Monday Meanderings 3 - 16 - 2026

What a week we've had -- or at least our weather has had. Thursday it was in the high 70s. Then it started getting colder, and it snowed. That night it got down to the 30's.  See the pic below -- it had dropped 44 degrees on Thursday.  The snow didn't last long but it was wet, and was snowing hard for an hour or so.  

Here's what I planned to do this past week. 

3/9/26

Finish Feb UFO to top stage — nothing was done. 

✅Stitch on Snowman block — Several sections were finished.

✔️Trim March UFO blocks — 10 of 42 blocks were trimmed. More to go. 

✅ Sew Magnificent Mystery blocks into rows — done. 

✅ Finish knitting sock — done.

Here's a pic of my finished socks. The first sock was finished months ago. I started the second one and got to where the heel started and quit. Fast forward many months. It took me about 2 weeks to get the second one done once I started knitting again.  I wore them today. Pretty comfortable and not horribly hot. 

I did make up my mind about the Feb. UFO Challenge piece.  I'll be using the light pink as sashing and the print as the border.  Unfortunately I don't have a lot of the print fabric so I'll probably make the border as big as I can. Straighten the edges and divide the amount by 4 and that will be how wide the borders will be. Stay tuned to see the end result.  

I know you are wondering why I didn't get much done this last week. A customer called me with a top to be quilted asap.  I didn't get a very good picture of it but I did get it finished.   On Thursday (see weather report above...) there was a blip of electricity and Ruthie quit working.  Bummer. I quit for the rest of that day as I didn't want the quilting to be messed up and started again on Friday afternoon.  It was done by Saturday evening. And returned on Sunday. Margery used a lot of horse prints including a panel of horse prints like on the bottom left below.  

Margery designed the center.  I wish I had taken a picture of the whole quilt or most of it.  It is really stunning. This is what I did instead of my goals.  (Although truth be told I did get quite a bit of reading done while Ruthie was sewing.) 

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

3/16/26

Sew Magnificent Mystery rows together 

Continue trimming March UFO blocks/take out papers 

Quilt Springtime Irish Chain

Make more Dash blocks 

Finish 1st Snowman block 

Oh! And the fabric from Marshall Dry Goods arrived. About 7 pounds of fabric according to the shipping label.  I went a bit wild buying wide backs.  Here's group 1.

The pink and blue are each 2 yards of 108 fabric. The red, white, and blue is just a yard of 45" wide. It was a little treat -- ie, I have nothing specific planned for it.  But I'll probably make a 3 yard quilt with it.  And now, group 2. 

The top one was "suppose" to go with the Magnificent Mystery top except it is way more orange than I thought it was.  It is a beautiful fabric and I'll find some way to use it although maybe not as a backing.  Underneath is white Dream Cotton Solid 108" wide.  I'll probably use it as background fabric. It has a great hand.  

I did actually sew every day last week.

Week ending 3/15/26;  74 days of 2026.

  74 days of 74. 100%

Here are the Linky Parties I'm linking with.  Take a few minutes to visit the blogs listed. 

Stitching Time 

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

So this week the weather is also going to be weird.  At least on Monday.  

Our community is in the greater DC region. According to the Washington Post 

"An intense storm system could bring widespread and severe thunderstorms to the D.C. region on Monday, capable of producing violent wind gusts, hail and tornadoes in addition to torrential rain and lightning." What it doesn't say but other meteorologists are saying there can be tornadoes also.  Oh fun.  A group of us are planning to go out to lunch.  So far the worst of the storm will be coming in the mid to late afternoon/evening.  I hope we can have our outing but it'll be canceled if the weather starts faster than it is currently predicted.  If you live in the way of this storm take care. Tomorrow I'll be doing a little pre-storm prep -- basically have food and drink for 3 days available.  Also, fully charge all of our devices.   Take care if you live in this area. 

Happy Quilting All - Bonnie 

 

Monday Meanderings 3 - 3 - 2025

Last week I attended the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show.  I didn't have a lot of time because Pat, Sunny, and I were going to the beach house after the show.  (We did the same thing last year but no Sunny yet.)They spent time walking around the parking lot and sitting in the car.  I spent about an hour and a half at the show and saw a surprising number of the quilts and did just a little shopping. Okay, also one big shopping. I've been buying rolls of Pellon 80/20 batting from I Sew Desire Quilts.  This year was my third purchase. I now have a roll 90" by 30 yards.  It's 50% bigger than my former rolls. My first roll took two years to use up. The second roll is almost finished after a year.  Hopefully this bigger, third roll will last a year to two years. Except I am trying to turn more tops into quilts so ... who knows how long it will last. 

Afterwards we drove to Nags Head, NC to do a little work on our rental house. Some locks were changed, some baseboards were washed, some screens replaced and some spots painted.  A little shopping took place.  And Sunny went on a walk on the beach with us.  It was a beautiful day although not really warm. 

The above explains why I didn't do very well on my goals this week. Sigh. Here's what I was suppose to work on. (Remember I only had 3 1/2 days at home!) 

2/24/25

✅Finish knitting current sock and start its partner — Done. 2nd one barely started

Bind the R,W,B quilt

✅Go to MidAtlantic Quilt Show — Enjoyed the time I had! 

Make blocks for FCQ EQuilter of the month 

Here's the sock and the beginning of its mate. 

See my original sock I finished last March. ⬇️ Yep, it looked ridiculous.  I ripped it out and started over. Hopefully it won't take too long to finish the 2nd sock.  It's been so cold here this winter I've been wearing my hand knitted wool socks a lot. 

Here's what I hope to get done this week. I probably should think up a few more items but I haven't a clue at this point so I may add some off list project(s).

3/3/25

Bind the R,W,B quilt

Quilt another top 

Make blocks for FCQ EQuilter of the month

Cut a new kit out

Work on the March UFO challenge 

With JoAnn going out of business I've decided to try another source for backing fabrics. I recently purchased a bolt (15 yards) of fabric from Marshall Dry Goods. I chose a basic purple because I have several tops that this will work for backing and possibly the binding. I originally planned just to buy several lengths of fabric for some different colored tops. I was having a hard time making up my mind and thought I'd try a bolt. Bolt prices are less than by the yard fabs but no free shipping option for buying a lot.  As it turns out by the bolt plus shipping is cheaper than the fabric purchased by the yard. 

I plan to cut a couple of backing lengths from the bolt and then prewash it.  I'm pretty sure that one of the tops that the purple will work with will be my next top loaded on Ruthie. Check in next week! 

I took some picts of some of the quilts hanging at Mid-Atlantic.  I'll share a couple of them this week and if I remember, more will be shared over the next few weeks. First up is Lady Bug.  I specifically shot this quilt for my daughter-in-love. She loves bugs and was thrilled when I shared it with her.  Enlarge the picture to read all the interesting facts. Unfortunately, I was so excited to get the picture I forgot to photograph the maker's statement. Enjoy Lady Bugs and all the facts shared. Aimee said she nailed all the facts. 

Next is Midnight Compass by Laurie Mutalipassi.  Here's her card telling about her quilt. 

And her wonderful quilt. 

Look for more quilts in the upcoming weeks. 

I was able to keep up my 15 minutes of stitching every day.  I am lucky to be able to knit in the car so driving home I was able to start an easy hat. Here are the stats.

W/ending 3/2/25. 61 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/Feb = 28/28
• 15 minute days/Mar = 2/2
• 15 minute days/2024 = 61/61 days
• Success rate = 100%

I'm linking with these parties. Come join the fun by checking them out. 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings 

Happy quilting All! Bonnie 

 

Monday Meanderings 3 - 18 - 2024

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day in style. Did you?  See below for pictures of the high tea for the ladies upstairs and other food for the men in the basement rec room hosted by Rochelle and Darren. But first let's look at goals.

3/10/2024

✅Knit socks -- the first sock is done.     

✅Finish last border of Malted Mystery -- Malted Mystery is a finished top!

✅✅Load and quilt two of my quilts -- two done! 

✅Start cleaning off cutting area 2 -- a large group of fabric was put away and my sewing buddy could even tell the difference! 

Yep, it was definitely a good week for me. 

First sock with wool from Germany is finished. The label is Superba Bamboo Superwash. It 50% virgin wool, 25% polyamide, and 25% viscose.  I had to do a little research to find out polyamide refers to several different forms of fibers made from strings of polyamide monomers, in other words a fiber made with petroleum. Most of us know of it through nylon.  In yarn it provides elasticity and silkiness. (If you have yoga pants they probably have polyamide in them.) The vicose in this yarn is bamboo based. (Or that is my conjecture.) Viscose is made from the cellulose material of bamboo. This material is dissolved in a chemical solution to produce a pulpy viscous substance, which is then spun into fibres that can then be made into threads. (This info came from https://goodonyou.eco/category/made-from/. It  promotes choosing fashions that are sustainable.)  OKAY! Way more than you wanted to know but it is pretty interesting.  On to the picture!

I love the color and the softness.  The design of the sock is tolerated. Who really wants to reknit the whole foot of the sock? Not me. So I'll make a note on the pattern to not use it again. That is unless the second sock comes out looking better, I might have made some mistakes... I'll keep you posted. 

Here's my finished Malted Mystery top. 

The very dark borders is purple. It has a small design in it but you sure can't see it in these purples.  I really like my finish since that dark purple doesn't look as intense in person. It has been hung in the to-be-quilted closet. 

First top quilted this week: 16 patch with stars.  The 16 patches came from the FCQ Equilters years ago. (This may be the second top I made from them...) Quilting design is Fanfare. I "think" this is a navy or red So Fine. 

I'm calling this one Old Zigzag.  I do not remember when I made it. I know it is at least 8 years old because I didn't make it since we've lived here. The HSTs are 2" finished. (I think I might have been a bit crazy when I made this. Or I had a really big leader ender project going on.) Quilting design is Random Clams. This thread is a grey Omni. 

I should have taken a before and after picture of cutting area 2. The left side of the table top is clear to the cutting mat! I still need to do something with the stuff all over the rest of the mat.  I'll try working on it again this week. 

Here's what I've got planned for this week. 

3/18/2024

Finish another loom hat

Bind Spider Web quilt

Bind 16 patch r,w,b quilt

Bind Zigzag quilt

Work on needlepoint scissors case

So, back to high tea... Rochelle, our pianist for the Spotsylanians community chorus, invites the whole chorus to come to high tea at her house on St. Patrick's Day. She goes all out to feed and entertain us. I didn't get pictures before the tea began but here are a few pictures from the during the event. 

She has a collection of different tea pots, plates, cups and saucers.  She has a multitude of tiered serving dishes to put sandwiches, scones and cookies on. And all sorts of additional dishes for serving clotted cream, jam, an sugar and cream.  It was a beautiful with 3 separate tables available.  I have had high tea at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC and several times on cruise ships. Rochelle's was as wonderful.  The company was fun (especially since we don't have a lot of chatting time during rehearsals.) 

Lemon balls and fresh strawberries.

And, honestly, this group will sing anywhere. So here some of us are singing Irish songs. (I was taking the pictures so I'm not shown.) 

People were definitely wearing the green....

The men are invited to spend time in the basement recreation room and their spread included chicken wings and brownies.  Probably more food but I didn't notice as I only went down after the party had been over for at least an hour.  Usually there is cigar smoking for those who enjoy it but they are invited outdoors.  I don't know if there was whisky this year or not. 

I volunteered to help clean up and started in washing all the tea cups, silverware and some of the smaller glass containers for the Vanilla Bean Yogurt/Lemon Lime Curd/Blueberries. Maddie was drying and continued washing when it was time for us to leave. I'd say we all had a great time. I'm hoping she continues this tradition.  

It was another great stitching week. Everyday I spent at least 15 minutes in my studio, many days it was much longer.  My success rate is increasing.... will it creep up to, say, 99% this week? 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
     
• 15 minute days/March = 17/17 days 
• 15 minute days/2024 = 76/77days
• Success rate = 98.7%

I'm ready to call it a night. so Please take a look at these Linky parties. 

Oh Scrap

Stitching Stuff

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musing

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie