I Lucked Out!!!!

Last night was my "after" Christmas Guild Party and we had our Christmas block exchange.  I always worry when I participate in these for fear that the blocks I get in return won't be nice.  Now I don't mean that my fellow quilters don't do a good job, but I mean that they may not be to my taste in blocks.  Well......I have to admit, I got fabulous blocks last night.  I actually took two to exchange and got two great ones back.  But then my sewing friend Sandy made me a Snowflake block just because I said I liked it when she was sewing hers at our sewing bee day!  I love it!!!  So now I have three blocks to start a Christmas sampler.  I think I may have a few other Christmas blocks in my closet so I may have to wait a few years and keep collecting them before I make a quilt out of them!  But this is a great start!

This is the Snowflake block that my friend Sandy made.  Wouldn't a quilt with all snowflakes be a fabulous quilt?  Love it!

And here's the three of them together.  With a pretty lattice strip between them, they will be awesome!!

So now that everything Christmas is behind me, it's time to start focusing on NEXT Christmas.  Yes, that was my resolution that I plan to keep this year!  Work on gifts NOW so I don't find myself under the gun at the last minute!  Wish me luck!

I might just have to keep these!

Well, block #2 is done for my guild exchange on Sunday.  I love how this block looks but it kicked my butt!  First, as you can see from the colors, I used a different green on the center block.  Why do you ask?????  Well, because I screwed up the cutting on the other fabric and had none left to work with.  This green came out of the same fabric line but in this picture it looks awful!!  In person, it really isn't that bad.  But still....not that happy with it.  I also made a note in the book to cut that piece larger than what they say and trim it down (Di, I will explain!).  My daughter-in-law (I can't call her a DIL, as per her request) made this same block and didn't have good luck with it.  Now I see why!  It has tons of matching points on it that makes being precise in your sewing a necessity.  No fudging on this one!

But I have to admit that together these blocks are beautiful.  I almost hate to trade them away in my exchange.  And for the work involved in these two blocks I sometimes have the luck of getting a very simple block in return with not so current fabric.  But hey, in the spirit of Christmas, whatever I get I will be happy with.  There is always alot of talk around the sewing table about exchanges and the thing is that for the work involved in these blocks, I should just not participate in the exchange and make blocks that all match and are done in the same shades and colors and keep them!  But I guess the fun is being surprised by what you get back!

I'm SCARED!!! 

One perty Christmas Block

My quilt guild has their annual Christmas Party every year AFTER Christmas due to the craziness of everyone's schedule in December.  But I kind of like it that way because it's much more relaxed and I really look forward to it.  We always do a Christmas block exchange.  You put them in a paper bag and everyone gets to pick one.  The more you bring, the more you get in return.  I pulled this block out of a great book by Judy Hopkins called 501 Rotary Cut Quilt Blocks and it is fabulous!  It gives you cutting instructions for 501 blocks in various sizes ranging from 6-12 inches.  This particular block is called Flying Cloud.  Our exchange was for a 12" block so I had to make it in the largest size but really loved how it turned out!  I'm thinking of making a second one using a block my DIL just made for her quilt called Around the Corner.  That will be on the list to do tomorrow!

And since this is my first post of 2011, I decided that I needed to document a New Year's resolution that I have on the top of my list EVERY year and never do.  I WILL start on Christmas gifts for next year now so that I don't get to November and wish I had made things that I couldn't possibly get done in a month!  Di, are ya with me???  I have already started writing down those gifts and REALLY want to stick to it.  The only problem is that I won't be able to post about them because my family would read about them and then know.  But I guess that shouldn't be a problem because I can't keep a secret anyway!!!

Wish me luck on my resolution!!!!

Christmas Procrastination

Well, I've done it again.  I start out in January with a list of all these fabulous ideas I want to sew or knit for Christmas and get excited just thinking that I have almost 12 months to get them done!   Welllll....as we all can see, Christmas is only about 39 DAYS away and I did it again.  I procrastinated most of the year and now I have those fabulous ideas swirling around in my head and no where to go!  Now I have gotten some things done but not anywhere close to the ideas I had.  Why do I do that every year? 

So does anyone else feel like they "missed the boat" again this year when it comes to getting your holidays gifts made?  I do have a good chunk of my shopping done and I usually am pretty good about getting a jump on that but it's the handmade gifts that I love to give each year that seem to get delayed.  I can look at the many things I have made or knitted throughout the year but most of those have already been given away or used.

I may have to try a different strategy next year!  I think I said that this year too but hey, I'm not a quitter......just a great procrastinator!!!!!

I won....I won....I won!!!!

I can no longer say "I never win anything" because I have won TWICE this week, yes twice!!!  First, I was at my Scrap Club at Prairie Stitches on Monday night and we had to bring in a completed project that we made with a 9-patch exchange we had.  Well, out of about 18 women, only 3 of us completely finished our challenge.  The owners, who were to judge our projects and pick a winner came back in the room and said that all three of us were winners.  So I received a gift card worth 25 fat quarters to be used within a year.  That is huge!  I was thrilled because I was sooooo close to not finishing my piece.  I only exchanged 8 blocks so I couldn't really make a quilt so I made a table runner out of mine.  It's complete and on my table.  Isn't is cute?

It was so worth me rushing to finish it before class!!!

My second BIG win was a giveaway I entered on Susan B. Anderson's blog.  She is the author of the Itty Bitty books (Itty Bitty Hats, Itty Bitty Nursery, Itty Bitty Toys)  I buy every book she publishes.  Not only are her patterns fabulous, but her books are the cutest knitting book you can buy!  Her hat book is what brought me back to knitting when my little granddaughter Addison was born!  I have made quite a few of her hats for my grandbabies as well as for gifts.  Aaaannyway....she had a contest to win an entire set of Alana Dako's patterns from the Never Not Knitting blog and podcast fame.  I even mentioned in my comment that I enter every contest and never win.  Wellllll.... I got an email today from Susan and I WON!!!!!!!!!  I won a set of all 13 of Alana's patterns, which are beautiful!!!  I can't wait to receive them.  Now to decide what I will knit first when I receive them.

On another note, I posted last time about finishing Addie's Little Tea Leaves Cardi.  Well, I finally got a picture of her in it.  Isn't she a goofball?   I was so happy with how it fit.  I'm always nervous knitting garments due to size issues but I have to say I nailed this one.  It fits her so well and looks so cute on her.  I think I might have to start a red one for Christmas!  I guess I better get knitting!!!

Sweater finished - check!

Remember this cute little sweater for Addison...minus the sleeves?  I started on it a long time ago.  Well, IT'S FINISHED and ready for her to wear this fall.  I am so proud of myself for finishing it up.  I was actually inspired to finish because I saw my friend Lynne's pictures posted on Facebook and her granddaughter Lily was wearing her sweater.  I knew I only had the sleeves to go so decided to finish it up!

Here is a close-up of the pattern on top.  It almost looks gathered and was very fun to do.  The pattern is called Tiny Tea Leaves Cardi by Melissa LaBarre.  You can find the pattern on Ravelry.  She also makes an adult size version of the same sweater.

And here is the final sweater....done and ready to wear.  I chose different buttons for it because I thought the dark brown ones were too big so I added a flower button in a shade that picks up the variation in the sweater.  I used Dream in Color yarn in the Butter Peeps colorway.

Boy it feels good to finish something!   Now I can't wait to take pictures of Addie wearing it!!!!

A Beautiful Fall Day at the Zoo!

Today was a beautiful fall day so Jen and I decided to take the kiddies to Brookfield Zoo. We were so lucky to have fantastic weather and got to be up there for Boo at the Zoo. Alot of kids (including big ones) were dressed in their Halloween costumes; as well as all the employees.


We rode the tram around the park to start our day. Although we didn't take a path that allowed us the chance to see too many animals, it was still fun to ride it around and enjoy the beautiful day!

And of course no trip to the zoo would be complete without a ride - or two - on the Merry Go Round. Addie was trying to decide which animal to ride with Mommy and chose the Lady Bug.

Here she is all ready to go round and round!

Nana always wants to buy the kids a stuffed animal when we go to the zoo. They are getting quite the collection. Today Addie and Blake both wanted a Polar Bear. But Addie's favorite treat this time was a long sucker! We have never let her have one on previous trips but since this was probably the last visit this year, we decided to treat her.

Do you think she is enjoying it?

On our way out she wanted to carry her Polar Bear AND her sucker AND walk like a big girl! Whew, lots to do at once. But I have to admit that this was by far the best trip to the zoo we have had. Both kids were absolutely perfect.

And to end the day I had to capture a picture of the loves of my life! Good Bye Zoo....see you in 2011!!!!!