Top finished?

Well, I added the border.  I think I like it.  Now I need to select the backing (or make the backing).

Linky WIP

So, I've been working this weekend on the linky quilt.  I sewed the strips last night, and the sewed them together today.

Then I added one border...

I mitered the border -- I think it turned out pretty nice.

But, it's still not big enough.  I knew it wouldn't be, but I'm still not sure what to do for the next "border".    Decisions, decisions.

Favorite Things Friday

My favorite thing this week is sheets that have been dried on a clothesline (check out FTF and join in the fun).  I love the smell of the sheets; the crispness.

I haven't had a clothesline since I lived at my parents' house but I love the smell and feel.  On occasion, I have let the sheets dry in the sun on a makeshift line, but normally they just get tossed in the dryer; but it's not the same thing.  Not only do the sheets smell great, but you also save energy and money (check out Project Laundry List).  It's also healthier because you spend time outside.

As a side note, my husband and his sister wrote a song when they were kids, "on the clothesline" -- a real catchy tune.

Updates and advice

I need some advice.   My purely linked quilt isn't quite big enough.  I have more pure fabric I can add as borders, but I'm not sure how I ought to do it.  Should I just add several borders -- maybe three different ones, or should I make blocks out of the three fabrics make that a border?  what have you done that looks good?

I finished reading my first book "Murder Makes Waves"... two more to go for my list (#16).  Maybe three was not ambitious enough. Or maybe I should have selected three specific books, classics or something.  Well, now I know for next year.

This is my first $1 buy (and it only cost $.88) (#21).  Goldfish were on sale so I bought several.  My favorites are the graham crackers.

Quilting and the Devil Cat

So I finished sewing the blocks for my next quilt and trimmed them to size.  I put them on the floor in two different layouts with a little help...

 I like the 2nd one better.  Here's the trouble maker not letting me take pictures ...

fortunately he was going after the string on the camera and not my hand.

The "other pinwheel sampler" -- DONE!!!

Here are some pics ... it's really hard to take a good picture because of the size but this is what I have.

The devil cat approves ..

Here's a shot of the binding. I really like the way it turned out ..  I'm second guessing the quilting -- perhaps I should have done more, lots more, but I like it anyway.  Everything took a long time -- (it took me almost 45 minutes to take the pins out (and it took almost 4 hours to put them in (two of us working for two hours))).  

On to the next project ...

Favorite Things Friday

I know it's not Friday here anymore, but I haven't gone to bed yet so I'm hoping it still counts.  I think it might be Friday still in Hawaii.

My favorite thing this week is NCIS.  This is my absolutely favorite show (this year).

 I love the dynamics between the characters.   I especially like when Ziva says things wrong .. I think the writers are just really clever.

Sorry to be so late, I have been working on finishing my other pinwheel sampler quilt and that has been quite time consuming.  I just need to finish the binding and then I am done.  Hopefully tomorrow and then it will be on my bed...

The Other One

Last night, I basted (pinned) the other pinwheel sampler quilt (with my friend Jane). Actually she did most of the work.  It took us about two hours (might have been shorter had I brought more pins with me but I had to run to the store and get more).  I didn't have my camera with me, but we were able to take pictures with our phones.

The next step is to actually quilt it. I think I'll start on it tomorrow even though I have not yet decided exactly what I am going to do .. I am intimidated by the size. 

I can't wait until it is done and on my bed!

Favorite Things Friday

Again this week, I agonized over which of my favorite things to select for Favorite Things Friday (aka FTF).   However, after eating some chocolate sugar wafers (a very nutritious afternoon snack), I decided upon Applebee's Blondie. Applebee's Maple Butter Blondie.  It is to die for.

 

 

I haven't gotten it the last few times I've been at Applebee's because I haven't gotten dessert; however, it is, in my humble opinion, one of the best desserts out there.

 

Next time we go to Applebee's, I'll skip dinner and just get dessert. :)

 

Here's a link to their dessert menu in case you wanted to see what other goodies they have on their menu.  

One down ...

51 more to go.  I finished number 40 on my list -- try a new recipe with R (#2 daughter).  We made beef stroganoff.  If I were on the ball, I would have taken pictures and put the recipe here.   It was really good!

I also finished six more blocks for my unnamed quilt (26 more of those to go).  Pure links.  Pure chain.  I just love the fabric I'm using for this quilt - moda pure.  I may even have to buy some more.

National Monument??

I always thought of a national monument as one of these:

However, on the day after Christmas, we went to Muir Woods National Monument north of San Francisco.  We figured there was a monument (i.e. statue or something similar) in the middle of the woods - however, the whole woods is called a “national monument”.  I thought it weird but didn’t pursue it any further.  However, I learned today that, on January 11, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt declared the Grand Canyon a national MONUMENT.  Weird.

But this is why ..  “Though a region could be given national park status--indicating that all private development on that land was illegal--only by an act of Congress, Roosevelt cut down on red tape by beginning a new presidential practice of granting a similar "national monument" designation to some of the West's greatest treasures.”  ... from here.

Question answered.  Here's a picture from Muir Woods National Monument.

This is why I get these e-mails every morning from History.com (so I can learn something). 

Can I have a name??

Not sure what to call this post.  I made four blocks today for one of the quilts for Myra's PhD challenge.

I need to name this quilt. Can somebody help?

Favorite Things Friday

Well, I've been trying to figure out what to write about today.  I love FTF because it makes me focus on things that I like rather than things that bring me down.  For example, my computer crashed tonight and I'm not sure what to do about it, but it's more important to do FTF than deal with the computer (of course, I don't have a car so I can't drive to the mall to try and get it fixed so that might be why I'm not focusing on the computer).

However, my favorite thing today is blue jeans.  They are my favorite piece of clothing.  I would rather wear blue jeans than just about anything else.

The first thing I do when I get home from work is change into my jeans.  I even remember getting my first pair of jeans.  I went with my cousins to a store in College Park, Maryland.  I don't remember the name of the store at this point, but they were selling Levi's.  My first pair were men's -- they must have made women's but I didn't get those for many years.   That was the beginning.  Initially I wouldn't wear anything but Levis .. then a few years ago, I branched out to Lee's.  I've worn Old Navy and now I even have a pair of Lucky Jeans.

Anyway, that's my favorite thing.  Not too exciting, but that's who I am.

Cheers.

Decaf Coffee and Fabric

Had a great night tonight! That sounds more exciting than I acted, but I had a really good night.  First I went to Joann's to get the backing for my "other" pinwheel sampler.  There was other fabric on sale -- half price clearance stuff.  I got some striped fabric for bindings, some animal print that should go with some other fabric I already have, and some striped flannel.  

After Joann's I went to Daiso, a Japanese store.  I got some mugs (for my dad), a small notebook to keep in my purse, and bamboo knitting needles, all for under $10.

After that, I went to Trader Joe's and got some hummus and pita chips, yummy!  Then I buzzed by Target, but didn't get anything there -- they didn't have any leftover Christmas goodies.

Then, the highlight of my evening ... I went to a friend's house and had coffee, cookies, and good conversation.  Can't ask for much more.  All in all, a great evening!

General Resolutions

I realized today, as I was eating my late-afternoon snack, that my eating habits are really bad (okay, I’ve known it for a long time, but it struck me to day that I should do something about it).  I won’t tell you what I had to eat today for breakfast and lunch, because I am too embarrassed - let me just say it was really bad.  The healthiest thing I’ve had so far today is a non-fat latte from Starbucks.  The problem is not that that the calorie count is too high, but the nutritional value is too low.  So along with my eat less, exercise more resolutions for 2011, I’m going to add eat healthier. 

I need to take baby steps to accomplish this goal.  I guess the first thing to do is to get some snicky-snacks for the office.  Next, I need to commit to eating breakfast at home and taking my lunch to work.  If I do these three things, I’ll be moving in the right direction.

Baby steps reminds me of "What about Bob" with Richard Dreyfuss and Bill Murray - such a funny movie.

 

The 2011 List

since last year was my first year of lists to do for the year, I put some really weird stuff on it.  Lots that I never got to and lots of stuff that I realize now I didn't even want to do.  I am hoping this year's will be more realistic, fun, and doable.  I'm not putting on things like no sugar .. maybe the word NO should be left off ... well here goes:

1. Get that passport
2. Go on two weekend trips with my husband (we did one ..)
3. Go to Oregon
4. Make Christmas stockings (One down .. nine more to go) *completed six of them
5. try applique
6. take a quilting class
7. vacation with the kids (at least some of them) - DONE
8. see a sunrise - DONE
9. sew something to wear - DONE
10. take a different kind of exercise class
11. add another book to my Tintin collection
12. try a new ethnic food (obviously, new to me) - DONE - Cuban, Filipino
13. put together a puzzle (2000 is TOO many pieces)... Kind of DID - try jigidi
14. take a bike ride (after we buy bikes :).)
15. go to Las Vegas (I may have a conference there which would make this easier).. DONE
16. read 3 books (Murder Makes Waves, Murder on a Bad Hair Day, A River In The Sky) - DONE
17. host a dinner party (I know this was on there last year and what I really mean by this is to have some people over for dinner).
18. See fireworks - DONE (7/3/2011 - Great America)
19. Go to Eagle Harbor - DONE
20. Set up my sewing room (or area if there is no real room) - okay, I have a sewing area which I use but needs to be broken down whenever we have meals or anything.
21.  buy 52 - $1 items ($1 item per week, but not necessarily every week)(and post a picture)(1-Goldfish, 2-Crayons, 3-7 five suitcases, 8-three pyrex dishes, 9- Blockhead) -- okay, this was a bust but I may try again next year.
22.  Bake cookies with #1 grandson - DONE
23. Try a different color of toe nail polish - DONE
24. Karaoke
25. Swim in the Ocean
26. Grand Canyon?
27. Watch 24 hours of movies (copied from #11 on Katie's 2010 list)
28. Stay in my pajamas all day
29. Send 5 postcards
30. Learn a new game - DONE - we played Quelf on Christmas day.  Sometimes fun. Sometimes not so fun.  That and the Finish Line.
31. Make spring/egg rolls
32. Finish six quilts (in 2010 I finished 5)(1-Other Pinwheel Sampler; 2-Pure Links; 3-Purple Pinwheels; 4-Noah's Ark; 5-The Prom Quilt; 6 - The Spiderman Quilt) - DONE
33. See both of my sisters  DONE
34. Spend time with my MIL
35. Go to the movies with #1 son - DONE (Harry Potter!)
36.  Make jerky with #2 son - I made jerky, but by myself.
37.  Write letters to #1 daughter
38.  Coffee with #3 son
39. Get a pedicure with Brie
40. Try a new recipe out with R - DONE
41. go to the zoo with grandkids
42. spend time with cousins
43. Use Gma's fabrics
44. Make a blanket for #1 grandson - DONE
45. grow something to eat
46. run 3 miles
47. Help K set up a blog
48. Visit IandW
49. Celebrate Thanksgiving in Maryland/Virginia
50. Blog once a week - I think I pretty much accomplished this .. or at least pretty close.
51. Go to the Shreve's wedding - DONE
52.  Make a new list for 2012 - Done

(and there is always, eat less and exercise more :)).