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 

Monday Meanderings 1 - 23 - 2023

We lived through the week with the grands! And, boy were we worn out afterwards.  We came home Friday afternoon. The travelers got home late that afternoon and picked the grands up at a friend's home.  We were glad we didn't wait to see them as our daughter-in-law came home with Covid.  Between a 24 hour bug that hit the two kids and DIL before they left, and son feeling horrible the first day or two in Key West it wasn't a very relaxing vacation for them. 

I was able to spend part of two days piecing. We also were able to visit with some old friends in the Northern Virginia area. Barb and I went to high school together; in fact we met the first day our freshmen year. For many years Pat and I lived in the greater Los Angeles area. Eventually we moved to the east and finally settled in Virginia closer to Barb and Jay. We're thinking of planning a trip together at some point. 

The above was a bit of information about why I didn't get all my goals done this past week even though I spent most of Sat and Sunday in my studio. Here's what I wanted to accomplish last week. I'm happy with what I did get done plus I worked off list a bit too. 

1/16/23

✅Finish a few RSC blue blocks - three done.

✅Do the January Melodic Mystery clue —  all done. Ready to put it together with the last clue. 

Make a few blocks for Flower Song — didn’t get to this.

Finish Traffic Jam top with 2” blocks — center part is done, working on border.

✅Enjoy the Grands — it was fun but boy we were tired when we got home! 

Here's how I left Traffic Jam Sunday night. I've got several seams to do to get the rows together and I need to make another sashing row.  Then it's just making 9 patches for the border which I'll do as a leader ender.  The end is in sight. 

I also got 3 of the 4 rows together of the Moose quilt.  I'm not sure why I worked on it so diligently because it wasn't even on the goals list last week.  There is only one more row to figure out and sew on.  I'll evaluate whether it needs a border later. (I was thinking a navy blue border would work but of course I don't have any navy blue fabric.)  The fourth row will echo the top row with the dark brown across the two smaller photos and the dark brown running parallel to the bigger picture in the center. At least that is the plan. We'll see how it actually comes out. (Hopefully it'll be a top by the end of the week with a border to be determined.) 

Now let's see what I hope to do this coming week. 

1/23/23

Work on red spider web blocks

Make blocks for Sharon, Cindy

Finish moose top

Finish Traffic jam with 2” squares

Quilt on hearts top

I need to really focus on the spider web blocks as the guild has a red quilt challenge I'd like to enter it in.  It needs to be done by mid February.  

I think I have enough blocks made it's just a matter of sewing them together, quilting and binding it.  (Just a little bit to do...) Here's a grouping of them from February. 

Hum, I should probably find some backing fabric for this now rather than waiting until it is done and ready to quilt. 

The last picture I want to share is a small quilt I'm pin basting in preparation to hand big stitch quilt it.  I made the appliqué heart blocks in about 1994.  We had moved to the Baltimore area and the first year there I worked at a wonderful quilt store.  I took a class to learn how to appliqué a bunch of different ways.  Fast forward many years and I finally made it into a top.  Now I'm ready to get it finished. It's a little less than 23" square so I'm hoping it goes quickly. Any suggestions on where I should quilt it? I have to see what color pearl cotton I have although my guess is I only have larger sizes in colors and only black in the right size thread. Maybe. I need to look. 

I actually figured out my December fabric usage today  but I think I'll wait to share as this is already pretty long.  So, with no further ado, I'm linking with the following parties.  Please spend some time surfing the web using these parties as a starting point. 

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

Sew & Tell 

To Do Tuesday

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie