Day # 20 (A Hobby of Mine)

A hobby of mine?  This was another HARD one.  I have LOTS of interests!  My problem is not lack of hobbies, my problem is lack of TIME to pursue them!

I love to do so many things!  Honestly, I simply do NOT understand "boredom".  How can anyone ever be bored in this wonderful world full of so many interesting and fun things to learn and do???!

OK... so before I get off on a tangent about that, back to the post at hand!
My main passion is probably quilt-making.  And if you click here, you can see my earlier blog post about my quilts. 

I love making quilts because:

(# 1) I love quilts.  I just DO.  I always have.  I love wrapping up in them, I love sleeping under them, I love the look and the feel of quilts and ...

(# 2) Quilting uses fabric and I am a fabric junkie.  I have what we quilter's affectionately refer to as "a stash".  A very big stash.  This means yards and yards of fabric, in a rainbow of colors and myriads of patterns... just waiting to be used.  I love looking at, touching, and buying beautiful fabric.   To me, quilting is like painting with fabric.

Here are a few quilts I have made that are not pictured in the other post:

This next quilt is one of my favorites... I made it for my nephew, Alex.  I told him there was love in every stitch, and there was!

I am working on a new one right now, for our queen size guest bed. 
Bentley likes sleeping on the pieces!















Yes, I'll  definitely have to de-furr it before I can sew it together... but that's OK!

OK, so time to move on to Hobby #2.  I also love (decorative) painting... and here are some things I have painted:

I like to paint fruit.   This is a wooden top to a neat tin-punch basket:

More fruit.  What you can't really see in the photo is the light metallic "shimmer" on the fruit.    That was a fun technique.








An old shoe shine kit, cleaned up and "fancified"!

I also LOVE folk art.  This was a fun project.   It's actually just a cardboard box; I painted and faux-finished the bottom of the box to look like aged leather.

Another fun project.  "Apple Orchard" on a wooden Bentwood box..

I'll paint on anything... even old crocks! 

 Painting little cottages is fun... and I went through a "birdhouse" phase!  ;o)

A couple of stools I painted:

The top:

 The top of the second stool:

This sign is pretty long, almost 3 feet.  

Another sign I made.  (My life's motto in 3 words!)

One of my favorite pieces... a sailboat with a painted canvas sail and flag.  I also faux-finished the bottom of the boat (it was just a plain block of wood.)
























Crackled herbs and seeds sign, hanging in our guest bedroom:

Another favorite.  Looks like it's painted on old vintage wormwood, right?  Wrong!  Just a well-distressed and "antiqued" new piece of pine!  ;o)

A yellow rose.  I am actually pretty proud of the "water droplets" -- I think they look nicely realistic. 

Well, I could go on and on showing you stuff I have painted.... but I think you get the idea, right?!

I also like to make jewelry... fun, beaded costume jewelry.  I have a huge collection of beads in all shapes and sizes.  (I like to collect beads, too!)  Some earrings I have made: (I love dangly, french hook earrings... always have!)

My favorite bracelets to make are simple stretchy bracelets made with beads and silver accents.  I wear three of  these bracelets together A LOT.  Soooooo cute - and match almost everything!

I also like to "stamp" and scrapbook.  I have boxes of rubber stamps and inks and other supplies.  I make cards and memory books.  I can also use scraps of fabrics and beads in some of my projects.  As you can see, all of my hobbies have started overlapping!!!

Some cards (with matching envelopes) I have made:
Cards are fun, QUICK 'N' EASY projects!  And so much fun to send.
(The card at the very top of this post is another one I made.)

Here's a sampling of some scrapbooking I have done.
One for Boo... (Yes, my cat has a scrapbook.  Oh, quit laughing, it's not THAT funny!!!!)  ;o)

A few pages from it:

A vacation scrapbook I made from a cruise my husband and I were on a couple of years ago:

A few pages from it:

I like to cross-stitch, although I haven't done a project in years.  I've done some pretty cute ones, though.
Here's one that hangs in our downstairs guest bedroom:

I have also done stained glass, ceramics and pottery, VERY fun.  


I love home decorating, and scouring flea markets and garage sales for fun finds that I can repair, strip and refinish, or re-paint, or otherwise make functional and beautiful.

Here's a darling small dresser that I found at a flea market for $2.00.  A couple of coats of red paint, and some stenciled stars, then an all-over *distressing* , and voila' !

I like to cross-country ski.

I like to roller blade.  (Sorry, no pictures of that!!!)

I like to travel.  (Is that a "hobby"?)  (There will more info on that in a future post... so please stay tuned!)

I also like to read.  Mostly murder mysteries and whodunnits, but I'll read almost anything.

Sooo---  as you can see, there is NO shortage of things I love to do.  I just need more time to be able to them!

Travel - COSTA RICA!

We just got home from a WONDERFUL week-long vacation in Costa Rica. We traveled with two of our best friends, sharing a lovely condo in Jaco Beach, which is world-famous for its surfing.









Costa Rica is a WONDERFUL country. First of all, it is breathtakingly BEAUTIFUL... the mountains, the sea, the beaches, and of course the amazing plant and animal life. Think Jurassic Park (parts of the movies were filmed there) -- without the dinosaurs, of course! ;o)









(VERY interesting fun fact: Costa Rica is the only country in the western hemisphere without a national military. The country maintains a diplomatically neutral stance, based on ideals of peace and pacifism. Without defense spending, the government is able to use its tax revenue for universal health care, social security, and free education. Pretty cool, huh? Who knew?!)

I loved MANY things about Costa Rica. The people (who refer to themselves as "Ticos") are extremely friendly. They love their country, and they value their tourist industry - and it shows. And while the typical standard of living there may be more humble than we tend to think of here in the US, there was NOT the poverty of some other countries we have been to, vendors were not pushy, and we never saw even one homeless or begging person.

And OH! The food was very delicious. Again, largely "humble" food, perhaps... but what those talented Ticos can do with fresh, simple ingredients like rice, beans, fish, pork, tortillas, plantains, sauces and salsas was amazing!

We loved eating where the locals ate; small, inexpensive roadside eateries called "sodas" were our favorites.





And have I mentioned the fruit smoothies?! Oh YUM! Had one every day. (Mango-strawberry was my favorite, but I think I tried them all!)


And the "Arroz con Leche" (rice pudding), with cinnamon and cloves... simply delicious! Had one of those every day, too! ;o)


And OH! How could I forget... the COFFEE! YUM! Costa Rica "is" coffee! We really looked forward to our morning cup... and our evening cup. And OK, maybe a cup or two in the afternoon... ;o) Seriously, the coffee was TO. DIE. FOR. Yeah, I'd go back just for that!





OK...so besides EATING (and drinking!), what did we DO in Costa Rica?

We spent a day at Manuel Antonio National Park. While we were there we took a nature hike with a guide who had an unbelievable knack at spotting things, like iguanas, monkeys, birds, butterflies, spiders, snakes, raccoons, sloths and more.

I LOVED the monkeys, they are so comical!




Gymnast monkey showing off all his tricks!


Colorful crab:


A "Laughing Falcon":






This guy was BIG! EEK!


The markings on this sloth's back mean it is a male.


We swam in the ocean and jumped the waves like a couple of kids.


I took a short nap on the beach and woke up with a start as a big, fat iguana ran right across my legs!!! ACK!




LOVED this road sign on the way into the park:

("SLOW! [Watch for:] People, raccoons, sloths, monkeys" !)

We also spent a day being brave and daring ;o) doing a zipline and waterfalls canopy tour. Oh maaaaaaaaan, I LOVE stuff like that! Strap me into a harness and send me sailing high through the tree-tops and I am in HEAVEN! (Literally!) ;o) *Wheeeeeeeeee!*


Still wearing our ziplining gear, but taking a break to enjoy the beauty of one of many Costa Rica's gorgeous waterfalls:


With our friends on one of the suspension bridges:


We went horseback riding in the mountains one afternoon, and watched the sunset from a beautiful look-out point.

My horse's name was Picaro:

Guess what Picaro means in Spanish?
It means "mischievous, naughty, sly, clever, rogue, rascal"!

And oh yeah, he was all of those things -- and more! He had a mind of his own, and he wasn't much interested in hearing what I had to say. In fact, Picaro pretty much scared *THE CRAP!* out of me a couple of times, and I am not easily scared! The path was rocky, twisty-turny and STEEP... and in order to save a couple of steps he'd frequently get TOO DARN CLOSE to the edge of the mountain, and I am not gonna lie to you - I was terrified. There were no guard rails, and it was a LOOOOOONG WAY down! I was really, really happy to get back on terra firma, let me tell you. I think I'll turn in my chaps, thank you very much; an equestrienne I am NOT!

The boys went spear-fishing one morning, we girls went shopping. We ate out and we cooked in.

We spent lazy days sight-seeing and checking out the area, and enjoyed several night-swims in the pool at our condo.


We walked on the beach...


We enjoyed the gorgeous sunsets...






...and we hated to see the week come to an end.

It was a wonderful winter getaway that we will always remember, and we definitely recommend Costa Rica!