Monday Meanderings - 12 - 30 - 2024

Welcome to the last few days of 2024.  I'm a big user of my library's ebooks. Since I check out books frequently,  I'm already getting used to the year as 2025. And in just a day or two it will be 2025.  Will you be staying up to welcome it in on Tuesday night?  I doubt if I will. I might if I find something interesting to watch on tv that will motivate me to stay up.  

I promised I'd share the ornaments I made for my grands once Christmas was over. Here's one picture of them.  Yes, I really staged them. 

Everyone thought they were very cute.  I was happy to have them done. I'm starting to think (only think) about what I want to do for them next year. Maybe some machine embroidery instead of all the hand work.  

Here's what I did toward finishing my goals this past week. 

12/23/24

✅Bind bow tie quilt — done!

✅Enjoy the family together on Christmas — we had a great time. 

Put borders on fall quilt — not even started.

Pick fabric for New Years Day Mystery — I decided to save directions then decide if I want to make it later. 

✅Quilt and bind pinwheel windmill quilt — Quilted and first side of binding sewn down. 

✅Pick 12 projects for the UFO challenge — 9 piecing projects and 3 quilting projects are on my list. 

Not a bad week considering Christmas was in the middle of it. Luckily I only had to do a little food prep.  And, I made a point of hitting my studio on Wednesday morning before we went to our son's house.  

Here's the windmill quilt while it was being quilted.  

Generally, I'm not a fan of variegated threads but this one worked so well on this quilt that I used it.  It is a YLI 100% cotton thread called Havana Market, 40 weight. It did lint a lot but I really like the colors on this one.  You can see the whole top here.  Below is the backing I used.  I tend to use excess backing for my binding which worked well on this quilt.  I used Fern Gully quilting design to give a lot of texture.  (The first side of the binding is sewn on the back. Sometime this week I'll flip it to the front and machine stitch it down. 

Here's what I'll be doing this week.

12/30/24

Finish bind pinwheel quilt

Put borders on fall quilt 

Enjoy the Rose Bowl Parade 

Work on UFO Challenge project

Spend 15 minutes a day cleaning up especially the front of my cutting table

I've been making a point of using up small dribs and drabs of thread on spools. One of these was used up; the pink is still available. I'd sure like to get it and one other used before the new year. 

Sometime after the new year I'll make a report on my thread spool usage this year. 

I had another 7 days of success making sure I'm stitching for 15 minutes every day. 

W/ending 12/29 — 364 days in to 2024. 

• 15 minute days/week Dec = 7/7
• 15 minute days/2024 = 353/364 days
• Success rate = 96.97%

I'll be doing this again in 2025.  I like the idea of having a bit of stitching going on every day.  If you are interested in joining this program go visit Kate at Life in Pieces. I think the main part of joining is to report your numbers every week. Pretty easy.  I need to ask Pat to make me another spread sheet to mark off my stitching days. 

I'm linking with the following parties: Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Design Wall Monday, and Monday Musing.  

Here's another closed up pic of the little penguin ornaments. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 11 - 18 - 2024

Did you realize we are halfway through November?  Any minute now it will 2025. Kate who blogs at Life in Pieces is already talking about 2025 goals.  I mentioned I had one goal I wanted to do but haven't even considered starting it.  I may save the last 2 weeks of the year to try to do it. I think I'll start thinking about fabric/colors now.  Maybe I'll actually give it a try once I have fabrics picked. 

I did fairly well on my goals list this week. I actually thought it was a really full list and I wouldn't finish it all.  But you will see I did almost all of the goals. 

11/11/24

✅Bind Malted Mystery quilt -- finished! 

✅Attend 2nd machine mastery class -- done! 

✅Buy binding and bind Lone Star -- done and photos have been taken. 

✅Put border on Frolicking Frogs -- done! And now in line to be quilted.

✅Put  first section of Fall Appliqué together -- done, ready for the border. 

Quilt a quilt on Ruthie -- sigh! Didn't get to it. But I've got the top picked out and I have the backing for it. 

Here's Frolicking Frogs. By the way that is the pattern name.  I think I'll be calling it Soccer Frolick from now on.  I put the border on and now need to buy (or find) backing for it.  Notice the bottom left corner? I meant to have the player right side up but decided I'd leave him upside down when I sewed the row on the wrong side. Maybe before I quilt it I'll switch the row around.   

I was happy to get the fabric I needed to make the main section of my fall appliqué. It's ready for me to find a border now. I'm taking this with me to the machine lesson to find a border. And, I'll need a backing too, someday. 

Here's what I'm working on next week.

11/18/2024

Quilt a top on Ruthie

Attend 3rd (last) machine mastery class

Finish another ornament

Pick a block set and make into a top

Finish Fall Applique top 

Pick another UFO from this year’s list and work on it

I've kept up my 15 minutes of stitching all week.  I'm hoping I can continue stitching every day for the rest of the year.  

W/ending 11/17  — 322 days in to 2024. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7
• 15 minute days/Nov = 17/17
• 15 minute days/2024 = 313/322 days
• Success rate = 97.%

I've been trying to decide on a block to request from the FCQ Equilters. My 2 months starts December 1.  I decided to try a potato chip block. Hum, this one doesn't do much for me.  The concept was to have the darks in the center and outside, lights in the middle. But, I'm not very happy with this block. I may make a whole quilt with this idea but I'm not asking the Equilters to make them for me. 

I see making some more trial blocks in my future.  I've got a couple more to try. Hopefully I'll make a decision soon!  

Thursday afternoon I attended another craft group at the clubhouse. We had several different ornaments we could make.  I tried a fabric star and a couple of snowmen from corks. (see the circle? Those are mine.)  Here's a picture of the originals -- on the tree, and all the ones we made that afternoon.  I still need to figure out the ribbons on the snowmen and the hangers for all three.  On the other hand, I don't need to make ornaments for myself.  But I like the cork snowmen enough to add them to whatever tree we put up this year. 

I'll try to remember to add photos of the finished ornaments.  

Here are the parties I'm linking up with this week.  Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musing and To Do Tuesday.  I probably won't be linking up the Monday parties until late afternoon.  I'm off to the last machine class early Monday morning and then on to my stitching group. Then I'll do the link ups. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 
 

Monday Meanderings 1 - 15 - 24

We finally were able to meet up with both of our kids and all the grandkids this weekend.  We celebrated with our daughter's family on Christmas Day.  We all ended up at our son's house on Saturday afternoon for present swapping, chatting, and simple food.  That means I can finally show some of the Christmas presents I made last year.  But first let's look at the goals' list from last week.  It was a good week. 

1/8/24

✅Finish 3 yard quilt top — done.

Make ✅backing for and ✅quilt small strippy quilt.

Start on UFO appliqué block — Started but realized I didn’t want to make more blocks. The plan is to use a setting from Circle of Nines book. 

Bind 30 Something quilt and strippy — neither got done!  

✅Iron one or ✅two backing fabrics  -- done and sewn together.

I was happy with what I got done.  I did get the last box of fabrics washed, dried, and folded. It will be going back to the guild Wednesday so it can be used in more quilts for our community projects. 

Here's what I'll be working on this week. 

1/15/24

Bind 30 Something and Strippy quilts

Load and quilt another quilt

Work on Appliqué quilt

Make more Bow Tie blocks, start blocks for FCQ Equilter 

Start ripping out row of Ombre quilt 

Cut out a bricks quilt 

Yes, I decided I'm taking one of the rows out of the Ombre quilt.  It shouldn't take that long to rip out the stitches.  But I'll have to move the setting triangles too. This quilt isn't on the top of my to do list but I will start ripping out the stitches during my weekly hand stitching group. The group is always entertaining and ripping stitches will get done fairly quickly. 

Speaking of the grand's ornaments I can now share all of them. First up is all four together. 

These were from a kit by Rachel's of Greenfield. I changed up some of the designs by adding buttons on the cuffs rather than embroidering snowflakes along with other things. I also swapped out some of the felt with other colors.  Here are each of the designs up close. 

My thought on the ornaments for 2024 is to do something machine embroidered.  Although, I may change my mind before I actually start on them later in the year.

The big homemade gift for this year went to our son, Kevin.  Years ago he gave me two big bags of t shirts.  No ideas were given on which t shirts were the most important. What he might like color wise, etc.  I let them sit in the quilt closet for years.  I made our son-in-law his quilt. Someone paid me to make another t shirt quilt. I waited a bit more and finally, this year, I decided it was time to do it. I don't particularly like making t shirt quilts although the recipients generally love them. He had totally forgotten about them. (Or maybe he lost hope that I would use them!) 

Here's his first look in the gift bag. 

And then he was taken with the first shirts he really noticed. Yea, he was really touched about the whole thing. But he really liked the two white shirts center front. They were from his wedding day 5K. Yep, we all did a 5K the morning of his wedding. One shirt says "Aimee and Kevin's wedding day 5K." Then there is a picture of his dog, Cassie and the words "Cassie Sponsored."  The one below that was from the back of the shirt and has a picture of Homer and the words "Homer Approved!" Homer was Aimee's dog. They both loved them included in the quilt.

Now for the full quilt picture. Hum, their daughter was peeking out and has her tongue out for some reason. (Almost every picture I took of her this weekend that tongue is hanging out! What??)  There were a lot of shirts for races (running and biking), some from rowing in college and one from the music school in college. Sorry this one isn't the best picture.  You can see the shirts better in the next one which was taken while I was working on it. 

The backing was the same as the border. The binding was the same blue grunge used in the quilt.  The quilting pattern is Rhapsody E2E with Puppy Paws from My Creative Stitches. Kevin and family are all great dog fans hence the Puppy Paws in the quilting design. 

I did really well with 15 Minutes to Stitch this week. Even the day we went for our family Christmas get together I was able to get 45 minutes of stitching in before we left!  Here are my  results. I'm really happy. But I know there will be some days I won't get any time but in the meantime I'm in the stitching zone! 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Jan = 14/14 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 14/14 days
• Success rate = 100%

It's time to move on to the Linky Parties. Let's check out what's happening with quilters by using these links. 

Oh Scrap

Life in Pieces

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings 

It's time to get to bed! Morning comes early and there might be snow! If it isn't there first thing in the am there's a continued chance during the afternoon and evening.  I can't decide if I like that or not but I have plenty of things to do to keep busy! 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Merry Christmas

I want to share the ornaments I have been working on (and off) nearly the whole year.  Every year I give my grands an ornament I've made. 

If you'd like to make some like these you can buy the patterns and kits from The Rusty Crow in Nags Head. They are scattered through the Patterns section.

I thought all my readers might enjoy this very cool decoration that my neighbor DeDe made for our book club party earlier in the week. It was fabulous but I know she took it down the day after because it was right in front of her sink.  I wanted to grab a book or two to borrow... 

 Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 12 - 27 - 2021

How about a post event Merry Christmas?  I failed to get a Friday blog posted.  So I'm hoping you had a wonderful day on Saturday.  Here are the four ornaments I made for my grand kids. 

I took these photos of the ornaments on my tree.  Notice  the little Santa  ornament up on the right. I'm pretty sure that ornament is from my family tree when I was very young.  I'm guessing the green pine cone was from a later time but still from when I was living with my parents.  Sophie loves blue so I always try to make her ornament with blue. The rest of the kids got red work. 

I should have moved the red and white ornament on the right so it showed more.  I bought that when we lived in Georgian in the late 80's and early 90's.  It is a Santa made on a dried okra.  I like to have unusual or handmade ornaments on our Christmas tree. 

We drove up to our daughter and son-in-law's house for Christmas Day.  Wonders of wonders -- the traffic on I 95 was moving at or above the speed limit going and coming.  The trip took the normal hour and 15 minutes.  It made a great start to our day.  And we were very happy it was an easy drive home. Truth told, I fell asleep!

We had a lovely day.  We opened presents. I played a game with the grands. (I will never play a game on the floor again.  Yikes, I just don't move that well any more!) We ate a terrific dinner cooked by Brian with desserts made by Jenny and Sophie.  Overall we had a wonderful time with Jenny and her family.  

We've had Cassie, our son's dog since last Monday.  They went to Tennessee to be with Aimee's family.  We haven't figured out when we'll do the dog swap and the presents swap yet but hopefully this week. Heck, they aren't sure when they are coming home! 

The goal list didn't get everything check off this past week.  On the other hand, I did finish a couple of books which I enjoyed. Here's how I did on that goals list. 

12/20/2021

✅Wrap Christmas presents 

✅Finish grand’s ornaments 

Finish winter wall hanging — haven’t finished yet but I've decided what to do! 

Make new UFO list — in works  

✅Have a wonderful family Christmas 

And this week --- 

12/27/2021

Finish new UFO list 

Pick 12 UFOs to focus on this year 

Finish quilting and bind the Peppermint Bunny top

Quilt and bind another top 

Work on more ombre log cabin blocks 

Work on Winter Wall hanging 

Here's the fat quarters I was gifted from Jen's family.  They were personally curated by Brian.  I was absolutely tickled with them.  I am now trying to figure out how I will use some of them in their own quilt.  Didn't he do a terrific job? 

Here's my Monday linky parties.  I hope you can take some time to go to some of them and surf the many blogs that will be linking up at the parties.

Oh Scrap

Monday Making 

Design Wall Monday 

To Do Tuesday

Have you been making goals or quilting plans for the 2022?  I decided I'm going to participate in a UFO challenge where every month we finish a UFO.  I also want to start and finish 2 quilts that I bought the patterns and/or fabric for a while.  It's time to get them started and finished this year. This may be the year to make some year long goals.  I would like to clear out some of the UFOs I have although some I'm just never going to make.  Do you make year long goals?  Are they written or stored in your brain?  How do you follow through to make sure you finish those goals?   Let me know in your comments.   

Happy Quilting All,  Bonnie 

 

 

Christmas in July Blog Hop Day 4!

Welcome to Day 4 of Christmas in July Blog Hop sponsored by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  That link will take you to Sarah's first day of Christmas in July.  Have you seen the great quilt she has designed for this year's blog hop?  If not check it out -- it just might be something you have to make this year. 

I'm all about Christmas ornaments and cookies for the blog hop.  I've been making ornaments for my grandchildren for 10 years or so.  I make 4 ornaments a year for the 3 girls and one boy.  Sometimes they all get the same ornament and sometimes I vary the colors and or designs.  Here's a review of some of the ornaments I've made.  (Sad to say I couldn't find pictures of all the ornaments. Say what????) All the pictures should enlarge if you click on them.  

2013

2014 

2015 

2018

2019

2020

That's a good variety. I gave up the counted cross stitch ornaments as I would make so many mistakes reading the graphs.  Then I decided machine embroidery would be a bit faster and I could add my initials and the year on the back. I often pick designs from Embroidery Library which is where the stars are from. The Safety First Gingerbread ornament is by Urban Threads and is stitched in the hoop.  The one shown above is my sample attempt. 

This year I'm trying some hand embroidered designs. I bought a cute stocking pattern second hand. I've been unable to find information on the company on the Internet. If you've got a link to them please let me know and I'll add the info. (The date on the pattern is 2006 so it may not be in business still.) Thanks to Linda I can add one place to buy a kit with this pattern: "I found that River Town kit on eBay! It is item #402872383080 and is 6.99 plus 8.50 shipping for the complete kit, if anyone is interested."  I bought only the pattern as the seller had made the stockings.   

Pattern from RiverTown Warehouse LLC

The pattern has the stockings made out of white batting. I started right in but was faced with how to transfer the design from the paper to the batting. Hum, I "thought" I had some pattern tracing paper.  Maybe that would work... Please note the prices: 25¢ and 60¢. 

These are from my grandmother and my mom.  I'm sure I've used the 60¢ version when I made clothes for myself and my kids. But would it still work? 

It's hard to tell, but yes it did work. But I wasn't sure how well it would stay on or would I be able to remove stray marks after I finished. 

It's hard to see but the designs did transfer.

This design has a lot of stitching in it and I wasn't thrilled with the batting. I put it aside and went looking for some wool felt I thought I had.  Fast forward to a different design that didn't lend itself to using the tracing paper and the wheel.  How could I transfer the next image. Hum, perhaps some thin interfacing and a water soluble pen. 

I traced the design on the interfacing with a Micron Pigma pen -- permanent ink.  Then I placed it over the felt and used the water soluble pen to trace the design.  It worked.  Please note -- I did test to make sure the light blue ink would come out of the felt and I tested the floss I was going to use to make sure it wouldn't bleed as this design will have to be spritzed or possibly submerged in water. 

The tree is almost finished.  But part of what makes the little stocking so cute is the blanket stitch used at the top of the stocking and stitching it together.  I'm tickled I have gotten this embroidery almost done.  But it will take me a while to get the blanket stitching done and the stocking together.  I will continue to work on this between my quilting projects.   

I did promise you cookies, didn't I? Forgive me for not actually making hot tea and pouring it out.  It's too hot here these days but these cookies go well with a cuppa. 

Yep, here's my favorite drop sugar cookie recipe.  Go to Google Docs to pick up a copy of the whole recipe.

Are you so busy making ornaments that you really don't have time to bake?  Might I suggest:

Ok, in all honesty -- the cookies shown above were thea mix. Sigh. Remember what I said about time?  My recipe is better than the mix but it takes a bit longer to make.  

Are you ready to visit all the blogs that have already been posted for 12 Days of Christmas in July?  Here's the whole list.  The links go to the blog rather than a specific post. I've enjoyed reading the previous posts and am looking forward to the rest of the posts. 

Wednesday, July 14th

Joy of Days Filled With Joy

Thursday, July 15th

Moira of The Quilted Snail

Friday, July 16th

Jamie of L'Fair Quilts

Saturday, July 17th

Bonnie of In Stitches With Bonnie (you are here!)

Sunday, July 18th

Joanne of Everyone Deserves a Quilt

Monday, July 19th

Kate of Katie Mae Quilts

Shasta of High Road Quilter

Tuesday, July 20th

Vicki of Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Wednesday, July 21st

Leanne of The Devoted Quilter

Thursday, July 22nd

Kathy of Kathy's Kwilts and More

Sandra of Musings of a Menopausal Melon

Friday, July 23rd

Carole of From My Carolina Home

Saturday, July 24th

Joanne of Everyone Deserves a Quilt (Part 2)

Sunday, July 25th

Karrin of Karrin's Crazy World

Hope you find a lot of fun ideas as you browse through all of the Christmas in July links.  It's going to be a great 12 days of ideas and fun. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie