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