Happy New Year

Two more days and then back to work on Tuesday.  It has been busy during the time off preparing for Christmas, doing some much-needed things around the house, physical therapy appointments, and just life in general.  Yesterday I decided to get serious about getting some work done that I had brought home and stayed up until 2:30 this morning working.  One pile done, about four more to go.  I'm going to get busy in a few minutes as soon as my coffee is ready and start back in and try to work all day.  Tomorrow I'll go in to work for about six hours and hopefully after that there will be will a lot done and much less stress going back.

Then -- tomorrow night it will be time to start getting my 2012 quilt projects lined up.  There are a few unfinished projects that must be attended to first and then deciding what to start next.  Of course, there's always my current 12-month embroidery project and the GFG has been ignored for too long so those will be worked on while watching TV.  If nothing else, I hope to make this a productive quilty year -- no resolutions just dreams and goals!

I hope everybody has a health and happy new year.

Happy New Year

I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas and will have a wonderful new year.

Joey - back from the groomer

Joey, back from visiting his girlfriends at the groomer's.  All I have to say is, "Do you want to go see your girlfriends?" and he is at the door ready to go.  Thankfully, he's always just as ready to come home, all sweet-smelling and looking good.

Finished

I finished the embroidery of the Vintage Postcard last night; now I have to get the pillow form for it and finish it up.  I have two big projects to trace, just need to decide which one to start first.  I hope to get some done this week, but we'll see how it goes.

Missing

I'm missing my needle and thread -- not literally missing, but longingly missing.  I haven't done anything in a week and a half due to taking care of some health things, organizing/cleaning out around the house, and not being happy with how my latest project was going.  I think it's time to take it out of the bag and look at it again and either decide if it's a total bust or seeing it's OK, that it was my mood of the day the last time I looked at it.

Vintage Postcard

A new embroidery project -- it will be a pillow in a few days.  I have to add the borders and finish just a little bit on the top.  I hadn't marked fabric or done embroidery in a long time so I'm hoping the next one is traced a little better and my stitches are more even.  I think embroidery is my favorite thing to do!

Progress

I finished a quilt top from the Jelly Roll Quilts book.  It's called "Garden Trellis."  For me, this was a new way of cutting the blocks and it was fun.  I have the backing piece and might get that done today so it can go to the quilter soon.

The Redwork Christmas is a total finish with the binding added.  I can't wait until December to hang it.

Friday night and yesterday were marathon sewing events here and I made great progress on my next top.  Now to cut all those sewn-together strips into blocks and start sewing again.  I'm really excited about this one and hope to have it put together quickly.

A close-up of one of the placemats

Fall Placemats Done - Almost

Fall placemats that still need the opening stitched and then some some stitch-in-the-ditch to finish them off.

GFG Progress

Progress to date on my Grandmother's Flower Garden

These blocks were purchased from Ebay a few years back and I got them assembled into a top.  Had a hard time getting perfect seam matching but finally got it together.  If I had it to do over again, I would have taken it to a class and had them help me with getting it put together better.  Next time!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to one and all.  May your day be filled with family, friendship, and love.

Lady Antebellum - Hello World (Unofficial Music Video)

Thank you, Hodges7, for this YouTube video.  Be sure and read the credits at the end!

A new finish (almost)

Done except for the quilting.  I will most likely have to wait until after Christmas to find somebody to quilt it, but it's one more out of the UFO pile!

Close-up of one of the blocks.

An Awesome Giveaway by an Even Awesomer Lady

Vicky, over at LAQuilter, is having an awesome quilt kit giveaway on Thanksgiving morning.  The quilt is beautiful and includes applique.  Check it out for her reason to give away this kit, but don't enter the giveaway -- I want this to be my first applique project so if you enter, it lessens my chances!  But seriously, enter the giveaway, read her blog, fall in love with Penny, and good luck!

Yea - A Finish

This got done the day after Halloween -- but that's not too bad since the embroidery for it was done about 5 years ago.  The pictures were taken from either the internet or a coloring book, I really don't remember now.  And, of course, the orange on the bottom one bled when I ironed it after the embroidery was done  was an attempt at adding a shadow effect.  I don't think it's that crooked in real life -- I just hung it on a nail on the wall (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

Fall

I love this time of year!  Should be cooler weather this week at least until the weekend when it goes back into the 90s but in the meantime will be loving the coolness.

Got some more background whites added to my GFG and am almost ready to attach the 3rd flower.  Yesterday I washed and ironed fat quarters to get started on some fall placemats.  Haven't decided on the pattern yet but I have an idea of what I'm going to do.  I'm getting in the mood to sew, sew, sew.

Looking forward to that first cut on the Go cutter that came in last week.

Hot, Hot, Hot

It has been extremely hot the past few days -- 116 degrees yesterday afternoon.  Of course, the electrical powers that be shut off all air conditioners from 3:15 - 6:15 at the hottest time of day.  So looking forward to fall weather, homemade chili and soups, gingerbread, and all that comes along with cooler temperatures. 

Yea

Finally -- I started putting together my GFG with the white background.  It seems to be going much faster than making the individual flowers but I may not think that in a couple of weeks.  I already found my "Amish" piece -- one wrong white piece, but I figure after a couple of washings it might not show.  I've really enjoyed making this but need to get back to machine piecing and finish some bindings now that the weather is cool enough in the evenings to have the quilt on your lap.