Proof Boris is Feeling Better

Since Boris's surgery before Christmas he has been pretty lethargic. Today I came home from Zumba to find him up on the couch. This is the first time he has climbed up there in a long time. I don't know how he got up there, it couldn't have been easy as he is only using three of his four legs.

It may look like Ivan is giving Boris a kiss, but more likely he is whispering "Get off my couch."

Also, note that while it is obviously a bright sunny day - it is also a day with a high of 2 degrees.

Finished Quilt

This is a string quilt that I made from the left over scraps from quilts I made for my nieces and nephew last year. This quilt along with the yellow and orange one I donated this past fall pretty much used up all the scraps from those projects. If only I could be as efficient about using up all the other scraps I have accumulated!

This quilt will be donated to the quilt guild to be included in the silent auction at our quilt show in October. I did the machine quilting on it myself on my domestic machine.

So far I have kept at least one new year's resolution so far - I have finished one of my quilting UFOs. Under the self-imposed rules of my resolution I could take up a new project but I have a number of other quilts I want to get finished first.

The Mystery Continues

Picked up the latest instructions for the Mystery Quilt on Friday. This step involves making 160 half-square triangles of the background fabric and the random other fabrics I picked out for the quilt. We are given two months to get this step done so I have till March. At the moment I have half of of the blocks made. The blocks you see at the bottom of the picture are done, the fabrics at the top are cut and ready to be next.

As tomorrow is a holiday I am actually hoping to get even more done. Since I am teaching a winter course the week of Jan. 24- 28th and the regular Spring semester starts right after that I will not have much time to spend getting this done after this week.

Tooth Pillows

The first completed sewing project of the year are two tooth pillows for the youngest niece and nephew. For those of us who were not raised with the luxury of tooth pillows, these are used when kids loose teeth and need the Tooth Fairy to pick up the tooth and leave cash. Apparently the use of small pillows with small pockets on them keep both the tooth and the cash from getting lost in the middle of the night.

So here are the tooth pillows I made. I did not follow any pattern but they are about 4 inches by 6 inches and the pocket is large enough to hold paper money if it is folded in half 3 times. The pillows are lightly stuffed with fiberfill so they are very soft and squishy.

Sure it is a relatively small sewing project - but most importantly it is the first sewing finish of the year - YEAH!

This weekend I also machine quilted a small quilt. I will be working on the binding next week and hopefully I will be blogging about that finish next weekend.

The Last Quilting of the Year

First up is the next step in the Mystery quilt. It looks very similar to the last step - they are both four-square blocks, but this set uses the background fabric (grey) and the medium fabric (orange). Only 6 more steps/months until it will be a quilt top!

I also finished a quilt top by adding a border. I bought the border fabric in Toledo. Border fabric is allowed under the no-buy challenge rules. I also bought backing fabric for it. My original thought was to machine quilt this quilt myself, but it is a bit bigger then I originally thought.

The patter for this quilt was from the MODA Bakeshop blog.

New (Half) Year Resolutions

I have decided since I have a summer birthday my resolutions will be for the half-year and then I will have new/renewed resolutions starting in July.
So for the first 6 months here are my goals:

1.) Lose 10 pounds by May 20, 2011 (in time for Aaron’s and Barbie’s wedding). I will achieve this by eating more fruits and veg, minimizing the junk food (but not giving it up completely), and consistently going to the gym and otherwise keeping active – like hiking mountains when it get warm enough.

2.) Completely finish an already started quilting project before starting a new one. This may or may not diminish my list of things to finish, but at least it will keep the list from getting any bigger. By default this means I will be working on my machine quilting skills this year.

3.) On the professional front I would like to have another article published. The goal is to have at least a full rough draft done by the end of June.

Well 3 is a nice number so I will stop my list there. Sure there are lots of other things I could list that I want to do and achieve but these are the more on-going things that will need regular attention. I should keep track by doing monthly confessions on the progress with all of these to keep me honest.

Post Holiday Wrap-Up

Well we are all dog-tired after the holidays. As you can see Ivan was busy hoarding all the new toys. But after that he was busy sleeping on the couch.

Damon and I prepared a few dishes and went over to our friends' Gina and Terry's for Christmas dinner. Then we all came back here for desert.

Being on a quilting fabric no-buy I was thrilled with all the quilting fabric and other quilting related gifts this year. Pictured here are some the fabric rolls and a quilting book that Damon got me. Aren't the colors fabulous! The second picture includes a rotary blade sharpener and a book and DVD on free motion quilting and even more fabric.

This along with the fabric from Tammy and the patterns from Gina should keep me busy for a while. Not that it should be much of an issue as the number of quilting UFOs (UnFinished Objects) is piling up around me.

When I was in Toledo I did buy a border and backing for a quilt top already in progress. Once those are set I will be setting up the sewing room for machine quilting that and one other quilt.