Where has the YEAR gone?

I see I haven't posted here in the last year. I think I have lost interest in posting. I have started many things, finished very few. My latest project is making Scarves for Special Olympics. I didn't get in on this until just a few weeks ago so won't get many made but it is something I look forward to doing for next year once they announce the colors. For now I will see how quickly I can get some done for this year.

Hexagons

Hexagons
Originally uploaded by Danettay

I've finally got the hexies out again and made a little progress in January. See that red centered one? It has given me all kinds of fits!

One of my favorite things EVER

Does anyone know the pattern for this quilt? For almost 10 years, nearly every time I visit my daughter Deana, she puts this quilt on my bed. It was given to her by her mother-in-law around the time she got married. It is the perfect weight and yellow is my favorite color so it just makes me feel happy. The last time I was there, I took pictures of this one and the one I call "my quilt" which also came from D's mother-in-law. Maybe sometime I will show it off too. The little white square is the center of a block. I tried to get a close up so that it would be easier to tell what the block looks like.

*** Update***

I am sitting here this evening looking at several varieties of this quilt online thanks to my daughter Deana. She saw my post and sent me the links to them. It is called Pineapple Log Cabin.
I never even looked it up or asked her about it. I just took the photos and blogged about it. You have to love communication in the 21st Century. :) Thanks, D.

Pot Luck Dots

This is my offering for the GHQA2 Pot Luck. Congratulations to Valentina for winning. I can't wait to see what she does with all of them. She mentioned that she is thinking about embroidering the center dot with the person's name and location on them. I think that sounds really cool!

Progress and Frustration

I have finished 2 sets of hexagons for the Quilt a long but can't post about them there, every time I try the post shows up here.

Slowly but surely

It has been so long since I posted anything I about forgot how to. I love seeing all of the pot luck photos so thought I would pitch in. I think this group might actually get me back in the groove of WANTING to do something creative again. I took a quick break this morning and got started. The picture is kind of dark but you get the idea.

Taking a little break

I have absolutely no interest in sewing or crafting of any kind for that matter and really haven't for about a month. Just after I spent a lot of money to take the quilt class.

I haven't even had much interest in reading the wonderful blogs I was looking forward to reading each day.

To those who do come by here occasionally thank you, I know who you are and I will be back around and hopefully have something to show for the time off.

I just don't know if it will be sooner or later.

For now, I am going to read a book.

Happy Birthday to Me

My daughter had this on her blog this morning and it made me laugh. I was about 4 years old here and hated having my bangs cut. My Granny would sit me up on her kitchen counter and wouldn't stop until they were straight or I was nearly bald. Guess which happened first...

When I got out of my car tonight at work some of the guys got on the intercom and one after the other told the community that it was my birthday. I walked in and several people were standing there to tell me Happy Birthday then I see a cookie cake that my friend Michele got for me and it was decorated in my favorite colors and there were balloons that one of the sales guys put together.

I also received some beautiful flowers.

I have had a great birthday!

To all you have made this a special day for me, thank you very much.

Quilt News

I've been invited to join The Great Hexagon Quilt-Along. I'm not sure how I came upon this blog a week or so ago but I love it! There are so many beautiful things being made from all over the world. Check it out if you get a chance.

I just finished piecing all of the small blocks together to make the Card Trick block now I just need to put the small blocks together. I'm not sure that I am supposed to put it together before the class though. She said something about DO NOT iron the seams until we come back and I can't imagine putting it together without ironing the seems so I guess I will make a call Monday to find out for sure. I have the templates cut out to get started on the Ohio Star pieces so I think that will try to do that tomorrow.

Enjoy the weekend or in my case a day off.

My Hand Piecing Quilt Class

We went to class yesterday. It was a nice small class of only 4 people and the instructor. Our first block to make is the Card Trick. I have always liked this block and can't believe how much easier it is than I always thought it would be. I didn't take the photos until this morning before work so I didn't get to take one of Carole's but I will later. We had a lot of fun and I am glad we are doing this together.

Our instructor made each of us this flannel layout mat so that we would always be ready to sew on our current block wherever we are.

One thing I am sure of is that I am not going to be happy with my whole crib sized quilt being these colors. While I do like them, I am not sure it is going to be a very pretty quilt. Looks like I am going to be spending more money than I planned to. As always, I do reserve the right to change my mind in a minute.

There is always a glare from the florescent lights in my office. I am not a photographer as you can tell. But at least I have learned how not to have my finger in the picture too.

Spare Change Update

I finished up the first half of the flowers for the Spare Change Quilt. I am pleased to see that it isn't going to be as big as I first thought. It will be a nice throw size when finished. I wasn't to get all of these sewn together before I make the rest. I may have to bring them to work on at lunch during the day.
I am starting a Hand Piecing class today. I have a feeling that the homework from that will take up my evening hours. I am kind of excited about it taking this class though because I asked my step-mom to take it with me and she is going to. I'll post pics of that process along the way.
I have signed up for another class in March but after the stress I felt getting ready for this class yesterday I may wait until another time to take it. It looks like it will be a cute little thing and it involves English Paper Piecing so we will see.

Making Progess on the Spare Change

While most people just enjoyed a nice long break, I worked all but Christmas Day and on top of that I got a bad cold that decided to circle around and visit me again. I took the day off yesterday to recuperate a little and decided I could do a little of this while I was just hanging around the house.

I put together 5 of the "flowers" of the Spare Change quilt. I am using 2" hexagons.

Each flower is almost the size of an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper and I have 28 of them.

I was wondering last night how it would look to make it reversible by putting 1/2 on the front and 1/2 on the back. I don't want to make something so big that I won't want to finish it but I do want to use all of the swap pieces.

I am really pleased that there was only one duplicate square in the whole bunch I was sent. It will be kind of fun to place those in a way to make me look for it.

I'm looking forward to putting more together tonight at work. I have enough of the hexagons to put together about 14 of the flowers ready so I best get busy on it.

Happy New Year 2009

I am looking forward to a wonderful year and hope for one for you too.

I need some quilting help please. When I took the quilt class, the instructor was adament that we use only 100% cotton materials and 100% cotton thread. I am really having issues with using the cotton thread. I think this is a big reason that I keep setting my projects aside. The thread seems to be almost unraveling as I sew. I am trying to only use enough to sew one side at a time but it is still shredding. I don't see how this will make a very sturdy finished project.

What am I doing wrong?

Working for Spare Change

I made a decision this week that I don't want to work on anything else until I see some real progress on the Spare Change swap project. Here I am sitting at work, getting paid to work on my quilt. Thank you Mr. F... :)

Merry Christmas

It has taken me 2 hours to get on here tonight, so this will be quick in I lose the connection again or the battery goes from trying so long.

The tree turned out beautifully, the gifts are wrapped and there is tabouli in the fridge and Charlie brought me some of my favorite cookies from Nancy!

I wish you a Merry Christmas!!

Christmas is coming

Believe it or not, we are still in the process of putting our tree up at home so who knows if I will get a photo of it. I tend to drag my feet when it comes to putting up a tree every year but we are getting it done, yesterday I just sat by it all day and late into the night with nothing but the lights on it. I absolutely LOVE having a Christmas tree but I absolutely HATE taking it down.

I work with Surgical Residents and last year and this year a couple of us have put up this little 4 1/2 ft tree that I had in my stash in their lounge.
I wanted to do something different for them since they are there so many hours so I tied ribbon on all kinds of treats and hung them on the tree for ornaments.

They love it and I love doing it for them! Every morning when I go in to check on it, it is empty. I have to say I am glad there are only a couple more days to this decorating. The good news is when it's over, there are no decorations to put away just fold up the tree and put it back in the box.

In case I don't get back here before the big day, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! If I do get back here, I'll say it again. :)

Let it Snow

I heard from Kat in Queensland Australia that she received the apron I sent for the Sassy Apron Winter Swap. It didn't take as long to get to her as I thought it might.

I do hope Kat likes it. She mentioned that she likes the color blue and I love snowflakes and snowmen. I didn't make the apron, I bought it on Etsy and for some reason it isn't showing up in my purchases so I don't have the person's name and I no longer have the package it arrived in.

I sent my very favorite sugar cookie recipe (thank you Nancy) and I also sent the kind of sugar cookies I have made recently (thank you Archer Farms).

Thank you Lucy for hosting the swaps this year. It has been a lot of fun.

100 things

If you want to play, just copy the list and bold the items you’ve actually done.
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain (in a car)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (Some of them anyway!)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight (not even in the daylight)
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia (saw it on my way to China)
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person (from an airlplane)
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (no but have seen it happen more than once YUK)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life hopefully
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby (x's 4)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a mobile phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

I've been busy not doing what I need to be doing

I was asked by a coworker to make some coasters for her to give as gifts this Christmas. I got those made and then picked up some thread and started making doilies. I haven't made a doily in YEARS and now I made two this week. These were the reason I wanted to learn to crochet all those years ago.

This one is the same pattern I used for the coasters and then just kept making it a little bigger . It actually started out as a joke because one of our doctors purchased a file cabinet that I said looked like something that would go in a bedroom and his birthday was last week so I said I was going to "whip up" a doily to put on it. Then came this one because I looked ahead in the calendar. Both patterns came from the Crochet Pattern a Day Calendar for this year. I managed to get the finished photo just as the camera battery decided it had just about had enough.

Winter apron has arrived

I got a nice surprise when I made it to the post office Saturday. The apron from my swap partner for the Winter Sassy Apron Swap was there. Katie in AR did a wonderful job on the apron. I was so pleased that it had snowflakes on it. I LOVE SNOWFLAKES!!!!!!

She also sent me a variety of cookie cutters and a recipe for Ginger Snaps and one for Pumpkin Dip. I had just been told by a friend last Friday about how wonderful Ginger Snaps and Pumpkin Dip and then the recipes arrived for me to see for myself.

You can see the detail a little better here. It is a full apron but that photo didn't come out so well. I will try to get a better one later.

Thank you Katie!! I love everything!!

Thank you Lucy for doing these swaps this year. It has been a lot of fun.

The arpon for my partner is on the way but I will wait to post about it until she receives it.