Monday Meanderings 9 - 14 - 2026

Just like several of us thought, the comfortable lower temps didn't last.  I just walked Sunny and the humidity was awful.  The heat was ok for evening.  Needless to say I spent most of time in my basement studio working on Ms. Frog.  As much as I like her I am ready to do work on some other projects.  Here's last week's goals. 

9/7/26

✅Keep sewing on Idiom — Quilt Done except hand sewing the binding and adding 4 beads. 

✅Finish quilting customer top — done. Forgot to ask owner if it is ok to share. 

√ Sew July UFO together — blocks are sewn together ready to stitch to center. 

✅Cut one kit for October retreat — finished. Ready to sew at retreat.  

Here's a few process pictures of Ms. Frog. The color is wrong on the first two pics. The background fabric is a slate grey. The clouds have a grey background and some navy netting.  

Here are the changes on the pictures.  Picture 1: clouds added, eyes. Picture 2: nose and mouth, frog body zigzagged down, calf muscle highlighted, whirlpool.  Picture 3: another circle added to whirlpool, additional rain added to the bottom right and left, two plants added, silver raindrops added from two umbrella points.  Picture 4: plant veins highlighted. 

Next week I'll added a picture of the finished quilt.  I'll just say there are a few beads being added! 

I loaded one of my quilts but didn't get time to quilt it.  Maybe I'll have it done next week! 

Here is part of a kit I cut out this week. (Okay, Sunday afternoon!) 

The ABC fabric is definitely retro. Or maybe just old.  I am using a smaller version of Honey Bouquet -- mine will end up 36 x 36".  I've added a couple of soft yellows and greens. 

The good news is I've found another pattern and fabric I want to cut out for the next project for retreat..  Hopefully I'll share it next week. 

Here's what I hope to do this coming week. 

9/14/26

Quilt Popsicle quilt 

Cut another quilt kit for retreat

Sew July UFO together. Add something to top and bottom to make it rectangular

Cut out Marigold Mystery blocks for Sept

Look at Sept UFO

I've continued stitching every day -- definitely longer than 15 minutes. 

Week ending 9/13/26: 256 days of 2026.

 255 stitching days out of 256 days 99.6%

I'm linking up with Stitching Time, Oh Scrap, Quilting Patchwork Applique,  Design Wall Monday, and Monday Musings.

Have you checked your voter registration this year?  You might want to make sure you are still registered.  I Googled Virginia State Voter Registration and was taken to Virginia Voter Information. From there I could check my voter registration with a little additional information .  It also was neat to see all the elections I've voted in since I moved to Virginia. That's 16 years of voting! If you can't find yourself please check it out.  You may need to re-register. If you haven't registered or you've moved, state deadlines are anywhere from30 days before the election to the shortest: the day of. Different states have different requirements.  Remember to vote this November. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 9 - 7 - 2026

We have relief!  Our temps hit 82º! And tonight it's supposed to drop to 62º. It's a miracle. Of course it was awful earlier this week. Temps were in the 90s and humidity was even worse.  Luckily I stayed inside most days except taking Sunny for walks. I spent most of the days in basement studio.  Unfortunately, when I wasn't working on Frog Choker, I was reading. 

I didn't do all that well on my goals this week -- not at all! That's ok. It's amazing how much time it took to stitch a bunch of rain plus tie off all the threads! 

8/31/26

✅Start sewing background of idiom quilt — background almost done. Need to tie off threads.

Cut one kit for Oct retreat — nothing done. 

Lay out potato chip blocks — nope. Need to clear off design wall 

✅Finish binding on sea life — done! 

Get one of my tops loaded and quilted — Not done because of customer quilt. 

Most of my quilting time was taken up by sewing silver thread in straight lines making it look like heavy rain.  What do you think? Remind you of rain? My idiom is Frog Choker which means so much rain that even the frogs are choking on it. 

Ms. Frog and her umbrella have only been laid on the background. She won't be put on permanently until I finish all the rain and tying off the threads.  Update -- All the rain threads have been stitched. I still have quite a few threads to tie off and bury.  But that should get done on Monday at some point. The dark grey at the top will be made to look like clouds -- hopefully.  Then I can iron on the appliqués and stitch Ms. Frog down.  I'm going to make some sort of swirl of water around the frog's hand between her legs. (Or so I hope!)  After that I'll only have binding, label and hanging sleeve to do.  I sure hope I can get it all done by 9/16! 

Here's a close up. Since this pic was taken I got all the close "rain" stitching done on this side of the frog.  Hopefully I'll be able to use a wooden skewer to hold up her umbrella.  Next week she should be almost finished before I write my blog. 

Here's next week's goals. (But you all know I'll be spending a lot of time on Frog Choker.) 

9/7/26

Keep sewing on Idiom Quilt

Finish quilting customer top

Sew July UFO together 

Cut one kit for October retreat

Fifteen Minutes of Sewing -- I sewed every day for at least 15 minutes this week. 

Week ending 8/30/26: 249 days of 2026.

 248 stitching days out of 249 days 99.6%

I'm looking forward to getting Frog Choker done so I can get back to sewing other projects and getting projects ready for my next retreat. Hopefully I'll have more things to share! 

I'm linking up with Stitching Time, Oh Scrap, Quilting Patchwork Applique,  Design Wall Monday, and Monday Musings. 

A couple of weeks ago I finished this UFO.  I started the appliqués in a class at a Maryland quilt store near where I lived.  They were finished but I put them away for a long while.  Nearly 20 years passed before I decided it was time to finish it.  Once I decided what to do it didn't take all that long to finish it. I stitched in the ditch around some of the areas and stitched parallel lines in the orange sections. I hand stitched around each motif.  It took a long time to finish it but I really like it. 

We are now 8 weeks away from the midterm elections. If you generally vote by mail consider trying early voting this year.  Who knows what will happen with voting by mail this year.  So plan ahead and don't forget to vote! 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

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 - 10 - 2026

Late, I'm late for a very important date.  Yep, I did not get my blog written last night. Yesterday was the busiest day I've had in a very long time.  First up I gathered two friends from our quilt guild and off we went to the Gathering of the Guilds. (GoG)  Unfortunately it was an hour away.  We had a great time and some of us won some of the prizes/lotto blocks.  (Me - it was me who won 12 poppy lotto blocks... story and pictures below.) After getting home hubby and I went to a going away party for some friends. We're very sad to see them leave but they are in their 90s and are going to live near one of their children -- in Nevada! Boo hiss.  But we wished them well and will miss them. I was exhausted by the time we got home. So, here I am Monday morning ready to write this week's blog.  Let's get on to it -- goals first. 

8/3/26

✅Sew down binding on table runner — finished.

✔️Draw out plan for Idiom Challenge, stitch rain and puddles on background — frog planned. Didn’t get much done on rain or puddles as I'm still making decisions. 

✅Stitch ears of bunny on Snowman 2 — done.

✔️Pick fabric for Marigold mystery — I have some ideas but not final color plans yet. 

✅Start making 6” blocks for Aug UFO Challenge — one block done several more needed. 

Here's the finished table runner.  It was a quilt-as-you-go project that a friend started.  She got fed up with it and gave it to me to finish or .... 11 years later I got it out to finish it.  There was a little grumbling and irritation while working on it. I understand why she got it out of her life.  I like it but haven't decided if I will keep it or donate it to the Virginia Quilt Museum for their store.  What do you think? Is it worthy or not?  I don't really need it.  And, it is pretty . . . 

Next up is the finished Eiffel Tower quilt.  Much of the fabric for this project was free to me. Whoopee!  The pattern is from one of Ursula Reikes baby books, except I added a row, if I remember correctly.  I got the binding done since last you saw it here.  This will be going to my local guild's community outreach program. 

And here is my beginning plans on Frog Choker -- my idiom challenge project. Well bummer. I have no idea why there are all those weird lines on this pic.  Last week I found a site showing how to draw a frog.  I decided I would draw at least one frog a day and would then use one of them as my frog pattern.  So far, this is the winner. I may change the eyes to make them a little more cartoonish.  But I'm happy with it for the most part. You can just see the blue-grey grunge background fabric on the upper left. Luckily progress is being made and it isn't due until  mid-September's guild meeting. I'll need all that time to decide and finish this one. 

I don't think I explained our idiom challenge. The guild is sponsoring it and anyone can pick an idiom and make a quilt that represents that to them.  I chose "Frog Choker." It is an old Southern saying referencing a heavy rain which is enough to choke a frog.  Pat was driving us home one day when the skies opened up with a heavy downpour.  He called it a frog choker. Voilá -- a perfect idiom.  Our idiom quilts can be any size and will be exhibited at the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo in Fredericksburg, September 24 - 26.  I have time to really plan this out and do my very best on it. And, for once, I'm not being literal about a challenge.  Do you think it would work if I put a choker necklace on my frog too? 

So here's this week's goals. I think there are too many items but at least it will remind me what I could be working on! 

8/10/26

Make progress on Idiom challenge 

Find border fabric and put on Hen & Her Chicks top

Empty two project boxes

Finish string quilt top

Quilt 2 quilts one for me, one for quilt guild

Continue making 6” blocks for Aug UFO Challenge

I'm still succeeding at my 15 Minutes to Stitch. 

Week ending 8/2/26: 221 days of 2026.

 220 stitching days out of 214 days 99.5%

I thought I would share the poppy blocks I made for the GoG.  They are pretty and were really easy.  The pattern instructions were sent out multiple times. I couldn't open the one that was in the newsletter but someone had sent a note about them with a link which I accessed. 

EXCEPT, no, this wasn't the block that most people used.  Okay then.  I won 12 blocks so it may be very interesting mixing these different blocks.  I think I got 2 of them 👆but most were like this one 👇.

It's time for me to get on with my Monday.  I hope you enjoy spending some time with quilters across the world by looking at these Linky parties.  Have fun! 

Stitching Time 

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

That's it for me today.  It's time to get going on this goal list. Plus, maybe draw another frog? I think she needs to look more cutesy.  I'll let you know how that goes next week.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie