Monday Meanderings 3 - 2 - 2026

I'm so happy we are out of the deep freeze. Monday snow is expected and high temps may be 39º. Then the next few days will have chances of rain. But wait, there's more. Thursday it is suppose to hit 74º, followed by 80º on Friday.  I know spring is around the corner but honestly I don't think I want 80º yet!  Our summers are too hot and humid to start in March! 

I've had a really quilty week and got lots done. Here's what was finished or moved forward.

2/23/26

✅✅Bind two quilts — both finished.

✅Quilt one of my quits — just a small quilt but quilted and bound.

✅Set last 2 UFO blocks on point — done.

✅Knit on hat— finished! (Picture to come soon.) 

✅Make B blocks of Magnificent Mystery quilt — all are sewn but still need to be ironed.

✅Sew up more dash blocks — two more done. 

Here's a picture of my 2 finished quilts. The one on the left is from More Quilts for Baby Easy As ABC by Ursula Reikes. (I love all of Ursula's baby quilt books.) I often  change patterns to fit the fabric I have on hand. This time it was to use the Mickey fabric. The quilt is about 35" square. The quilting design is Ginger Snap by Apricot Moon. 

The one on the right is a half log cabin from a booklet by Sharyn Squire Craig.  Here's the whole quilt. The logs are 2" wide.  I used Quick and Easy Swirls by My Creative Stitches for the quilting. I was tickled when I found a binding already made that worked well with it.  

I haven't taken pictures of any other projects from last week.  Oops! I did get a picture of my entire design wall which shows some of those ongoing projects. 

Here are the projects from top to bottom.  Some 16 patch blocks, Dash blocks, an A and B block from Magnificent Mystery. Moving to the right blue bricks, top right is the February UFO challenge blocks and the rest are small bits and pieces, including a doll quilt. 

And this week I want to work on these projects. 

3/2/26

Bind bottom of grey sweatshirt

Start sewing blue bricks together

Plan rest of design for February UFO blocks and start sewing together

Finish knitting sock currently on the needles 

Keep working on the Magnificent Mystery blocks and rows.

Look at the March UFO project to figure out what needs to be done

As you might have guessed I've had another 100% week of sewing 15 minutes a day. And, yes, most days it was way more than 15 minutes! 

Week ending 3/1/26;  60 days of 2026.

60 days out of 60 days.  100%

Here's a close up of the doll quilt shown above. 

I started this and then let it sit as a top while I decided how I would quilt it. I finally stitched in the ditch with my Bernina.  Then it sat some more while I tried to decide on a binding.  I only had a few pieces of the blue left from when I first made it. I didn't have any of the yellow left. I didn't want to use the light fabric. But, while I was finding more blues for the brick quilt I found a couple more pieces of blue although they had lots of cuts taken out already. The main thing was I was able to make the binding that matched the little quilt. (And make a brick or two.) 

Do you like to get inspiration for your quilts? Visit lots of blogs across the Internet by starting with these Linky parties. You can find all sorts of ideas for your quilting! 

Stitching Time 

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 9 - 15 - 2025

Here we are in the middle of September. What? September? It's still in the 80s where I live. It's getting dark earlier and the humidity isn't as bad as it is in the middle of summer. I enjoy taking Sunny for walks in the evening but for the most part I hang out in my basement studio. This week I read or listened to 3 books.  Nothing spectacular but entertaining. Now, on the quilting side of things... not a lot of check marks. But that is fine with me because the main checkmark is a finish (of sorts) that has been waiting for a year to be worked on. See below. 

9/8/25

✅Load and ✅start quilting Ombré quilt - Whoopie!  Quilting is done! 

Make RSC blocks in light blue and light green and more 9 patch blocks — cut out a couple of 9 patches but nothing else. 

✅Cut out more Sept UFO challenge- Economy blocks — just need 5 more.

Continue cutting out the Magnificent Mystery quilt— nothing done. 

Bind baby quilt — trimmed quilt, cut out binding but nothing else done. 

I finished my super queen size Ombre top last year.  I love/d how it looks. I bought the backing for it in MI last July.  It sat in the laundry room waiting for me to wash it. Surprise, a few weeks ago I washed it. It sat in the studio waiting to be ironed for several weeks. I finally decided I really need to get it finished in September cause I need to be able to show more fabric usage. (I went wild buying fabric this quarter!) Happily enough, I did the ironing, I loaded the backing and the batting and the quilt top (which also needed ironing). Saturday I started quilting it. My thought was I'd get it done later this week. But, I was ready to get'er done. I got several rows done Saturday and the rest done on Sunday.  It is quilted! 

Darn, you can't see the quilting.  Here's the E2E I used so you can see it clearly.  I love how it turned out. It's called Briar Rose in Winter and is a computerized Edge-to-Edge pattern. The pattern is available at My Creative Stitches. And yes, I've used it a few times. Below you can read some of the statistics and why I really wasn't looking forward to doing this big quilt. 

