Happy New Year!!

I nearly forgot about New Years! Ive been buried under huge amounts of boxes and cleaning. Blah!! Hopefully once we roll into Rapid City and find a place to live and all that I will be able to get my 2011 sewing started! Last year I had such a hard time getting going. I hope a new sewing room will get my quilting mojo flowing! PLUS ORBC ROUND 9 STARTS 1/1/11! Eeek

But until we figure out where we are and what the heck we are doing my quilt blog will remain pretty quiet.

Must be fate

Our house is looking pretty rough. Actually some rooms are bare and others are a disaster. Most anything that makes the house look homey has been packed. But I did keep out a couple of votive holders for the kitchen table. And lo and behold a Christmas gift arrived today and it wasn't wrapped and it matches my votive holders perfectly! My mother in law has taken up quilting quite recently and she made this beautiful table topper for 'us' this year!

Lucky me!

2010 Quilts

Jayden's Quilt

Finished!

Christmas Commissions

Finally I finished up the Christmas gifts my mom asked me to make. Whew. I have been battling a severe care of procrastination, but I don't think December 5th is too late. She will still have plenty of time to wrap them and gift them.

I spent all day yesterday making a massive amount of Christmas cookies. It was fun. And they are yummy.

On a personal note, my brother's wife gave birth to his first baby tonight. A little girl. This is the first blood related niece/nephew for me! I'm finally a real Auntie!!

The year of the placemat

That is how this Christmas will be remembered. Seems alot of placemats will be gifted on my side of the family this year. I made 2 sets as gifts, and my mom asked me to make 3 sets for her to gift. (plus I made one other set of 4 in October, which brings my placemat total to 26 placemats! I still need to make one naughty men apron for my mom to gift, hopefully I will bang that out during naptime. ( or I might sit on my butt and do nothing)

This is one of the sets for my mom to gift

this is another

and this is the last set, its a set of six by the way.

And here is one of my CSP with some actual progress going on! I only have this and 1 other left. Not too bad eh?

crickets over here

I have been quiet eh? I was busy packing a few boxes a day. Making Turkey Dinner. (then I created a 12 page instructions packet for my little sister with a billion photos, cause I know one of these years she is going to want to make a turkey dinner and she will call me 346 times to ask questions. With the packet she will be well informed(but I will still be super happy to take her calls))

Then we put up a tree. Last year the hubs was deployed for Christmas. So we just couldn't imagine having a treeless Christmas this year, poor monster)

I spent 3 hours wrapping gifts the other night. It was very enjoyable.

I'm still up to my eyeballs in placemats. I need to empty a bobbin so I can finish the last four. But I was chatting with piefixeseverything today and realized I have made twenty two so far. You can see why I'm dragging butt.

Christmas Chain Finished

I love this quilt. Its for us. I'm so HAPPY!!!

I did simple straight line quilting.

The binding is kona, I had it in my stash.
You can find the pattern here!  Its free!

This is going well. I'm feeling good about it! I have packed up 4 boxes of books, even though I have those 90 something books set aside for swapping, or donating. INSANE

I hear they have blizzards...

..in South Dakota. I think we will be covered.

My wall hanging project is producing a pile too.

This is my first ever quilt. I can't remember when I got it. It must be at least 25 years old now. I remember it was always on my bed. Its faded now. The blocks are made out of my great grandma's clothes. She hand quilted it. Its falling apart in a few places. I think it might be because some of the clothes she used were polyester.(like 70s polyester) Of course its also because this quilt was SERIOUSLY loved, and there was often a cat curled up at the end of my bed. The pink fabric is so soft. I always hope the quilts I gift will be loved like this quilt, maybe not with holes, but really loved and enjoyed.

Tree Top

Distraction from my Christmas Sewing Projects.

Procrastination induced distractions

When I get a project going I usually just fly through it.

Excited to see how it will turn out, excited to get it finished. You know that feeling you get when you pull a brand new quilt from the dryer.... I really enjoy every part that leads to that moment. If I love a project I can get it done quick. UNLESS there is a deadline. Then the procrastinator in me takes over, and I just avoid it, and distract myself. WHY?? I don't know. Luckily I work well under last minute pressure. But why I do it to myself I haven't a clue.

So with a toddler quilt, a couple aprons and a dozen placemats to do before Christmas, I instead am distracting myself with my wall hangings. I couldn't help picking out fabric today for my February quilt. I started cutting my December quilt tonight, and I have been designing my January quilt in my head almost nonstop.

Maybe I need to get a new Christmas cd from Itunes and start pumping that through my head to get motivated.Maybe....

moving purge

And the hoarder part of my brain is having a rough day.

91 books are going.

Its a panicky kind of day.