finished it..

Well I finished it this evening. Turned out pretty good.  
It was a good weekend to stay inside. It rained most of Saturday and today off and on but very windy.
I finally took my Christmas Card holder,y advent calendar I made and my Christmas wall hangings down. We put up a couple different ones too. Ben also took down all the Christmas lights outside too.
 He also ran in a race yesterday. It was one that you guessed what your time would be. He and Tootsie were a minute faster.
So it was a very productive weekend.

My current project

This is my latest project. It's from Quilters World, Dec 2011. I wanted something to work on before I started my next big quilt. Didn't realise that this would be such a challenge. I'd never done anything with a border like this.  It was a little rough to begin with but decided I need to keep going.. I quilted the runner first and then attaching the flowers and stems. That's not how they showed doing it but since I'd done my last one that way figured I'd give it a try. So far so good. I have the two single flowers attached and just pressed the lighter one a couple nights ago. I'm hoping, if my weekend doesn't get to goofy on me to finish it by Sunday night. Once I start the stitching it seemed to go pretty fast. So one pressed, ready to sew...three more to go.  Because it is my first attempt at something different, It will probably stay with me.

Are they not the sweetest couple

This is a picture of my Cassandra and David..her new sweetie.  Told her this is what happy looks like and it was about time too.  This was taken at the beach this past weekend. They have been together a little over a month and she says she is still on cloud 9..   What's nice for her is he loves the ocean too so she will have company when she makes her drives to the beach multiple times during the summer.

We are going to all go out to dinner at the Rogue Pub Friday night. What will be fun is it will be Trivia night. This guy gives three questions and you have to write down the answers really quick, take them  up to his helper. They have three sessions and at the end of each he gives raffle tickets where you have many chances to win  dollars to use on you bill and other stuff.  We usually do pretty good and have lots of fun.. Especially after you get a couple beers into Ben..he's a real hoot.

being sick didn't last long

I was really surprised that I didn't stay sick longer. Ben brought home some Alka Selzer Plus and it worked great. by the weekend my runny nose had stopped and only a little bit plugged. I do have a little bit of a cough but not not much.  I'm always afraid when I catch a cold it will go back to when I had them before. They would hit and stay with me for what seemed like months. So glad it was just a quick one.

getting sick

I was feeling pretty good this morning. The right side of my nose was a little stuffy but I could still breath.  By lunch time I was so plugged up I couldn't breath out of the right side.  I had to help our temp and she had the heater on and it was blowing on me for about 20 minutes.. by the time I went back to my office my nose was starting to run and it hasn't stopped. Good thing it's garbage day because I keep needing a Kleenex. I think I may sleep on the love seat tonight..probably sitting up. Because of my vertigo I sleep on my right side and right now it is making me so miserable.
Not the way I wanted to start the new year..

Happy New Year to All

The New Year's celebration was no different than most.  Ethan and I sat up and watched the ball drop with Dick Clark...boy is he looking old but still going strong after his stroke.  The last couple years Ben has run the 6 mile midnight New Year's run.. He got home about 2:30am.  Then he got up and went back for the 10am  morning 6 mile run. Ethan went with him this time.. They hit the mall and brought home Cinnamon rolls from Cinnabon. We only induldge once or twice a year. They are too rich to have more often.

The good thing about today is...I still have tomorrow off. So a little relaxing today. Laundry is done except the dress shirts and folding so I can still relax, watch a movie or two and fold.  Monday Ben had to work but only until about 1 so he can be home to watch the Ducks in the Rose Bowl.. I will be in my quilt room..I'll still know what's going on because he isn't very quiet when he watches. The dogs, especially Tootsie comes up with me..she doen't like yelling and he can get quite excited.

  Whether I'm sewing or just telling how my week went, I'm going to try and update my blog weekly.  Why have one if you don't use it right!

So everyone have a great first day for the New Year.

busy holiday vacation

Well, this year for my Christmas vacation I sort of took it easy.  I just kicked back and rested my feet and did a little sewing.  I wanted to do some quilting and it's nice to sew during the day and show some progress quickly.  We go to Barnes and Noble Saturday mornings off and on. We usually pick up a few magazines and sit and have a coffee. It is just to expensive to buy them all so I can check them out and if I run across any I really like I buy it.  I've tried to be really choosy. I found one a couple months ago and another a couple weeks ago.   I made two small wall hanging from patterns .. One for Christmas and the other Valentines day.  

the Dreidel Delight was from the McCall's Quilting Nov/Dec 2011 issue. We aren't Jewish but I've always wanted to make one and just never found one I liked. I love the blues and it was a pretty simple pattern. We put up all kinds of holiday stuff at work.  I have a couple Jewish co-workers so thought this might be nice next year so we could all enjoy the holiday..

This one I recently found in McCall's Quilting Jan/Feb 2012.  This is one of my favorite magazines, Quiltmaker is one of the others. Thought it would be fun to make. What was a first for me was that you put it all together including the machine quilting and binding. Then you put the Hearts and stem. I always thought it would be a great way to put a wall hanging together.  It would be so much easier when you are doing the background quilting. Instead of quilting up to the pattern, stopping and going to the next line.  I think I'm going to try this with my next wall hanging if possible. No one sees the back so except to read the label the extras stitching won't matter.

This is an up close shot of the heart. The little hearts are double sided and attached down the center..sort of like butterflies..  It was a lot of fun.  The back is the same color as the border squares.    Making the wall hanging over my Christmas vacation was fun..Usually I don't get to anything I had planned.. this one was a success..

I also wanted to go to a couple movies. During the day it's a little cheaper but only managed to see one and it was great.  War Horse. I was a little sad in parts but it was done so well.