I've been thinking about a lot of things this week.

1. I love my stash. Am I going to add to it this year? Yep. Am I going to use up a lot of it this year? Sure hope so. Am I going to spend time I could be sewing counting it and adding it up? Nope. Not gonna do it right now. It is what it is.

2. Beginning of 2008 I had about 60 UFO's. I'm down to less than 30. I'm good. Some of these were traded away, some were given away, heck, some were actually made into quilts. I have been looking at the UFO's that are left and I can say 1 thing...I'm tired of "samplers". More UFO's may be going away soon.

3. There are things I want to learn this year. I want to get better at binding. I want to learn to miter corners. I want to make tote bags. I want to learn to quilt on my machine. I want to get over my fear/loathing of applique. I used to say that about paper piecing so I know I can do it.

4. I am NOT going to set unattainable goals. My ONLY New Years resolution is to FINISH more than I start. That's it and I know I can do that.

5. I'm going to spend more time with my loved ones and friends, cultivating friendships and creating memories.

Here's to a great 2010 my friends!

Christmas Present for DH

I have the best friends in the whole world. We get together once a month for our "Sit & Sew" or whatever you like to call it. We've been doing this for several years now. tirane's house is on English Street, hence our name "The English

Since the day I started quilting my husband has wanted a quilt. Not just any quilt, he wanted a certain design. I had a mental and emotional block about it and never made the quilt. At our November get together after my talking about it again my friends said "Just bring the fabric Babs".

At our December get together they helped me make the quilt. tirane has the pictures and has done a great post about it so please check out her blog...

What friends are for

A little determination

I was so bound and determined to get it finished by the end of the year I finished the top at 3:00 Sunday afternoon.

I've already pulled a BIB (blocks in bag) and some scraps and am gonna shoot for another finish.

Remedial Math & White Christmas

It went like this:

18 inch blocks needed- they were easy. Done.
12 inch blocks needed-Done
6 inch blocks needed. It took me a while but I made all 36 needed.

I start to assemble. OOPS. Everyone knows I can't count. I needed 27 of the 12 inch and I'd only made 18. Back to the sewing machine yesterday.

ALL blocks are now made. The 6 inch blocks are sewn together in their pairs and next I'll sew the pairs to the 18 original 12 inch blocks.

I'm bound and determined to have this into a top by the end of the year. I'm going to use up large scraps and piece the back but I have till mid-to late January to get that done...when are we meeting tirane?

We had a WHITE Christmas here in Dallas! Here is a picture taken of the pond behind our house.

And here is a picture of my niece Raegan in the apron I made her for Christmas. She is going to be 3 in March. She has a kitchen set she received last Christmas that she plays with every day.
And this year she received more appliances and foods to go with it. Martha, Sandra, Rachael, and Paula need to watch out in 15 years or so...

I used the Apron pattern from "Sewing for Dummies" by Simplicity. It's definitely a keeper and I'll make more of these in the future.

Helping Out

Irish Flood Quilts

I have deep Celtic roots. I've volunteered at the North Texas Irish Festival for the last 4 years and met some wonderful people from Ireland. I'm going to set aside the "Random Blocks" quilt and other projects for a bit and make some blocks and tops to help out with this effort. I'll be concentrating on kids quilts as that is the largest portion of my stash.

First I finished this

Then I made the last 5 of these. Here are all 9 18-inch blocks

Then rather than switching to black thread and digging out my brights I decided to keep going and made these last 6 12-inch blocks needed

Friday morning I went to Golden D'or and bought these

75 yards for $80.

Then I made this block for Dec. BOM at the Garland Guild

While I was at it I made this one since I'll be presenting it for the January BOM.


I also got several more of the 6 inch pink and red blocks made and did laundry, dishes, took the trash out, slept, and ate. What did YOU do this holiday weekend?

Thanksgiving Week Goals

I have 3 simple goals for this week. If I get them done by 8am Friday, I'm going to reward myself by going here for one of their 25% off everything sales. I need backings for several quilts and I might treat myself to some more black & whites for an upcoming project.

My goals are

• finish a charity top I just started on Saturday. I have the center pieced, just need to add the borders. (they are cut) It's a really cute kids quilt.
• Make the 18 inch blocks needed for the pink/red "Random Blocks" quilt. 4 of 9 are done.
• Make at least 5 "Happy Scrappy" quilt blocks