TOOMUCHFABRICSOLITTLETIME

BABY IT IS COLD OUTSIDE

2008-12-08T07:22:00.002-05:00

I cannot believe how cold our weather has gotten already and it is only the first full week of December. We had our first really bad snow storm on Saturday and of course I had to be out driving in it because I started to Xmas shop. I was afraid that I wasn't going to get home. I was driving so slow and was slip sliding all over the roads. Not very good at all. I finally made it home safe and sound and didn't go out the rest of the night.

Sorry for the long respite and now I am finally starting to get in the swing of things. I lost my mom on August 11th and it has been a trying time for me. Lots of emotions, good and bad. There has been lots of things to do in tying up loose ends. In the state that I live in everything has to go through an estate so the government can get there fair share in taxes. They make everything so difficult and it has been lots of court appointments and paper work.

Have not been sewing very much at all and hoping to get back into this in the new year. Anyways both of my sewing machines are acting up and have to go into the shop. I am thinking of buying a new Janome so I can have it for a backup machine. I did finish 2 quilts and put the binding on for Xmas gifts this year.

Have started to decorate the house for Xmas and will try to get some pictures of my tree on here tomorrow.

I THINK SPRING HAS FINALLY ARRIVED

2008-04-24T17:16:00.002-04:00

This is the apple tree in my front yard. On Monday there was just little buds all over but yesterday when I got home from work all the flowers had bloomed. This tree was one of the reasons my hubbie decided to buy this house. It really is stunning when it blooms.

Pretty, pretty little pink flowers.

Hope everyone is doing well. My foot is very slow but at least I think it is finally starting to mend. I had another surgery last Friday because it had become infected and the antibiotic wasn't really doing anything for it, but once he opened it, all the pressure was relieved.

Hope all of you working gals had a good Professional Administration week. One of my bosses took us out to lunch and then my other boss bought me a $75.00 gift certificate to Joanne's. I guess I need to be on the lookout for a coupon and stock up on blades and needles.

Haven't been sewing very much at all. Am hoping to get back to that shortly. I have 2 blocks left to make on my Web Sampler quilt and then I can start putting it together. I ordered my border fabric on Monday so hopefully it might be here by the weekend.

Well will check in later,

Hugs, Cindy

NOT SUCH A GOOD REPORT

2008-04-11T16:59:00.004-04:00

This afternoon I went to see the foot surgeon and I didn't get a good review. Apparently, I have an infection that has set in so it has taken me back some. He did some digging without any numbing and I thought that I was absolutely going to kill him. I am on a very strong antibiotic now and instead of soaking in epsom salt, I have to soak in peroside. If it is no better but next Friday, guess what, he is opening the incision again. I can hardly wait. I guess I will have to buy some more fabric to cheer me up--what do you all think?

I have posted some pictures of the quilt that I just got back from the quilter today. Perry's granddaughter, Katie, was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. Last year, Perry made a quilt and it was raffled off as a fundraiser. This year, I am donating a quilt to be raffled off and here it is. You will have to watch Perry's blog to watch for the details on how you can bid on this quilt. It was a BOM that I did from Homestead Hearth and it is made out of the Moda Chocolat line. My daughter even commented how beautiful it turned out. I love it.

Here's a picture of some of the star blocks

Couldn't get the whole quilt in. I believe it between a queen/king. So what do you gals think?

Hugs, Cindy

WHERE DID MARCH GO

2008-04-10T16:54:00.004-04:00

Boy, I certainly don't know where the month of March went and now it is already April 10th. There have been alot of things going on with my family in the month of March. First thing was that darn flu bug. I haven't been that sick in a long time and it took some time to get back to my ole self. Then 3 weeks ago I had to undergo some foot surgery. I had a bone spur growing on the side of my toe and I had it removed 2 years ago but the thing came back. So this time, surgery was more intensive. It is improving day by day but I am still wearing white socks an open toe sandals. It is very tender and there is still alot of leakage which the doctor told me would be about six weeks. This has stopped me from sewing though because I really don't use my left foot at all to sew. One of my bosses' wives is pregnant with their second child so I decided I had better get my butt in gear and make the top to get it off to the quilters. I love how this quilt turned out and it is so bright and cheery. It only took me 3 days after work to piece this together.

The new baby's name with be Alexis and she is due on her big sister, Addison's first birthday, July 6th. Aren't they going to have their hands full.

I have been doing a lot of shopping though. I bought all the blocks for Patchwork Party and the finishing kit from Kimberly. I just love it and can't wait to start it. First thing though is I am bound and determined to finish my Web Sampler quilt. I am done to my last 6 finishing blocks and to order my border fabrics and put it all together.

Then I ordered the kit from Dandelion Girl. Boy do I love this fabric also. It is so calming to me. Perry turned me on to a new quilt shop when she went to a quilt show. It is called Lillies Classic Quilts and Debbie is the owner. I have purchased a few kits from her over the last couple of months. She definitely has an eye on putting fabrics together. This quilt store is also going to have a quilt in the new Quilt Sampler which I think will be out on May 10th.

Have been really busy at work also which doesn't make me a very happy camper--it just makes me so stressed out because it never seems that I can see the light of day. I really need to go in one weekend but I hate to do that because then it seems like I have no spare time at all.

I guess Carol and Sharon are at the Chicago quilt show by now. Hope they both have a wonderful time and of course, don't spend too much money. LOL.

Well gals, must go for now, phone is ringing. I will check back in tomorrow.

IS IT SPRING YET

2008-03-06T16:44:00.002-05:00

It has been awhile since I have posted but the last few weeks have certainly been in a blur. The flu bug caught up with me about 3 weeks ago and at the beginning I was in bed for 3 1/2 days. My husband and I had the flu shot his year and it certainly didn't stop this strain that we got. It started out as a typical flu and then I am prone to getting bronchitis and that is how it ended up. It really has wiped out my energy and therefore my house is really showing the consequences of that now. Then 2 days after I got sick my husband got sick again. This is the fourth time he has been sick this winter and he is still coughing up a storm. I told him the other day he should get to the doctors but of course, do men listen. Nope, not at all.

Perry challenged me to talk about my new iron so here it goes.
I always have had Rowenta irons and I was so tired after using them for awhile they would start leaking and ruining all my ironing boards. After the fall quilt market, one of the quilt stores that I go to for my first Saturday class bought this iron and was talking about it and said anyone interested they could order one for us because they come from Canada. So I said, I course you never had enough irons and I NEED one. I have fallen in love with this iron. It is called "Velocity". I am sure anyone that is interested in this iron can do a google search and bring up all the information on it. It is a digital iron and has its own separate steam generator. I want to tell you, this sucker really gets hot and hot fast. There is a separate button you can push for the steam and the steam has 2 settings of its own. I think I have used this iron for about a month now andI absolutely love it and would not go back to using any other iron. It does have an automatic shutoff and you just hit the button when you are ready to use it again and it just takes a few second to heat up again.

Haven't been working on that much lately. I am working on my Web Sampler blocks and I think I have 8 finished. I will post pictures of those on Monday. I am also working on my BOM's because of course I am really behind on those and trying to get caught up.

I am not a very patient person and right now I am waiting for so much stuff to come in so I can order it. My problem is when I see it I want it NOW. I am patiently waiting for the kit for Dandelion Girl which is supposed to be available in March. Doesn't Moda know that it is March and I want it NOW. I am also waiting to do the new Spring Patchwork Party quilt and that isn't so bad, I only have to wait until April 1st for that. Then the new Quilt Sampler will be out and I am certain that there will be tons of quilts in there that I must make. Like I don't have anything to do.

Well I am off right now to go and make some dinner. I am half Polish and tonight I am making Haluska. It's very good and very simple. It is basicially noodles and cabbage.

Hope everyone has a good night and will talk more soon.

Hugs, Cindy

AND THE WINNER IS.........

2008-02-19T16:33:00.004-05:00

Well I did the drawing at work and just printed out all the e-mails and had one of my co-workers draw the name. And the winner is.........Toni. Congratulations Toni, please send me your snail mail address and I will get the kit out to you. I tried to get a clearer photo but it just didn't turn out. Sorry guys. Stayed tuned though, I will be having another give-a-way in a couple of weeks.

I have so much to talk about today. A couple a weeks ago I invested in another new iron. This iron was a little expensive at $129 but I think that it is worth every penny I spent. I was so sick and tired of my Rowenta's leaking all over the place and ruining numerous ironing board covers. I was getting sick of buying a new ironing board cover at $14 a pop every couple months so this iron will pay for itself. This iron is made in Canada and has its own steam generator which you program for either low or high. I love this iron. You hardly have to even press any of your seams. Did I tell you, I love this iron

I know that there is a lot of talk on the blogs today about the new Mystery BOM that is going to start on The Fat Quarter Shop. If you are reading my blog Kimberly, thank you for organzing this new BOM. I think it is going to be a total success. I am totally in love with this BOM and I can't wait to start and have already orderd the finishing kit and backing. This is going to be one beautiful quilt. I love anything by 3 Sisters. Of course my friends Lisa, Perry, Nicole and Carol are going to join me with this BOM and if anyone else is interested, please let me know and we will include you on our posts regarding this BOM. I know Patchwork Party is going to start on April 1st so I figured I have 2 months to finish that quilt before this BOM starts. I cannot resist the Patchwork Party quilts because they turn out beautiful.

Well off to get some chores done and cooke some dinner. Talk to everyone later.

Hugs, Cindy

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

2008-02-14T16:56:00.003-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you. Well I must certainly be loved this year because Joe sent me these beautiful roses to my office. (I know he has something else hidden so I have to wait until he gets home from work for that). The florist that he has been using for the past couple years does a fabulous job, they put other arrangements that others gals in my office were receiving to shame. I called the florist to thank her and tell her what a wonderful job she did and she said we always want our arrangements to stand out and they certainly did. Since we got married 21 years ago, Joe has always made sure that I had a dozen of red roses on Valentine's Day, even when he was deployed and overseas. Even though there are times I look at him and think why in the world did I get married, at times like this I will keep him.

7 Random Things About Me
I've been tagged by a few fellow bloggers so I'm sharing 7 random things about me...firstTHE RULES:

1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.

2. Post THE RULES on your blog.

3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.

4. Tag 7 people and link to them.

5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

Well here we go:

1. I love Starbucks coffee to the point that is about all I drink every day. We have Starbucks coffee packets in our office to make the individual pots of coffee and believe you me, there is always a pot of coffee on. At home, I have a Tassimo coffee maker and Starbucks has finally come out for the discs for them, they are a little expensive but that doesn't stop me.

2. I hate to get up in the mornings. My alarm goes off at 5:20 and I automatically shut it off. Yes you heard me I shut it off, not hit the snooze button> I then fall back to sleep for about 20 minutes. I don't know what wakes me up, but I do. One of these days I am not going to wake up for work in time.

3. I cannot pass up a quilt that has already been made into a kit. I know it really is a sickness but I cannot pass up quilts that they have already picked out the fabrics.

4. I don't like to be late and don't have much tolerance for excuses people use for being late especially to work.

5. I am addicted to reality shows and soap operas. I limit myself though on the soap operas. I usually watch the Soap Net at night recently because there is nothing else now.

6. I love spicy black jelly beans. I would always get on my mother's nerves because at Easter time I buy the bags of spicy jelly beans, take all the black ones out and throw the rest of them away.

7. I love all kinds of music but I especially love Tom Jones. When we lived in Mississippi my husband and I went to see one of his concerts and women were still throwing their panties at him. My daughter just can't get it but who cares.

I am not going to specifically tag anyone because it seems like everyone has been tagged in the past few days. I'm just asking if you haven't been tagged, tell us 7 things about yourself.

Don't forget, sign up for my give up on the appropriate blog message.

Hope everyone has a good night.

Hugs, Cindy

SCHOOL HOUSE AND GIVE A WAY

2008-02-13T17:19:00.002-05:00

On Sunday I went to one of our local quilt shops and took a class called "School House" which was given by the owner Karen Montgomery and was supposed to be from 10:00 to 3:00. Karen is not only a fabulous instructor but she also designs for Timeless Treasures. You should see her newest collection called "Abby Lane" which I bought and will take photos of tomorrow. School house was broken into 6 little mini sessions of learning some new technques, i.e., paper piecing the insert for a coffee mug, new technology, making a Valentine postcard, making a little brooch, you get the idea. We got a goodie box filled with all kinds of neat things. It was so nice of her to do and very well appreciated. It was so much fun and lunch was even included which was very yummy. Well I guess I got to the shop around 9:35 and I was looking around waiting for my friends to get there and all of a sudden I looked up and it was snowing like heck. I thought well this is great, if it keeps snowing like this I will never get home. Then the wind started whipping around. I heard reports that in places the wind was blowing at 51 mph. All of a sudden the stores when dark because of down trees from the wind. Well there was no electricity but the show must go on and everyone got use to being in the dark.

You all must go over to Karen's shop and check out her blog for the last few days regarding what are weather has been like. It is hysterical. One of the things that I love about her is her personality, she is very funny and very sarcastic (which I absolutely love). Her website is www.thequiltcompany.com and the link to her blog is in the upper right hand corner.

In early celebration of Valentine's Day and this awful weather we have had since Sunday, I am having a give-a-way. So tell all your friends and neighbors to leave a comment on this post about checking out Karen's blog and you will be enterd in the give-a-way. This is a quilt kit called "Holiday Stars" by Thimbleberries and measures 68 x 76 and comes with all the original fabrics. I will draw the lucky winners name on Monday, February 18th.

Until later---

Hugs, Cindy

SNOW DAY

2008-02-12T10:29:00.000-05:00

Well this is what I woke up to this morning. I knew that they were calling for a snow storm last night but it started much earlier than they anticipated. I was just going upstairs to get dressed and looked outside and decided I was going to take a floating holiday. It is just a very miserable day to be out on the roads. This is looking out my bay window into the backyard.This picture was taken from my front door and I was trying to get a picture of it still snowing. It is supposed to be like this most of the day, then it is going to turn to freezing rain and then turn back to snow later on tonight. So I thought it was a good day to stay at home, do a few little chores and then sew.

Below is the package on got from Lisa on Saturday. This is the leftover fabric that Lisa used for her Valentine's Day quilt that I am going to use to make me one. It won't be for this Valentine's Day and I sure hope it will be finished for next Valentine's Day. Aren't they beautiful. Thank you so much Lisa for sending me these, I love them.

Well for some reason I am getting the blame for starting us on a new challenge, the new Web Sampler quilt. It is just beautiful. Well I guess they need someone to blame right for instigating this and I guess I am the one that they are pointing the finger at. That's fine, at least I am not alone in with project. I have one of my blocks finished but I am going to wait until next Monday to post that one. I am hoping to have another block done by that point. I am concentrating right now on getting caught up with my BOM's so I don't get way far behind so that is my goal for this week.

Well off to get some mini chores done and then sew, sew, sew.

Hugs, Cindy

FINALLY

2008-02-05T16:50:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Nicole, Lisa and Perry for their patience in me finally being able to post my version of our challenge quilt. My husband had gall bladder surgery last Wednesday and what I week I have had. For the past 2 years I have been dealing with a sick elderly mother (God bless her) and then on top of it my husband had some complications with his surgery. I will spare you all the details but it has been very trying on my patience. The funniest was I had been gone all day on Sunday taking care of my mother and I walked into the house at 4:30 and he looked at me and said do you want to watch a movie with me. I almost lost it as I was dragging in a 35 pound box of kitty litter and said are you kidding me--I have all the laundry to do, clean the kitchen, cook dinner and take all the garbage out. He just looked at me like I was crazy. At that moment, I could have killed him because if the rolls were reversed I wouldn't have had the luxury of laying on the couch. Maybe that is why the surgeon said to me that men were big babies that go through gall bladder surgery.

So here it is--my challenge quilt. I love how it turned out and now I need to purchase my backing fabric and send it off to the quilter. I think I am going to have just an all over pattern done on this one. Does anyone have any thoughts?

Also last week I received from Nicole my package from her give-a-way for the messiest sewing table. Thank you so much Nicole for the book and jelly roll. It is from Shangri-La and I definitely love this line of fabric. Don't know what I will make from it but I will let you know when I have decide on something.

I have so much to tell you guys with so many new things that I have gotten in over the last week. I am going to try to finish my Patchwork Party quilt tonight because I want to ask you guys what I should do about the borders. Hopefully I will get that posted tomorrow.

I am so far behind on my cleaning around here so I am off to run the sweeper and start the dishwasher. Joe went to work today and I am sure he is going to crash when he gets home because he was up sick all night.

Talk to everyone soon.

Hugs, Cindy

PATCHWORK PARTY

2008-01-22T16:47:00.000-05:00

I wanted to share with you the 4 blocks that I finished over the weekend for the fall Patchwork Party blocks. There is a total of 12 blocks and then I am going to make 8 alternate blocks with 2 borders.

I am really loving how these blocks are turning out. Don't you just loves these fabrics. I do. Love the blacks and reds in this line. I just have to square them up but I will do that once I have all the blocks done. I guess it is time for me to take my Xmas table cloth off but I think if it didn't have the Santas on it it would be so appropriate for what our weather has been like since the weekend. I need to do some birthday shopping for my hubby this weekend so hopefully I can find a Valentine/spring table cloth. Hubby's BD is on February 6th and then have to turn around and get him something for VD. It is so hard trying to think of something to get him so close together.

Hubby is having his gall bladder removed next Wednesday. I am hoping this goes smoothly since this is his second stomach area surgery since November. I am so hoping that his fixes his problems that he has been having.

Tonight I am working on my challenge quilt. I am going to start to put that border on. I know, you are saying it's about time and I so agree. I off to measure it right now.

Hope you all have a good evening and if you are in a place where the weather has been cold, keep warm.

Hugs~~

CHALLENGE WEEK #7

2008-01-21T21:23:00.000-05:00

Well I have one more week to get my borders on. I am under pressure now. LOL. Have you checked with Perry, Nicole and Lisa, they sure did make a lot of progress this week and are catching up with me. The pressure is on now. I must get my qult finished this week.

It was so cold here over the weekend and I started to straighten my sewing table. Can you believe it. Yes I did. You wouldn't believe the things that I started to uncover. One of the projects was the winter Patchwork Party blocks. Well since Spring is right around the corner and will probably bring a new Patchwork Party I decided I better finish the 2 I have. I only have the borders to put on the spring one and now I am working on the winter one. I must say, I love the fabrics chosen for the fall/winter party. Has anyone else participated in these. I must say I am addicted and am looking forward to the ones that will be offerd in 2008. IStay turned. I will post pictures of the blocks I finished over the weekend tomorrow.

The weather here has been dreadful. It has been so cold. This morning when I went to work it was 6 degrees. Yes that was 6 degrees above zero. Yes you heard it right, even though the court house was closed my firm was still open. I hated it. I should have been home keeping warm and sewing. Temperatures are supposed to remain the same tomorrow but now they are saying it is supposed to start snowing tomorrow afternoon. Great, just want I wanted to hear.

Well until tomorrow, keep warm.

Hugs~~

RECESSION AND THE FAT QUARTER SHOP

2008-01-17T16:53:00.000-05:00

All I have been hearing on the news lately is how we are heading into a recession and in some ways I really think we are. Here in NE PA we really haven't had much of the crisis that the rest of the country has been having with these mortgages but when I went to the grocery store and starting receiving the gas and electric bills I have started to notice it. The week before I bought a gallon of 2% milk and it was $2.58. This Sunday when I went shopping for my mom at Walmart I paid $4.58 for a gallon for 2% milk. I almost had a heart attack. My grocery bill has almost doubled and it is very preplexing to me. Where do we cut expenses at because our salaries haven't increased to coincide with the cost of living.

One of the things that I might have to cut back on is fabric shopping and that really breaks my heart. One of my favorite places to shop is The Fat Quarter Shop. I have received 3 packages this week from Kimberly and 2 of them are BOM's.

The one thing I love about shopping there is the customer service and the other thing is the way they package all the fabrics before shipping. Usually, my backing fabrics are separate from the fabrics I am going to use for the inside of my quilt. I just love that because then I can just pack the backing away somewhere until I piece my quilt. For that reason, I give Kimberly and her staff a 2 thumbs up.

I have only done one mysteryquilt from Glad Creations andI liked how they packaged the original fabrics also along with the initial instructions. It was all nice and tidy and I will definitely do another mystery quilt from them. They gave plenty of fabric so in case you might have made a cutting error you would have had enough. I am doing some other BOM's from another quilt shop and I am not so happy with them right now. They never give you enough fabric at all so if you don't do the BOM as soon as it comes in your running around to try to find the fabric.

Do any of you have a favorite quilt shop and if so, what are your reasons I would love to hear about them.

Haven't heard from any of the gals that are participating in the Road to California. Hope they are having a good time.

The weather here has been terrible today. It snowed all day, then turned to rain. Then it is supposed to get colder tonight and turn to snow again. I didn't want to go to work but just stay home.

Well off to get something done.

Hugs

CHALLENGE WEEK #6

2008-01-14T17:15:00.001-05:00

As you know, this is Challenge Week #6 and I have nothing to report. I only have one border to get on and I am so hoping to get that done this week. You probaby have already checked with Nicole, Lisa and Perry and saw that they have had more progress than I did.

On another note, Nicole challenged us to show pictures of our sewing room table so here are pictures of mine. I am really ashamed to show them and now you know why I can't find anything. See Nicole and Lisa, I told you it was bad. Do I win a prize for disorganization? LOL.

Just forget about 15 items, I might just have about 15 unfinished projects on this table. I am slowly working my way through these BOM and just when I thought I had finished with these churn dash blocks this weekend, I found that I have to make 12 more. URGH. This will have to wait until after I put my borders on my challenge quilt.

Also received today in the mail my first package of the week from The Fat Quarter Shop. I will probably be getting 2 packages this week. I sure love getting packages from Kimberly just for the packaging she does. This is the first block of the BOM called "Butterfly Kisses". I ordered the backing too so I would already have that. Isn't it pretty. Can't wait to start on this one. I am not going to fall behind on this one.

Well need to get off and run the sweeper and throw some more laundry in. Have some potatoes in the oven for dinner and have to figure out what else I am going to make. I think my camera needs new batteries. It keeps on going dead everytime I turn it on. I thought I had put new ones in but these must have been older batteries too. Then it will be off to the sewing room.

Talk to everyone soon.

WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING ALL WEEK

2008-01-11T16:57:00.000-05:00

Well in some ways I can't believe it is Friday but in other ways, I am so relieved even though I have to work for about 4 hours tomorrow. I am doing quite a few BOM's and my goal before I start anything new is to get caught up. So I have been working on one of the BOM from Homestead Hearth.

I know, I know the picture is blurry but you get the jest of what I have been doing this week. I was starting to breathe a sigh of relief that I was caught up on this one and low and behold I got a package yesterday to make another 14 of these darn things. To me this is really boring and hasn't challenged me at all this week so I think I will hurry up and try to get the remaining 14 of these done. I orderd that Precision ruler that Nicole talked about on her blog yesterday. I thought it was a pretty interesting little ruler and hope it helps me square these little blocks up correctly. So this weekend I will be making the remaining 14 and then I hope to start back on my mystery quilt from Glad Creations. I really want to see how this one is going to turn out.

I have a question and I hope I can someone can answer it for me. I love to respond to everyone who leaves me a comment on my blog but sometimes that is not possible especially if I don't have their e-mail address or they don't have a blog of their own that let's me go on and get their e-mail address. When you hit the reply button it says something like "non blogger". Does anyone have any suggestions on that? I just feel bad if I don't answer everyone.

Friday night's my hubby and I usually watch tv together but he has come down with a really bad cold and I hope this means I can sew tonight. The flu and colds have really been running rampant here and I truly don't want to get sick.

Hope everyone has a good weekend. Check out Perry's blog this weekend. She is going to have some exciting photos to show you of some gorgeous quilts.

Hugs, Cindy

CHALLENGE WEEK #5

2008-01-07T16:58:00.000-05:00

Well nothing to report to me for this week. With trying to get caught up last week before I went back to work and then going back to work, ran out of time. So-------therefore, I didn't get anything else done but I plan to have the border on by next Monday and then I will be finished. Does that mean I made the deadline. Oh yeah, I do. that is a good way to start out the new year. Don't forget though to check with Perry, Lisa and Nicole to see their progress. I know that have been working diligently this week.

I have been working on catching up with all my BOM's and I am not going to start anything new except to keep on working on them. I am making a deadline for myself and will post a picture on Friday of what I have gotten done this week. Don't forget, I only really have 2 hours a day to sew.

The diet, I mean reformed eating habits are going well. I am taking so much more time in grocery shopping and figuring out what I am eating but I guess that is what needs to be done. I am increasing my protein when I am still hungry and increasing my vegetables. I can have all the vegetables I want can't I????

DREARY WEATHER

2008-01-05T23:32:00.000-05:00

Well this week was my first week back at work after the New Year and I was slammed like usual. So many deadlines and so little time. One of my friends at work makes jewelry and we had walked to Barnes and Noble on Friday at lunch. She was looking jewelry magazines and came across this bracelet.

Isn't it cute. Of course I had to have it so I ordered a kit for her to make it for me. I figured it just wouldn't be for Valentine's Day I could wear it with other things also. Not much is new here at all. Did a little sewing today but not much. I am working on getting caught up on my BOM's and will start working on my challenge quilt again some time next week.

The diet went well this week so far. I have been really concentrating on my portions and what I am sticking in my mouth. It seems like I am starving all the time though. I don't think I have been eating enough protein so I am going to adjust some things next week. Tomorrow I will start working on cleaning the basement to make room so there will be room when we go buy the treadmill. I am hoping to be able to make a trip to Sears by next week sometime. I don't think I am going to have a lot of spare time to start exercising next week but it is supposed to be nicer and I think I wmight just take a little walk once I get home and before I start eating dinner.

Well have a great Sunday gals. Will check in later.

CHALLENGE WEEK 4

2007-12-31T08:19:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-27T12:55:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-24T09:30:00.001-05:00

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

2007-12-17T20:53:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-10T16:53:00.001-05:00

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

2007-12-06T17:04:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-01T13:02:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-29T17:00:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-28T17:01:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-20T16:54:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-12T07:30:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-01T16:49:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-30T16:42:00.001-04:00

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

2007-10-26T16:10:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-25T16:56:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-23T17:23:00.002-04:00

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

2007-10-22T16:29:00.001-04:00

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

2007-10-21T21:41:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-20T22:16:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-16T07:51:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-15T07:21:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-09T16:59:00.001-04:00

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

2007-10-06T12:54:00.000-04:00

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