all the same color? Probably difficult too.  We'll see how much I can do this week and still reach my sewing goals. 

I'm linking up with the following parties: 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 1 - 4 - 2026

 I've been having fun playing in my studio this week.  You'll see what I've been working on including goals and other things.  Let's start with the goals. 

12/29/2025

√Finish Dec. clue from Magnificent Mystery — 20 of 60 done. 

✅Put away stuff on the back of the long arm table — most put away.

✅Quilt and ✅bind another top — finished last quilt of 2025.

✅Work on cross stitch zippered bag — making progress. 

✅Work on Snowman  appliqué — started but not much done yet. 

Oops, no pics of the final quilt of the 2026. It's Soho by Fabric Cafe.  I'll try to remember to take pictures for my next post. Um, I have no pictures from any of my previous goals.  (Note to self, remember to take some pictures of what I put on my goals list in the future!) 

So, moving right along, here's what I hope to work on this week. 

1/5/2026

Finish Dec. clue from Magnificent Mystery

Work on Snowman block

Make plan for spool blocks from 2017 (UFO Challenge) 

Quilt more on at home round robin 

Knit on hat 

Work on cross stitch zippered bag

These blocks were received at a retreat swap in 2017. I haven't made any decisions about them yet.  The blue tape on some have the name of the person who made it. One or two are mine but I don't remember which ones.  I need to make some more blocks but first I need to decide how big I want it. I have one hanger in the studio where I could hang it.  I could add a sewing machine and/or other sewing implements. What do you think?  Sashed or not? Any other ideas? 

I did work on several off-list items.  I'm making blocks for Cynthia, of Oh Scrap, for her organization Many Hands and Many Hearts. Here are the ones I've already made. All these 4 patches were in my parts box.  Below are 4 patches ready to be sewn together.  You can find out how to make these blocks here and how to send them to Cynthia.  

I finished these ornaments just before Christmas.  I make ornaments for each of my grandkids every year. This year I decided as my grands reach 18 I'll quit making ornaments for them.  I figure 18 ornaments will be a great start when they decorate their own Christmas trees. Except, none are that old so I'll still be making 4 of them for a while. These were made with corks.  

Here's my end of year report on 15 Minutes of Stitching. I'll be continuing this in 2026. 

W/ending 12/31/25. 365 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/December 31/31
• 15 minute days/2025 = 363/365 days
• Success rate = 99.5%

2026 15 Minutes of Stitching 

15 minute days/January 3/3

I generally have a friend over on Wednesday mornings to sew together. She's going to be out of town for about 3 weeks so I decided I would put a puzzle together on my second sewing table. I didn't have a whole lot of choice on puzzles - I figured I might be able to do a 750-piece puzzle in the 3 weeks I have. OMG.  I've been doing too many online puzzles with 100 or less pieces because it took me forever to just turn over all the pieces and find the border pieces.  Here's a pic of the one I'm working on. (This pic is much brighter than the actual picture and pieces.) 

So, I've worked on it about an hour or so each of two days.  Here's what I've gotten together so far. Yep it's a challenge. It turns out that the pieces might fit whether it's right or wrong. (what?) And, then notice the snow pieces on the sides -- they could actually be on either side... same with the dark pieces at the top.  I haven't even tried to do those yet. I've put a bunch of the dark pieces back in the box with right sides up. Most of the snow pieces are out of picture on the right. Something tells me it's going to take more than 3 weeks to make this one.  Because these pieces don't lock in well, I'm betting I could do the 1,000 piece puzzle faster. Sigh. 

I'll let you know if I succeed with this puzzle.  But it is definitely going to take more than an hour or two every day! 

I'm linking up with my normal parties. Come join the fun! 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique

Design Wall Monday 

Monday Musing 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

January 2026 Mysteries and Sew Alongs

Farmer’s Daughter sponsored by Riley Blake Designs starts on Jan 6th and ends May 26. This year 16 blocks will  finish at 10”. The blocks will release every Tuesday except the last Tuesday of the month.  For more info check out https://www.rileyblakedesigns.com/assets/images/sewalongs/RBDBlockChallenge/2026/Invite.pdf 

Gail's Stay At Home Round Robin (SAHRR), Starts 1/17/26 and ends  Feb. 25. Need to pick a block to start your round robin.  Check out all the info at https://quiltinggail.com/2025/12/18/announcing-the-2026-sahrr/ 

This is a follow along for sewers presented by Laura Ann Coia. Here’s the You Tube link to the first video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW3RZWxsm3Q  It is an unusual quilt. So far 3 videos have been posted with two more to come.  I’m looking forward to what the finished piece will look like. 

Erica Arndt is sponsoring a Sew With Me and a Stitch With Me for 2026.  Here’s a link to her You Tube video talking about the upcoming video tutorials that will be released each month. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFhCOyQxPzo

Murder Mystery and Mystery Quilt — Read the mystery story every month to get clues to who done it and clues to the mystery quilt will be given.   $$ https://murdermysteryquilt.com

Charisma Horton is sponsoring the “Popple Mystery 2026” starting in January.  I believe this has been announced over Instagram but I don’t use that social media so I have gathered what I can from her other social media accounts. There will be video tutorials on You Tube weekly. Fabric requirements will be listed in her 12/31 newsletter. You must sign up on her web site to receive the printable handouts via her newsletter. Here’s the link to sign up for her newsletter:  https://charismascorner.com/subscribe-by-email/