Monday Meanderings 4 - 29 - 2024

 Hello All -- do you realize it is almost MAY? Good grief -- time is zooming by, or so it seems. In case you were wondering if I have gotten over the cold I caught right after our trip -- the answers is no.  In fact a few days ago I made an appt with my doctor thinking I could get something to help it go away.  Um, that's not happened yet. I'm coughing my head off and the nose is dripping.  I'm not sure if this thing will ever end.  I have an antibiotic coming from a mail order pharmacy, hopefully Monday.  In the mean time I've been either reading or in the studio doing "stuff." 

Here's last week's goal list.  Not very big and not all finished. Sigh. 

4/22/24

✅Quilt customer quilt. — done. 

Sew sashing on pinwheels, sew quilt together -- nothing done.

✅Work on bow tie blocks — cut a bunch of pieces and started sewing them together.

✅Keep knitting hats — knit two and turned in 4. 

Off List:  I realized I really want to get another quilt finished in April so Sunday I loaded and quilted a 3 yard quilt. It is called Roman Holiday and comes from Quick As A Wink 3-Yard Quilts by Donna Robertson.

Here's a section of it after I took it off the long arm.  I used a new-to-me edge to edge pantograph called Quick and Easy Swirl by My Creative Stitches. Once it is totally finished I'll share some more pictures.  What is really weird is I can not find any leftover fabric from the dark brown.  I have just a few scraps from the beige. Luckily the extra backing fabric will work for the binding.  

My friend Karen has made a bunch of stuffed bunnies, dogs and bears. I decided they would make great models for some of the hats I've been making.  I found a pattern for knitted hats for adult and youth that are knit flat and then the back seam is sewn.  I find knitting the hats so much easier on my hands than using the frame.  I've been making two or three a week now for several weeks. The stuffed animals are being donated to the Fairy Godmother Project through the quilt guild.  The hats are being given to From the Heart, then distributed to worthwhile causes locally in Fredericksburg through the Richmond area.

A bunny --- 

And a cute dog --

Here are the four hats I turned in last week. Two are for adults and two are for youths.  I give them to a friend at the Monday stitching group and she takes them to From the Heart. There are several gals making various items that are given to From the Heart.  I was given a bunch of yarn recently so I'm trying to knit it down. (Hum, the adult hats are folded in half.) 

We'll see how well I do on this week's list. 

4/29/24

Bind quilt

Sew sashing on pinwheels, then sew into top

Make more bow tie blocks 

Knit more hats 

Sing at Spotsylvanians rehearsal and 2 spring concerts

We'll see if I get much done.  Between coughing and catching my drippy nose it might be a sparse week for finishing things. 

Now more about our trip to Costa Rica.  One of the things I noticed driving in Costa Rica, especially away from San Jose, the capital, was the fences. They looked pretty weird to me as they appeared to be leftover branches of trees. Some even had some leaves still on them. 

My first thought was, boy they are using their resources well or they couldn't afford a real fence.  But my son had been reading about Costa Rica and told me they do this on purpose to allow trees to grow on the fence line.  I'll tell you more about this road in a later post.  It figured prominently when we departed Monteverde. But it shows how the "fences" grow into trees. 

We all eventually got to our "compound" in Monteverde which was in the mountains.  We had three houses which we divided up to each family. Of course the kids had their own ideas where to sleep. The oldest grand slept in our upstairs.  They are really into reading and we offered the quietest area. The two middle girls slept at our daughter's house, and I have no idea where Teddy slept.  Of course there was a small problem when Jenny and family left for breakfast one morning and all of Ellie's clothes were locked in that house. Sigh. I'll share pictures of the compound on another day as I've probably rambled on. But, wait! 

Kevin found a Jewel scarab beetle on the mat in front of our door.  It was golden! I had to look up this beetle to find out more about it.  Yes it does look metallic, doesn't it?  It turns out they live in areas from southwestern USA, through Mexico, Central America and into a few countries in South America.  The first picture makes him look really gold. The second is a better shot of what he looks like but not as golden.  

When I did a search on Mr. Google I came up with interesting articles. One being how come they look metallic.  Wikipedia gave me the best overall information.  What was really weird was you can actually buy one of these beetles. Heck, Kevin had a $50 beetle in his hand and we put it back. Nah, we wouldn't have tried to sell it.  But it was a wonderful find. 

Next week I'll share our trip to a coffee plantation that also had cacao, sugar cane, and banana trees.  

Oops! I forgot to mention my 15 Minutes to Stitch results this week. Yep, I did get 15 minutes stitching this week. Most days I got some knitting in and a little studio time. I've actually been making some inroads on the leftover fabric strewn across the front of the cutting table. 

   W/ending 4/28/24 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/April =28/28 days 
• 15 minute days/2024 = 112/119 days
• Success rate = 94.41%

I'm linking up with Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings and Melva Loves Scraps.  I'll link up to the other two tomorrow. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie