Monday Meanderings 8 - 19 - 2019

Some of my sewing mojo has returned.  I did a bit of sewing on a bowl carrier that I wanted to get back to the quilt guild.  I've also been working on getting a new project cut for the Oct. retreat that is just 6 weeks away.  As I've said before I like to have easy projects that are cut out and ready to sew together. 

What I really accomplished is quilting one of 5 charity quilts I received at the May retreat from Faithful Circle Quilters.  Since I'll see a few folks from there in October I thought it was time to get going on those quilts.  One is done and ready to give back. I used a favorite design Ginger Flower by Apricot Moon. 

But what I'm tickled with is I loaded my Batik Rails quilt and have it half quilted.  

I chose Pipeline as the quilting design.  (It was included with my long arm so I can't tell you any more about it.)   The surprising thing to me is it is taking just under 13 minutes a row to get it quilted.  For some reason I thought it would have been faster.  I'm using a purple So Fine thread similar to the backing fabric I'm using.  (The blue mark on the black sashing is a point to line up the next row with.  After I've done all the rows I will remove all the tape.)

My plan is to finish the quilting and get the first side of the binding on.  Then I'll have something to do while I'm recuperating.  Well, there is always knitting on the sweater for one of the granddaughters too. 

My only goal this week is to actually get the quilting done and the first part of the binding.  And, I have the time to do that too. 

As promised here are pictures of our time at the Monterey Aquarium. 

Feeding time in one of the big tanks. 

Sea otter -- looks like he is sucking his hand but I'm not sure what he is doing.

I really didn't do a great job getting pictures at the aquarium.  I was more interested in looking at everything!  I did snap this picture of a wall mural as we were leaving.  (Hum, I guess I have a thing for otters.) 

Hum, looking at the far left otter makes me wonder if they actually have fingernails. 

Next week I'll share some of our pics from the San Francisco area.  I did a better job of getting pictures there. 

I'm linking with my regular Monday linky parties.  Try to spend some time checking out blogs at these parties. I always find such interesting projects being shared.  Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday and Moving It Forward.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Back to Blogging Monday Meandering 8 - 12 - 2019

What can I say, I fell off the blog-wagon for a month!  Yikes. The first week or so of being off was due to kidney stone. UGH.  Never want that to happen again.  The pain was intense but luckily I was able to have it removed pretty quickly.  But, there was a lot of concern about our vacation that was scheduled to start one week after the procedure.  

Luckily, I was feeling ok and was able to enjoy our trip to California.  The impetus was to attend the wedding reception for the daughter of a friend of ours.  She lives in New Zealand  so we weren't able to attend the wedding but definitely wanted to come to the reception.  

Our trip was wonderful.  First up Southern California.  We lived in various locations in SoCal for many years before we decided to move east.  (Sometimes I wonder what we were thinking!) So the So Cal time was spent revisiting old haunts and some new places. 

Our hotel was in El Segundo right next to the Mattel headquarters.  The shared  parking deck was festooned with banners commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Barbie doll. 

The reception was held in an automobile
museum with an In and Out Burger food truck.  What fun!  We've missed those burgers and really enjoyed having some on vacation.  Here are two of the cars: the Model A (left) and Model T, commercial version.  The Model A sold for $455 in 1931. My great grandmother had one in 50's. I'm not sure whether it was an A or a T.   I doubt if I ever saw it but it has stayed in my memory for years. 

We spent a couple of days driving the beach areas and going back to the area where we lived when we first were married.  Everything seems so much more crowded.  

It was a beautiful day in Redondo Beach although the picture shows some lingering early morning fog in the distance. 

I visited the high school I graduated from after attending one year. Yep, we moved my senior year from Virginia to Palos Verdes, Ca.  It was pretty "shocking" to me coming from a one building hs to this new one.  The buildings were separated and had no indoor hallways.  There was no indoor cafeteria -- something I had never seen before.  And, all I remember about the set up is it rained constantly that spring and we got soaked between classes.  Can you say 40 days of rain?  Not my idea of fun.  

We also drove by our old apartment.  Still looked nice. We had a hard time finding the public library that my dad was instrumental in expanding.  There has been an explosion of building in the main part of town and we couldn't figure out how to get to the road the library was on.  

We also visited our college -- Univ. of Southern Calif.  It too has expanded and looks different than when we went there.  The LA Coliseum is being renovated and should be done for the fall football season.  Exposition Park, next to USC and the Coliseum, has changed a lot too.  It all was so different.  Continuing our trip down memory lane we drove past my grandparent's house that was close to USC.  They'd moved in sometime in the 30's (I think.) Yikes. The neighborhood looked great -- definitely California bungalows.    But their house was so overgrown you could only see plants.  The picture I sent to my brother and cousins certainly surprised all of us. 

We left Southern California to visit the Monterey Aquarium.  Here are some pictures from the night before the aquarium visit. 

Long before you could see the seals you could hear them barking.  This fellow was enjoying being king of the rock, so to speak.  We had dinner at a restaurant on the commercial wharf and then took a walk down to the end. 

At the end we could see the seals basking on a jetty.  It was too far away to get decent pictures.  We also could hear seals barking from under the wharf but couldn't really see them. (I didn't want to go swimming with them accidentally!) 

One seal decided to sit where we could get some great closeups.  He was there for at least a half an hour and was willing to pose.  There were seals swimming around but those pictures didn't turn out very well either.  It was early evening and the sky was overcast.  Probably the only less than perfect weather day of the whole trip. (If you click on any picture it should enlarge.)

I'll share more pictures over the coming days/weeks.  As you might have guessed not much has been happening on the quilting front.  Yesterday I started loading a charity quilt.  I hope to get several of them done before I go on my next retreat where I'll see some gals who can take the quilts back to the FCQ guild for me.  

Because I have another medical thing happening next week I've decided to forgo doing a weekly goal list for a while.  My motivation is low except for the quilting above and getting some kits cut for the October retreat.   

I'm linking up with my favorite Monday posts: Monday Making*, Main Crush Monday, and Moving It Forward. * This one is delayed so I'll check back tomorrow to see if it is posted.  I haven't done much blog browsing recently so hope to do so soon. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meandering 7 - 15 - 2019

I can't decide if I should be saying "It's a wrap" for the week just ended or "Welcome new week."  No  matter, this past week was very quilty.  I don't have a lot to show for it but I am making forward progress on several projects.

First up, I finished a top with 9 sawtooth stars.  I was just using up two pieces of fabric I had.  One was a piece of Hoffman fabric from an early challenge. (Ok, maybe it was like a really early challenge fabric.  I don't remember for sure, and I didn't make and enter anything so nothing I can go look at.)

Here's what the fabric looked like when I pulled it off my shelf.  Yea, it was cut up a LOT.

But look how great it looks as a sawtooth star. 

The pink fabric is an old KP Kids fabric.  I bought some when it originally came out and then found several different colors recently and picked up pink, purple and green.  I really like it but honestly, it's sometimes hard to use older colors with more current colors.  This piece has been sitting for a few years.   Now it is almost all gone.  I probably have enough to do the binding once I find a backing fabric for it. 

Here's the finished top.  I wanted to add a little extra length to bring the quilt to 36 x 42".  I thought adding the extra flying geese worked -- but it might have been better designed so the rows of the blocks with the flying geese were more coordinated.  Who knows, I may take the top and bottom off and change it.  Or not.  What do you think?  Should I change the top and bottom rows. And if so what do you suggest?  I've got a lot of white squares that I could use between the geese. 

I also began prepping more of the fabric to make "Flower Song" blocks. Don't remember from last week?  Here's the link. Scroll down to see the block.  The half square triangles are made from a strip of color and a background color that are sewn together on the top and bottom.  Here's a group of them that I finished sewing this afternoon. (And that is the back side of the fabric!)  I really like these lovely bright colors.  And, I thought I'd show off the "bread board" that Pat made that is right above the first drawer in my sewing desk.  I think my friend Beth called it a bread board when she first saw it.  We used to have bread boards built into our lower kitchen cabinets at several of our houses.  I am not sure they are still being offered in new houses.  And, I don't remember using mine all that often.  But I sure like it on my sewing desk.  It gives me a big space to pile either finished units or units waiting to be sewn.  

Here's what happened with my goals last week.

July 8, 2019

Hand quilt on old Christmas quilt✔️

Make more quarter square triangle ✔️

Make some pink Rainbow Scrap blocks✔️

Cut some Flower Song blocks✔️ some strips are sewn together...cutting coming soon 

Finish making Sawtooth Star blocks✔️

And here's my plan for next week.  It seems like a lot but it really isn't too bad. 

July 15, 2019

Hand quilt on old Christmas quilt

Finish doll sweater, start second one 

Buy backing for batik rail fence 

Make backing for Donna’s blocks 

Quilt 1 VSQ charity quilt

Keep working on Flower Song blocks 

Here are the parties I'm linking to: Oh Scrap!, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Moving It Forward and What I Made Monday.  (I'll add the links for those parties that aren't posted Sunday night...yep I really try to get my Monday blog written and posted the night before!  And, I've been succeeding for the most part.)

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 7 - 8 - 2019

Did you have a great 4 of July?  We used to enjoy taking our kids to firework shows when we lived in Columbia, Maryland.  Now we sometimes check from our back deck to see if we can see any of the local fireworks.  This year it was so hot and humid that we enjoyed the Capitol Fourth on PBS. Nice air conditioning, no humidity or rain.  

I've spent quite a few days down in the studio this week.  By Friday afternoon I knew I needed to recheck my goals list because I had wandered away from what I really wanted to get done.   

I finished the last of the grand's coverups/sweatshirts.  Sophie chose this cute seaside saying from Designs by Juju.  It is from Beach Word Art 5 set.  It stitched out beautifully.  I bought the large magnetic hoop to go with my  new Viking.  It is so easy to use it -- especially on this sweatshirt.  This week I did get some more magnets so I can attach items with 8 magnets rather than just 4.  It's time to mail the girls their new beach coverup/sweatshirt.

Do you remember this suggested quilt top?  (I'll wait, unless you remember it from last Monday...)  I really wanted to get it to finished top stage so here it is.  I didn't like the hot pink with the blocks I had been given so I tried something else.  Ohio Star blocks. Or at least kind of like an Ohio Star block.  The blocks are 12" finished.  The top will eventually go to a nursing home that likes 36" wide quilts by no more than 42" tall.  I think these quilts need to be longer than 36" so I added the pink strips top and bottom to make it a bit longer.  The odd width is because that was all the pink I had left.  I took apart an extra block to put the multicolor dots on black in the center of the borders.  I've found a piece of backing but it isn't quite wide enough.  So I will be taking the other 7 units from the extra block and adding more quarter square triangle units to make the backing wide enough.  (I don't really like making involved pieced backs but it makes some sense this time since I have several units done already.)  Hopefully, I'll get the backing done in the next couple of weeks and then get it finished up.

And here's one last block I tried before I cut out a whole quilt. The pattern is Flower Song by Cozy Quilt Company.  It's designed to use 2.5" strips and their Strip Tube Ruler.  If you don't have their ruler they give easy directions to cut the half square triangles by marking a diagonal on a square ruler. I have a partial jelly roll that I think will look great in this block.  I'll be kitting this one up for the October retreat.  Lots of pieces to be cut and sewn but I liked the design.  (Hey, and I'm actually using one of the many patterns I've bought!)   

It wasn't the best week for my goals although I got quite a few of them done.  All of the Four Patch variation blocks for the Taps quilt are done.  I started another small charity quilt using the Sawtooth Star block and some stash fabric that was not on my goal list.   Overall I'm not unhappy with what I did get done. 

July 1, 2019

Hand quilt on old Christmas quilt√

Make last two Ohio star variation blocks and sew top together√

Continue working on patriotic Four Patch variation (Taps quilt)√

Finish rest of blue Rainbow Scrap blocks√ I may make 1 more …

Start doll sweater(s) didn’t even think about this one… 

Possibly start sewing moose blocks I put the blocks up on the design wall but that was it. 

Next week I will be trying to work on these goals. 

July 8, 2019

Hand quilt on old Christmas quilt

Make more quarter square triangle squares for backing for Donna's quilt 

Make some pink Rainbow Scrap blocks

Cut some Flower Song blocks 

Finish making Sawtooth Star blocks

Put border on the batik rail fence blocks 

I'm done with this blog except to remind you to go visit my favorite linky parties:  Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Moving It Forward and What I Made Monday.  If it's not linked yet the blog hasn't been posted yet.  I'll check back and add the links√. (I know, amazing that I remembered to do it first thing this am!)  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meandering & July OMG 7 - 1 - 2019

Hello July and good bye half of 2019. I've had several days in my studio where I've mostly worked on finishing quilts and making an assortment of blocks.  

I got a group of 6 blocks from one of the guild members. Her mother, Donna, had a lot of UFOs left when she died so I agreed to take some to finish.  I figure I can add a few blocks and donate a quilt to one of our guild's charities.  I like working on unfinished projects left by quilters.  It feels good to finish blocks or quilts and donate them to someone who will love them.  Here are Donna's blocks along with what I thought I would like with them.  Meh -- not so much.  I've got some Ohio star variations in works that I like better.  Now I need to use these pink squares. (Don't worry, I have a plan...) 

Here's my July One Monthly Goal. 

I will border, quilt and bind the batik strips top.

The strips came from a retreat swap -- oh, maybe 5 years ago.  I had started working on them but wasn't thrilled with the look.  Fast forward a year or two and a Faithful Circle Quilt show.  Someone had made their batik strips from the swap into a quilt that looks a lot like this one.   I redid my blocks based on the other quilt. I got bored with it before I finished it and it sat for another year or two.  When I took it out to take the picture I fell in love with it again. The colors are so wonderful.  And, I have border fabric (black) all cut out.  Just needs to be sewn into strips and cut to fit.  What was I thinking to put this beauty away? It.Will.Get.Done!

Here's Nat's swimsuit cover up I embroidered a week or two ago. (Or longer? Who remembers the details!)  Each grand got to pick out a beach scene for either a coverup or a sweatshirt.  Natalie wanted this shark.  She always surprises me with her picks.  But I found the best shark fabric. (You can't tell but the shark fabric is a blue and aqua batik.) He was fun and easy to do.  I've got one more sweatshirt to show sometime in the future. 

I was very successful on my goals this week.  Every project was either finished or moved forward.  You can't complain about that! 

June 24, 2019

Hand quilt on old Christmas quilt√

Bind butterfly quilt√

Finish binding parrot quilt√

Work on Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks√

Make a few blocks for Taps quilt√

Make two more blocks for QOV√ Ok, I only got 1 done. 

And here are my  goals for this first week of July. 

July 1, 2019

Hand quilt on old Christmas quilt

Make last two Ohio star variation blocks and sew top together 

Continue working on patriotic Four Patch variation (Taps quilt)

Finish rest of blue Rainbow Scrap blocks and start the new color blocks 

Start doll sweater(s) 

Possibly start sewing moose blocks 

Having goals keeps me focused and moving forward.  Otherwise I am a racoon quilter... ooh lets start a new quilt, ah I like this fabric what can I make with it.  Are you a racoon quilter?  Easily distracted by pretty fabrics or cool patterns?  

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Moving it Forward and What I Made Monday.  I'll have to link up the rest of the parties when they are posted.  I'll be spending some quality time reading some blogs tomorrow.  I hope you will too.

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

June OMG and Stashbusting

Did you notice I'm not posting on the last day of the month?  That is usually what happens for OMG.  But yesterday I finished the last of two quilts that were part of my One Monthly Goal. My goal part 1 was: 

I will finish, quilt, and bind the butterflies top.

And here it is finished.  Many thanks to Beth for giving me the wonderful swirly blue fabric I used for the border and binding. I ended up using a different backing fabric as I didn't have enough of what I originally planned to use. 

And the back.

I used So Fine (a navy blue thread) and an edge to edge pattern called Hawthorn from My Creative Designs.  No doubt you can see my issue with the design -- both the front and the back of the quilt was too busy so the beautiful quilting did not show up much.  This design had a lot of stitches to it and it took nearly 30 minutes to quilt each row. This quilt is only about 36" wide.  Probably not the best design choice on my part.  

My next goal was 

I'm also going to quilt and bind the parrot quilt.

I purchased 1.5 yards of backing for this quilt.  I'm not sure what I was thinking because it used just about every inch of that 54".  I should have bought 1.75 yards.  I had to sew a strip of fabric on the top just so I'd have enough room to attach the quilt to my leaders. This pattern is Ginger Snap by Apricot Moon.  It is one of my very favorite designs and I've used it over and over again.  I used an orange So Fine thread.  

And the back...

These pictures were taken of the quilts hanging over the railing of our walk out basement.  I always use a towel to clean the railings off and to protect the quilt from the railing.  The purple is one of our towels.    

Before June is history I did want to share my stashbusting statistics for May with you. 

2019	Fabric In Month	Fabric In Year	Fabric Out Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
May	10.00	31.080	8.00	36.375	5.295

This is the second month in a row where I've brought in 10 yards of fabric.  Not a great way to use more fabric than I buy.  Hopefully June will see more fabric used than acquired.  Heck, I finished 3 or 4 quilts this month.  

I was very pleased with my strategy for retreat sewing. I brought 5 projects to retreat in March.  Most were simple quilts (both of these were worked on there.) 3 projects were either finished quilts or centers that only needed borders at the end of the retreat.  This month I focused on getting those three tops totally finished.  One project I've been working on for a while but only when I sew away from home.  And, one I didn't even look at.  

That is all said to say I've finally gotten a great retreat plan going for me.  Pick fairly easy quilts.  Precut all the blocks.  Sew like a fiend.  And, then finish up at home so the quilts do not go on the UFO list.  It's time to start planning and cutting the quilts for the October retreat.  It's about 90 days away. 

I'm linking up at Elm Street Quilts June OMG Finish linky party,  Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday, and Can I Get a Whoop! Whoop.  You know the drill.  Spend some time checking out what folks are working on across the Internet.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meandering 6 - 24 - 2019

Yea for a successful week!  We were out and about this week with a couple of meals out and going to see Men in Black 3. (I'm not sure that's the official title but basically the movie was the third of the Men in Black.)  And it did not disappoint. I get such a kick out of all the aliens that someone thinks up and the weird things they do.  We both enjoyed it a lot.  I think it is the first movie we've seen since The Post in 2017.  Nope, we don't go to a lot of movies nor do we watch them at home.   

Instead of doing movies I quilt and read.  Here's what I've been working on this week. First up is the parrot quilt on Ruthie. I've already applied one side of the binding.  Later this week I'll get the final side down.  I'll share more when I get a picture of the full quilt. 

I rescued a piece of vintage cotton showing a cowboy in action.  As I made this pillowcase I was wondering whether kids today have much of a clue about cowboys.  Well, there's always Woody in Toy Story!  I can never figure out which way to run a directional fabric on a pillowcase.  I thought I had the cowboy going the opposite way.  Sigh. 

On to a successful goal week.  Yep, I got all my goals checked off this week.  In fact I'm just about done with my One Monthly Goal.  I need to figure out what is going to be my July goal.   Must look at my collection of UFOs and current projects to make a decision. 

June 17, 2019

Hand quilt on old Christmas quilt√

Quilt Butterfly quilt√

Work on Rainbow Scrap Challenge√

Prep backing of Parrot Quilt√ and quilted it! 

Make 1 pillowcase√

And this week I'll be working on: 

June 24, 2019

Hand quilt on old Christmas quilt

Bind butterfly quilt

Finish binding parrot quilt

Work on Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Make a few blocks for Taps quilt

Make two more blocks for QOV

I'm linking up to my regular linky parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Moving It Forward, and Main Crush Monday. (MCM hasn't posted yet so I'll check back later and see if it's been published. )

That's it for me today.  Hope you have a beautiful summer day! And if not, there's always quilting.  Here's a pretty butterfly visiting our butterfly bush.  I read recently that the butterfly bush is an invasive species in Virginia.  I can really believe it because one our bushes has been growing like crazy and branches that hit the ground started rooting.  We may be removing that one. Here's what I found on the other bush.  Isn't this a pretty butterfly.  I like the blue on it.  It took me quite a bit of time to actually catch a picture of the whole butterfly in a position you can actually see her. This is actually a female Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, the state butterfly of Virginia.  The males are yellow with distinct tiger stripes.  It's time to get back to quilting (or probably reading blogs this morning!) 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie