New Year's Resolution

I only have one this year. It might be too ambitious, but what the heck, that's what New Year's resolutions are supposed to be. I am going to finish my UFO's--all those unfinished quilting projects that I started but ran out of time or inclination to finish. I love to start new projects, but I hate to finish them. Well, I've decided to pay the piper and finish them off. They are listed below along with what needs to be done to finish them. I'm not going to start anything new until these are done with--at least up to the stage where they need to be quilted. (That's a whole 'nuther issue.)However, the only way I can sustain my interest is to be working on three or four things at once

#1. Australian Animal Quilt. Almost there. Just needs an outer border that can fold over as the binding. And maybe a little more embroidery and detail on some of the animals.


#2. African Mermaid Art Quilt. Just goes to show you size is no motivator when it comes to finishing something. I need to finish the binding and it's done. Don't ask me why I haven't just done it.

#3. Cactus Quilt. I have 8 embroidered blocks with little frames sewn around them. Now I just have to figure out how to put them together and with what fabric.

#4. Perfect Neighborhood. I'm not quite sure what else this needs. I have to finish the houses I have and then decide what else to add. More houses? Trees? Fences? A road? It will take a while longer.


#5. Wonky houses. I think I have enough blocks (fourteen at last count--with a few needing the backing fabric) to piece together into a nap quilt. Add an outside border and call it a day.

#6. Vegetable Love. Very labor intensive process involved in making these blocks--tracing templates on freezer paper and ironing them on to fabric then matching up arrows to sew. It was very challenging, but I like the outcome. Not something I find relaxing to do though so I wouldn't do it much.

#7. Crazy Blue Quilt. Maybe it is a wallhanging already, as is. Just binding, backing and maybe hand quilting of circles like raindrops make on water?

#8. Sun Print Quilt. This I started 10 years ago. It just needs backing, binding and quilting.




#9. Glass Paperweights. I didn't love them as much as when I started. I need a background fabric that makes it pop and could never find one. I might have screwed up when I sewed the sections together so I've got to go back and find out if I did. I need to root around and find the background fabric I bought for it, too.

#10. Hexagons. I don't know what I was thinking when I cut this quilt out. I'm not even sure what the inspiration was. Possibly drunk? However, since it is already cut out and started, what the heck? If I sew a few hexagons and triangles together each night, it shouldn't be too unbearable.

#11. Pink Cowgirls. I know exactly what I was thinking when I cut this one out! "Oh, won't this be tooooo cute for my daughter. Won't she just love this!" She saw it and gagged reflexively at the amount of pink involved. Even though I knew she didn't like pink, I must have somehow managed to block that out (no pun intended) when I saw the fabric. Any-hoo, I'm going to finish it in the hope that one day, she will be less averse to pink. To make life easy, I think I am going to use light colored blocks of an equal size and then put a border on and have done with it.

#12. Halloween Quilt. I almost finished and then I totally lost interest because I couldn't find a background/border fabric that interested me. That often happens to kill my interest--when I can't get it to be the way I envision it. Nothing I put next to it got me excited. I'm wondering if the same treatment I used on the Australian Animal Quilt might motivate me.

13. Retro Flowers. I bought these off E-bay a year or so ago and must have about fifty of them. I'm thinking of them on a field of indigo. Maybe with red dots for the center? Or lime green? That's probably too much. Brown?

Australian Animal Quilt Continues...

I've finally gotten around to the borders. Six 2 inch fabric strips sewn together and then cut into 2 inch segments, then re-sewn together to make strips.





I still need to do the outside borders the same way. None of the other fabrics I tried got me very excited, but it just came to me that this was the way to go. It's often like that. I hem and haw over a decision and nothing feels right, then I go away and forget about it and some time later the decision just seems to make itself.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know...

What Milo's reading in bed at night. He should open his own bookstore. The sincerity of his expression alone could sell some books, don't you think? Of course, he'll rip your hand off if you try and take one, but that's another issue. Maybe he should just work security at the library.


David Sedaris is so funny, I just laugh and laugh until I cry when I read some of his stuff. Then, when I try and tell someone about it, I start laughing again and can't get the funny part out. I hate when people do the same thing to me, but with Sedaris' stuff you can't help it. Which ruins the delivery completely. The Miss Beasley's glasses thing just killed me. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was interesting, too, but not really something to read after reading the Sedaris book. The mood wasn't right. I'm now working on My Cousin, Rachel because I loved Rebecca.JoJo doesn't have time for reading. He's too busy being adorable. And peeing on all the closet doors.
Sam and Sadie read in bed with me, but often it turns into a dog smooching/snuggling contest. Sam's reading anything he can get his hands on about dinosaurs, the Titanic, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. He finished the Captain Underpants series and can quote them all by heart. Repeatedly. Sadie has finished the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and is speeding through the Magic Treehouse series. She also just finished Because of Winn-Dixie. She is also reading Beverly Hills Chihuahua. I'm not letting her near Old Yeller or Where the Red Fern Grows or we'll be up all night sobbing. Mostly me.

On A Fair Day You Can See Forever

Look at That Escargot--(S Car Go)

What to do with the Kitchen?

Not exactly the kitchen of my dreams. Two doors on one wall, wrap around windows, very old, peeling viny tile on the floor, single light bulb fixture, portable dishwasher, big gas water heater in the corner, red linoleum countertops. I'm a-thinking it's going to need some work.




I have ten of these tiles left over from my kitchen remodel in CT. I love the color and they were $10 each so I want to use them in the SC kitchen remodel.

An end of Summer visit to IKEA:
This is a small little kitchen display we saw at IKEA in August. We liked the layout. Not so sure about the dark colors, but it felt so cozy!









Two more views of a kitchen display at IKEA.

Mostly I'm just loving this kitchen: