Monday Meanderings July - 20 - 2026

It was a great week! Retreat is over and I'm exhausted.  But what fun we all had. There were 7 of us sewing in a space that was actually designed for scrapbooking.  I failed to take pictures of sewing area. So here's a verbal description.  We each had a table to set up on.  Then there were tables for an iron and for cutting mats.  Those two tables were on risers so they were at a comfortable height. There was also a snack table and an extra refrigerator. There was also a bedroom and bath downstairs.   Upstairs there was a kitchen, dining room, living room, one bedroom and access to a beautiful screen porch. The next floor had two more bedrooms and a bath room.  A nice set up for us. 

Here're my goals from last week. 

7/13/26

✅Pack up sewing projects & supplies and travel to retreat! — arrived, sewed and came home. 

✅Work on projects most are groups of blocks to make into tops — most were moved forward or finished. 

Prep Snowman #3 for hand appliquéing— started but not finished. 

I'll show my retreat projects after my goals for this week. So here they are. 

7/20/26

Knit on a new hat

Work on Snowman #2

Finish prepping Snowman #3 for hand appliquéing

Cut more blocks and sew turquoise and green baby quilt together 

Load a quilt on Ruthie and quilt it. 

I had a really successful retreat. I brought 8 projects to work on. Most were blocks needing to be put into tops.  One was a new quilt cut and ready to sew. Here are some of the projects.

Since I finished all the Veronica blocks before I left I decided to sew them into a top. Once I find backing fabric this one is ready to throw on Ruthie. 👆🏼

This economy block, along with about 7 others, was made at retreat.  Then I laid out all the blocks on my design bed.  And, then I moved blocks around.  Took photos and turned them into greyscale. And again and again.  After an hour or so I decided I needed to reevaluate the blocks.  They were a variety of fabric colors and styles. I finally decided to put these basic in their pouch and look at them once I got home.  My guess is I'll make some more blocks that are medium and then the quilt will look more balanced.  A lot of the blocks looked really dark when turned to greyscale. So I went on to something else. 

I started this quilt with the little 9 patches which are 3" in the quilt.  I actually cut out the other parts for last October's retreat. I sewed this top at retreat. Except, I didn't cut the colored border. In fact I have no idea what fabric I'll use for the border. I'm hoping to get it finished sooner, rather than later. I might have a fabric that will work. I'll keep you posted on this one. 

Next up I pulled out the blocks to make this little baby quilt. It's a 64 square quilt,

set 8 x 8. It finishes 36" square. The squares are cut 5" and finish at 4.5". Are you asking why I made these blocks 5"?  It's because I have a 9" Aaccuquilt Cube. The big square turns is 5". My other choice would have been 6" finished which seemed too big for my fabrics.  The fabric was a kit from Craftsy when they were going out of business. It all is sea motifs. Whales, clams, bottles in the sea, etc.  I may  have enough fabric left over for a second one.  I think I have yardage of one or two of these fabrics to use as backing.

This is another 36" square baby quilt.  The lozenge shape is from my 9" Companion Set. It's called a signature block. You might notice I have some holes in the design. I was going to just make some at the retreat but it took quite a long time to make the first one. So I decided to put this one away and cut the extra blocks out on the Accuquilt at home.  

Not a great picture but this is the one totally new quilt.  I used one of my Quilts for Baby books by Ursula Reikes. The Eiffel Tower fabric was free on a give away table at one of my quilt guilds.  I didn't bring both pages of the directions -- only the sewing it together part.  I still need to cut the border and apply it.  Again, I'l need to find backing for it eventually. 

And, that's my trusty Featherweight that really sewed a lot this past week.  One thing I learned is the Singer needles are not any good.  I'd changed the needle in it for the only needle I had with me, from Singer. The stitches were awful, skipped, big and poorly formed.  Luckily a friend had recently taken a Featherweight maintenance class. The instructor said the Singer needles were awful. She gave me a new needle and that Featherweight sewed like a champ for the whole retreat. Phew! 

 

On the afternoon of the last day I moved on to this top. 👇🏼  Well, it's not a top yet. It started out as blocks that had been pieced on phone books pages. I did get the blocks sewn together in rows. But then I decided I might want to take off some of the paper before I sew the rows together.  It was getting late after I got one row of the papers removed. I quit sewing, packed up my supplies and then went on to bed.  I think tearing these papers out will be great to do when I'm watching TV or at my stitching group.  So these will take a while before I get them sewn together.  

My last project did get started.  You can see one of the blocks here on last week's post. It's the watermelon Happy block.  I didn't take any pictures of the rest of the blocks I made during the week. Again, something I'll be working on over the upcoming weeks and months too.  I think all the blocks are ready to be sewn into rows and a top. 

So, yes, I made forward progress on a lot of projects.  Most need more progress to get to top stage. But WOW I was amazed how many projects I worked on and made good progress.  I have another retreat in October -- so I'll need to get another group of projects ready to finish or at least move forward for it. Who knows, I may wait 'til then to finish some of these projects. 

NEWS ALERT!

I didn't do any stitching today! In fact, I forgot all about it until a few paragraphs back! So here are the numbers. 

Week ending 7/19/26: 200 days of 2026.

 199 stitching days out of 200 days 99.5%

I'll start back up tomorrow.  At least I got reading on my Kindle done. Now it's time to remind all to check out these Linky parties.  

Stitching Time 

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

One thing I didn't mention is I took most of my tools and projects down to the sewing room when I got home. Tomorrow I'll only have to take down a few things.  Of course, then I'll need to put everything back away.  Hopefully it will all be put away by lunch. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings -- June 29, 2026

I hope all of you are safe and healthy after all this bad weather that has been spreading across the US over the last few weeks. Local weather people keep saying we (the greater DC area) were going to get heavy rain.  We all need it. But, as usual the clouds seemed to split over our area and go north and south. We did get some heavy rain this week but it was no where near enough. I'm sharing our 9 day forecast via Apple's weather app on my iPhone. It'll change every day, or so it seems every week.  I'm just hoping the days with 100 as the high actually changes to lower temps before the days arrive. I'm not holding my breath on that happening though.  And this doesn't show the humidity going sky high also.  It's going to be humid too. My basement studio sounds really good this week. **The weather has changed overnight! We'll have 2days of 100+ temps, and rain only on Monday. I expect it will continue to change everyday. Sigh. At least 7/4 is "suppose" to be dry instead of rain! 

Here's what I accomplished this week. 

6/22/26 

✅Start quilting Fall Blocks (June ufo challenge project)— first part done. 

✅✅Finish two more Veronica blocks✔️✔️ and 4 additional ones cut out. 

✅Keep checking project boxes or zippered pouches to free them up for other projects — one emptied. 

✅Work on Snowman #2 — worked a couple of hours on this one. 

✅Knit a beanie — finished one and started another. 

✅Start table runner for retreat — cut out, some sewing done. 

The only pictures I got of worked-on projects were of the table runner I am making for retreat. We rent a house in northwest Virginia and I will be leaving it at the house for future renters. The pattern is Heart Strings designed by Tricia Lynn Maloney for Villa Rosa Designs.  It is a very versatile pattern. It is 16" x 60".  The table I'm making it for is 15" x 60" and it's been easy to make the change so it will fit.  There are 5 blocks like this in the runner.  It took me longer to cut out the fabrics than the time spent sewing.

Here's an upclose picture of the fabrics I chose.  All of these came from my stash. The blue with white will be the backing and binding.  I hope to finish it Tuesday. I'll be quilting it with stars of some sort. 

And this week I'll be working on these goals: 

6/29/26

Finish sewing table runner together

Quilt another section of June UFO project 

Work on Snowman #2 

Start clearing out “stuff” to prep for new carpet in bedrooms 

Sew more Veronica blocks

Make more string blocks 

Enjoy 4th Of July party in neighborhood

The only non-quilting item on the list is clearing things out of closets and dresser tops.  We have been doing some updating of our house. Before the new carpet comes in the master bedroom and bathroom will be painted.  Here's a pic of one of the new counter tops in the bathroom. We got rid of the previous counter tops -- builder's grade that was turning yellow.  We have two sinks/cabinets in our bathroom. So two new sinks and quartz countertops have been installed. Plus we also replaced the granite (that was pitted and rough) in the kitchen with a similar looking quartz.  

It is going to be interesting getting everything moved out of the guest room closet -- it's packed floor to ceiling.  Hopefully some of the stuff will be given away.  But I do need to start working on it now! 

I've changed my mind about making more new kits to worked on at retreat.  Currently I have 2 kits ready to go.  But I'll need a lot more projects. I've gone through some of my project bags and found several that I could work on at retreat. Here's a pic of the string blocks I've been working on. These blocks are finished and ready to sew together.  I have another group that are sewn but not trimmed. And I need to get 7 more made, preferably before retreat.  I've pulled several other project that are partially done to finish up at retreat. 

Another week with 100% of 15 minute stitching! Whoopee! 

Week ending 6/28/26:  179 days of 2026.

  179 stitching days out of 179 days. 100%

And, here is the last quilt Sharon quilted on Ruthie when she was here.  

The blocks were made by quilters from Faithful Circle Quilters who signed up for this swap. They all had a yardage of the same fabric that had to be used in each block. Sharon chose the setting with the stars and added the border. Here are a few close ups. 

 

I believe Sharon said these were done during covid.  I'm sorry I don't remember which block was hers.  Sharon chose Bright Lights edge to edge by My Creative Stitches. She chose a dark green So Fine thread from Superior threads. She reports that she's got the binding on it. I think she said it's all sewn down by hand. 

Remember to visit these Linky parties to see what quilters are working on all over the world. 

Stitching Time 

Oh Scrap

Quilting Patchwork Applique 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

Because I've enjoyed seeing pictures of flowers that several bloggers share I decided to include a coupe of our flowers. First, I will admit we aren't big gardeners.  But lilies are pretty easy to grow.  So I'm sharing a couple pics of ours.  I have learned I can cut them and bring them in the house. But, they don't usually last long, except Cala Lilies. We don't have any in the yard but I hope to add some this year. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

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 1 - 20 - 2024

I'm looking forward to the first "spring" rehearsal of the Spotsylvanians on Monday. Once again I am going to be the lead for the soprano section. No, that doesn't mean I'm the best singer or know all that much about singing... it's an administrative and a social job. Or that is how I see it.  We'll be going to rehearsals early for the next couple of weeks to meet and greet the new singers as well as those who are continuing.  If you live in the greater Fredericksburg community please consider joining us singing or coming to our spring concert. I'll share details once I learn them. 

I have been fairly negligent at getting my goals completed recently.  It looks like I'm being successful but I really haven't had all that many completely finished goals recently. So, let's see how I did this week. 

1/13/25

✔️Finish 3.5 rail blocks to top stage — close to finished. 

✅Load and quilt a top — finished.

✅Cut out and begin sewing new top — top is finished which is all I planned to do.

✅Find something else that strikes my fancy—organized rectangles for more potato chip blocks. One was made. 

So, actually I finished 3 projects of my goals. One is partially finished.  Wow. I guess I'm doing better than I thought. 

Here's the top I quilted this week (actually Sunday, just under the wire, so to speak.) 

This is another 3 yard quilt from Fabric Cafe. It's called Stepping Stones. It was really easy to make. I bought the green fabric specifically to go with the grapes which I already owned.  And, luckily the purple fabric was left over backing fabric. I have enough of the green fabric for the binding. The quilting design is called Ariana.

I've put binding this quilt on my goals list for this week. 

Here's what I'll be finishing and/or starting this week. 

1/20/25

Bind grape quilt

Finish 3.5 rail blocks to top

Make a couple of potato chip blocks

Quilt another top 

Keep cutting up scraps and putting fabric away

Start new mystery quilt with Sharon, choose & prep fabric for it

Here's a quilt I finished last year.  I've been playing with string quilts a bit as they are a great way to use up a lot of leftovers.  I used a navy blue fabric in the center of the blocks to create the linear look. If you look carefully at an actual block you'll see half of the block I used dark/medium strings and half I used very light strings. 

I used a basic stipple pattern for the quilting. I use stipple a lot as it is pretty fast and creates nice curves on the quilt. Apparently I used either a white/beige thread or possibly a light grey.  

I gave this to my local quilt guild last week.  I'm not sure where it will end up but it will go to someone in my community who will be happy to have it. 

For several years Sharon and I have made a mystery quilt while we visited over FaceTime. Last year I wasn't interested in any of the mysteries so we just sewed what we felt like when we got together.  This year we are going to do Cali & Co. Mystery BOM presented by Coriander Quilts. We both are planning to use scraps along with whatever background fabrics is required. I will be using a white on white I already have. I won't worry about border fabric until later in the year. 

I have done a great job on my 15 Minutes to Stitch this week. 

W/ending 1/19/25. 19 days of 2025

• 15 minute days/Jan = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 19/19 days
• Success rate = 100%

I'm hoping to keep this up for several months.  

These are the Linky Parties I'll be joining. I hope you take a few minutes to visit some of the bloggers who are partying too. 

Stitching Stuff

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musing 

Hopefully I'll remember to link up the other two parties tomorrow! 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie