Monday Meanderings 4 - 22 - 2024

It was a light week for me sewing but not for reading.  If you've read my blog for long you know I'm a big reader and I generally read with the Kindle app.  I read books every day and Kindle keeps track of my days read.  Unfortunately, on April 7 I was reading a book that was only available on Libby and I forgot to read my other book on Kindle.  So after a 720 day reading streak, I missed a day and my number went back to 0.  It's been 13 days.  But I am going to keep track on my own so I figure I've read for 734 days.  I'm hoping to keep it up until I hit 2 full years... or maybe longer. I do enjoy reading. 

Now on to my goals.  I did pretty well this week although my list wasn't huge. 

4/15/24 

✅ Sew label on Spider Web quilt — done. 

✅ Make the rest of the pinwheel blocks and sew them together — blocks made but not sewn together, I'll be sashing them.

✅ Catch up on some reading — finished 4 books this week! 

✅ Plan top with older bow tie blocks — planned and cut out several blocks.

✅ Knit another hat — finished two. 

I laid out my existing bow tie blocks (these are not the blocks I'm making for the RSC this year.) I've decided I want to set it 7 x 10 so I'll have to make 31 more blocks.  I've got about 10 ready to sew and will be choosing fabric and cutting it over the next week or two. The picture was taken of the blocks just put up with not much thought to colors and patterns.

Below are the pinwheel blocks.  I need to decide where to place each block and then get on with cutting and sewing the sashing and corner stones. I realized I didn't have all the blocks on the design wall when I took this picture. I think I have 4 more... I'll have to check this week.  The blocks are 10" finished. 

On to my goals for this week.

4/22/24

Quilt customer quilt

Sew sashing on pinwheels, sew top together

Work on bow tie blocks

Keep knitting hats 

Baste my patriotic quilt to be quilted (later) on the domestic machine

I've finished a few quilts this year and have just now gotten pictures.  Here's Old Zig Zag finished. (Hum, did I put a label on it?  Might need to check that.) 

These are half square triangles that I made years ago...in fact I have no idea when I sewed them. I'm guessing I used them for leader enders and eventually put them into the quilt top.  It spent a few years in a plastic container that said 'tops to be quilted.' I was checking out the bin earlier this year and decided it needed to be quilted.  I added a very dark navy border to stop the motion. I used a blue backing and used the leftovers to bind it. 

    The quilting pattern is Random Clams.  Although evidently I didn't pay attention how it was being held so the quilting design is upside down. I used So Fine thread.  

15 Minutes to Stitch 

W/ending 4/21/24 (112) 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/April =21/21 days 
• 15 minute days/2024 = 105/112 days
• Success rate = 93.75%

I'm happy that I've been able to spend at least 15 minutes every day stitching or organizing my stitching.  Saturday and Sunday I spent a bit of time cutting up some of the scraps that are taking up space on my 2nd cutting area.  Although I've kept at it I still have more to do.  But I like being able to see and use the 2nd cutting area. 

On to Costa Rica happenings.  On our third day at Jaco we were going to leave the beach area and go to the mountains.  Except, first we were going to go Zip Lining!! I had spent quite a bit of time talking to a friend who had done it and also talked to my daughter about it.  I decided I could do it if I was one of the first few to go. No waiting until the end and then backing out!  The whole family went from 7 years old to the 73 year old grammy. 

Me with my two oldest grands. It took a while to get the harness on and the helmet.  But eventually all 10 of us were ready. 

Have I ever mentioned I don't like aerial trams? No riding ski lifts for me. I once refused to ride with my teen age kids in a tram because I thought they would rock it and scare me.  I went with the tour guide who wasn't interested in rocking. Plus, I'm not really fond of heights -- no walking up lighthouses or the Washington Monument.  So of course, the first thing we had to do is go up the mountain on an aerial tram. Sigh. No rocking but the oldest grand kept teasing me about every stop, every tower we passed, etc.  But surprisingly I wasn't all that nervous or scared. It was smooth and not a bad ride except we kept going up and up. 

Four grands, one daughter and Grammy.  The kids would be going first  with an adult going right afterwards.  Teddy, 7, was not quite heavy enough so a few times he had one of the workers go with him so he didn't get stuck on the wire.  But everyone else went solo. 

Not the most flattering picture but proof that I definitely went zip lining. Hum, I was suppose to be holding my legs up and my feet crossed.  I guess I did't always remember.  I should have been able to zip facing forward but most times I got turned around and tried desperately to turn the cable (or the hook?) around so I was headed forward.  On the other hand it was neat to see where I had been. And, once we could look out and see the Pacific Ocean in the distance. 

Here we all are 3/4s of the way through the zip lining.  There were 9 platforms.  At the 7th or 8th one we had to hike down the mountain with the help of "stairs" made from tires.  Um, not all that helpful. Lucky for me Kevin stayed with me and I held on -- I just didn't want to fall and roll down the mountain!  The adults from left to right: Kevin, Aimee, Bonnie, Pat, Jenny and Brian. The kids, l to r, Teddy, Ellie, Natalie and Sophie. 

I'm pretty sure I'm going to use this photo on my Christmas cards this year. I need to brag! 

I am so proud of myself for going and I actually enjoyed it but I was totally worn out when done.  I could go again some day but I don't think I will.  This week I was thinking of my grandparents and realized there was no way any of them would have gone zip lining at 73! Heck, neither would my parents.  It was a memorable day.  

Afterwards we went back to the house to pick up our luggage and we all drove to Monteverde.  Each family had a car and we didn't coordinate our departures nor our lunch.  That's it for the 3rd day of our trip.  I'll share some more next Monday.  Although, honestly, the most exciting day was the zip lining! 

I'm linking with Oh Scrap, Life in Pieces, Design Wall Monday and Monday Musings.  Take a tour of quilting blogs starting at these Linky parties. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie