Monthly Accomplishments - January 2011

Time to list my finishes, half starts and semi-serious attempts at crafting and sewing!

1. Came up with Crafting Goals for 2011
2. Started the Year of the PIGS. By the way, feel free to join in at any time!
3. Signed up for a class at the April International Quilt Festival with Regina and made plans for the rest of the weekend while she is here.
4. Worked on the Bear cross stitch for a good while
5. Finished block 3 and block 4 of the Midget blocks
6. Made 1 mug rug
7. Made a mini quilt top
8. Quilted a poinsettia table runner
9. Listed a ton of Stampin' Up items on Craigslist - part of my Goals for the year
10. Finished the binding on the One Good SIS Deserves Another quilt
11. Quilted and bound the Sibling Reverly Quilt
12. Got to the heel turn on my two at a time socks. No picture though.
    

I think that this year, I am going to pass on keeping track of my hours spent doing the various crafts that I do. The work that I produce is enough of a record of what I am doing and that is all that I am worried about. :)

And finally, the books read in January.... There is one book that I read in 2010, but it was left in my 'To Read' list so I am making a record of having read it.

1. Voyager by Diana Gabaldon - This is the third book in the Outlander series and I thought it was awesome! Towards the end of the book - like the last 200 pages or so - I just could not put it down! The action was captivating and the descriptions Gabaldon gives are wonderful!
2. The Double Cross by Clare O'Donohue - This was a 'manual' read and it was a pretty good read. Once I got into it, I couldn't put it down! I can't wait for the next installment in the series.
3. U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton - It's amazing how I can listen to these books with 2 or 3 years in between and it is just like coming home to an old friend. I love Grafton's writing style and sometimes, I just want to be Kinsey! Judy Kaye is a fantastic narrator and her reading fits Kinsey perfectly!
4. Sweet Love by Sarah Strohmeyer - I have been waiting for Strohmeyer's books to be released in an audio format, but I think that with this type of book, I will read them much faster in regular book format. I am catching up on 3 of her books right now. Fun reads and quite humorous! Light, chick lit that has really helped with the winter blues these fast few weeks! ;)
5. Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon -  Oh, my!!! This was a pretty great addition to the series! I'm excited to see how the next book unfolds, but I am trying to hold back from starting it right away. I need to savor them a little! lol
6. House Rules by Jodi Picoult - This is the one that I don't think that I mentioned before. I really enjoy listening to Picoult's books. This one was a take on a 17 year old autistic boy and how he integrated his fascination into his life and the repercussions of the integration. Very eye opening for someone who doesn't interact with people with autism on a regular basis.

OK, that's it for me for January. I'm hoping that in February I won't have to worry about losing my quilting mojo for a couple of weeks like I did in January. :)

FNSI results - 1/21/11

This Friday Night Sew In was just what I needed to kick my rear in gear! I got a bit of sewing done throughout the day and started working on some things to do for today. :)

My first order of business was to work on the HSTs that were leftover from the mug rug and try to make a mini quilt for the mini quilt raffle that will be at the Quilter's Guild of Indy quilt show in October. I used as many of the HSTs that I could, but it still ended up being an odd size because I ran out of one of the oranges.



I will be able to get this quilted quickly on my machine like I did the other one and Barb picked up a strip for binding for me from the shop. Woo hoo! I will have this done shortly and then I can enjoy it for a few months before handing it off to Jennifer who will be here in April for the quilt show. :)

After that, I worked on prepping Sibling Revelry for quilting today. I need to make the backing, but that will be done in no time and then I can fire up the quilt machine and get to work. I'm also going to quilt the poinsettia table runner that I assembled last year. The quilt will take a little longer because I am going to do a panto on it that Regina picked out.



How about that? I might get to work on two different PIGS today! They should be slaughtered by the end of the month!

Max thinks that he doesn't want to be involved in the slaughtering....

Mug Rug pictures

I participated in the Mug Rug Swap with the Cincinnati Modern Quilt Guild. Here is the finished mug rug that I made for Amy. It ended up being roughly 8" by 10.5", but there was one other gal who swapped a larger size and I could have easily gotten away with the original layout. Oh well! I can make another one with the leftovers and donate to the QGI show for the small quilt raffle...



And the back.



And here is the mug rug that Kelly made for me. I love it!!! She did a great job! My mug was pretty plain so she had a lot of liberties and I just love the dresden plate. It lays perfectly!! I'm very impressed! :)



And her quilting of the black pindot is just awesome! She echo quilted zig zags. I tried to take a couple of shots, but I'm afraid it doesn't show very well.




And Barb missed the meeting because she is on semi-bed rest now. So I got to bring her mug and mug rug home and I have been torturing her about what it looks like. I didn't take a picture to send to her on her phone because I just knew that it wouldn't do the mug rug justice.







Of course, since it is sooo cute, I might just forget to give it to Barb.... Holly did say that she could add an 'ie' after Barb to make it a Barbie quilt and then I could keep it! I might just have to take her up on that offer! lol

Miscellany

This week is getting to be a bear at work. I have to get the depreciation budget for our 2012 fiscal year done this week and it will translate into a couple more late nights. And possibly some work over the weekend, but I am trying to avoid that.

In any event, I have some thoughts. Bear with me. It is my blog after all.

1. My mug rug was completed last night and taken to the Guild meeting tonight to swap out. I think it was well received. I also received mine (and Barb's, but that is another story) and I love it (well, both of them!). No pictures yet because I am being lazy after a long day at work and a Guild meeting.
2. I ordered 6 GO dies last week and they were delivered today. No pictures of those yet. They are actually still in the wrappers! I hope to get to cutting this weekend.
3. I finished reading U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton today. I haven't read one of her books in at least a year and it was so comforting to come back to an author that I know and love! Now, I am ready for V is for... whenever it may come out!
4. Since Regina is making great progress on reading Voyager by Diana Gabaldon (book 3), I can start reading Drums in Autumn which is book 4. Yahoo! How are the rest of you who started the Outlander series coming along?
5. I am thinking that I want one of those widgets that shows what books you are reading to put on my sidebar, but I am wondering if I will have to update it too much. Or even if people care about what I am reading. Or what is on my sidebar.
6. Today is Wednesday which makes me think of Year of the PIGS. If you haven't posted about how you store your PIGS and UFOs, there is still time to post and enter HERE. And if you haven't read the other posters answers, you can find their links in that post as well. I had thought about doing a motivational type post today, but it didn't materialize. How about this.......    YOU CAN DO IT!!! With the 'it' being whatever obstacle you are facing at this moment. Does that work?

OK, that is enough information for tonight. Maxie is giving me 'the look' that tells me it is time for bed. He said I can post pictures tomorrow night. :)

Design Wall Monday, 1/10 - update

I spent this evening fixing what I had sewn so far on the Mug Rug. I took out some rows and columns to make it a little smaller. It should be around 7.5" by 10".



Tomorrow, I need to pick out the backing and get it quilted. I stopped at the quilt shop on my way home to get the binding and I am all ready to get this finished for the meeting on Wednesday. I am thinking that I will quilt it on the frame with loops and maybe on white on the white spaces. I will have to think about this tomorrow.

Thanks for all the input today on my previous post!

Maxie just wants me to hurry up and make his fleece blanket.

Design Wall Monday, 1/10

I finally got to working on something new. I am participating in a mug rug swap with the Cincinnati Modern Quilt Guild and we are swapping the rugs on Wednesday. I figured that I should start working on mine today. This is what I have so far.



A bunch of HSTs that will finish at 1.5". As it is, the mug rug will end up being roughly 10" by 15". Is this too big? As I was sewing the first 5 rows together, I am thinking that this is just too big and that I should just take a few of the columns and make it 7" by 10".

I'm almost thinking that the size will make it look like a mug rug on steroids...


Or I could just trim the HSTs down to 1.5" so that they finish at 1" and still keep the integrity of my design. But that will mean a certain amount of ripping since I have already sewn some rows together. But I think that I would be OK with that.


Thoughts?

My Big Fat Dog Maisy thinks that bigger is most definitely better.