Monday Meandering 5 - 4 - 2020

Welcome May!  The gardens are gorgeous as we take our walks.  And, the lawns have greened up and have needed mowing twice a week this week. Staying home worked for me this week.  I was successful on two of my goals.  Especially quilting the huge quilt.  Here's a peek at what I got done.  

First I finished making pinwheel blocks and got them sewn together in to a top.  Unfortunately the top has been put in the closet to be quilted after I get a backing for it.  Eventually it will be donated as a Quilt of Valor. 

 My biggest finish was the quilting on the king size quilt for the local guild. I won't be able to show the whole quilt until later.  But here's one of the blocks. 

Actually, that's the only two things I got completed on my list, but I was so happy to finish the quilting.  It wasn't on the list, but I once again started working on a hand quilting project.  Talk about a UFO!  I started this quilt on a mystery quilt weekend in 1995 (or so.) I've been hand quilting it for years. (Or maybe not quilting so much as letting it sit around a lot!) I am stitching 8 strands of quilting around the outside border.  I'm about half done but I only get a little bit done each time I work on it.  

And, since it's the beginning of new month, here are my statistics for April.

2020	Fabric In Month	Fabric In Year	Fabric Out Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
April	2.625	28.000	9.000	23.625	4.375

Even though I've been making masks like crazy and finished one small quilt, I still haven't made up for all that fabric I bought in Feb and March.  The yardage in is fabric I was given by someone getting rid of her fabric.  Most of it I have in a separate box and didn't count it as coming into my stash.  But I was in need of white on whites so I decided I would just add them to the stash. Maybe by the end of May I'll have made a dent in fabric! 

Here's my goals for this week: 

1) Sewing all the churwndash blocks into a top. Several rows were sewn together last week.  I'm hoping to get these into a top. 
2) Loading and quilting my granny square blocks on Ruthie. 
3) Starting a new quilt.  (To heck with all these UFO's for a week!) 
4) Updating my spread sheets on UFOs and batting pieces.  It's still my maybe goal. All the other ones I really want to keep up with. 

I'm linking with Oh Scrap, Slow Sunday Stitching, Monday Making, and Design Wall Monday.  Spend some time seeing what people are working on during these extra days at home. 

Happy Quilting and Stay Safe!  Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 4 - 27 - 2020

Have you had a week where you go completely off the rails?   Yea, me too.  And it was this week.  I had a list of goals I wanted to work on. Sunday afternoon rolled around and I realized I really didn't finish ANY of them.  Let's just take a look at the list. 

A few pinwheels made.

This week, along with mask making, I'm focusing on:
1) Making all pinwheel blocks and sewing the top together. I still need three more blocks, so no, not sewn together. 

2) Sewing all the churn dash blocks into a top. I sewed one more row together. Yawn.

3) Loading on Ruthie president's quilt for my local guild. The back is loaded. √ 

4) Updating my spread sheets on UFOs and batting pieces.  This is my maybe goal. All the other ones I really want to keep up with. Did not even look at this one. 


I did spend some of every day in the studio.  I finished several more masks and got them over to a neighbor's house for the ambulance group.  But did I really do anything else? I have been cutting out masks in groups of ten and sewing them as leader enders, so maybe it was that.  And, I did cut out some squares to make into 3.5" half square triangles. Three got sewn and trimmed. And, several more pinwheels are either done or in process. 

Saturday I wasn't all that interested in sewing but I did get a little done.  I spent several hours looking at fabric to buy on line.  I even got the items into my cart. And, then, I changed my mind.  I'll eventually move the items back to my wish list.  I just didn't see a lot of need to actually buy more fabric.  Maybe next month.  But, right now, I'm being strong and not buying.  On the other hand, I should probably check out my thread supply for both the long arm and domestic machines.  I've been running through thread like crazy...or so it seems. 

So, now I'm facing Monday hoping I can get re-enthused about what I am working on.  

Probably the highlight of the week was a drive by birthday celebration Sunday afternoon.  We live in a 55+ community with lots of active people.  We do seem to be doing a good job of social distancing.... So, birthdays are celebrated by decorated cars and lots of honking.  We only found out about this one when we took a walk.  So we walked in front of the cars to wish Terry a happy birthday. 

It's hard to tell but the cars are lined up all the way to the end of the street. Glenda (left) and Dee are walking with a big birthday banner.  (It keeps getting recycled with a new name put on for each celebration.) 






Here's a close up of the sign in front of Terry and Wanda's house. Hum, that pole looks like it is a perfect gauge for keeping social distancing. 

There's Terry talking to Marty.  Love the sign Marty made.  

So, my response is, man, we are easily entertained these days!  But it was a nice thing to do. 

My one other achievement this week, done after the birthday celebration, was to load a king size backing for a quilt I'm doing for my guild.  I much prefer smaller ones but hopefully this one won't take forever.  (Yea, I know, it probably will because I'll only do a few rows a day so I can continue the other projects and make masks too!) 

No new list of goals with the exception of #3 above.  The new #3: Quilt the president's quilt. 

I'm linking up with my regular parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, and Design Wall Monday. Join me in surfing the web to see what is new.  (Hum, if I remember I did spend a lot of Monday surfing the web and I wrote the blog Monday instead of the night before...) 

Happy Quilting All and Stay Safe.  Bonnie 

Monday Meandering 4 - 13 - 2020

Hello!  Monday has rolled around again.  We're still staying home.  And I'm making progress on UFOs.  Whoopee! 

Last week I was finishing up the Scrappy Majestic Mountains. The top is done and I've moved on to a variation on a pinwheel block.  I had six leftover blocks from various times I've made these pinwheels. Visit here, a couple here, and scroll down here to see some Sharon made.  I separated out the red, white and blue ones and have started to make additional ones to fill in.   

Using two contrasting fabrics you start with a 14" block that eventually gives you two 11.25" blocks.  An odd size however I have never tried to mix this block in with other types of blocks. And, it goes pretty fast.  Well, unless you don't put right sides together before you start sewing.  FACE PALM!  And, worse, I had already started the cutting process before I realized everything was wrong.  I did a bit of ripping and am ready to sew these correctly. 



I'm almost done with the baby girl Happy Blocks.  (Remember you can find the pattern for it at MaryQuilts.)  This one is a bright, cheerful quilt.  And, I almost always make quilts for boys rather than girls.  It was fun to use those bright pretty pinks from a charm pack.  Eventually I'll do something from the blues and greens in that pack but not for a while.  

Pat helped me lay this one out.  Most of the colors are strong and it was distracting to have them spread out randomly.  He suggested order. It worked well. I'll sew the rows together this week. I think I have a backing for this particular top so it might be quilted soon! 

I've also started sewing the red, white and blue churn dash blocks together.  They make great leader/enders while working on other things.  I'll take the top row off and then lay out another row.  I have these blocks pinned together in rows so it's easy to take the top row one off, move up the bottom one and keep laying out blocks. 

I have a huge design wall.  And, here's what it looks like at this moment.  The far right side is a mess but I can get three different quilts up there although the Happy Blocks when seen together will come down to get all the pinwheel blocks up. 

Last week I didn't set hard and fast goals. I have still been making masks.  Our neighborhood mask sewers have been giving away masks to our neighbors who ask for them.  We live in a 55+ neighborhood so most of us are being extremely careful.  I need to make more masks so I can give at least 10 to Life Care.  

My Top Three Goals 4/13 to 4/19:

1) Keep up with mask requests and give 10 a week to Life Care.

2) Finish Happy Quilt top and quilt it.

3) Make more pinwheel blocks so I can make a QOV approved size top. 

4) Keep sewing churn dash rows together. (I know, I said three goals but honestly, this is just a leader ender!)

I'm ready to move down to the studio so before I go I'm linking to Oh Scrap, Monday Making, and Design Wall Monday.  It should be fun to surf the web and see quilts and masks in progress. 

Happy Quilting and Stay Safe.  Bonnie 

  

Monday Meanderings 10 - 28 - 2019

October is about to wind down and I've got to get serious if I plan on making any Christmas presents this year.  And, I do have some plans to make gifts.  I have been trying to get a few quilts done this month.  I've quilted 3 tops and none of them have finished binding.  Tomorrow I will be binding like crazy -- I want some finishes this month.  

One thing I did finish was the block for Irma part of the FCQ Equilters.  She asked for the block "Antique Lace" from Missouri Star Quilt Shop. You can see the video here.  It is a huge block (16") and took me a day to complete.  Luckily we only had to make one since there are 9 of us in the group now.  

My turn starts on Nov. 1st through the end of December.  And, I've already picked out my block and my colors.  I'll share it with you once I make a sample.

I was poking around under my cutting table and "found" a ziplock full of churn dash blocks in R,W, & B.  I had completely forgotten about these -- I suspect they were from my last turn with FCQ Equilters.  And look at what a treasure I have. (Note: these were what I could fit on my design wall)  I'm planning on making a QOV with them.  

I'm thinking they need to be sashed so they don't run together so much. I'm not fond of sashing but sometimes blocks just need a little space of their own. Here's a little bit of sashing I laid out to see if I like it.  I do know I'll be using black sashing because I really want to use what I have on hand. I plan to have a 1" finished sash. What do you think?  

I've finally decided to give up on cleaning my cutting table.  I've got one rotary mat always clear and one that is piled up with stuff.  I keep putting the stuff away and more stuff seems to appear.  So I'm done listing and failing to get that clear.  (Hey, maybe reverse psychology will work and I'll get it cleaned up anyway! HA!!) 

My big plan (or goal) is to finish binding three quilts.  One is almost done.  The other two are in various stages but I will be doing machine binding on both sides of them.  Hopefully by Thursday they will be done and I'll be working on something else. Tune in next week to see if I succeed. 

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap, Monday Making, and Moving It Forward.  Spend some time to see what's going on across the Internet. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Unique Rulers Put to Use

Speaking of unusual rulers...do you ever use the unusual rulers you buy?  In the last year I've used 3 or 4 rulers I had bought but not used.  I used the X Block for a quilt for QOV.  It will be heading to Colorado after the quilt show in Maryland. I really like how this version really sparkles. 

I put this triangle ruler into a brown bag project at Country Piecemakers. The bag goes to a different member each month.  Here's the beginning of my sample block that shows the ruler. 

Here's are a few finished blocks.  I won't get my project back until August.  Every month I work on someone else's project.  It feels good to use some of these older tools! Of course, I bought a new one at the Hampton Roads quilt show this winter so I'll still have a new ruler to try! Here's a plain and a sewn block. I've asked folks to use the floral print in the middle of each block and to pick a fabric that matches the floral one.  

Today Pat and I spent the afternoon seeing Wicked at the old Landmark theater.  It was a great musical.  Good story, dancing and singing.  It's been a long time since we've been to any musical.  The afternoon was capped by dinner at the Tobacco Company.  The building was an old tobacco warehouse that has been restored.  Very nice surroundings and very good food too.  Back to sewing tomorrow. 

Happy Quilting All!