New Year's Resolutions

I figure if I blog about them I might - just might keep of few of these .... (one or two of these might be a wee bit reminiscent from last year ...)

1. I will buy fabric ONLY for specific projects (no more stash enhancement) - yeah right!
2. I will exercise more - I have signed up for Yoga again
3. I will try more new recipes, especially homemade soup
4. I will be more self assured/assertive
5. I will be more patient; this is especially important for me @ work; and
6. I will learn to be a better friend, and I hope my friends will too. 

Phew! that's a long list, but I'll try - wish me luck!

I've been a real beaver this last 2 weeks sewing, unsewing and resewing on the wedding quilt. The quilt top is still not ready - but I haven't given up! Here's a small project I finally got to over the holidays (Hint - it's a bookmark).
Taking today off from sewing - having the mater over for New Year's dinner and watching the Hell On Wheels marathon, my latest TV obsession. Yup - I still watch TV. Tried to watch some Charles Dickens on DVD last night but my DVD player died .... so watched them on the laptop - woohoo.
Addendum to the above resolutions: #7 get more techy this year, starting with learn how to watch DVDs played on my laptop and displayed on the TV. I think this requires a trip to one of those techy stores!
TTYL

Yummm, baking

I'm sitting here blogging while taking in the fabulous aroma of lemon squares and brownies with walnuts and ginger bread, and sugar cookies baking (not all at once!) Yummmm. I was tres lazy last week and did not get any baking done, but have been invited out for dinner and offered to bring some "goodies" with me, sooooo. Above are the miniature Christmas stockings I made for the gift cards I gave everyone. I felt guilty for not being very creative with my gifts this year, hence the stockings. I used up scrap Xmas fabrics and some of the Xmas ribbons in my stash. The were fun and quick to make and everyone enjoyed "opening" their stocking.
What else have I been up to, welllll, I finally, yes finally finished recovering the $5 Eastlake chairs. Remember these 1970's harvest gold lovelies?? They were a real bargain except for the upholstery. Never mind, a big sale at the local fabric store meant I got the whole bolt (6+ meters) of the rose coloured fabric for less than $20. A trip to another fabric store got me 5-6 meters of trim, and the loan of a couple of handy dandy tools from the mater and pater and bob's yer uncle. Well, actually it took several months just because of my procrastinating. Never mind, they're all done now except to insert the vintage porcelain casters. WooHoo! Personally I think they're FAB, do you agree?

TTYL and Happy New Year!!

It's Beginning to Feel a lot Like Christmas

Yes sireee, it's finally feeling like the holidays. My shopping is done, only 2 wrapped so far. I'm officially on 2 weeks vacation (YEAH), my tree is up and decorated, and there is a little covering of that white stuff . We've had unseasonably warm weather lately and some people have dared to talk about a green Christmas. Personally I never lost faith in the weather to always do it's thing ... so now we have white stuff. It can stay for a week or two then go go go! (I'm not a fan of cold or snowy weather).What else have I been up to? Well, as you can see I finally, yes finally got the tea cup pin cushions made. It's not as difficult as it might look, don't we all have dozens of tea cups from our mothers or grandmothers? And, if you look very closely I'm sure you'll see that some of them have a few chips or cracks or tea stains which just will not come out! Right? Come on, you know you've got them somewhere hidden away in the darkest recesses of your china cabinet! Anyway, identify these lovelies, and BTW a wide mouth cup is better as a pin cushion than a narrow cup, and also one with the "decor" on the outside not the inside is best. The next decision is what scrap fabric will work best with your tea cup(s). This of course is a personal choice, and if I may admit, I changed my mind at least a dozen times! Now it's time to get a luncheon plate from the cupboard and trace a circle on the chosen fabric. Using strong thread sew a running stitch around the perimeter and draw up the fabric into a circle. Stuff the circle with fibre fill and sew the opening closed. I filled the cup with a several glass marbles just to give the cup some weight, Actually, I hot glued the marbles into the cup. Next I hot glued inside the cup and stuffed the pouffe into it, and voila` we have a pincushion! Embellish with ribbons and trim and flowers, whatever you have on hand and now you have a lovely door prize or hostess gift . Have fun with this one ladies. As you can see from my clatter of teacups below I have already given two away! I had fun and hope you do too. Now, who can I give the remainders to?

TTFN
Here's the teacup pincushion I chose to keep for myself. I re-found the fabric I had already used to make my thimble holder and decided it matched this particular teacup so well. It may not be the prettiest, but I like it. I kinda like being matchy matchy ;).
Happy holidays everyone!

Progress ...

Well, I can proudly report that I have successfully pumped gas for the second time and resolved the chirping smoke detector - woohoo, technology won't best me (least not this week;) ) Above are three postcards for the guild exchange using the leftover triangles from many of the blocks I made for THEE quilt. Nice to put them to use and not just toss these wee scraps, and I think they look pretty good even if I say so myself! !
On the left is the remade version of THEE quilt, and on the right is the first version. I felt the colours of the centre block and pinwheels were too insipid so I did some more unsewing and put them back together. Personally I think the second version works better! Now, here's hoping I have enough fabrics left to create the border, which extends the pattern and colour scheme. After the appliques I'm hoping I'll be hand quilting by January!
TTFN