Monday Meanderings 3 -- 24 -- 2025

Spring has come!  The cherry blossoms are getting ready to bloom in Washington, DC and our front yard.  It will be beautiful once the blooms come. Tonight I noticed there were some blooms and surprisingly some were already on the ground. Must have been the wind.  Although it has been a nice week weather-wise I spent a lot of time in my studio.  It's been a good week getting my goals done. Here's my list from last week. 

3/17/25

✅Quilt another of my quilts — quilting done, binding to come.

✅Start sewing March UFO blocks together — the half log cabin blocks are now a top! 

✅Bind baby quilt — done! 

Make a couple of placemats — didn’t get to this one. 

✅Finish sewing the lining in the needlepoint scissors case — finished this cute little case. 

Here's last week's quilt.  It hasn't been trimmed or bound -- that's for this coming week's goals.  This is Pat Sloan's pattern, Traffic Jam.  I changed it to use 2" squares since I had a bunch of them to use up. 

The quilting design is Saffron Blossom by Apricot Moon. One of the things I added to this quilt is a lot of little squares that have surprises in them: an elephant, a fish, a mouse. Any little animal I had in my collection of 2" squares I threw in. Whoever receives this quilt will find a lot of cuteness among the squares. 

On Sunday afternoon I finished my March UFO top. It is my half log cabin. Here's the quilted top. I haven't even trimmed it yet. It's on the goals list for this week. 

I've finally finished a cute needlepoint scissors case. This was a freebie project from a cruise many years ago.  The project came completely finished except the needlepoint design. I've been working on it for at least 5 years. I finished the needlepoint last year. I knew I would need to line it to protect my scissors from the stiff needlepoint canvas.  Here's what the out side looks like. 

The design is stitched with floss rather than tapestry wool.  I'm happy to have this one finished. I knew the needlepoint canvas would be rough on my scissors so I lined it with some velvet like fabric.  We took another cruise on the same line with stitching sessions on sea days so I got a new project. It's suppose to be a glasses case but I've dismantled it so I can use it on a tote bag I'll make for it when it's finished. And here's the inside of the scissors case. 

Now on to this week's goals.  It took me a while to come up with this list.  I decided not to make it too long this week. 

3/24/25

Make 2 RSC yellow blocks

Quilt and bind one of my quilts 

Mail blocks to FCQ Equilter 

Cut out a new quilt

If I make it through this list I have another top for the quilt guild.  Or perhaps I'll quilt another of my tops. I have 28 tops waiting to be quilted.  Did you notice the purple backing on my quilt up there? ⬆️ There's a big piece left over. I've used almost 5 yards of the original 15 but I'm going to have a lot of scraps and pieces leftover. 

Another great week stitching every day. Here are the stats:

W/ending 3/23/25. 82 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/Mar = 7/7
• 15 minute days/2024 = 82/82 days
• Success rate = 100%

Here are two more quilts from the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show. First up is On Eagles Wings by Beth Filko. Notice the use of string blocks.  

I took this picture for a friend who enjoys doing wool work.  I really liked it although I probably would never do anything like it. 

On Saturday we volunteered at the local food bank to pack student food boxes. They are given to school kids to augment their family's food. We signed up for 2 hours but we were done in about an hour and a half.  We and a group of students from Mary Washington Univ. packed enough boxes to fill 6 Gaylords. From what I found on line Gaylords can be 40 x 40 x 40" or bigger and generally are on a pallet so they can be transported by forklifts. After they were filled they are shrink wrapped to keep everything controlled. The staff was very happy we finished the packing early and had been cleaning up as we went along so there was no mess to clean up at the end. Pat already volunteers two times a month on weekdays.  We might continue to volunteer on a Saturday each month if we can. Evidently weekend time slots fill up fast. 

Hum, there are several Gaylords behind me. Me keeping boxes on the line.

I'm linking up with the following Linky parties: 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap! 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings 

That's it for me today. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 5 - 9 - 2022

Weather -- it's been a mess for us.  It was lovely for the beginning of the week and then the rain came. And it poured, maybe 2" overnight.  Ugh.  I'm ready for more temperate weather and less rain.  I wish I could send the rain West where it is needed so badly. The weather looks dry until the weekend. OH no! (see below.) 

On to my goals this week: 

5/2/2022

✅Work on pyramid class project — I made at least one more row of the triangles -- but they aren't sewn together yet.

✅Start May’s UFO challenge — a small start, I know what I want to do next. 

✅Quilt something — customer quilt. 

✅Work on Christmas ornaments — I’ve started the first one. 

✅Make Spider Web blocks — 2 done.

Not bad.  

I spent most time this past week making miscellaneous blocks. Yep, not really on the goals list! Here are a couple I made to send FCQ Equilter, Fran.  They're from a video by  Jenny Dolan from Missouri Star Quilters with the directions. Her method works well unless you realize you are using way more fabric on the four corners than what is needed.  

I eventually cut my squares smaller to save some fabric.  I'll take more pictures before I mail them off to Fran.

For the May UFO challenge number 11 came up. That meant I pulled out a series of blocks I had made from the book The Anniversary Sampler Quilt by Donna Lynn Thomas.  Country Piecemakers used the book as a block of the month a few years ago.  I have 16 6" blocks done.  I'm hoping to get another 9 blocks made and then sash them. I picked a new sashing fabric from stash. I will be making blocks from other sources -- ones easier to make. I want to get this at least to top stage.  We'll see how far I get done this week with this project.  Surprisingly enough I actually have a backing for this project. 

Here's my goals list for this week.  I've got a rehearsal and the concert all day on Saturday so I won't have as much time to quilt this coming week. We're all rooting for no rain as it is at an outside amphitheater. Here's what I hope to do: 

5/9/22

Make 4 (or more) blocks for May UFO

Continue progress on pyramid class project

Make Sherri’s BOM

Make more FCQ Equilter blocks for Fran; Start Beth’s. 

Enjoy the Spotsylvanian’s Concert

Even though I hadn't put these on my list, I did make several dog toys to sell at $10 and Under table at Faithful Circle Quilters show. It's  May 19th through 21 in Columbia, Maryland.  If you want to read more about it click on the link above.  If you live close by I hope you'll try to come by.  We have over 600 quilts entered.  Lots of wonderful eye candy to see. 

There are empty water bottles tied into the fleece covering.  The dogs love the crinkling sound as they chase and play with the toy.  I was happy to use up several pieces of fleece I had.  I still have some smaller pieces -- anyone have any good ideas to use them up? 

I've spent a lot of time reading recently, mostly because I had a bunch of reserved digital books delivered over the last week.  Time to get them read and back to the library. 

Now it's time to link up with my Monday parties. 

Oh Scrap

Monday Making

Design Wall Monday

To Do Tuesday

Wait Loss Wednesday 

Mid Week Makers 

I did a great job linking up after Monday last week.  Let's see how I do this week.  Enjoy your surfing. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie