February Finishes!!!!!

Just by the hair on my chinny chin chin.......my February finishes are done. I highly recommend joining Kris and May Britt's challenge to get a project done a month. It's a great way to stay motivated and get things done. My closet is just brimming with projects started. I just love starting new things I guess!!

My Faded Memories is also pieced and will be off to be quilted. I think this was started a year and a half ago on a camping trip. I am calling this my mental health quilt, because when things were bugging me here and there, this was the project I pulled out. The piecing on it is not the best...might speak to my state of mind!!! While that closet of half started projects is still calling me I just couldn't resist this new one!! That Zippity Doo Day fabric really got me...this is only my third project using it!! And then another wonderful Sandy Gervais pattern....think I'm a groupie! Smiles to all of you!!!

Teachin An Old Dog and Looser Monday Late!

I am always up for learning new things. Over the years I have this one (oh there are so many more) bad habit that I knew I should change but just resisted. I had quilting teachers point it out, friends, and I even knew I needed to change it!!!! My machine really knew I needed to change....I always pinned my bindings from the left to the right. Hard to take out when you are sewing along and easy just to leave in, and we all know what that leads to and boy does my poor machine know what that leads to. So I have spent a couple weeks making myself pin the other way, and wow, is it every easier to zip along taking them out as you sew!!! I know this seems like a very minor accomplishment, but with all the bindings, this is quite a big deal and time saver...and hopefully no more visits to the machine doctor for hitting a pin!!!

Baby Polka Dot got to sleep over for a couple days, and at his other grammies for a couple days while his mommy and daddy were snowboarding. Quite the good house guest, and we had more fun playing than anything else. He's a rolling machine and his two little bottom teeth are popping thru...sorry about the blurry picture!

My friend Carol made some happy and thought I had to share it...so cute, happy and very Spring! I have added a few more rows to my Old Fashioned Charm quilt. Lovin it more and more as it comes together!

Looser Monday......hmmmm!!! I didn't weigh in last week at WW, baby Polka Dot was here and I refuse to weigh on my possessed scale at home.....it really messes with my head!!! So I am going to say I stayed the same. Not a very accurate report, but I will be weighing in this Thursday. Lori at Recipe Girl continues to help me along. I made her recipe for Baked Chicken Parmesan and even Mr. Polka Dot said WOW!!!!

Happy almost mid week to everyone and hope all is well for you!!

Fessin Up Wednesday

I am feeling so much better.....yipeeeeee for sure. Sitting in the sunshine a bit felt so good even though it's a bit nippy, but the sun felt good.

So I am getting right to the point here. Notice these two Christmas projects....shamefully that I didn't finish. The ME quilt just needed the binding hand stitched down and the little snow heads just need some quilting and their eyeballs. These are going to be my finishes for February, so I best be hoppin to it! I had made the snowball heads for my Secret Santa person and decided I needed one too, but just couldn't get mine finished. No excuses now!!

And speaking of shameful...well I needed to have these baby bumpers done quite a while ago, and with all the bindings I had for Xmas put them aside (as in the deep, deep quilt closet), and promptly forgot about them.....no eye rolling, I am in the high 50's and forgetting things has become sport to me :-)!!!!!!!! So I very busily starting making the ties, and making the ties and making the ties. I am thinking the baby will have them by the time he starts preschool!!!

I haven't been all bad and behind. When we got home my block 9 of the Designer BOM was waiting and today I decided I just needed to get it done. Only three more to go!!

My thought for the day, take plenty of Vitamin C and wash your hands a lot! This stuff that is going around is brutal! Happy Wednesday everyone.

My Tale Of Woe....and Looooser Check In

Home early from a getaway due to the flu/cold!!! Yuck, so much for my flu shot. We weren't due to be home till tomorrow, but it is nice to be home and hunkered down on the couch here....and I missed the blogs. I think a lap top is in my future :-)!!! Enough of my whining.

I worked on my signature blocks. They are all pieced and now to get the trimming done and come up with how I am going to sign them. Thanks to Connie who is hosting this swap, for the wonderful tutorial on how to piece them a bit bigger to trim them to size. They came out perfect!! I can't wait to get this wonderful memory quilt together.

Now a report on looser Monday...I am down 2.1 ....I say that a little reluctantly because I really haven't been eating that much with the yuck, so I figure my rebound week next week might be a doooooozy. We'll see! I have a couple food finds (new to me anyway) to share . First a Weight Watcher buddy got me this Hungry Girl book. It is chock full of great recipes, with lots being single servings. Plus you can go to her web site to get Weight Watcher points on all of them. And this Laughing Cow Light Cheese. How did I miss these???!! 1 point per wedge....so for a mid day snack with a few crackers...yummmmo!!! Then one night I was poking around looking for low fat recipes and stumbled upon Recipe Girl - YIPPPPPEEEE!!! What a wonderful site Lori has for all kinds of recipes (not only WW ones). You could spend hours perusing her site and getting mighty hungry :-)! She also has a great blog here. What a great find. I emailed her asking if it was OK to link to her site and then she gives me a wonderful blog full of Weight Watcher recipes hosted by Gina...........THE MOTHER LOAD OF WEIGHT WATCHER RECIPES. Thanks Lori for the great link!

Well enough gabbing. Time to get back amongst the moving around bodies. Happy week to everyone!

What A Difference A Week Makes!

Last week we were having some near 80 degree temps and all wondering where winter went..... well not to wonder any more!!!! Love the picture of the boys across the street. They had their snowboard out and they were sliding down the front yard. We had so much fun watching them and thinking that Matt and Katie would have been doing the same thing way back!

On to looser Monday...2.2 for me this week. My weigh in days are Thursday, so I have had a bump here and there since Thursday, but all in all I'm doing OK. The next several days are hectic to say the least so I may be a bit absent....and for sure next looser Monday I won't be checking in, but I'm still on it!! Now about some quilting...I am happy to report my Bernina is back and happy as ever and I have started the buttonholing on my little signs. Happy week to one and all :-)!

Some More Happy :-)!!!

Laugh and Giggle are now pieced and fused and waiting to be buttonholed...speaking of that, my sweet, sweet Bernina will be coming home tomorrow all fixed and ready to carry on. Yippee..nothing that a little $$$$$$ couldn't solve, but my handy dandy Featherweight filled in quite nicely. Also, I had some comments about the pattern I used....Country Threads one of my favorite pattern places, and I also included a picture of one of their other sign patterns.

Anne Sutton has done it again. Not only is block number 2 for her mystery BOM ready, but she is offering a free quilt pattern here , to go with her new line of fabric, Chelsea Manor. Oh boy is it ever cute and has pieced blocks with embroidered hearts and bunnies. Now how are we going to resist this one??? Hmmmmmmm!!!

I have been a bad blogger this week. I haven't even poked around much....OK, I have been totally goofing off and playing. Think I might need a time out! Happy Friday everyone!

Some Smallish Quilts & Looooooser Monday

This is just about all I could squeeze in since Tuesday, but at least the top is done and I plan to do some very simple quilting and have it in the finish pile! Sadly I have to report that my Bernina decided it just doesn't want to work anymore :-( !!! I had just finished buttonholing the flower center and then there was a clunk, clunk, clunk and that was it. Very, very sad!!! I pieced this smile wall hanging Saturday and it was next to be buttonholed. I am hoping it will help to pop out some of the letters, but I guess that will have to wait till my hand dandy repair guy gets the old girl going again. The giggle and laugh wall hangings that go with smile are cut and ready to be put together and will hang in G baby's room here at our house. Lots of family time last week. Our girl was home for an overnight stay, and between her being computer support to me and playing Wii with Dad, she was here and then gone..... wonderful to have her home.

So now for the Loser Monday report.......happy to report I lost 2 pounds. Writing every single morsel down seems to be doing the trick. I have been a Weight Watcher for a long time, always thinking I was keeping track of my points in my head....WRONG!!! I have discovered, (hate to admit this), I am a points cheater. Not intentionally mind you, but it seems those tastes here and there I just don't bother to count......well that was before. Now I am trying to be accountable and write everything down. This week we were suppose to give a salad recipe. Going through all my recipes I just don't have a great salad recipe, well Weight Watcher anyway. I thought that I would pass along one of my most favorite websites ..... Dottis Weight Loss Zone. She has a wealth of information about all that is WW!!!! Message boards, recipes, inspirational writings and my favorite, a list of restaurants with points for food. No excuses about eating out!!

Happy first week of February everyone. Hope there is more quilty business happening in your neck of the woods !!!!

Not so much zippity....

This is all the zippity I got :-)!!!! One thing came up then another and another and that was it for sewing. But I am very, very happy to report that my WW meeting was quite successful and I lost

5.2 lbs!!!!!!!!! I just about fainted and almost kissed the weigher lady.I am a day late for the looser Monday report, but here's my favorite desert snack.

Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

15 oz. can of regular pumpkin (solid not the filling)

1 box of chocolate cake mix (reduced fat if you can find it)

Mix pumpkin and box of mix. That's it. No other ingredients. Put the mixture in a muffin pan

sprayed with Pam and bake 350 for about 30 minutes. 12 BIG chocolaty glorious muffins

that are 3 points each. WARNING: After you eat one lock the rest up!!!! Great day everyone.

Zippity Doo Dah........

.........zippity-ay, my oh my what a wonderful day to sew!! Sandy Gervais has done it again. Wowie to this fabric line and I plan on sewing up some Zippity today.

Happy Sunday (and Monday in some places) everyone!!! Tomorrow is looooooser Monday check in. Later gators :-)!!!!

Yipeee, A Finish!!!!

I have my January project of the month done!!!!.....YIPEEE! OK, I only had to do the binding, and it's only a table topper but it's done. I am sure without the Finish A Project A Month Challenge it would have sat in my quilting closet till next year.

Block #8 for The Designer BOM finished!!! We are nearing the finish line on this one, and the BOM for 2009 appears to be just as wonderful and very, very tempting! I am still a little stuck on Valentines, so I made this fast and easy runner for my Singer sewing table. It's a quick turn one, so easy smeasy. My mojo is working overtime now, I guess to make up for being on vacation for a month. This is a row by row quilt I taught over 10 years ago. It was an all day workshop and we went through and made at least one of every block in each row. Pitiful that the teacher never got her quilt together!!!! It was half pieced, and last night I got a wild hare (love that saying) and got the rest together. BIG PROBLEM.......now I can't find the pattern and have no idea what to do with the outside border. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, meanwhile I will continue to search the "library" for the pattern :-)!!!!

There's a fun swap going on. It's a signature swap and if you check over at Connie's she has all the details. There were still some openings as of last night. I had promised to lay low on the swaps for a while so I could concentrate on unfinished projects, but a signature quilt with blocks from fellow bloggers would be wonderful to have.

Then there's the Diet Challenge......I went to Weight Watchers, and hold on to your hats, I ACTUALLY LOST WEIGHT!!!! WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO! I am just a bit excited. Once I get my head in the right place I am good to go. My head hasn't been cooperating for quite a while! .....and one last thing to tempt you all!!! Check out the wonderful Christmas Club going on over at Mrs. Martin's Quilt Shop. How fun to get a Christmas project in the mail each month, because remember, we are all going to be ready early for Christmas next year!

Happy weekend to everyone and hope you get a bit of time to do some crafting!!

Eureka, I Found My Sewing Room!!

There really has not been much quilting going on around here since Christmas. I think it's about this time every year where my mojo takes a bit of a break. In fact Nan and I have been discussing that and decided that both are mojo's were out goofing off together. Ok, enough is a enough and I actually had a bit of production here!!!

When I saw this pattern, well I just had to make it...it had me at the giant rick rack.....tooooo cute!!! The pattern is This Takes The Cake from Sandy Gervais. Her patterns are always so much fun, and this one was so fast and easy, all out of 2 charm packs...actually the pattern calls for one charm pack and some extra yardage. I didn't have the extra yardage so I finagled what I needed from a second charm pack and made my border squares a bit bigger. I plan to do some back art on the back with some of the remaining charm squares and even make a small table topper. There was a piece of wool felt left over from Luke's Christmas stocking, so that's what I used for the heart. Next I finished up block 6 and 7 for The Designer Block Of The Month from Fat Quarter Quilt Shop. Good thing, because this afternoon block number 8 arrived. I have really enjoyed making these blocks. Now I am very tempted to sign up for next Designer BOM.

Here's a Christmas table topper that I pieced and had quilted but never got the binding on. I am planning on this being my January finish up project. We will be watching some football tomorrow so this will be the perfect project for that. May Britt and Kris have this wonderful challenge going to finish up a project a month and I am hoping by Monday to add it to my sidebar January finish!

What a great surprise I had today. I received a phone call from Lorraine in Australia. We had such a wonderful talk. It sounded like she was right next door. I have been a follower of her blog for a long time and to actually have a phone visit was so fun. It was just like talking to an old friend.

......and this is how we roll at grandma's house!!! Yes, that is a rope tied to the front!!! Baby Polka Dot loves to be pulled around in the kitchen,...but no worry we don't break any speeding laws. We take it nice and easy!!! I am even teaching him how to jump on the bed, with my assistance of course. What happens at grandmas stays at grandmas!!!!! Wishes for lots of quilting going on here and there for you all. Happy Sunday (and Monday over seas) to everyone!

Fun, Fun, Fun......and opps, The Diet Challenge

Sedona is so beautiful, so amazing and so much fun!!! We had great weather, a little chilly, but nothing that a good warm jacket couldn't take care of!! Baby Polka Dot is a great traveler and it was so much fun to have the whole family together. We had some great hikes, played games every night, and lots of laughing!!! Such amazing scenery everywhere you look. And the colors are just breathtaking. That's Auntie second from the bottom with our sweetie. I love that hat he has on...and here he is with his mommy. We made lots of wonderful memories and even talked of an annual trip to Sedona.

We felt so pampered. The kids arranged for us to stay at the Sedona Summit Resort. What a great condo. Three bedrooms, each with a bathroom to die for and patio views, a beautiful kitchen, and all kinds of lounging areas. Pampered heck....we were down right spoiled. What a wonderful retirement present, and having us all together, that was the best!!!!!

The family had scouted out the local quilt shop for me, Quilters Store Sedona. They were featured in the Fall Quilt Sampler. They have the most wonderful selection of Batiks I have ever seen and not to mention the most wonderful selection of books and patterns. A person can NEVER have enough quilt books!! Sorry no photos - the camera went hiking!!!!!

And now...............it's Diet Challenge Monday, well almost I'm a little early!!!! Also, apparently I am already a rule breaker. We were suppose to put a before and after photo this Monday, but I had posted mine last week very reluctantly!!!

So now Miss Geranium says I have to post it again so here it is......and like I said in last weeks post the before and after of it all!!

Left with Sharon, quite a while back and right with my friend Annie at quilt camp in November. While I wasn't on a really strict "diet" when I was on vacation I didn't go hog wild either.....but now I'm on it Dano!!!

Nothing quilty to report here......too much goofing off!!!! Hope your week gets off to a great start!