Monday Meandering -- 8 - 31 - 2026

I sure did the first thing on my goal list this past week.  Sharon and I had a great time together.  She got a lot done and pushed me to finish the August clue for Marigold Mystery.  I'm glad she did -- I was going to wait to do some at home.  But, the next clue comes out this week and sometime we'll get together over FaceTime and sew up the clue while we chat.  It's a great way for us to stay in touch.  

Here's the whole list of what got done. 

8/24

✅Enjoy in house retreat at Sharon’s — we had a great time. 

✅Make Marigold Mystery blocks — all of the first clue blocks are done. 

Start sewing idiom challenge top — no sewing done but several things were done that moved the project ahead. 

✅Finish sewing string quilt together — done. 

Bind sea creatures quilt — still need to hand sew binding down. And ✅fall appliqué quilt -- done and hanging.

Here are a few of my Marigold blocks.  You can see some of the fabrics I'm using here. Since I am using a big hunk of orange I'm trying to make blocks that will go with the orange but not be too dark. If you wonder where the purple is coming from, look at the bottom center of the picture of all the fabrics.  There is definitely some purple in it.  The first clue included 5 sawtooth stars and 4 Dutchman puzzles. I had two of the stars done from when Sharon and I had FaceTimed together.  That means I made 7 blocks at her house. 

I did get the string blocks sewn into a quilt but I didn't remember to take a picture until after it clouded up so I couldn't get a decent picture.  Additionally I finished sewing the binding on the fall applique and it is already hanging in the great room.  But it was too dark to get a decent picture.  After I write my blog I'll try to get started on the sea life quilt. 

I also spent some time today adding to my Idiom Challenge piece.  I've chosen colors for the items. I've done a bit more drawing of elements.  I hope to actually do some sewing this week.  It's due on 9/16.  It will be hanging at the Original Sewing and Quilting Expo in Fredericksburg Sept 24 through 26, 2026. (I'm also going to be working as a class assistant on the 24th.) 

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

8/31/26

Start sewing on idiom quilt

Cut one kit for Oct retreat

Lay out potato chip blocks and possibly sew together

Finish binding on sea life

Get one of my tops loaded and quilted 

That seems like a lot considering I really need to get going on the idiom challenge quilt. Hopefully I'll get some different things moved forward too. 

Despite two days of travel I was able to continue stitching for 15 minutes a day. Saturday evening after driving for 5 or so hours home I wasn't sure I really wanted to do any stitching.  But after relaxing for a while I set a timer for 20 minutes and proceeded to knit on a wash cloth.  Not quite mindless knitting but pretty easy. Most days Sharon and I spent 6 to 7 hours in her studio sewing, chatting, and having fun. 

Week ending 8/30/26: 242 days of 2026.

 241 stitching days out of 242 days 99.6% 

One thing we did do is visit a couple of stores for fabric.  Did I need to buy any? Not exactly.  Did I buy some? YEP.  Here's most of my new fabric with a wide back I bought several weeks ago. Darn -- this isn't a great picture. The orange and blue are 3 yard pieces for backings. The weird looking brown is actually a 1/2 yard piece of brown dimples. (I figure it will go with Marigold mystery fabrics.) The fabric underneath them is actually a light blue-green design on a wide backing. You might be able to see them better if you enlarge the picture. I'm hoping to use some of these backings this week. 

And my best purchase was this, dare I say, hideous green with green spots/circles on it.  It yelled frog to me! (oops! I general use my blog URL on my pictures. Evidently I used the notation I use on the pictures name instead for some unknown reason.)  Isn't that going to make a great frog? I'm looking forward to making Ms. Frog. 

I meant to take a picture of one of the New Bern bears but didn't think about it until we were shopping.  This bear was out side of the Academy sports shop.  Driving to the next fabric store I must have seen 8 to 10 other bears, but this was easiest to snap a picture. 

One thing I "found" when I was putting away these fat quarters was an old Halloween stitchery I finished several years ago.  It's time to make it a small wall quilt/picture.  Here's the stitchery with 3 suggested borders. The one on the right seems wrong for the black and white stitchery.  Below is a closeup of the two blacks I'm auditioning.  I think the border would be about 2" cut or about 1.5" with the binding. I still need to trim the stitchery too.  My thought is to get this finished and possibly use it this October.  What looks like a shadow behind the piece is actually the excess fabric of the suggested borders.  See the close up below showing the two on the left. 

The one on the top is a herringbone design that was used as the border and binding of the autumn applique quilt. 

The one underneath has black with various shades of grey with it.  I'm leaning toward the black and grey one... gives a bit more interest to the piece.  Of course, I'll need to check that there is enough of it to also do the binding. If time permits I might work on it this week. 

Please check out these blogs.  It's fun to see what other quilters are working on. Heck, maybe you'll see some great inspirations. 

Stitching Time 

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

We had a slight respite from the super hot and humid days last weekend.  And much of this week.  But if the weather forecast is accurate, we're in for really hot and humid week. Five days in the 90's and one day hitting 100°. And that's without taking the humidity into consideration.  So where will I be the most comfortable? You're right if you said my basement studio.  It is so much cooler down there AND I have my own ac/heater too if I get too hot.  So I should get a lot done this coming week.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 8 - 24 - 2026

Has school gone back in session where you live? Our county started August 11th! Yep several weeks ago.  When I was an elementary library Media Specialist the staff would start working two weeks before Labor Day. The kids would come the week before Labor Day.  Starting the second week of August just seems weird to me -- it's still summer. On the other hand, they will be out by May 28. So are your kids or grandkids in school now?  Does that mean you have more time or less time to sew? Or doesn't it make a difference? 

Here are my goals from last week.  I did ok but really didn't get as much done as I would have liked. 

8/17/26

✅Quilt one of my quilts — sea life baby top quilted. 

✅Plan projects for in-home retreat in NC — I’ve got about 5 but may add or subtract from that number. 

Start sewing the Idiom Challenge project — no sewing done. 

✅Make more blocks for July UFO — all blocks made - maybe. 

Make Marigold Mystery blocks — nothing done

✅Continue hand quilting fall applique blocks — 1.5 are left to quilt around. 

I'm not sure why I didn't whip through all these goals.  I did spend some time reading but I don't think I read all that much! Not a lot of pictures of what I did get done. 

This is what I'm calling Sea Life. I started calling it sea creatures and decided it showed a lot more than just that.  I purchased the fabric as a kit years ago. Do you remember Craftsy? That's where I got it from.  I don't remember what the kit was actually for in terms of a pattern. I think I made a wall hanging with the same fabric a couple of years ago but I couldn't find a picture of it.  So, maybe I didn't! 

I used navy blue So Fine thread and Curly long arm design by My Creative Stitches. Here's a close up of the stitching. The red fabric near the bottom right corner was also used for the backing. Except I didn't have enough so I added some light grey fabric evenly spaced in between two sections of the red.  The binding is going to be navy blue.  I prefer a darker binding mainly because it will hide dirt that might get on it. This quilt will be donated to one of the local hospitals NICU.  

The July UFO was a 12" fall block and a few 6" blocks also in fall colors some of which were from the same line.  I've been trying to make more 6" blocks and finally got the number I need done.  And, I'm underwhelmed by the top so far.   I've added a 3" borders around the 12" block. I figure 6" would work around that border.  Every time I look I see too white backgrounds on some of the blocks. I'm not particularly excited about it so far.  What do you think? If I remember correctly I'm out or nearly out of the yellow with the little brown flowers that I used with many of the blocks.  I don't particularly like the basket on the white background on the left. The other three blocks with white are the same beige fabric but different from the basket. I think I might need to replace the block with the white background with some other block using the beige background. Or?  Any suggestions.  I'd like to get this to about 36 by 42 or so as then it could be used as wheelchair quilt. I'll probably need another row of blocks or ?? on the top and bottom plus add 3" borders around the whole thing. I have no idea what fabric I would use at this point. I have some of the dark brown left but not much. Most of this fabric was actually fat quarters. I won it from a gal who had been making samples with the fabric many, many years ago. Those were the days when I won quite a few things while reading people's blogs. 

So my thoughts right now is to add something on the top and bottom that will be 3" total. Then figure out a 3" border for all around. Of course, that would be after I decide about that white background on the basket! Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. 

Here are my goals for this coming week.  I will be down in North Carolina at my friend Sharon's house.  The current list "looks" doable while I'm down there but who knows. I may add one or two extra projects in case I run into a problem.   

8/24

Enjoy in house retreat at Sharon’s

Make Marigold Mystery blocks

Start sewing idiom challenge top

Finish sewing string quilt together

Bind sea creatures quilt and fall appliqué

I've continued my 15 minutes of stitching every day.  Usually a lot more! Here's the stats. 

Week ending 8/23/26: 235 days of 2026.

 234 stitching days out of 235 days 99.5%

I've also been sewing blocks for the most recent FCQ Equilter's turn.  I'll be taking these and a few more down to Sharon this week.  I may end up stitching a few that are already cut out down at her house. 

The block came from this year's Sewcialites 3 blocks.  It's #17 by Sandy Gervais.  It's an easy block to make -- it takes longer to cut than to sew if you ask me. I think I have 3 more cut out and fabric chosen for another one. Sharon will be making kids quilts with most of them.  

Monday begins singing season again.  The Spotsylvanians have their first rehearsal that evening.  I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and making new friends too.  I've enjoyed my free Monday evenings but I've been missing singing.  

So now is when I post all the Linky Parties and ask you to visit them.  Consider yourself asked! 

Stitching Time 

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

 

I'm ready to call it quits tonight. Oops. I wanted to name the book I really enjoyed this last week.  It is The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. It was an unusual way to read a story as all of it was mail or notes.  I know I was drawn into the story quite quickly and finished it within a couple of days. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 8 - 3 - 2026

It's been a busy week. I tried to get everything done on my goals list. And I added working on a challenge project.  Plus, the Spotsylvanian's had a singing opportunity. More about that at the end. First the goals list. 

7/27/26

✅Finish quilting fall appliqué quilt — machine work is done. Started hand quilting around the appliqués. 

✅Bind Jane’s table runner — need to hand stitch the binding down 

✅Bind Eiffel Tower Quilt — done. 

✅Stitch on Snowman #2 — bunny body done, on to ears. 

✅Finish beanie hat — done. 

Wait! I forgot to take pictures of what I did this week except the last one. So here is a picture of the beanie hat I finished this week.

A friend gave me this yarn because she couldn't use it the way she wanted.  This is the second child beanie I've made with it and I'll probably have enough for another hat. This one is going to my friend. She may have to hold onto it for a year or two but her grandson will grow into it.  It's fun to knit with wild yarn.  

Now on to this week's plan.

8/3/26

Sew down binding on table runner

Draw out plan for Idiom Challenge, stitch rain and puddles on background

Stitch ears of bunny on Snowman 2

Pick fabric for Marigold mystery 

Start making 6” blocks for Aug UFO Challenge

Unfortunately there is a lot of hand sewing needed this week. I doubt I'll get it all done but I can make some progress.  

I spent 15 minutes sewing every day this week. See below for the numbers.

Week ending 8/2/26: 214 days of 2026.

 213 stitching days out of 214 days 99.5%

I also did something I've been putting off for way too long: figuring out my fabric use statistics.  I don't think I've shared any for this year, although I thought I had. 

Here's a stashbusting statement for the first 2 quarters of the year.  

2026	Yards in Quarter	Yards In Year	Yards Out Quarter	Yards Out Year	Total Yards In or Out Year
Quarter 1	27.25	27.25	33.50	33.50	6.25
Quarter 2	16.625	43.875	19.20	52.750	8.875

One year I decided not to keep my stats on fabric usage.  Then, I decided I missed knowing how I was doing. So this year I thought I would keep stats for each quarter instead of monthly.  The drawback is it's usually a lot of items I have to keep track of and figure out.  I thought I'd reported on the first quarter but I couldn't find anything in my posts. So here are both quarters. I need to get back in the habit of recording what is going out and coming in.  Hopefully 3rd quarter stats will be easier to figure out. 

That said, I am tickled that I didn't bring more fabric in then I used.  The fact that I don't count fabric used until the quilt is done or in case of blocks going out of the house, until they are on their way wherever they belong.  I have several tops waiting to be quilted and I have backing for them.  Hopefully I'll get some of them done this quarter AND I don't go crazy buying fabric. (Or picking up too much from one of the free tables!) 

Saturday the Spotsylvanians were invited to sing the Star Spangled Banner and another patriotic song for a young man who was receiving the keys to a new home that was built for him and his family. The house was built by Homes for Our Troops. Their mission says it all: "To build and donate specially adapted custom homes nationwide for severely injured post - 9/11 Veterans, to enable them to rebuild their lives."

It was an amazing morning.  There were quite a few speeches given by community people many who had been in the military also. Surprisingly, I found most of the speeches interesting as well as educating me on the organization.  It was well done although the temperature and the sun kept rising.  The house was open so that anyone who wanted to could view it and its many adaptions. Unfortunately, we had somewhere else to be shortly after the end so we didn't view the house.  If you are looking for a place to donate money that is well organized and well rated check this group out.  

We had just finished our last song.  It was a warm day but definitely worthwhile to support this great organization. (I'm second from the left. Just in case you want to put a face with the name!) 

Stitching Time 

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

Take a few minutes to visit these Linky parties.  It's always fun to see what folks are working on.

I wanted to share this last bit.  I'm sure it's 100% correct! 

Thanks to https://redthreadstudio.com/.  Check out the amazing selection of solid fabrics at their web site.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie