Monday Meanderings 10 - 5 - 2026

Rain! Rain! And More Rain.  We've had several days of it and I'm getting tired of it.  I've walked the dog 2 nights with heavy mist.  I come back in wet and so does Sunny.  It looks like the rain is ending tonight.  Temperatures are going to be in the 70s during the days and mostly in the 50s at night. But, wait -- some nights it's going to be in the 40s.  I prefer the cooler weather.  I'm done with the ridiculous heat for this year.  I hope Mother Nature agrees with me! 

On the other hand, the rain gave me I a good reason to play in the studio.  I was basically done with my Goals list by Thursday evening.  Friday morning we sang in a neighborhood chorus and that afternoon I goofed off.  See below about my daily sewing times. And, just below for what I did this week. 

9/28/26

✅Finish Honey Bouquet top — Top done ! 

✅Bind small blue quilt — Done! 

✅Quilt another small top — Done but not bound

✅Layout top and ✅sew 2025 RSC blocks — Done!

✅Finish cutting kit for retreat — Done! 

✅Anything that strikes my fancy — Borders on Halloween stitchery.

I didn't take more pictures of the finished Honey Bouquet top.  Here's the link to last week's picture of it. I added a horizontal row to the top of the quilt.  Easy peasy and I had cut too many rectangles anyway.  I'll share it again after I quilt it. 

No pics of the bound quilt. I'm happy to have it done and was able to load another blue top that was quilted using the rest of the dark blue backing fabric. This was at the beginning. It's a Benny quilt using a lot of my 2" unf squares. (Although those little 2" squares pile back up really fast!) 

Unfortunately I'm having a few issues with Ruthie, the long arm. I think one of the connecting wires is slipping or not maintaining the connection.  Hubby took a look at it and tried something that should hold the connection through an entire quilt.  But, I haven't done another quilt yet.  

Sewing the RSC 2025 blocks together was on my UFO Challenge this fall.  I was able to get them laid out and sewn together. Now to consider borders. 

Here's the beginning of cutting out my 49 Charm quilt pattern. Thanks go to Nancy who blogs at Grace and Peace Quilting for the idea.  She makes 99 Charm quilts that finish 41 x 50".  My 49 Charm quilt will be 36" square, approximately. It is based on what is wanted at the NICU at the local hospital. I had some 5" squares from a charm pack that had baby girl squares.  I added some more fabric and came up with 49 charms.  It will be made at retreat next week. 

And, what was my "anything that strikes my fancy"?  I decided to add the borders to the owl stitchery I showed a while ago. I am thinking about how to finish it. Any suggestions? I'm thinking of batting and backing, quilting in the ditch and maybe some extra bats flying in the stitchery to hold everything together.  

Now, here's my plan for this week.  

10/5/26

Cut out boy 49 Charm quilt

Work on Christmas ornaments

Stitch on Snowman # 2

Bind second blue quilt

Sing at the Cabaret with the Spotsylvanians

Prep supplies for retreat

I've been doing so well on my 15 minutes of stitching every day.  Except Friday, after singing and buying lunch, we came home and ate it in our sun room. It was warm and cozy and we all fell asleep for at least an hour. I finally woke up and realized I had to make Apple Squares to take to the pot luck we were attending that night. So baking happened, reading happened, socializing happened.  But no stitching! Oops. I've missed 2 days out of 277 this year. 

Week ending 10/4/26: 277 days of 2026.

 275 stitching days out of 277 days 99.3%

I am looking forward to next week's retreat.  I plan to get a lot of sewing done, some shopping, and one lunch out. I usually take Sharon out in honor of her birthday.  This year it lands on Friday so we'll go earlier in the week. I'll try to take more pictures of the finishes this year. I tend to forget. 

Please check out the following links to read what people across the Internet are making: Stitching Time, Oh Scrap, Quilting Patchwork Applique, Design Wall Monday, and Monday Musings.

Are you looking for a sew along or a mystery quilt this fall?  Take a look at my last post which lists both sew alongs and mystery quilts that have recently started or starting soon.  

As we move closer to Election Day I hope you have been reminding your friends, family, and neighbors to vote.  Remember, America is a free country where your vote can make a big difference in all of our futures.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

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