I'm off again

I'm heading to Virginia to pick Mom up for a road trip. We'll be visiting Maryland for a family birthday party and then driving up to Pennsylvania for a quick visit to see my Uncle and his family. I'll be home by Tuesday!

We're not all together that often so I'm always excited when all 6 of us and Mom are going to be in the same place at the same time.

Can you pick me out in this photo?

How about in this one?



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Another binding finished

A HeartStrings quilt pieced by the quilters at St. Mary's in CT and quilted with freeform Baptist Fans - don't you love the texture the fans give it? There are also Hearts appliqued over some of the intersections where the red strips cross.

Today's hated task is already in progress. It's laundry and I can't delay it any longer because I have to pack for my trip tomorrow.


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Busy but productive!

I'm having a really productive day! By the end of this evening all that will be left on my mini *to do* list for tomorrow is laundry and packing. If you're bored you can check out December's *Done* list.

Since I had to walk to the Post Office to ship packages today, I took my computer and went to the MPLS Central Library to work on my instructions for Happy Blocks, a special HeartStrings project for January/February.

How cool is it that they let you bring your coffee into the library? There's an attached Dunn Brothers but I didn't realize until today that I was *allowed* to bring my coffee in. I always go up to the 2nd floor and find a desk by the window. Free wireless too although it was a little fussy toward the end of my session.

And speaking of cool - I love seeing the moon clearly when it's still daylight.



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A mini to do list

The prompt for my Journal your Christmas class came early so I was able to finish my page before heading to bed. Since the next couple days will be busy getting ready to travel on Thursday it's nice to get it done.

This page as well as all the others was created in Photoshop Elements and you can click the photo to enlarge. Of all the things Adam misses about not being able to spend Christmas with the family, I think the picnic tops the list. We'll have one this year with Chris and Becky on Christmas Eve but we'll have a 2nd one when Adam comes to visit in February.

My list for Tues & Wed

• Finish binding on HS quilt
• Laundry
  
• Pack - including the two donations quilts & Mom's Birthday present
• Ship quilts & pillowcases to Alycia and Adam's stocking stuffers (we don't do presents but since he's all alone I send a few little things for his stocking)
• Make and photograph Happy Blocks, write instructions for HeartStrings New Year's Eve Party
• Get some sleep!
  

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A change in plans

Keith called to say he was going to work through dinner so the Beef Tips I have in the crockpot will be for tomorrow night. I headed out to grab a bite to eat and went to the coffee shop to write some Christmas cards. I put them off all week so I'm counting that as my procrastinated task of the day!

It's been snowing all afternoon and I grabbed a couple photos of Chesty. In this first one he looks like he's admiring the snow but....
this is how he really feels as he tries to pull me back up the steps into the house!


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a new mat

I had every intention of buying an Olfa mat when I went out on Saturday but someone commented that they found it difficult to see the lines with their green rulers. So I tried it in the store and found it was much easier to see my ruler lines with the new Friskars mat.

This one is pink on one side and blue on the other - a truely reversible mat (unlike other commenters, I do use the lines on both my ruler and my mat to line up fabric). I'm not too disappointed since I've been happy overall with my previous mats which were Friskars.

Click on the photo to see the difference up close.

Another journal page - I'm still having fun doing these although I like the results from some pages better than others. I like today's. You can see all the pages in my online album if interested.

This one enlarges too - click the photo to see a larger view

I haven't decided what the task of the day will be yet, maybe more knitting and I'll work on bindings too. I've just got a couple days before I head to VA. This will be another road trip with visits to MD and PA - I'll be on the move pretty much from the time I get there Thursday to the time I come home on Tuesday.

While I'm there we'll be celebrating my Mom and brother's birthdays...but today is Mom's actual birthday so Happy Birthday Mom!


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Quilt a NONE

Judy's having a Quiltathon this weekend and I had every intention of working a bit but instead I haven't sewn a single stitch. It's been snowing on and off all day so of course we had to go out for a walk by the river and then downtown.

Click photo to enlarge

It's warmed up a bit - it was 8 degrees when we left.

Tonight we're going to a concert. I considered making that my *hated* task of the day but instead, I'll knit a little more on my prayer shawl that I've been dragging out for months (I know it's been at least 2 since I started it!).


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It's starting to feel like Christmas

My *hated* task of the day was grocery shopping and my Journal page for today is below.

Click photo to enlarge

Christmas music playing, a fire burning, some baking, with the tree brought in from the deck plus a few decorations and it's beginning to feel like Christmas around here.

Click photo to enlarge

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A walk downtown

I pulled out my holiday mug this morning. It says "this is as merry as I get!" and it's just perfect for me. I usually have to work not to be a Grinch although the last few years it's been easier to get into the holiday spirit since I don't have do any shopping and the snow doesn't hurt either!

I had to mail some packages so I walked to the post office and then downtown to meet Keith for dinner. I love to walk when it's snowing! I had to kill some time waiting for Keith to finish work so I wandered around a little. This photo is the Christmas decorations in the IDS Center atrium.

And coming home, we got enough snow to give everything that after snow *glow*.

Just in case you think I forgot, my task for today was knitting. I've got a prayer shawl about halfway done and I find that I'm reluctant to pick it up and finish it so I spent about 30 minutes working on it tonight.


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Log Cabin Finished

I love this quilt which came straight from my strips and strings bin. I originally had plans to try some more elaborate quilting but in the end freehand quilted simple leaves and loops. Both photos can be clicked to enlarge.


This quilt and the boxed squares will be donated to two elderly women next week through the Angel Tree at Mom's church.


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Christmas memories

I'm seriously loving this Journal your Christmas class. I've been looking through photos of Christmas past today, times spent with my family, with Keith's family, and at home with the boys. The class allows you to utilize pretty much any method of journaling you choose and the prompts provide a structure that helps you organize your journaling.

My hated task of the day isn't really one I hate but I've put it off for a while. I updated the online photo albums and the list of charities receiving HeartStrings quilts. The longer I put it off, the more time I knew it would take to catch up so I kept putting it off. I download the photos from our Yahoo group and then have to upload them all to the HeartStrings album....time consuming but this time I used Picasa to upload them so that part was MUCH quicker and it still took a couple hours. Rather than sit at home, I came over to the coffee shop where they have free wireless.

Now I'm going to head home and work on binding quilts.


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You did see this coming didn't you?

Certainly you guessed from yesterday's post what today's *hated* task of the day was going to be! It's not what I'd call clean...but after 2 hours it's certainly much neater except for the string corner and I'm not cleaning that up until I finish with them - it's just not worth picking them during a project.

I even put on a new ironing board cover - I was at Joann's last Friday and used a 40% off coupon. The old one was looking pretty scuzzy. Those shelves are pretty neat too aren't they??
The cutting table is completely cleared off - a rare occurrence.
All the bins and bags on the floor cleared away (don't count the ones in the closet, they're neatly placed in there!)
The quilts in the process of being bound are stacked on the table which has been closed back to it's smallest configuration.
So, that brings me to another question for you. Now that I can see my mat again, it's in pretty bad shape. I don't really mind replacing it since it's only the 2nd one I've bought in the entire 8+ years I've been quilting and I do a LOT of cutting. So my question is:

What brand is your favorite mat and why? I'm pretty happy with the Friskar's brand but I'm curious which ones you all use and how long they last you.


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Messy or neat?

I admit this room is a disaster....too much work and too little cleaning up as I move from project to project.
Would you look at that pile of strings on the floor?? They've been there since I started my green centered HeartStrings blocks and then grew as I worked on my pieced letters.
This mess is from tonight - I got two bindings made and sewn on but decided I needed to do a pieced binding on this quilt so I grabbed a bunch of leftover binding bits.
and as I got ready to sew them together, turned away for a minute and Chesty thought they'd make a nice pillow. Don't worry....every quilt I make gets washed so there will be no pet cooties.
So, my question to you is if you took photos of your sewing room right this minute, would it be messy or neat?


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No binding yet

I rewarded myself for categorizing all my expenses (yes, I'm completely up to date) by a trip to the coffee shop. I sat in the back corner today with my book.

Now, before Keith comes home, I'm going upstairs to make binding.


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I lied!

Maybe I will bore you with more of these daily journal pages than I said I would. I added the link on the sidebar to the album they'll be uploaded into but I just love this photo of Keith and I. Can you guess that the prompt today included weather??

click on photo to enlarge

Today's quilting task will be bindings and the *hated* task of the day will be categorizing expenses for 2008 in my checking account software....it wouldn't take long if I had done it all along but I'm months behind. I doubt I'll get it all done but I'll do a minimum of 30 minutes.


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December's goals

I'm going to keep it simple this month and won't get crazy if I don't get through everything I'd like to. I'll work on binding the remaining 8 quilts from November and see what progress I can make on the items from October's list that never got finished. And to keep the stress low, rather than a *to do* list, I'll keep a *done* list.

Because I have quite a few things that I SHOULD be doing but have been putting off or ignoring, I'm going to try and do one thing each day (when I'm not traveling) that I don't want to do. Some of these are quilting related but most are not. You might learn something about me from seeing what things I've been putting off or don't want to do.

Today, I did two things: 6 months worth of filing household papers and organizing my files for 2008 and I registered my extended warranty for my iPhone.


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sleep...online class...goals

Well, I'm not staying up ALL night now but I'm still not at my ideal schedule. What's my ideal? 2AM to 10AM.

Since I've been waking up at 3 or 4 AM and unable to go back to sleep, I got up early this morning and finished up my Christmas postcards, caught up on email, and started an online class. Suzanne shared her Journal your Christmas project last year and while mine is not going to be nearly as elaborate, I want to capture just a little of this season and that of years past.

I'm going to create 5x7 pages - a very minimalist approach - just a photo or two and a few lines of text. I won't bore you with them each day either but I'll add a link on the sidebar in case anyone is interested.

It's time to think about December goals too but I'll post them later. My main focus will be trying to finish up some lingering piecing projects and binding all the tops I quilted in November. The plan is to work at a more relaxed pace this month.


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