Monday Meanderings 6 - 17 - 2019

As usual I'm not exactly sure where this past week went to -- appointments, picking up a grand dog, and finishing some embroidered clothing for the grand kids.  (Later I'll show Sophie's sweatshirt that turned out so cute.)  When we picked up the grand dog, I gave Theo his sweatshirt (turtle embroidery from last week.)  Ellie got a beach cover-up that had a cute "Beach Princess" statement on it. They were happy to get them and immediately put them on.  

I think I spent more time reading on my new Kindle than I spent quilting.  I had an original Kindle.  But it eventually died a slow death.  Generally, I have been reading on either my cell phone or my iPad.  But I was running through my battery, especially on the cell phone.  So Pat suggested I pick out a new Kindle.  Good idea.  I've been using it mostly for the last week. 

Here's the grand dog, Cassie, and Kona squished into the back of our Prius.  They've been friends for a long time so they seem to enjoy getting together. (Thank goodness since we take Kona a lot when we are invited to visit and Cass comes to spend some weekends with us.) Cass is a yellow lab and Kona is a black dog.... with a lot of variety to her! We were getting soft serve ice cream cones.  They each got a little bit of my cone and ice cream.  

It was a beautiful morning although the humidity has come back.  I took several quilts outside this morning to get some pictures.  This is the quilt I call the old Christmas quilt every week when I list my goals.  I have  a little over half of the border still to do.  It's bad enough to have decided to hand quilt this thing but when the inside was done I decided to quilt the borders with a stencil that has eight (8) rows of quilting on it!  Heaven only knows what I was thinking.  Well, probably that was the only stencil I had that would fill the border.  So, until I'm done it's going on the list every week.  (Or I get sick of it and give up for a while!) (You should be able to click on my photos and they should enlarge a bit.) Someday this top will be done.  Just don't hold your breath. 

Despite not spending all that much time quilting I did move all my goals forward this week. 

June 10, 2019

Hand quilt on old Christmas quilt√

Trim and Bind Ladybug quilt√

Finish borders on Butterfly quilt√

Make more BOM blocks for Country Piecemakers√ 1 more done 

And here's what's on tap this week.  

June 17, 2019

Hand quilt on old Christmas quilt

Quilt Butterfly quilt

Work on Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks 

Prep backing of Parrot Quilt

Make 1 pillowcase

Hum, nothing there about mailing off my last two quilts for Hands 2 Help.  They are going to Jack's Basket.  I'll be doing that sometime this week.  

I'm linking up with my favorite linky parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday and Moving It Forward.  As usual, I'll link up whatever links are not live when I first publish this. (And, if I remember to link up....) You know the drill:  take some time to surf these sites.  There are all sorts of inspiring photos -- don't you need another project??? LOL! 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meandering 8 - 21 - 2017

Welcome to Solar Eclipse Mania!! 

Ok, so maybe some folks are into the whole eclipse mania but we're in the penumbra section. (Yes, fancy word that means only a partial eclipse.) I have approved eclipse glasses that I'll be taking to the stitching group up at the clubhouse Monday since our eclipse time will be during our normal gathering.  So, I'll stitch a bit and watch a bit and then get back to stitching.  I'll need to figure out where I need to be to actually see it too.  Should be fun.  

On to my regularly scheduled blog.  Here's a peek at some of the projects I worked on this past week. 

The Trip Around the World is almost a top.  I've got about 5 more strips to sew and then I need to sew it together.  My granddaughter Ellie (age 3, closing in on 4) said she wants this quilt.  And yet she really wants some doll clothes for her birthday. I think I'll be making some doll clothes for her October bd. 

I used to make Streak of Lightening quilts as baby quilts.  I'd forgotten how easy they are so when I saw this blog about them I thought I'd make another one.  I used it as my leader-ender for the TAW.  Yea, I know sewing the rows was way more sewing than your typical leader-ender but I'm happy to have it done!  (You need to scroll down the blog to find the actual directions.) 

Those were the two biggies this week.  Here's how I did on the rest of my goals list. 

Aug 14, 2017

Work on Christmas TAW√

Keep hand quilting Civil War Quilt√

Quilt geese and flowers wall hanging√ started

Make backing for floral wallhanging√

Cut out a Streak of Lightening Quilt√ & main section is sewn together

Here's what I'm hoping to accomplish this 4th week of August:

August 21, 2017

Finish quilting geese and floral wallhanging

Quilt floral wallhanging

Finish Christmas TAW to top stage

Find backing for Streak of Lightening

Keep hand quilting Civil War Quilt

I'm linking up with my regular linky parties: Monday Making, Moving It Forward, Main Crush Monday and Oh Scrap. (I'll link Moving It Forward when I notice it's posted.)  Enjoy some time seeing what others are working on.  There is so much inspiration on the Internet.  

We had a couple of visitors at the house over the week. 

This little frog (maybe all of 2") was on the outside of the French door. I snapped his picture as I was bringing in the dog just before bedtime.  I love how it looks like the frog is on the chair! When I opened the door he hopped on to the side so I couldn't get a picture of him from the house to the outside. 

Kona (the black dog) had her BFF visit for the weekend.  Cassie's family was going camping and it was easier for us to have her than for her to go with my son's family.  Boy does that dog shed.  She walked into the house, shook, and left yellow fur all over the dark wood floors.  EEKS!  I took both dogs out Saturday morning and furminated them. They still kept shedding though! 

Safe Solar Eclipse Watching and Happy Quilting! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 1-18-2016

After asking for ideas for this zigzag quilt here, I decided to see what fabric I had that might work.  I really don't want to buy new fabric for it.  Here are some of my attempts.

 UGH!

 Nope.

 Yuck.

 Maybe.

Most of these looked blah.  (You should have seen the splotchy blue I tried. Double Yuck!)  I'm leaning toward the red at the bottom.  Except, that is earmarked for pillow shams for my current bed quilt.  Never fear.  I have a bit brighter red that I think I will use once I actually proceed with this project.  It is a wide back so it will be a pain to cut into strips but I should also have enough to use as the backing too!  I'll keep you posted. 

Here's the goal info for last week and this week. 

January 11, 2015

Mail hats & FCQ Equilter’s block √

Finish quilting rwb table runner postponed for later

Make 2 fleece hats (embroidered too) √

Plan small quilt top for OMG for January√

Start quilting first customer quilt didn’t happen

January 18, 2015

Finish January OMG quilt top

Make backing for Bricks quilt(from challenge fabrics)

Cut out & start sewing second challenge quilt

Finish sewing one or more little antique 9 patch quilts

Make more Sea Hawks blocks for FCQEQuilter

I'm linking up with Monday Making and Main Crush Monday. Check out all the Monday goodness!

Today I leave you with a black dog in the white snow.  (yep, we had snow all day yesterday although it was really light.) 

Happy Quilting All! 

A Winter's Day . . .

At the Beach.  We've been down at the beach house for a few days.  We left an ice event with a bit of snow thrown in back at home.  It's cold and sometimes windy but the sun is out and we're enjoying ourselves.

We actually went to walk the beach yesterday morning.  It was empty so we let the dogs run loose.  Kona stays close by but Raggs is into adventure and goes off sniffing the dunes and piles of sea weed and whatever else strikes his fancy. Unfortunately he doesn't hear very well so we have to stay alert so he doesn't wander too far.  I was bundled up against the wind. 

We were surprised to find the stairs down to the beach looking like this! 

I've been sewing up a storm in my little sewing area by the windows. 

It's in the great room behind the chairs.  The space works really well for me.  I had to close the blinds to get the picture because of the light.  But, I look out over the back yard that is mostly sand and trees and a view of the golf course behind us.  

Late afternoon the sun is coming in from the left side and I get the best light for sewing.  I'm blocking the shadows while I sew so I don't even notice them. 

Once the sun starts going down I have to quit sewing.  I brought an Ikea clamp on light but it needs a special plug to allow it to work which didn't make the trip.  Next time I'll make sure I have more lighting.  The table was purchased at JoAnn Fabric stores when it was 50% off and I had a 15 or 20% off everything coupon.  I was leery of it being stable enough but it works great.  I'm using my old Elna Carina that weighs under 20 pounds. It just came back from servicing and is sewing like a champ. 

I'm specifically working on three UFO's.  One is for the TAPS collection I mentioned in this post. I've got lots of pinwheel blocks from FCQ Equilters so I thought putting them into quilts was a great idea.  Unfortunately, I didn't check the block sizes before I packed them up.  One is a good 1/2" smaller than the others so it won't work.  Drat!  I've got 4 of the 5 rows done and will swap out the small block for another once I get home. 

I'm also working on Wild Dogs -- hopefully I'll get it to top stage.  I finished the appliquéing at fall retreat and they've languished since then.  I cut all the strips and gathered everything I need to finish the top before we head home.  It has pieced sashing and pieced cornerstones so it is taking a time to get it all ready to sew together.

Last, and maybe I won't get to it, is the Mystery of Powhatan quilt. I just looked back to see if I showed any photos of this quilt. It sure doesn't come up as pictures.  I did list it several times in the goals list.  I'll post some pictures of it soon.  It needs either two or three borders to finish it off.  I've cut the strips but they need to be sewn together and put on the quilt.  It may be difficult to do that here as there is limited space to work in.  But I sure would like to get it done.  I'm going fabric shopping on Super Bowl Sunday and I hope to buy a backing for it.  I'll have a big finish the month I get this quilt done -- it's a big queen size quilt.  

Ok, time for me to quit perusing the Internet and begin sewing again.  We're going out to lunch and hitting a yarn store.  I find it hard to believe but there is a wonderful yarn store here in the Outer Banks. I've gotten several great patterns and some sock yarn.  It won't be used until several other pairs are done but one of these days I'll get to it. 

Happy Quilting All!