Monday Meanderings --- 6 - 9 - 2025

Earlier this week I added June Mysteries and Sew Alongs to my Mysteries and Quilt Alongs Page. If you didn't already see it, hopefully you will check out the offerings if you are looking for a new sew/quilt along or mystery.  I've been adding little tidbits of info about free patterns or special quilting info.  Check it out if you want to see what's on offer for the summer. 

I've had a very good results for my goals this past week.  I spent every day doing some sewing or knitting. When Sunday rolled around I had 2 or 3 goals unfinished. So I really got busy and got them at least started if not completely done.  There are a bunch of check marks with this goals list. Yeehaw! 

6/2/2

✅Bind my quilted top — done. 

✅✅Bind 2 placemats quilted after the UFO project — done. 

✅Cut out the project for upcoming retreat — done. 

✅Make additional blocks for June UFO project — 3 purple blocks made. 

✅Add borders to May UFO project — done! 

✅Make some more string blocks — 2.5 blocks finished. 

Here are some photos of my progress. 

Last week I added two placemats after I finished quilting one of my tops. I found a cool rectangular design that Ruthie quilted for me. The quilt and the placemats sat on the long arm most of the week. But finally I took them off, trimmed and figured how to pull the back to the front and have a couple of nice finished placemats. You can see the circular hatching Ruthie quilted on them below.  These will go to one of my guild's community charities. 

And here are the two finished placemats. Yep, the backing was more of my purple bolt of fabric. 

My June UFO project is to make some more Whirl blocks and then make them into a top. Here are the three new Whirl blocks. I've found on way too many occasions that darker colors -- especially purples and blues -- look black in pictures.  All of these are different colors of purple, really, they are! These were my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks from 2022.  I had 6 blocks left -- 3 pink and 3 blue.  I decided to make 3 more blocks in purple as red and blue make purple.  

\

Here's all 9 blocks together.  The blocks are 9" so, as shown it would 36" square.  I'm thinking of using a 1" (or so) finished sashing and adding corner stones in one or all of the colors.  It wouldn't add all that much to the size but it would add enough.  I'll probably make that decision in the next week or two.

Here's the finished top I've been showing for the last few weeks.  It still needs quilting which will happen eventually! I was trying to make the pieces of each border color different sizes but, rats, they look very close to the same sizes. Oh well. 

Sunday afternoon I decided to use the string blocks as a leader ender to the 3 Whirl blocks I wanted to make. I trimmed off the edges of all that I had already finished. The phone book pages were cut to the correct size so all I needed to do was grab my blue centers and then build out -- half lights and half darks.  Here's what I got done on this project.  Basically 3 are done and one more is started. These will end up as 7" blocks. I've got 22 done.  But I'm thinking I want to make the quilt 42" by 56" so I still need to make 26 more blocks.  Hum, I need to step up the pace on this project.  Heaven knows I have bags of scrap strings hanging around. 

So that's all I have to show from my goals last week. So here are my goals for this week. 

6/9/25

Make dignity bibs with craft group

Finish current hat and start next one

Quilt one of my tops

Sew Whirl blocks together

Plan and cut another quilt for future retreat

Keep working on string blocks 

I did make one more item this week that was not on my list.  The craft group in my neighborhood is making Dignity Bibs, now called Dignity Aprons, for people living in skilled nursing homes. These are generally made from button up, woven shirts.  Evidently in the past we've either had many donated or gals were able to buy a number of them from thrift stores. So far our collection isn't that big. So a friend recommended we make some out of our excess fabric.  I took the challenge and made one with a light blue plaid on the front and a royal blue with eidelweiss flowers on it for the opposite size. I had bought the eidelweiss fabric many years ago on vacation in Switzerland. I've been trying to use it up as it is a bit too heavy for quilts. But it's great for these "aprons." Here's what I made. It is approximately 18 x 27.  I still need to put the velcro on top.  I'll try to take some pictures of the shirts finished as aprons.  -- I may break down and make myself one as I am forever spilling food on my shirts! (And, that's just eating at home! Yikes.) 

 I've maintained my daily 15 minutes of stitching this week. I'm not sure whether I'll keep 100% for the whole year but there is a good possibility I might.  We aren't planning any vacation this year so no travel plans that would disrupt my stitching! 

W/ending 6/8/25. 159 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/June = 8/30 
• 15 minute days/2024 = 159/159 days
• Success rate = 100%

I'm linking with my normal parties. (OOPS -- I just realized I didn't remember to link to Design Wall Monday nor Monday Musings last week.  Must have gotten engrossed in something last Monday as I usually link up then.) Hopefully this week I will link up with them on Monday morning.

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musing

I'm ready to call it a night.  All the quilting I did today wore me out -- but in a good way! 

Happy Quilting! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 2 - 17 - 2025

It seems like last week I was talking about a snow storm coming our way.  We got 4" of wet snow.  Guess what? There's another one coming in this week.  Late last week the European Model suggested we could get 16 - 20" of snow. EEK!  Luckily, the forecasters are now predicting the storm will move further south and are suggesting 2" or less.  I'll let you know what we actually get.  We've already had more snow this year than in the last decade. On the other hand I have been staying in and playing in the studio.  But you won't believe that when you see my goals list. 

2/10/25

Bind baby Quilt — chose binding, still need to cut and sew it on. 

Quilt another top — loaded but not stitched.

Finish '22 McConnell mystery top — still needs the border. 

✅Make 2 napkins and a placemat — all 3 done. 

✅Make more Potato Chip blocks — only need two more to make top.  

Find a backing or two for some tops I have ready to quilt — didn’t  look. 

Here are a couple of pictures of the napkins I made.  After our youngest graduated high school we took a family trip to Switzerland and Austria.  It was a great trip and I was able to buy a nice hunk of fabric in Austria. Because this HS graduate is now much older (um, he's 42!) you have a good idea how old the fabric is. But here's the first finished napkin and the backing fabric. (No, I didn't quilt these napkins.) 

        

I also used another orphan block to make a placemat. No, these items do not go together. We're keeping the napkins to use every day. The placemat will be given to the charity committee at my local quilt guild. 

Hum, I thought the binding (which I pulled around from the backing) looked better in person. This was put on my white flannel design wall for the pic. The flannel looks pink to me... weird coloring might explain my questioning the binding. 

Here's a pic of the red, white, and blue quilt that has been loaded on Ruthie, the long arm. I was going to do a few rows after I loaded it but something wasn't working correctly so I just turned everything off for the night. It should start up just fine the next time I start it. 

I didn't take any pictures of the finished potato chip blocks.  So, let's get to the goals list for this week. 

2/17/25

Make blocks for FCQ EQuilter of the month

Quilt rwb top

Bind flannel quilt

Sew border on ’22 McConnell mystery top

Quilt another top? 

I also had a FaceTime sewing session with my friend Sharon so that we could make the next block for the Cali-Co BOM Mystery.  Sorry no picture to share. I've been really happy with my fabric choices so far. Although I will admit to using a whole lot of premade HSTs.  I'm looking forward to the next block.

For a couple of weeks I've been trying to figure out what color backing fabrics I need for a couple more tops.  I finally decided to update my Tops to Be Quilted list. Here's what the first page looks like. I laughed at myself when I read my title: Updated 2/9/245. Say what? I need to go on the computer and fix that. 

FYI, this is only page one. I have 10 more listed on the back side. So, do the math, I have 27 quilts waiting to be quilted.  No wonder I am trying to quilt at least one every week these days. Some of these are fairly small and I plan to quilt them on my domestic machine. I've put several on my UFO challenge list and I need to make sure I have backings for all of the ones on that list. 

And, in non-quilting activities I made a cherry pie for Valentine's Day.  I use a recipe from an old Betty Crocker Cook Book.  But when I tried to buy canned cherries in water I was unable to find them at two of our local stores. I finally bought a bag of frozen pitted cherries. Here is a picture before it was baked.  It's been really tasty. Darn, we only have one piece left. 

I got distracted Sunday night when I usually write my blog so it didn't get done. On  Monday I don't have much time until late afternoon. Long way to say I'm really late posting this blog.  Don't forget to take a look at some of these Linky parties so you can see what quilters are doing across the globe. 

Oh Scrap

Stitching Stuff

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings 

Hope you are staying warm and doing a lot of stitching this week. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 2 - 3 - 2025

Welcome to February. It's still pretty cold but rumor has it  it will be nearly 65 on Thursday.  But the local weather report showed the worse case weather for later in the week and it included snow. OH GOOD GRIEF.  My weather report on my iPhone is all about rain but no snow. (Do I admit that it is frequently wrong?) 

I had a great week of getting things done.  Here's the list.

1/27/25

✔️✔️✔️✔️Make more potato chip blocks — Yep 4 more done although 1 is  for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

✅Bind black, green, and white quilt — finished. 

✅Make a placemat from orphan block — done. Looking for more orphan blocks. 

✅Make backing for flannel quilt — done. 

✅Spend 15 minutes/day cleaning up studio — actually did about 2 hours of cleaning and cutting up scraps rather than 15 mins every day. 

✅Start a knit headband — finished it. I like the idea but need to refine the knitting. 

I failed to take many pictures this week.  Here's the placemat I made. I had made the center block a few years ago when I was practicing with Studio 180's Lemoyne Star ruler. I couldn't find any of the green or magenta fabric but was able to use the royal blue. The backing and binding was left over from the T Shirt quilt I made my son a while ago. 

I have already found my next block to use. (Evidently I had piled some on the corner of my long arm which I unearthed while I was straightening up the pile!) I'll probably continue to use orphan blocks over the next several weeks. 

Here's the ear warmer headband. It called for bulky weight yarn or 2 strands of worsted weight. I used the worsted weight with one purple and one turquoise yarn. (I'm trying to use up odd ball yarn.) 

I've been wearing it walking the dog and I like the fit of it better than any of the hats I have.  I will see if I have any bulky weight yarn to see if it works better. I need to figure out whether my tension is off on the cast on or perhaps the cast off.  I'm happy it keeps my ears nice and toasty warm. We only have random patches of snow left thank goodness. Just know that 6 months from now I will be bitterly complaining about the heat! 

Here's what I hope to get done this week. 

2/3/25

Sew ‘22 Sherri McConnell mystery blocks together with sashing

Make more Potato Chip blocks

Quilt flannel baby quilt

Cut out and sew together a new quilt using only stash fabrics

Find a backing or two for some tops I have ready to quilt

15 Minutes to Stitch -- another good week.

W/ending 2/2/25. 33 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/Jan = 5/5 days
• 15 minute days/Feb = 2/2
• 15 minute days/2024 = 33/33 days
• Success rate = 100%

I'm linking up with the following parties:

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

One last question -- what fabric do you use when binding a flannel quilt?  Flannel or regular quilting cotton.  I hope to get the little, flannel baby top quilted and then bound -- but was wondering what most people prefer. Thanks! 

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