Monday Meanderings 9 - 22 - 2025

What a week. I seemed to be blah about quilting although I got a charity quilt done for the local guild.  One day I mostly read a book. (More about it at the end.) We've had some rain so most grass in the neighborhood is looking much better.  And I volunteered to make name tags for the Spotsylvanians...I'm still working on that and it needs to be done by tomorrow! But first let's see how I did on my goals this week. 

9/15/25 

✅Cut, prepare, and sew  binding on Ombre Log Cabin — well, the binding is made but not folded or sewn on. 

✅Sew binding on baby quilt — done! 

Continue cutting out Magnificent Mystery Quilt — oops, nothing done. 

Keep making 9 patch blocks and/or RSC blocks — actually I did get a two 9 patches done but nothing else. 

✅Quilt two quilts (not mine… sigh.) — one was done and returned.  

Not so many goals completed this week.  But here are a few pictures of what I did accomplished this week.

I decided to use the black to light grey ombre for the binding.  I was able to cut and sew the strips together.  Here it is over the backing fabric, a wide back pink ombre. I'll be folding, ironing and sewing it on this week.  I'll be sewing this on one side and then hand stitch it down. ARGH -- I hate hand sewing binding down.  But I'm planning to on this one so I can make sure all the points on the edges are showing, not cut off. Plus Sharon talked me into it. 

I did get one top quilted for Virginia Star Quilt Guild.  I thought it was a small one. Um, no. It was a big one.  Here it is after it was quilted. I believe the piecing of the scraps was done on adding machine tape. 

You should be able to click on the picture and enlarge it. The quilting design is Quick and Easy Swirls by My Creative Stitches. In all those little fabric pieces I found at least two that I had or have. 

Here's what I hope to finish this week.  

9/22/25

Prepare and sew  binding on Ombre Log Cabin

Continue cutting out Magnificent Mystery Quilt

Make two more potato chip blocks for RSC

Try making one section of paper pieced tall tree

Attend a grand’s soccer game

I thought I'd share the tall tree pattern picture so you know what I'm tackling this week.  I haven't decided if I can actually make this while on retreat. So, I'll cut out the pieces based on the sizes given and then see whether it is fairly easy to piece.  I'm not holding my breath that this will be super easy.  The pattern is called Tall Trim the Tree and is designed by Cindi Edgerton. Unfortunately she has retired. You might still be able to find her patterns but the supply is limited.  The various "ornaments" are from a different pattern which I don't have so I may not be making them.  Although, I'm sure I can make a few 3" or 4" blocks to add to the tree if I decide I want them.  I'm happy to note the top section has a very limited number of pieces... I should be able to put 5 pieces together, right? 

So here are a couple of things I did this week that were off list. 

Sharon and I FaceTimed and got block 9 done of the Cali & Co mystery quilt by Coriander Quilts. Sorry that the lighting isn't even on this picture. For some reason the left light isn't as good as the right light. (yep, 2 lamps shine on this block -- actually most of my indoor pictures have 2 lamps shining on them.)

Only three more blocks to make until the final reveal. Hum, I don't think there will be anything but putting the blocks together.  But I could be wrong. We'll see in December. 

And here are the 9 blocks all together.  I need to pay better attention to the colors I use on corner triangles over the next three months.  Seems like I have a lot of the same colors which might make it hard to place the blocks in the final layout. 

I think I've cut out all of the Economy blocks I'll need.  So over this week I made 3 of them to add to the 2 already done. Hopefully I've cut enough medium color blocks so the quilt won't look too dark overall. 

Somehow I was able to continue my stitching streak for 15 Minutes to Stitch.  Here are the details. 

W/ending 9/21/25. 264 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/September 21/21
• 15 minute days/2024 = 264/264 days
• Success rate = 100%

Have fun reading blogs this week.  Don't forget to visit these Linky Parties. 

Life in Pieces

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

The book I spent all day reading and finishing was Elinore Lipman's newest. Every Tom, Dick and Harry was a hoot. Once I started reading I didn't want to put it down. It was a light, fun read. Here's my library's description: 

"Taking over her parents’ estate-sale business is not the life’s work that Emma Lewis bargained for. Yes, she grew up helping them empty people’s nests, but nothing prepared her for her biggest and stickiest “get”--the grand, beautiful house of ill repute masquerading as a decidedly beddable B and B. Should Emma turn down potential clients in need of decluttering just because they are shady, escort-y, and proud of it?

No. A girl must make a living.

Around some hairpin turns Lipman ingeniously reveals a straight shot to happiness."

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 5 - 20 - 2024

Did you read that date on the headline?  May 20th?  Is it just me or is the calendar flipping by a lot faster than I think it should? On the other hand I always have my goals to keep me motivated on my sewing so maybe that is what makes the days go so fast. Here's what was on last week's list. 

5/13/24

✅Quilt Jenny’s quilt — Done, ready to return to her. 

✅Put border on pinwheel top — finished, now to think of backing.

✔️Make another basket block or two — finished a bunch of HSTs but need to cut out basket pieces. 

✅Cut, ✅layout, and ✅start stitching the stars quilt top for Va Star Quilt Guild — almost finished with center portion.

✅Sew misc blocks — RSC, FCQ Equilters— finished a lot of blocks but probably need a few more Equilter blocks.

Here's the quilt Jenny asked me to quilt for her.  She loves designs by Elizabeth Hartman.  In fact the last three quilts I quilted for her were Elizabeth's designs.  Anyway, this one is a baby quilt for a neighbor.  Here's the last row or so of cats. Did I mention she likes bright colors? The pattern is called Quick and Easy Swirls available at My Creative Stitches. May I repeat that it really is a fast and easy design to stitch out?  

By the way the blue on the orange kitty's nose is blue painter tape I use to mark my rows for the computer. 

One of the things I worked a lot on wasn't even on my list.  Here's the finished Bow Tie quilt. I believe it was the April UFO challenge. I'm happy to have it to top stage. Although I might put a border on it.  What do you think? Border or no border? 

After I got it all together I decided I should have moved a block or two to get it away from a similar color.  Oh well.  It's 42.5 x 60.5".  I'll have to buy backing for it. Although I won't do it until I look through my collection of fabrics just in case. 

Here's the layout for the stars quilt top from the blocks donated to Va Star Guild.  For the most part they are beautifully done.  Although I realized as I was sewing them with the "sashing" they aren't all 12.5".  I faked it so they should come out ok.  Here's the picture I took to make sure I sewed the pieces in the right places. (Um, I didn't. I had to take one piece off of two of the blocks and resew them in the right places.) If you want to see more about this project you can look at my Feb. 15th post. The pattern I'm using ends up being square.  I'm trying to decide if I'd (or the guild) would rather it be rectangular.  It might be used as a raffle quilt for us or it might be donated to a charity so they can use it as a fund raiser.  Do you like square quilts or rectangular quilts? 

Now here's what I want to work on this week.

5/20/24 

Quilt and bind one of my quilts

Finish the inside of the star quilt for VSQ

Plan something for May UFO challenge blocks another set of large flying geese blocks 

Cut out a quilt using the scattered forest animal print 

Pull out a block set and plan a top 

Stitching Time! I've been stitching every day this week.  Most days it was in my studio quilting but one or two might have been knitting days. I've got a couple more hats done to donate. 

W/ending 5/19 140 days in to 2024. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/April =  19/19 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 133/140 days
• Success rate = 95.5%

I've share almost all of the Costa Rica trip.  I was going to combined the last two days but I think that is way too much in one blog. So I'll write a bit about our last day in Monteverde this week and next week I'll finish off our trip.  

Our last full day in Monteverde was windy — 35 mph winds whipping around when we woke up.  The whole family went to breakfast together before splitting up for different activities.  We went with our son and his family to Monteverde Butterfly Garden.  A tour guide started us indoors where they had a multitude of different live insects.  Aimee was willing to hold just about anything. She knows her bugs and likes them.  Here she is with a large cockroach.  Despite what people think about cockroaches they are very clean. 

Side note if you have kids or grands 3rd through 6th or 7th grade here's a book recommendation.  Shoebag by M. E. Kerr (also known as Mary James.) Shoebag is a cockroach who like all cockroaches are named after the place they are born.  He lives with his parents, Drainboard and Under the Toaster in a Boston apartment. Shoebag is transformed into a, gasp, person and somehow is adopted by a family.  I haven't read it in years but I remember enjoying it as did the kids who checked it out. That's where I learned that cockroaches are really pretty clean insects. 

