Monday Meanderings 9 - 8 - 2025

As of Sunday we are 250 days into 2025. Wow -- this year is flying.  We've enjoyed the cooler weather but we sure could use some rain.  We got some rain but not enough. Hopefully we'll get more over the next month or so.  I did make some good progress this month.  Here are last week's goals. 

9/1/25

✅Put borders on Soho 3yd quilt from July retreat — done! 

✅Quilt another top — quilted a small baby quilt. 

✅Cut a top for October retreat — started cutting more Economy blocks 

√Clear off right side of design wall — some things have been removed but not all.

✅Begin cutting fabric for Magnificent Mystery Quilt from Meadow Mist Designs — the first two fabrics are done. (Minus one 2.5” square. I’ll do it tomorrow or the next day.)

This is Soho, a Fabric Cafe 3 yard quilt.  I changed it a little as I didn't have a yard of beige.  So I used one fabric for the half square triangles. I bought another fabric for the borders which I did with only one fabric rather than an inner and outer border. I'll probably use some of the beige border fabric for the backing.  

For the next quilt kit I chose to use the September UFO Challenge project.  Several years ago I made an economy block quilt and cut some extra pieces for it. This week I cut the background fabrics for all the pieces I had already cut out.  Then I pulled a bunch of additional fabrics so I could make a bigger quilt. First the finished blocks. (Yep, just 2!) 

Here are the cut pieces and a bunch of fabrics that still need to be cut. I'm using dies from my 9" Accuquilt Cube. Any cube will allow you to make an Economy block using dies # 1, 3, and 4. The triangle die for the light fabric uses a too much fabric so I'm considering figuring out the correct size and cutting them myself.  I'll keep you informed if it works.  

I did make some progress on clearing off the side of my design wall.  I forgot to take a before picture so I found one from awhile ago.  Here are the two ... 

   So, argh -- I wish I had more control of my photos!  Anyway, the left is a while ago and the right is showing I've made some progress. I moved several orphan blocks and some excess papers.  Obviously there is some more work to do. With perseverance I should be able to remove and put all of this stuff away. (Or throw it away.) 

I did get a start on cutting out the Magnificent Mystery quilt. Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs starts her mystery quilt in the summer. She gives cutting directions for the entire quilt early on. If you cut it all at the beginning it makes it easier to make each clue as all that is needed is sewing.  I've enjoyed that part so I do all the cutting at the beginning. I will continue working on the cutting this coming week. 

Here's my plan for this week. 

9/8/25

Load and start quilting Ombré quilt

Make RSC blocks in light blue and light green and more 9 patch blocks

Cut out more Sept UFO challenge- Economy blocks

Continue cutting out the Magnificent Mystery quilt

Bind baby quilt 

I had another 100% sewing week. 

W/ending 9/7/25. 250 days of 2025

• 15 minute days Sept = 7/7
• 15 minute days/2025 = 250/250 days
• Success rate = 100%

I hope you can spend some time checking out some of the Linky parties -- don't you want to get some new ideas? (Ok, so I get way too many ideas every week and have enough of my own ideas but I still get excited about what I see each week.) 

Life in Pieces

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

I'll leave you with this wonderful picture I took while walking this week. Yep that's hubby with Sunny. I stopped to get the picture. 

We didn't get the rain but we got this huge rainbow.  For a short while there was a double on the left hand side but that picture wasn't very good.  

Happy quilting all -- Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 8 - 11 - 2025

What a wonderful week Sharon and I have had.  She's gotten a lot done which you can see below.  I did some "negative" stitching on my counted cross stitch before I was able to make forward progress. Check below for the picture.  And the weather has been great though we've spent a good deal of our visit in the studio keeping Ruthie busy.  First let's look at my goals for the week.

8/5/25

✅Figure out next steps for my 1.5” squares sewn into 9 patches — read directions, found background fabric. It's ready to cut out.

✅Quilt a top —  top quilted but needs binding.

✅Prep triangle top to quilt on my domestic machine — pinned and started quilting. 

✅Continue working on the counted cross stitch project bag — progress made but there’s been a lot of pulling stitches out and then recounting and stitching. 

✅Attend Country Piecemakers guild meeting Saturday — Great fun to see so many friends. And a bonus — lots of free fabric from a quilter who has given up quilting.

 

Here's a picture of the triangle quilt.  I pin basted it and made a mistake. Probably a big mistake. I usually tape the backing fabric down and then pull it taut and tape some more. OOPS. I forgot the taping step. And, I was ready to get to quilting so I didn't fix it. I may regret that. The positive is this is a wall hanging and the back won't be showing. 

And here's a closeup of it. I'm stitching with my walking foot in the white triangles although I am quilting by rows.

Eventually all of the white triangles will be stitched on all sides. It's pretty easy to do -- I started by going up and down the rows. I may have to fill in some spaces but hopefully it will continue to be easy. 

Ugh.  No I don't really like this decorator fabric for the backing. And, no it doesn't look great but it is a wall hanging so it won't show. Or at least that is my plan.  It's more puckery than I want but ... I was lazy. 

As I mentioned the cross stitch project bag is a challenge.  I removed a lot of stitches on the left side. I finally figured out the error and have been able to continue to make progress.  Hopefully the lamb on the left will be finished by next week...maybe more. 

Now on to this week. I'm going to take it easy this week.  I want to read a bit, knit and do a little sewing. Plus all that new to me fabric needs to be put away. Hum, I might be busier than I want to be! 

8/11/25

Keep working on project bag 

Read a book or two

Wash and iron new fabric and put it away

Quilt one of my tops

Make blocks for various projects

I have already washed most of the dark fabrics that I got. Including some greens I bought at Quilters Corner in the Richmond area.  I am hoping to make a paper pieced Christmas tree sometime this year and bought a medium and dark green.  Once again, I was surprised by the amount of color Color Grabbers™, well, grab. The bigger sheets are Color Catchers™.  I'm going to be buying more Color Grabbers in the future. 

The funny thing is there was only a yard or two that were brown.  I've already started the ironing and folding but it will take a while to go through all 25 yards plus the extra 2.25 yards from the store.  Here are the dark fabrics ready to iron. 

Here are the quilts Sharon was able to quilt on Ruthie.  In quilting order:

This is Baby Goose pattern from Villa Rosa.  Sharon won a kit.  It's now ready to bind. 

Next is a Fabric Cafe 3 yard quilt.  Sorry we're not sure which book it comes from or if it is a stand alone pattern.  The pink fabric has ballerinas on it and the black fabric has ballet inspired words. Really cute quilt. 

 

And finally, this amazing quilt.  Sharon decided to do the Bernina - Sugaridoo quilt along last year.  (The pattern, Between the Lines, and information is still available at Sugaridoo https://sugaridoo.com/qal/.) She chose one of my new quilting designs, Hidden Diamonds by My Creative Stitches.

And here is a close up of the quilting design, Hidden Diamonds. 

I have to say she did a beautiful job on the color choices, piecing, and picking the design. It was an easy design to use and went fairly fast.  

This was another successful week on the stitching front. I will admit I nearly skipped my stitching Saturday.  But I decided to set the timer for 15 minutes and work on the project bag.  Needless to say I spent more than 15 minutes! 

W/ending 8/9/25. 222 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/August = 9/9
• 15 minute days/2024 = 215/215 days
• Success rate = 100%

It's been a busy day quilting Between the Lines, washing fabric, and trying to straighten the studio.  It looks like a bomb went off in it with all the new fabric needing to be put away.  Hopefully I'll be able to get to sew sometime this week. 

Here's my favorite Linky parties. Please go visit them.

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie

Monday Meanderings 8 - 4 - 2025

Yahoooooo! Our hot weather has broken.  Early this morning it was 60˚.  And it stayed nice with lower humidity all day.  Although most of my time was spent in my studio in the basement, I did get out a couple of times to walk Sunny. We didn't even have to worry about paws being burnt on the asphalt street.  I finally had a bit more motivation to finish up another of my retreat tops. Most goals were achieved last week. 

✅Put all my retreat supplies away — done. 

✅Put borders on Pretty Please — finished. 

✅Finish FCQ Equilters blocks — completed and ready to get it in the mail. 

Pick a quilt and backing — I picked them but didn’t do anything with it! 

✅Keep knitting on the current hat — finished except pompom. Another one is started. 

✅Work on cross stitch project bag  — more stitches are done. 

Here's Pretty Please which is now named Popsicle. (Pretty Please is the name of the pattern from Fabric Cafe.) Who knows when I'll find a fabric for the backing. 

I also finished the last few FCQ Equilter blocks this week.  I'll get them off in the mail sometime this week. There are other ways to lay them out but this one caught my eye. I quit at 6 blocks. 

I didn't take photos of the hat nor the cross stitch project bag.  Maybe next week. Now on to this week's goals list. 

8/5/25

Figure out next steps for my 1.5” squares sewn into 9 patches

Quilt a top

Prep triangle top to quilt on my domestic machine 

Continue working on the counted cross stitch project bag and the hat

Attend Country Piecemakers guild meeting Saturday 

Here are a few things I worked on off list. First is a triple rail quilt from Even More Quilts for Baby from Ursula Reikes.  When I opened this quilt kit at retreat I had no idea what I had done.  Evidently I hadn't cut all the rails I would need and the focus fabric was cut the wrong size and way too many than needed. Last week I auditioned three different fabrics for the centers. 

Biker Chicks 

Dalmations 

Mickey Mouse 

As much as I like the Biker Chicks I just couldn't see it as a baby quilt. Dalmations would have worked but Mickey won out because I had enough fabric to cut the 4 8.5" blocks and not a lot leftover. Bonus. 

Here's Mickey's Triple Rail quilt top. It's about 38" square if I remember correctly. The hospital we donate our baby quilts to like smaller quilts for the NICU. So this will work great. 

I also decided on my fabrics for the Magnificent Mystery Quilt being offered by Cheryl Brickey at Meadow Mist Designs. (This links directly to the info page for the Mystery Quilt.)  The cutting directions will be released on Thurs, 8/7.  I've got my fabric picked but I'm waiting for my background fabric that I ordered Sunday. 

All of the colored fabric came from my stash. Amazing.  Although I really like the background fabric at the top it's only a fat quarter so I'm not using it. Hopefully I'll like the fabric I ordered.  I bought a bolt of it as I needed some beige-y fabric for bordering one of my quilts from retreat and possibly could use it as backings fora couple of tops. I really like these fabrics and how well they go together. Fingers are crossed that the new background fabric will look terrific with them. 

Another week of 100% on 15 Minutes of Stitching.

W/ending 8/3/25. 215 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/July = 31/31
• 15 minute days/August = 3/3
• 15 minute days/2024 = 215/215 days
• Success rate = 100%

Please take a few minutes to visit these Linky parties. Lots of ideas will pop off the pages. 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday 

Monday Musings 

I'll leave you with one more photo.  Be careful of wandering seam rippers! This one rolled off my sewing machine table. I don't know if it rolled off through the open area at the side of the machine or whether it rolled off the front. But it landed point first.  I showed the presser foot to show that it was ridiculously close to my foot which was wearing a sandal at the time. 😳😳

And with that I'm done. My quilting buddy Sharon is coming up at the end of the week and we're looking forward to making progress on some of our projects and getting to visit in person for the first time since last October, I think. 

Happy Quilting All.  Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 7 - 28 - 2025

It was a great week and a great retreat.  I really enjoy gathering with these ladies, catching up and sewing.  I'll see some of them at the Country Piecemakers meeting in August. I was really successful too. Here's my goal list.

7/21/25

 ✅Attend retreat — great fun and terrific to see these friends again. 

Piece these tops in the order given as time allows:

 ✅Soho — center done, will do borders at home.

Triple Rail baby quilt — what was I thinking?  This was not a doable project! The rails were all made but the novelty fabric wasn’t right. 

  Irish Christmas (mine in spring colors!) — HSTs were sewn and trimmed. Putting the quilt together will come later. 

 ✅Cornerpost — all done. 

 ✅Pretty Please — need to find a border.

 ✅Dinos and Friends (PCQ Charity Quilt for Kids) — easy-peasy. Finished, ready to find a backing and quilt

 ✅Write article on Mysteries and Sew Alongs  — done. 

 ✅Keep working on cross stitch project bag — one thread was stitched. (Doesn’t sound like much but it is making progress.

First up, Soho. Not a great picture but you get the idea. This is a Fabric Cafe 3 yard quilt.  The beige fabric corners on the blue block should be the border on this one.  I knew I would need to use a different fabric for the border as I didn't have enough. I'll check my stash to see if anything will go with this one.  It may take a while to finish. 

Triple Rail baby quilt -- oh my goodness.  I don't know what I was doing when I cut out this "kit."  The triple rail part of this one was made although I had to cut some more strips to succeed.  But the center novelty fabric? I have about 20 8 x 8" blocks. I needed 4 much smaller squares. I decided not to cut the 8 x 8" blocks as they would work really well for a quilt bigger than 36" square. I'll find another novelty fabric to go with the rails.  Stay tuned. 

Irish Christmas is a more involved quilt.  I got all, 48, of the half square triangles sewn and trimmed.  This project might wait for my October retreat or I might sew it before then.  It is a bit more complicated to try to make it in a retreat setting -- catching up with friends, talking and carrying on. So maybe this will be done at home in the near feature.

Cornerpost is from a magazine design I had saved.  I probably won't do another one but it was fairly easy to put together.  (I turned the center row upside down so I ended up with the three light blocks all at the bottom. Bummer. But, not worth turning it around.) 

Pretty Please is another 3 Yard Quilt. I made it earlier this year that you can see here. This is a very easy, quick quilt.  The borders, in purple, will be added soon.  I like the multicolored popsicles It's a fun quilt. 

Dinos and Friends was super easy and fast to sew together. It took much longer to find all the fabrics, iron them, and cut them out than to sew it. (I love having kits to sew at retreat.) I probably should have cut out two instead of just one. I may have to find some more fabric to make another one of these quilts. 

Here's a link to Jan Ochterbeck's blog and directions for this quilt and others. This will be given through my quilt guild to a youngster in our community. 

Luckily the drive back from the retreat house was easy -- no rain, no wind just some traffic. I've already taken one nap.  I'll probably go to bed early tonight -- I'm pooped! Here's what's on the list for this coming week. 

7/28/25

Put all my retreat supplies away

Put borders on Pretty Please

Finish FCQ Equilters blocks 

Pick a top and backing and quilt it

Keep knitting on the current hat

Work on cross stitch project bag 

I definitely got my 15 minutes of stitching done this week. 

W/ending 7/27/25. 208 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/July = 27/27
• 15 minute days/2024 = 208/208 days
• Success rate = 100%

Here are a few photos of some of the other projects people were working on. (BTW -- there were only 7 of us.) 

M's lunch box from a pattern from Annie's called Out to Lunch 2.0. She had a good time making it. She also made -- get this -- tennis shoes! 

Pretty cool. I'd love to make a pair but my feet like good arch support! 

B cut and sewed this top at retreat. (It was 6 days and 5 nights, although we all left by about 11 this morning.) This doesn't do the colors justice though.

D is a Studio 180 teacher and was working on these blocks. She was able to get quite a few of them done. 

I was surprised that I didn't have more photos.  I hope my friends will share photos when their blocks becoming tops.  A lot of fun sewing was going on.  

I'm worn out. So, let's get the link-up done and call it a night! 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings 

I'll be back to link the last two tomorrow.  I hope you can take some time to visit these Linky parties and check out different blogs around the world. 

Happy Quilting,  Bonnie