Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010

Wow, what happened to the decade? I can't believe I'm saying that because it makes me sound really old. I remember freaking out slightly at the thought of 2000 because I would be 34 and at that time I was convinced the world was going to end. Tomorrow at the stroke of midnight it will be 2010. That just seems strange. Good to know that the world didn't end and I've increased in age ever since (bodily, not mentally because I refuse to grow up).

I've decided, after surveying the Girl Cave, that I'm going to partake in a challenge being thrown out by Bari at My Crazy Quilting Life. Bari is proposing a Quilters Accountability (QA) Challenge. The idea is like some of the others, in that UFOs should be finished. The idea I like is that in a sense it will be like a Weight Watcher's Group. Everyone has a goal of what they want to finish or accomplish and the rest of the group will be the cheerleaders. I think I need more voices than the little one in my head, that I ignore quite often, to help me finish up some projects. Ok, so go check out Bari's post and see for your self.

So I can't believe I'm going to do this, but I have a huge confession. Umm, well .... I have a lot of unfinished projects. And not only do I have a lot of unfinished things, I have bought a LOT of fabric with the intentions of making something very special. Meaning I have the fabric and the pattern and now it's all sitting in a BIG Ziploc bag waiting for me to do something with it. That's what I want to get control of in 2010. I want to empty some of those Ziploc bags. But before empyting the bags, I need to / have to / must finish up some projects that are just sitting.

My first goal is going to be to take a minimum of 15 minutes each day to sit down and sew. If I get more than 15 great, but to take 15 no matter what. I'm going to count that as me time, recharging time, de-stressing from work time. I think this is realistic because it will not only be a good thing for me, but for the family because I will have a few minutes to myself instead of snapping the minute I walk in the door.

My second goal is the UFOs that are currently sitting in the girl cave.

1 HORSE QUILT - The majority of the blocks are done. It just needs some attention and I should be able to finish it up and be able to move onto the next thing. I'm scheduling this quilt top for a February finish.

2 STRIP (BOM) QUILT - This one I'm really wrestling with. This project started at the beginning of my quilting career. It's a scary site. Some of the blocks aren't even close to being the size the pattern said. Some of the strips are either wavy or too big, but I put them together. I think I might need to this to the bottom of my list, but get it off the list in 2010.

3 HAND DYED STARS - A block of the month that I spent far to much money on. I've started it, but as usual, gotten side tracked with the project of the moment. I really need to make an effort to get it done and then pay someone to quilt it.

4 BIG CIRCLES - This was my attempt at learning how to set circles into a block. Cool concept, not as easy I thought it would be. For this, I think I just need to regroup and make this top a wall hanging and move along. Again, not much needed to finish up this project, so it will be a February finish.

5 PINK RIC RACK - Why or why can't I finish this. It's all together, but is just too small. I only need one more row. This is going to be the first on my list. I will complete the top by January 9th, no ifs ands or butts (or is that but).

6 ALIEN APPLIQUE - This is my first attempt at using the embroidery machine to embellish a quilt. I don't applique by hand but thought that doing it on the embroidery machine would be simple. It is, but time consuming. I only have 3 or 4 aliens to finish and then the top will be done. I vow, this quilt top will be done by January 16th.

7 SHEEP - Oh brother. I have great ideas, they just don't work so well when I start cutting things up. I'm going to enlist the help of my new Go Fabric Cutter to help me with this project. I again vow to have this quilt top done by January 27th.

8 CRAYON QUILT - COLORING - thankfully this project isn't too far along. I have blocks that I started to color to make a wall hanging. I think I will continue to color, but put it on the calendar for a March finish.

9 STRIPPY PURSE - In order to finish this project, I'm going to have to sign up for some sewing time at the local quilt shop. I have a phobia (one of many) of zippers. The zipper is the hold up. I will check the shops class schedule to find out when I can sign up for sewing time.

10 JACKET - I got the coolest pattern for a quilted jacket / parka. I started the front of the jacket and then decided it looked horrible so I regrouped. This will be another shop event because there is a very large zipper on the front of the jacket. I vow to finish this jacket. It will not beat me.

11 THANKSGIVING TABLE RUNNERS - All are cut out, just need to finish sewing and quilting. This is going on the list for a February finish.

12 HALLOWEEN TABLE RUNNERS - Same as Thanksgiving runners, just need to finish sewing and quilt. Nothing extravagant, just fun. Get them done and MOVE ALONG. February finish.

13 PAPER PIECED NEW YORK BEAUTY - This is the coolest quilt top, but dang it takes a LONG time to get all the piece parts done. I'm going to keep working at it, but I think I'm going to push for a June finish.

14 SPICE JAR QUILT TOP - I can't think of a good name for this one. It's a strip of the month (SOM) that I started. It just didn't seem big enough. All of the pieces are in a bag somewhere in the girl cave. I need to find the bag and put this on the list for a late February early March finish.

I will share the list of purchased / not started projects later. The above list was just a bit too scary for me. Typing it out makes me want to run to the Girl Cave and get busy. The other list that I will share later is the list of tops that need to be quilted and finished. I think I can be more motivated on these 2 lists, if I finish up some of the UFOs so I don't feel like they are looming over my head.

As part of my own effort to help stay on track and focused, I'm going to make a big poster that I can hang up on the wall in the Girl Cave. I can cross things off when they are done and my list will always be handy. It will also help me to focus when I think that life might get in the way of my progress.

Thanks Bari for your challenge. I'm ready - GO TEAM!

Merry Christmas

I think we are going to have a white Christmas. It's sleeting right now and in typical Kansas City new fashion, we are in it. They are saying anywhere from 4 - 12 inches. Maybe we can use the sled that someone got last year for Christmas.

The munchies are being prepared for tonight and we are getting ready to settle in for our annual movie fest - Christmas Story, Scrooged, Rudolph.

I hope everyone has a Very Merry Christmas.

Glad for Friends...and Wine

Spent part of the evening over at friend's house. She is in the mists of a divorce. The kids are visiting the Grandparents so the house was pretty empty (it actually echoed). I took 4 bottles of wine and we polished off 2 (her head should hurt worse than mine - thank goodness). There is nothing more fun than to sit and laugh with a friend. It felt like being in high school / college again. I think we safely solved a lot of the worlds problems, well.... hers too. Why is it that you forget to laugh as an adult? Why is it that you think you can't act like a kid? I'm so glad for for friends.

Helped Finish

My neighbor made a t-shirt quilt for her daughter for Christmas. I helped her finish it up by doing the quilting and binding. For someone who wasn't too sure about what she was doing, I think she did a great job. I hope her daughter is as excited about the gift.


I used Judy L's binding technique to finish the binding on the machine. Normally I would hand stitch the binding, but because there wasn't enough time, I went the machine route. I'm pretty impressed with the technique. I only had to go back and catch a few sections that I missed. Not to shabby.

I probably won't post again before Christmas. Have a very Merry Christmas! Hope Santa brings everything on your list.

Great Fun - Cheap

Ok, I've found a new site to have fun with. Picnik, check it out. I had fun playing with pictures of the dog. Hours and hours of cheap entertainment for me. I use Picasa to edit pictures now, but think that I might be switching. Photoshop just seems far too intimidating. It's probably not and with practice I could figure it out. Point and click - yep that's right up my alley.








Have a good night.

Where Does Time Go???

Again I ask, where does time go? Is there a way to get some of it back? I really would like a couple more hours for fun stuff in the day. I can dream can't I?

I've been busy. I'm not sure what my deal is but I'm feeling rather inclined / compelled / something to finish up projects. For me that's a good thing since I have pile upon pile of stuff that needs to be finished.

Pictures are out of order, but here goes:

Shiner found 2 freshly quilted quilts to hang out on. I need to cut bindings and put those on and they will be done. 2 down about 15 more to be quilted. I really wish I were kidding. I put a 3rd top on the frame Saturday, but after one pass I didn't like how the quilting looked, so I'm ripping a little each night before bed. Great way to calm the mind and fall sound asleep. Side note - I think the cat is still recovering from his hectic weekend. 2 little girls chasing him around the house, dressing him up in a tutu, putting a collar on him and trying to walk him like the dog. Probably a little more stress than he needed or wanted.

A little collage of Christmas embroidery items. I'm making holiday towels and hope to have them done this week. Still working on Christmas ornaments. I think I will make a whole family of gingerbread people, as well as snowmen.
Ho Ho Ho is on a blanket that I got from Wal-Mart. I volunteered to make some items to go into a raffle / auction for Ronald McDonald House as part of our annual fundraiser. I think that some Christmas gifts that we are giving might look surprisingly similar. I can't believe how easy it was to do the embroidery. I love Five Star Designs.

Another donation sweatshirt for the little girl Grace's class is sponsoring for Christmas. Grace was so impressed that I knew how to spell the little girl's name. Again, Five Star Fonts.

Saturday I went to a seminar. Walter Floriani was the speaker and boy did he. What a great educator and speaker. His family stories were amazing. The picture above is Walter showing a page from his grandfather's sample book. The samples he shared were embroidered lace from the 1920s through 40s. Amazing details, given the technology of the time. Walter walked the group through all of his stabilizers that are on the market. Wow, very very informative.

Well, that's all for tonight. I'm off to bed early tonight. Have a great night.

Accomplishments

I didn't feel like I accomplished much over the long weekend, but when I look at some of the pictures, I really did.

BEWARE - Picture heavy post

2 snowman ornaments. I have about 20 more to make. The bottoms need to be finished, but that doesn't take much time.
Several holiday towels that I'm going to put out on my Artfire site.




Donation gift for a little girl our Kindergarten teacher adopted for Christmas. I'm going to work on another shirt this evening.
Christmas Tumbler using the tutorial I found on Amanda - Crazy Mom Quilts blog. I think I'm finally getting the hang of how to lay the pieces together so they come out straight. Lots more tumblers cut and ready to sew.
My Black & Red top is finished and I think it ROCKS. I used an idea from Quilt Dad's blog. He did a tutorial for Moda and I took liberties with it and came up with my own rendition.

Strip quilt using the cutest Christmas fabric. It's little snowmen and big ones too. The words are so cool - Coal, winter, frosty, scarf, Mittens, etc. I found the fabric at Hancocks. I don't normally use their fabric to make quilts, but I couldn't resist. Added a few pieces from my stash and called it good. This is my rendition of a pattern from Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville site.


I didn't take a picture of the tree or the lights in front of the house that were also put over the long weekend.

Like I said, looking at the pictures made me change my mind on my accomplishments.

Oh and my scraps made it to their new home. It's so funny when someone sorts them and takes pictures, they look totally different. I can't wait to see the quilts they go into. Check it out. :-)

I'm off to read to a small one and then go back to my Tumblers. Have a great night.

Friday...YIPPEEE

I'm off today, so I'm rather excited. I have all sorts of plans. No shopping for me.

1. Dry Cleaners to pick up the mountain of clothes I left before the Turkey Holiday.
2. Library, with my best girlfriend, to get some new reading materials.
3. Little time at the park enjoying the sunshine.
4. Sew
5. Sew
6. Sew
7. Quilt a quilt
8. Pick up the girl cave because I really can't safely walk through my area
9. Do some Christmas embroidery projects
   
10. Sew

Let's see how I do with that list.

Still Have a Crush....

picture from donny.com

After all these years, I still have my silly crush on Donny Osmond. It was awesome to see him win Dancing with the Stars. My friends at work laugh at me because I have Donny on my iPod. Come on now, doesn't everyone have Donny on their iPod?????

Grace watched DWTS with me last night and announced at the end of the show - Mom, he has a really cute face. YIKES, she's 5 and isn't supposed to notice cute boys. I had to share with her that I was convinced I was going to marry Donny when I was younger. I had a Donny doll, the Donny coloring books, the purple socks, etc. Grace's response: Mom, I'm glad you picked Dad.

Me too Grace, me too!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Tattoos

I really haven't lost it with that title. Well maybe I have, who knows. Anyhow, I've been pondering tattoos lately. I think it's because my dentist, also a friend, has been tattooed. He's the last person I would expect to get the whole arm kind of tattoo. My friend has one on her back, and well, I made a few comments about it due to it's location.

My husband has a tattoo, I guess it would be two. When he decided to get it he said it really had to be something that spoke about him. It couldn't be just anything. He put considerable thought into it and drew his own design, with help of some fabric I had. Because my husband likes HOT food, he had an habanero pepper put on his leg.
So on the other side of his leg he has the chemical symbol for capsaicin, the stuff that makes peppers hot. The nice tattoo artist informed my husband that he knew why chiles were so hot. It's because there's so many f***ing H's in the chemical symbol. There really are a lot of H's (which stands for HOT, HOT, HOT).
If I were to tattoo my body, I think I would have to use my husband's logic. My tattoo would have to say something about me. Given the love of quilting that seems to have taken over my life, that's the only thing I kept going back to.

So there is Karen's tattoo, which is very cool, but I think only she could pull it off.

There is the temporary tattoo from Block Party Studios, but again, I don't think it's quite me.

In my quest for more ideas, I started surfing and ended up finding some tattoos out on Flickr. OMG, those people are serious. I have to say that I'm still searching for that perfect tattoo. Even if I find it or create it, I will most definitely have to be three sheets to the wind to get it put on my body.

Check out some of the art on Flickr.


EDITED TO ADD THIS:

Jenny, aka Tula Pink, is sporting a new tattoo. Her's screams this is ME!.

Scraps and Trade

My last post was about the scrap bin. Well I'm happy to say it's on it's way to Vesuviusmama of My Patchwork Life.


I did make a trade though with V from Bumble Beans. She sent me a box and I sent her a box. It's fun to see how different people's tastes are. There was some fabric in the box that was exactly the same as what's in my stash. There were others that weren't even close. I vow to make a scrap quilt out of my new stash. I've been seeing a lot of spider web quilts, so my first thought is that's what I'm doing.

Grace was at the table when I was opening my box. When she saw it was fabric, the first thing out of her mouth was, Mom I know you are going to share that with me. Sorry kiddo, this stash is MINE. Great way to teach a child about sharing, huh?

Tonight Grace brought a little girl home with her to spend the night. I have been listening to whispers and giggles the entire night. The girls made their own pizza for dinner. Right now they are in the tub because for some reason they thought they needed to take a bath. The tent is up in the bedroom and loaded with blankets and pillows for sleeping. I'm truly amazed at how well they are getting along. I probably just jinxed myself saying that.

I'm hoping to get some sewing done this weekend. I vow to finish the black and red quilt top, embroider some Christmas towels and work on another Christmas quilt top. My goal is to be ready for some serious machine quilting over Thanksgiving weekend.

Until later...

Scraps

I did some serious sewing today. I also did some serious cleaning and weeding. Much to my amazement, I have a HUGE box of scraps (20+ pounds) that I'm willing to part with. If anyone is interested, PLEASE contact me. I would be happy to share with anyone interested in taking the whole lot since my container is overflowing. The fabric runs the gambit, from kids to reproduction.

If you would like me to mail the scraps, I only ask for shipping money. If you live in the KC area, I would be happy to meet you somewhere.

Let me know.

Kindergarten Friends

This is Grace's new friend from Kindergarten. She came over Saturday to play. The minute she was in the door the girls changed into their princess / cowgirl outfits. I LOVE this picture. It screams I haven't a care in the world but to have fun and drive around in a Barbie Jeep.

This picture cracks me up. The girls went out to help the neighbor rake his leaves. Who wouldn't love help from a Princess and Cowgirl????

Do you ever wonder what happened to your friends from Kindergarten? I do. I had one that parents nicely referred to as Chatty Cathy. Her name was Cathy Shuffert. She moved to Twinsburg, Ohio when we were in 3rd or 4th grade. Twinsburg wasn't that far from where we lived, but I never saw her again. With the advent of Facebook, I've tried to look her up, but without any luck.

Have a great day!

Design Wall Monday

Oops, it's Tuesday. Oh well. Good intentions were to get this posted yesterday. No such luck though. The first picture is from fabric and a pattern I picked up in Ohio when visiting my dad. The second picture is some fabric that is printed so that it's 2 1/2 inch strips. I didn't piece other than sewing the sides of the triangles together. Again I have discovered that I'm truly triangle challenged. There is another pile of blocks off to the side of the picture that I cut the wrong direction, so they won't play nice with the ones in the picture. Guess I will be making 2 quilts. :-)

Have a great day.