So it took approximately 23 minutes for each of 9 rows. So total actual stitching time was 3 hours and 43 minutes. (Which doesn't count the bobbin winding time, the time to load this big quilt, time moving the quilt forward after each row, and the time I had to rip out one/tenth of the row.) There were 166,140 stitches in the quilt (including the small section I had to rip out.) That is equal to 459 yards of thread.  One of my jumbo bobbins could only do 2 rows before running too low to start another row.  

So, I now have 5 bobbins with just small amounts of thread on them. (And, no empty bobbins!) Hopefully the next quilt I do will be much smaller and use white thread! There is more than enough thread if I do, say, a 36" wide quilt.  These small amounts would probably last for the whole row.  I do have one bobbin with not very much thread on it so I could unwind it if my next quilt isn't with white thread! 

I realized last week I left off the picture of the Economy blocks that are ready to sew.  This is last week's photo. If I had taken a pic this week about 4 of the fabrics would be sets now. I'm definitely going for fall colors.

As you can see I got a little bit of one other project done. I prepped some blocks to sew and I got the binding cut and pinned together for the baby quilt. Now that I think on it a bit -- I also worked on another knit hat and spent one evening working on my cross stitch bag. (You can see it here although I've done more since this picture.)  I really have to concentrate to get this one done correctly.  (And honestly, I haven't been as accurate as I should be but I think in the end it will look fine.) 

Here's what I'll be working on this week. 

9/15/25 

Cut, prepare, and sew  binding on Ombre Log Cabin 

Sew binding on baby quilt 

Continue cutting out Magnificent Mystery Quilt 

Keep making 9 patch blocks and/or RSC blocks

Quilt two quilts (not mine… sigh.) 

Quilt  a little doll quilt on my domestic machine to give to the guild

That should keep me busy this week. And, all my choral groups have gone back so that is taking up some time too.  Maybe I'll get even more done this week but I'm not holding my breath. 

Here's my 15 Minutes of Stitching report.

W/ending 9/14/25. 257 days of 2025

• 15 minute days Sept = 7/7
• 15 minute days/2025 = 257/257 days
• Success rate = 100%

Not much more to report from here.  Sunny is thriving and stubborn.  She likes to play with her balls but also tends to put them under the couch which means she can't actually get to them without some help.  Sigh. 

Please spend some time checking out these Linky parties.  Hopefully it won't take me until the end of the week to link up to the bottom two parties.  

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings 

Hope everyone is finding peace in their quilting this week.  I always appreciate it when the outside world has gotten intolerable.  It's cheaper than therapy...maybe! 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie

Monday Meanderings 3 - 10 - 2025

Why has this week zipped by so fast? It didn't seem like I got a lot done especially since I was reading too. It never fails if one reserved book or audio book becomes available, 3 are available. I've got more to read and listen to this week. However, I did much better on my goals this week. Here's what it looks like now.

3/3/25

✅Bind the R,W,B quilt — All done! 

✅Quilt another top — Baby String Bean top quilted. 

✅Make blocks for FCQ EQuilter of the month — 4 done, 1 left. 

Cut a new kit out — didn’t happen. 

✅Work on the March UFO challenge — Started playing with layouts.

Pictures of the R, W, B quilt will be taken and shared later. (Ok, it'll probably be several weeks from now, knowing me.) But here is the Baby String Bean top during quilting. It still needs its binding. I have to figure out what color binding to use. I'm pretty sure all of the fabrics I used were just leftover strips except the block centers and there is hardly any left of it. (Good news, I'm using up fabric but...) 

I've been making Nightfall blocks (from a video on Missouri Star Quilt's video) for the FCQ Equilter. Here are the first two that I made. 

I chose not to make my original half square triangles by stitching on the outside edges of the square as the video instructions suggested.  The finished size HSTs needed were 6.5" unfinished. Guess what size HST Accuquilt die I have? Yep, I started with HSTs cut with my die. And then I finished the rest of the directions for the Nightfall block. You can check out the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhTooAVmjZE&t=11s. There are several other ways to arrange the units also. 

My last effort on my goals was to start working on the March UFO Challenge. The number 8 was drawn and for me that was to turn the half log cabin blocks into a quilt.  To that end I used a few of the blocks to try out various layouts. Here are two of them. 

Pinwheel half log cabins. 

Circle half log cabins.

There are a couple of other ways to set these blocks.  Playing with the few here I realize the lights don't always read as lights. I do know that I sewed them all differently than what the pattern called for which means at least one of the setting won't work.  It's not a problem for all settings so it will be fine. So far, I prefer the circle half log cabin layout.  I'll be laying out all the blocks over the next few weeks. Hopefully they will become a top before the end of the month. 

Here's what I plan to work on this coming week. 

3/10/25

Quilt another of my quilts

Quilt guild top and trim

Continue working on March UFO

Bind baby quilt

Finished last FCQ Equilter blocks and get them in the mail

I've continued my success with 15 minutes of stitching. 

W/ending 3/9/25. 68 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/Mar = 7/7
• 15 minute days/2024 = 68/68 days
• Success rate = 100%

And, honestly I've gotten quite a bit of knitting done.  I should have another hat finished by tomorrow.  And then I'll go back to working on the socks. Tuesday I hope to go to the workshop for From the Heart Stitchers. It's where we turn in our finished projects and we can pick up some supplies to continue to make things.  Generally my friend Fran goes to deliver and pick up items. This time I'm hoping to go with her.  My goal is to get some more white yarn and maybe something in lemon yellow.  (Ok, I don't really need the yellow but I thought it would be a nice color change!) 

Here are two more quilts from the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show.

I'm linking up with the following parties: 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 8 - 12 - 2024

Debby, the hurricane, has passed by us.  Although our general region had huge amounts of rain, we saw less than 3".  Unfortunately we could have used more.  Humidity was awful for several days but this past weekend has been cooler and less humid.  I actually didn't go outside from Saturday early morning. I'll be out early for my walk tomorrow around 7:30 -- am! Have I mentioned I'm not a morning person?   

Luckily, I did get most of my goals completed this week.  I was wondering if I would miss my last goal by Saturday afternoon.  But I loaded up a quilt then and quilted it on Sunday. Here's what I was working on this past week. 

8/5/24

✅Bind Melodic Mystery — done. 

✅Prep magenta backing — done

✅Quilt and 👎🏼bind one of my quilts — quilting is done but not the binding. 

✅Sew snowball blocks then evaluate whether more blocks are needed — some done, more needed

✅Keep working on seaside top — more finished, but lots more to do 

First up is Flower Song, the top I quilted this weekend.  Here's a picture of it as I started it. I didn't remember that I used this same pattern on the last top I quilted.  

The quilting design is called Sunshine by Melony Caldwell available at Urban Elements.  I used lavender So Fine.  The fabric that I listed on my goals list to be made into a backing is the one I used for this quilt.  I had a different top planned but I really like the new one for this quilt. It is the same fabric as the top border but is magenta with colorful spots.  I'll be using it for the binding also. 

Here's a snap of my design wall -- it's full of blocks and too many odd things hanging from it! I should take a look at the stuff on the right and see if I can put some of it away. 

From left to right: snowballs, half log cabins, bowties, and junk of all sorts! But let's take a better look at the three projects up there. 

I decided that most of these blocks were animals or living beings so the rest of the blocks are going to be animals, bugs, and more living beings. I'm aiming for 36 blocks which would give me a 36" x 36" top -- perfect for a NICU quilt. I've got another 9 or 10 blocks cut and ready to sew.  Hopefully this will be a top by next week.  

I've cleared all of other Rainbow Scrap Challenge bowties off the wall.  These are the orange, blues and turquoise blocks.  It looks to me that most of these blocks look like turquoise more than blue.  I may add some more blues eventually.  But that will wait until all the colors have been called. 

Here are 8 blocks of half log cabin blocks.  I don't know how I'm going to set them but this is an idea. I have at least 18 more blocks ready to sew, with another smaller number already finished.  I have no idea what size I'll make the top in the end.  But I'm having fun making the blocks.  I've precut the strips to the necessary size and then I pick the pieces for each block and clip them together.  That makes it really easy to use these as leader enders. I know, that just sounds weird but it's working for me. 

This week I plan to try to get these goals done. 

8/12/24

Bind Flower Song quilt 

Sew snowballs, maybe sew top together

Keep working on seaside top

Finish knitting hat

Put more fabric away

Make a placemat or two 

Take some time to visit the following Linky parties.  It's fun to see what everyone is working on. (And, yes I get way too many ideas from checking these out!)  Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Design Wall Monday, and Monday Musings.  

Here's my info on 15 minutes to stitch.  

W/ending 8/11 — 224 days in to 2024. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Aug = 11/12 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 215/224 days
• Success rate = 96% (rounded up from 95.98%) 

I found myself engrossed in my most recent book. In fact, I was reading it while Ruthie was quilting away.  I started it Saturday morning and I'm over 75% done as I write this Sunday night. I'm hoping I can finish it tonight without staying up half the night.  Oh, what's the name you ask?  It's The Book of Lost Names by Kristen Harmel. It is based on a true story of a young French woman who learns to be an expert forger in order to save lives of the many Jewish children left alone after their parents are arrested by the Nazis*. It's gripping reading and not surprising, has 4 1/2 stars on Amazon.  I've read quite a few historical fiction books this summer and found them very interesting. *From reading the author's notes about this book I realize the main characters are actually from her imagination.  However there were many people who through forging documents allowed children to escape to Switzerland.  I thought this was a new book however it was published in 2020.  It's still well worth the read. 

It's time to get back to my reading! 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie