Monday Meanderings 5 - 11 - 2020

What a week!  I got so much done.  I'll be sharing a few things today and must remember to share the rest later.  First up I made 8 log cabin blocks for Virginia Star's raffle quilt 2021. Here are my 8 blocks. It was fun to try two different settings before I mailed them off. I've made log cabin quilts before but these blocks surprised me.  For the most part the red and green blocks have the same value.  But wow, the two colors really showed a lot of contrast, something I didn't anticipate.  I'm looking forward to seeing the whole quilt. 

One of the things I finally got to was updating my UFO list.  To be honest I haven't gone through the whole list.  Somehow I have 56 projects on my list. (I have already moved 3 projects to completed tops and one to completed quilt.)  I've been going through them to see if I really want to complete the projects or whether I want to get rid of them. 

Here's my next project.  I've had these 16 striped blocks for years. This will be my next UFO project. I didn't like them lined up next to each other.  So I decided they would work better with sashing.  Here are the ones I tried.  Which do you prefer? Green, yellow or blue?  I'll be working on this project during the week so please let me know which you like better.  And, why.  I think the pink on top will be a border. Or would it work to sash them in groups of four and use all of these colors, including the pink?  Hum?  

 

 One of the reasons I was excited about last week was I made a lot of progress.  Here are the goals from last week and how I did. 
1) Sewing all the churwndash blocks into a top. √ Done
2) Loading and quilting my granny square blocks on Ruthie.√ I'm working on the binding. 
3) Starting a new quilt. √ I'll have the top done by next week.
4) Updating my spread sheet on UFOs. UFO list is started but I still need to work on the batting pieces. 

This weeks goals: 
1) Finish the new top. 
2) Quilt star table runner.
3) Put together stripe blocks into a top.
4) Update the batting spread sheet. 
I'm linking up with Oh Scrap!, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, and Design Wall Monday. I'm also going to spend some time surfing the web to see what people have been making this last week.  How about you?  

Our yard is looking amazing these days. Here is one of our azaleas blooming in two colors. The birds have been hitting the bird feeders like crazy which is fun to watch.  Pretty soon I'll put out the hummingbird feeder.  Finally this week we'll be getting some warmer days.  Or maybe hot days.  We had freeze warnings last night and by next Sunday the temps are predicted to be in the 80s.  Quite a change! 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

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 Meanderings 4 - 20 - 2020

Day 39 of solitary confinement.... Oh! 😲 I just went to the calendar and counted.  We pretty much started staying home on Mar 13.  We did not go out to celebrate our birthdays over the weekend.  I didn't go to my hairdresser the following Wednesday. And, the worse, I cancelled the in-house retreat with my quilting buddies.  I've been to the grocery store a few times and one or two drives.  But, except for walks I've been at home. And, I am getting so MUCH done.  I miss my friends and activities but the trade off of getting things accomplished really works for me. 

Here's my newest finish. (Yep, finished, as in I could give it away today if I wanted!) 

Baby Girl Happy Block

I used Ripple from My Creative Stitches. Thread choice is So Fine #524, lavender.  I really like the texture of Ripple.  Next time I use it I might try for more room between the lines.  Here are some of my favorite blocks:

Nann - do you recognize this?

Part of the original charm pack but color is not quite right. 

Who doesn't need a fairy frog-mother? 

The mask making is continuing.  I now have about 20 masks ready to give to the ambulance transport company who need some protection.  I've been using a fairly easy and fast pattern so I'm making them much faster.  

I've done pretty well on all the goals for last week. I've finished Happy Blocks, I've made lots of masks, I've made several more pinwheel blocks.  The one thing I didn't do is work on the churn dashes.  Not a bad week, over all. 

This week, along with mask making, I'm focusing on:
1) Making all pinwheel blocks and sewing the top together.
2) Sewing all the churwndash blocks into a top.
3) Loading on Ruthie president's quilt for my local guild.
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. 

Are you ready to surf the web?  I am.  Here's my regular linky parties so you can join in the fun: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, and Main Crush Monday.

Photo from and copyrighted Pluto Living.com 

And for your enjoyment meet Pluto.  He's helping us with ideas to keep us safe and entertained during our stay-at-home time.  Pluto Living.  I've been watching him on Facebook.  Check out his snore meditations. Enjoy!

Happy Quilting 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 

  

March Stash Busting or Not

I thought I was doing a good job on not building my stash this month.  But then I remembered I bought quite a few pieces of fabric on a shopping trip to Richmond on Mar. 3.  Blue Crab Quilt shop was having a going out of business then so a group of us went down to take advantage of the good prices.  We hit a few other shops too, where I also bought fabric and thread.  Sigh. 

2020	Fabric In Month	Fabric In Year	Fabric Out Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
Mar	7.125	25.375	6.00	14.625	10.750

So I am still bringing in more fabric than I am using. But so far this month I've bought no fabric at all.  

As well as everyone else, I've been making masks.  Unfortunately, masks don't take all that much fabric. And, I'm using muslin for backing and ties.  Luckily I have a lot of it from different people's stashes I was given.  So, yes, I'm using small amounts of my own fabric, and making a dent in the other stashes.  I did not add those into my fabric acquisition numbers over the years so I am not deducting them either.  Hopefully, I will get a few of my own projects quilted and bound this month.

I started with 8 blocks/parts of blocks left over from a baby quilt I made in 1997.  Scrappy  Mountain Majesties is a Bonnie Hunter pattern available on Quiltville.com. It's been on my UFO list for ages.

I added 9 blocks and dropped a bunch to get this 3 x 4 layout.  The blocks are taller than they are wide.  The 3 x 3 setting seemed an odd size. So I made 15 blocks. Yep, that works. Once I find a backing fabric, get it quilted and bound I'll be able to mark it off my UFO. 

Not every juncture is wonderful.  Some look like the top one at the right.  And some look like the bottom one which looks pretty darn good to me!  There will be no border.  This goes directly into my closet with other tops needing to be quilted.  This one is small -- it'll probably only need a 1.25 yards for the backing.  But do I have that much fabric just hanging around? Maybe, I need to do a really good search.

I've started putting together the red, white and blue blocks I showed here. Hum, I just reread what I wrote.  I forgot all about putting sashing in.  I've already sewn the top row together with no sashing.  Oh well.  Hopefully it will look good when finished.  Tomorrow I'll check my measurements and make sure these blocks will be the right size for QOVs. 

I'm still making masks, but I'm sewing on my UFOs too.  I hope to be able to continue to donate 10 to 15 masks a week to good causes but still make some forward progress on my own projects.  

I'm linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday,  Can I Get a hoop Whoop, Beauties 76, Midweek Makers, and To Do Tuesday. I'm doing some surfing over the next few days.  won't you join me? 

Stay Safe and Happy Quilting!  Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 4 - 6 - 2020

Are you getting your projects done?  I'm not.  In fact I got only a couple of blocks done this whole week.  But I was sewing every day.   What I have been doing is making more masks.  Studying lot of mask patterns. And trying to speed up my production. 

I did two more house blocks and sent them of to the quilter who is putting them together. I put cats in both windows. 






Here are the ones I sent out to my son and his family. This group should keep them covered up for a while. Both Kevin and Aimee are still having to go to work for some days during the week. 

These masks are on their way to my brother in California. I figure he and his wife can share them with her sisters and mom.  

This week I'll be working on masks to give to Life Care transport.  They need masks too.  I'll be making some masks for my daughter and her family too.  

Have you been watching your roots grow out?  Or how about that great haircut falling apart?  I was supposed to get my hair cut on Wed. 3/18.  Yep, that's a good 3 weeks ago and it was long then.  It finally was driving me crazy so I asked hubby to trim the back of it.  He cut it straight across the back and did a great job.  The good news is my earlier haircut is holding up pretty well on the sides.  And, luckily I haven't dyed my hair in years so I'm not watching unwanted roots coming out! I'm sure my hair is going to be getting more home cutting over the next few weeks or months? I hope it can keep looking decent.  Or I'm may be taking my scissors to the sides too.   

And last I'm sharing what we found on our walk one day this week. It sums up what I wish for all of you too.  

My goals have totally fallen apart because I'm spending most of my time on masks for a while.  I'm hoping I can sneak in some personal sewing between the masks.... all I need to do is cut a few pieces and then I can use them as leader/enders.  Not a bad idea. 

I'm linking up with my regular parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, and Design Wall Monday.  I'll be spending some time surfing the internet this week.  I didn't take much time to do that last week.  But this time I definitely will be!  Join me.

What are you doing this week?  

Stay safe and happy quilting!  Bonnie