CHALLENGE WEEK 4

Good morning everyone. I can hardly believe that it is New Years Eve morning. Where did 2007 go. I definitely need to make some changes in 2008. In 2007, I stopped smoking AGAIN and this is something I struggle with everyday so in 2008 I am going to make changes in my eating habits and start the exercise regime. The exercising is something that I really need to do. I find that the older I am getting the more stiff I become. We need to clean our basement out some and I am going to invest in a good treadmill. My hubbie has an eliptical trainer but I cannot do it. I don't know why, but I just can't do the darn thing. He gets so mad at me because he said it is just like riding a bike. Well, I never like riding bikes.

I did get a lot done on the challenge quilt this week in the last few days. As you can see the quilt is assemblied and I just have to put the border on it. I might work on that today but I have to go to the post office this morning to mail a quilt to the quilter and get stamps. Hubbie said he might be leaving work early today so that interrupts into my sewing time. LOL.

Anyone have big plans for New Years Eve? I always like to have a quiet New Year. We are going to go to an early dinner with some friends and then come home and watch a movie. We have gone out to parties in the past, but I prefer to stay at home. What does everyone cook for New Years Day? I will be making a pork roast, kielbassa and hot dogs roasted in saukerkraut. I will make mashed potatoes for my side and that is what I consists for New Years dinner. The other tradition I have is sometime today I will but a penny, head side up outside on one of the ledges by the front door. My mother always told me that this means that money will come into the house the whole next year. I can remember my mother doing this and ever since I have left home, I do it also.

I only have 2 days left of vacation. Very sad. Tomorrow I will start stressing again about going back into the mad race but at least I will only have 3 days to this week. It will take me all of Wednesday just to get caught up.

Well off to get a shower. Happy New Year everyone.

Hugs, Cindy

AFTER XMAS SALES

Today is the first day that I have been home by myself since before Xmas and to tell you the truth I am enjoying the piece and quiet. I heard Joe getting ready for work this morning so I just got up with him. Have lots to do to start to straighten this mess up around here but decided to go to the quilt store to see what their after Xmas sales was like. I really didn't get that much at all as you can see. I got the new Fons and Porter because Perry told me there was some things in there that I must make, I got a kit for a Xmas table runner and 2 FQ that I am collecting for our tree/present quilt. Not much at all, even shocked myself. Than went to Barnes & Nobles to buy some new books. I always read for about a half hour before I go to sleep ever night, reading makes me tired. Like I said, I am very behind around here even with being after from work. I was truly exhausted from getting ready for Xmas and now preparing for the New Year. I am going to go in my sewing room this afternoon and work on my challenge quilt. I am doing the laundry which I am 2 weeks behind so I think it will probably take me 2 days to get caught on up that and then have to do ironing tomorrow.

Hope you all are enjoying your holidays.

Hugs, Cindy

CHALLENGE WEEK 3

I hope by now everyone isn't truly exhausted. I know I am. Just wanted to take a few minutes before talking about the challenge to wish everyone a blessed and Merry Christmas. Hope you will get to share the day with family and friends.

This week has been really a hectic one for me. Still don't have all my baking done but finally and I mean finally, all the gifts are wrapped. I spent every night wrapping and my back feels like it is breaking. Yesterday, I had enough and decided to sew for a few hours after I came home from my moms. Here is my progress so far.

My 12 patches are finished, my 8 patches are finished and my blocks of 4 fabrics are finished. I have started pinning some sections together but I ran out of energy. Don't forget to check with Perry, Lisa and Nicole to see what progress they made this week. I am hoping to get alot down with my challenge to show you next week. I am on vacation and I am hoping to get some sewing done. My DH at the last moment decided he was going to take off on Wednesday so that will still consist of some family time.

Tonight, we are going to church are then over to some friend's house for a quick bite. I haven't decided if we will open packages late tonight or not. Now that my DD is older I usually don't make her get up early on Christmas morning but some years I have. Tomorrow morning we will go over to visit my mom and let her open her presents and then it will be back home for a traditional turkey dinner. We didn't have any left overs at Thanksgiving so I haven't had enough of turkey yet. Then tomorrow night we will be playing some games. Just good quality family time.

Will check in later this week.

Hugs, Cindy

CHALLENGE WEEK #2

I can't believe that a week has gone by already. Where in the world has time gone. I have not been feeling very well at all. I have been fighting a UTI infection, which apparently was very bad, because it spread into my kidneys. I stayed home on Thursday and rested pretty much most of the day and then my daughter and I went out that night and did some Xmas shopping. I finally finished my shopping on Saturday but I didn't have one gift wrapped unitl tonight. I managed to wrap 4 gifts tonight after I went and had my hair down. I really need to have someone take a picture because it turned out so darn cute but I am just darn popped. tonight This working businesss is really getting in my way of having to get everything done in time for Santa.

So back to the Challange Week #2. Needless to say, I haven't gotten very much sewing done this week. So not much progress to report for me . I did get to sew some 2 patches together to make 4 patches but not more than that. I promise to get some sewing time in this week, hopefully later on in the week, and to have pictures posted on Monday or maybe I will take some pictures of how messy my sewing room is at the moment and I won't be able to help if those 4 patches get included in the pictures. You see, my sewing room is where I have all the Xmas presents stashed. You couldn't move in there before all the bags got thrown in that room and you definitely can't move in there now.

Don't forget, to check on Perry, Lisa and Nicole. I have to go and look at the progress that that have made this week. I checked Nicole's blog this morning while at work, and I sure do love her progress. Love the fabrics that she is using.

So is everywhere else as bogged down as I am. I am on countdown for vacation. As of Friday at 4:00 p.m. I will have 11 days off. Please pray that they go SLOW because I definitely need a break. Nothing planned special after Christmas. I just want to clean some closets out and have some sewing time for me and maybe experiment with cooking some new recipes. I was thinking of having the girls from work (2 of them don't work with me anymore) over for dinner one night just to catch up. The best thing is my husband is working the rest of the week and I will have the house to myself which is very rare.

Well gals, will check in later. Off to check on my gals progress.

Hugs, Cindy

UPDATE ON CHALLENGE

Well it is Monday so I am here to report on my weekly challenge project. This week I believe I have sewed all of my 2" strips together and cut them into 2" segments and 6 1/2" segments. There is one particular fabric in this line I decided I do not like. It has a pretty floral in it but it has some lines and they didn't cut right so I don't think I will be using them in the body of the quilt. I then have started sewing my 2" segments into 4 patches.

The strips in the back are my 6 1/2" strips, then my 2" stripes, then my pinned 2" strips, then the 4 patches I have finished. So that is my progress for the week. Hope to have some more done by next Monday. Don't forget to check with Nicole, Lisa and Perry on there progress. I love the fabrics that Nicole just got for her challenge. That is going to be wonderful.

I used 2 different settings on the camera today to figure out which one would come out better. I think I like the first picture and I believe that was the one on automatic.

This weekend just flew by. Started Xmas shopping yesterday and boy what a treat that is. Didn't even make a dent. I am going to try to go out a couple times after work this week and I am hoping to be done by the weekend so I can start baking. That is the fun part and it always makes the house smell so good.

Has anyone been checking out The Fat Quarter Shop for the month of December. Kimberly has been having some fantastic sales on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays during Christmans and I have been picking up some great deals especially on Christmas fabrics. She is also starting to get some of the new FQ bundles in already.

Not too much else is exciting here. The weather has been dark and gloomy and the snow turned into rain. I don't really mind the rain so much but then we have some of that icy stuff which I don't like. I have the news on right now and they are starting to talk about the ice storm that is coming from the mid west. I better go watch this.