She wanted to hold the tarantula but was told they are too fragile. Next up was the first butterfly garden.  We saw a multitude of beautiful butterflies. Bright blue Morpho butterflies were all over the enclosure.  Ellie was hoping to pick one up but no, didn’t happen.  This picture shows one with her hand giving a sense of size.  These were pretty big compared to some butterflies. 

We toured 3 different butterfly habitats.  Here’s Teddy in one of them. (I was trying to get a good picture of Ted I could use as a background on my iPhone.) 

I took a couple of picture of flowers while we were in Costa Rica.  Up first is Red Ginger (pink version..)👇

Flower 2 👇 Brazil’s White Angel Trumpet. These are pink version.  All parts of the plant are considered poisonous. More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brugmansia suaveolens

Flower 3 Noble Dendrobiumis is one of the most widespread ornamental members of the orchid family. These were growing on a tree in the compound in Monteverde. 

And the last flower is a Lollipop plant. I'm pretty sure this was in one of the butterfly gardens.  

I'll have the exciting trip home next week. In the meantime I'm linking up with my normal Linky Parties: Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap,  Design Wall Monday, and Monday Musings. I hope you can take some time to go check out these Linky Parties.

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie  

Monday Meandering 12 - 18 - 2023

Have you checked out a book today with a two week check out period?  I haven't yet but I know what the due date will be: Jan 1, 2024.  Yes, we are 2 weeks from next year!  That doesn't mean I am completely ready for Christmas, a week away; but I think my plans will get me to the big day with little problems. Let's go straight to the goals lists.  First last week's list. 

12/11/23

✅Quilt and bind small quilt — no binding yet.

✅Sing with carol group - done. 

✅Quilt customer top - done and returned. 

Finish ornament(s?) — I stitched a little on the one left to finish.

✅Wash, dry and fold some fabric — several batches were done but I agreed to take two more boxes. And returned a box. 

✅Make more placemats — at least 2 were done.

Make more happy blocks — oops. Didn’t get anymore done.

Not a bad week. Mostly this week was spent quilting.  First up was finishing up one of my small quilts.  It's pretty wild.  

I don't remember where I got this fabric from. I think it must be from a group of fabrics I purchased used from a quilter.  I think I used a built in stipple to quilt it. As soon as it was off the frame I put on Nancy's quilt. 

She made one similar to this one using some of the same fabrics with the cute alphabet.  She chose Squiggle Wiggle for the quilting design.  It adds to the fun of the animals.  I forgot to take a pic of the full quilt.  If I'm lucky she'll bring it to the quilt guild meeting this week so I'll get a picture of the finished quilt. 

Next up are pics of some of the placemats I've made recently. These will be turned in at the meeting also. First up is one I made from a new pattern -- Easy Mitered Placemats by Karen Montgomery of The Quilt Company. It worked really well and is easy so more will be coming. (There is a specific ruler to make it really easy but I was able to figure it out using my Olfa ruler.) 

And I finally made the companion to the snowman mat shown here. Here's the penguin.  Darn he is cute.  Maybe I should make two for my youngest grands? 

And, now, here's what I hope to do this week. (Some I better do or they won't be ready for gifting next Monday!)

12/18/23

Sing at Mall and a private gig Friday

Make more placemats

Attend guild dinner 

Wrap presents 

Wash, dry and fold some more fabric

Quilt a small quilt 

Yep, a smaller group of Spotsylvanians are still singing this week.  Much of the music will come from our show but we'll also being doing some sing alongs at each gig. 

I'm still trying to get more of my own tops done. I went wild buying fabric in November so it's time to use it.  Most likely I can get a small one done but preparing for Christmas comes first. I've been so focused on getting things done in my studio I haven't been reading quite as much.  Yep, I'm still getting a half hour in every day though.  I've read 608 days in a row according to my Kindle. And, wait there's more! I've read every week for 282 weeks! Let's see what that is in years? It's 5.4 years. Yep, I am a dedicated reader! 

Here are the Linky parties links. Go check them out!  

Oh Scrap

Stitching Stuff at Life in Pieces

Design Wall Monday

Sew and Tell

I'll be surfing the Web a bit over the next few days.  But Christmas prep has to take priority. And, I've been thinking about what I'll be doing in 2024.  I know I'm going to try the 15 Minutes Stitching every day. I'm debating whether I'll continue the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I enjoy making the blocks especially if I pick an easy one. I'll be thinking about what else I want to do during 2024.  What are you planning on doing? 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

 

Monday Meandering 5 - 29 - 2023

This week zoomed by with a lot of studio time and way less reading than some weeks.  I guess if I read I don't get as much stitching done.  The book has to really draw me in and the one I was reading earlier in the week didn't. The next one up did. Have you read any of Sherry Thomas's Lady Sherlock mysteries.  I just finished #7 and it did grab me and kept me. I've enjoyed all of them -- some as audio books and some as ebooks. Evidently it didn't cut into my stitching time all that badly as I got all my goals done! Whoop,!Whoop! Let's take a look. 

5/22/23

✅Mail two packages of blocks out -- sent out Friday and I bought a pair of shoes.

✅Finish fusing & trimming tee shirts for a quilt -- all done.

✅Put border on APQ UFO for May -- mitered and sewn on in two different colors, fancy! I also need to quilt it but haven't decided what how to yet.

✅✅Trim and bind 2 quilts -- Finished both of them.

Here's Sheep in Boots -- quilted and bound. (Too bad I never think about getting a label on before I sew the binding on!) 

And an up close view. . .

I used Ginger Flower for the quilting design and So Fine thread.  This will be going to a local hospital's NICU via my local guild, Virginia Star Quilters. 

Here's what I'll be doing this week. 

5/29/23

Hem a couple of pairs of pants

Make 2 Flower Song Blocks 

Finish 3 RSC blocks 

Put border on grapes quilt

Doesn't seem like all that much to me so I might work on some other things. You won't see much about the t shirt quilt again until late June or possibly July.  I've got a plan to get one part completed every month until the whole quilt is done. Here's part of one of the tee shirts already trimmed and stabilized. The hard part is coming -- figuring out where each shirt is to be placed and what fabric I'll add to it. 

Yep, you might have guessed, this is a a triathalon tee shirt. My son used to do a lot of running and biking. Please don't tell him I'm working on his quilt. (Yea, I know you don't really know him and I am hoping none of the family actually reads my blog!) 

I finished everything on my Goals List early Sunday afternoon. So, I decided I would try a block I'd been wanting to make for a while.  This is called String Bean and is 12.5" x 15.5" unfinished. It uses mostly 2.5" strips.  I have a slew of them and I thought this might help me get rid use them. Here's a link to Pat Sloan's pattern in case you have lots of strips too. This log cabin variation is very easy especially if you have a lot of precut strips or you've got leftover jelly rolls. 

My plan is to use a solid or reads-like solid in the center and then surround it with a colors drawn from multi-color fabrics that I'll also use. I was surprised to find this very nice hand dyed fabric in a scrap basket. It was a pretty big scrap and I have no idea why I would have thrown it in the basket instead of my hand dye box. I'm hoping to use lighter, spring colors while using up some of my smaller pieces of solids. The hand dyed pink fit right in with my plan. Time will tell whether I succeed. 

That's about it for this post. Here's my list of Linky Parties I'll be linking with:

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday 

Monday Musing 

To Do Tuesday

Take some time this week to visit these parties and join in.  You never know what great idea you'll see on quilter's blogs. 

I hope to publish my next Mysteries and Sew Alongs on Thursday, June 1. Check back if you are looking for a new sew along or mystery to do. 

I was so surprised to see my Peace Lily bloom.  I first noticed it before we went to the beach and I was so disappointed that I would miss its full bloom. I was wrong. It took several weeks to get to this point.  And, I suspect it will continue with this display for several more weeks.  My surprise at the bloom is because the plant is quite old and I can't remember it ever blooming before. Heck, I bet we've moved it at least 4 times.  A couple of years ago I separated it into two pots.  The second one looks anemic but this one has been quite nice and now the added bonus of two blooms. Do you have house plants?  I'm not much of a gardener but I do keep up with several house plants. 

It's time for me to finish this off and get on with my latest novel.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie