Happy Belated Holidays!

I hope yours was just as peaceful and wonderful as mine was!

I think my holiday kicked off nicely with our shop's party!  We had a great time playing bunco and "Dirty Santa" and I came away with a huge lot of stuff.  We were suppose to bring a white elephant gift wrapped.  In the bag I picked and ended up with I had 3 knick-nacks, a large-weird turtle cookie jar (which I'm going to put in my garden in the spring) and a small beautiful completed quilt that screams me :)  It's funny to see how many folks tossed in UFO's into their elephant bags - I thought better of doing that, but next year I might just get rid of a few that way :)

My husband drove from Maryland and brought with him our two sons and our youngest son's girlfriend of 4 years (and their adorable little weiner dog, Linguine - hey, they are both chefs, perfect name their puppy!).  We spent time with family here in Tennessee and spent Christmas day opening presents, chilling and bubbling with new excitement - - when my son proposed to his girlfriend!  It will be a long engagement at least 18 months, but there's a ring on her finger and everyone's a buzz.

We also took family portraits for the first time!  Kinda sad, but this time we made sure hubby and me were in them as well.  A very talented and nice gentleman, Ben who owns Studio Benjamin came over to my little apartment and we ended outside in brrrrrrr-ing light wind and a beautiful setting sun behind us. Hope to share a few of the images in a week or so!

This past two weeks have been a whirlwind of new friends, family and emotions.  It was most stress-less holiday ever and the most rewarding.

My daughters and I bowled in the New Year last night at our local bowling lanes.

I figure the best way to share my past few weeks is through this random slide show.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

I have done a little bit of sewing here and there, so those images will be shared over the next few days.

Happy New Year to you!!

Holiday busy-ness

Well we are now in the full swing of December.  The weather really has changed, the stores are crazy, and family traditions kick into high gear now.

I spent the early part of the weekend doing my cards, and I have a few left over - who would like to be apart of our family tradition?  Just comment and I'll respond with my email so you can forward me your address.  I haven't done cards in several year, so I'm happy to have it back as a regular tradition.

Along with cards this weekend, I did finish our tree skirt and did another day of simple baking.  Making Oatmeal Scotchies and Ginger Snaps!  I have never made them before, but mmmmm, mmm, yum.  They turned out awsome.  I also discovered how wonderful it is to have metal cabinets doors, LOL all this time I use my counter top to hold my recipes --DOH!


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

This week, I have some sewing to do for my customer and also plan to catch up on my Block of the Months programs! And then Friday night sit and sew!!

Have a great Monday and week everyone!

December has arrived!

And it arrived in style here in Eastern Tennessee...with a light flurry and freezing temperatures...brrrrrrr....

Well, I took my day off and decided to bake for my kids (and a few tins to hand out to folks).  I spent most of the day in my very tiny kitchen having a blast making cookies, fudge and cleaning up!
I made Dipped Oreos - taking Heidi's lead from her blog, but I used the holiday Oreos and went with the crush candy canes on top.  Then I made some Peanut Butter Kisses, some peanut butter fudge and some peppermint-chocolate bark.   Needless to say my knees are hurting (maybe that has something to do with the Wii bowling too :)) but my girls are all sugared up and I have things to share!


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Well, I didn't get much sewing done today, I know this is getting boring - but I did add my inner border to my tree skirt.

Gifts started to arrive at my doorstep. Looks like I might be doing some wrapping today!

Wednesday Stuff

I really want to take a creative writing class.  I want to be able to blog creatively that sparks inspiration and conversation.  I have always wanted to be able to communicate more effectively, but haven't found the time to take that class.  It's like the class I've always wanted to take on photography as well.  Once day.

I finished my Round 5 of my Stay At Home Robin, I had 5 hours to spare in November and today Kate has posted Round 6, so I'll add to this later today:

I also finished sewing together the main body of my new tree skirt and started pulling stuff from my stash to add borders!  I'm hoping to quilt it this afternoon as well, my poor tree is still nakkid!!

I have always decorated my outside door and over that past 10 years done it with red foil wrapping paper---do you know how hard that has been to find some years.  I have taken up stocking up on red foil!  I normally hand a wreath or my last 4 years big bells - but my new door is too thick to use a hanger on, so I had to be creative and added ribbons and a bow this year.  It's really pretty from the parking lot - but I haven't seen anyone else decorate their apartment door.....we kinda stand out :)

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, winter has arrived here in East Tennessee.  We might see a flurry or two this morning!  What a perfect way to start off December!

Swapping on the internet. . .

Since I have moved in July, I hardly get any mail. So, when the package comes at the beginning of the month for my new towel (from my 12 month towel swap) I get all excited and so do my girls!

Yesterday I received my December towel from Deb and I just LOVE IT!

I don't think I ever posted a picture of my November swap, but it has a definite "thanksgiving" feel to it.

I REALLY hope we do this swap again next year (our year ends in March). I love getting a new towel every month!

Speaking of monthly swaps, I've joined a similar style swap and there is still room in our group. Notice the new bright and shiney yellow button on the right? Hosted by Ms. Linda at Stray Stitches, please join us for fun!!





And here's my oldest Christmas quilt . . . I've had it since 1993 and got it from JC Penneys of all places for $45!! We were stationed in Japan when I purchased it. Still love it!

It's a work day, so I'm off to Gina's to make a few bucks!

Early Monday Morning Start

Apparently, my body had no problem getting back into the routine of early morning wake-up!

I did a little sewing yesterday. I finished this little top made from a "honey bun" and using the pattern from Cotton Way, called Fresh Apple Tart.  It wasn't has easy and quick as I originally thought, working with 1 1/2" strips are a pain and tedious.  I'm going to make it a quickie by just doing some simple quilting and get it on my table asap.

And I started sewing on my new tree skirt.  One half is put together:

And my holiday advent calendar is hanging and will share which ornament my kids pick up for each day - of course that won't start until Wednesday!

Now, let's get this Monday rolling along.

Sunday Design Wall

Well, trying to find ways to post in my blog more regularly and keeping me on track with ongoing projects.  Here's what I've come up with.  Finding a UFO and putting it up on the design wall and making it the focus for the week until it's done! 

I started this UFO sometime last year and as I discovered putting up our tree yesterday, we need this UFO ASAP!!  It's from the Atkinson's pattern "Happy Holidays".  I do plan to add an additional border to enlarge it.

Shouldn't take to long to finish up!

We also put up our tree yesterday, while my husband was still visiting and had our mini family holiday party as well.  Christmas will be different this year in many ways, but knowing that it will be fill with joy, laughter and love is all that really matters.  I have put up a few holiday things and will add more over the next few days....here's a sampling of our decorations:


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Now to pull out all the holiday quilts I have to display!

Current Block of the Months. . .

Ok, only one....the Stay At Home Round Robin, stage 4 done:

And found these blocks from my first swap with Ms. Betsy and finally just put them together....goes into the pile of "need to be quilted" --I ought to work on that pile :)

My day off and a lot of sewing will happen, several commission pieces to be worked on. 

Yep, this is a boring post....

OOo...fun icons on my side bar...

well, now I'm feeling almost "me" again (there's still a piece of me missing, but hopefully it will be home soon) I realize I have some personal challenges to catch up on!!  YIKES!   It's amazing how quickly we can fall behind on goals we set for ourselves, whether it's because we are tending to everyone else's needs or lack of self confidence, it happens quickly and very hard to catch back up.

But I'm going to make that effort to catch up!

I have the Christmas Project Group and the UFO group to re-evaluate my goals.  So, it's a new month and here are my goals for this month based off my group challenges.  Need to find some kind of reward for myself if I do this - any suggestions?  Something up to $50.

UFO Challenge

I'm 3 months behind, though I think most of my UFO's are mostly started, so I can make them up---I think.  Here's the ones I will add to this month's goals:




As for my Christmas Projects, here are 4 I'll set as goals for April (of course the easy ones):





Whew...I guess I need to get sewing ASAP!!!  Any wagers on how many I'll complete?