My first quilt

It's my first quilt! Made for my dear friend Heidi, who is expecting a little girl in a couple of weeks.





The nursery is purple so it will go perfectly with that. You can't see the top two rows in the picture here, but they're identical to the bottom two (I gave it to her at her shower yesterday, and meant to take a picture with it hanging on the line beforehand, so I could get the whole thing in, but I ran out of time so you get the idea).

I haven't decided yet if I enjoyed making it or not. I certainly enjoyed parts of it, but as for the overall experience, well, the jury's still out on that. I must say I did love the final product though!

It begins...

...the Christmas crafting season. Should have started this months ago, but I'm nothing if not a procrastinator! Made some coasters -



They were TOTALLY EASY. Cutting them took longer than sewing them! I used this tutorial, which was so simple and well laid out. I made one set for my swap partner and one set for hubby's aunt, whom I drew in the gift exchange. I have one more set to make, not in these colors, for my sister-in-law, whom I drew in my family's gift exchange. Fun stuff!

Oh, and the gifts I'm making for my friends? Well, I made the first one. They're not looking so good. Hopefully I'll get better with practice. Otherwise, if you are one of the lucky recipients, you can just tell people that a five-year-old made them...

Batten Down the Hatches!

I think we're all ready for the windstorm tomorrow. I just checked weather.com, and it looks like we'll be having 25 to 30 mile an hour winds tomorrow, and 30 to 35 on Monday. Of course they don't say if that's gusts or sustained winds. Either way, it'll be better than the 90 mile an hour gusts and 40 foot swells they were predicting for the coast this weekend!

The garbage cans are in the garage and there's not much else that can blow away. If the power goes out, we have plenty of firewood, oil for the lamps, and propane and white gas to cook with, so we'll be ok. The pantry is stocked so we don't have to open the fridge or freezer if that happens. I'm doing as much laundry as I can tonight (as much as I can since I didn't think about it till 8:00!), since Sunday is laundry day. So I think we're ready to take whatever comes.

In the meantime, I'm getting ready to get started on my next bit of crafting - Christmas coasters for my swap partner. I have two patterns I'm thinking about, so stay tuned for details. Here's the fabric I picked out -



Hard to see the detail, I'm sure, but it's a navy with stars, a cream color with holly sprigs, a green with a tiny leafy pattern, red with a tiny white leafy/floral kind of pattern, and the big holly fabric.

Picking out the fabric took me 45 minutes. Yes, 45 minutes, for five pieces of fabric. And now I remember why I don't do this - I SUCK at colors and prints! So if anybody leaves me a comment and says "ewwwwwwwwwwww - those fabrics don't go together at all!", well, you and I are going to have a little problem... :-) The big holly print is definitely going to be the back, regardless of which coaster pattern I use.

I sewed the edges today and they're in the laundry pile. So tomorrow I'll break out that rotary cutter and mat that I haven't opened since I received them last Christmas, and try to figure out how to cut a straight square!

Hope you all are having a great weekend, and don't blow away if it's stormy where you are!

What an odd day!

I don't know what came over me yesterday. It started out like any other Sunday - get up, drink coffee, cruise the forums. And then, without warning, I was possessed...by the spirit of Little Suzy Homemaker.

First, Hubby and I made breakfast together. Then...

I cooked.
I baked.
I cleaned.
I took out the garbage. . . AND replaced the garbage bag!
I mended.
I sewed.
I grocery shopped. . . and I put the food away.
I did four loads of laundry. . . and I put the clothes away.
And I worked on a volunteer project for a friend's auction.

And then Hubby and I made dinner together.

Seriously, it was strange. I went on a mad baking spree, making two kinds of quick bread (see other post) and some granola. I made up a batch of bean, cheese and rice squares for my lunches this week. And I did the dishes when I was done.

I fixed a couple of skirts that have needed mending for weeks. I replaced a broken button on one of hubby's shirts, and a pair of his shorts with a ripped-out belt loop.

I finished the computer room curtains, a project that has been sitting in my sewing pile for three years. When we bought our house, I had a misguided fit of creativity and told Hubby I'd make the curtains for the computer room and bedroom. We've had blankets on our windows ever since. Yes, it only involved 12 seams (11 actually because I cheated on the last hem), but I could just never quite talk myself into finishing them. Well, they're not perfect, but they're on the window!



And then hubby and I made dinner together - grilled chicken nachos with homemade pico de gallo, made with tomatoes and onions right out of our garden, and jalapenos out of the freezer from last year's garden. Supplemented with fresh garlic, lime juice, salt and cilantro (which normally would be out of our garden but this year our plant didn't produce). Good stuff!

What a bizarre day. And now it's Monday, back to work. Here's to a great week!