Monday Meanderings

Here it is Monday again and I've really done very little in the studio.  My biggest success is finishing the Big Sebago Tote by Aunties Two. I love the colors.  I'm a bit overwhelmed by the size.  And, darn it, it was not an easy tote to make. I wasn't thrilled with the directions.  I think the biggest issue on the directions was the color pictures used two fabrics that looked too much a like and I suspect a different but similar fabric was used in some of the photos.  This pattern was put together rather strangely and because of that it was difficult to work with the pieces.  I changed the handles.  The directions suggest sewing the handle casings together.  I plan to make a snap on or velcro on handle cover for it to make it easier to load the tote.  Nope, I won't be making one of these again.  Who needs 2 giant tote bags?

For the most part I did well on my goals but truth be told I petered out on my stitching early in the week.   Here's how I did this past week.

February 27, 2017

Work on tote bag√

Work on afghan repair √

Make border for 16 patch nope, didn’t happen

Bind orphan blocks quilt √

Quilt r,w,b boxed squares top oops! started loading it…

Figure out project for March OMG√

And here's this coming week: 

March 6, 2017

Quilt and bind boxed squares

Continue repair of afghan

Work on Tangram blocks

Make some red RSC blocks

Begin sashing the A Ticket, A Tasket blocks**

Enjoy In House Retreat

** Sashing and bordering my UFO A Ticket, A Tasket is my OMG for March.  I've got the fabric picked out.  I shouldn't even need to buy any new fabrics for this quilt.  (Well, until I look at backing it!) I'm hoping this goal is done by the end of the weekend.  

Wednesday evening my buddies Sharon, Marybeth and Nancy are showing up for our fourth annual In House retreat.  We sew up a storm and have a great time talking and enjoying ourselves.  We'll all be worn out when we finish but it's well worth it.  I am definitely looking forward to them coming down.  And, this year we really are only an hour and a half or so away from each other so the drive will be easy for them. 

I'm linking up with the regular parties: Monday Making, Main Crush Monday and OMG Goal link up. Enjoy checking out what's happening on the internet.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

SaveSave

Stash Busting Stats and OMG

Not the month I thought I would have but it was a good month.  

2017	Fabric In Month	Fabric In Year	Fabric Out Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
February	7.00	17.875	7.125	20.125	2.250

I brought in 7 yards but I also used 7 and an 1/8th yard.  I'll take it!  However, this morning I finished a project that I had wanted to finish last night.  And, I've got a quilt ready to load on the long arm which I'll finish within a week.  So, that's a nice start to March. 

My OMG isn't good news.  I just didn't get very far on it.  I put the sashing on the blocks. 

I was hoping to get the inner border and the outer border on.  Um, no, didn't happen.  I haven't decided whether I'm going to use the borders for my March OMG or some other project.  I have made 3 other red, white and blue quilts over the last few months.  I'm tired of the colors.  I want to branch into some other colors.  Plus, I like to give these quilts to TAPS and I won't be able to get this done in time to pass it over to the coordinator who turns it in.  They'll need more next year so I'll keep it for then. 

I'm linking with Needle and Thread Thursday, Let's Bee Social and Midweek Makers.  I was going to post this in the linky party for OMG finishes but that has closed.  It's time for me to come up with a new project so I can link it. That will be another day! 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

Monday Meandering

We're almost done with February and I'm probably not getting my OMG (One Monthly Goal) completed. I only have today and tomorrow to put the inner border on my 16 patch quilt and make a piano key border.  I'm guessing the border might not be doable in the time allotted.  I did really well with my monthly goals last year but I may have chosen a bit more than I could handle this month. I won't admit defeat until Tuesday!  I might figure out the piano key border, or not. 

Today I'm sharing my RSC blocks.  I'm making a variation of a braid from "Braid Shuffle" by Karie Patch Designs.  So far I've done 4 blocks in purple and 4 blocks in teal, except mine is more like turquoise. 

  I haven't decided what my background fabric will be yet so I'm showing these on the white of the design wall.  These blocks will get trimmed down quite a bit. Here's the pattern I'm using. I'm tickled to be making this quilt now -- I bought it a year ago.  I do tend to buy a lot of patterns and then a lot don't get used.  Do you buy patterns and then let them sit around? 

Here's how I did on my goals this past week. Not too bad although I worked on most everything listed, some I just didn't get a LOT done! Oh well 

February 20, 2017

Trim 16 patch blocks & add the horizontal sashing√

Make border for 16 patch

Bind pinwheel quilt√

Knit on sweater I can’t remember if I actually worked on this during the week… oops!

Start on repairing crocheted afghan√

Put more crafting/quilting items away in closet√

And this week: 

February 27, 2017

Work on tote bag

Work on afghan repair

Make border for 16 patch

Bind orphan blocks quilt

Quilt r,w,b boxed squares top

Figure out project for March OMG

That's it for now. I'm linking up with Monday Makings, Main Crush Mondays and Scrap Happy Saturday.  Take some time to check them out. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

A FINISH!

I finished this little baby quilt just in time to pass it off to Dorothy at the Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival.  It will be going to St. Francis Hospital's NICU to be given to a baby when released to go home.  Ok, that sounds a bit odd -- Mom and Dad get the quilt for baby! 

I made this quilt to try one of the dies in my Accuquilt Go 9" Qube. It was easy and fast to do.  I would like to try some of the more complicated blocks available but I'm trying to not start too many projects.  (I will admit a Plus quilt is coming sometime soon though.) I used red thread top and bottom (So Fine, don't have the number with me right now) and Yarn Tangle design (from Apricot Moon.)

I wanted to use up some of the left over fabrics on the back but the truth of the matter is I had a hunk of the red print fabric and then dribs and dabs of the rest.  I purchased some orange fabric that was the same color as one of the cars.  So I made the back... Hum, as I look at the picture I realize I probably could have done a little better job at centering the quilt on the fabric.  You should be able to enlarge the picture to see that there are little dinosaurs driving "egg" cars.  I tend to make either gender neutral or little boy quilts for the NICU.  Our contact mentioned there are usually more boys in the NICU than girls.  So I focus more on the boy quilts.  Although I know plenty of little girls who would love this quilt with the dinos! 

That's it for today.  I'm linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop, and Finished or Not Friday.  Take a look at what's happening all over the internet, well at least some of the quilter's version of what's happening all over the internet. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 2 - 20 - 2017

Not the best week in terms of my quilting.  Monday we drove up from the beach house.  Thursday we met friends from Michigan and Maryland in Williamsburg.  It was wonderful to see them. But that was two full days out of my studio time. (And, I do enjoy looking at things on the internet, reading books and, and....) 

Needless to say I didn't spend as much time on my quilting this week.  And, when I was sewing I wasn't necessarily working on my goals.  Hum, but Sunday afternoon and well into the night I did get my pinwheel top quilted after I made the backing.  (Thanks to Pat who suggested I quilt it horizontally, especially since the backing I had pieced worked that way!)  Here's what I got done last night ... all the way to 11:00 pm. What can I say, I'm a third generation night owl. 

The blue painters tape mark where I need to move the sewing head to after I've rolled the quilt forward.  I did this design at about 6" and I was able to run it twice before rolling forward some times.  Except, once or twice I didn't pay attention and I moved the head to the wrong place.  Which, darn it,  caused this overlap.  See it, above the left tape in the picture below?  It was like that all across the row.  And, I didn't notice it until Ruthie was done with the whole row.  It left me with a dilemma. Do I pull out the stitches or leave it.  I decided to leave it.  It didn't bother me all that much. 

I also did two seams on the giant tote bag that I started with my Powhatan gang a week or so ago. There were four of us sewing that day -- all of them have finished theirs. I'm still plugging away on my OMG and other quilts.  But I would really like to have this done this month.... so it'll be on my goal list again.  I must say I would make several changes to the directions if I were to make this again.  But honestly, who needs two giant totes?  It should be big enough to carry a queen size quilt in it.  





On to goals.  Not the best week but definitely not terrible. 

February 13, 2017

Trim 16 patch blocks & add the horizontal sashing √ started still need to trim some & get horizontal sashing done

Knit on sweater – finish that last sleeve and start to put together √ but haven’t finished the sleeve yet

Work on tote bag√

Quilt pinwheel quilt√

Put more crafting/quilting items away in the closet√*

And this week's goals....

February 20, 2017

Trim 16 patch blocks & add the horizontal sashing

Make border for 16 patch

Bind pinwheel and orphan block quilt

Knit on sweater

Start on repairing crocheted afghan

Put more crafting/quilting items away in closet*

* Full disclosure here -- over the last few weeks I've put a couple of things away, sometimes emptying a box but don't think I'm really working all that hard on this one. One of these days I will focus on it but not during February.  I want some finishes! 

I'm linking up with my favorite Monday links: Monday Making and Main Crush Monday.  Take some time to see what folks are doing this week. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Two Really OLD UFOs Finished!

Yes,yesterday I put the last stitches in two very OLD UFOs.  I think some the fabric dates to the 1940s but most is probably from the 1950s up to the 1970s.  And, no, these are not my UFOs.  The blocks were made by my friend Patrick's grandmother.  When he and his wife started helping his mom and dad clear out their house they brought the boxes of fabric and partially made quilts and blocks to me to see what I could do with them.  Here's what I have done with the little 9 patch blocks. 

I used the long arm to make little designs in the white snowballs on the red bordered one.  And I used my trusty Bernina to do straight line quilting on the green bordered one.  I prefer the feel of the green one as it seems to be "sturdier"?  I probably used a different batting as I was using leftover batting. 

I've used this layout for 9 patches before and I love it.  It was fun working with these little blocks -- the prints are interesting.  Here they are bagged and ready to give to Patrick and Stacey.  I am so proud of them for actually arranging to have quilts made from these leftover blocks.  I may be stitching on their collection for years but as a quilter with my own collection of UFOs I'm happy to see someone finishing these projects.  I think next up is a wedding ring quilt.  The rings are made.  I hope to appliqué them to a backing fabric and then quilt it. I may not be providing the fastest service but I am steadily working on them. 

Have you thought about what will be happening to your UFOs and fabric stash when you aren't around to sew any more?  I've made a plan that should work.  But I am also trying really hard to finish some of my UFOs.  I haven't gotten to the point of actually getting rid of ones I don't really like but I am working on finishing the oldest ones.  Who knows how I'll do this year! 


I'm linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?  I'm hoping to spend some time this evening perusing these links to see what strikes my fancy.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie