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 8 - 11 - 2025

What a wonderful week Sharon and I have had.  She's gotten a lot done which you can see below.  I did some "negative" stitching on my counted cross stitch before I was able to make forward progress. Check below for the picture.  And the weather has been great though we've spent a good deal of our visit in the studio keeping Ruthie busy.  First let's look at my goals for the week.

8/5/25

✅Figure out next steps for my 1.5” squares sewn into 9 patches — read directions, found background fabric. It's ready to cut out.

✅Quilt a top —  top quilted but needs binding.

✅Prep triangle top to quilt on my domestic machine — pinned and started quilting. 

✅Continue working on the counted cross stitch project bag — progress made but there’s been a lot of pulling stitches out and then recounting and stitching. 

✅Attend Country Piecemakers guild meeting Saturday — Great fun to see so many friends. And a bonus — lots of free fabric from a quilter who has given up quilting.

 

Here's a picture of the triangle quilt.  I pin basted it and made a mistake. Probably a big mistake. I usually tape the backing fabric down and then pull it taut and tape some more. OOPS. I forgot the taping step. And, I was ready to get to quilting so I didn't fix it. I may regret that. The positive is this is a wall hanging and the back won't be showing. 

And here's a closeup of it. I'm stitching with my walking foot in the white triangles although I am quilting by rows.

Eventually all of the white triangles will be stitched on all sides. It's pretty easy to do -- I started by going up and down the rows. I may have to fill in some spaces but hopefully it will continue to be easy. 

Ugh.  No I don't really like this decorator fabric for the backing. And, no it doesn't look great but it is a wall hanging so it won't show. Or at least that is my plan.  It's more puckery than I want but ... I was lazy. 

As I mentioned the cross stitch project bag is a challenge.  I removed a lot of stitches on the left side. I finally figured out the error and have been able to continue to make progress.  Hopefully the lamb on the left will be finished by next week...maybe more. 

Now on to this week. I'm going to take it easy this week.  I want to read a bit, knit and do a little sewing. Plus all that new to me fabric needs to be put away. Hum, I might be busier than I want to be! 

8/11/25

Keep working on project bag 

Read a book or two

Wash and iron new fabric and put it away

Quilt one of my tops

Make blocks for various projects

I have already washed most of the dark fabrics that I got. Including some greens I bought at Quilters Corner in the Richmond area.  I am hoping to make a paper pieced Christmas tree sometime this year and bought a medium and dark green.  Once again, I was surprised by the amount of color Color Grabbers™, well, grab. The bigger sheets are Color Catchers™.  I'm going to be buying more Color Grabbers in the future. 

The funny thing is there was only a yard or two that were brown.  I've already started the ironing and folding but it will take a while to go through all 25 yards plus the extra 2.25 yards from the store.  Here are the dark fabrics ready to iron. 

Here are the quilts Sharon was able to quilt on Ruthie.  In quilting order:

This is Baby Goose pattern from Villa Rosa.  Sharon won a kit.  It's now ready to bind. 

Next is a Fabric Cafe 3 yard quilt.  Sorry we're not sure which book it comes from or if it is a stand alone pattern.  The pink fabric has ballerinas on it and the black fabric has ballet inspired words. Really cute quilt. 

 

And finally, this amazing quilt.  Sharon decided to do the Bernina - Sugaridoo quilt along last year.  (The pattern, Between the Lines, and information is still available at Sugaridoo https://sugaridoo.com/qal/.) She chose one of my new quilting designs, Hidden Diamonds by My Creative Stitches.

And here is a close up of the quilting design, Hidden Diamonds. 

I have to say she did a beautiful job on the color choices, piecing, and picking the design. It was an easy design to use and went fairly fast.  

This was another successful week on the stitching front. I will admit I nearly skipped my stitching Saturday.  But I decided to set the timer for 15 minutes and work on the project bag.  Needless to say I spent more than 15 minutes! 

W/ending 8/9/25. 222 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/August = 9/9
• 15 minute days/2024 = 215/215 days
• Success rate = 100%

It's been a busy day quilting Between the Lines, washing fabric, and trying to straighten the studio.  It looks like a bomb went off in it with all the new fabric needing to be put away.  Hopefully I'll be able to get to sew sometime this week. 

Here's my favorite Linky parties. Please go visit them.

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie

Monday Meanderings - 3 - 27 - 2023

Here we are at the last few days of March.  I've kept busy but not sure how much of it was quilting related. But I did succeed at least partly on my goals. Let's see what I did get done. '

3/20/2023

✅Finish pink and ✅start green RSC blocks - Still working on both colors.

Design UFO Challenge #11, ✅rough cut shirts - Shirts measured and deboned, still working on design. Probably will use all on the front - nixed the two sided idea.

✅Baste baby quilt and start quilting - Half quilted.

✅Cut out another quilt - one of three fabrics cut.

Not bad. It would have been better to complete a design for the Tee Shirt quilt but I have lots of time to work on it. 

I'm really pleased with how the quilting is coming along on the baby quilt. Let me show one of the 5 motifs I'm stitching on it. (Remember the long arm is out for repairs so this is being done with my walking foot on my Bernina.) I first did a bunch of stitch in the ditch. Then I am working on the motifs. I think I have 2 left. I'm going to do parallel lines in the border. Hopefully that will be enough stitching to hold the quilt together. If not, I may have to do something in the white triangles. The goal is to have it completed by Friday so that I can show I finished something in March! 

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

3/27/2023

Make more green RSC blocks, finish the pink blocks

Finish Arkansas Traveler Block 

Finish quilting baby quilt; bind it

Finish cutting out quilt

Design Tee Shirt quilt

It's a longer list and I'll be tied up nearly all day at rehearsal on Saturday. We'll see how much I get done of this list.  

Oops, a squirrel ran across my view and.... 

This is Arkansas Traveler block.  I've owned the AccuQuilt die for 3 or so years without ever using it.  My local guild is having a block drive so I thought it would be good to make any 12" block dies I have.  Sorry, I didn't get far on the sewing but I wanted to share it.  Only the two bottom diamonds are sewn together.  It was easy to sew them together, I just ran out of time. I wish I had more of all of these fabrics so I could make a quilt but, nope, I sure don't.  I'll be making more 12" blocks over the next couple of weeks so I can turn them in to the guild. 

Another off list thing I did was plant some pansies.  I have a view to a little garden out of the French doors in the basement studio.  I "thought" I would enjoy seeing some flowers. Um, no, pansies are too short. I would need taller plants. But they do look good from the enclosed porch. 

I can see the pig and the bird feeder. The birds are fun to watch as they squabble over who gets to eat from the feeder. We have a lot of smaller birds who can clean out the feeder in less than a day. 

That's it for today. Please take some time to surf the web starting with these Linky Parties. 

Oh Scrap  

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

To Do Tuesday

Since everyone seemed to like the previous flowering trees picture I shared I thought I'd share this one.  This is a group of cherry trees at the beginning of our neighborhood. Enjoy another view of spring here in central Virginia. 

Happy Quilting All - Bonnie 

 

Last Quilt of 2021

Let me explain.  This is the last quilt I finished in 2021.  But I do have another finish from December to show sometime soon.  You might have seen the sneak peek here of this quilt. 

The blocks are paper pieced from Sew Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Mary Hertel. Should I admit I started the blocks, um, about 3 years ago? Last fall I finally finished the blocks and started planning sashing and borders.  I purchased some bright blue to sash the blocks but I was trying to use stash for the rest. This silver and black is actually snowflakes. I sent off pictures to two of my trusted quilting buddies.  Nope, this didn't get unanimous rave reviews. To me the bright blue stuck out too much and the gray was too bright. 

I tried again. My goal was to bring the quilt to about 40" square.  But using just the grey didn't work.  I tried making the grey smaller (2.5") and adding a slightly larger  black border. Much better.  

 Next up was quilting. An overall computerized design was vetoed.  And, I agreed. So the plan evolved that I would pin baste it and stitch in the ditch. Luckily I didn't get rid of my curved pins! 

Next up quilting on my Bernina.  (I did most of the table runners the same way so I felt fairly confident it would turn out ok.) The blocks were stitched in the ditch with some additional stitching within the characters. The sashing and outside border got straight line quilting just to hold it in place. I stitched in the ditch on the outside edge of the grey border.

On to the binding. Both sides are done by machine.  I start by stitching the binding to the back of the quilt.  Then I pull it to the front and stitch close to the edge.  Generally, this gives me a very nice look on the front.  Mostly the stitching on the back is either right on the binding or very close to it on the quilt and isn't very noticeable   It's my preferred binding method. 

The last thing I needed to do was add eyes to the characters. This wasn't as easy to do as it seemed at first. How do you get eyes to show up on the penguins?  I did a button search in all my button containers, several which were from my grandma.  In the end I found 3 different eye styles.  The upper left penguin got small buttons that were mostly black but had some light colored metal on the tops.  I'm pretty sure they were buttons from my grandma's collection.  I also found a pair of mottled brown and cream buttons for the guy on the bottom left.  Mr. Belly Button Penguin on the right only needed one eye.  I found a bigger white button and a really small, black doll button and sewed them on together.  You can definitely see that eye. (This penguin is sold on Mary's Etsy page along with her book.) I thought the double eye was my idea but no, that's how his eye is on the pattern. Oh well!  The snowmen and polar bears got black buttons for eyes. And a bigger black button for a nose. I guess I need a belly button on this guy. 

 Since we had that big snow storm on Monday I thought some snow pictures would be great for the glamour shots.  Ugh, not particularly easy to do as there were mounds of snow all around the side walks and driveway.  Here's what I came up with.

And the backing -- three pieces of fabric from my stash. I was happy to be able to use fabric from my stash again!

The final shot -- the finished quilt hanging over the fireplace.  It was designed to hang there during the winter months. (Well, I might have a Valentine's Day quilt that will go up early February.) The trees were done by hubby. 

Since I always enjoy reading about the process an idea goes through to become a quilt I decided to share some of the major steps of this quilt.  And, yes, I've actually named it: Uncommon Friends.  As much as we all think penguins and polar bears should be found in the same locations they aren't.  Penguins are mostly in the southern hemisphere (with one species above the equator.)  Polar bears are found only in the arctic areas - northern hemisphere.  But, honestly, snowmen don't really have anything to do with penguins and polar bears! So they really are Uncommon Friends. And, honestly, if penguins shared a habitat with polar bears they probably would be part of their food chain. 

I will be linking up with lots of linky parties today. I hope you'll do a little surfing to see what folks are working on. 

Midweek Makers

Needle and Thread Thursday

Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?

Finished or Not Friday

Beauties Pageant

I'm really happy with my last finish of 2021.  Now I need to start to think about a quilt or two to finish this month.  Hum, do I have any backing fabric that will work with any of the tops I have?  

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie