Monday Meanderings July - 20 - 2026

It was a great week! Retreat is over and I'm exhausted.  But what fun we all had. There were 7 of us sewing in a space that was actually designed for scrapbooking.  I failed to take pictures of sewing area. So here's a verbal description.  We each had a table to set up on.  Then there were tables for an iron and for cutting mats.  Those two tables were on risers so they were at a comfortable height. There was also a snack table and an extra refrigerator. There was also a bedroom and bath downstairs.   Upstairs there was a kitchen, dining room, living room, one bedroom and access to a beautiful screen porch. The next floor had two more bedrooms and a bath room.  A nice set up for us. 

Here're my goals from last week. 

7/13/26

✅Pack up sewing projects & supplies and travel to retreat! — arrived, sewed and came home. 

✅Work on projects most are groups of blocks to make into tops — most were moved forward or finished. 

Prep Snowman #3 for hand appliquéing— started but not finished. 

I'll show my retreat projects after my goals for this week. So here they are. 

7/20/26

Knit on a new hat

Work on Snowman #2

Finish prepping Snowman #3 for hand appliquéing

Cut more blocks and sew turquoise and green baby quilt together 

Load a quilt on Ruthie and quilt it. 

I had a really successful retreat. I brought 8 projects to work on. Most were blocks needing to be put into tops.  One was a new quilt cut and ready to sew. Here are some of the projects.

Since I finished all the Veronica blocks before I left I decided to sew them into a top. Once I find backing fabric this one is ready to throw on Ruthie. 👆🏼

This economy block, along with about 7 others, was made at retreat.  Then I laid out all the blocks on my design bed.  And, then I moved blocks around.  Took photos and turned them into greyscale. And again and again.  After an hour or so I decided I needed to reevaluate the blocks.  They were a variety of fabric colors and styles. I finally decided to put these basic in their pouch and look at them once I got home.  My guess is I'll make some more blocks that are medium and then the quilt will look more balanced.  A lot of the blocks looked really dark when turned to greyscale. So I went on to something else. 

I started this quilt with the little 9 patches which are 3" in the quilt.  I actually cut out the other parts for last October's retreat. I sewed this top at retreat. Except, I didn't cut the colored border. In fact I have no idea what fabric I'll use for the border. I'm hoping to get it finished sooner, rather than later. I might have a fabric that will work. I'll keep you posted on this one. 

Next up I pulled out the blocks to make this little baby quilt. It's a 64 square quilt,

set 8 x 8. It finishes 36" square. The squares are cut 5" and finish at 4.5". Are you asking why I made these blocks 5"?  It's because I have a 9" Aaccuquilt Cube. The big square turns is 5". My other choice would have been 6" finished which seemed too big for my fabrics.  The fabric was a kit from Craftsy when they were going out of business. It all is sea motifs. Whales, clams, bottles in the sea, etc.  I may  have enough fabric left over for a second one.  I think I have yardage of one or two of these fabrics to use as backing.

This is another 36" square baby quilt.  The lozenge shape is from my 9" Companion Set. It's called a signature block. You might notice I have some holes in the design. I was going to just make some at the retreat but it took quite a long time to make the first one. So I decided to put this one away and cut the extra blocks out on the Accuquilt at home.  

Not a great picture but this is the one totally new quilt.  I used one of my Quilts for Baby books by Ursula Reikes. The Eiffel Tower fabric was free on a give away table at one of my quilt guilds.  I didn't bring both pages of the directions -- only the sewing it together part.  I still need to cut the border and apply it.  Again, I'l need to find backing for it eventually. 

And, that's my trusty Featherweight that really sewed a lot this past week.  One thing I learned is the Singer needles are not any good.  I'd changed the needle in it for the only needle I had with me, from Singer. The stitches were awful, skipped, big and poorly formed.  Luckily a friend had recently taken a Featherweight maintenance class. The instructor said the Singer needles were awful. She gave me a new needle and that Featherweight sewed like a champ for the whole retreat. Phew! 

 

On the afternoon of the last day I moved on to this top. 👇🏼  Well, it's not a top yet. It started out as blocks that had been pieced on phone books pages. I did get the blocks sewn together in rows. But then I decided I might want to take off some of the paper before I sew the rows together.  It was getting late after I got one row of the papers removed. I quit sewing, packed up my supplies and then went on to bed.  I think tearing these papers out will be great to do when I'm watching TV or at my stitching group.  So these will take a while before I get them sewn together.  

My last project did get started.  You can see one of the blocks here on last week's post. It's the watermelon Happy block.  I didn't take any pictures of the rest of the blocks I made during the week. Again, something I'll be working on over the upcoming weeks and months too.  I think all the blocks are ready to be sewn into rows and a top. 

So, yes, I made forward progress on a lot of projects.  Most need more progress to get to top stage. But WOW I was amazed how many projects I worked on and made good progress.  I have another retreat in October -- so I'll need to get another group of projects ready to finish or at least move forward for it. Who knows, I may wait 'til then to finish some of these projects. 

NEWS ALERT!

I didn't do any stitching today! In fact, I forgot all about it until a few paragraphs back! So here are the numbers. 

Week ending 7/19/26: 200 days of 2026.

 199 stitching days out of 200 days 99.5%

I'll start back up tomorrow.  At least I got reading on my Kindle done. Now it's time to remind all to check out these Linky parties.  

Stitching Time 

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

One thing I didn't mention is I took most of my tools and projects down to the sewing room when I got home. Tomorrow I'll only have to take down a few things.  Of course, then I'll need to put everything back away.  Hopefully it will all be put away by lunch. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 7 - 13 - 2026

We walk Sunny every evening around 7:00 pm.  Most of this summer it's been really hot and oppressively humid. Tonight it was cool, somewhat humid with a nice breeze blowing.  It was a great night to walk. I don't think this mild weather will continue but it's nice when it happens during a really hot summer. 

I didn't have as many check marks on my goals this week.  The house has been in an upheaval with painting followed by new carpets Monday. There's a good chance by the time you read this the new carpets might already be installed and then it's put everything away time.  I'll keep you posted.  Maybe even pictures next week.

7/6/26

✅Bind table runner — it’s almost done so I’m giving myself a check. It'll be finished at my Monday afternoon stitching group.

✅Organize more block sets to sew together at retreat — 7+ projects are ready to go. 

✅Move some stuff back to closets — Clothes hanging on upper rods are back. The rest are waiting for the new carpet. 

✅Finish more Veronica blocks — All are done. 

Prep Snowman #3 for hand appliquéing — oops. Not done but started. 

Quilt another section of June UFO project — not done. 

Not many photos to go with my goals from last week. But here's a couple of new ones from the Veronica blocks. These blocks will be packed up so they can become a top at my retreat this week. 

Here's a close up of the light blue at the bottom right. 

I have to say I've really enjoyed making these blocks.  The Veronica pattern was designed by Preeti Harris. Here's her version. 

And now, this week's goals. 

7/13/26

Deal with new carpets (ie, put things back) 

Pack up sewing projects & supplies and travel to retreat! 

Work on projects -- most are groups of blocks to make into tops

Finish Snowman #2

Prep Snowman #3 for hand appliquéing and sew some of it

Yes, a very short list although work on projects involves 8 or 9 different projects.  I doubt I'll get all of them done but I'm counting on getting some of them to top stage. And then I'll have a LOT of tops needing quilting and binding. And others will be further along. It's always better to have more projects than needed at retreats.  

This was another successful sewing week.  One day I spent more time reading. I went to the studio after dinner and spent several hours on prepping projects. So I've maintained my 100% sewing every day. 

Week ending 7/12/26:  193 days of 2026.

  193 stitching days out of 193 days. 100%

The retreat I'm going to Tuesday is with several of my friends from my old guild west of Richmond.  We've been going together for four or five years.  The house is set up for scrapbooking.  Not surprising it's also great for quilting. We bring our projects and machines, our breakfasts and lunches, and we all make dinners for the group.  It works out really well.  Hopefully I'll remember to take a lot more pictures during our time there.  I'll be back Sunday afternoon just in time to write next Monday's post. 

One of the projects I plan to work on is making more Happy Blocks to make a lap quilt for a tween or teen.  I need to cut some more of the blocks but I did make one a new block.  It makes me want to have some watermelon. 

Now, it's time to finish this post and share it on the Internet. Please check out these Linky parties. 

Stitching Time 

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

I'll link up to the last two parties once they are available. For now I wish you a productive week of quilting.

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meandrings 7 - 6 - 2026

It was a really busy weekend for us and it will continue that way for the rest of this week.  We are having our bedroom and bathroom painted.  To facilitate that we have been clearing everything out of our walk in closets.  The painters start Tuesday and should finish by Thursday.  

My closet almost cleared out. 

I still have some stuff on one of the shelves across from this picture.  It's just stuff that I have no idea where to put. It shouldn't actually be in the closet but I don't know where I should put any of it on a permanent basis. I'll decide some day but not now! 

Here's where some of the stuff is going -- the office. Yep that clothes rack is hiding my first t shirt quilt, hubby's race shirts including the Peachtree Road race in Atlanta. 

On with my goals from last week. Boy it was a long list! 

6/29/26

✅Sew table runner together — sewn together and quilted. 

✅Quilt another section of June UFO project — done. 

✅Work on Snowman #2 - ironed the rest of pieces on #2. 

✅Start clearing out “stuff” to prep for new carpet in painting bedrooms — most of the “stuff” is out of the bedroom.

✅Sew more Veronica blocks — 2 finished and 4 blocks partially finished. 

✅Make more string blocks — done, will sew together at retreat. 

✅Enjoy 4th Of July party in neighborhood — led patriotic sing along with neighborhood singers before pot luck lunch at the clubhouse. 

Unfortunately there aren't many pictures from all of these goals. 

Last week I stitched in the ditch around each of the appliqués. This week I stitched the lines in the orange rectangles.  I've got a plan for the next step but I may not have time to do it this week but it is on the list. 

Now for this coming week - 

7/6/26

Bind table runner

Organize more block sets to sew together at retreat 

Move some stuff back to closets

Finish more Veronica blocks 

Prep Snowman #3 for hand appliquéing

Quilt another section of June UFO project 

After painting this week, new carpeting will be put in our bedroom, the guest bedroom and the office next Monday. So, of course we need to find places to put the stuff we're storing in the office. And we need to clean out a lot of stuff stored in the guest bedroom.

Here's a look at what we found in a big box in our guest bedroom. All it said was Bonnie's Wedding dress and grandma's ---. (it didn't say what!) No, I've never had my grandmother's wedding dress. No clue what was in it. So I opened it to find - furs. I think they were mink. A full coat, a stole, and the dark one can be clipped on a collar.  Did I mention I have a fur stole of my mother's too?  And, I really don't need any furs. The box also had two linen table cloths, a pair of men's pants that neither of us recognized, and my wedding dress. More things to find a place for!   

Hubby did a search on what to do with furs.  Here were the suggestions:

Donate to theater group

Try to sell item

Repurpose it as stuffed bear or other small clothing or pillow

Donate them to animal rescue group

I haven't decided what I should do with these but I know I'm not keeping them. 

I've had another week of sewing for at least 15 minutes every day. Here are the stats. 

Week ending 7/5/26:  186 days of 2026.

  186 stitching days out of 186 days. 100%

One week from Tuesday I leave on my retreat.  I need to make sure I have enough projects with me.  I'm looking forward to seeing this special group of friends next week. And, getting a lot of projects moved to tops. 

As usual, here's my list of Linky parties.  

Stitching Time 

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

 

I hope you have a quilty week ahead! The temps are not as bad as this weekend was but they are still pretty high.  I'll spend as much time as I can in my sewing room in the basement. It will be a lot cooler.  But there is a lot of stuff that will need to be put back after the painting and carpeting. Fun times ahead! 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Happy Fourth of July!

250 years ago a fledgling country was born.  On July 4, 1776 the Declaration of Independence was adopted by representatives of 13 colonies of England.   

The Declaration starts "“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”  Yes, for the time it was exceedingly radical. 

As Heather Cox Richardson wrote in her 'Letters from an American' on July 3, 2026 "America was founded on the radical idea that all men are created equal."

But over the years America has made great strides to live up to this concept.  I remember the joy and happiness of the Bicentennial in 1976. We weren't perfect. For instance, it wasn't until 1974 when the Equal Credit Opportunity Act was passed allowing women in all states to take out loans or open a back account without having a man co-sign.  I was surprised to see that date as I started my own bank account in 1969 when I started college. It turns out California was way ahead of the curve by allowing women to have control of their own bank accounts from 1862. 

Today I do not feel great joy and happiness. I am wary of where the country is and where it is headed.  I honor our country but not our leaders. It is time for everyone to read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to see what we should be doing. If we want to continue living in a democratic republic that truly believes in our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution we must act. Start by registering to vote. Become informed citizens. Learn about what people actually stand for. And plan to vote and encourage others to vote in November.  

In honor of the United States of Ameica I am showing all the patriotic quilts I've made or been gifted.  Most have been on display in our house since before Memorial Day. 

I made this many years ago, probably in a class. 

I made this one within the last ten years. This one Block Lone Star pattern  is from Debby Kratovil.  

This was made in 2022. It was a mystery block of the month by Sherri McConnell.

This was given to me over 20 years ago by Juliann Phillips. We had been secret pals in a Prodigy quilt activity.  It is hard to see but it is sitting on a small desk that was about the only piece of furniture that my grandfather kept from his youth. 

I made this banner a while ago.  There is no label on it so I don't remember how long ago it was.  (Reminder -- label your quilts! Do as I say, not as I do!) 

A table runner made many years ago.  The color isn't as bright as this shows.  But, it does a great job decorating our dining room table. 

I have another table runner in the works that I shared the beginning of on 6/29/26.  Just scroll back if you want to see the start. I'll be showing the whole thing one of these days.  

Have you been making patriotic quilts?  Enjoy your fourth of July. And remember to vote in the fall. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie