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  

Monday Meanderings 4 - 8 - 2024

Apparently I brought a "friend" home from our trip to Panama and Costa Rica.  By Tuesday I had a ferocious cough and cold. Bummer. I tested twice for Covid and both were negative.  So I "think" I am recovering.  I didn't take any over the counter cough/cold medicine today so I'm hoping I on the mend.  I've got too many things going on over the next week or so to take time out for a cold!  

I will say that for the big chorus rehearsal on Saturday I masked up.  I sure didn't want to give any singers a cold. We've got a concert on April 20 with three other choral groups in the general area. And the first weekend in May is our Spotsylvanians concert.  I may try a sneak trip to Maryland that week to attend the Faithful Circle Quilters show. This is the first time in years I have not entered anything in the show.  But several of the out of town quilt buddies are coming in for the show so I hope to be able to see them.  

Now on to my goals for last week. 

4/1/24 

✅Finish binding on Spider Web quilt — done!

Bind ZigZag quilt — nothing done, sigh

Clean up sewing table — put a little bit away but no big progress

✅Make miscellaneous blocks — many finished

✅Start knitting new hat — almost done

✅Quilt customer top — done! 

I haven't done the label or taken pictures of the Spider Web quilt. I hope to do that this week. So pictures to come. 

Here are some of the miscellaneous blocks I made this week. First up blocks for Sharon as part of the FCQ Equilters group. I keep forgetting to take pictures earlier in the day so I have more natural light. Sigh!  I cut out 3 more blocks today that I'll sew over the week. 

Here's a close up of one. 

I'm just about out of this cute parrot fabric.⬆️  And here are my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks I finished this week. ⬇️  

I ran out of time so I don't have all of the purple ones done.  Missing about half of March meant I hadn't finished all of the yellow ones before we left on our vacation.  But I'm caught up and should be able to get the rest of the purples done this week. 

And finally, I did get my customer's quilt done.  It was a sweet little baby quilt. 

I used a cream So Fine thread and Ginger Heart edge to edge on it. It came out really nicely and she was happy. 

On to what I think I'm going to work on this week. 

4/8/24

Make label for Spider Web quilt

Attend mystery quilt class at Country Piecemakers

Machine embroider some scissor covers and quilt block key chains

Knit a couple of hats for From the Heart

Have fun sewing with Sharon 

Finish some more miscellaneous blocks

Bind ZigZag quilt

That is a really long list for me.  Hopefully I'll be able to check off some of the items this week even though I'm going to be busy all week.  Sharon is coming in sometime on Thursday and will stay to Monday morning.  We haven't seen each other since October so we are both looking forward to it. She is teaching the mystery class at Country Piecemakers so we'll be driving down to Powhatan early Saturday morning. 

Week Ending 4/7/2024

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/April =7/7 days 
• 15 minute days/2024 = 91/98 days
• Success rate = 92.85%

It's going to take a while to bring up my average success rate. Hopefully I'll have several weeks of 7  15 minutes stitching days per week.  I sure like the idea of stitching every day.  

On to my Panama/Costa Rica Travelog, Part 2. Still in Panama City. 

We were staying at the downtown Crowne Plaza in Panama City.  It had a lovely restaurant with indoor and poolside seating. The weather was HOT -mid to upper 90s most days.  After having a couple of meals poolside we realized they also had a buffet. (Duh!) But when we did have a meal from the buffet I noticed the wall behind the buffet.... 

Yep, I'd call those all quilt tiles. If I was highly motivated I could make them but don't hold your breath on that happening! 

But, back to our private tour of Panama City.  Our guide took us out to see the Pacific Ocean -- something I haven't seen for 5 years or so. 

Hum, I realize he has his Univ. of Southern California shirt on.  Side note -- we met in an English class there when we were sophomores.  And the rest is history! The big ship in the distance is waiting to go into the Panama Canal. 

Here we are as tourists -- 

This was at a marina.  Folks were feeding the fish and the sea gulls.  It was entertaining to watch the birds fight for their share. The fish were beautiful although I didn't get any pictures of either birds or fish. Along with the heat was a lot of humidity.  I have somewhat naturally curly hair and boy, howdy! It was curling like crazy. It's finally back under control now that we're home and I can blow dry it into submission! 

On our way back into the city we stopped to look at the Panama Canal.  In 2019 we were on a cruise that entered and went through the first lock from the Atlantic side.  There is more info about the Canal and pictures of going through the lock here.  

Ships generally have to wait for their turn to go through the canal. Here are quite a few waiting on the Pacific Ocean side. 

We did not tour the western end of the canal nor go to the visitor center -- it was packed and we had seen a lot of the information from our previous trip. 

I was able to get a great photo of the canal as we were driving across a bridge. 

If you look on the left you can see how the earth was cut to create the canal area.  It looks like steps. Today's ships keep getting larger and larger and the ships create bottlenecks for the canal.  Sometimes passage is only one way. (At least that is what we understood from our guide.) You can read more about the Panama Canal and watch some web cams at https://pancanal.com/en/history-of-the-panama-canal/  The history is interesting.  I somehow got on the site with prices -- one of the really big ships pays $300,000 toll with additional fees for tug boats and other services. (It looks complicated to me to determine all the fees!) 

That's it on vacation pictures. Up next is the first part of Costa Rica. Come back next Monday for some more vacation fun. You won't believe what I did! 

I'm linking up with: 

Oh Scrap

Stitching Stuff

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 3 - 31 - 2024

I'm back!  I missed last week because I was traveling and didn't want to drag my computer with me.  So over the next few weeks I'll share our family vacation to Panama and Costa Rica.  Just let me say we had a fabulous time. Our family included our son and his family and our daughter and her family, and us.  There were 10 of us although for a few days Pat and I were in Panama City by ourselves.  I'll be sharing some photos over the next few weeks.  

It was hard to figure out what I was doing before we left.  Here's the last goals list I posted on March 18th. 

3/18/2024

✅Finish another loom hat -- Done and turned into From the Heart.

Bind Spider Web quilt -- Started but not finished.

✅Bind 16 patch r,w,b quilt -- Done!

Bind Zigzag quilt. — Didn’t happen. 

✅Work on needlepoint scissors case -- Needlepoint part finished.

I made three loom hats over the weeks before we left. I turned those in before I left. 

Here's a picture of the needlepoint scissors case I've been working on since 2017. These come as kits and use embroidery floss instead wool. The designs are already made into the finished project, in this case a scissors case. You can see the excess canvas on the side and bottom.  I'll line mine at some point.  I need to see if I have some fabric I can use.  I'll keep you posted! 

Here's what I think I'll be working on this week.  I am not sure what I should be doing except the quilting for my neighbor. We'll see if I make progress on all fronts. 

4/1

Finish binding on Spider Web quilt

Bind ZigZag quilt

Clean up sewing table 

Make miscellaneous blocks 

Start knitting new hat 

Quilt customer top 

I don't have pictures of several quilts I've finished since the beginning of the year. Sadly it's suppose to rain for the next few days. Eventually I will get photos and share them. 

Even though I was gone for a week and a half I did get some stitching done during our vacation. So here's where I stand for the last two weeks of 15 Minutes to Stitch. I decided to continue the weekly reports so here are the last two weeks.  

Week Ending  3/24/2024

• 15 minute days/week = 5/7 days
• 15 minute days/March 21/24 days 
• 15 minute days/2024 = 80/84 days
• Success rate =95.2%

And for the Week Ending 3/31/2024

• 15 minute days/week = 3/7 days
• 15 minute days/March 25/31 days 
• 15 minute days/2024 = 84/91 days
• Success rate = 92.3%

Even though we were gone 10 days I was able to stitch on my needlepoint case several days, four days and at least 15 minutes, if not more.  

On to my travelog! Pat and I spent 2 days in Panama City.  We had a private tour of Old Town and some of the outlying areas.  First up is a pic of the tourists and a statue of Thomas Herrera. In November, 1840 he became the president of the State of Isthmus (now Panama) for a little over a year. Prior to this time Panama was part of Columbia and went back to being part of Columbia after that until 1903. 

Old Town, Panama has numerous old churches we were able to visit.  One was the Church of Saint Joseph. Although it is known for its beautiful Golden Altar I was taken with this piece of art.  I believe it was made with pottery and is displayed on the left side of the church.  You can learn more about this church and its beautiful altar at Famous Historic Buildings.

We had lunch at an outdoor area near a big fish market.  The area was pretty large and several different restaurants were operating there. From what I could tell one restaurant had the first three rows of tables, then there was another one with some rows and at least one other with another group of tables.  At the beginning of the rows there were staff from each restaurant trying to get the customer to sit in their section. Our guide said the restaurants served similar food.  We all enjoyed our lunch. 

I'll continue to share our trip but tonight I'm worn out.  We flew overnight Saturday and arrived at home at 6:00 am Sunday. I was able to get a couple of hours sleep on the plane and about 4 hours on Sunday. 

I'm linking with these parties. 

Oh Scrap

Stitching Stuff

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musing 

Goodnight All! 

**addendum -- evidently I was really tired... the date should be 4 - 1 - 2024 but I'm not messing with it now.  Sigh. **

Happy Quilting!  Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 2 - 17 - 2020

This was a very productive week on many fronts.

First off is the Valentine's Day "card" I made for my hubby -- a carrot cake (yum) with an attempt to make it pretty.  The colored sugar I was using wasn't fine enough to easily go through the doily I was using to make the design.  Oh well, I tried. 

I also finished piecing Diamond Chain blocks and have started sewing them into rows.  Here's the link to the Missouri Star You Tube video showing how to make the blocks. I've been working on these off and on for several months.  In the picture the bottom row has been sewn together. 

I'm hoping to get two quilts quilted this week.  One is a flannel quilt my friend Marlyn and I made from some cute monkey flannel she had.  The other is a table runner I made last year or so.  I'm hoping to get more of my finished tops quilted this year.  The only issue with that is I just don't have a lot of backing fabric hanging around to use.  I'm hoping to piece some fabric together but I'll probably end up buying more backing fabric.   Sigh.

On to the Panama Canal portion of our vacation.  Our cruise ship was going through just the first lock of the Canal to give passengers the experience.  I woke up early to see what was going on -- probably around 6 am.  It was gorgeous at that time.  A tug came along side.  I believe this is when the pilot boarded the ship and a narrator who explained what we were seeing.   

In the distance you can see the Atlantic Bridge that spans the waters of the Atlantic ocean as it leads into the Panama Canal. 

You can see a few other people were on their verandas watching the action.  I took a slew of pictures but will only show you a few of them.  

Prior to passing through the locks we watched and listened to movies and presentations about the locks and the history.  From 1881 when the French first attempted to build the canal until it was completed in 1914 over 25,000 workers lost their lives.  Many of the deaths were attributed to malaria and yellow fever.  Eventually, Dr. Gorgas, a U.S. army doctor, identified the spread of those diseases to mosquitos and began the successful campaign to control mosquitos. 

As each ship heads into a lock  locomotives, called mules, are attached to control its progress through the canal.  There are two fore and two aft on each side of the ship. 

Below you can see a mule at the front and the track that undulates with the land rising with the lock. 

This picture was taken looking straight down from our balcony.  From left to right you can see the deck of the balcony, the balcony rail, part of the black hull, a little water and then the side of the lock.  There is not all that much room between the ship and the lock.  Needless to say, I was not hanging over the balcony railing very long to take this picture


We exited the lock at Lake Gatun.  Many of the passengers had excursions to see more about Panama and the canal.  Only those of us who had excursions were able to disembark.  While we took our tour, the ship went back through the Panama Canal to Colon, Panama where we would meet up with the ship once it docked.  

I was lucky to get this picture of the ship as it started it's journey back through Gatun lock. Although it was cloudy the weather was comfortable for our tour of the Rainforest, Gatun Lake and Live the Experience Panama Canal. 

First up was a drive over the new Agua Clara Locks.  Then we went to the Panama Canal Expansion Visitor Center.  These new locks created a new line of traffic that allowed bigger ships to use the canal.  The new locks opened in June of 2016.  They were built with holding tanks that conserved some of the water that was used to raise and lower the ships.  

We enjoyed a movie, a snack, the view of the locks and a nature walk.  I'll be sharing what we saw on the nature walk and the rest of the excursion for the next blog.  I hope you are enjoying my vacation vicariously.  We had a great time, that's for sure. 

I'm linking up with my normal Monday linky parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making and Design Wall Monday.  Take some time to check out what folks are working on this week. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie