Monday Meanderings 12 - 2 - 2024

 I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving this year.  We were happy to get together with our family and our daughter-in-law's family. We generally celebrate Christmas together. We'll be repeating the gathering again for Christmas.  Now we're on the slippery slope running up to Christmas.  EEEK -- I have no presents yet. (Or I don't think so!) 

As you might imagine, I didn't succeed with all of my goals this week.  But I'm happy with what I did finish. 

11/25/2024

✔️Make apple pie and a squash casserole for T-day dinner — done and eaten!

✔️Work on last ornament — not finished but definitely started.

Finish top made with stash busting block — a few more rows were sewn but not finished yet. 

✔️Quilt a top on Ruthie

✔️Make a couple of blocks — not too many but a at least 2. 

Mail tree blocks to Washington state — oops. Not yet.

One of the blocks I made was the opposite coloring of the Potato Chip block I made previously. Here they are together.  I'm thinking of using this block for my 2025 Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I wish I had an Accuquilt die for the pieces. Instead I'll be cutting a lot of 2.5" strips into 4.5" bricks.  

I finally loaded and quilted a top on Ruthie this weekend. I wasn't enthused to load the quilt because I didn't want to sew the backing together. Was I surprised when I checked the backing fabric.  I had already sewn it together when I first got it. All I had to do was load it and start Ruthie.  Here's the top after the first 2 rows of quilting.  I used Quick and Easy Swirls from My Creative Stitches.  I really like that quilting design as it truly is quick and easy.  

The quilt design is Picket Star. You can find the directions for it on Sew Preeti Quilts. When I get the binding done I'll post pics of the whole quilt. These blocks were made by my friends in the FCQ EQuilters. 

Here's my goals for this week.  I've cut back on the number of goals.  

12/1/24

Finish top made with stash busting block

Mail tree blocks to Washington state

Bind quilted top

Quilt a customer top

Sing at the Mall 

Speaking of singing -- a small group of the Spotsylvanians sang at the Mistletoe Mart on Saturday.  Gee Wilikers! It was cold.  I doubt it was above 35 degrees until after we got home. (I'm the one in the blue coat. Pat was next to me but not in the picture.) 

Life is getting busier with concert season.  This week we we'll be singing at the local Mall.  Next week will be almost all singing.  Or so it seems. 

I took a break from my 15 minutes of stitching on Thanksgiving.  I thought I'd do 15 minutes of hand stitching but no, it didn't happen. 

 

W/ending 11/30 — 336 days in to 2024. 

• 15 minute days/week = 6/7
• 15 minute days/Nov = 29/30
• 15 minute days/Dec = 1/1
• 15 minute days/2024 = 326/336 days
• Success rate = 97.% 

One of the things I did on Black Friday was buy some new backing fabrics. I tend to wait until JoAnns has their Keepsake cottons on sale. Recently the fabric has been selling at $4.99 for big sales.  I found one of my notes that I paid $4.49 a yard.  But this Black Friday Keepsake was selling for $3.99 a yard. I always want to feel it before I buy so I don't end up with a stiff fabric that no amount of washing will make soft or one with a low thread count. I bought several backing fabrics and a big hunk of white on white.  Here's what I got.

So far, I've washed the black and purple fabrics. I've even sewn the black backing together too. I wonder if I could get it quilted this week?  Unfortunately, I ended up buying more fabric than I actually needed because I didn't figure the amounts correctly.  I'll put it all to use eventually but I'd rather I got the right amount.  This will make a small dent in my finished tops.  I'll be buying more fabrics once I use this batch up. And, it goes on sale again. 

I'll be linking up with Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Design Wall Monday, and Monday Musing.  Please check them out if you want to see what quilters are doing around the world. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

 

Monday Meanderings 5 - 27 - 2024

Not a whole lot of stitching was done this week.  But I did get at least 15 minutes everyday.  Here's what I did get done on my goals list. 

5/20/24

✅Quilt and bind one of my quilts — quilted, binding to come later.

✅Finish the inside of the star quilt for VSQ — ready for 2 borders.

👎🏼Plan something for May UFO challenge — nope!  — nothing done. 

✅Cut out a quilt using the scattered forest animal print — done! 

👎🏼Pull out a block set and plan a top — nothing done. 

Here's a picture of the quilt I quilted...I don't think I showed it when I made the top a few weeks ago. (And yes, that is remarkably fast for me to quilt a top but I found that red and white polka dot fabric in the stash.) 

Several years ago I found this Knuffle Bunny fabric on sale.  Then I found Baby Goose from Villa Rosa. I actually changed the sizes of the flying geese because I had a Accuquilt die for the half square triangles. When I get it bound I'll share better pictures.

Next up my goals for this week.  

5/27/24

Make some placemats (3 -4)

Bind Knuffle Bunny quilt

Pull out a block set and plan a top

Quilt one of my quilts 

Sing in local community concert 

Look what I found last week! He's known as the white seed bug. And he is a real insect. You can read a little about him here. The biggest issue was he was in our sun room which is open to our living room and the rest of the house. Pat heroically caught him and put him out side. I've never seen one of these before all though they are suppose to be all over North America and South America. 

I've nicknamed him the Quilt Bug.  Nice red, black and white.  Hum, do you think I should make a bug quilt with him as the star? Aimee might like a quilt honoring this bug. 

On to Stitching Stuff. I succeeded for another 7 days with at least 15 minutes of stitching. Unfortunately not very many days bloomed into hours of sewing like they often do.  Maybe this week will have some 'blooming' days. 

Week ending 5/27 — 147 days in to 2024. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/April =  26/26 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 140/147 days
• Success rate = 95.2%

Here's why I didn't have as much sewing time this last week.

 

The Spotsylvanians sang the National Anthem at the Fred Nats baseball game Friday night. (I would be standing next to the gal in the red shirt except I took the picture.) Afterwards we were in a Sky Box and had a nice ball park meal. We'd invited some old friends to join us.  I have been friends with Barb since freshman year in high school.  We reestablished our friendship once I moved to the East Coast from the West Coast.  We get together a few times a year.  Barb and I chatted all during the game and have no idea what the guys talked about. But we both noticed they were talking just as much.  The night ended with some great fire works.  We were gone for about 5 hours due to the early call time so we could sing and then stayed until the fireworks were done. Pat and I were both exhausted. 

The next day we were meeting Kevin and family at the local Renaissance Faire which was about 30 minutes from home.  We were there for the very beginning where Queen Elizabeth I was welcomed to the town. I'm sure it is an honor to play the queen at these Faires but it was mid 80s by the middle of the day and people were sweating like crazy.  I loved her dress but I sure wouldn't want to wear it in that kind of weather.

Aimee and Ellie dressed the part but Theo only came with his sword and shield. (wooden, of course.) 

Kevin and family ran into traffic so we had some time to spare. We spent it listening to a flutist who was really wonderful.  Everything was improvised but was beautiful and calm.  I suggested Kevin get me her CD for Christmas.... I was just being helpful, eh? 

We spent some time at a field that was used for several events. (It had seating and was covered.)  Basically we saw some medieval style hand to hand combat with swords and long swords with men in armor. Several times the fights were stopped to determine points and to make sure the fighters were okay. Can you imagine how hot it got in the armor? 

Next up was some falconry.  There was a beautiful barn owl being shown. Unfortunately I didn't get a good photo of her.  Last up was jousting, again in metal armor.  I can't imagine how the people were holding up under that armor!  We lasted until a little past noon and then decided it was time to go home to hydrate, sleep, and read.  I enjoyed it a lot but the weekend had been pretty busy for people who tend to hang out at home a lot! 

Now to finish the last of our Costa Rica trip.  The last day was a doozy.  We said good bye to Kevin and family at 8 am.  They had an airplane to catch about 2:15 or so. Jen's family was staying in San Jose that night. And we were flying to Panama in the evening and then on to our local airport that night.  The rest of us left around 10:00 am or so.  

Time stamp on the photo says 8:00 sharp about a minute before they went. The distance between Monteverde and San Jose is a little less than 110 miles.  It should take about 2 hours and 40 minutes.  Do you know where this is going?  Yea. Reality hit. We were taking our time as we stopped along the road to get this beautiful picture.

We turned on our GPS and followed it down the mountain. Hum... twisty road and should be a 3 hour trip. Arrival time 1:23. 

We followed the GPS that suggested we take back roads. Sounded reasonable, so we did. This was the new route. We were all by ourselves so could make better time then just sitting in traffic. (Ha!)

There's the car mirror and a field.  No cars around. Just driving a little slowly as we didn't want any damage to the car driving on the dirt road. The picture below might look familiar -- it was the example of fences that grew into trees. Again, no cars in sight. 

We passed a stray house or two, lots of fields, roads going off through more fields. Except, eventually lots of people started down this same road.  There were spots where only 1 vehicle could get by.  Cars overheated.  

Anytime the road was only 1 car wide we waited until it was our turn. Or for oncoming traffic to go.  We also crossed a small river (creek?) And on, and on. 

We started getting family texts. Are you in a lot of traffic? Yes.  We just passed the oil tanks.  Oh — finally we are back on the paved road. It was a mess. I don’t remember what time it was when we hit the paved road and could drive at a reasonable speed.  I was very happy I didn’t have to go to the bathroom! We stopped for lunch and then headed to the airport. 

After turning in the car and going through security we were finally in the waiting area around 4 pm. Lucky for us our flight to Panama didn’t leave until about 6 pm.  Kevin didn't have as much luck.  They evidently made it to the gate but it had already closed. (Yea, about 5 to 6 hours to go what should have taken 3 hours or less!) They ended up finding a hotel with a swimming pool so I'm guessing the grands liked that. 

Here's what greeted us on the way to our gate.  Doesn't Pat look tired from the drive? 

We arrived back at our home at 6:00 am on Sunday morning. We were able to upgrade to business class so it was nicer than our original seats.  I slept for an hour or so although Pat didn't.  We landed at 3:40 am or so but it took a while to go through customs, grab our luggage, and walk to where the car was parked. Luckily there wasn't a lot of traffic on the drive home. I was totally worn out and fell asleep for several hours. 

I’ll end with my own happy plants.  Frequently when we travel I move my house plants into our shower. I use plastic pails and tubs to set them in.  Each tub has water in it to give the plants enough moisture to see them through our trip.  There’s a window that lets in light.  During this trip they seemed to thrive.  Some of the plants I have: fiddle leaf fig, peace lilies, Chinese money plant, jade plant, and a Thanksgiving Cactus. (Or at least that’s what I think it is.) (I originally planned to share this after all the flowers in Costa Rica. But my watering methodology did seem to work well.) 

We have no more travel plans so far.  Who knows when we might decide to travel next. 

I’m linking up to these parties: Stitching Stuff,  Oh Scrap, Design Wall Monday, and Monday Musings. I hope you can take some time to go check out these Linky Parties.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

 

Monday Meanderings 5 22 -2023

What a week!  I'm exhausted but I really wanted to write my normal Monday post. I did surprisingly well on my goals list so I'm sharing that first. 

5/15/23

✅Quilt two tops — done and done! 

✅Make blocks for BOM for guild —  finished & turned in quite a few different blocks at the meeting.

✅Start fusing & trimming tee shirts for a quilt — 1 column of shirts done. 

👎🏼Put border on the UFO — um, no, didn’t happen

Here are sneak peeks of the two tops I quilted this week. 

Hum, you might notice that these quilts use the same blocks.  They are called Happy Blocks and you can get simple directions here. Mary gives 3 different directions. I tend to change the inside block size and then make the outside blocks fit.  

And here are some blocks I made for the guild raffle quilt. 

Here's what I want to get done this week.

5/22/23

Mail two packages of blocks out

Finish fusing & trimming tee shirts for a quilt

Put border on APQ UFO for May

Trim and bind 2 quilts 

Hum, I sure hope I get all of these things done. But a high priority is to bind 2 quilts. 

Every Monday I head up to our community's club house to join a group of stitchers.  There is a variety of stitching going on along with lots of talking and laughing. I work on whatever strikes my fancy or I want to get done.  Many of the gals make hats using a circular frame.  When I realized I have 4 boxes of miscellaneous yarn I decided I'd borrow a frame and try to make one. (Or more.) (I'm looking at you Alycia!) 

Um, it really isn't a weird cactus.  I had some leftover fuzzy yarn so I decided to try it.  A friend made the pompom and another one trimmed it up. Some little girl is going to love this hat and her mom will probably hate that the fuzzy pieces fall out!  The frame that was available was more for a baby or toddler so that's the size I'm making. I've already made two more that I'll eventually photograph and share. I've asked another friend to be on the lookout for a frame or frames while she does her thrift shopping. I'm happy to be making a dent in my yarn. 

These will go to From the Heart Stitchers in Fredericksburg/King George. Here's a little about them. "Our mission is to serve our community by preserving and promoting fiber arts, creating a spirit of fellowship and love among our volunteers and board members, and producing handmade items which bring comfort, love and solace to others."  

The other big activity this weekend was a dress rehearsal and concert by the Spotsylvanians. Dress rehearsal went well except some crazy problems with the sound system. We were exhausted when we finally got home.  Call time on Saturday was 3:15 as the concert was beginning at 5.  This semester we were only doing one concert rather than an evening and a matinee the next day.  We sang a wide variety of music from  traditional Madrigal, pop music, spirituals, and a several songs from Disney.  We even sang a song in Norwegian!  (Think Frozen.) This was the 20th anniversary of the group so it was quite festive. Two other choral groups joined us.  We finished at 7:30! I was exhausted and I expect the audience was too. The highlight of the night might have been the heavy down pour during the second half which made its own music on the roof and dripped on the altos. Exciting! Like true professionals they moved out of the way and didn't skip a note! 

The group celebrated with a wonderful dinner and party at a local restaurant. (We were all starving by the time we got there!) There were several presentations and surprises before dancing and karaoke began.  Hubby and I were so very surprised and pleased when we were given a remembrance for our 50th wedding anniversary that we will be celebrating in June. (Boy did that time go by fast!) I thought you might like to see us with our acrylic reminder.

We were totally exhausted when we got home. (Again!) Sunday was quieter but I did start and finish a small quilt. 

I'm linking up with my favorite beginning of the week parties:

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

To Do Tuesday

I'll come back tomorrow to link up what ever blogs are available. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie