Monday Meanderings 10 - 13 - 2025

Hello All!  This will be a short post as I'm nearly ready to go on retreat. It's about 3.5 hours away and hopefully will be an easy drive. (Let's hope there is minimal to no rain for the drive!)  This should be a  somewhat shorter post.  Look for more photos next week at this time! 

Here's my goals from last week. Not that many green check marks. 

10/6/25

Make sections 3 & 4 of Tall Trees — nothing done.

✅Figure out fabric usage stats — finished but will post later. 

✅Work on clue 4 of Marvelous Mystery — Clue is done. Yea!

✅Organize and pack for retreat 10/13 — Organized but only partially packed. But things are ready to go into the suitcase. 

Not many pictures of what I was working on last week. I've included one sample block. Yep a very simple block. I will be making this block with a group of turquoise fabrics with a yellowish green. Doesn't that sound weird. But the fabrics look good together.  Once the blocks are made I'll figure out the layout. It is going to be baby quilt so it is fairly small to meet the requirements of the hospital the guild donates them to.  this is 4.5" finished.  I have a 9" AccuQuilt Cube so I used dies from it for this block.  And, yep, this pink one is not going into the quilt! 

Here's what I've got planned for the coming week. 

10/13/25

Have a great time at retreat

Finish at least 4 of 6 projects

Start loading a quilt on long arm  when back home

Nope, not much listed.  I don't know which projects I'll work on. Although I'd love to finish all 6 I probably won't. I'm being realistic. 

My daily 15 minutes of stitching continues. Truth -- after I finish writing this post I plan to stitch for 15 minutes before bed...I'll change this info if I can't get it done! Just finished about 25 minutes of stitching on a needlepoint. If I hadn't already packed up my current knitting project I would have worked on it. YEA! Still at 100%.

W/ending 10/12/25. 285 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/October 12/12
• 15 minute days/2024 = 285/285 days
• Success rate = 100%

Last week I finished quilting and binding a small quilt. This week I took some photos of Whirl quilt I finished to share. It was a windy, cloudy and sometimes rainy day so only indoor photos of Whirl. 

Whirl is the name of the block. I used my AccuQuilt 9" Cube for these blocks that were made for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2022. These were left over after making a bigger quilt. You can see the other blocks here, here, and finished quilt here. I noticed I called it Spinner rather than Whirl. Whirl is the name on the Accuquilt block pattern. 

Here's the back of Whirl. That's the purple fabric I bought earlier as a bolt from Marshall Dry Goods.  I'm pretty sure I'm down to about 2 to 3 yards left on the 15 yard bolt. But I still have a lot of big scrap pieces left.  I may be using it for years to come! 

Here's an unclose picture of the quilting on Whirl.  I'm pretty sure I used a white So Fine thread. The pattern is Rhapsody Edge to Edge Leaf.  (Again, from My Creative Stitches.) 

Please take some time to check out other bloggers via these Linky parties. I may not get the last two linked on Monday morning. But the computer is going to retreat too so I will get to it eventually!

Life in Pieces

Oh Scrap 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings. 

I'll finish this up with a before and after picture of Sunny.  Here's what she looked like before grooming this past Friday. 

And after her grooming.  I bet she can see a whole lot more of the world now! 

I've learned to make her next appointment while dropping her off for grooming. Her groomer is very busy! 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 9 - 29 - 2025

September is about over.  I'm not sure why it went by so fast.  Does it seem like the days are going faster the closer we get to the end of the year? I imagine Christmas will be here any minute! Despite time flying by I did pretty well on my goals list. 

9/22/25

✅Prepare and ✅sew binding on Ombre Log Cabin — about half way done hand stitching the binding.

✅Continue cutting out Magnificent Mystery Quilt — actually I started cutting out and sewing first clue. 

✅Make two more potato chip blocks  for RSC — finished a light green and a light blue. 

✅Try making one section of paper pieced tall tree — finished section 1.

Attend a grand’s soccer game — didn’t attend. We were rained out but the game was played in the rain! Something we didn’t want to sit through!  

I'm doing the Magnificent Mystery designed by Cheryl Brickey. The first sewing clue was to make quarter square triangles. I've got more than half done but it's taking me a long time. Hopefully I'll get all of them done by the end of this week. 

The colors for September's Rainbow Scrap Challenge are light blue and light green.  So far I've made the first two blocks using mostly the colors. I still need to make the reverse blocks where there is just one round of color and the rest lights. 

I was happy how easy the first section of the Tall Tree paper pieced pattern was. I'm hoping to make one or two sections a week so that I can have it finished before Christmas. We'll see if I can do that. Sorry, these colors are a bit off.  There were only 5 pieces to sew together this time.  One of the later sections has a bunch of little triangles to sew. No doubt that will take me much longer to do. 

We bailed on the soccer game on Saturday. The DC area had a huge storm forecasted on Saturday.  So we decided an hour and a half sitting in the rain would not be good for us, or comfortable. Then we'd have another 90 minutes (or longer) to get home through the pouring rain.  I don't think it rained as hard as was forecasted but our area got quite a bit. I spent most of the day sewing so I was quite happy. Although we missed some great plays Sophie made as the goalie. We were sent a video of one play. 

Here's my plan for this week. 

9/29/25

Finish clue 1 of marvelous Mystery

Finish sewing down ombré Log Cabin binding

Quilt and bind another top

Make section 2 of Tall Tree 

Sing at Movies and Music a Cabaret with the Spotsylvanians

I've done really well on my 15 minutes of sewing this week.  I find it pretty easy to keep up.  If I haven't sewn any during the day I can easily grab my hat knitting project and set a timer for 15 while I knit away.  Generally I do spend way more time sewing or cutting every day. 

W/ending 9/28/25. 271 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/September 28/28
• 15 minute days/2024 = 271/271 days
• Success rate = 100%

Later this week (10/1) I should be able to post the October Mysteries and Sew Alongs. Check back if you are looking for a new sewing project. 

Here are the Linky Parties for this week. 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

We walk Sunny every evening after dinner.  The sun is setting earlier every day now. Recently we've had some gorgeous sunsets and rainbows.  The sunset below is looking westerly on our street.  

We've had Sunny for more than a year now so we've walked her in snow, rain, wind, sun and dark of night.  I'm not looking forward to walking when it's dark nor to upcoming really cold weather but she doesn't seem to mind it. 

Happy Quilting All, Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 8 -- 25 -- 2025

Hello All!  We've been traveling this past weekend.  I've gotten some knitting done but no quilting. It has been raining most of today but we did do some outlet shopping.  A concerted effort was made to have most of my goals from last week done before we left. Take a look!

8/18/25

✅Keep working on project bag — made some progress.

✅Quilt RWB Sampler — finished, next up binding.

✅Make some more blocks: RSC, — RSC, some 9 patches, and started Cali-Co mom.

✅Sew current Happy Blocks into a top — done!

✅Finish current hat. — done except pompom.

I didn't take a new picture of the project bag but I did decide I would only work at it at home to avoid more mistakes.  Hum, who knew talking would distract me so much! 

No photos of the quilted RWB sampler quilt but it is all quilted. 

Here are both of the RSB teal blocks. Last week I showed the more colorful one. This week it is the two together. I need to spread all of the blocks out to see how they look together. 

Earlier in the week I worked on the current Happy Block quilt. With the help of my friend Beth we came to a decision about placement.  Here's the end result.  I think I made a new block to replace one of the dark ones. (It's second row, third block. Both fabrics were from the 25 yard haul. Unfortunately the cute animal print is only a 6" WOF piece.)  The dark ones (that mostly show when I turn the picture to gray scale) are in a diagonal row from top left to bottom right.  It's hard to believe that red often looks really dark when seen as on the gray scale.  

Now let's see what I hope to do this week. 

8/25/2025

Bind Space quilt and Red, White and Blue quilt

Quilt another small top

Cut a top kit for October retreat

Finish Cali-Co block

Keep working on project bag

That seems like a big list although I don't have a lot of commitments this week. We'll see how I do. 

The other thing I'll admit is I totally screwed up the Cali-Co bom for this month. I failed to put on the second frame before I put on the triangle corners and trimmed the block.  UGH. The block was 2" too small and I sliced into all four corners before I realized my mistake. Jack and I were getting too well acquainted this past week. I won't have to remake the whole block but I need to take out each of the corner blocks in the center. Sigh. Shouldn't take too long if I can keep focused. 

Another successful week of stitching 15 minutes every day.  (If I get this post done soon enough I'll be able to get today's 15 minutes done.) 

W/ending 8/24/25. 236 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/August = 24/24
• 15 minute days/2024 = 236/236 days
• Success rate = 100%

Here's an older quilt that I made for our beach house.  I decided to bring it home and substituted a quilt with ocean fabrics - whales, star fish, and the like.  These Wild dogs just make me smile! Too bad there isn't a West Highland Terrier like Sunny! 

I'm linking with the following parties. 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday 

Monday Musings

I hope you have a quilty week. Keep your spirits up and your hands doing what you like to do! 

