Monday Meanderings 3 - 30 - 2026

I'm looking forward to more downtime and less working to finish things! Sounds weird, but I've been focused on getting tops quilted this week.  But, I also had a fun time watching the oldest Grand play softball for Einstein HS's varsity team.  The biggest issue with that is the traffic is so horrendous in the DC area that we spent half the day getting there and back.  But what a great game. The girls played really well. Sophie played short stop and made some incredible plays.  They won 18 to nothing.   

Here's what I got done on my goals this week. 

3/23/26

Sew March UFO blocks together — didn’t happen but most blocks had paper removed. 

✅Bind Springtime Irish Chain top — finished. 

✅Continue working on 1st snowman block — a couple of hours of stitching done. 

Quilt Charm Challenge top — not done.

✅✅Quilt and bind one of my quilts — 2 tops quilted but binding will happening soon. 

Here are pictures of the two quilts I quilted this week.  I still need to bind them though.  First is a pinwheel top: 

The quilting design is Constance by My Creative Stitches. It works really well on this quilt. The top was finished Friday. 

Then, Sunday I decided to quilt one more smaller quilt. Except, it wasn't really too small -- it was about the same as the quilt above. They are both lap quilts. 

I have made many Happy Quilts like this one.  I enjoy finding the centers and matching them with the frames. Very easy but enjoyable and easy to make. You can get directions for making Happy Blocks at Mary Johnson's web site, Mary Quilts. She has three different versions of Happy Blocks. Check them out.  

I used another design by My Creative Stitches called Very Groovy.  Both of these designs were quick to do.  I generally prefer quick designs as I'm usually quilting under time constraints. Granted, I'm putting the constraints on myself but it does help get finished quilts.  Both of these will be given away via the local quilt guild. (Unless I decided to keep them for a while!)

And, here's what I'll be working on this week. Many of these are continuations of last week's goals. 

3/39/26

Sew March UFO blocks together

Quilt Charm Challenge top

Bind two of my quilts

Continue working on 1st snowman block

Look at April UFO challenge project

Continue making my Equilters blocks

I'm up for March and April with the FCQ Equilters.  Currently there are 6 of us who used to be members of Faithful Circle Quilters in Maryland. Actually, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if most of us have maintained our memberships. Here are some of the blocks two of the Equilters and I have made.  

Yep, they really look weird, don't they?  But take a minute and go look at a finished quilt on Grace and Peace Quilting.  I need to add some different whites like the link. It'll be fun to see how this develops especially when I get additional blocks made or sent. 

This week should be a bit quieter than last week.  I'm hoping to get a book or two read and all the goals listed.  Plus, it's suppose to be rainy off and on all week but the temps may be in the summer range. Weird weather continues. 

I succeeded in stitching at least 15 minutes every day this week.  The day of the baseball game I made a point of bringing a small needlepoint project and spent about 20 minutes stitching away in the car. 

15 Minutes of Stitching 

Week ending 3/22/26;  88 days of 2026.

88 stitching days out of 88 days. 100%

Time to look at some Linky parties at which I list my blog.

Stitching Time 

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

We missed our local No Kings day but we did a lot of horn honking as we passed under overpasses where folks were cheering for No Kings as well as one of the streets near the high school.  It's good to see people protesting for our country. Even better was most of them were peaceful.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Design Wall Monday 3 - 23 - 2026

Well, the awful weather we were suppose to have last Monday wasn't awful. It was a dull, rainy day with no tornados in our area. Some areas had a lot of trees down but not in our general area.   However, we weren't sure about how bad it was going to be so we canceled the lunch.  We'll reschedule at some point.  I did get most of my goals list done.  Here's what I was going to do. 

3/16/26

✅Sew Magnificent Mystery rows together — all done!

✔️March UFO blocks/take out papers — all blocks have been trimmed.

✅Quilt Springtime Irish Chain — quilting done! 

✅Make more Dash blocks — 3 more added to collection.

Finish 1st Snowman block — nope, nothing done. 

First up the finished Magnificent Mystery top. I'm very pleased with it.  I'm not happy that the backing I bought on line use is way too wild. You can scroll down last week's post and see the orange fabric. It's beautiful fabric but just too colorful for this quilt. 

Close to the end of the week I was able to load my top Springtime Irish Chain. It is a 3 yard quilt in the book Quick Christmas 3 Yard Quilts called Irish Christmas. 

The backing is from Marshall's Dry Goods.  The floral fabric was from my stash and was probably quite old.  I have 3 choices for binding: the solid pink, the floral print, or the backing fabric pink. (You can see a little of the backing at the top of this photo.  It is a floral with multiple shades of pink.)

Three more Dash blocks were completed today.  Earlier in the week I grabbed a bunch of reds, blues, and lights to make more Dash blocks.  I finally was able to cut 3 blocks and sewed them in the afternoon while I was Face Timing with my friend Sharon. Unfortunately I only took a picture of the top block-- two more are behind it. 

I've got 4 more fabric sets planned but not cut yet, I "think" I need to make 15 more blocks.  So I need to make quite a few more.  I may have planned this bigger than I need so I'll look at the setting and number of blocks needed.  It's going to show up on the goals list for many more weeks. 

I did get all the March challenge blocks trimmed.  I need to clear a spot on the design wall to lay out these blocks. They are paper pieced which means there is a lot of papers to take out! I think I'll take the inside papers out leaving the edge papers on before sewing them into rows.  Let's hope I can get these moving forward. 

I "might" have worked on the snowman this week but I don't remember doing it.  (It's so much fun aging!) I usually would work on it at my Monday stitching group but we didn't meet because the clubhouse was being painted. So maybe some got done but who knows! Perhaps I should take a picture of it at the beginning of each week so I can check what's been added. 

Here's what I'm working on this week. 

3/23/26

Sew March UFO blocks together

Bind Springtime Irish Chain top

Continue working on 1st snowman block

Quilt Charm Challenge top

Quilt and bind one of my quilts  

The end of the month is coming and I'd like to have 2 quilts finished.  The second one may be smaller than the Irish Chain one but at least I'd have another finish. 

One of the things I forgot to put on the goals list last week was the Charm Challenge our guild sponsored at our open sew.  The guild provided charm square packs made from donated fabrics.  I chose a wild one with lots of colors.  I enjoyed the sewing and was happy with the result. The community outreach chair brought me a backing so I can get it quilted before the next meeting.  These were sewn into a straight rectangle then cut along two diagonal lines and sewn back to make this square.  Unfortunately, I didn't know how the charms' placements changed the finish.  I'm looking forward to making another one soon.  Cutting the charms will take the most time! 

I also was able to finish the February UFO challenge top.  I'm very pleased with the results.  It's going into the closet for a while.  I need to use some of my new backing fabrics before I buy more backings. (Although, honestly, I need to check out my stash to see if there is anything that would work for this wall hanging.) Originally I didn't want to use the dark fabric for the border. But, it really looked better than all the other fabrics I auditioned.  

I'm keeping up with my 15 minutes of stitching.  Generally I stitch way over 15 minutes.  

Week ending 3/22/26;  81 days of 2026.

  81 days of 81. 100%

Here are the Linky Parties I participate in.  

Stitching Time 

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

We had a beautiful warm day today: low humidity and 80º. I was able to enjoy the sunshine looking out of the French doors in the basement up to the back yard. And, it was still beautiful when we took Sunny for a walk this evening. The temps are going to be up and down all week. That's better than really cold as in Jan/Feb and ridiculously hot and humid which is our normal summer. 

Let's keep quilting to keep our spirits up! 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 3 - 16 - 2026

What a week we've had -- or at least our weather has had. Thursday it was in the high 70s. Then it started getting colder, and it snowed. That night it got down to the 30's.  See the pic below -- it had dropped 44 degrees on Thursday.  The snow didn't last long but it was wet, and was snowing hard for an hour or so.  

Here's what I planned to do this past week. 

3/9/26

Finish Feb UFO to top stage — nothing was done. 

✅Stitch on Snowman block — Several sections were finished.

✔️Trim March UFO blocks — 10 of 42 blocks were trimmed. More to go. 

✅ Sew Magnificent Mystery blocks into rows — done. 

✅ Finish knitting sock — done.

Here's a pic of my finished socks. The first sock was finished months ago. I started the second one and got to where the heel started and quit. Fast forward many months. It took me about 2 weeks to get the second one done once I started knitting again.  I wore them today. Pretty comfortable and not horribly hot. 

I did make up my mind about the Feb. UFO Challenge piece.  I'll be using the light pink as sashing and the print as the border.  Unfortunately I don't have a lot of the print fabric so I'll probably make the border as big as I can. Straighten the edges and divide the amount by 4 and that will be how wide the borders will be. Stay tuned to see the end result.  

I know you are wondering why I didn't get much done this last week. A customer called me with a top to be quilted asap.  I didn't get a very good picture of it but I did get it finished.   On Thursday (see weather report above...) there was a blip of electricity and Ruthie quit working.  Bummer. I quit for the rest of that day as I didn't want the quilting to be messed up and started again on Friday afternoon.  It was done by Saturday evening. And returned on Sunday. Margery used a lot of horse prints including a panel of horse prints like on the bottom left below.  

Margery designed the center.  I wish I had taken a picture of the whole quilt or most of it.  It is really stunning. This is what I did instead of my goals.  (Although truth be told I did get quite a bit of reading done while Ruthie was sewing.) 

Here's what I hope to get done this week. 

3/16/26

Sew Magnificent Mystery rows together 

Continue trimming March UFO blocks/take out papers 

Quilt Springtime Irish Chain

Make more Dash blocks 

Finish 1st Snowman block 

Oh! And the fabric from Marshall Dry Goods arrived. About 7 pounds of fabric according to the shipping label.  I went a bit wild buying wide backs.  Here's group 1.

The pink and blue are each 2 yards of 108 fabric. The red, white, and blue is just a yard of 45" wide. It was a little treat -- ie, I have nothing specific planned for it.  But I'll probably make a 3 yard quilt with it.  And now, group 2. 

The top one was "suppose" to go with the Magnificent Mystery top except it is way more orange than I thought it was.  It is a beautiful fabric and I'll find some way to use it although maybe not as a backing.  Underneath is white Dream Cotton Solid 108" wide.  I'll probably use it as background fabric. It has a great hand.  

I did actually sew every day last week.

Week ending 3/15/26;  74 days of 2026.

  74 days of 74. 100%

Here are the Linky Parties I'm linking with.  Take a few minutes to visit the blogs listed. 

Stitching Time 

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

So this week the weather is also going to be weird.  At least on Monday.  

Our community is in the greater DC region. According to the Washington Post 

"An intense storm system could bring widespread and severe thunderstorms to the D.C. region on Monday, capable of producing violent wind gusts, hail and tornadoes in addition to torrential rain and lightning." What it doesn't say but other meteorologists are saying there can be tornadoes also.  Oh fun.  A group of us are planning to go out to lunch.  So far the worst of the storm will be coming in the mid to late afternoon/evening.  I hope we can have our outing but it'll be canceled if the weather starts faster than it is currently predicted.  If you live in the way of this storm take care. Tomorrow I'll be doing a little pre-storm prep -- basically have food and drink for 3 days available.  Also, fully charge all of our devices.   Take care if you live in this area. 

Happy Quilting All - Bonnie 

 

Monday Meanderings 3 - 9 - 2026

 Weather changes and time changes.  It was really nice to walk Sunny this evening -- it was still light. And it was in the high 60s at 7 pm.  So nice.  Spring is coming.  And I have a spring-looking UFO to work on soon. Here's what I got done this week. 

3/2/26

✅Bind bottom of grey sweatshirt. — done. 

✅Keep working on sewing blue bricks together — All sewn together, maybe. 

✔️Plan rest of February UFO blocks and start sewing together — All blocks framed.

✔️Finish knitting sock currently on the needles — Still have a few inches to finish the sock.

✅Keep working on the Magnificent Mystery blocks and rows — all blocks made.

✅ Look at the March UFO project — 42 blocks to make a 6 x 7 center.

I got a lot done this week but some things weren't finished so I've marked them with the black check mark.  

Here's the blue bricks sewn together. It's about 30" wide by 39" long. I think I'm going to add a few more columns to bring it up to 36" wide. The bricks are 2.5" x 5". The squares are 2.5", just incase you want to make your own.  

I snuck in a few special blocks for laughs. Check out the frog in the center  of full top picture.  

Here is one suggestion for the Feb. UFO blocks.  I have a really nice Oriental fabric that was with all the blocks.  The flowers in the basket block are from it. This way this border is overwhelming the blocks.  

So then I added a little border of fabric that is used in many of the blocks. I don't think this really works.  What do you think? Any different ideas? Maybe I'll try some sashing or a different border fabric. 

Here are 4 blocks from the Magnificent Mystery top -- one of each full block and half block. I've got all the blocks done. But I need to start putting them together. Shouldn't take long to put 5 full rows and 2 half rows together.  I just need to be motivated to do it! It'll go on this week's goal list to help with my motivation. (What looks like really dark fabric is actually a purple print with leaves and vines -- rust, gold and greens on the purple ground.)  

And now, this week's goals. 

3/9/26

Finish Feb UFO to top stage

Stitch on Snowman block

Trim March UFO blocks 

Sew Magnificent Mystery blocks into rows

Finish knitting sock

I'm not sure I'll be able to finish February's UFO to top stage as I'm not sure how I want to finish it.  Decisions, decisions. But there's always March's UFO project. I won some of these paper pieced blocks years ago from Paper Panache. Then a few years ago I had my FCQ Equilters make me some more.  I've not been really interested in finishing them but this year I put them on the UFO challenge 3 times. It came up for March so the first activity I planned was to evaluate the blocks, remove the papers and sew the blocks together.  I have 42 blocks and will set them 6 x 7, 36" x 42".  I've decided on using the green with various whites to make the border blocks the next time these blocks come up on the challenge. 

I've stuck to stitching every day this week. Many days were a lot more than 15 minutes. 

Week ending 3/8/26:  67 days of 2026.

  67 days of 67. 100%

I went wild recently.  I bought a bunch of wide backs from Marshall Dry Goods to go with several tops that are waiting to be quilted.  I'll share what I bought once it arrives in the next week or so. And, then I need to get some quilting done! 

Now, I'm reminding you to visit some Linky Parties to see what is going on across the Internet.     

Stitching Stuff 

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

Also, check out my listing of March 2026 Mysteries and Sew Alongs. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie