So far...

2011 is not going well.

My son has been sick since Sunday. I didn't mention it Monday because I thought it was a 24 hour bug, but then last night my entire bed was doused in regurgitated hot dog at 10:30 PM. I'll spare you the amount of bodily fluids I've cleaned up today.

This is on top of my sewing machine not being repaired when I picked it up.

Then I bought a new sewing machine, because I got a decent amount of money for Christmas and I really felt my machine was lacking after completing my Christmas projects on my mother-in-law's. I didn't get one anywhere near as nice as hers, but I found a decent machine in my price range.

It shipped to my house missing four feet. I'm supposed to be getting them mailed to me for free.

So today I picked up my finally fixed old machine. I dropped it off in the case, and the shop neglected to close both latches on it. I neglected to notice until the one latch holding it closed finally gave out on the steps leading into the house. A piece of it broke off. Not an important piece, and as far as I can tell the rest of the machine wasn't damaged, but I'm annoyed at the senselessness of the whole thing.

I told my husband I think the universe is telling me not to sew right now.



But I have projects to complete. Laugh at that would you? The above picture is actually these pieces from last January finally sewed into blocks. I didn't touch this quilt for an entire year!

Every time I scrolled through my photos to find one to put on the blog I'd come across some of the blocks from this set and I'd wish it was complete and on my bed.

I'm thinking if I can finish it, it will knock two things off my crafty resolutions list. Something for myself, and something larger than a lap quilt. Plus, I think the scraps from my Amy Butler will all fit in perfectly with my color scheme! I'm excited to get to work on it.

Monday Moments

My mother-in-law, who just so happens to live three hours away, was actually brought into town for business this weekend. We got to meet her for a quick lunch at a local restaurant, but nothing more since she was on the clock. Still, the kids loved the double treat of eating at a restaurant and seeing their grandma.

We came home from lunch and got everyone dressed and ready to go sledding. I don't even know how long we were out, but everyone was beet red and ready for cocoa when we got home. I had my camera in my pocket the whole trip, but didn't snap any photos. Sometimes it's nice to just slide down the hill and be a part of the action...instead of sitting at the bottom trying to catch it.

Sad face

I finally broke down and used the sewing machine today. I was trying to finish up my embroidery first, but it was taking forever and I really wanted to finish at least one thing I could put on the blog.

So I got out a scrap piece of fabric, threaded the machine and sewed a few lines. Everything looked wonderful. I ironed and got out the rotary cutter. I put my Amy Butler in the machine and this happened...



Ugh! I grabbed a piece of navy blue fabric from my scrap bin for contrast and sewed some more lines until I got a similar result, then I packed the whole thing up and headed back to the repair shop.

I don't blame them at all for sending it back to me. Even I was convinced things were prefect (or else I never would have got out the good fabric). It was kind of rewarding to have the owner of the shop looking at my machine and saying, "Weird!" repeatedly. He explained, though I already knew, that I had one of the most simple machines on the market and there isn't really anything to go wrong on it. I thought that maybe it wasn't holding the adjustments to the tension, but he thinks it's the timing.

Bottom line: I lost my baby again for at least one more night.

Number six

I finally got the call that my sewing machine was ready for pick up last night (all of nine minutes before they closed, so it is still not in my eager hands!), and thank God, because this is the last of my Christmas projects to show you. Quilt number six of 2010.



I did the same type of backing that I did for the Making New Friends quilt. (This one was a Spumoni Bali Pop that I found on clearance somewhere, not sure if I ever mentioned that.) Only this time I actually took a photo of the full back. The batik I used was maybe a little too coordinated here. It looks really nice in person, but in the photos and from far away there isn't much distinction between the colors.

Did you notice that I said this was the last of my Christmas projects? I was not able to finish my super secret surprise one. So it isn't a surprise anymore and I'm still working on it. It is very close to being finished and I took photos along the way to show you, so there will be a big post on that soon (I hope!).

Monday Moments

I went to bed last night with just a touch of a headache that grew into a terrible migraine overnight. It's one of the worst ones I have had in years, complete with nausea. Then I ran out of something pretty important that couldn't wait for my husband to get home from work, so in the middle of this terrible headache accompanied by an overwhelming urge to purge, I got to run to the grocery store, with my three year old.

All I want to do is curl up on the couch, and maybe buy a little something off of ebay with my Christmas money. Only, I never shop ebay anymore and I can't remember my ID or my password for the account I set up ten years ago. It's just the way my day is going. I hope the rest of my family is faring better.

So excited!

Are you kidding me? I won?!

I have to say that I am beyond excited, because my little story was mostly true. I did ask for a layer cake for Christmas, and the lovely family member who was going to get me one as a gift decided to wait until she was at the winter cottage where we always celebrate holidays to buy my fabric. She trudged down to the local quilt shop only to be told that they didn't carry Moda. Seriously? What kind of quilt shop doesn't carry Moda?



So I got the fat quarters above instead. And I love them! Don't get me wrong, they are bright and beautiful and Amy Butler! They are also completely wrong for the project I had in mind when I asked for the layer cake. I have other plans for these lovelies, but I am really excited that I won't have to shelve my plans to make Welcome to the Neighborhood from Pat Sloan's Fast Forward Quilts. Layer cake, here I come!

Happy New Year!

Last year I posted three resolutions on the blog, and I thought it would make a fun post to go back and see how well I did.

1. Get Gabe off of the binky. I honestly don't even remember when we finally did this one. It seemed like it took forever, but I know that it was long enough ago that he doesn't even think twice about it when he's around the babies anymore.

2. Have more blog posts than the year before. Let's see, I did 97 in 2009 and 118 in 2010. Awesome! Accomplished that goal too!

3. Make at least three quilts. I think this shows how daunting quilting seemed to me only one year ago, because although they were small I completed six quilts this year. Yay! Another resolution met!

I went three for three last year, let's see what I can accomplish this year.

1. Let's throw another parenting resolution in there. I'm tired of changing diapers. I have had the potty chair and training pants (and real underwear) for months with little to no results. I will have him potty trained, God willing before his fourth birthday. So stubborn, that child is.

2. Make a quilt for myself. I still have yet to finish anything I start that isn't meant for someone other than me. The shoemaker's children and all that...

3. Make something larger than a lap quilt. I have really been afraid to do this, because it would either mean quilting as I go or farming the quilting out to someone else and paying for it. Ideally, this would be finishing the blocks for the queen sized blanket I started piecing

4. I increased blogging by about 22% last year, so I think maybe I'll try to do that again. That would be about 144 posts. That's a little less than three times a week. Man, I better hope that my sewing machine gets fixed this week!