Happy Quilting! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 8 -- 18 -- 2025

This past week was quiet for me -- especially after all the fun and action while my friend was visiting. I took afternoon naps... not necessarily on purpose. I would be reading after lunch on the sun porch and all of a sudden I would wake up an hour later with my Kindle in my lap and feeling way too warm.  I figured I must have needed the extra sleep.  I did finish some books and  I've halfway finished another ebook.  Although I did pretty well on my goals I didn't spend as much time being productive in the studio. 

8/11/25

✅Keep working on project bag — one sheep done. 

✅Read a book or two — finished 2 audio books and 1 ebook.

✅Wash and iron new fabric and put it away — only a few pieces to finish.

✅Quilt one of my tops — a RWB sampler quilt is loaded. 

✅Make blocks for various projects — 3 blocks made, more still needed to be done.

This red, white and blue sampler top was from Sherri McConnell's block of the month in 2022.  Earlier this year I put the blocks together with sashing and borders.  I have to say I really like this top.  I've decided to keep it rather than give it to my local quilt guild to give away.  We have a quilt hanger in our entry way which can take this size quilt so that is the plan for it.  I probably won't get back to quilting it until Tuesday.

Here's my Rainbow Scrap Challenge block in aquamarine.  Unlike my normal method, this month I decided to focus on turquoise fabrics that lean more to the green side.  I haven't made the opposite color way with more light blocks yet.  Hopefully I will get it done this week. 

I also realized this week that I missed some of the monthly colors for RSC this year. I need to make blocks for orange and purple. I'll be trying to get caught up on those colors over the next several weeks. 

Here's the last Happy Block I made using the popsicle fabric I used at the retreat. 

I've got another Happy Block quilt almost ready to sew together.  Here's the current layout. 

The blocks need to be moved around a bit still. Because these blocks have all sorts of colored frames I like to look at the grayscale version.  Hum, just what I thought. There are three blocks that read dark in column three.  I think I've substituted some thing else for the 4 row, 2nd column block also very dark. I'll be playing around with these using this photo as my guide.  Hopefully I'll be able to finish the top and find a backing for it soon.  

Here's my plan for the upcoming week. 

8/18/25

Keep working on project bag

Quilt RWB Sampler 

Make some more blocks: RSC, nine patches with the white center,  

Sew current Happy Blocks into a top

Put borders on a 3 yard top and possibly quilt it.

Finish binding two quilts. 

I've maintained my 15 minutes of stitching this week.  I knit hats for an organization that needs around 300 in the fall so I always have a hat on my needles and can knit a couple of rows to make up my stitching time each evening if I haven't already done some quilty "stuff." 

W/ending 8/17/25. 222 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/August = 17/17
• 15 minute days/2024 = 222/222 days
• Success rate = 100%

I keep finding mistakes in my postings.  I'm pretty sure next year I'll change up this report to make the math more accurate or easy.  Did I ever mention that I went to 11 different schools from kindergarten through high school? Once my folks took me out of public school to put me into private school. Sometimes I went to a different school in the same school district. And, a couple of times we moved mid school year or at the beginning of a school year.  What I finally figured out rather late in life is I did not have a good grounding in arithmetic.  I'm lousy at math in general. I say all of the above to explain why I keep finding mistakes in my stitching reports! I do know that 222 days is as of Sunday, 8/17. So this report looks accurate. 

That pile of new fabric I shared last week has been ironed and put away with the exception of the top fabric. This week I washed 5 or 6 yards from a bolt of fabric I purchased from Marshall Dry Goods. It's a mottled beige and I plan to use it as the borders and backing of one of the 3 yard quilts I started at retreat. If I get the borders done I'll share pictures then. 

As usual I am linking up with four Linky parties.  Please take a some time to visit and check out some of the blogs that are listed on the parties. I keep getting way too many ideas but I like to see what everyone is working on! 

Stitching Stuff 

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

And before I call it a night I want to mention the administration's assault on Washington, DC.  DC is not a state although they would like to be. Because they are a federal district the administration can send troops into the city to patrol. From local news reports these troops have been working in the areas that are more visible -- near where federal buildings and parks are located.  One of the things that has been said is that DC is a crime ridden area.  That there are awful people in the city.  Just to put the record straight DC's crime rate is down. "Total violent crime for 2024 in the District of Columbia is down 35% from 2023 and is the lowest it has been in over 30 years, according to data collected by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and announced by United States Attorney Matthew M. Graves." You can read more about it here. 

One of the scary things about federal troops "policing" the District is they have no training in that area.  I keep waiting for some one to be killed or seriously hurt because of the wrong people "policing" the area.  

I, for one, do not think DC is in an emergency and it does not need federal assistance.  I am hoping that the troops are only there for the 30 days allowed for  this "emergency".  America is NOT a police state.  

That's it for me.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings -- 6 - 23 - 2025

 

That was the temperature of my car after sitting for 2 hours while I attended the Gathering of the Guilds on Sunday.  Yikes.  The evening news called for 100˚ several days this week.  And it isn't going under 70˚ at night.  Yikes.  Summer hit with a vengeance here.  Thank goodness the studio is in the basement! It's almost always cool down there. On to goals! 

6/16/25

Quilt another quilt

✅Make binding and ✅bind my quilt

Add borders to Whirl

✅Cut Cornerpost top 

✅Attend Gathering of the Guilds 

The most obvious thing about the goals is I didn't do all of my list.  I was listless last week. 😉  I did load the backing of the next quilt.  And I bound last week's quilt. What I am very happy about was all the great comments/suggestions for the Whirl top.  I was thinking it would be a baby quilt but now I'm not sure that's where it will go.  I took Nann's advice to look for a multicolor floral.  When I hadn't thought of that before. DUH!   Guess what I found in my multicolored fabrics?  Yep, a very nice iris print that I think will work well with the Whirls top.  Take a look: 

Since I wasn't very motivated last week I just hung it on the wall.  I think it is actually a directional print and it's upside down in the pic.  I'm pretty sure I have enough to cut 3 to 4" borders and have the design going the same way.  I cropped the excess that was hanging below the top out of the picture. I don't think I'm going to put a small border before the print border.  So, now all I have to do is cut the right size pieces and sew them on.  Yea. (Hopefully I'm motivated to do that this week!) 

I was able to cut out Cornerpost and put it in my stack of kits ready to go on the next retreat.  

Sunday was the Gathering of the Guilds in central Virginia. There were 5 guilds represented. We gathered at a new barn in Culpepper. Here's a link to their website. If you click on Gallery you'll see some pictures of various set ups -- ours was long tables.  It's often used for wedding and other events. The owners of Magnolia Way Farms generously let us use their space for free. Members of the guilds came with bingo blocks, buttons for markers, and food to share.  We had a great time answering some questions such as how many sewing machines do you have. The answer choices were 1 to 2, 3 to 5, and 6 or more.  We were pretty surprised that the most people stood for 6 or more machines! Yikes.  Then it was on to bingo.  I had made one block (forgot to take a picture of it, sorry) and decided not to make two. My seat mate had gone crazy making blocks so I played with two and my bag of buttons.  There were a slew of prizes for bingo and also for drawings as we each got to put two tickets in the basket for prize drawings.  Quite a few people won some great prizes. (As much as I like to win prizes I really don't need more fabric -- I wasn't disappointed that I didn't win anything!) 

Afterwards I took a walk to the goat pens.  Evidently approximately 25 goats live on the farm.  As I walked toward the pens it didn't look like there were any goats in them. But, as I got closer several got up and wandered to the front so I could give them a little scratch on their heads and say hello.  I'm sure they wished they could have been in a lovely air conditioned building like the quilters were! I took pictures of several different goats.  But I'm only sharing one of them.  I'm pretty sure this one was a young one. (And no, I wouldn't want it walking on me if I were doing yoga!) But it was really cute. 

So here is my plan for this week. 

6/23/25

Quilt another quilt

Add borders to Whirl

Make June's block for Cali-Co mystery

Attend Road to Virginia

Begin quilting guild's charity quilt

Considering how hot it is going to be I'll enjoy being in the cooler basement/studio. But will I be highly motivated? I really need to get both quilts listed on Ruthie and get them finished off. I'll keep you posted. 

Here's my 15 Minutes to Stitch statistics.

W/ending 6/22/25. 173 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/June = 22/30 
• 15 minute days/2024 = 173/173 days
• Success rate = 100%

It's time to finish this post up.  Please take time to visit some of these Linky Parties and visit a few blogs to see what quilters are doing around the world. 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap 

Design Wall Monday 

Monday Musings

So fess up! How many sewing machines do you own?  I have 5 which you can see on my 6/13/25 post celebrating Sewing Machine Day. (I only show 4 of them.)  What I might not have mentioned is over the last year or so I got rid of one of my machines. I had what I called a Singer Heavy Weight. My mother had purchased it used in the mid 1950s. I can remember her making me dresses for school on it.  The problem was it weighed so much more than a Featherweight it was never going to work as a travel machine. I donated it to a group from my guild that are teaching others how to sew. Win-win from my point of view. 

Happy Quilting All!   Bonnie