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,