Monday Meandering 3 - 28 -2022

Good Morning! (Or whatever time it is where you are.) I was gone all weekend and came home exhausted so I'm posting later than usual. More about that at the end of the blog. Now, I'll share my goals progress.  Yes there was some progress. 

3/21/22

✅Work on Easy Breezy Blocks — blocks sewn in rows

Make a few more Spider Web blocks— nothing done 

✅Make shoo fly blocks for SAHRR — some made 

✅Prep and work on wool ornaments — prepped but no sewing done 

✅Enter quilts for FCQ show in May 

Not too bad and being gone 3 days does make a dent in sewing time. 

The only quilt picture is of my SAHRR with some of the Shoo Fly blocks I've made.  Basically the appliqué and the shoo fly blocks are speculation.  I'm still trying to decide how to finish off this top. The left hand appliqué pieces are just pinned on.  I still need to figure the math on the Shoo Fly blocks.  Do I need to trim the white border to fit them or do something else to make them fit? Do I want them on all sides? Do I have enough of the 3 fabrics to make enough blocks to go all around?  Is this feathered star ever going to get done?? Hopefully I'll have answers to all those questions by the end of the week.    

Here's what I plan to do this week.  Sharon's coming up so I suspect I'll spend a lot more time in the studio. 

3/28/22

Clean up cutting table

Put borders on Stop Tossing

Sew rows together - Easy Breezy Blocks 

Make more Shoo Fly blocks for SAHRR

Make a few more Spider Web blocks

Put labels and hanging sleeves on 4 quilts

Um, dare I show you my cutting table that is number 1 on my to do list? Sure. Here it is from three sides. EEK - how did it get so bad? 

Left side. (Which normally is kept pretty cleared off. 

Center Front -- OH MY GOODNESS! 

Right Side. I've been trying to cut smaller pieces with my Accuquilt Go. But it is totally out of control.   

Hopefully by Thursday this whole area will look much, much better. 

Meanwhile, here's more about what Pat and I did this weekend. As some of you know Pat sings with The Virginians barbershop chorus.  This weekend was a combined Central and Southern Division competition for the Mid-Atlantic District. So we headed to Wilmington, DE on Friday morning so he could compete.  I usually don't go but agreed to attend this year.  And, what a great decision that was! 

Barbershop Harmony Society has expanded its membership to women and some chapters, like The Virginians, have embraced it. 

The competition for choruses and quartets was wonderful. Friday night was the prelims for 24 quartets. The first one blew me away as did many of them. I didn't see all of them as we had some other things going on -- like finding dinner.  

The chorus competition was held Saturday morning. I was able to see quite a few of the choruses.  Because it was a combination of divisions there were two first place choruses.  I'm proud to say The Virginians came in first in the Southern District.   Here they are during their performance. 

Pat's the second from the right on the floor.  I have nothing positive to say about their navy blue camp shirts.  I do know they were more comfortable than wearing more formal uniforms--think tuxes or suits. 

That evening the quartet finals were held for the 10 semifinal quartets.  Again, the quality and variety of singing was amazing.  One quartet did an admirable job including poking fun at themselves with a line they stuck in the song that said "we've sung literally all the songs we know..."  We hadn't had dinner before the 7 pm start so we scooted out after the last quartet and tried to get our leftovers from lunch heated up. 

The main downside of the whole weekend was the partying that went on after the competition.  I'm not sure every floor had the same problem but people were partying on our floor until 2 am.  To Barbershoppers that means singing.  Needless to say we were trying to sleep as some of the younger folks were having fun singing, chatting and at one point running up and down the hall. ARGH.  On the other hand, it is really great to see younger people joining the Barbershop Harmony Society.  We did get a little sleep then headed out early to get home before the traffic on I 95 backed up. I spent too much time in the afternoon snoozing although it didn't stop me from getting a good 8 hours sleep last night.

Back to my quilting blog... I'm going to link up with the following parties. (At least these parties only keep you up late if you choose.). 

Oh Scrap

MidWeek Makers

Design Wall Monday 

To Do Tuesday. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 2 - 21 - 2022

We've been going out and about more than usual the last few days.  We drove down to Richmond to do a bit of shopping and have a nice lunch out.  We stayed masked except when we were actually eating.  I enjoyed the time away from home especially since we haven't been going out all that often.  

It didn't cause any problems with what I wanted to get done this past week. Yep, I handled all the goals I wanted to.  

2/14/2022

✅ More sewing on Looking Glass quilt — ready to be laid out & sewn together.

✅ Do first clue of Stop Tossing --  All done 

✅ Make more √Red Spider Webs, RSC blocks, and √16 patches  -- Hum, I want to get one more RSC block done...

✅ Bind Baby Bricks -- done and turned into guild. See the finish here. 

✅ Work on SAHRR -- I added the rest of the border from the star round. I'm behind on the rounds but at least I have an idea for appliqué but I haven't decided yet.

✅ Cut up some smaller scraps -- I churned out some triangles & 2" squares from some small pieces of fabric hanging around. 

Here's what I'm going to be doing this week. I won't have as much sewing time because of some activities. 

2/21/2022

Attend Mid Atlantic Quilt Show 

Make more Red Spider blocks

Quilt Jenny’s quilt

Cut pieces for more “cupcake” blocks 

Layout Looking Glass Quilt and begin sewing together 

Work on SAHRR 

Here's what my design wall looks like this week.  I'm lucky to have a big wall to put up lots of different projects. (Well, until I put a whole design up!) 

Here's a close up of a couple of projects I'm working on. 

This churn dash was cut out with my 9" Accuquilt Cube. It is 13.5". I read about using my smaller cube to make a bigger block. I have enough of the center cupcake fabric to make at least 9 blocks. I haven't looked to see if I have enough of the go with fabrics.  There are a lot of colors in the cupcakes so I can use different combos if I need to.  

It's hard to tell but I added the rest of the white for the star border. Hum, it looks like the color changes on that white border. I'm sure it's the same fabric. I wonder if I turned some to the wrong side or is it the lighting?  I'm skipping the signature block round.  I have an idea for some appliqué.  I think I'll add something in the bottom left corner.  It may take me a while before I make a final decision. I'm looking forward to seeing what is called for this week. I'd like to get the top done by the end of the month but that my not happen.  

Join me checking out quilter's blogs by looking at these linky parties:

Oh Scrap

Monday Making 

Design Wall Monday

To Do Tuesday

I'm off to do a bit of surfing--you never know when something will inspire you. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 1 - 31 - 2022

Well that month flew by!  And, I admit I've gotten a lot done or so it seems.  First up - my goal list for the past week. 

1/24/22

✅Quilt & Bind Sailboat top (January UFO) (click here to see it.) 

✅3rd 2nd round of SAHRR

✅Finish coffee top (click here to see it without the borders I put on this week.) 

✅Make more ombré blocks

✅Cut out baby quilt 

Surprisingly enough, I finished most of these early in the week.  The only one I really spent much time on Sunday was the 3rd 2nd round of SAHRR. Here's where the 3rd 2nd round has been left.  I will finish the side borders early this coming week and move on to the 3rd round. 

Because I had made so much progress on my goals I decided to pull out a UFO from last year.  I had made one Blazing Star block with an Accucut die I got as a gift last Christmas. It is easy to sew together but not so easy to cut out correctly.  After cutting various pieces in the wrong colors or wrong section of the die,  I finally got one block finished.  I cut out one more block before giving up for the day on Saturday. 

Fast forward to Sunday when I sat down to sew the block together. I was zipping through it until I realized the "C" piece didn't fit.  Well darn, it was actually a "B" piece.  Luckily I have plenty of the fabric and got it recut and put together before lunch. 

I hope to finish sewing the blocks together, quilt and bind it by the end of Monday.  (I need some more finishes for January!)  It's doable if I don't get side tracked on the Feathered Star project!

This first week of February has a lot planned for it too.  We'll see if I can get them all done. But I am highly motivated! 

1/31/2022

Work on SAHRR.  

Make more ombré blocks, spider web blocks and begin the new RSC color

Sew baby quilt together

Sew Blazing Star table runner together, quilt and bind

Sew backing together for group patriotic quilt

I actually lucked out on the next UFO for the challenge I'm participating in.  The Feathered Star I'm working on for the SAHRR was number 7 that was pulled for February. I didn't list actually finishing the whole wall hanging but I think I'll try to get it quilted and bound too. 

I've been adding more red spider web blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I have 4 and a half done. I really like the red on white ones I've been making. Hum, should I just make a whole quilt of red and white blocks?  Maybe. Maybe not.  I did go through my red scrap basket to get all the red scraps I have that would fit on the die.  Sad news, I have mostly strips so I was only able to pull maybe 6 different fabrics.  On the other hand, I could always use some of my fat quarters to make more.  Time will tell what I choose to do. Maybe I'll do both...

Thursday we dodged a major snowstorm.  I'm sure you've seen the reports from the states further north that got totally inundated.  We got about 2" or so but nothing stuck on the streets or our driveway.  Because of the way the house is set, the back walkway and the basement steps are now ice. (It rained first and then snowed.) Most of the backyard doesn't get sun during the winter.  Temps will be "warm" this week (in the high 50s) so the snow and ice should melt. It was beautiful when we came back from working out Friday.  Just to give a little reality to that 50 degree temp, it was 10 degrees this morning! 

Please take some time to visit these linky parties.  

Oh Scrap

Monday Making 

Design Wall Monday

To Do Tuesday

I'm calling it quits for today.  I spent most of the day sewing with breaks for lunch and dinner.  I'm worn out but very pleased with my progress. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

 

SAHRR

Have you heard of SAHRR?  In English it's Stay At Home Round Robin.  I've done several different Round Robins over the years.  Some of my very favorite quilts are the results of mailing round robins.  I participated in some through Prodigy in the late 80s and early 90s.  You can see one of them here. That one was international.  

When I decided to play along I found this block folded in a box.   

I'm pretty sure I made it in a class a good 20 years ago.  But I can't remember who taught it. I also found some of the original fabric saved with the block and hopefully I'll find other fabric in my stash that goes with it.  

If you want to participate Gail of Quilting Gail is sponsoring it. 

Starting next week, every week for 6 weeks we'll be given the style for the border to be added that week. I'm generally slow at getting a top finished but I'm hoping this will lead me to a fantastic finished quilt in a fairly short time.  My block is 15" or so -- I'll probably have a fairly big quilt.  I do know I'd like it to be vertical so no doubt I'll be adding some borders to only two sides.  

Are you ready to join in?  Read what Gail has to say about it and join us for a fun time.  Wouldn't it be great to make an orphan block into a finished top in six weeks?  

I'm linking up with Gail's linky party to show off my center block. Go take a look and join us! 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie