Monday Meanderings 1 - 19 - 2026

Snow has been on and off the weather reports all this week.  For several days I decided it wasn't going to happen at all. But, surprise, surprise! We had snow this afternoon. It was pretty light but did accumulate on the grass and the rooftops but not on the sidewalks or roads.  It wasn't enough to really measure and I'm guessing it is going to last overnight but will melt tomorrow if the sun comes out.  It won't stop us from what we normally do.  

My goal list has a lot of non-finished items. But, I can explain.  I've owned my Bernina 16 months with a lot of stitching done on it. When I called my dealer they said it would be about one week for servicing. Friday we dropped it off for service, or as I call it, a spa day.  So that means several of the items on my Goals list didn't get done. I set up my Elna Carina I purchased in 1984 or so.  Here's the list and what was done. 

1/12/26

👎🏻Make sewing machine block and ✅2 spool blocks— no machine block but the spool blocks were done. 

✅Work on snowman block — a little handwork was done. 

👎🏻Bind at home round robin — nothing done. None of my other machines have a walking foot. 

✅Work on cross stitch zippered bag — making good progress. 

✅Make some miscellaneous blocks — several different blocks were made.

✅Quilt one of my quilts — panel quilt done. 

I quilted this panel quilt on Ruthie, the long arm.  I often buy wide backs from Connecting Threads, especially if they are on sale.  You can see the extra red fabric and the batting rolled up in the pic below.  I should have enough backing and batting to use on a smaller quilt. 

I used Diagonal Plaid with a gold colored OMNI thread.  (Sorry, not sure which color it was.) The pattern is October Sky by Villa Rosa Designs. I did make some alterations to accommodate the panel.  I have second panel so I'll be making this one again, eventually.

Here's one of the miscellaneous blocks I made this week.  It is Scrap Dash from Terry Atkinson's book California Cruisin'.  I have 5 of them that were left over from one of my FCQ Equilters turn. You can see them here.  I'll be making more of them over the next several weeks.  I hope to make a big lap quilt once I get enough blocks made. The cool think about this block is it is made a little larger and you trim it to the correct size.  

Here are the goals for this week. 

1/19/26

Work on cross stitch zippered bag

Make binding for panel quilt & stay at home round robin

Work on snowman block

Cut out a quilt

Attend Quilt Guild meeting 

I'll probably try to sew more blocks but my old Elna isn't as robust as she used to be. I bought a quarter inch foot for her when I got her working again. But it is not a great one -- you can't really see what you are doing.  I did use it to make the January clue for Magnificent Mystery. Luckily, we made these larger and then trimmed them down.  

15 Minutes to Stitch

Week ending 1/11/26 18 days of 2026

18 of 18 days 100%

I sure hope I can pick up my sewing machine this week.  I'm looking forward to getting it back soon! 

Links to lots of quilter's blogs are available on these Linky parties. (I hope I remember to link to the last two parties tomorrow. I just realized I didn't last week! Oops.) 

Stitching Time

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings 

Happy Quilting All. Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 10 - 7 - 2024

Welcome to October -- we have put up most of our Halloween decorations including 4 or 5 quilts. Yep, I really have that many Halloween specific quilts. The smallest is about 8 x 10"; the largest is about 36 x 52".  One of these days I should take pictures of all our Halloween decorations -- inside and outside. Pat has made some fun wood designs for the outside. 

I did pretty well on my goals this week. Lots of check marks. Yea! Plus I got my Covid and Flu vaccines. Here's what I did on the quilting front.

9/30/24

✅Finish the border on Halloween top — finished but now thinking of quilting! 

√Make 2nd ornament — It is started, should finish w/o 10/7.

✅Quilt one of my tops — maybe the Halloween one — nope, picked the animals snowball quilt and it is done.

✅Layout more blue blocks and make top — 2 laid out, ready to sew at retreat. 

✅Finish hand sewing binding on baby quilt — done, ready to donate somewhere. 

✅A late addition — border the panel quilt — finished. I forgot to add this one to my goals so it was an add on. 

First up the finished Halloween top.  I didn't have enough of my first choice black fabric but I was very happy to find another black on black that I could use for the border and the binding. I plan to quilt this on my domestic machine because I don't want an over all design.  (My long arm was updated last year but I can no longer do ruler work.  For me, that isn't an issue.) 

And, I was quite happy to get the borders on the panel quilt.   Supposedly, I have another cabin panel in my stash.  So far, I haven't found it though. I'll take out my fabric stacks and really go through them carefully one of these days. 

Sharon shared some of her stash as I didn't have the right size leftover pieces for the cream fabric around the half star.  I auditioned several fabrics for the center star part.  Her multicolored piece really made the design stand out.  She was happy to have some of her stash used especially since I really only looked at leftover fabrics. (I miss cut one of the squares and I had to sew two pieces together to get the last square of the cream fabric. Sigh.) 

I laid out two sets of dark and light blue blocks I received from the FCQ Equilters.  I've got them pinned together along with a picture of each layout so that I can sew them together at retreat. Hum, I may move the dark blocks so the two darkest are on the same row. If I don't remember I don't think the baby would mind! 

Here are my goals for this week.  I probably have more than enough kits made up for retreat a week from now. But, it's always nice to have more than needed.   Hopefully it will be a light week in my studio. 

10/7/24

Bind the Animal Snowball blocks 

Quilt customer’s quilt

Make kit with leftover baby buggy fabric

Finish acorn block

Layout a set of Stashbusting blocks to sew at retreat

Pack up retreat supplies. 

I've been working on our lotto blocks for retreat over the last week or two.  I made quite a few of the leaf blocks but then I reread the directions -- I was suppose to use blue for the sky as the background fabric.  Oops! Here are the 3 that are finished. That acorn block is fiddly!  I've got a second one started but I don't think I'll make any more. Entries into the drawing require both blocks. 

I keep making progress on getting tops quilted.  I think I've done 4 since the last week of August. Unfortunately, I've probably finished 4 tops since that time too. Although I don't know how many plastic coat hangers I have, I do know I don't have anymore empty ones.  I need to up my quilting game. 

Linky parties I'm signing up for this week: Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Design Wall Monday, and Monday Musings.

Nearly forgot to post my Stitching Stuff results.  It was a good week for stitching. 

W/ending 10/06  — 280 days in to 2024. 

• 15 minute days/week = 1/1 days
• 15 minute days/Sept = 6/6
• 15 minute days/2024 = 270/280 days
• Success rate = 96.4%

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

 

Monday Meanderings 9 - 9 - 2024

It's been a week.  You'll see by my goals I didn't get much done.  Either that or I went off goal a bit.  I thought I had a lot of quilting time this week but both Saturday and Sunday had only limited stitching going on.  Let's look at what I wanted to get done! 

9/2/24

✅Keep working on grands’ ornaments — a little more done.

✅Finish seaside top  — worked on but not finished yet.

Border old purple top — didn’t start.

Make blocks, if needed & lay out happy quilt — took out the blocks but nothing more! 

Quilt another top if I have time — Nope, didn’t happen but got the backing ironed.

I did get the first row of 2.5" squares around the panel but notice I didn't put it on my goals list. What was I thinking?  It took longer than I thought to sew on the strips of squares.  

I did get the last stitches into the Seaside top. I have a lot of threads to tie off on it.   But my motivation has been low tying off the thread.  I'll spend some time this evening finishing those threads.  And then I need to figure out how to face it rather than bind it. 

Here's what I think I'll work on this week. Time will tell if I succeed!

9/9/24

Finish one more of Joan’s blocks and mail them

Quilt customer top

Finish Sea Side Village 

Make happy blocks and plan layout

Cut another quilt kit 

Keep stitching on the ornaments

I'm hoping I can get all that done. Time will tell. 

I skipped my stitching group Monday while I made a dish to take to our street-wide  Labor Day party.  I did spend some time reading and finished a book or two.

By the time Saturday came by I hadn't done as much as I thought I would. We spent most of Saturday at a session on leadership and looking to the future of the Spotsylvanians Community Chorus. It was interesting but no sewing was involved! 

And Sunday wasn't any better sewing-wise. (After I finish this I'll need to stitch for 15 minutes still!) But it's been a terrific day.  We have been looking to adopt a rescue West Highland Terrier.  And, we were approved to get one this past week.  Miss Sunny came into our lives this morning.  She's needs a lot of tender loving care until she looks like a Westy.  She has a problem with her skin which made her lose her hair. It's a pretty common thing with Westies and is definitely treatable. 

Here's what she looks like now. 

Here's what she looked like before the issues. 

We've got some challenges ahead.  For the next week she needs to be bathed every day with special shampoo and then we need to massage in a mousse. You can't tell from her current picture but a bit of her fur is making a comeback on her back and the top of her head. She's also very underweight. But she is a real cuddle bug.  I'll keep sharing photos of her so you can see how she is progressing.  She's two years old.  She's not had a lot of experience with grass so that is a bit of a challenge to get her on the grass for her business. We took her for a walk to the end of the street and back and she's totally wiped out next to me on the couch. I'll put her to bed when I'm finished with this and my stitching time. 

Here's my stitching info for this week. I made the assumption I will get 15 minutes done.  

W/ending 9/8 — 252 days in to 2024. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Sept = 9/9
• 15 minute days/2024 = 243/252 days
• Success rate = 96.4% 

I'll be linking with: Life in Pieces, Oh Scrap, Design Wall Monday, and Monday Musings.  Hope you can do a bit of surfing this week. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings

Happy September.  We had a roaring thunderstorm Friday night. From what we could find out we got 3+" of rain which we definitely needed.  The lightening was almost nonstop.  The thunder for a while was breaking over the house or so it seemed.  I think the power went out three times.  I haven't talked to anyone to see if they had any damage.  In previous bad storms neighbors have lost several electronics from the lightening strikes.  I always unplug my sewing machines -- at least two of them stay unplugged unless I'm using them. My last one is my Bernina that I use every day, or just about. I unplug it when I know a storm may be coming. 

With all that wild weather you would think I wouldn't get much done on my goals. But I have been dedicated and made progress on everything. Here's how I did. 

8/26/24

✅Quilt pink & turquoise Picket Fence top — I quilted and bound my Benny Quilt. 

✅Finish sewing snowballs together — sewn together, measured and stashed in my top closet. 

✅Get sides of panel cut and sewn on — first border is on. 

✅Keep working on grands’ ornaments — head done on the first animal, body started.  

✅Cut out another quilt kit — done! 

I didn't take as many photos as I usually do so not many pictures to show my progress.  But I did take a picture of my finished Benny quilt.  You can find the directions to make one at Michelle's Romantic Tangle blog.  See her directions here.

This is an old post (2013) but I really liked the idea of using up some of my 2.5" squares. I made mine one row bigger than Michelle shows. 

I used a light aqua solid in the centers. I used So Fine thread #518. It's called barely green. (I thought it was a light aqua.) It worked well. 

The quilting design is called Busy Bees by My Creative Stitching. Here's a close up.  There is a flower on the left with the bee on the right. 

Busy Bees by My Creative Stitches

I made a little bit of progress on the panel.  I'll be adding to it over the next few weeks.  I'm not motivated to finish it in a hurry. 

Next up I plan to put one or two rows of 2.5" squares around it. We'll see how far I get on this one over this week. 

On to what I'll be doing this week. 

9/2/24

Keep working on grands’ ornaments 

Finish seaside top 

Fill out panel sides with 2.5” squares

Border old purple top

Make blocks, if needed & lay out happy quilt blocks

Quilt another top if I have time

I did have another great week of stitching every day. 

W/ending 9/1 — 245 days in to 2024. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Aug = 31/31 days
• 15 minute days/Sept = 1/1
• 15 minute days/2024 = 236/245 days
• Success rate = 96.3% 

I did make another foray to JoAnns to buy more fabrics. I got backings for two more tops.  I tend to only shop for backings when JoAnns has the Keepsake fabric on sale at $4.99. I also was able to buy some Kona fabric at $2.99/yard. Yep, you read that right.  I bought the end of two different turquoise Kona cottons - Ice Frappe and Aruba. One had nearly 3 yards on it and the other had 1.5 yards.  I'm not sure what I'll be using them for but I wasn't turning that price down.   As you might guess I watch the ads carefully. I've got several tops with backing ready to quilt. 

I'm linking up with these parties: Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Design Wall Monday and Monday Musings. 

That's it for me this week.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 8 - 26 - 2024

We've had a lovely week in the great DC area.  The weather was dry and relatively cool considering what most of the summer has been.  I'm not complaining about mid 80s and high 70s.  But wait.  Summer is going to give us another blast of heat this week.  It's suppose to be 100 degrees on Wednesday.  Can you say "to the basement to sew?" I'm hoping the forecast will change between now and Wednesday. But the basement is generally cool and comfortable even in extreme heat. 

I had a decent week working on goals.  For the most part I got something done on all my goals, even if I didn't finish most of them.

8/19/24

✅Cut a 3 yard quilt kit — not a 3 yard quilt but another kit ready.

✅Arrange and sew snowball blocks — first 2 rows sewn together (blocks that is!) 

✅Start a new quilt using a horizontal panel — trimmed panel and tried a couple of ideas.

✅Keep working on seaside top — Getting closer but not finished yet. 

✅Begin grands’ Christmas ornaments —  cut out and started sewing first one. 

Here's what the final snowball blocks layout looks.  I replaced one of the blocks that turned up so dark you couldn't see the shark in it. 

The blocks in the first two rows are sewn together although the pic was taken before sewing.  I tend to change the direction I iron the seam allowances of the corners so the blocks nest nicely together.  It's a pain to do but really makes the blocks fit nicely. 

I've started working on a small horizontal panel that I want to make into a senior quilt.  The guild prefers senior quilts at 40" x 60" approximately.  The panel is 24" (barely including the green section) by maybe 22" or so.  I was thinking of putting some 6" maple leaf blocks around it but they were too big.  So consulting with Beth and Sharon we came up with some ideas. Sharon suggested building up the width and then dealing with length as if it were a row by row. Beth and I liked the Villa Rosa pattern I have that might work. Here are two "maybes." 

 

I grabbed some squares from my 2.5" container to make some stacks of colors. Um, need to be more careful with colors.  And really, do I keep that fish square in?  It is the right colors but it will stick out just like the beige one below it does. 

I decided to try a strip of fabric and then add the squares. (2.5" unf. sqs.) Unfortunately I only have a fat quarter of that strip.  I may order a yard or so as it really works with the trees in the panel.  I might try bigger squares -- say 3.5" unf or even 4.5".  

Do you have a preference?  Or other suggestions?  I've got a whole folder on my computer dedicated to pics of panel quilts.  It turns out most of the panels are bigger with the length longer than the width. I messed with the photo and it seems a lot brighter in the second picture than in real life.  On the other hand, you can really see what it is.  I was given two of them but I didn't find the second one when I pulled this one out. Maybe I gave it away.  I know I didn't make anything with it! 

My goals for this week have been curtailed.  I started with about 6 or 7 items but realized I really want to get another top quilted.  Evidently, I didn't curtail that list. So I pushed some of the ideas to the side.  We'll see how I do. 

8/26/24

Quilt pink & turquoise Picket Fence top

Finish sewing snowballs together

Try some 3" squares on panel sides. Make decision on which size to use and cut them out. 

Keep working on grands’ ornaments 

Cut out another quilt kit or two

I made a couple of 6" Maple Leaf blocks to try on the panel.  It doesn't matter if I use them or not as they are being used at the October retreat as an opportunity block.  I'm either ahead of the game for the retreat or I'll put them to use on the panel at some point. Here are the two I made:

I had started a whole quilt of 8" Maple Leaf blocks using my Go die.  But I put those away for a while. I've got a trip to Sharon's planned for mid September so maybe 8" Maple Leaves may be kitted up along with the whole panel project to work on there. With retreat in October I'm going to need a goodly number of kits for both events.

My neighborhood has a craft group that meets twice a month.  I try to go when I can and I like the project.  Last week it was a cute pumpkin.  Here's a pumpkin patch --  some of the examples and the ones we made.  Mine is on the left side that is bright orange with orange and yellow polka dots. I brought supplies home to make two more so eventually I'll have a cute display for the dining room table. The big black thing is also a pumpkin but it was so big it overpowered the little pumpkins.  

I've been stitching everyday this week.  Yea! 

W/ending 8/25 — 238 days in to 2024. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Aug = 24/24 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 229/238 days
• Success rate = 96% 

Friday I posted my fabric ins and outs for June and July. I'm happy to report I've used 50.35 yards of fabric more than I've brought in this year!  Amazing.  I guess when I started quilting more top I used more fabric even though I often buy fabric for backings. Note- I only count fabric used in finished projects, blocks that I give away for whatever reason, or fabric given away. I do count my scraps by weighing them and converting them to yardage. It all adds up!  It definitely motivates me to finish a top so I can count the fabric as used! 

This week I'm linking up with Life in Pieces, Oh Scrap!, Design Wall Monday, and Monday Meandering.

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie