Monday Meanderings 10 - 3 -2022

 YIPEE!  

I'm so excited.  I'm going to a quilting retreat with my friends from Country Piecemakers today (or Monday depending on when you read this.)  It should be a wonderful week. So before I go let's see how I did do on my goals last week. I'm very pleased with it. 

9/26/22

✅Trim and bind turquoise quilt

✅Finish last 3 composition book covers

Make Sept BOM from A Quilting Life -- again not done. Oops! 

✅Get projects ready for next week’s retreat

✅Go to Virginia State fair; man VaStar booth

Oh that poor Sept BOM from A Quilting Life -- it's been on my to do list for weeks.  I just picked fabrics for it. I'm taking them with me on retreat and hope to get it made and maybe even the one that will come out on Thursday.  I'll let you know next week whether I've succeeded.  

But everything else was done and I'm happy at all the check marks. Here's what I am planning to do this week. (A week with no cleaning, no cooking and all the sewing I want to do!) 

10/3

Get Happy Blocks & string blocks to top stage

Make baby quilt top

Make all 79 triangles for Tumbling Triangles

Get other projects brought  moved forward 

Enjoy retreat! 

On to photographs.  First up is Ellie's Flowers on display in the Virginia Star Quilt Guild's booth at the Virginia State Fair.  I was able to get the card in the same picture.  Remember this was a challenge to use a card to inspire a quilt. She sent me a nifty 3 d floral arrangement card.

At the last guild meeting we made fast, easy pumpkins. Here's mine on my orange table runner. It was a lot of fun to make this pumpkin.  

And now, I'd like to share a big win for me. I cleared off the front of my cutting table.  Take a minute to look at it last March.  I don't think I ever got it cleaned off then. But look at it now. Some of the fabrics that were piled up here are going to be available for my fellow retreaters to adopt. A bit of the fabric has been safely stashed in the basket so I can deal with it when I get back.  

I don't think I've seen that mat for years.  It doesn't look like I ever cut on it. My goal is to keep that cleared off (more or less) for the whole month of October. (And maybe longer.)  One thing I'm trying to do is let go of the smallest scraps.  I generally cut 2" and 2.5" squares.  I definitely use the 2.5" ones.  I've got a plan for 2" squares too.  But what do you do with 1.5" squares?  I'm not sure I'll ever use that size!  Scraps are a never ending battle. 

So it's time to get this post published and for me to get to bed.  I've got a lot to do tomorrow.  Here's the list of my Linky parties.  I hope to spend some time this week surfing to see what quilters are doing. 

Oh Scrap

Monday Making 

Design Wall Monday 

To Do Tuesday 

That's it for now.  I'm packing tomorrow morning and heading off to retreat.  It's a new location this year that takes a bit longer to get to.  No problem -- we can't check in until 3 pm.  Should work well.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 2 - 15 - 2021

Winter has really arrived in the Mid-Atlantic states.  Last Monday my iPhone showed this for our weather. Supposedly 7 snowy days out of 9 days.  Luckily we didn't have that much snow.  We had snow on Thursday.  Not too bad.  Then a bit of rain on Friday with more snow overnight. And Saturday it was mostly sleet with snow during the day.  Nothing is really melting yet.  But it will be as there is only one day this week showing snow/rain.  I guess it will depend on when it starts raining if it becomes snow.  

I spent most of the weekend stitching.  But I did snap this quick photo out of my french doors in my basement studio.  We haven't seen this much ice and snow for years.

On to how I did on my goals last week: 

2/8/2021

Quilt T Shirt Quilt☑️

Work on Yellow table runner☑️

Make some RSC blocks (yellow also)☑️

Finish cleaning the cutting table ☑️

No pictures yet of the T shirt quilt but the quilting was done by noon on Saturday.  One day this past week I pulled out the bits  of yellow and white units.  I laid out what I had and came up with an idea for a 3 block table runner.  (Yes, I like smaller runners as we keep our table small unless we have a crowd.)  I did get a few other blocks made too.  So, overall, I was really happy with what I finished this past week.  I've got several more blocks cut out ready to be sewn too. That left me more than enough time to really clean up my cutting table on Sunday. 

This is how it looked Sunday around 3:00 pm.  Truth be told I started working on my table runner again and I left all sorts of yellow and white fabrics on the purple cutting mat and something on the grey one too.  The AccuQuilt cutter was opened again and used. I've promised myself that I would clean it all up again when I finish the runner.  Time will tell!  

Now for this coming week: 

2/15/2021

Bind T shirt quilt

Finish piecing yellow table runner

Quilt one of my quilts

Start another basket

Stitch up RSC yellow blocks and FCQ Equilter's blocks 

My guess is I'll probably do more but this list is what I really want to get done.  I need to decide on what project I should work on next.  It might make sense to work on a UFO so I'll look through my list and see what strikes my fancy. 

NEWS FLASH:  I forgot an entire quilt when I reported my January stashbusting statistics.  It was my Wild Snowball quilt that I posted on February 1. (You can also see what my cutting table looked like before the big clean up in the same post.) It added another 4.25 yards.  Here are the new statistics. It made the month look even better than it was!  I'm hoping I don't succumb to buying any fabric this month.  I've succeeded for half a month. 

2021	Fabric In Month	Fabric In Year	Fabric Out Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
Jan	8.000	8.000	14.50	14.50	6.50

That's it for this week.  I'm linking with my regular parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, and To Do Tuesday*.  * I'll link up on Tuesday hopefully but will see if I remember. Plus the linky party is being moved to another blog.  I'll let you know where it is then.  Thanks to the gals at Home Sewn by Us for hosting To Do Tuesday for quite a long time.  And thanks, also, to Chris at Chris Knits for taking on the linky party.

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

 

Monday Meanderings 1 - 7 - 2019

Here's what I worked on the first week of 2019 - - 

This is for the Calendar Challenge.  We picked a month or season and need to create a wall hanging to represent the month.  Mine is December and I'm working on a Christmas tree.  I want to commemorate the wonderful handmade ornaments my great aunt gave us for years.  So first comes the tree. 

No pictures yet but I have been making progress on the log cabin blocks.  I think I have 31 of the 63 I need done. Every day I try to add a log or two to the 10 or so blocks I have going.  

One thing I added to my goals in the fall was to clean off my cutting table.  Did I share what it looks like then?  I don't think so.  Argh!  Here's what a section of it looks like now. (heck, it probably looked the same then with one less layer of fabric!)  

Not such a pretty sight.  I tend to pile up left over fabrics that can't be stored on my shelves or in my baskets of fat quarters.  So, this pile of stuff represents way too many months of finished projects.  Hum, I see some left overs from my bargello top, and ooh, there's some turquoise from Sea Glass and the black and whites are from my current log cabin project.  The main issue I have is I need to trim or cut into squares or strips.  And, I hate doing that.  So, eventually, I'll sweep it all into one of two huge baskets and then I'll have this end of my cutting table ready to us. 

Lest you think I try to work around that mess, here's a snap of the other big section of the cutting table.  Yes, I do have a pretty big space.  Across from this clean section is my Go cutter.  Very convenient. 

I included a pic of the project boxes under the table.  I haven't changed what's in those boxes for quite a while even though I know I've finished the projects.  Check my goals for this week.  I hope to go through them and change to new projects or UFOs. 

And, this week I cut out all the pieces for Carousel except the little squares that go in the center of the blocks.  A decision as to what color will be made after I make most of the blocks. The kit is ready for the retreat down at Sharon's house next week.  (I guess I'll be bringing the log cabin blocks too but variety is the spice of piecing!) 

Here's how I did on the minuscule goal list I did last week. 

December 31, 2018

Finish sewing the binding on Sea Glass√ and on the bed!

Continue making log cabin blocks√ 39 done so far 

Start cutting out kits for the in house retreat√

…. don’t know what else I’ll do but surely other stuff will get done

I know I did other stuff -- like taking down the Christmas decorations and washing and ironing most of the fabric Jenny gave me for Christmas. Next week's goals are: 

January 7, 2019

Continue making Log Cabin blocks 

Make FCQ Equilter blocks for Sharon and Pam

Prep one more project to take to retreat

Do something with that pile of leftover fabrics on the cutting table

Make a pillowcase

 So, here we are at the end of my post.  I'm linking up to these blogs this week: Oh Scrap!, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, and Moving It Forward. Everybody is back to their regular blog schedule. So, please take some time to check out what folks are working on these days.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

15 Minute Studio Spiff Up Week 2

How did you do?  Did you find all of your UFOs and get them listed?  I spent a little bit more time this week looking at my UFOs.  (Remember, I'm working at least one week ahead of what I'm suggesting you do.)  So, I've moved on with my UFOs and have several pulled to work on and even have cut fabric for what needs to be done next.  We'll see if I can get some of it done.

Here's this week's assignment.  Tackle your cutting space.  I have a huge table with cutting mats and rotary cutters on each side.  My rulers are in two ruler holders between the space.  And both were totally covered with just a little tiny space available to cut.

Here's what I did to get my cutting tables cleared and cleaned.

• Put all the excess yardage away where it goes
• Stashed scraps in a bin that I plan to cut up at a later time
• Throw away strings, unusable scraps, notes -- whatever I didn't need to keep
• I put things from the table on to the ironing board so I could really dust the space. Eew -- behind the ruler racks were dust bunnies galore. 
• I removed all the rulers from their racks and took a vacuum cleaner to the rack.  
• After everything was dusted I put the rulers in the racks, put my boxes where my rotary cutters reside back on the table, lined up my pin cushions, put back the box where I put all my large scissors and pinking shears, emptied my little trash containers and then put them back where they belong. 

This area was so bad it took me several 15 minute sessions.  And, yesterday I spent nearly an hour finishing it off.

This is the newly cleaned space shown in the first picture. I flipped the cutting mat to the purple side to see if I like it better than the yellow. 

Here's the second cutting area.  Nice and neat still! 

And, then I started cutting out pieces I needed to work on those UFOs for the next week or so. It was so nice to have a decent cutting area to work with.  

Let me know how you are doing? If you don't want to do an area go ahead and skip it.  Or plan to go back to it if you can't get it during the week assigned.  The whole idea of this is to actually neaten and clean your studio without spending a ton of time on it -- at least not all at once. I like to see the progress and not be committed to days of cleaning. 

I'm happy to hear that people are joining in the 15 Minute Studio Spiff Up.  Don't forget to tell us how you are doing.  Is this method working for you? 

Happy Quilting All! 

A Clean Slate

When I returned from the retreat last week I knew I had to do something to my cutting table.  I had fabrics piled on the edges, around the front.  I was lucky if I could use a 9" ruler to cut anything. 

I buckled down and worked my way through lots of the scraps littered on both sides of the table.  The side closest to the ironing board I also cleared of all papers and miscellaneous tools and assorted junk items no longer being used. Unfortunately I didn't take any before pictures. But I've taken two pictures to show the after. 

First up is my collection of squares and strips after I cut for a couple of days.  I usually cut squares at 1 1/2", 2" and 2 1/2".  This time I added some 3", 3 1/2", 4", 5" and maybe up to 6 1/2"  I have a shoe box I keep squares at 3 1/2" and bigger in.  My main strip sizes are 1 1/2", 2" and 2 1/2".  Again, I have a shoe box with 3 and 3 1/2" strips in it.  This cutting of scraps was made much easier by my purchase of a Gypsy Little Gripper. It was amazing to me how easy it was to position the ruler over the odd sizes of fabric I was using.  I found it at a quilt store near where we were retreating.  

When I am making blocks for the FCQ Equilters or block of the month lottery blocks I check my cut up squares and strips first.  Sometimes I can find what I want.  Other times I go to my fat quarter stash.  Because I have a long row of bookcases on a short wall I can use the top of the bookcases for my fat quarters.  I keep them folded, by color in baskets and box tops.  I have way too many fabrics there and I keep trying to use up some and thus need less box tops of baskets but it doesn't seem to work.  I still have some fat quarters and bits and pieces of fabric I can not put in the containers.  Sigh.  Maybe another scrap quilt should be in my future. Oh, wait, I did just start a new one.  

Look at that wonderful expanse of clean cutting mat!  All of the things I like close by -- pin cushion, note pads, pens and pencils, and my chicken cushion for bigger pins are ready to go.  

Now to pick a quilt to work on.  And, may be, may be, I can keep this picked up better.  I'm not showing you the other side which was fairly well cleared of scraps at the same time but now hold vintage sheets, little girl's shirts and boxes of strips from the quilt guild.  Sigh. 

Happy Quilting All!  Is it time to clean off your cutting table? 

Design Wall Monday 8-18-2014

It was a heck of a busy week around here.  I got a bit of sewing done Monday and Tuesday.  But by late afternoon Tuesday I was felled by an infection.  Luckily my doctor's office had evening hours and I was on antibiotics within an hour or so of the visit.  And, antibiotics are so amazing!  

We had planned to go down to Nags Head to continue our quest for a beach house.  We had several houses set to see and hotel reservations.  As it turned out we did get down there and saw the houses.  One was great and we put in an offer.  Just to shorten this the owner decided to take it off the market. What? We were not pleased but we're still optimistic that we'll eventually get a beach house.  Time will tell. 

That pretty much depleted my sewing time along with my lack of motivation.  Kevin and Ellie came down Saturday for a short visit.  Sunday we went on a River Cruise to a winery for lunch and wine tasting with some of our alumni group and our neighbors, Bill and Diana.  It was a grey, overcast day but it was a wonderful trip.

Along the way we saw a lot of eagles.  I even was privileged to see an eagle swoop down, catch a fish and fly off with it in his claws.  They are such majestic birds.  The winery tour was fun although I'm not that much of a drinker.  Overall we had a great time. 

My design wall doesn't look all that different.  I have sewn the first 3 or 4 rows together, taken them off the wall and then added the next rows.  I have run out of the beige fabric and have started hunting for it.  UGH.  Hopefully I'll find some left at the store I bought it at.  I'm also going to try to find borders for it.  If I can find the dark turquoise blue I used in the stars, I will buy enough to use it.  I think the burgundy is too dark for the center of the top so I'll try some other fabrics.  Hopefully I'll at least get enough background fabric to finish the center. The star points are turquoise, deep burgundy and the background.

Sometime soon I need to clean off my cutting table.  I'm piling it higher and deeper!  What you can't really tell is the pile of fabric topped off by the pink is about 8" high.  Someone donated two big bins of fabric to the guild and I've been washing it and refolding.  This is the beginning. (note the two red fabrics are mine.) 

Surprisingly I did make a bit of headway on my goals. 

Week of August 11, 2014

Sew blocks into rows from mystery√ done until i ran out of background fabric.

Finish binding on 3 baby quilts OOPS!

Add border top and bottom to small heart quilt √

Keep working on row by rows √

Sash Dresden baskets √ started

Work on new Christmas Favorites block Nope

Week of August 18, 2014

Find fabric I’m missing for Mystery Quilt

Work on Row by Row

Bind baby quilts

Sash Dresden baskets

Figure out entertainment during Grammy Camp

Pick up Sophie for Grammy Camp

Enjoy Jenny, Sophie, Natalie and Brian’s visit

Join up with Patchwork Times to see lots of design walls. 

Happy Quilting All!