Anticipation

Last fall I signed up for a new BOM from Homestead Hearth. They have the best Block of the Month programs. I wasn't going to sign up for any more, I am already getting three of the BOM's, but I couldn't resist this one. It is the Civil War Tribute featuring Marcus Brothers repro fabrics. The program was to start in January and I have been patiently waiting all month to see the familiar manila envelope. The envelopes that I usually get are 5x7, I knew this one would be in a larger envelope, so I had several false alarms that it was here. Yesterday, hubby went to the mailbox so I had no idea that it had arrived. I did my exercise routine, messed around for a while, took a shower, then I saw the mail. I saw a manila envelope with the familiar return address. I was so excited, I couldn't wait to open it. The fabrics are perfect!! I wanted to get started today, but some unexpected and unwanted intestinal issues interfered with my sewing plans.

Tuesday Night Fun

Last night, Becky, Pat, and Krisite came over to do some stitching and some *****ing. "(Karin had to cancel at the last minute due to sick grand baby, hope she is feeling better now.) We had a great time. I am working on my Snowmen A to Z stitchery. I have completed three blocks, I didn't start at the beginning, I have done I, P, and the E&F blocks. I really like this pattern and can't wait to finish all of the blocks. Pat was working on a KathySchmidtz stitchery. She is a wonderful designer and has some great patterns. (both Kathy and Pat) I was glad that Pat was able to spend some time with us, since she is leaving for a Quilting By the Bay Retreat in Florida later in the week.

Becky brought her knitting, she alternated between socks and a scarf. Becky was also having a big day at school today with a visiting illustrator. I know she is really busy with that today. She is using one of Krisite's sock patterns. Krisite is the most talented person in the entire world. She knits, quilts, spins, weaves, and has a menagerie at her house. Krisite is working on an additional degree so she is always busy.

Becky is doing a great job with her practice sock. I don't know that I will ever attempt to do socks, they look really neat but I think for now I will stick with scarves and hats. Kristie was working on her yoyo's.

We had a great time! We have not only a love of quilting and sewing but Krisite, Becky and myself are media specialists, and Pat is a retired teacher. If we are talking about sewing in one form or another, we are talking about school. I am so glad that everyone could come over, I had a great time. Looking forward to seeing everyone next month.

I caved!

I am really, really trying to finish projects, not start new ones, but I caved over the weekend. Hubby and I were going up to our cabin over the weekend and I wanted to stop at the quilt shop, Country Stitches to spend a gift certificate that I had received for Christmas. They were just putting out their BOM quilt. I took one look at it and had to have it. The name of it is Catch a Christmas Star by Bunny Hill Designs. I shouldn't have done it, but I just couldn't help myself. It isn't a very large quilt, which is a good thing. Most of the blocks are applique. I would like to say that it will be complete by Christmas but probably not until maybe 2011.

Katie Cupcake give away

Check out the great fat quarter bundle give away over at Katie Cupcake's blog. I love the colors in this and would love to add it to my stash.

UFO's oh My!!

My goal for this year is to knock out a lot of my UFO's. The last few years I seem to have been busy adding to that stack not decreasing, but this year things are going to change. Nancy over at Patchwork Penguin, has started a great UFO challenge, (thankfully you only have to list 10 UFO's) the challenge started in the first of the month, but better late than never. While selecting the ten UFO's to list I noticed that a lot of them are Thimble projects. I love all of the patterns that Pat designs and the kits that are put together by the local shops, and each quarter I want to purchase each of the kits. I try to limit myself to one kit a quarter but that still adds up to a lot of unfinished quilts. Time to buckle down and finish some of them. Wish me luck!

Catch Up Day

Yesterday was a holiday for us, there was no school due to the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. I decided to use the day just to have fun, no housework, no errands, just sewing, and hanging out. The only time I left the house all day was when my hubby invited me to lunch. We were both craving burgers so we tried out a new burger place in our neighborhood, Five Guys Burgers. On my goodness, I have never in my live seen so much food. We were "virgins" at this place and had no idea that the regular burger had two patties and that an order of french fires could feed an army of ten. I quickly took my burger apart, and we decided to share one order of fries. We were both stuffed, needless to say when we go back, and we will, we will order the little burger and one order of fries. After lunch I managed to put together about half of my Glory Bound quilt, then my ADD kicked in and I cut out a pair of pants. I have had this fabric for a while and just hadn't gotten around to making them. I realized that since the fabric is wool I really needed to get them made and start wearing them before spring arrives. Hubby is out of town tonight, so I plan on finishing the pants and maybe the blocks of Glory Bound. Wish me luck.

Thimbles Weekend.

I don't know where the time went last week. I seem to have developed sewers ADD, and can't get anything done anymore. Friday I went to Thimbles, I had to find a project to take since my Glory Bound is still on the design wall, not pinned, and I wasn't about to take it down and lay it out again. My method this year for finishing up UFO's to to "pick a box", all of my UFO's are in boxes stacked up so I just pick one. Here it is Box #2 for the year. I wonder what is in it?

Here it is. a flannel quilt I started about three years ago from some leftovers from some other projects, plus fat quarters that I had bought just because I liked them. It is definitely time to finish this. I have most of the pieces cut, just need to sew them together. There are only two

blocks in the quilt, one is 2 strips that are 3 1/2 inches wide sewn together, the other block is

three strips that are 2 1/2 inches wide sewn together. The blocks are laid out in an alternating pattern. This was definitely a good Thimbles project to work on. I have to take projects there that I really don't have to think about much, because I get so busy talking that I don't always pay attention to what I am working on. I managed to get all of the two strip blocks finished and some of the three strip ones before I gave out. It was great to see everyone. Check out Pat's blog for some great show and tell photos.

Snow Day!!!

Usually I am all for a Snow Day, but for some reason today I really wanted to go to school. I can't believe that I am saying that. We missed two days earlier in the year due to flooding, I really didn't want to have a third day that we have to make up. We were scheduled to have our school wide spelling bee today in the media center, everything is all set up and the make up day isn't until Wednesday. The first thing I will have to do on Monday is put everything back they way it should be . Oh well, at least I got some housekeeping done. I really haven't done that much cleaning since Christmas, today gave me an opportunity to get that done. After a morning spent cleaning I went into my sewing room to work on Glory Bound, I thought I only had five more blocks to make, I was so wrong, 5 of one kind and 15 of another kind. I did manage to get the five made and have the pieces laid out for the other 15. I decided instead to finish the bed skirt that I had started for our new bed. (at least it was finishing something, not starting a new project.) I almost have the bed skirt complete now and hope to get it one the bed tomorrow.

Off to a good start

After once again trying to clean and organize my sewing room last week I decided that I have to finish some of my UFO's. (they are starting to take over my sewing space). Most of my UFO's are in plastic bins or boxes stacked in the corner, to make it more fun I decided just to grab one without looking to see what it was. The bin I pulled out had a Thimbles project in it from last summer, Glory Bound by Bonnie Blue Quilts. I think I only have about 5 more blocks to make, but to encourage myself I started putting the completed blocks on my design wall so I could get a feel for it. I had forgotten how much I really like this pattern. Hopefully this weekend I can get the remaining blocks completed. I might be able to get them done tomorrow if the weather is as bad as predicted, we might have a snow day.