Thursday, January 27, 2011

First Finish 2011

I got this little baby quilt quilted just before Christmas but didn't get around to the binding until mid-January. I think it's a sweet little quilt, and it was easy to put together, only takes 8 fat quarters. I have no one particular in mind to receive it, but it'll be nice to have a baby quilt on hand just in case.

Quilt design: "Crazy Eights" by Bits 'n Pieces

OPAM 2011

Thought I fell off the earth? Nope! Just busy. I got done with work about three weeks ago and have spent some time catching up with things at home and socializing. It's lovely to be able to get together with my quilting buddies again.

I also spent a lot of time thinking about goals for 2011. Everybody has them, right? The last two years I wanted to bust more stash and make more quilts just like everybody else, and I didn't really do so well in that regard. Last year particularly I sort of set myself up to fail by taking on just too darned much.

So, at the end of the year, I gave myself permission to take every project I hadn't finished--Star Crazy, all the quilts for the 6-Quilt Stashbuster Challenge, the projects from the Power of Ten list, and whatever else there was--and throw every bit of it in the UFO pile. It already feels good to start fresh in the New Year and go where I want. I have a vague list of quilts I'd like to make this year, but I'm not setting any goals per se. Instead, I might pick one or two projects I want to work on each week, and leave it at that. No stress this year!

That said, I did sign up for the One Project a Month Challenge. I've done it the last two years and not been completely successful; but I had fun, so I signed up again this year. The rules are here, if you're interested, and the list of participants is limited to 200. They may be close to that limit now. That's not to say you can't still do it on your own. In fact, that's what I did last year because I didn't make the sign up in time. That's it! That's my only goal this year!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year

Goodbye to 2010 and hello 2011. Although my husband and I have been to the occasional New Year's Eve party, New Year's is not generally a holiday we celebrate. In fact I think I went to bed last night around 10:00 because I am still doing battle with a cold and laryngitis.

This morning we had fried dough for breakfast. We only have it once a year on Christmas Day, but my son worked Christmas Day so we had brunch at the restaurant where he works. When we were kids, my dad made fried dough every Christmas morning for us for as long as I can remember. I never had it or saw anywhere else until my husband and I moved up to Maine. We discovered they sold it at the local fairs up here. My folks were from Maine, but I don't know if this is strictly a local thing or not. After my dad died, my husband started making fried dough for our kids on Christmas morning. I guess someday we'll be making it for our grandkids if we ever have any.

I started sewing after breakfast this morning around 9:00 and worked straight through til about 9:00 tonight except for meals. I'd like to get the Holiday quilt done while I'm still in the holiday mood. All the blocks are done except the center medallion. All the units for the center are mostly finished, and I'm working on sewing those together. Tomorrow I'd like to finish the center medallion and maybe sew some of the sashings together. My goal is to have the top finished by the end of the week.