WIP Wednesday

My WIP from last week is finished. The UFO of the month for January is washed and ready to be hung in April. :)


Two other things I am currently working on:

A quilted table topper for Valentine's Day. It is basted and I will machine quilt it today. It is 18" square, the hearts are from a pre-cut collection from Keepsake Quilting (they have come in handy over the years) and are machine appliqued with a zig-zag-stitch.


And a table runner for Easter. I bought some cotton yarn on sale recently and made these three squares. I am going to get a coordinating yarn this weekend and put them together and make a border around them. The pattern is called Jesse's Square and comes from my 2007 crochet
calendar. The are 12" square and the yarn is called "sugar 'n cream". "My" Easter colors are usually green, yellow, orange and white. The yarn comes in white with a little yellow in it and I will use that for the border.


Stay tuned for next Wednesday, when I will reveal my UFO to finish in February. ;)

Super Bowl Plans

I heard this morning on the radio that 44% off all men in the US spend more time and energy on planning for the Super Bowl than they do on planning for Valentine's Day. :)

So I decided to plan for this great event too. Here are my plans for Sunday:

1. Turn on TV
2. Watch game
3. Knit sweater while watching
   

Now that was hard. ;)

Plans and Goals for 2007 - January Progress

Personal Goals for 2007:

• Find a church and attend regularly (looking good so far, we have been going to a new [new for us] church recently and it feels like it might be the one we were looking for).
• We have been attending Sunday School and Sunday Service at a Wesleyan Church all month and I think we will stay there. It has everything we were looking for in a church.
  

• Write a letter to my parents at the end of every month, complete with photos (whether they are interested in what we do or not).
• Did that. It was a report about Christmas and things we did in December. Have not heard anything from them.
  

• Keep a journal (on paper).
• I am using a daily planner for that and I am good at doing it every day.
  

• Read the Bible in one year.
• I am following the reading guide in my calendar (An Inspirational Daily Planner from Countryman Publishing) and have read Genesis, Matthew and Exodus 1-18
  

• Read at least one book per month.
• I am reading Legend of the Celtic Stone by M. Phillips. It is not as interesting as I thought and I am struggling a bit but I won't give up. :)
  

Crafty Goals for 2007:

• Finish my Women of the Bible Quilt (top at least), which means also staying with the study. I got behind a little but I am catching up now.
• I am almost caught up to the group, but since I am now 4 blocks ahead of them (I did them in another group) I have 4 weeks left to finish the last two blocks I was missing. Progress can be seen here: My Women of the Bible Quilt
  

• Finish one UFO (unfinished object - as opposed to WIP - work in progress, stuff I actually work on, whereas UFOs are usually laying around in all states of incompletion) per month.
• I finished "Bunny Trails" a quilt I made a long time ago and it did not really need much work for completion. It is my calendar quilt for April.

• Make all my cards.
• I made birthday cards for my friend Anni, my sister-in-law and my brother-in-law.
  
  

• Give hand-made gifts only (as much as possible)
• Made a key ring for Anni.

• Finish all BOMs I started in 2006 (I am currently debating if I allow myself to start the new Debbie Mumm BOM).
• Made the October block for my RCTQ BOM.

Homemade Granola

Yum, yum, I never buy cereal again. ;)

On Monday I made a batch of Granola. I googled recipes for homemade Granola Bars and came across this recipe at Living on a Dime. It sounded easy enough and all I had to buy was the dry milk. And I added a small bag of pecans to it. It tastes very good with sliced banana. :)

Homemade Granola

3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey
5 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup dry milk
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/2 cup raisins

Mix brown sugar, oil and honey in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and heat until the sugar is dissolved. Combine dry ingredients in a large cake pan. Pour syrup over dry mixture and mix well. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. Let cool in pan. Add raisins and stir. Store in an airtight container. You can also add wheat germ, coconut, nuts, dates and other dried fruit but this will increase the cost of the granola. Makes 5 cups.

WOBQ - almost there

I have one more block to make then I am all caught up and can wait until the group gets to the blocks I have not made yet. Today I made the block for the Mothers of Moses and an additional block for the two Hebrew Midwives who disobeyed pharao's order to kill all male Hebrew children at birth.

WIP Wednesday

One of my goals for 2007 is to finish at least one UFO per month. For January I picked my calendar quilt for April, the pattern is called Bunny Trails and I made it a long time ago. It is almost finished, just need to tuck up the ears in different positions.

WOBQ

Yesterday I finished the block for Mrs. Potiphar. As she is one of the not so good girls in the Bible, I decided to use darker fabrics and I am not really happy with the block, the contrast is a bit too much for my taste. But since she was a bad girl I guess she deserves an ugly block. ;)

WOBQ

I am working on my blocks this week and hope to be all caught up by Friday. Yesterday I made the block for Tamar (Gen. 38), it was fairly easy compared to some others in that quilt. It is paper pieced.

Snow and Visitors

Yesterday it snowed quite a bit here and we had a lot more birds on the balcony than any other day, much to Miss Kitty's delight. I was lurking with my camera for a while but these birdies are smart, they know there is something going on behind that glass and at the slightest movement they took off. I managed to catch two Cardinals, a Chickadee and our two squirrels. I would love to get a picture of our Downy Woodpecker or the Northern Mockingbird , but so far no luck. Two of the squirrel pictures are from a few days ago.

My Website

I spent a lot of time on the computer today, updating my website, which has been long overdue. Among other things I created a page for my WOBQ blocks with a black background to see what the quilt will look like if I use black fabric for the sashing. In the original quilt the blocks are set on point I am not sure yet if I will follow that layout or come up with my own.

Plans and Goals for 2007

I do not make new year's resolutions because I never keep them anyway. This year I made plans and set goals and I started with making tables for all the things I want to do and to keep track of the progress. Most of my plans have to do with unfinished quilt projects and my personal growth. So, here it goes.

Personal Goals for 2007:

• Learn to drive.

• Find a church and attend regularly (looking good so far, we have been going to a new [new for us] church recently and it feels like it might be the one we were looking for).

• Let go of what hurt me in the past and live the new life I came here for.

• Grow spiritually, continue on my journey to become a Christian (I am not sure I am already completely there, I am still struggling with a few things).
  

• Write a letter to my parents at the end of every month, complete with photos (whether they are interested in what we do or not).

• Keep a journal (on paper).

• Find a balance between computer time and "real" time. ;)
  

• Refresh my Spanish skills.

• Read the Bible in one year.

• Read at least one book per month.

• Lose more weight.

• Exercise regularly.
  

Crafty Goals for 2007:

• Finish my Women of the Bible Quilt (top at least), which means also staying with the study. I got behind a little but I am catching up now.

• Work on my other sampler quilts: Civil War Diary Quilt, Sylvia's Bridal Sampler, Dear Jane

• Finish one UFO (unfinished object - as opposed to WIP - work in progress, stuff I actually work on, whereas UFOs are usually laying around in all states of incompletion) per month.

• Make all my cards.

• Give hand-made gifts only (as much as possible)

• Finish all BOMs I started in 2006 (I am currently debating if I allow myself to start the new Debbie Mumm BOM).

12 x 12 x 12 Challenge - January

My theme for this challenge is "My Favorite Things" and the project for January is my favorite animal - THE CAT. I used a crazy patch 12" block as background and machine appliqued pictures of Miss Kitty and my cat collection to one patch. The cat shapes in the lower patches are cut from felt and also machine appliqued. The cat head in the purple patch is cut from fake fur. Embellishments are a "I love cats" button and a little ball of yarn. When I had the little quilt laying on the table, Miss Kitty sat on it and started playing with that ball of yarn. :) I used some of my machine's fancy stitches, included my favorite color (purple) and machine quilted around the appliqued pieces. The detail shot shows a photo of Miss Kitty in her favorite spot - the sunshine on the living room floor.

RCTQ BOM

Another project I need to do some catching up with. :) Yesterday I finished the block for October (the one I messed up on Wednesday). As much as I like the pattern (Hunter's Star) I don't think I would want to make a whole quilt with it.

WOBQ Catch Up

My WOBQ group is now studying the women I have already done in the first group I was in. That gives me a chance to catch up to them, that project has fallen a bit at the wayside in recent months. Yesterday I finished the blocks for Rebekah and Rachel, the studies for both women I had already completed. I am now 4 more blocks (and studies) behind but very positive that I will be able to catch up in time. I also discovered that I can easily draw my own paper piecing patterns on my EQ4. I guess it is never too late to learn. ;)

WIP Wednesday

I actually finished something today. I made a key ring as a birthday present for a friend (to go with the card I made earlier). I also started working on one of the RCTQ BOM blocks but messed up and have to re-do some of it tomorrow.


I finished my 12 x 12 x 12 project for January yesterday but I won't show it before my revealing day. :)
I bought two balls of a very soft and cuddly yarn on sale recently and started to make a hat and matching scarf with it.


And this shows you the circumstances under which I have to work. :))

Crafty 2007

I am still not running on all cylinders yet but the urge to do something creative [and to blog about it] was too strong. ;)
I made a birthday card for a friend using some of the punch outs from last year's calendar and one of my rubber stamps.
Then I finished the healing/prayer shawl I made for another friend, it is now ready to be mailed. I really like that yarn, it is so soft and cuddly and I have some of it left, I am thinking about making a sleeveless whatnot from it for myself. :)

I am allowing myself to start only one major new quilt project this year, I have way too many UFOs and WIPs that need finishing. The project I will start is the 12 x 12 x 12 challenge that has been issued on the Quiltstudio blogring. My theme for this challenge is "My Favorite Things". I will use a crazy patch background and machine applique and also machine quilting. I hope to feel well enough tomorrow to get started. My first block will be my favorite animal - THE CAT. :)

2007

A Happy New Year to everyone, near and far.
For me the new year began with a bad cold and a bad backache (sounds very much like the beginning of 2006). All my plans for getting back to exercising and so on have been put on hold until I can breath and move again. :)