2012's been very good to me

Like so many others, I can hardly believe that this year is done!  It has flown by.  I always tell myself (and anyone else who will listen) that time goes much faster as we grow older and Thank God that it does!  Can you imagine if every year dragged as it did when we were children - waiting for our birthday - waiting for Christmas - waiting for school to be out for the summer.  Now, life is the opposite: It's as if we're on an out-of-control train flying downhill headed toward the next event - one for which we ARE NOT PREPARED!

"OMG, is Christmas in two weeks?  How did that happen?"  "OMG! is it almost your birthday?"  "How can it be our anniversary already?"   You know what I mean?

Despite my all-too-frequent moments depicted above, I had a great year.
In no particular order of occurrence, here are my highlights:

Son #1 Graduated from Law School.  We got to attend the graduation ceremony and his swearing in.  AND he got a job!!  In a law firm!!  We are so proud of him.  He's also been learning to brew hard apple cider.  His first batch was finished for Christmas.  It was delicious, tasted a lot like champagne, and has a much higher alcohol content than beer.  Apparently, I get just a little louder after drinking only one tall glass.  Oh My!

Son #2 Finished his year-long contract in Haiti.  He did a splendid job. He made us very proud.  We got to visit him and bring him back to the US.  YAY!!  He is currently NOT looking for a job.  But neither is he lounging on our couch.  We put him to work painting the building that houses our offices and he is making plans for two trips.  That boy has the travel bug and he has it BAD!!  He also applied to graduate school for the fall so he is just getting as many trips in before some real work begins.

The Husband actually sold his old car.  Really!  That is such a momentous event.  I am so proud of him,  LOL.


Most of my trips this year were quilt related.  I attended Road to California, a retreat in Tahoe, and another in Temecula.  I'm lucky to have a spouse who understands my addiction and doesn't mind being abandoned for days on end.

Izzy made it through the whole year without breaking anyone's nose or damaging any property.  Amazing!

There was so much more that went on but these are the things that make me smile.

I hope your year was as wonderful and that your next will be even better.

Chris

PS.  If anyone can tell me how to get rid of the spaces at the top of this post PLEASE tell me.  On the editing page there are NO SPACES.  I'm out of ideas.  SIGH.

DWM 12.31.12

Last one of the year!  These cute little blocks have been floating around my 'piles' for more than a year. I finally put my nose to the grindstone and put them together.  The top measures 17" x 22".  I used all 30s scraps on a WOW background.  I think they're pretty cute.  I'm trying to decide if I should add little black buttons for eyes. 

Check out what's up at Judy's blog. 

Happy New Year!!  Be smart.  Be safe!

Chris

Someone needs to tell her

....that 57F is not that cold.

DSW 12.17.12

It's almost the end of the year!  I can't seem to understand how that happened so quickly.
I think it doesn't feel like Christmas because I usually make a lot of Christmas presents.  This year we have chosen to donate to charity in lieu of giving each other gifts so that has freed up a lot of my sewing time.  As a consequence I have jumped, yet again, into Bonnie Hunter's December Mystery.  I have kept up this year for the first time ever!  This is step 4:

128 flying geese sewn into pairs.  I learned that my previous belief that I was a good quilter was completely dashed by these geese!  I cut carefully, I sewed slowly and carefully and STILL they came out wonky.  I made them using quarter triangles and half-square triangles.  Since I sew TONS of half-square triangles, I figured that the bias edges wouldn't give me any trouble.  I was so wrong.  :-(
I know they look right in this photo - they have all their points - but too many of them are just a bit too small or a bit stretched looking.  SIGH.

Tomorrow I'll post about a different method after I make some samples tonight.  All I know is they can't turn out any worse.

Chris

Izzy!

Dogs are so funny.  I've been in my sewing room for hours finishing up Step 4 of Bonnie Hunter's "Easy Street" Mystery Quilt.   Apparently, Izzy'd been feeling very neglected because she brought her big ball in and dropped it on my table.  I threw it for her a few times until she managed to corner it against my mirrored closet doors.  I heard a lot of scratching and annoyed sounds coming from her.  It finally occurred to me that she was seeing the mirrored image of her ball and wanted it.  NOW!  It didn't seem to matter that the actual ball was right there!  It wasn't about what she had it was about what she couldn't have.  LOL

She is staring intently at the reflection of her ball!

Way Too Funny!!

How has your weekend been going?

Chris

DSW 12.10.12

I find myself in possession of WAY too many medium toned 2" squares!  I've been searching around for how to use them.  I usually make 1/2 triangles but I like to use only very high-contrast fabrics.  I find that when I use medium tones I get a mushy quilt.  Cindy at Quilt Patterns from Seattle posted a very cute Scrappy Heart pattern.  I really liked it but decided I didn't want to make that many more 1/2 square triangles so I came up this big heart that uses only FOUR HSTs  YAY!!  In the test heart I also used 2' background squares.  TOO MUCH WORK.  In the next squares I will use strips.

That's pretty much all I have going on.  OH, I'm also considering making Granny Squares with my mediums. I'm kinda liking the ones I've seen around blogland.

What's on your Design Wall?  Check out a bunch on Judy's blog.

Chris

Not a good start

I reached into the fridge for my morning yogurt and discovered 3 exploded cans of Pepsi.   :-(

Easy Street Step 2

I wasn't going to start another quilt.  Really, I wasn't.  Then Bonnie Hunter promised that this year's mystery would be easy (I interpreted that as "not another UFO").  OK.  If I could pull all the fabrics from my Batik bin then I would play.  Lo and Behold!  I had enough fabric in a good colorway to make the quilt.  So, here are my 128 Flying Geese from Step 2.

Feel free to play along.  The more the merrier. There is also a lively group on Yahoo.

Here are the links:

The Mystery Quilt:
 http://quiltville.blogspot.com/p/easy-street-mystery.html

The Yahoo Group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quiltvillechat/

Go out and have some fun.

Yup! It's me.

The Husband checked my blog last night and yelped, "You haven't posted since October!!"

OK, I'll ease back into it.  Life has been hectic at our house lately.  In a somewhat chronological order, here's what I've been doing since my last post:

1. Got an IPL laser facial.  OMG!  it HURT.  I love the results but if you get one, take a pain pill first and spring for the numbing cream.


2. Spent a day off hanging around for the glass guy to show up because the lawnmower spit out a rock and broke our garage door (the people-sized one) into a million pieces.

3. Went to my 40th (gasp!) class reunion.  It was a lot of fun.  The amazing thing is that we were charged $25.00 each.  That fee included: open bar with actual alcohol and not just beer and wine, a taco truck with delicious tacos, an awesome DJ, and a beautiful venue.  The next day, Becky the coordinator, announced that she still had money left over!  I need me some of her party-planning skills.




4. Spent a few weeks packing up everything in 6 rooms so we could get our floors refinished while on vacation (see #5 below).  One of those rooms was my sewing studio.  I have TOO MUCH STUFF!!


5. Went to Haiti to see what son #2 has been doing with the last year of his life.  Pretty impressive project that he was directing call Haiti Timber ReIntroduction Project.  A really worthwhile program to help some of the outlying communities by teaching them to fish instead of giving them one.  If you feel the need to donate, please feel free: http://reforesthaitinow.org/treesandhealth.html


6.  After 4 days in Haiti (plenty, believe me) we hopped over to Guadeloupe Island and spent some quality resort time drinking beer and swimming in the lovely ocean with electricity and air conditioning and full-time water.  Oh, and traffic signals and paved roads.

7. Arrived home on a Saturday night.  Spent ALL DAY Sunday returning boxes of STUFF and furniture to our gorgeous refinished floors.


8.  Spent days thinking about organizing and unpacking boxes.



9.  Spent more days thinking about it.

10.  Sigh, got most of the sewing studio back in working order.

11.  Learned that son #1 PASSED THE BAR!!!

12.  Another week went by, got the dining room in order.


13.  Went to my brother's home for a lovely Thanksgiving Dinner.
 
14.  Cooked another Thanksgiving dinner at my house so my Father-in-law could enjoy a home-cooked feast. 

15.  Let my newly-returned son worry about his bedroom.

16.  Spent part of Saturday unpacking half of the living room.



17.  Went to watch son get sworn in to the State Bar of California!  SIGH.

Amongst all of that I have continued to go to my exercise classes and eat lots of Thanksgiving leftovers - two competing endeavors.

What have you been up to while I was MIA?

PS.  Can anyone tell me how to get rid of the LARGE SPACE at the top of my post??