Hugs, Cindy

DON'T KNOW WHAT IS WRONG

I can't take a clear picture for the life of me. Guess I will have to be getting the directions out this weekend to find out what to do with this camera because I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. Even when I put it on automatic, the picture is still blurry. Well anyway, this is a picutre of my Xmas stocking. Lots of work went into these stockings but they are so worth it.

Not much has been going on here. The weather has been crappy this week and now I have the news on and they are calling for bad weather for the morning commute. Just what I wanted to hear. Yesterday was just awful. It snowed, then sleet, then back to snow. The commute to and from work was dreadful yesterday. Funny story about the snow yesterday. When I came home there were big foot prints in the front yard. No packages but the postman must have walked across the yard. Only the guy does that, no when the girl delivers our mail. Well when DH got home he said "how much fabric did the UPS guy bring you today". I said I didn't get any fabric at all and I hadn't. He said well there is footprints in the front yard and only the UPS guy walks that way. I told him since he is becoming such a detective I better tell the UPS driver to walk down the driveway. I have had a pending order going all week with The Fat Quarter Shop but I haven't been able to finish it yet.

So is everybody almost ready for Xmas. I haven't even started Xmas shopping but I am hoping to make a good dent in it this weekend. The only problem is, you have to wrap all those gifts once you buy them. I am a perfectionist at heart, so all my packages have to be perfect. You must have ribbons and bows on your presents or they aren't finished.

Have been working on the challenge quilt this week. Just a few more days and I will hopefully be able to post a good picture of my progress. In between times, I have been working on my bluework snowman. I am working on one of the bigger portions right now, I think it is 18 x 42. Here is a little peek at the section I have done so far.


Making perioges for dinner tonight. I make DH the ones with cheddar cheese and potatoes and then I make mine with cheddar cheeses and jalapeno. DH always says how can you eat those when you don't even like spicy food. I don't know, they just sure taste good.

Well off to cook,

Hugs, Cindy

LET THE CHALLENGE BEGIN

Can any of you believe that it is already December 1st. As some of you might have been imagining me and 3 of my blogging friends, Nicole, Lisa, and Perry have started our challenge quilt today. The guidelines are that todaywe are supposed to annouce what our fabric selection is and what pattern we have choosen.

I am also using the book by Marsha McClosey and Sharon Evans Yenter called "Blended Quilts". I am going to make the quilt called "Victoria's Garden" but if any of you know me I have to enlarge the quilt. The finished size is 76 1/2 x 88 1/2. As the pattern stands now, it is 5 blocks across/6 rows. I am thinking that I should make it 6 x 6. Does anyone else have any thoughts about this.

This is my fabric selection. The fabrics on the right are my border fabrics and my focal fabric and the ones on the right are for the inside blocks. It is from the new Mary Rose collection which I absolutely fell in love with. So my quilt shall have a lot of florals in it. There is quite a bit of cutting for this quilt and that will have to wait until tomorrow.

My DH and I are really big "Dancing With the Star" fans. Well tonight they are having a local Dancing With the Celebrities event which consists of a lot of radio, tv and band celebrities. The proceeds benefit Children's Hospital so when we heard it advertised we decided we had to go. I am excited about this because it means I don't have to cook dinner tonight. LOL.

Not too much else is new around here except we are supposed to get a big storm tonight. I hope it doesn't start until after we get home. It is supposed to be the dangerous stuff, snow, sleet and ice which I absolutely hate. It is supposed to change over to rain tomorrow and that is good because I really have to start Xmas shopping and then I have some work that I brought home to get done. It is really making me very nervous that I am so behind at work and am planning on taking time off for the holidays.

Well off to do some laundry and sew some. Hope you all will come back and check on our Challenge project.

Hugs,

I KEEP ON FORGETTING

To thank Vickie for the chocolate I received from her. I just tried to take some picture of the candy, the cute fabric and pot holder I got from her but the picture came out blurry so I will try again tomorrow for that one. I also tried to take pictures of the Xmas stockings that I made for Joe, myself and Beth several years ago. The picture of Joe's came out fine but Beth's and mine are blurry too. Here is a picture of Joes.

I did all of the stockings in counted cross stitch and it took me a year to do each stocking. Joe collects Santas so of course his stocking had to have Santa in it. This was way before I got the quilting bug but can you see, there is a quilt. LOL

Not too much else is new or exciting here. I am waiting for it to get dark and I am going to go outside and take pictures of the outside decorations.

Just wanted to post a little note that the "Challenge" begins with some of my fellow bloggers on Saturday so please stop back and check out all the information about our challenge then. I am very excited about this. I am so glad that tomorrow is Friday, but this weekend is going to fly. Just too much to do and so little time.

What's everyone else been working on? I am tracing another portion of my bluework snowman. I hope that I can finish tracing tonight because we are going out to dinner tomorrow night with some friends and I still have to finish my 3 blocks for Saturdays class. Pressure, I can handle it.

Carol, hope you are reading--tell Andy I am going to start posting some pictures of Joe's steelers ornaments next week.

Well must go start dinner. URGH

NEWEST FIND

I was off on Monday and if anyone was watching the Steeler game on Monday night you know what the weather was like. It poured down raining all day and I decided there was no way I was going Christmas shopping. Instead, I just went to the Williams Sonoma store and as soon as I walked in the fragrance was to die for. I decided I had to have it. There was a woman who greeted you at the front door and she directed me to everything I needed. Has anyone every tried this. You just fill that little steamer up and put it in boiling water and your just starts to smell wonderful. It might be better than a candle which I usually have one lite all the time while I am sewing. Has anyone else ever tried these.

I cannot believe that it is the end of November and less than a month to Christmas. I was off over the Thanksgiving holiday and didn't do any shopping on black Friday. Instead, my DH starts to decorate the house. He loves Xmas so I let him go wild. This year he decided we weren't going to have a real tree, instead he went to Lowe's and bought an artificial one against my wishes because you see I love the real thing. Well he has taken the tree back 3 times because at least one section of the tree's lights weren't working and guess what, this one isn't working either. For what this darn thing costs, he better keep taking it back until he gets one with all the ones working. Needless to say, there are no decorations on the tree but the house is starting to get decorated. Here is a picture in my dining room of one of my favorite wreathes. The place where we usually get our "real" tree at has the most awesome floral shop and I just can't resist them.

Haven't gotten very much sewing done since before Thanksgiving but that is okay. Last night I was trying to get my blocks done for Saturday's class and only have the last border and then they are finished. Tonight, I think I am going to start tracing another one of my bluework snowman blocks. They are just so very consuming it will probably take 2 nights to trace this one.

This weekend starts our "challenge" with my 3 other friends. I will be posting the pictures of my fabric on Saturday and then start cutting out. Can't wait to get started on this one. I am excited.

Well I just wanted to touch base and say hello. I will post more often this week.

Hugs, Cindy

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I know a lot of you are getting ready for the Thanksgiving. I am thought I would start some of the preparations when I got home from work tomorrow. As some of you know, my kitchen has been going through a major remodel. The kitchen countertops were installed last week and her are some pictures of the progress. Aren't they beautiful. I even picked out a granite sink which my DH was totally shocked that I picked out a black sink but it goes so well with the kitchen. My DH is making all the cabinets and there is a little sneak peak of them. I will show you a good picture of once they are finished. My kitchen is still in the dining room and tonight DH is installing 2 big cabinets by the frig some tomorrow night I will be able to put everything away and start cooking.

I hope everyone enjoys Thanksgiving with family and loved ones. I am looking forward to being off for 5 days. Yippee. Can you tell I am excited or what. I don't start my Xmas shopping then but I do start Xmas decorating. That is my DH's favorite holiday of the year so we decorate inside and out. Will take some pictures as we progress.

I finished another quilt and will take a picture of that over the weekend.

WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE

First thing, Happy Veteran's Day. Thank you to all the men and women who have served and continue to serve our country to make us free. I special thanks goes to my DH for his 25 years of service the Navy. I am so very proud of you.

I can't believe it has been over a week since I have posted. Where has time gone. Last week at work I have been totally swamped. It sure does make the days go fast but by the end of the day I am beat and still have things to do at home.

There are no pictures today but tomorrow I will take some pictures of what I have been up to.

My husband has really been under the weather and we spent 2 days in the ER last week. He has developed a fisture of the esophagus and he had surgery on this 4 years ago and it is acting up again. So now we are having surgery again this Wednesday. I don't remember him being so sick with the last one, but with this one he can hardly eat and when he does he says he feels like he is choking. So therefore I spent the weekend trying to figure out things he could eat. The only thing that made him comfortable was chicken broth with noodles and chocolate pudding. I made a big pot of potatoe soup and grinded up the potatoes real small and he actually got a bowl of that down last night.

What have I been working on, let's see. I belong to an on-line Kansas Troubles group and I was making 3 birthday blocks over the weekend and made them totally wrong. In the garbage they went. Then I made 2 others blocks to finish a quilt off. This one is going to take me awhile to get together because the outside border is all 3 1/2" blocks but it is going to be so beautiful when it is done. And then of course I have been working on my blue work snowmen a couple of hours a week. I have my last class for that tonight.

Well I better get off and get some work done. I hope you all have a great Monday. I will be back tomorrow with pictures.

SPIDER QUILT

Good afternoon everyone--hope everyone is having a good and productive day. I came home from work to a nice surprise. I got my spider quilt back from Penny. She did an awsome job on it. I tried to get some pictures of the close up of the spider webs she put in the blocks and the bats that she created. It turned out really great and I am so happy with it. Won't get much use for this year, but it will be ready when I decorate next year.

No sewing for me tonight. I have to get ready to go to the funeral home. My cousin's wife passed away on Sunday from complications with diabetes. She was only in her late 60's and that is pretty young in this day and age. I figured I had better go make an appearance for the family because my mom is not up to going.

Tomorrow is Friday though. Yippee. I am hoping to get loads done in the morning and hopefully, with my fingers crossed, be able to sneak out a little early. I doubt that will happen but I have good thoughts on that.

I don't know about you, but I have been drooling over Kimberly's website today. Tonight when I get home, I am going to figure out how much I need of that Mary Gate 11 line. I absolulely love that. I believe that Lisa, Perry, Nicole and I are all going to work on quilt and that is the line I am going to use.

Well off here for now--later.

Cindy

WHAT I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON

Well, it is Tuesday already that means I have only 3 more wakeups until I can sleep in. There won't be much sleeping in for me on Saturday because I have my $5.00 quilt class and maybe I will get to see some sneak peek things from market. The block on the left is just an extra block and the blocks on the right are the regular monthly blocks. You are only required to make one but if you make extras you get an extra ticket to win the door prize. Then, if you bring a show and tell, you get a ticket for the door prize. So this week I will have 6 extra tickets and want to you want to bet I won't win a darn thing. LOL. You see that stack of blocks behind Saturday's block. Well that is to go with my snowman tabletopper and you will see a picture of the finished project by the end of the week.

Then the kitchen renovations are coming along......SLOW. This is a picture of the ceiling that my DH is repairing after tearing out the bulkhead. I don't know how he took this picture upside down by you get the effect, don't you. I am hoping that the painting is going to get done this weekend. He was not really exerting himself this weekend so he needs to make up for it this weekend.

Is everyone having treat-or-treat tomorrow night? We are and I don't even have my candy yet. Guess I will be stopping tomorrow night on the way home to pick some up. I don't know how many kids we will get but it is supposed to be a really nice night. Last year, it was raining so I am sure we are going to get more kids this year because it should be in the 60's. It has been getting really cold at night and warming up in the day. Like this kind of weather.

Well off to start dinner. Have a good night.

TTYL

MYSTERY QUILT

First thing, TGIF. I don't know about you, but it has been a long hard week for me. I have had so many deadlines at work this week and it will be a repeat next week. I had so much overtime, I decided to leave at 3:00 today since both of my bosses weren't there. Well it is a good thing I came home early, my mystery quilt arrived. Yippee. Don't you just love these fabrics? Nice fall colors. Just want I wanted. Lisa---are you ready to cut out another quilt. LOL. Sorry, these aren't the greatest pictures but I promise to take more once they are unwrapped. This came from Glad Creations and I have never seen another quilt store that packages like the Fat Quarter Shop. I love how Kimberly packages everything up for us. So neat and tidy. DON'T YOU LOVE THESE FABRICS!!!!!!

I am so excited that I get to sleep in tomorrow and then there are lots of chores that I need to start doing. The first thing, tackle the bedroom. It is supposed to be chilly and rainy here in the NE so that gives me all the reason to start changing the summer clothes into winter clothes. Also will need to take sweaters to the cleaners and all that good stuff. Plus need to put a heavier quilt on the bed.

On the kitchen front, my darling hubby is going to be putting the drywall up on the ceiling and starting to paint. He got an e-mail today that they were cutting the countertop so I thinking that it might be installed sometime next week. Keep your fingers crossed.

On the quilting front, I am going to work on my snowman table topper, work on blocks for next Saturday's class and maybe start cutting out the mystery quilt. First though, need to make room on the sewing table. That is another thing on my agenda to start to do because it is starting to make me very nervous that I can't find anything.

Until tomorrow.

QUILT MARKET

By this time, everyone should have arrived at Quilt Market. Me, I am anticipating on how much money I will be spending in the near future. I am on pins and needles waiting to see how many, and what lines Moda is going to release and how many new Ms. Rosie patterns there are going to be. I think at the moment, my favorite patterns have to be Ms. Rosie and Glad Creations. I know I said that I wasn't going to be signing up for anymore BOM in the near future, but I did sign up for the latest mystery quilt from Glad Creations. I just couldn't resist. I love their system. Usually, they send you swatches of the fabrics you can choose from and they had these beautiful fabrics. I figured what the heck, I really don't have any fall quilts and now I will.

The pictures I have posted today were the BOM that I did from the Moda line Chocolat. Love how this one turned out and now all I have to do is order the backing. I'm on a roll right, wrong. It seems lately that I just can't get anything finished. It seems all I am doing is ripping out right now.

I received my name from Sharon today for the chocolate swap. Need to finish my card and get my package all ready to go. Hopefully, I can get this done sometime next week. Woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can't believe tomorrow is Friday already. Thank goodness. This week has gone fast but not fast enough. I just can't wait to sleep in. LOL. I have so many chores I want to get done this weekend now that fall has officially arrived. Need to start getting sweaters out and to the cleaners before it gets really cold.

Well off to figure out what's for dinner.

MY NEXT QUILT

One of the gals that I use for finishing my quilts sent me an e-mail last night that she was loading my spiderweb quilt and to get another quilt ready for her . So here it is, this is what I am sending her next. The pink of the quilt are not coming through really well, but the main focus fabrics from this quilt are from Robyn Pandolph the Country Roads line. I am thinking maybe she should use some purple thread to quilt this quilt with on the neutrals. What are your thoughts on this.

It is really a rainy, dark, dreary day here. We definitely need the rain but the temperatures are really dropping. Not that I mind, we really need the rain. It is supposed to be like this all week. What a good week it would have been to stay at home and quilt some. My next vacation isn't planned until Christmas. Can I wait that long?

Well just wanted to drop in and say hello to everyone and show you what I finished. I will be working more tonight on the paper pieced snowman while watching the results of Dancing With the Stars. I hope I am more productive tonight than last night. Everytime they started to dance I had to stop sewing. Too funny right. I didn't want to sew a finger or anything.

Until later.

WHAT A DAY

Have I told you recently how much I hate Mondays. At work, I think everyone thinks of things that I have to get done first thing on Monday morning and therefore, I am swamped the rest of the day. I don't know about you, but this is not how I like to start my week. And before my first cup of coffee in the morning at that. At least I am home now and have practiced with the camera a little more. I think today's picture turned out better or at least I hope it did.

I know for Sharon's chocolate swap she said we were to use a basket. Well, when I was in Hallmark yesterday I had to buy this bowl. I absolutely feel in love with it but the darn thing is pretty heavy. Guess I will be shipping UPS. I know we are supposed to have a budget on the swap, but what is that. I spent the budget alone on the bowl. LOL. Who cares, it is all in fun and I sure hope my receipent appreciates it. I think this picture might be better than yesterdays.

Well tonight is Dancing With the Stars and I am going to work on my paper piecing snowman so I will post pictures of that tomorrow.

Well I am off here for the moment to finish up laundry that I didn't finish yesterday and a few other things before hubby gets home.

Hope everyone had a good Monday.

CAN'T BELIEVE IT IS SUNDAY NIGHT

I can't believe that is Sunday night and somewhere as I am writing this, my choice of font has disappeared. Now can someone tell me where that has went?

Callianne's first birthday was today and it was a beautiful day. Here is my first picture to my blog of Callianne with her mom Ashley. I sure do need some more practice on taking pictures because this one is kind of blurry, but at least I have attempted it. It is more difficult that I thought it would be.

Didn't get much sewing done at all this weekend Have my blue work snowman class tomorrow night so will try to upload a picture of that on Tuesday. This week will be hectic as I have to get all of the housework done after working a full day but that's okay.

Hayy Monday everyone

TOO MUCH DUST

I don't know where the day went today. One of the girls in my office wanted me to take a paper piecing class with her so I couldn't say no to her even though this would be the third time I have taken this class. I had so much fabric I had enough to make Cheryl a kit without her buying one single fabric. Imagine that. After the class was finished, I had to go to Walmart to get a birthday gift for a birthday party for a one year old that we are going to tomorrow. That is when my official picture taking is starting. Then I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things.

Well I got home and there was saw dust everywhere. Joe decided to knock the bulk head down in the kitchen today and needless to say he made an incredible mess. I even had to take all the dishes out of one of the cupboards and run them through the dishwasher. Now there is a huge hole in the ceiling because he discovered that the exhaust fan has never worked and I am assuming a new one is going in once the ceiling is repaired. But the good news is that the counter top people will be here tomorrow to measure for our new countertops. Can't wait. My whole kitchen has been in my dining room for the past week and I don't know how much more I can stand of this.

Like I said before, we are going to a good friend of mine, Ashley, who use to work with me, daughter's first birthday party tomorrow afternoon. Last year at this time there were 8 girls in my office pregnant. Callianne is the first one. Another one of my good friends will be there who also got a new job in July so it will be sort of a reunion.

Got all my chocolate bought for Sharon's chocolate swap. Did she say $20. Oops went way overboard. There are a couple of really good chocolate shops here so I must say whoever I get might just be surprised.

More tomorrow

FURTHER RAMBLINGS ABOUT BOM

I have recently been telling everyone how I cannot say no to BOM's. Well I think I might be learning my lesson on them. I am doing a BOM from Homestead Hearth called "Star Song". It is done out of Sonnet by Moda which I absolutely love. Well the first 4 months we did sections that consisted of 2/10" blocks, 2/8" blocks, 2/6" blocks and 2/4" blocks, then you piece them together for a section. The reminder of the months we have been doing 4 stars/month for the outside border. Well on Friday I get a package which contains 4 more star blocks and it says month 11 on the packaging. So I am thinking to myself, when are we going to finish the inside of the quilt. I get the pattern out and I know that I only have 4 sections of the middle of the quilt complete but where are the remaining 5 more sections? So I called Homestead Hearth and they said they would have to look at the pattern and get back with me. I didn't hear from them on Friday and late Saturday afternoon I called them again. I am starting to fret know because I started to think am I going to have to buy more fabric. On Saturday they told me that they were really busy, which I completely understand, and they would look at the pattern on Sunday and call me. Well around 4:30 p.m. yesterday I get a call from someone in the shop saying there was a mistake and they would be sending me more fabric next month. Does this mean that they are going to send me the remaining fabric for the 5 sections. She didn't have an answer for me on that one. So now I still don't know if I should buy anymore fabric or not and if I do, where in the world can I get this.

I have learned a lesson--I am going to do my best in the future to keep up on my BOM's. I asked if anyone else had called complaining about this and they said no I was the first one. Is it because everyone orders BOM's and puts them aside?

One last thing, go check out my friend Perry's blog. I put a link on my blog. Even though we have never met in person, she truly is a dear friend and a great mentor to me but in another sense, she is very bad for my wallet. She can talk me into buying a line of fabric faster than anyone else that I know. If I have a problem with piecing all I do is pick up the phone and she can walk me through the instructions so I can understand it. I am the kind that I have to be doing it to completely understand it.

Well enough rambling for now, better start working--one of the bosses is here today.

WHERE DID THE WEEKEND GO

I cannot believe that it is Monday morning already and I have to start another week of work. My house is a total wreck. My DH started remodeling our kitchen over a year ago and now it is down to the nitty gritty. I don't know how one man can make such a mess. On Friday night we went to Lowe's to pick out the kitchen sick. Since we are having granite countertops installed, I picked out a black sink. I thought Joe was going to drop over from the shock of me picking out a black sink but it goes so well with the countertops. So when we got home he ordered the countertops. Joe is making all the cabinets himself (out of maple) and so far he has done a wonderful job. Well, in order to have the countertops installed, everything below that had to be replaced and it had to be replaced this weekend. So now, my whole kitchen is in my dining room. I am just hoping that this entire mess will be over by Thanksgiving. If not, all I can say is we are eating out.

Didn't get much sewing done. I started machine appliquing the center part of a quilt that I am working on that I had put aside. I am trying to finish one thing up before I start anything new which doesn't seem to work. I had to take Baby Lock machine in last week because it was giving me fits. Ihave had problems with the feed dogs on it and had previously taken it in for the same thing. I guess they got sick of me complaining because the repairman finally caliberated the feed dogs and I am doing a happy dance. It is finally sewing beautifully.

On another note, I found my camera with the directions so keep your fingers crossed I might actually get to post some pictures this week.

BLOCK OF THE MONTH

First, please let me thank everyone for the comments that were left on my first blog. I tried to comment on each of them, but if your specific e-mails weren't left then my response e-mail bounced back. I apologize and I will try better the next time. I am still learning so be patient.

Is anyone else obsessed about block of the months like I am? I am really addicted to these. Right now I am doing 4 of them from Homestead Hearth, 2 from the Fat Quarter Shop with 2 more from Kimberly starting in 2008 and I am doing 2 first Saturday/last Saturday at my 2 local quilt stores. I know why I do them from the local quilt stores. With these I am able to go in the shops and see (and feel) all the new fabrics that have come in the last month but then I have the problem of not buying anything. That usually doesn't work at all especially if my friends are with me. So my question to all of you, is how do I stop this obession?

Right now I am finishing up one of the BOM from Homesteady Hearth made out of Moda's Chocolat line. Hopefully, I can share a picture of this by the end of the week.

Until the next time, Cindy

Just a beginner

Good afternoon fellow bloggers. On the urging of Sharon and Kim, I have started a blog. So I hope all of you experienced bloggers will be patient while I am learning how to do all of this. It is a beautiful day here in NE PA. Actually, it is very scarry to have these hot temperatures at the beginning of October. I hope this doesn't mean that we are not going to have any fall at all and go right into winter. I take a class at one of the local quilt stores here called "The First Saturday" which is actually supposed to be a $5.00 quilt. If I can figue out this weekend how to post the pictures or if someone could walk me through the steps I can show you my first blocks I made.

Will post more later