Monday Meandering 1 - 28 - 2019

I'm backkkk!  I skipped blogging all of last week.  Before that I was talking about going on the At Home Retreat down at Sharon's new house.  I got there Thursday early afternoon and by 3 we were stitching away.  MaryBeth and Nancy got there around 5:30 -- in time for wine and dinner.  We were all stitching away after dinner, and all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 

I spent most of my time on my log cabin blocks.  Ugh, by the end of the retreat I was sick and tired of those blocks.  Although I did finish all I needed.  I'll be showing them later this week for my completed One Monthly Goal. I was pretty worn out from the driving and retreat so I took some down time most of last week.  (Heck I had hardly spent any time reading and had several books I wanted to make sure I finished before they were due.) 

Here's some of the projects the gals were working on: 

MaryBeth was the fastest sewer -- or so it seemed to me. I didn't get a picture of the T shirt quilt she put together first.  Next, she put a smaller patriotic quilt together.  Unfortunately this picture turned out pretty dark. 

Then she pulled out this older Bonnie Hunter mystery and worked on it. This is just one quadrant.  She is putting it together differently than the mystery finish. 

Nancy was working on this very cool star pattern.  Except, this is the reject one! Right, not a reject to me!  She made 4 of these but one was smaller than the others so she is going to make this one a wall hanging and make a new one. 

For some reason I didn't take a picture of any of the projects Sharon was working on.  She made several blocks for Pam's FCQEquilter block and a lottery block.  But her big project was working on a cool quilt for her bed.  I'll have to get a picture of it when I next go down to visit.  But I thought you might like to see her fabric storage.  She and a friend spent a day unpacking and refolding and organizing all of her fabric when she moved in.  It looks beautiful and seems way more than when she had it stored in her closet in Maryland. 

Here are the 2 blocks I made for Carousel that I showed the kit all cut out here. I've put it away for a later date as I have several projects I'm working on now. I forgot to take pictures of the other kit I cut and took down to work on.  (Note to self, take a picture and share in the next week or so!)  

Although I did write goals for last week I didn't share them with you but here's what I got done on them: 

January 21, 2019

Work on challenge wall hanging ✔️

Start cutting and resewing log cabin blocks✔️

Make some red Rainbow ScrapChallenge blocks✔️

Make wonky star blocks for FCQ E-Quilter ✔️

January 28, 2019

Sew challenge project to background

Finish altering the last log cabin blocks 

Bind the Turtle quilt 

Mail the FCQ Equilter blocks 

Quilt and bind the Heart table runner

That's it for me today.  Please take a look at the following linky parties to see what folks are doing this week in Blogland. Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, and Moving It Forward.  I'll have to stop back tomorrow and add the links for most of these. Let's see if I remember to do it! 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie

End of Year Statistics

A few days ago I realized I never posted my November fabric stats.  So below you'll find both November and December.  I loved getting fabric at Christmas  until I saw how much fabric I added to my stash in December.  But the best news is I did actually use more fabric than I brought in!  Whoop! Whoop! 

2018	Fabric In Month	Fabric In Year	Fabric Out Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
Nov	9.250	68.125	4.000	80.500	12.375
Dec	17.250	85.375	13.750	94.250	8.875

And here's my stats from when I first started keeping statistics to 2018. Evidently I can control some of my fabric splurges.  And considering how many tops I have in my closet I should be able to get some fast fabric usage going in 2019. 

Year	Fabric In	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
2010	65.000	70.250	13.000
2011	186.500	72.000	114.500
2012	113.545	108.970	4.575
2013	100.710	103.015	2.305
2014	108.250	79.750	28.500
2015	66.205	77.150	10.945
2016	83.375	55.375	28.000
2017	118.625	108.125	10.500
2018	85.375	94.250	8.875

Let me tell you I was so pleased I actually used 8 and 7/8th yards of fabric more than I received in 2018. I'm going to hold off buying fabric for a month or two.  But, honestly, I have a quilt that I really would like to finish and it needs a backing.  Sigh.  I will try to hold off and actually quilt the tops I already have backing for... we'll see how long that lasts! 

Recently I was cutting leftover doggy fabric for a tumbler quilt.  I really looked at the colored dots on this fabric and had to laugh.  The colored circles are paws.  Somebody at that fabric manufacturer has a good sense of humor. 

I ended up getting 120 tumblers cut and decided I couldn't get any more done to take with me.  I'll need to cut about 40 more pieces when I get home. But I have more than enough ready to get several rows done.  I really like my Accuquilt Go.  It makes it so easy to cut even odd size pieces. And, boy howdy!  It is sew easy to sew these tumblers together.   

Thursday I'm heading out for a retreat at Sharon's house.  Nancy and MB will be coming to. Normally I host this retreat but we all want to see Sharon's new house!  We'll be sewing up a storm through Monday.  We've really lucked out on the weather.  It should be in the 60's for a few days we are in North Carolina. On the other hand, when we go home on Monday we will be facing an Arctic cold blast.  Supposedly it will be in the low teens overnight and low 20's during the day.  That's really cold for this area!  I'm sure I have a quilt or two I can pile on!

That's it for me today.  I'm linking with Midweek Makers and Needle and Thread Thursday. Take a few minutes to see what folks are working on this week. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Quilts from the At-Home Retreat

Two weeks ago three friends came down from Maryland for our annual at-home retreat.  Ruthie 2 was a popular machine over the weekend.  I finished up a charity quilt that I wanted them to take back up to MD.  And they each brought quilts to long arm. 

Here's Nancy working on her quilt.  She chose Malachite pattern designed by Patricia Ritter. 

It was a lot of fun to see the design stitch out.  I bought the design when I had Ruthie and it was a little too big for her.  But it is much better on Ruthie 2 as she has more space.  Check below for the close up of the design.  It provides a lot of texture.  

Close up of Malachite pattern.

Mary Beth brought a TAPS* quilt to get it finished quickly.  (Nothing like a computerized long arm to make quilting easy!) She chose Ginger Stars by Apricot Moon.  This is one pattern that I have used over and over again. There are other "Ginger" patterns that I use a lot too.  

MB also brought this gorgeous quilt to get finished.  I believe it is a Bonnie Hunter quilt but don't know the name.  (MB -- feel free to leave a note with the name!) Her pattern choice was Easy Peasy Baptist Fan by Naomi Hines. 

After much persuading Sharon decided to quilt a TAPS quilt she had just put together. She made this quilt last year as a block of the month through A Quilting Life blog.

She chose the Ginger Stars design also.  (Sharon -- found another star pattern that I didn't have in my notebook.  Maybe your next red, white and blue quilt will be quilted with it.) 

* TAPS stands for Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. Members of Faithful Circle Quilters have been supporting the program for several years now.  These donated quilts are given to children who attend the program in May in the DC area.  I recently heard how the children (up through the teens) enjoy receiving the quilts, dragging them around the event.  Even returning campers love getting a new one.  I've got my fabrics pulled and pattern picked out.  It will be my next new quilt, eventually.  Quilts are due by mid-May.

I have more pictures to share of projects that were being worked on... I'll try to remember to include them in another post. 

Today I'm linking up with Midweek Makers, Let's Be Social and tomorrow I'll link with Needle and Thread Thursday. I forgot to come back and link this until Saturday morning -- the link was no longer available.  Sigh.  I hope to spend some time today checking out blogs posted on these linky parties! 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

In-Home Retreat Post

Wednesday night 2 of my buddies came down for our 3rd annual In-Home Retreat.  Nancy and Sharon arrived around 10:30pm after both had a full day at work.  It's tough on them but then they have 3 1/2 days of quilting.  MaryBeth was able to come down on Thursday afternoon which made us happy.

Here they are -- happily sewing or checking cell phones!

MB was off by herself.  That might explain why she got a lot done.  The weather was beautiful most days and we even left the studio long enough to take a walk one day.

Needless to say I didn't get all that much done.  Here's my project.  I did get the rest of the blocks made and sewed into a top.  I'm going to be adding a bit of appliqué to it to perk it up. Not all of these will be cut into shapes but some will be.  MB brought her appliqué dies for the Go so I'm putting them to use.  This is my OMG project and I need to get hopping on it if I'm going to finish by the end of the month. 

Here are some of Sharon's efforts.  Every time I turned around she had finished something and moved on to another project.  She put together blocks to make two additional quilts that I am not showing. 

These are for an office mate of Sharon's who is having twin girls.  The stripe fabric sure zings in these. The contrast fabrics don't stick out like these pictures show.  A bit more subtle.  

Sharon made this block as a donation to the silent auction for the upcoming quilt show.  I think it was 20" square although I could be off by a lot. 

MaryBeth had finished this one before she arrived with the exception of putting on the yo-yos.  Last year Sharon made one for her granddaughter's twin bed. 

MB worked on two or three other projects and I failed to get pictures of them.  When she has time she will send me photos of them and I'll try to add them to a post. 

Nancy used Ruthie to quilt a stunning quilt.  She was tickled with the results.  And, I was proud of Ruthie for quilting like a champ! 

If you enlarge it you should be able to see more of the quilting.  She chose a strong circular edge 2 edge which looked great on it.  In between rows or late at night she also got these blocks to a top.  Most of the half square triangles were already done.  She played around with the placement and came up with this great border design.  (Hum, wonder where the bottom section is? She must have been sewing it together.) 

Sunday morning we were all sewing again.  But at lunchtime they headed north and back to reality.  I headed to the couch and a nap.  Since Sunday I have had some dedicated time in the studio.  No results to show yet but fairly soon I should have some finished tops to show you.  And then next week I need to quilt some of those tops! 

I'm linking up with Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? and Fabric Frenzy Friday. Take a few moments to see what others are doing in their studios this week. 

Happy Quilting All!  

Monday Meanderings 3 - 21 - 2016

I don't have much to show from the at home retreat last Thursday through Sunday.  I was doing all sorts of other things -- like chatting and chauffeuring and really having a lot of fun! Here's what I did get a bit done on.  This is my "boy" charity quilt made from some of my fabrics and some of the challenge fabrics from FCQ guild in Maryland.  I laid them out this afternoon to take a picture.  This may not be the last arrangement but I do like it. 

Thank you MaryBeth for coming up with a faster way to make it.  Right now the background blue is 3 pieces of fabric.  She suggested I pieced the whole thing a bit differently and I have changed the three piece blue to one piece.  I think that one orange on the top row may be a bit too bright.  I plan to keep making blocks until I either run out of the beige squares or it gets really big.  I'm pretty sure I'll run out of the beige first.  Hopefully, this will become a rectangle quilt, not square.  Time will tell. 

I did really well on my goals this week because much of the items were done before Thursday and the start of the retreat. 

March 14, 2016

Sew OMG quilt to top stage√

Finish quilting antique quilt√

Enjoy at home retreat √

Keep working on the Slide Show quilt√ not much done.

Keep working on the “boy” challenge quilt√

Prep two more quilts for FCQ show√ just one

Here's what I'm going to try to get done this week.  Lots of stuff going on around here so hopefully I'll be pretty successful! We'll see. 

March 21, 2016

Work on Slide Show quilt

Make more “boy” blocks

Plan/make backing for OMG

Cut appliques for OMG quilt and apply

Border little 9 patch quilt

Check out my sewing machine needle carefully. Do you see that big fluff ball of lint right in front of the needle?  I was surprised to see it come up when I was sewing away.  Have you oiled and cleaned your machine recently?  I actually had cleaned the bobbin and race a few weeks ago.  I don't think I cleaned under the plate and boom! I had a giant fuzz ball.  Needless to say I did a total clean up and oiling before I started sewing again.  I had used half a large spool of cotton thread so it was time for a thorough clean. And, I changed the needle too.  I'm all set for some heavy sewing over the next few weeks.  Take the time now to clean your machine.

I'm late getting this posted today but I'll be linking up with Monday Making and Main Crush Monday.  I will be sharing quilt tops that Sharon, Nancy and MaryBeth made at our retreat sometime this week. 

Happy Quilting All!